Seven years of this blog !

To all those who visit this blogspot, let me send you greetings with rose flowers from our garden!

This the eight year and I feel enthused to continue reflecting!

Thus far 2363 blog posts in seven years!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

The 'Euthanasia' of the code of ethics !

There are some symbols of hope and reason that govern our thinking and decision making process. 

I watched this bird being chased in the tapioca field by rodents and an Eagle, reducing its habitat and freedom, finally having to hide for self protection.  The law of the jungles is the survival of the fittest. But, I have often thought that there is a larger outlook to life which is 'place and opportunity for all', which is what is the foundation for cordial living in civil society!

We are humans by our behaviour, because we are people of reason, logic, values and relational in orientation. 

This humanitarian view of life is being replaced of late, in public narration and practice by imposing the rights of the might on others. 

During the recently concluded national elections in India, we watched the prime minister using derogatory, accusatory and demeaning language to seek public support for his party; the president of the congress party accusing the prime minster as chor without respite and a confrontational electioneering in West Bengal under the watchful eye of its chief minister. The national print and visual media mostly was partisan and promoted a 'hateful' outlook towards those who opposed an ideological mind set of the ruling party. Ever since I became politically aware, I have watched ten national elections during my life time. This recent election pronounced the obituary of code of ethics in political morality. The jungle law of the 'end justifying the means' in human conduct has received sanction and exoneration.

Now it is the turn of doctors in India to go on strike for 24 hours on 17th June, 2019 in sympathy for junior doctors who suffered violent attack on them while on duty in West Bengal. This infuriated the doctors in Kolkota and they have been on the street for 72 hours. The reaction of the local and national political leadership so far has been equally disturbing with unwillingness to be proactive to resolve the issue!

India as a nation is a signatory to the charter to alternate dispute resolution and has a well established set up at the judiciary level, to seek the involvement of arbitrators to start the dispute resolution process between the government and the striking doctors. 

Don't our leaders care for the safety of our doctors and behave as custodians of their freedom to practice medicine in a fair and affirming environment! Don't the doctors care to pause and reflect on the enormous damage they would impose on patients who would go unattended because the doctors go on strike! Don't the judiciary who is quick to opine suo moto even on mundane matters want to instruct the government and the doctors to come to the negotiating table! There are scores of public interest litigations that are filed at the  honourable High and Supreme courts on diverse matters to which courts give consent to consider! Why there are no public interest litigations filed in the courts to highlight the risk to human lives when doctors go on strike and the damaging impact caused by the indifference of the government to the legitimate needs of doctors- safety at workplace!

Even the order calling the attention of the government to settle the matter issued by the honourable Culcutta High Court in this matter is so anaemic that it has not prompted the doctors or the government to come to negotiating table. Hopefully this would happen between today and tomorrow! 

To me, this is a progression from obituary of code of ethics during the national election to the euthanasia of ethics. 

We through our indifferent behaviour kill the code of ethics except that it is not 'mercy killing' but a murder! The doctors who resort to strike violate their vocation to serve the needs of patients at all cost and at all times. By resorting to striking from work, they threaten this foundation of medical ethics. By the political masters looking the other way when the doctors suffer injury at work place, they frustrate the vocation of the doctors by disregarding their human rights.  

Why is that there are no protest marches in the streets initiated by the civil society to call upon the government to arbitrate and find a solution to this ugly state of affairs in health care! Is not the civil society the moral conscience of the nation, when the needs of the majority are at stake! 

The west Bengal Chief Minister is sieged in despair  by the under performance of her party in the recent national elections and the political masters at the central government seem to be gloating over their overwhelming performance in the elections. Both governments seem to be frozen at their thought level! The Prime Minister of India is else where in the world and his approach is proverbial silence when it hurts others! 

Let me request the medical profession to refrain from striking from work on 17 June, 2019. May we be those who practice the vocation of medicine even in adverse circumstances because that alone would befit us to be seen  as humane! Let the leaders in the medical profession who carry weight with the governments offer to negotiate and buy time to settle the matter amicably!

Let me remind the governments at West Bengal and New Delhi, that they know how to act and what to do when there is a cyclone and rain created devastation! So exercise the same emergency view of the situation, when millions in India would have no doctors to attend on them when doctors go on strike! Don't our leaders feel the pain of doctors when they have to work under threat to their lives! Doesn't it call for an emergency response! 

It looks that it is convenient to bury the code of ethics, whether in medical practice or in civil administrative  practice! If so, it is euthanasia of the code of ethics, which is a frightening and demoralising thought!

But I still live with hope and expectations that the doctors and the civil administration would be at the negotiating table in the next 24 hours!

M.C.Mathew (text and photo)

Perception and truth!

I was taken a back by this bird without one of its legs. It stayed on being on its one leg for a while. I was about four hundred meters away from this bird and had to depend on the telephoto lens to ascertain whether one of his limbs was amputated. My mind kept wandering over the possible accidents the bird would have suffered from from its flights or habitat. 

It took a few minutes for the bird to extend its flexed limb, which appeared earlier as an amputated limb. It was back on both its limbs and singing its bird song. 

I believed that the bird had an amputated limb for a few minutes. That is how I perceived it through my telephoto lens.

I suffered from two distortions. I was at a distance and did not have a 360 degree view of the bird. 

I walked back home from the farm carrying this insightful discovery of this morning: many things, events, feelings, sights, tales...etc. have perceptual and truthful dimensions. I realised how I live in the perceptual dimension sometimes without being patient and pursuant to go beyond to discover the truth which lies beyond the perception. This is a crucial and critical defining dimension in all relationships. 

I have recollected some instances in the recent past, how when I was willing to leave behind the perceptions, the truth liberated me from suspicion, anger or fear. 

It is 'truth that shall set you free', according to Jesus of Nazareth. 

A domestic helper who behaved in a truant way, was slipping into substance abuse. I perceived him to be irresponsible. But he was getting addicted to overcome his personal upheaval on account of stress and discord. So that changed my perception from being angry to being thoughtful and supportive. 

Let us verify whether our perceptions are truthful! It calls for greater attention and scrutiny of our belief practices. 

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

A song from far away!

It took me about half an hour of search to locate this bird singing from within the thick foliage of a teak tree, fifty meters high! Its birdsong was different from the usual and invited my attention because it was tuneful and distinct. It sounded melodious and stirred me within. 

The early morning and late afternoons are considered to be the 'golden hours' to sight birds. It amazes me how these birds make the garden come alive by their presence and birdsongs. The trees and shrubs which remain silent for the rest of the time, except when the birds are in flight between trees. 

The silence of the trees and the presence of the birds are two realities which became rather personal to me during the three weeks I have been at home recently.

The trees are silent except when the wind blows over them. The music of the wind by blowing over the leaves is present all through the day and night, but not often noticed or heard. The difference between the gentle breeze and a strong wind is that the gentle breeze cleanse the leaves from the dust and dirt and creates tuneful sounds. A strong wind might break away the leaves and branches from the tree. Even when the trees are silently present, the wind produces the music by moving the leaves. The music is given to the tree, by the wind. As I watched this for days together during this recent weeks, it occurred to me that life itself is musical if only we allow the experiences of each day to move us to give away the music of kindness, graceful attitudes, thoughtful responses, mindful behaviour, etc. Each experience is like the wind that moves the leaves of the trees to produce music in the air !

The presence of the birds on the trees makes the trees come alive because the birds produce another music. The tree becomes the source for another song! In one sense it is the presence of the birds in the trees which announces the presence of the trees. It is as though the music of the leaves and the birdsongs from the trees create an orchestra in the mornings and evenings all around us. This orchestra in nature  is universal, telling us the story of the symphony we are surrounded with. The bird calls are wake up calls to draw us close to nature ! The canopy of sky above and the earth below that gives us the vegetation, is a cosmos that envelops us in its abundance ! There is no room for anyone to feel lonely how much ever one might be under the stress of living! There is a music given to our soul from the trees and the birds. They sing for us unasked for! 

Yesterday, we felt the loneliness of a family, when we heard their struggle to find a place for their adolescent daughter, to give her a vocational orientation and life skill preparation, as she no longer benefits from her regular schooling!There is no song in their lives. 

We are given a song to resonate this song of awareness of others around us and lead them to experience wakefulness and to find provision for their journey!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

Travails of life!

This tree in our garden has been pruned almost every year for the last thirty years, as much as I can remember. The tree carries the marks and signs of having had its branches cut several times. It has survived all of these years and still is strong in its growth. Its leaves and stems are useful for a former. The leaves are rich as an organic manure. The stems are useful as fire wood. So this tree has often been utilitarian in function. Most farms have a few of these trees. 

One experience I come across in my conversations with people is how they feel used and not valued.

A driver who has been working in an organisation shared with me his story that moved me. He reached the retirement age. It is usual practice that the organisation offers an extension to some whose service has been outstanding. He is one such faithful and diligent worker. When the offer came, he was asked to work on days when he is needed at half the salty that he was drawing for less than the minimum daly wages prescribed for eight hours of work. To me it was devastating news. 

Having known this particular person, quiet tempered, relational and conscientious, I felt the pain of the insult he suffered. 

Let me suggest that we live in such an environment where people feel used and not valued. They have heaviness of heart and enormous sense of 'not feeling wanted'!

I too am familiar with similar experiences myself! Others make you feel 'not needed' by deliberately ignoring or belittling you.

In a conversation with this person, I was able to bring his attention to the different skills he carries and the wide experience have had to pick up the pieces of his life to earn enough to support the family. However this experience from an organisation  which he served sincerely is something that hurts him!

All of us carry experiences of feeling 'reduced' by the attitude of others with whom we had close association! 

What sustains me in such occasions is a growing consciousness within me: Life is larger in dimension,  depth and purpose than what others attribute or perceive! 

Our life is a theatre of God's presence and purpose. That is a consolation and comfort!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

All in one afternoon!

With the water stream getting depleted of water, there are lesser number of dragonflies in our vicinity now. 

So it was a visual feast to watch three dragonflies, in different hues of black and white. It was a sight that refreshed me. They are beautiful and elegant in appearance! They exist quietly in the edge of our property and fly about escaping the attention of Daffny and Dulcie, who normally notice every intruder in and around our house and announce their disapproval by their reciprocal barking! Tiers is a quiet existence.

Anna and I have had longer working hours in the last six weeks often returning home only after dusk. Our Sundays too have also been away form our home in the recent weeks. So we have not been so much in touch with birds, butterflies, dragon flies, etc in our property.

There is a place for quiet existence. I reflected over how I lived for five years till 2017. I was driven by my responsibilities at CMC Vellore in its governing board, which took me to Vellore 102 times in five years. Every visit was centred around important happenings. At the end of the five years, I felt depleted and reduced. It is one instance in my life when I indulged in giving without planning to do so in measured away. After the stressful period of broken relationships and a miserable feeling of having to consent to some choices which lacked a wholesome approach, when I relinquished my responsibility, there was a sense of return to living normally. It is now one year since I relinquished the responsibility. 

I received a letter from the institution of relieving me of my responsibility after one year of my request. I felt unsettled that it took such a long time to send me a courteous letter of gratitude!

I share this to make us aware that, it is a virtue to grow in graciousness, forgiveness and politeness, even in intimidating circumstances. So the year 2018 is a year of significance in my life, when I turned 70 years and needed recovery and healing from huts and wounds. I took time to send my note of gratitude and confession to most people, except one person, to whom I shall send such a letter shortly! 

There is so much which happen outside of us as well us inside of us! 

When I decide to take walk in the property around the house, I met with three dragonflies. I felt refreshed in sighting them.

When we decide to walk 'within' we shall come across all that got submerged in the subconscious and  conscious levels of our being! They too can bring us refreshment and renewal as we process them and facilitate them to be 'integrated' into the wider expanse of our being!  

Life is for living and learning!

We live grounded in the goodness of God, whose abode within us makes our inner being a sacred place where we view others through the optic of others being companions in the journey, for whom we create space for them to be themselves! 

We arrive to be true to ourselves and others, when we let others live in tier space and honour them for who they are! When I feel trespassed by others unsettling me, I am learning to move away to find a new space. 

'Let go and Let it be'- this is how I summarise the personal discovery I am making about relating in difficult times. 

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

A quiet place to sleep sunbathing!

I watched this cat come to the wicket gate of our garden and a little later, I found it sleeping! Was it sunbathing! 

This is one of the three cats that regularly visit us. If Dulcie or Daffny do not notice and spare their barking till they leave the garden, all of them at different times settle down for their nap or sunbathing in the garden. Sometimes they try to squeeze into the house if the window shutters are open. They are friendly enough that we do not chase them out!

Cats usually have their babies in our barn, which is open without an enclosure. That is the time when they are protective and refuse to be chased out. Our domestic helpers feed them at least one meal. 

Cats chase away rats. We have noticed it sometimes. 

These cats visit most of our neighbourhood homes and beg for food. 

No wonder animal activists persuade us to be generous towards animals. Their subsistence gets affected by human 'invasion' of the environment, where they neither find shelter or food sometimes. 

In some homes in Britain, we noticed a cat flap for their doors, allowing cats to come in and go out! They get domesticated over a period of time. There is free veterinary care available for such cats. Katharine and Peter whom we visited a few months back regretted that their regular visitor no more comes at night!

Yes, it is necessary to create animal friendly environment.

M.C.Mathew(text nad photo)

   

Rain and its effects !

I feel for the farmers, who are waiting for respite from rain to sow their seeds! I met the farmer, who owns their farm on way to work, who was waiting for his field to be ploughed to sow the seeds. But the rain is delaying it! 

When I came back home, I received the news that the boundary wall that is being built broke down in the rain! This wall had fallen in the August rainfall. Now when it is being rebuilt, it got damaged again.

On returning from the site, I watched a solitary White Ibis at the other end of the stream waiting for its catch of fish! These water birds come to places which was inundated recently! This was the  firs migrant bird of the season in our village that I spotted!

So for some heavy rain is not a welcome experience, but for the waterbirds the more is the rain, the merrier are they! 

So there is always something good in nature and in our experiences! 

It is necessary to turn our attention to the good things that are around us! 

As I was climbing the steps to reach home, I met our neighbour, who supplies milk to us everyday with a head load of grass for the cows. He talked delightfully about the thick growth of grass after the recent rains. It has made it easy for him to find grass each day for the cows. As they feed now on fresh grass, they produce more milk according to him. But the bunch of banana over the grass was from an uprooted plant, during the recent rain! 

The masons who are building the wall came this morning to express their regret about the collapsed wall! To me that was more than a goodwill of thoughtfulness! 

To tune into the good things that happen around is one way of the ways of staying centred! The difficulties are occasions for reflection and pondering!

M.C.Mathew(text and Photo) 

Obstacle and overcoming!

There is resonance within me to what is stated in the heading of the article! Mr Kamal Hassan is profoundly sound and perceptive! He is moving into politics from the film world.

' I cannot' is a script that some of us carry within ourselves! A script is a subconscious inhibition. The opposite is not, 'I can ', but 'let me be myself'! The injunctions which the school of psychology of Transactional Analysis refers to are a tool to process our mind set.

To arrive to be oneself is the safest position to journey towards wellness !

M.C.Mathew

Music is a confluence!

At the end of the performance of this instrumentalists, I asked a musician sitting next to me as to how they could perform with different instruments in such harmony! He replied, 'hours of practice'!

This set in motion a train of thoughts in my mind! The instrumentalists can bring such an uplifting confluence of different musical instruments because they agreed to play together following the musical notes and harmonies with each other! It is a commitment for harmony!

I have been through some intensely difficult situation where the leadership of an organisation had a differing approach to some major issues facing them. What resulted was disorder and disregard for each other, which still continue!

Any work we are engaged in is a confluence of intent and content, through the volitional efforts of every one involved! Any discordance intentional or incidental diffuses the outcome!

Yesterday my colleagues got ready the reading room after two days of preparation! When we walk in to the reading room, what is striking is the fresh ambience of the room with the neatly arranged books in the shelf. They even got ready the cataloguing of the books in the computer! It was a demonstration of confluence of efforts from everyone!

I wonder whether this way of looking at our work place relationships would be the norm rather than an exception! We are made 'fully alive' when we incorporate others into the orbit our thinking, and planning collaboratively!

We live reduced lives when we keep our doors shut to others or go our way looking for our own identity and personal success! W have a shared identity, in which others are part of our lives!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)  

A high way scene at 3 pm !

The heavy down pour since four days made travel difficult with even some parts of the high ways cris-crossing the state of Kerala closed! It was on Sunday this spell of heavy rain started! 

All along some roads, loaded trucks are parked as access to towns in and around Ernakulum are in accessible because of submergence of roads!   

One driver has been waiting for a week with his load to deliver at Perumbavoor! 

There is a shortage of potato, onion and some fresh vegetables in the market. 

The weather forecast for the week end is gloomy!

I wish we would discover all the humanly created factors for weather changes and flooding and take corrective measures!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo) 

Swollen Periyar!

It is a frightening sight with the river breaching its sides and submerging vast land, in and around Kalady, Alwaye, Kalamssery ! 

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

Two photos!

The first photo is all about the dew in the night. The second one portrays the life of a butterfly.

These two photos of the recent weeks made a lot of sense to me while I was preparing to enter the seventh decade of my life recently!

The first reminded me of what I shall be given without having to labour for it. The second one reminded me of my responsibility to find what has been already provided for me in my environment. 

This tells me of the way we are called to live! To receive gracefully what we are given and be proactive to find what we need for our wellness! 

I have not been regular in my daily walk due to various reasons in the recent weeks! I find my physical wellness when I spend time exercising physically! This was a message of significance to me!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo) 

A new look to our conference room!

Thanks to my colleagues who spent hours getting the last six years of the department of developmental paediatrics and child neurology summarised in 11 bulletin boards during this week. I felt touched by their enthusiasm and creativity ! Every year we have had contacts with about three thousand families and their children! From a small beginning in 2012 to where we are is a story of much encouragement!

It is only when we pause we can discover the significance of the small things we were able to do and their outcome, which was more than we imagined! My colleagues reminded me yesterday that the majority of children who come to visit us with their neuro-developmental needs are pre-school children. I wish this would further change with more infants and toddlers coming so that there is greater prospect of modifiability of their developmental trajectory!

As I recall, there has been something or the other which was refreshing and promising, happening within the department, because of which we felt encouraged to go on thus far! There were seven marriages of our colleagues! That itself is a reason to celebrate!

It was a worthwhile period of growth even for me in understanding the joy of working collaboratively!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

The marriage symbol!

I found this in the backstage of a marriage reception, just behind the newly married couple was sitting. 

What a message for all of us who are married and intend to get married! Anna and I felt blessed by the intent of the way of living, the couple expressed in this symbol!

From 'I' to 'WE' is a life long journey! It begins with the spoken marriage vows between the couple and grows into a living reality!

Anna and I noticed it and took it to our hearts to embrace it as a living reality even more!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo) 

Farmers in distress!

One message that distressed me was the story of an owner of a rubber plantation. He decided to cut down the rubber trees which were yielding well, which would have continued to do so for another 20 years. But for five years now in  a row the price of rubber is half of what it was used to be that he is not able to maintain the plantation with no income over the expenditure. 

According to him he is just one of the hundreds of the owners of rubber plantation, who are turning to other farming in order to survive financially. 

While in the timber market, forty out of sixty or so trucks carried rubber wood. So it confirmed his story!

The import of rubber from other countries and the concerted efforts of the tyre manufacturers to use artificial rubber have caused the damage, eclipsing the prospects of natural rubber retaining its earlier price level.  

The perception is that the government favours the multinational companies and they have a hold on the policy to import! 

A farmer suffers and looses his livelihood! I was asked by the narrator of this story,'Does anyone care'!

I came back form the timber market in distress! Not that I have any answer, but I have been moved!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo) 

Memories!

We live with our memories! The rose garden has many stalks of old flowers! After the stalk is dry we prune the stem to have fresh sprouts!

It is good to revisit our memories and refresh the memories, with a question, 'What is that I want to remember !

I struggle with this a lot!

There is a place for difficult experiences in our memory because they might have been formative and redemptive! But if we flood our thoughts with such memories alone, we are likely to keep our perspectives grey!

Make a habit of regular audit of memories of our past, relationships, events and experiences...In doing so, we can declutter our memories and arrange our interior with what is, 'good, upbuilding and gracious..'! 

The new bud in the picture springs from the stem that  bore  flowers earlier. A new life would emerge when we prune and tame our memories.

There is a new life that is longing to emerge, if only we can let go of our memories which make us prisoners of the past and restrict the fullness of life we cherish. Let us welcome the new, which  can be full of hope, cheer and insights!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo) 

A bird feeder!

Amy along with Ethan designed this for bird feeding, when they were with us as family for a while! For Amy it was a way of recollecting her childhood experience of having birds at home.

I have seen birds sit and watch and is yet to come to feed! Anna and I feel good that this announces that we have a bird friendly garden!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

The leaves and flowers!

One insight that dawned on me while going over the photographs of the rose flowers I took recently, was that the focus was on the flowers. So the leaves were out of focus in all the photographs. 

Is there something for us to learn from this!

What is visible and impressive invite our attention and others remain unnoticed. 

It occurred to me that it is the leaves which give the flowers their richness and colour contrast. The stem and leaves provide support to the flower and give even shade and protection.

Yesterday during a conversation with a family, what was evident was this truth! How much the family support and adjust to take care of the interests of the children and to let them progress in the diversity of their interests. It was moving to hear the mother share her experiences of the efforts he was making to let her two children develop their talents by giving full attention to their interests. 

We arrive in life where we are, because others give us the support and encouragement!  

So I went back to take some pictures where the leaves are on focus! That is when I realised that the leaves are also under attack from pests!

The care givers too need care and attention lest they get damaged in the process of giving life to others!


M.C.Mathew (text and photo)

Bird family !

This is the best picture I could capture at dusk without a zoom lens!

However this picture came alive to me when I heard them sing to each other almost reciprocally for a while. It was a strong wind prior to a down pour which interrupted the singing and them flying off to a safer place! 

They were male and female birds form what I could make out both form their physical features and the way they sang. The male birds sang with multiple tones and with a melody. The females were different in their tunes. 

What says with me of this sighting and singing of a bird family is how they flew in together to rest on this tree and flew away together to a far away place. There was an inherent harmony. 

I saw this captivating scene while in a recovery phase of a difficult situation where harmony wast at risk in relationships in a situation I was recently involved! 

What brings us together is our sense of belonging! Three children were playing with a handball in the garden. One of them fell down and bruised himself. The other two stopped playing and walked him home! I asked them, whey they stopped playing! The two boys told me, 'we stopped playing, because Ben was hurt'! A remarkable view of shared living!

I wish, we would learn to keep that value as inherent to our calling!

M.C.Mathew