Category Archives: article on feedback

FASCINATING LINES AND QUOTES

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‘If you don’t read the newspaper, you’re uninformed. If you read the newspaper, you’re misinformed.’—Mark Twain

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‘Man is what his faith is.’—says Krishna

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‘How can you govern a country which has 246 varieties of cheese?’—Charles De Gaulle

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‘You dream of things as they are and ask, “Why?” I dream of things that never were and ask, “why not?”’—Bernard Shaw

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‘But sometimes the warrior hears older people saying: “when I stop working, I will be free.” A year later, those same people are complaining:  “Life is all boring routine.” In this case freedom is difficult to understand. It means absence of meaning.’—Paulo Coelho

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‘Often it isn’t the mountains ahead that wear you out. It’s the little pebble in your shoe’—Muhammad Ali

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‘There are three methods to gaining wisdom. The first is reflection, which is the highest. The second is limitation, which is the easiest. The third is experience, which is the bitterest.’—Confucius

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There is a song: ‘When the day is dark and dreary and the way is hard to find, don’t let your heart be weary, just keep this thought in mind.’

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‘Study the past if you could divine the future’—Confucius

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‘Past always casts a shadow on the present.’

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‘There is only success and failure and between status quo.’

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‘If you have eight hours to do a job, for six hours sharpen your saw’—Abraham Lincoln

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‘In the art of conveying don’t mis-convey.’

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‘He who knows when he can fight and when he cannot, will be victorious’—Sun Tzu

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‘When you remember someone, that someone also remembers you.’

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By Kamlesh Tripathi

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Share if you like it

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Shravan Charity Mission is an NGO that works for poor children suffering from life threatening diseases. Should you wish to donate for the cause the bank details are given below:

NAME OF ACCOUNT: SHRAVAN CHARITY MISSION

Account no: 680510110004635 (BANK OF INDIA)

IFSC code: BKID0006805

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Our publications

GLOOM BEHIND THE SMILE

ONE TO TANGO … RIA’S ODYSSEY

AADAB LUCKNOW … FOND MEMORIES

REFRACTIONS … FROM THE PRISM OF GOD

(CAN BE BOUGHT FROM ON LINE BOOK STORES OR WRITE TO US FOR COPIES)

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DOORIYAN

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DISTANCE-DOORIYAN

        

       The sneaking distance … dooriyan had germinated long ago. But it had begun to flower only now. I wasn’t aware of it nor was my God. And there weren’t any signs of it either. Not even a whoosh of an air. Even when the roots beneath may have been screaming about it, for a long time now. In the hope of a bright future perhaps, the venom was held back, for far too long. So, on the face of it there wasn’t even a chisel of hate but no one knew what was brewing inside.

    He had parted long ago. Shama then, was young. And what followed was a serpentine struggle, all the way to get her children up to the root and wings in the hurricane of life. Affluence had eluded her and miseries had surrounded her. Where, I had sneaked in as her isthmus between the devil and the deep blue sea that is the horrid present and the unseen and unknown future. She kept accepting in warm grace, things I was doing for her and feigned happiness all the while in return. But the tempest was only building in her. Perhaps, she was angry with her own destiny and the person who had written it but she couldn’t have challenged him. The damning offshoots of which, she had even passed it on to her children for the final onslaught that was still to come.

    Uneasy years had flown by and her challenges had somewhat leveled. Life was beginning to smile at her again as she had almost passed the upstream. But hatred is the steepest upstream they say. And all throughout her overwhelming jinx I thought I was her steersman but she had carved me as the conman.

    For all the unpleasant things that had ripped her life, she now wanted a villain to blame squarely and that was me. Perhaps, she was blindfolded when she encountered destiny and later thought it was just another me. She delighted in praising select others for all the good things that had happened in her life and for the incorrigible turmoil and shaky vicissitudes it was me. She walked around with upbraided vanity claiming all the ancestry as she gradually passed the lethal baton to her restless children who were breathing fire.

    Time had flown in an unsurprising gush. There were murmurs one day that the villain too had parted or was he done away with. No one knew. But there were smiles and the wicked smiles all around. She had sighed in ecstasy after an eon. It was all bright and beautiful around her. As, she, had finally attained complete, unquestionable ancestry. The villain had finally gone.

    Ceremoniously her time kept ticking and with that her ambitions kept upgrading until one day Shama saw the first spectre of another villain in her life and this time it was her own grown up child.

posted by Kamlesh Tripathi

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WHATSAPP GROUP CHAT

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    So much time they have—In other words a universe of a time. One chat message and there are twenty responses, and then the domino effect starts—for I can’t be left behind, says the egocentric mind. I’m talking about the whatsapp group in our RWA. Where, one gets to feel as if the whole society has become a beehive—infested by a swarm of predatory flies. Thriving on some lethal one-upmanship—where the killing field is the chat box itself. As and when, you flag an issue. The views of members start flooding in instantaneously even when they are variegated. Normally, they display cool courtesy. Occasionally they trade nagging heat and at times they even explode. But there are many fire tenders to keep the situation under control.

    The chat moves at the speed of sound if not light. After all, it houses a powerhouse. Where, most are domain experts, some the last word, few are litterateurs and writers. Not to forget the DJs, digital and security experts, and the event managers. And needless to say that everyone is a Mr know all.

    You are constantly on guard. At the beep of those frequent chat notifications. Irrespective of the fact, whether you’re in office or in the cool confines of your home. There is always an issue at hand. Blown out of proportion by excessive interaction. Where, every member has to make that metaphoric superlative comment—meri kameez tumhare kameez se ziada safed hai. Because you need to be in the circuit to remain relevant. So at least send a thumbs up. The quantum of notifications is so much. That if you wish to read them all. You’ll not have time for anything else. 

    Every minute there is a notification. So it is democracy at its best. Issues could be halka or even routine. But viewpoints need to be weighty with a tinge of metaphysics and farsightedness. Considering the legion of scholastic personalities residing in the society.

    But where will all this lead to. Frankly speaking no one knows. As most are shooting from the hip. But I guess it’s about time to lay-off for some time. To, do something more relevant, soothing and satisfying. And let the society be in the safe hands of too many cooks. Hopefully they won’t spoil the broth.

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By Kamlesh Tripathi

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                                                        https://kamleshsujata.wordpress.com

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Share if you like it

*

Shravan Charity Mission is an NGO that works for poor children suffering from life threatening diseases. Should you wish to donate for the cause the bank details are given below:

NAME OF ACCOUNT: SHRAVAN CHARITY MISSION

Account no: 680510110004635 (BANK OF INDIA)

IFSC code: BKID0006805

*

Our publications

GLOOM BEHIND THE SMILE

ONE TO TANGO … RIA’S ODYSSEY

AADAB LUCKNOW … FOND MEMORIES

REFRACTIONS … FROM THE PRISM OF GOD

(CAN BE BOUGHT FROM ON LINE BOOK STORES OR WRITE TO US FOR COPIES)

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HIDDEN FACTS

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By Kamlesh Tripathi

hidden-facts2

 

HIDDEN FACTS

 

A survey shows around 70% of Indians are non-vegetarian these days.

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There is a huge amount of debate about GM crops these days. It has tremendous potential to impact on yields if used with appropriate safeguards. Without GM we need another 175-222 million hectares of farmland to feed our population.

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China on demand side, is trying to nudge its population towards a more vegetarian diet.

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One estimate pegs the economic loss because of Bengaluru traffic congestion at Rs 3,700 crore a year; including a whopping 50 crore litres of annual fuel losses. Extrapolate these figures to Delhi, Mumbai and other Indian cities and we have a full-blown economic crisis on hand.

hidden-facts

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Traffic jams: I can easily do 5 or more meetings in a day even if they are spread across Singapore or any European city. In Delhi or Bengaluru, I can never plan more than 2 or maximum 3.”—Rishi Seth—A PR and marketing start-up person.

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Gadkari’s ministry measures its performance in kilometres of new roads built per year. What good are these new roads, or the existing roads for that matter, when they are rank incapable of moving people and goods quickly—Rishi Seth, PR and marketing startup professional.

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India has the worst record of road accident deaths in the world; every four minutes a person dies on our roads.

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India is held at ranson by some of the most corrupt and incompetent civic bodies.

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WHO’s report on Road Safety 2015 gave India a rating of 3 or 4 out of 10 for enforcement of laws on speed limits, drunk driving or wearing helmets on two wheelers.

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Tata sons is into over 100 lines of business.

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hiddenfacts1

In 2016 air passengers in India grew by an impressive 23.17%

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Nearly 4% of New Zealand’s population is of Indian origin and Hindi is the third most widely spoken language in Auckland.

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India is New Zealand’s largest source of skilled migrants and 29,000 Indian students are currently enrolled at our academic institutions making them the 2nd largest overseas student population studying in New Zealand.

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India’s GDP is valued today at $2 trillion. Amitabh Kant, chief executive of Niti Aayog says if all goes well it could touch $10 trillion by 2032. A shorter term assessment would have it reaching $ 5 trillion in the next decade, by 2025-26

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India is now the fastest growing major aviation market—the number of air passengers has been growing more than 20% year-on-year. In the past 12 months, more than 9 crore passengers flew and another 5 crores  or so flew internationally. In the next few years India will become the 3rd largest aviation market in the world after the US and China.

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EVEN#WOMEN #MPs NEED TO BE REMINDED ABOUT ARCHAIC #ABORTION LAWS IN INDIA

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By Kamlesh Tripathi

 

 

    There are 544 members in the 16th Lok Sabha, and 244 members in the Rajya Sabha, which totals up to 788 MPs. Out of this there are 93 women MPs. That includes the powerful speaker of Lok-Sabha who happens to be a lady. And, yet they don’t have the time and will, and needed to be reminded about the draft Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Bill, 2014. Pending for a long time now. I am more than sure they all understand the seriousness about abortion laws. Especially, when the foetus has abnormalities or is an ugly consequence of a rape. The editorial in Times of India is an apt reminder not only to our women MPs, who should use women power to get the bill through but even to all our legislators. Currently the apex courts are doing the job of legislators. Read the article below.

IT’S HER BODY

Today’s society and science demand an upgrade of the abortion law 1971

    Parliament’s lackluster pace of legislating leaves citizens suffering various outdated laws. Two cases in the courts this week draw attention to the human costs of a delay in amending the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971—even though an updated draft has been on the table for years. Both cases concern the medical terminations of pregnancy being permitted only up to 20 weeks, a limit that made sense in terms of society and science four decades ago but is seriously out of step with the many developments since. When law’s failure to keep pace with science and global best practices becomes the cause of citizen’s suffering, its very purpose is subverted.

In one case on Monday the Supreme Court allowed a rape survivor to terminate her 24-week old pregnancy. This is the first judicially sanctioned abortion beyond 20 weeks. It followed upon a medical board reporting severe abnormalities in the foetus and its threatening implications for the petitioner. The point of note is that medical technology today can disclose much more information about the foetus after 20 weeks than earlier. Plus, it can make termination of the pregnancy safe for the carrying woman even at 24 weeks.

In another case also on Monday the Delhi high court granted similar relief to a teenaged rape survivor, provided an AIIMS medical panel certifies that the abortion of her 25-week foetus would be safe for this minor. Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi told the apex court that the existing law, with its 2002 amendment, is adequate to handling pregnancy complications warranting abortion after 20 weeks. But the above two cases show that women stuck in such a situation have to seek an exception through the courts, which imposes additional trauma upon women who are already traumatized. Given the logjam at our courts, this also leaves their life in a race against time.

The draft Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Bill, 2014 provides for abortion beyond 20 weeks under well defined conditions such as if mother’s life is endangered or the pregnancy is caused by rape. Centre should push for this updated legislation instead of upholding a status quo scripted four decades ago. Medical opinion and women’s groups are agreed and it is not even politically contentious. Every delay in passing an upgrade endangers many women’s lives.

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Short story: The Rabbit and the frog

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    At some time in the past there were three rabbits, who in the peak of summers assembled near the dry bushes of a nearby strawberry plant in a park. Since, there was nothing available to eat in the fields because of the intense heat they were very hungry. And also quite troubled by the pet dogs that used to escort the walkers both in the mornings and in the evenings. Further, all the bushes in the field had dried up and were without any leaves. So, they couldn’t even hide behind them to keep away from predators, and upon being chased by stray dogs, they used to get a camouflage with great difficulty. With all these day to day problems they had become quite weary of their lives.

    One day one rabbit in frustration said—‘God has done great injustice to our species. He has made us extremely small and weak. As he has neither given us pointed horns like the deer nor sharp paws like the cat. We have no weapon to defend ourselves from our enemies. The only thing we can do is to run away from everyone. From all corners the creator of this world has only created disasters for us.

    The second rabbit in desperation said—‘I am extremely scared of this pitiable and tentative life of mine. So, I have decided to drown myself in the pond.’

    The third one giving up on life said—‘Even I want to die as I cannot take this sorrow anymore. So, I’m just going to jump into that pond and drown myself.’

    ‘So, let’s all go with you. Since, we all have lived together, we shall also die together.’ Voiced the first rabbit. And they all left for the pond.

    Meanwhile, some frogs that were lying and lazing around the pond. When they saw these rabbits approaching, panicked and quickly started jumping into the pond.  And upon seeing them doing so the first rabbit suddenly stopped and said, ‘brothers! There is no need to give up on our lives, come let’s go back. Because in this world created by God there are even smaller and weaker beings than us, who live and survive, so why should we get demoralized with life and try to kill ourselves?’

    Heeding the advice of the first rabbit they all decided to do away with the thought of committing suicide and returned.

Moral of the story: Whenever, you feel you are surrounded by serious problems that scare you to death, lookout for people in this world who are sadder and poorer than you, who are sick and prone to difficulties. That will make you realize how better off you are and will remove the fright of life in you.

Share it if you like it

Translated by Kamlesh Tripathi

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https://kamleshsujata.wordpress.com

*

Share it if you like it

*

Shravan Charity Mission is an NGO that works for poor children suffering from life threatening diseases. Should you wish to donate for the cause the bank details are given below:

NAME OF ACCOUNT: SHRAVAN CHARITY MISSION

Account no: 680510110004635 (BANK OF INDIA)

IFSC code: BKID0006805

*

Our publications

GLOOM BEHIND THE SMILE

(Archived in 7 prestigious libraries of the US, including, Harvard University and Library of Congress. It can also be accessed in MIT through Worldcat.org. Besides, it is also available for reading in Libraries and archives of Canada and Cancer Aid and Research Foundation Mumbai)  

ONE TO TANGO … RIA’S ODYSSEY

(Archived in Connemara Library, Chennai and Delhi Public Library, GOI, Ministry of Culture)

AADAB LUCKNOW … FOND MEMORIES

(Launched in Lucknow International Literary Festival 2014)

REFRACTIONS … FROM THE PRISM OF GOD

(Co-published by Cankids–Kidscan, a pan India NGO and Shravan Charity Mission, that works for Child cancer in India. The book is endorsed by Ms Preetha Reddy, MD Apollo Hospitals Group. Book was launched in Lucknow International Literary Festival 2016)

TYPICAL TALE OF AN INDIAN SALESMAN

Story of an Indian salesman who is lowly qualified but fights his ways through uncertainities to reach the top. A good read for all salesmen. Book launched on 10th February, 2018 in Gorakhpur Lit-Fest. Now available in Amazon.com and Flipkart

(CAN BE BOUGHT FROM ON LINE BOOK STORES OR WRITE TO US FOR A COPY)

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Article: A PEEP INTO UNAFFILIATED RELIGION

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By Kamlesh Tripathi

 

 

    Time has come for epiphany of ‘unaffiliated religion.’ A sizable population of the world today lives without aligning with any religion as you will read in this narration. The question is how? And how do they manage in this simmering world of religious intolerance. We all know religion is good for the essence of life. But what about religious intolerance and where does unaffiliated religion fit in. Well, no one has ready answers to these question, but one can definitely see the changing paradigms.

    Today, intolerance in every religion has increased manifold. There are fringe groups that have formed in almost every religion that shows intolerance towards other religions. But within all of this. There are still some spunky people. Who believe in the charisma of ‘unaffiliated religion.’ The population of ‘unaffiliated religion’ is around 16 % of the world population. The religiously unaffiliated number is 1.1 billion. Accounting for about one-in-six (16%) people worldwide. It includes atheists, agnostics and people who do not identify with any particular religion. However, many of the religiously unaffiliated. Do hold some religious or spiritual beliefs.

    Apart from unaffiliated religion. There is also irreligion. Which is the absence of religion or indifference towards religion or rejection of religion or even hostility towards religion. When termed as the rejection of religious belief. It engulfs explicit atheism, religious dissidence and secular humanism. And when characterized as hostility towards religion. It includes anti-clericalism, anti-religion and anti-theism.

    According to Pew Research Center’s 2012 global study of 230 countries. 16% of the world’s population is not affiliated to any particular religion, while 84% are affiliated. The interesting fact finding in Pew Research Center’s 2012 global study is: Out of the global non-religious population, 76% reside in Asia and the Pacific, while the remainder reside in Europe (12%), North America (5%), Latin America and the Caribbean (4%), Sub-Saharan Africa (2%) and the Middle East and North Africa (less than 1%).

    According to Pew Research Center projections. The population of the non-religious, though temporarily increasing, will ultimately decline significantly by 2050, because of lower reproductive rates and ageing.

    Being non-religious. Is not necessarily equivalent to being an atheist or agnostic. Pew Research Center’s global study from 2012 noted. That many of the non-religious actually have some religious beliefs. For example, they observed that “belief in God or a higher power is shared by 7% of Chinese unaffiliated adults, 30% of French unaffiliated adults and 68% of unaffiliated U.S. adults.”

    If we were to analyse it country and zone wise. The statistics (pertaining to unaffiliated religion) are even more interesting:

  • Out of a total unaffiliated religious population of around 1.1 billion. The ten most populous countries in respective order of population are China 700 million (52% of population), Japan 70 million (57%), USA 50 million (16%), Vietnam 26 million (30%), South Korea 22 million (46%), Germany 20 million (25%), France 18 million (28%), North Korea 17 million (71.3%), Brazil 15 million (7.9%), & U.K. 13 million (21%). This population totals up to 955 million which is 85% of the total population of unaffiliated religion.
  • If we were to take the first ten countries highest by respective order of percentage share of (Unaffiliated religion) population. They would be: Czech Republic 8 million (76%), North Korea 17 million (71%), Estonia (Baltic state) 0.8 million (60%), Japan 70 million (57%), Hongkong 0.4 million (56%), China 700 million (52%), South Korea 22 million (46%), Latvia (Baltic states) 1 million (44%), Netherlands 7 million (42%), Uruguay 1.4 million (41%). They comprise of 834 million which is 74% of their population.
  • There are six countries where the religiously unaffiliated make up a majority of their population: the Czech Republic (76%), North Korea (71%), Estonia (60%), Japan (57%), Hong Kong (56%) and China (52%).
  • The religiously unaffiliated are heavily concentrated in Asia and the Pacific. Where, more than three-quarters (76%) of the world’s unaffiliated population resides. The remainder is in Europe (12%), North America (5%), Latin America and the Caribbean (4%), sub-Saharan Africa (2%) and the Middle East and North Africa (less than 1%).
  • Although a majority of the religiously unaffiliated live in Asia and the Pacific. Only about one-in-five people (21%) in that region are unaffiliated. More than one-in-six people in Europe (18%) and North America (17%) are religiously unaffiliated. The unaffiliated make up smaller shares in the remaining regions. For instance, less than 1% of those who live in the Middle East-North Africa region are unaffiliated.
  • More than six-in-ten (62%) of all religiously unaffiliated people live in one country, China. The largest population of the religiously unaffiliated outside China are in Japan (6% of all unaffiliated), the United States (5%), Vietnam (2%) and Russia (2%).
  • The population of unaffiliated religion in India is only 0.87 million which is 0.07% of the entire population of the country.
  • There is a definite co-relation between the system of governance, ethos of live and religious fundamentalism and unaffiliated religion. For example take communist countries like China & North Korea where you will find the population of this community to be around 717 million which is about 64% of the entire population of unaffiliated religion. This is because of the regimentation of mindset that has forced people to stay non-aligned. If you take Islamic states, you will find the percentage of unaffiliated religion to be low because of religious fundamentalism.

    Median Age

    Globally, the religiously unaffiliated are older (median age of 34) than the overall global population (median age of 28). Among the five regions for which data are available, sub- Saharan Africa has the youngest population of religiously unaffiliated people (median age of 20), followed by Latin America and the Caribbean (26), North America (31) and Asia and the Pacific (35). Europe has the oldest unaffiliated population, with a median age of 37.

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Short story: THE KING AND THE GARDENER

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By Kamlesh Tripathi

 

Nausherwan the king of Faras was famous for his judicial acumen. He was a big philanthropist too. One day he set out with his ministers to go around the city to ascertain what all was happening. While going around he saw an old gardener in an orchard busy planting walnut saplings. The king entered the orchard and went up to him. He asked—‘are you a servant here or this is your own orchard?’

The gardener replied—‘My Lord I don’t serve anymore. This orchard was planted by my forefathers, so it belongs to me.’

The king said—‘you are planting these walnut saplings. But do you even know it takes twenty years for it to flower and bear fruits. Do you think you’ll live for twenty years to eat the fruits?’

The gardener heard the king dutifully and then politely said–‘My Lord, till now I had so many fruits from trees planted by others. Now it is my duty to plant trees for others. It will be extremely selfish on my part if I plant trees that only bear fruits for me.’

The king was extremely happy with the reply the old gardener had given and as a reward he gave him two asharfees (gold coins).

Moral of the story: One must continuously think of others as others have thought about us.

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SHORT STORY: CHILDREN-LIKE UNREAD BOOKS

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FLAMBOYANT parents student 2 student simple

    Once, there were two college students staying in the same housing society. They both were in class XII. But in different institutions. They both had working parents. One out of them was very flamboyant. Just like his parents who only believed in telling the world. How well they were doing and also, how well their child was doing in college. They had nursed big ambitions. That their child will qualify for the best professional college, from where no dream will be impossible.

    The other student was rather subdued, again, like his parents. He used to spend a lot of time in understanding about the merit and sweat required to get into a professional course through competition vis-a-vis his own capabilities.

    After clearing class XII exams. The subdued student took to the first professional course that he could qualify for and went his way. While, the flamboyant student decided to pursue higher and tougher ambitions based on his parent’s advice and his own overconfidence.

    Some years had passed when the subdued student after completing his professional degree had taken up a job in a midsize company, while the flamboyant student along with his parents was still busy making lofty plans of conquering the world.

    He kept trying for the best institutes. When, he couldn’t even get into the average ones. He became very selective on what he wanted to do. Without ever assessing his own capabilities. And a day came when he was neither in any professional college nor in a job, whereas the subdued student had completed half a decade of service and was now a manager in a big company.

    Children are like books. Unless you read the book end-to-end. You will neither understand the narration, plot, nor the end of it. Many parents are very good at reading only the first chapter of their child’s book and that too again and again, and that alone satisfies them beyond compare. They do not take the trouble of reading their child’s book end-to-end. This creates a lot of dissonance between what a child can do and what he is told to do.

    And mind you. The book on its own, will never come and tell you the narration, the plot and the end. On the contrary you will have to make an effort to read it.

    To know your child, read the complete book. Read all the chapters. For that alone will give a very clear view of his liking, desires, aspirations and capabilities vis-a-vis available opportunities.

    Remember: The book of your child is as interesting as any other best-seller you might be reading now. So let it, just not lie in your library. Pick it up and read it now. And I’m sure. Once you go through it you’ll feel like reading it again and again, and from time to time.

    This is the gist of an article I had read sometime back. As far as possible we should try and remove the mismatch between our child’s capability and what we expect him to do, to make him happy.

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Posted by Kamlesh Tripathi

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https://kamleshsujata.wordpress.com

*

Share if you like it

*

Shravan Charity Mission is an NGO that works for poor children suffering from life threatening diseases. Should you wish to donate for the cause the bank details are given below:

NAME OF ACCOUNT: SHRAVAN CHARITY MISSION

Account no: 680510110004635 (BANK OF INDIA)

IFSC code: BKID0006805

*

Our publications

GLOOM BEHIND THE SMILE

(Archived in 7 prestigious libraries of the US, including, Harvard University and Library of Congress. It can also be accessed in MIT through Worldcat.org. Besides, it is also available for reading in Libraries and archives of Canada and Cancer Aid and Research Foundation Mumbai)  

ONE TO TANGO … RIA’S ODYSSEY

(Archived in Connemara Library, Chennai and Delhi Public Library, GOI, Ministry of Culture)

AADAB LUCKNOW … FOND MEMORIES

(Launched in Lucknow International Literary Festival 2014)

REFRACTIONS … FROM THE PRISM OF GOD

(Co-published by Cankids–Kidscan, a pan India NGO and Shravan Charity Mission, that works for Child cancer in India. The book is endorsed by Ms Preetha Reddy, MD Apollo Hospitals Group. Book was launched in Lucknow International Literary Festival 2016)

TYPICAL TALE OF AN INDIAN SALESMAN

Story of an Indian salesman who is lowly qualified but fights his ways through uncertainities to reach the top. A good read for all salesmen. Now available in Amazon.com

(CAN BE BOUGHT FROM ON LINE BOOK STORES OR WRITE TO US FOR COPIES)

*****

 

 

SHORT STORY: NEWTON’S … EQUAL AND OPPOSITE REACTION

Copyright@shravancharitymission

Some 40 years back

tempo2 MOTION

 

 

 

 

 

    It was a gorgeous Friday morning when we came out of the university campus—bunking classes; and were in a great hurry to the board the beast that you see above—the absurd ‘tempo’ nicknamed ‘Suwar’ (pig) as it could poke its nose, anywhere and everywhere on a busy road. We were already late for the noon show, and mind you an adult one, with all those … aha … aha scenes.

    With me was tall, lanky and mangy Sandy Lal— about whom, I was not sure whether he practiced Hinduism or Christianity, for he at times, visited the Church on Sundays, and with equal casualness he even swallowed the prasad of Lord Hanuman–those tasty, and as many, besan-ka-laddoos at the Hanuman temple, especially on Tuesdays, when I used to break my fast with half a kg of those. So, God, alone knew what he was, but yes there was little doubt, about his being God fearing.

    Also, accompanying us was Amrish Tiwari, son of Vice Principal Tiwari, of Christ Church College, which wasn’t far from the Lucknow University campus. Amrish, a Christian with a Hindu surname, was perennially bewitched by the Bard of Avon.

    The rumour around was, the initial scenes were quite explosive. So, we three were waiting quite eagerly for the next tempo, by the roadside to be on time. And, just then we saw one approaching. But I guess the guy had space only for two, he slowed down, and for a fraction of a second even halted, but seeing the three of us together, he decided to move on, and rightly so. This irked us.

    We were now late for the show and therefore restless. And, as the tempo moved Amrish shot from the hip, some nicely laced Hindi ones, and seconded by kicking the side panel of the Suwar. But in the process he mildly him hurt himself.

    Sandy who was behind me, felt he should do something more aggressive than Amrish, to establish his one-upmanship. So, he ran behind the tempo and using his long skinny legs tried to kick it, when his foot got stuck, in the rear fender, and he was dragged for a while after falling flat on his back. The uproar made the tempo driver to stop it.

    Good heavens! By now Amrish had sprained his foot and Sandy couldn’t get up when he was stretchered to a close by clinic where we came to know he had fractured his ankle.

    And with all this, the aha … aha scenes, had gone for a toss. A Chinese lunch post the movie, too, was out of question as all the money was utilised in bandage and plaster, and what was left was just enough for a quarter kg of besan-ka-laddoos, from the close by Hanuman temple which we all shared.

    I realised, bunking college always doesn’t take you where you want to be. And, if you try and hurt someone, it will have an equal and opposite reaction, just as Newton’s third law of motion, but God forbid, if you compete in hurting someone, there could be a double whammy, like Sandy.

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By Kamlesh Tripathi

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