From Deepa's Desk

  (Image credited to the respective owner) Come June, and the first thing I do upon waking up is, checking the weather app for any intimation about rains. Since as long as I can remember, June has heralded the arrival of rains. I remember those afternoons of my childhood, especially in the month of May, when the sky would temporarily darken with a passing cloud, only for the sun to shine down seconds later. The wait for rains would begin well early in the month of May itself. All I needed was to see even a single cloud and I would get excited, thinking that it would rain. One of my favorite childhood memories is being woken up by my mother and hear her say excitedly, “It is raining!” Waking up to a rainy morning is nothing short of bliss! My childhood home had a large verandah and many a rainy day was spent in creating paper-boats and launching them on the water. My parents, my sister, my uncle, my grandmother – we all participated in this ‘boat race’ and created memories that ...

  I read a lot of books (as if you didn’t know that). Of late I find myself gravitating more towards self-help and non-fiction books that are inspiring and spiritual in their essence. I often jot down some points or quotes that make an impression on my mind. The thing with non-fiction books is, they hold my attention only for a very short while, even though I like to read them. (Weird, right?! I know. What can I say, I am complicated). So I devised an idea to get through non-fiction genre (and more importantly, focus on the content too) by reading three books at a time. I read each book for a designated period of time. This not only helps me to focus but also helps me to remember what I read in that particular book. (I haven’t TM-ed this idea. Feel free to use it if you too struggle to finish non-fiction like me). Today I came across some really wonderful points that I wish to share and elaborate in this blog. These points gave me clarity and also inspired me to write after a...

  The world has never been a stranger to murders. But humanity will never be immune to crime, no matter how many of these we see, hear and read about on a daily basis. The sane and rational human will always, always be appalled by crime. Three of the four souls displayed in the cover picture of this blog were victims of brutal murders while one was disturbed to the extent of taking his own life after being harassed by his wife. Not only do the murders rattle the very soul, the brutality and mindlessness of the culprits shook up the very foundations of our trust in humanity. As in any crime, the questions arise – how can any human have the capability to act so viciously? What drives a human to this point that they lose all distinction between right and wrong, between compassion and extreme detachment, between empathy and antipathy?? What makes such a human what he or she is?? Time and again we have come across such questions. And time and again, we fail at finding suitable answe...