thats a very beautiful and thoughtful express, anusheh...
first the aspect of storytelling itself...how fascinating to actually have a story telling bazaar...i know of opne person, the renowned artiste Badri Narayan who is a gr8 story teller...age is inhibiting him these days but he was a regular at our workshops for kids and adults alike earlier...a very animated story teller...

next , on the story you have narrated....guess the trained eye would be able to see hidden nuances...but sometimes and maybe rarely,this training itself becomes an inhibitor for our unconditional listening...every situation, i guess comes with its own uniqueness...

btw did you have a chance to look at today's NHRC release on CSA...about Kerala and Goa being havens for csa related tourism...i was involved with a film made my a close freind and colleague of mine, ajay noronha on CSA in Goa...the kind of resisitances he faced during the shoot spread over a few months was unimaginable...a kind of denial...the reality that time itself was quite awful...now this report indicates no better...sad..

Unbelievable!

- "One rupee. Can you imagine, one rupee is what he placed the value of my boy at.”

So was he going to be thrilled about the incident had the neighbor paid him thousands of rupees instead??

- "He wasn’t crying, you see he is a brave boy"

How insensitive!

Wonder what hell the kid must have had to go through. If you dont mind Anusheh, could you share the end of the story with us?

Shubhz, the end of the story was just that. We did run a legal aid center then so we went ahead and got the lawyers in and filed the case, which went on eternally as all such cases do. The father refused to let the child come in for counseling and there was little we could do to convince him. I wondered long about how that poor child lived/lives out his trauma.

Sundar, the training has to be to not listen conditionally, that is all.

love
anusheh

Well there are few ends to this story Shubz

the boy grew up nd became a paedophile to get even with the rage that consumes him for so long. Got arrested one day himself and suffered more rage and ignominy while the child within him continued to weep.

The boy grew up thinking he was gay and struggled with it forever. His fear and phobia incited more such instances and then he became a passive gay partner, if poor he went onto do this for money in the dark of the night. More ignominy and self-hate.

If he was forced to marry his wife would have to deal with sexual violence (born directly of his guilt and sexual fear)and he would continue homosexual liasons outside trying to somewhere get even in his psyche and feeling instead he is sexually perverse etc. More self-hate.

These are the only endings possible as we have seen in our clients. Sexual abuse of boys is violent and when peppered with notions of masculinity, lack of compassion and understanding in parents, its results are long-term and create highly twisted and self-destuctive sexual patterns. Now place it in the high rates of csa that boys and girls encounter, especially in South Asia and you have a bird's eye view of what is so wrong with adult sexuality.

I wonder if anyone has seen an old Nick Nolte/Barbra Striesand film called Prince of Tides? One of the few films to nail the chaos in the man's psyche from this kind of childhood experience.

Anusheh

Good point about the stories we tell and how evocative they are in the truth they reveal and conceal.

just curious to know if , today interventions are allowed in such cases legally..when some abuse comes to notice and the parents do not give their consent for counselling...

recently, we encountered a case in adhoc realms where the parent wanted to keep the case hush hush as in not raise a stink about it publicly, but thankfully pro-actively wanted counselling for the child...happened in a middle-class scenario with their creche facility...so the guy was removed from his employment at the creche but let off with a warning...he was actually related to the creche owner...

how painful , jasjit...the links in the chain...as you have expressed...

even more painful is the exposes on anchorage and more recently at samparc where abuses have happened in ngo spaces, which are supposedly addressing these issues...i myself have placed sexually traumatised kids at samparc earlier, which is an sos facility..and supposedly a good facility...i knew the chief personally...i understand a couple of kids referred by me there are already at different foster facilities...thank god for that...

but was also trying to look at the issue in a karmic magnetization sense...for some kids the abuse has continued in the ngos...as if they are in the grip of a pattern...

difficult qs, i guess...making work such as yours all the more relevant and critical...

Hi Jasjit,

Thats truly very sad ... just reiterates the invaluable contribution of good parenting. Parenting, the most crucial and unfortunately, the most screwed up influence in a child's life.

Yes Jasjit, it was nice to be reminded of Prince of Tides.

My ex husband was a victim of CSA, the issue ignored and avoided by the family, esp his mother. the behavioural manifestations a proof of the links in the chain...

During my assignment with UNICEF, working on creating a child protection programme, I've encountered some of the most heart rending stories of abuse and violence, esp CSA. In Puri, I was working with a group of child sex workers, yes! ranging from age 9 to 16... what has remained etched in my heart is that vacant look in their eyes, numb, blank. the vacuum seeped into my heart. I had a friend a 10 year old boy, who became great friends with me, and who helped me enter that circle - he used to pimp on the beaches, esp where the foreign tourists hung out! A small support network we created there starting with CHILDLINE, health/medical services and a legal aid group still works there today. This group of kids has disbanded, 2 of them now work with our support group and this little friend of mine is now placed with St. John's ambulance.

Oh the stories... wish I could narrate, write about each of them. After the supercyclone, as part of the UN emergency response team, again i had to handle 2 response programmes - one catering to young girls and women left destitute, orphaned widowed - 70 centres for 3 years offering a protected environment and the other for about 4000 kids out of school in the aftermath since everything was ravaged and kids had no school to go to for almost 2 years. These centres were called "Sandipani" centres after Sri Krishna's master... One of the greatest shocks of my life was discovering cases of abuse (perpetrated by NGO colleagues) in our centres! It took a very long time to get over that...

But it also helped me define, maintain, and push our team for emergency response initiatives that addressed issues of protection and rehabilitation, people and processes, with very strict accountabilities for any of us involved in the programme.

children/young people were bought, given away, married off - bartered that is: for the compensation monies, subsidies, et al. these acts were committed by our own, by the people who were supposed to offer solace, comfort and succour... the stories, the vacant look, the emptiness, haunt me even today..

Wish I could be a good storyteller...

jasjit, just wonder how you will fit the gurbani tuk of "jo jo mange sain apne se soi soi deve...[He gives what you ask Him for]" to the plight of the unfortunate boy of this story...

harb at a tangent...

Anusheh what a tragic story.

What skewed notions of sexuality we hold. In cases such as the above when its their boys parents are more concerned about insisting that his masculinity is intact and when its their girls they insist that she has lost the very being of her feminine sexuality.

Thanks everyone for the interesting comments.

Sundar, no NGOs dont have any legal rights to intervene when the parents/guardians of the child are unwilling to seek help/legal aid. And frankly counselling of young children especially requires a good support system around them, with out that it just amounts to hogwash.

Sukanya, Stories of selling girls into prostitution, selling childrens organs etc are found in abundance in Pakistan as well. NGOs, especially shelters and other residential facilities for children become perfect hunting grounds for pedophiles. Unfortunately we dont bring in enough safety nets whilst hiring caretakers and our monitoring systems also remain quite weak. I went to the British Home Office a couple of years ago and was told there that they had only just begun to introduce safe hiring procedures for childrens charities etc. (England had recently had some awful stories come out about abuse in shelters by staff) and so now shelters were required to check in with the home office before hiring someone. But of course this too is not foolproof because the person you're hiring could simply not have a police record yet. However as bleak as the situation seems I do believe that there are many effective ways to minimise the chances of this happening and to ensure that the center remains a safe place for children. The solution always lies in how determined and dedicated one is.

Ijust want to end by saying that chldren by their nature are vulnerable and vulnerability unfortunately seems to be a trigger for exploitation so one ultimately is at the mercy of human nature.

Harb at a tangent,

There are rules within the play that need to be respected. The Gita clearly states the theory of karma and equally underscores the notion of karma yoga. In the world, one is here to manifest the ideals of truth, beauty and love. Gyan cannot become an excuse for apathy. Or else why would ideals of compassion and perfection reign supreme. Now if you have finished with testing me you can perhaps concentrate on the post I spent soooooooo much energy on.

Jasjit on course :-)

Anusheh,

this is so sad.
this story again shows the point that sexual assault of any kind whether it be rape, or sodomy is more commonly seen when the criminal is known to the victim. How does one tackle this fact? How does one know that behind the ever cheerful neighbor lies a sex pervert?

I also feel that strict laws should be brought out equating sodomy of young boys to rape for the same assault permanently scars the psyche of a young child...irrespective of the gender.

I might be wrong, would love to hear ur comments.

lots of love

jasjit, your response applies to the actions of good smaritans like you and other ngos. i did not challenge that. i asked why the boy met that fate.
do you mean he did not respect the rules within the play, or did not follow karma yoga etc etc?

and why this anger? why this notion of testing when even in testing we could be giving some and taking some?

if as sundar feels it is a karmic thing why should we not analyse that karmic thing a bit more?

or is there already happening what you are most afraid of as you wrote in an other post - that i-now-best/my-knowledge-is-final etc.

perhaps a need for a little course corection :)

ananda anandam!

Dear Harb at a tangent,

Dear Jasjit on course,

relativity mocks our explaination of sorrow and abuse.... the absolute (ironically) mocks it too.

why sorrow we ask in relative planes.

where sorrow we ask in absolute planes.

the answer to each i feel lies in how we want it to be taken.

lots of love.

Aachi the witness :) :) :)

welcome aachi, the witness :)

now i am on course...

hope jasjit is not on tangent now...

harb, the cool and on course...

Dear Anusheh, that was so beautifully written! So elegantly stated, on such a delicate subject!

I'd written a poem many years ago; I forget the year, and would have to look it up, in an old boot-box with my handscribbles of thoughts and poem over so many years..but, here it is anyway; as it resonates with "storytelling"...

"Listen not to the words, but to the silence, between them."

If only the world held more value towards children, our future-manifest.

Were you ever able to pursuade the father to let his son be councelled?

North

Perhaps, children should all be taught self-defense techniques as part of a school curriculum; and the written course would be ON< identifying "awkward situations" and taking measures to avoide them, and leave them?

OR, would we be only manifesting a more superior, possible pedophile?

I put my son in karate at age 6ish-he's an orange belt by age: 7ish. I cannot begin to express the comfort it gives me, knowing my son has a little protection should an "event" be made in his direction. Also, the course taught him self-control; and to not give into the dark-sides of anger and ego!

but, as I wondered earlier; would we only be manifesting a higher-state of pedophile, which would only add to the horror of victims IF, self-defense were instilled as a school curriculum?

Anusheh; I was absolutely astounded, at the gargantuan numbers of destitute women and children that are involved. Mind blowing, knowing that "child-slavery" is still a world-prominent market.

North

Good morning Aachi, North and Harb

Aachi, technically sodomy is equated with rape in law in most countries but in South Asia there seems to be a denial possibly because sodomy is culturally looked upon as emasculating and the equation with rape would give it legal definition. In Indian law the controversial section 377 was infact created to protect boys from sodomy. But by using british terminology like 'unnatural acts' the entire focus now has moved to gay rights rather than the protection of boys. As for that 'sweet neighbour'. Well Aachi vigilance, vigilance, vigilance, you really cant tell who is going to turn out to be a child molester.

North thanks. No I was not able to convince the father to let us counsel his son. So that was that. Self defense is a great idea, I know that I personally benefitted from it much. And I too have always though that it should be part of the curriculum for both boys and girls. Not only for self protection purposes but also for character building - like you rightly say. However its not just self defense, a child needs to be made aware of protection from adults in myriad ways. It must have spaces to go to where there is no shame and fear, it must be aware of the autonomy of its body, of the ways in which adults can trap and betray. And while there is no way to ensure a 100% abuse free world at least we can create a world which is more sensitive and receptive to this horrific vulnerability that children, the world over, face.

Dear Anusheh,

The issue you have brought up here is so painful that I can't even say 'what a wonderful story'.
But thank you for bringing up this topic.

Jasjit you are so right about the vigilance part. I have a 4 year old neice and my sister and I always make it a point to listen to her stories. If we find any scratch marks on her we ask her lightly about how she got it. Both my sis and I are particular about this becuase I had a bad experience as a kid and we don't want it to happen to anybody else.

chaitali, how touching your comment about not being able to even say "what a wonderful story!" i give salute to your sensitivity.

harb

thats a very powerful line , aachi...relativity mocks...

personally, I have seen the need to explore the roots of pain itself rather than its manifests across events...while addressal at event-level is a definite need , exploration and understanding of roots of pain itself which are as ancient as man itself , in my opinion are critical too...when i presented some egs of ngos in this post, i have observed that a law of karma, "what we hate or resent deeply manifests through us"....is very often true for people who have strong opinions and positionalities on various issues...thus , we observe perpetuations happening from very platforms that are supposedly addressing it sometimes...policemen,turning rapists, ngo workers turning abusers themselves....the list is endless...when we address training of trainers in other contexts here, addressing positionality paradigms is a key issue...it greatly inhibits efficacy of work...acceptance is key in healing issues...
in another post, I have mentioned cases of mothers being silent co-conspirators in acts of abuse againgst their daughters by their husbands...it is more common that one would imagine...more important for "happy family" facades to be elaborately protected...sad , but true...

Chaitali I dont think there's a single woman who hasn't had one such experience at least in her lifetime. Its good that you are careful with your niece and alert to these possibilities. I wonder have you told her about good touch and bad touch. You can start giving her a little information on that at 4. If you need help, holler.

love
anusheh

u know cool, oncourse harb, csa takes on anew meaning in your life...child spiritual abuse!!!hows teh mood color today?

thats a critical observation , sukanya...btw, looks like a major assignment for me this year would be with CHILDLINE, one of the ngos you have mentioned you are working with...I am presenting currently on their 10th anniversary year long event as well as on a resource and awareness mobilisation strategy...still very much in discussion phases though...i like 2nd dimensional approaches...
you have mentioned you travel a wee bit...if the all-encompassing wind brings u mumbai-ward, do give me a shout...

Harb the cool, thanks for sharing the sensitivity.

sundar, lol, dukh daru sukh rog bhaya...(the problem is the solution...). my csa finally helped me find my basic identity...people spend lifetimes to find what with various kinds of yogic actions, bhagtis, meditations and so on. it is like if you have a breathing problem you will become a doctor of sorts of that problem of course if you are not killed. as neitsche said "the problem which does not kill me strengthens me...

mood is good, mausam is cool, it is drizzling outside...the only bad thing is that there is no electricity and sooo i am writing from my son's computer which is on battery...

sorry anusheh, forgot to reciprocate your good morning in my first post. good morning to you too and now good evening too.

hi chaitali, the sensitive...

where is our jasjit? the headmistress of our school, i am afraid she must be weeping with her head thrust into my book wondering what to make of it..i am not to blame though, she had been warned...

ok till the light comes...

sundar, at the end all the outer abuse is there to fire the unlimited inner strength of the spirit in one way or the other...it is also a way of raising the kundlini...things do not end with just one life...so one never knows what abuse now will become a great boon in some next life, if not already in this. many a great men/women were abused in some way or an other in their initial years which gave direction to their lives for future great accomplishments. nothing happens beyond the scheme of things which i have touched upon in my bo...shhhh jasjit is listening....

harb, the frightened school student...

lol..jasjit..the headmistress....and harb, the frightened school student...you seem to magnetizing abuse, harb...

jokes apart, i do feel things acquire a different hue at different level of perception and across a consciousness spread across lifetimes...

sundar, absolutely true...here is guru's perception, according to a gurbani tuk: "hukme ander sab ko bahar hukam na koe..." meaning nothing happens beyond the orders of the One...

and here is harb's perception when he was blessed with an insight into the scheme of things by the same gurus: "nothing happens beyond the scheme of things...of the One.

and again, what happens happens according to "jo jo mange sain apne se..." (whatever one asks is one given) because again, whatever one asks one asks according to the scheme of things and is given according to the same scheme of things...to finally serve the scheme of things in myriad ways and at myriad levels...

aachi, i enjoy your lines again and again: 'there is a song. there ALWAYS IS A SONG.'

harb...on song...

Harb

Jasjit seems to have unleashed some multi phrenic self in you.

Thanks Sundar. Good to know you work with CHILDLINE...and goodness, hey its been 10 years of CHILDLINE..i'd lost track! hah! that feels good... we've survived.. it was Jeroo who inducted me into the work just after the first few cities got 1098.. my team & i started putting CHILDLINE on the map in Orissa in 1996-97, starting with 3 sensitive cities.. Would love to hear more on the current initiatives and your work..maybe separately and not fill up precious blog space.

I've been out of touch since 2004, when I relocated to Delhi on assignment, to operationalize NASSCOM Foundation.. Am currently on a sabbatical; working on myself, and away from work life completely for the last 2 months. Am enjoying these last few day & hope to start work in Feb again.. Yes, I do get to Mumbai once in a while, so will definitely give you a shout...

Dear all, fascinating posts! being on the blog, amidst all of you, reading and absorbing the shares - it has put me on to a different invigorating energy. its been deeply touching, inspiring and healing, for me personally... and one enjoys the play too..

can relate to those guru-shabds, harb...tx for that share...i love a bhajan in tamil which goes this way...yen vazhvin thunbhangal yellame naan kettu...all the problems in my life have been sought by me...it goes on to say that all these events are blessings for my learnings...

do not yet work with CHILDLINE, sukanya...though have known of them off an on and been in touch once a while since their birth...they have some grandiose plans for their 10th year..so am discussing some concepts with them on invitation...hopefully, we would crystallize things shortly..my email id is sundar.srinivasan@gmail.com, if u wanna connect...

Anusheh,

With you completely on this..you said it so well "And while there is no way to ensure a 100% abuse free world at least we can create a world which is more sensitive and receptive to this horrific vulnerability that children, the world over, face."

yes we can influence and create an enabling environment... very doable..in fact I think we don't have a choice but that.. help influence mindsets to become more sensitive, and receptive to children, and to a greater understanding and better coping skills, how we participate, contribute to or address vulnerabilities in our own environments..thanks for a very lucid post

Hello Jasjit,

I really appreciate your posting about the possible endings. After reading such a piece the immediate reaction would be like the father. Protect the child, get the offender punished. Whether it's the case of a boy or girls, the long term ripple effects are never looked into. It's always the immediate cure. One of the maladies of Allopathy maybe. (I just noticed apathy hidden in allopathy).

Quick relief. But very few people will actually look deep into it. "zakhm to dhoye nahi, pattiyan badalte rahe".

Shubz -- You saw that point how the entire thing was related to him being a "brave" boy. I think Chaitali would be the best person to point out that link of putting adjectives to suffering and misery in the name of masculinity. Correct me if I am wrong Chits.

I want to share with the group. Last June I wrote a small 20 min play on this subject. In that I tackled many such issues of the buy child and how it starts very early and actually there is a character, an abused boy, who grows up to believe that he is gay. The play was staged at Creative Expressions in Delhi.

And During Durga puja I mustered enough courage to stage the play with some young boys of my housing society.

The experience I had throughout the practice and final staging is another story.

But at the end all the fathers from the audience came up and thanked me for putting up the questions of the boy child. One dad said, "Even being a man myself, I am more worried about the safety of my girl. But now your play has made me think that I should start thinking about my son's safety as well."

zakhm tho ...beautifully said , sangeeta...our efforts are at sorrow mangement, rarely if ever at sorrow releases...would also love to hear the creatives of your play sometimes...the reactions of the fathers was very encouraging...
tx for the shares...

Hi Sangeeta

Great point about allopathy and apathy being linked. I wish more people like you would have the courage to take on the struggle of staging such a play. Too many of us choose the way of silence and denial and that perhaps is the single greatest cause for perptuating abuse and protecting the abusers.
Just to add another point, the fathers who came to thank could also be voicing relief from their own expereinces of childhood when there were no spaces to even express their truth

Thanks Jasjit, Thanks Sundar,

In fact in my play I had a big problem casting for a particular role of the abused boy who grows up to be confused about his sexuality.

Some parents refused to let their sons participate in it. Then of course one boy agreed. Thankfully his mother works for an NGO for children. So she didn't have any problem with the script.

My cast was all below 12. All from very protected homes and had almost negligible knowledge about abuse. But all of them understood about it.

The biggest objection I got was that "Why show such a sensitive and serious issue with kids. Why not take a few adult boys and do it."

Thankfully I was adamant and I managed to get my point across to some people. Given a chance I'd stage it at more places to spread the message.

interesting site. sangeeta i think you're quite brave to stage a play like this one. kudos to you. Anusheh great article. I,m going to listen more carefully to the stories i hear from now on.

Good morning everybody

This is a story I heard from my mom, who heard it about 20 yr back from Dad.

There is no ending or moral of the story. I leave it open-ended for you to accept it on your own. Maybe we could have a separate thread on it.
----

Way back in 1981

Dad went to visit someone. The man and his wife were out shopping. The children were alone at home with the servant.

The young boy was about 10. He and his younger sister very politely greeted my dad and asked him to sit down. Offered him a cold drink. Eventually the girl, who was about 5, went on to play. The boy was trying to be a very good host.

He asked my Dad, "Would you like to read something uncle?" My Dad said, "Yes I don't mind, if you have any magazines." The boy sat thinking for some time. Then he said, "I can't get you the magazines, but wait."

He quickly went in and brought back a key and opened the TV cabinet. "You can watch a movie instead." Since VCR was a rare thing, and the child was trying too hard to be polite, my dad said ok.

"There are some Hindi movies here. I will get the movies which daddy watches."

He went in again and came back with some porn videocassettes.

At that point my father stopped the child and asked him to get a paper and pen and said he would like to play with him instead.

As usual soon my Dad took his mind off from those movies with his Maths puzzles. But that story remained with him for a long time. And much later he related it to my mom, and till now it has remained with us.

Now I am sharing it with you.

Sangeeta Good morning. It seems that this child was not only regularly exposed to pornography but also deeply sexualised by it, perhaps now seeking sex, perhaps already sexually abused by his father or fathers friends. And so the inherent belief that the best and most natural entertainment for men was pornography.

It is so amazing anusheh what you are saying. Our stories are so telling of our personalities and our beliefs. I really did not realise that. I just posted a comment on the testosterone piece...even on this blog you can see it at work in the diference in responses between men and women. By the way what is lol?

hi all!

sundar, just wanted to say that what you call abuse is actually what we say "haasa thatha" in punjabi. it is done with the ones you are very close with. otherwise i want to make it clear once and for all that there is hardly any other woman - and perhaps man too - in the world to whom i respect more than jasjit as to her knowledge. i thought my way of playfulness made the blog interesting, that is all.

and anusheh, yes, but then, jasjit is quite capable of that, isn't she?

so long, harb

harb, from your comment i infer that some element of discomfort seems to have crept in...when i used the word abuse, it was in humourous vein in keeping with the spirit of your posting...

on my part, i would request one and all administering this space....if my presence or postings here is burdensome and unwelcome, please do let me know...i see myself as one of the team when i post or partake...it is in a spirit of respect for the space and the people here...

however, being here has been a privilege accorded to me by Jasjit by invitation...in all humbleness, i would not like to burden this space if i am unwelcome in any way...or if there is any discomfort levels with my integrity or authenticity levels...those are a matter of perspectives and i respect your prerogatives to have them...

thank you.

Hello and Good morning Harb and Sundar

Harb I have been missing your presence here...and Sundar you are a very important part of the team so please dont think or speak like this. Lets please just enjoy this space. Everyones comments here are valuable and offer insight and learning.

love
Anusheh

tx for that anusheh...it is my sense of freedom in the space which prompted me to write...i truly enjoy the space here and hope that othesr find me equally enjoyable...

love,
sundar

Harb

Thank you for the 'hassa thatta' phrase, had forgotten how well it described buddy bonding. So many words have disappeared with Dad and you bring them back to me. With folded hands I return the respect you offer and hold your wisdom in equally high esteem. Also am not exactly weeping in your book(yet! lol) but it is taking absolute concetration and measured reading. Also because Harb its (as far as I have read) intensely wholistic and fascinating in its overview. Hmmm maybe a hundred scientist clusters have sat and culled their knowledge through you. I love the colours of your cover but I'm glad the cover is being re-designed, it does not do enough justice to it. 'An Iota of Truth" (Sach da ik katra) was a beautiful title too but perhaps does not convey in English the depth of humility and awe it conveys in Punjabi. 'Self-Designed Universe' is a composite title.

Will write when I have completed the first five chapters. :-)

Good Morning Sundar

To add to what Anusheh has said just as a suggestion, I think as contributing authors we need to be sensitive to feedback and reflect on it. It is not about withdrawing or insisting that the prerogative lies with the other and is neccessarily their misinterpretation. So far I think all who post and write here have revealed a sense of respect and sensitivity to subject and individuals. Their feedback to us who steer this space deserves that same respect.

Hi Kranti

Lol is I believe is an abbreviation (new net lingo) for laughing out loud. Personally I like to think of it as laughing on-line. So whichever takes your fancy lol!

tx for that feedback, jasjit...i see everyone here as learners and all of us meeting from the platform of our experiences....withdrawal is not from a perspective of misunderstood feedback always...it also can emerge from an understanding that one's perspectives from where they occur need not be of interest to all...and this is said with absolute respect to all concerned...in that context, it is perfectly acceptable and in the blog's interest for the administrators to take a call...my comment also emerged from wanting to clarify this....frequency and volume analysis of posts at your end would enable you to arrive at such decisions in objective fashion....

Good Morning all:

Wanted to share this story, but didn't know where to post it, so am putting it here. Hope it makes you smile, it made feel so warm inside...

Smiling Through the Storm

There was a little girl who walked to and from school every day. One day, though the weather that morning was bad and clouds were forming, she set out on her daily trek to the elementary school.

As the afternoon progressed, the winds whipped up, along with thunder and lightning. Her mother was concerned that her daughter would be frightened as she walked home from school and she herself feared that the electrical storm might harm her child.

Following the roar of thunder, lightning, like a flaming sword, was cutting through the sky. Concerned, the mother quickly got into her car and drove along the route to her child's school. As she did so, she saw her little girl walking along, but at each flash of lightning, the child would stop, look up and smile at the sky.

Flashes of lightning followed and with each, the little girl would look up at the streak of light and smile. The mother pulled her car up beside the child, and she lowered the window and called to her, "What are you doing? Why do you keep stopping?"

The little girl answered, "I am trying to look pretty! God keeps taking my picture."

Have a wonderful day!

ahhh...thats a real heart warmer....tx..

sunder, anusheh,

sundar, rest assured that you are the anchor (one of the most important persons ) here and accordigly respected. only the other day i specially opened your pic here to look and marvel at your cool personality. i even thought of writing to you but then the problem of light came in and all my thinking got forgotten.

i think the problem is in the meaning of the word abuse in punjabi. it is 'gahl' and it is hardly ever in a lighter vein. because of your use of the word abuse i thought you may be misunderstanding my haasa thatha lol. even more than that i thought your putting my words as abuse may unnecessarily upset jasjit who otherwise may just have taken it in lightervein. anyway, sorry for the misunderstanding. lol, i am thinking of visiting you at bOmbay and you are running away...

anusheh, thank you sooooooo much. you have won my heart by your words of missing me. i thought i was missable but was diamayed to find that none had really bothered untill you came along and said these much sought after words. really i like such words. as they say, if you love someone say so for otherwise what is the use and morover, they may remain unsaid forever. so goes for missing someone.

jasjit, only you could have and only you have found and appreciated the meaning in the choice of my first title An Iota of Truth. no one else has commented on it, and so the world being like this perhaps publshers and my son were right in saying that adopt the other title, which moreover, resonated more with the subject 'evolution' of the book and, not the least, it fitted well into the current fierce debate going on in usa between intelligent design and evolution. just google it and you will know. it may become one of the great issues of the next us election. and it may well bring some more readers to my book when it is released in usa in march 2006.

hi chaitali and sukanya and all, love all of you!!

harb

hey harb. no misunderstndings....relax..and when r u planning that mumbai darshan...i think ur stock broker friend from intentblog is already here raking in the moolah...

just in the mood to chill out ..am trying to see if there are any vacancies in a weekend ecomantra camp...dont know whether u have been to one of those...for us city dwellers, we need to keep in touch with nature consciously and the ecomantra camps are gr8...they have some venues just off mumbai where u can have nature trails, bicycle forest rides, swimming, rafting etc...and we stay in tents even if there are shacks available...i have a few such getaways near mumbai...like friend's farm houses etc and being in the ngo network lot of rustic ngos also provide getaway opportunities through their locations...

for you nature might not be all that far away ...blessed soul...do u enjoy long walks like our rahul pandita shares at intent?

btw keep saying those gr8 things about me and i may line up some interesting dates for you while in mumbai...we all need our incentives you know......maybe we can look at a creative series around you...harbie goes to the mela, harbie goes to "yang"eeland,harbie visits ifsha.....
just kidding....have fun as you head towards that lunch which your committed wife( after all you are a saint) must be getting ready...take care...

jasjit, i think chapters 2,3,4 are more difficult, once you cross these, things may be a bit easy and even more interesting as they progress further. i think it will be better if you comment after reading the whole book.

as to the cover design, you know how difficult it is to 'matha maro' with publishers. they have made much mistakes even otherwise.

harb

oh sundar, feel like running to bombay just now. and lol, saints dont have committed wives...may be chelian yes looool. and servant has already served brunch...

shall definitely visit bombay in the not so distant future. harb.

battery of laptop just 14 minutes remaning and ight is yet to be set right...some major fault happened...

Sukanya

What a charming story!

:-)

Good afternoon Harb...

I thought I was forgotten.... thanks!
Have a great day

;-)

love

sukanya

sukanya, sukanya!!

ananda anandam!!

I didnt know that hassa thatta was Punjabi... its also the same phrase in Oriya, my mother tongue, except maybe the pronounciation is different, more rounded... and it means the same too.. txs..that is interesting..

sundar, sukanya,

sundar, a few days back a desire arose to see your pic, opened it and you know what word crossed my mind? placid. i didn't know the exact meaning of the word, then saw it in the dictionary and found that it really fitted onto what you really are. then there also arose a desire to meet with you. though as to when it will take place as always i leave it to the great scheme of things. it shows me the way at due time.

and no, i have not heard of the ecomantra. however, our farms here are our ecomantra, though as they say "deeve thale hanera" i do not go there much. i have about 50 acres, some 8 kms from home, which though i have distributed to my sons, just as two homes, one here and the other at patiala.

i have a SUV (qualis), i feel like visiting various places, just dont have company who are free like me and moreover, can spend their share of the money. i may someday find one and then may travel sort of the whole of india.

sukanya, cute story. innocence and god are always close friends.

sukanya, wonderful, haasa thatha in oria to? just as laughter is universal may be description too nearby.

lucky guy, harb...thats a lot of land...what do u grow on those? may ur dream to see india by road manifest sooner than later...

sundar, we grow wheat, cotton and rice...as of now we give the land on rent though...

thanks for the wishes..

you could have written a charming story