I AM SHE

Poem by Ruth-Hannah Pereira

I AM SHE

I am a Woman,
I am your Grand-mother,
I am your Mother,
I am your Wife,
I am your Fiancé,
I am your Girl Friend
I am your Sister
I am your Daughter
I am SHE.
Because I am a woman,
Don’t look down on me.
Don’t exploit me.
I now have rights.
Let me live, let me be, me!


By Ruth-Hannah Pereira

 

I SMOKE EVERYDAY

Poem by Yuvraj Singh

I SMOKE EVERYDAY

 

 

Yes ma, I smoke everyday;
Taking deep puffs of death,
No, I didn't forget what you said
"Its bad", you cried,
"I can't see another loved one dead."
And yet, daily I ignore
Those horrific stories you told me before
How dad would lie in bed all day,
How the doctors said there was no way,
How with folded hands you would pray,
How relieved you were when he was no more in pain.
Yes, I remember it all,
And yet ma, I smoke everyday.
Giant cigarettes, swarming the streets
It is not a choice anymore;
Every breath, is a step toward death.
Yes ma, I smoke everyday.


By  Yuvraj Singh

 

VAIDYA PANKAJ NARAM’S ANCIENT GOLDEN HEALTH TIPS TO MANAGE YOUR HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE

By Care Foundation-we CARE - Mar 5, 2017

VAIDYA PANKAJ NARAM’S ANCIENT GOLDEN HEALTH TIPS TO MANAGE YOUR HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE

 

 

 

HOME REMEDY:   

1. Apply Cow’s Ghee on Temples as well as on Crown Chakra for 6 times and wherever Blood Pressure is High, before going to Bed.

2. Cow’s Ghee 1 tsp. , Cardamom Powder 1/8 tsp. Mix it and have it once a day.  

 

 

FOOD TO AVOID:

 

No Tomatoes (Any form Fresh, Sauce, Canned etc.)

No Okra

No Egg Plants

No Potatoes

No Mushrooms

No Fried Foods

No Wheat Products

No Dairy Products

No Cold Drinks & Soda

No Raw Vegetables

 

 

FOOD TO ENJOY:

 

1. Plenty of Vegetables, especially Green Leafy Vegetables (except for the Vegetables mentioned above). Please make sure All Vegetables are Completely Cooked.

2. Moong Dal (Moong Soup) of all forms such as Whole Moong,

Split Moong, and Yellow Moong should be consumed daily.

3. You may prepare Breads, Chapatti and Roti using SPELT FLOUR instead of Wheat.

 

 

IN DAIRY CATEGORY:

1. Avoid all types of Cheese, Especially Old and aged variety.

2. You may enjoy Fresh Cheese such as Cottage Cheese, Fresh Mozzerela and Indian Paneer.

3. No Yoghurt.  

 

 



SHORT STORY

THE BOOK OF DARKNESS AND LIGHT

 

It was two days before the exam. Crowding silence filled the library with cohesive groups of first year undergrads wrestling with time, breaking boredom through reticent discussions, rummaging through endless pages and of course, interminably romancing between the lines.

At the far end of the desk, she sat. A loner, drowned in lethargy. Her weary eyes navigated every corner of the room for company. She needed someone badly. Someone who could break the ice of loneliness and monotony; someone to rake off the unsavoury stress; someone to talk to; someone to study with.

Sitting at quite a distance from her, almost the other end of the room, she quickly recognized him. His dark glasses and walking stick were the unfortunate synonyms of his identity. He usually occupied the first bench in class while she sat on the last. The book in front of him read the same title as hers but differed in size. While she scratched its insipid pages out of sheer irritation, he seemed to romance with it. His tender fingers trickling those minute bumps on his page. It surely felt awkward approaching him, but, at this point, she didn’t mind anything even remotely human.

Even those stealthy footsteps did not deter him from sensing an intrusion. He quickly inclined himself towards it. Standing right beside his chair, she waited while her mind gathered the right words. Biting her lips, she exclaimed, “Hey, it’s me, Roshni. We’re in the same philosophy class. We’ve never met before, have we?”

 “Oh! Hi, no we haven’t. I’m Viaan,” he said.

“Um… My solitary self was killing me. I was wondering if we could work on Thomas Hobbes’ theory together. Share inputs and combine criticisms. After all, together is better, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, sure we can, please take a seat”

To Viaan, studying was a delayed process. But with Roshni by his side, he gladly shut his book, totally relying on her swift verbal cues. She read; he replied; she heard; he spoke and they both understood Thomas Hobbes.

It was a good twenty minutes or maybe less when the inevitable happened. It was the sudden power-cut that discharged a wave of clamour and disturbance across the room. ‘Curses’ and ‘Abuses’ zapped the oblivious corners of the library. While the looming untimely eclipse bailed out the helpless souls, some still struggled with intense flashlights. It was almost an hour later when Roshni gave up all signs of hope and was ready to leave that Viaan held her hand, retrieved his version of the same book and placed it in front of them. It was his world now. Running his fingers over the mystifying odd letters he reminded himself, “Despite darkness, life does go on.”

 

Author

Sharlene Lobo

                                                                                                                                                        

                                                                                                                                                       

 

Once upon a reverie

         
           ...AND MY HEART BLED

Yesterday, my heart bled a little. Words are sharp-edged swords, you know. It wasn't the word that pierced through my heart. The fact that it came from someone I love, tore me apart. No, it wasn't said in the heat of an argument. I would have forgiven that. People lose their temper. They scream. They use crass words in a fit of rage. At some point, they realize they have transgressed. They are overcome with guilt. They apologize.

This was different. We had a disagreement, a prolonged silence followed and then came the word. I froze for a minute staring at my phone screen. What shocked me was the casualness and ease with which the person typed it. Did not the fingers move towards the delete button, even for a second? It pained to think they didn't. I realized that all this while, I was smothered in a cloud of false opinions about the person and our relationship.

It hurts to know that you can become meaningless in a second. Your togetherness, your secrets, your promises, everything, gets compressed into one word that is said without thought or guilt, and it reduces everything you shared to nothingness.

A part of me wanted to go back and fight for us to be together in spite of the hurt. Don't we all do that - go back to the people who break us - because attachment is stronger than hurt?

There was another part of me that questioned me: When you say, "Let's forget about it and move on," do you want it to sound like an apology to yourself to be with someone who belittles you?  It isn't love's job to punish you, is it?

I curled up inside myself. I decided to let my trusted architect friend do the work for me. Time. It constantly builds and unbuilds our relationships.


From Once Upon A Reverie. 
@Once.upon.a.reverie

PETA ON NON VIOLENCE

 

 

PETA ON NON-VIOLENCE

 

Kamal Hassan recently dared PETA India to ban bull riding in Trump’s USA. The actor, who said Jallikattu should not be banned but regulated, recently told PETA in a tweet: “PETA go ban bull riding rodeos in Mr. Trump’s US. You’re not qualified to tackle our bulls. Empires have been made to quit India.”

 

Poorva Joshipura, PETA India CEO, in her response has issued this statement, "People For the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India, as is indicated by its name, helps animals in India only and is an Indian entity. PETA US, on the other hand, has been working to stop animal abuse in the United States since 1980, where bullfighting is illegal and cruel activities associated with the rodeo, which Hassan refers to, are also against the law in many states. The rodeo is further prohibited in The United Kingdom, The Netherlands, and elsewhere.  Spanish supporters of another organization, PETA Europe, have made bullfights in many areas of Spain illegal.”

 

While the public outcry in Tamil Nadu on the ban is purely a result of discontent, PETA in a not-so-outrageous fashion sent out a humanitarian message urging people to say ‘No to Cruelty’.

 

- Sharlene Lobo

For Care Foundation - we CARE.

NOT ALL MEN by Laxmi Krishnan

NOT ALL MEN

Now every night,
She summons all he deities
that ever had the rarest chance to exist
and prays for
her strong daughters
who are all out there
that they may get home safe tonight
and that they may meet people
who help them
irrespective of their gender
and not bump into pretentious people
who shelter predators under their blanket of
#NotAllMen


- Of concern and consent,
by
Laxmi Krishnan

HUMANITY: OUR FIRST RELIGION - Sharlene Lobo

 

 

 

HUMANITY - OUR FIRST RELIGION

Rabindranath Tagore in his Gitanjali quotes, “Leave this chanting and singing and telling of beads! Whom dost thou worship in this lonely dark corner of a temple with doors all shut?” Friends, if God is light, then why do we fight for darkness? Truly I say to you, ‘Humanity and Love are above all religions!

God made humans

And stamped him with supremacy.

We became supreme

But fell in human values.

 

As I contemplate over this topic, I’m reminded of my grandfather’s words, he used to say, “I walk in the darkness and sense the rising dust kicked up by the swagger of a creature following me. It cloaks me with a robe of conceit and disdain and shows me a path. I walk and walk until I reach a battlefield. I put on an armour of hate and carry a sword of cruelty. It instructs me to fight. Fight if you want to live, fight if you want to be heard, fight if you want to be right, fight if you want to win and reign supreme. And the brawl begins. There’s noise, there’s chaos, wailing and sobbing. Fire and smoke and violence. And in the horizon dimmed by rising smoke and spraying blood I turn behind to see that creature and indeed it was the shadow of religion."

Folks, this is not fiction, it is the story of life; the story of lament; the story of every warrior lured by anarchists; the story of every survivor of communal riots that have plagued India since independence. Someone rightly said – The third World War will be the war of religions and the first one to lose is humanity.

Humanity begins with ‘human’. Ironically, as a human being, I have never truly fathomed the notion of ‘being human’. I come from a race that has plundered, pillaged, tortured, slaughtered, raped and murdered its very own members in the name of God and justice. I call it blasphemy. The Holy Bible, the sacred Gita, The holy Quran, Sikhism’s Guru Granth Sahib and all the holy books of the world affirm the tenets of love, peace and brotherhood. Every religion proclaims humanity. If this is not what we’re following then I think we’re following only one religion, ‘The religion of Savagery’.

Water is sacred to every religion. It purifies and cleanses us. But when we’re fighting between life and death it’s not water that saves us but the blood of a fellow human that resembles ours. Indeed, the blood of humanity is thicker than the water of any religion. Wouldn’t it be right to say then, that we’re related more by blood than religion?

In hard times, religious followers will sympathize by offering money, but the followers of humanity will empathize by offering their ‘own’ selves. Empathy springs out of love and equality. Respect every other living being in a way you would want to be respected. The least we can do to sustain humanity is stand up for what is morally right, in our own microcosmic space and consciousness. The least we can do is cultivate, nourish and sustain reason, justice and morality in its pristine form.

Friends, I do not proclaim myself as the forbearer of a revolutionary humanism. Neither am I defaming religion, I ‘am’ immortalizing humanity. I think it’s time to stop behaving like selfish human beings and start being selflessly human. If only we could pledge to consciously jettison this archaic reasoning, which chooses to subjugate a few in the name of religion then maybe there will be an answer to the question, ‘What is it to be human?’

 

 

Look around, will you?

 

PC: Thinkstock

 

Look around, will you?

 

It was an idyllic scene. In the fading, golden light, two girls, just about 15 years of age, shrieked and yelled; they pulled ridiculous dance moves; they laughed and had merry.

And…after a while, suddenly, what’s that--? One of the girls pulled out a ludicrous smartphone, and started shooting each other! The camera lens pointed directly at them. Very soon, their expressions changed. They grew more serious, their moves more arch and self-conscious. And a while later, they stopped running around and lay still on the grass, looks of steady concentration on their faces, studying the footages they’d just taken of themselves. And trust me, seeing those pictures, they were not at all satisfied with the way they looked onscreen.

      
Technology empowers us, ironically at the same time, its absence paralyzes us. It reconnects us with people across seven seas but disconnects us from someone sitting right before us. Unfortunately, your virtual life earns more ‘likes’ and ‘TRPs’ than the real one. Today, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat are flooded with edited images; and its result – envy, jealousy, disappointment, dissatisfaction and low self-esteem.

Five years back, I was overwhelmed to use the 2G internet in the palm of my hands. I waited patiently till the page loaded and the app was downloaded. Then came 3G, which was faster and I liked it. But, today, 4G has killed the patience in all of us. We find it utterly miserable to wait even for ten seconds in front of that rotating blank screen.

 

Pc: Shutterstock

Technology can be a very perilous object. It is a virus and an anti-virus in itself. Recently, a remarkable picture caught my attention. The picture of ‘Evolution’. From a monkey to Homo erectus to the slouched mobile man. The curve progresses and again regresses. Physically there is no difference between the cave man and a couch potato. Have you heard of ‘techno-besity’ that researchers today speak of? Overloaded technology with overloaded fat!

Androids were invented to free us not to enslave us. Just take a minute to look around your house. The laptop being charged on your right, the tablet on your left, the spectacular TV in front of you while those gangling wires oozing out of your mobile phone plugged deep into your ears clog your brain. We have created mechanical prison bars around us and amongst us.

Friends, technology perhaps has satisfied our wants but failed our needs. The need to be physically active and socially outgoing.

 

Sharlene Lobo,
Care Foundation - We CARE.