Acceptance

The single most biggest thing we all crave for is ACCEPTANCE. We all need it, well all want it; acceptance is what gives meaning to our lives. We all seek consent, from our parents, friends, lovers, spouses, even from complete strangers!

From infancy till we grow old, we want others to see what we have done, we want them to listen to what we say, to look at what we are wearing, and the list goes on... We are happy with a consenting nod and disappointed by a disapproved frown. A child will first show who he/she is, and if the child feels unaccepted he/she slowly tries to remodel according to the latest convention to fit in with the crowd, to be accepted as one of them. 

Girls going on crash diets, men trying to build muscles, youngsters trying to get hold of the next smart phone, older folk making arrangements to fit in with the younger crowd, westernization of eastern cultures, change in eating habits, changes in language and dialects, body art, hair color(hey stop looking at me!), junk food(I know it is tasty), smoking, alcohol, drug abuse, pre-marital sex ; are all examples of humans taking extreme steps to be 'cool' , to 'fit-in', to be 'hip', to be accepted by others.

But what is even more striking is that most of the above mentioned changes taking place in our society are seen among teenagers and youngsters. It is because they are the ones who need acceptance more than any other age group, full of fear of rejection they fall into folly of 'peer pressure', ending up doing things they would never have done with themselves if they knew they were accepted just as they are.

Dear young boys and girls, even if this material world, even if your friends, even if your own parents do not accept you, Lord Jesus will. He loves you all the way you are, He doesn't care whether your are fat, short, dark, uncool, buck toothed, ill dressed, poor, failure, nerd, stupid or any other worldly standards that make you feel low.

He created you in His image and likeness, He loves you, He accepts you, don't let the world fool you or blind you. You are perfect in His eyes.

I don't know what to do

My heart says something,
My mind says something else;
The world says a different thing too

I wanna take this up
No, I wanna keep it down
So many options, why not few?

Change it, change it
Keep it same! don't change
I'll take green, maybe blue.

Left is right,
And right is wrong;
Sometimes too short,
Sometimes too long.

I don't know what to do
And I know you don't too!

It is OK to make mistakes

Oh God! I did it again!....

I should have known this was to happen, why didn't I just listen to myself.

I'm such a loser, I don't do anything right....


How many of us have said the above mentioned lines or some variations of it? Is there anyone who has never done a mistake in life, never messed things up, never done anything embarrassing? I have.

I make mistakes, lots of them. From small ones like misplacing things to big ones like taking wrong decisions; and you know, every mistake takes our confidence down with it, we lose hope in ourselves and its just terrible. And then sometimes I wonder what would it be if it were otherwise, if I had not taken that decision and ended up in a soup, wish I had not kept this book here where it would become wet.

I hate that feeling when I know that I have faltered, but then once I am out of the gloom, looking back at the mistakes of my life I know that somewhere, somehow I have gained something. People may have ridiculed me about my errors, I may have wallowed in self-pity and so on... Yes, I don't get a hit all the time, I have my own share of misses too. But every such miss makes me stronger to face the world, makes me more mature to see the things in right light, gives me an insight about wondrous workings of the world and most of all tells me that my mistakes may be a momentary entertainment for others but for me it is a life long lesson.

I now know it is OK to make mistakes, of course as long as you gain and come out of it, because if we don't fail how will we succeed!

Inescapable Reality

      Till yesterday I was joking about you and me
       Now it looks like an inescapable reality
       
        Is it time, is it heart;
        or is it destiny playing its part?
        Passing feeling or permanent change
        now so close, so near,
        You were once out of range
       
       
        Can I deny it? Run away?
        Should I face it, change my way?
        I am scared, confused too.
        What I feel, what you say
        All these things, are they true?

       Till yesterday I was joking about you and me
       Now it looks like an inescapable reality
      
Note: Open to all interpretations, but please don't call it just a piece of jumbled rhyme!

The Pitcher Plant of India

A pitcher plant is a carnivores plant that 'eats' flies, insects and insect larvae to get nutrition. Insectivores or carnivores plants are actually fascinating, they look like normal plants, with roots, stems and lovely flowers; but when you see them in action, you see a wonderful mechanism provided by nature to them to become accomplished hunters. It is indeed marvelous to see a plant capture a fly and then digest it leaving just a husk behind.

Now that you are familiar with the category the pitcher plant belongs to, let us become a little more specific about this particular genus. The pitcher plant is called so because it has a pitcher like  cupped form of leaves with a lid. In this 'pitcher' these plants capture their prey. These plants belong to the nepenthes genus.

During my stay in the village of Meghalaya, we went to this power plant which is situated up in the Khasi Hills. Here I saw a peculiar sort of a plant every where among the hills.





 


The locals told me it was the Tiew rakot plant, found here in abundance; but when the power plant engineer told me it was the pitcher plant, and was an endangered species I couldn't believe my eyes and my ears! I remember asking him,'The pitcher plant? The one that eats flies and insects?'. The answer I got was affirmative, and the feeling I got was that I was a part of one of the Discovery Channel shows!


I could not believe my stroke of luck to find an endangered carnivores plant in the hills of India. But there were more surprises in store for me. Do you see a pitcher like growth in the above image? With a closed lid?
Well that is the food bowl of the plant. All the insects, flies, larvae are caught in that pitcher shaped organ and then digested in it. Gross, isn't it?


So, here I am amid the scenic beauty of the Khasi Hills, still trying to digest the fact that I am here among the abundant growth of pitcher plants, when I see my lovely local friends jumping up and down the hilly slopes there hands full of the pitchers of the plant.

I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw them opening the pitcher and drinking its contents as if it were the elixir of life. It took a lot of self control not to throw up to see them drinking from the fly digesting innards of a plant. What I found out later was that this 'water' trapped in the pitchers was of medicinal value and could cure stomach and kidney problems. They asked me to sample one, but for me the idea was still too gross, I just did not have that sort of guts to taste that fluid. Yuck! Anyways to try and convince my friends not to offer me this drink, without hurting their feelings was a tough job. But eventually they stopped forcing me.

They filled the rest in a bottle and after that I remained thirsty till we reached back to the village, eyeing each bottle of water offered to me suspiciously. I do believe them, it must be having some undiscovered medicinal value. But for me I was satisfied to carry a specimen of the plant to take back home. Later, at home I did a bit of research and found that it was the only pitcher plant India has and goes by the botanical name of Nepenthes khasiana. 

It is a marvelous plant, the wonders of Creator reflecting in its uniqueness. All I hope and pray is that it should not become an extinct species. Discovery Channel, here I come!

Reconciliation - For All Round Peace

Reconciliation is a term that has a lot of depth in it(at least for me). All Roman Catholics know that the sacrament of reconciliation is a great gift from our God. Today, here I would like to explain reconciliation as an act from different levels and point of views, and how it leads to an utmost level of peace, because we all know peace is so very important for a healthy and full life. To be simple there are four types of reconciliation:

1. The Divine Reconciliation: Okay, this is the obvious one. Reconciling with our Creator is being in one accord with Him. Our will and His will need to be the same, our dreams, our actions, our feelings, all should be in sync with the Almighty. It is an empty life if we are away from God, if we have not reconciled with Him. So the Divine Reconciliation is the first and foremost step to attain peace. Our God is a God of Peace and obviously to get peace what could be better than to go to the direct source of never ending, everlasting PEACE.
2. Reconciliation with Fellow Humans: Once thorough with the Divine Reconciliation, most of us already know that we cannot be at peace with God if we hate/dislike/are indifferent to a fellow human being, be it our family, our friends, our colleagues, or a stranger walking down the street. As long as you have something against someone or some community you'll never be able to remain in your reconciliation with God. Removing prejudices helps a lot in this case, also forgetting old grudges; and most important of all forgiveness for others can help us in human reconciliation. When I have nothing against a single person on this planet, I am at peace.
3. Environmental Reconciliation: Oh please, don't call me a green freak! I don't need to say much about the human made afflictions that Mother Earth has to go through. The human greed is stripping away the earth of its beauty, tapping into powers way beyond our control and messing up with the fine balance of the universe, the way it was created. Picture this, a great man totally reconciled with God and fellow beings and sitting in an underground bunker waiting of a freak tornado to pass, will he be at peace? I don't think so. There will be some who will say that nature, weather and atmosphere are not in our control, but I would like to counter, true it is not entirely in our power to avoid certain environmental mishaps, but that does not justify our constant interference in the natural balance of Universe. Reconcile people, reconcile. With the nature around you, before it is too late.
4. Self reconciliation: When was the last time you thoroughly loved yourself and found nothing lacking in you? I am not talking about being narcissist, but we all do hate ourselves fully or partly. 'I wish I was a little taller','I need to lose weight','I don't like my complexion','Why doesn't my hair remain straight!'... The list goes on. Seldom in life do we love ourselves the way we are, we always try to change something in us. Of course, changes and improvements are good and needed part of our growth, but is it absolutely necessary not to like ourselves? How can I give love to others if I don't love myself? How to I be at peace with others if I am not at peace with myself? Self acceptance and positive self image can help us in the long run. Self reconciliation is the toughest of all, but once achieved there is no looking back.

Peace be with you all....

Our Journey Back Home

Our Journey Back Home  

The return journey was pretty uneventful (compared to the previous journey, ofcourse). We reached station on time, the train arrived and departed on time and we had our proper places.

On our way back we discussed and shared different experiences that we felt during the village stay and at the convention. We also discussed our possibilities of being or not being a part of the next convention in Jalandhar. We all decided to be back to Shillong next year just to relive our memories and to meet the new families that we are all now a part of.

Excited to be back after a life changing experience we all couldn’t wait to meet our families and friends to share our feelings and experience.