From Caterpillar to Butterfly

Yoga today is perceived as synonymous with  postures or asanas. Some who understand a little more will add Pranayama or breathing exercises to it but the premise of Yoga is much vast. It is derived from a Sanskrit word "Yuj" which means to join. Join with what, with whom?.... The Supreme Soul. The basic aim of yoga is the basic aim, considered to be, of human life "to unite with the Supreme Soul- the God" or the union of Jeevatma (the individual self) with Paramatma (the universal self). Yes, if we follow the path we will unite with the Lord, our purpose on earth will be fulfilled, but it's not that easy. Moreover how many of us, today, are interested in this union?  Very few. We have goals but the goals are linked to career and financial status or at the most health. Very few concentrate on holistic development of mind, body, and soul but those who aim, achieve.   Yoga has become only a means - to keep fit and look young.  Believe me, this is just a by-product...

Now, this blog is for all those who are 50 plus and thinking of retirement. Today many 50+ are living an energetic and healthy life. Meet Vandana Mehra, the modern Yogini. She started yoga some seven years back when someone advised her to do Pranayama for her ever-increasing Asthmatic problem. She was already forty plus and was averse to yoga yet she thought of giving it a try. Within a year, she stopped using her inhaler and even found a remarkable change in her attitude.  An angry young woman had changed into an amiable, positive personality. She was unable to understand this dramatic change. Later, as she read, she comprehended that it happened because of pranayama. After some time, her yoga instructor, who was coming from South Delhi, couldn't continue and her search for a new yoga teacher started. This led her to join Amritam Yoga where she fell in love with yoga and later joined a Yoga Teacher's Training course after some three years of practical yoga classes. Today she i...

"The greatness of a nation can be judged by the way its animals are treated." -Mahatma Gandhi Dogs are man's best friend. Loving and feeding dogs is therapeutic and soothes one's soul.  Moreover, they automatically become the guards of the house. So how do you treat the dogs around you? Some feed almost all the stray dogs around them. Some feed only black stray dogs that too... just Saturdays. Some feed them with the leftovers. Then some love them, feed them, feel them and understand them. This lot notices and tries to provide health care to them. But how many work with such dedication for stray animals? Recently I met a young chap, Mridul, who is involved in rescuing, vaccinating and treating stray dogs and puppies. He came along with a compounder to treat a stray dog who wasn't well in our lane. A neighbour who had been giving shelter to the puppies provided an old sheet to Mridul. He sat with the dog in his lap. Though the dog, Biscuit, named by the children, w...

“If East and West Germany can unite, why can't India and Pakistan ?” said the old man with crow's feet around his eyes but gleaming with energy. “So, let me conclude here with the powerful punch - See you in Sindh, our homeland. Jai Jhulelal!”  That was 1990, the world was changing. USSR had split but Germany had united. I was in school and this was a small speech by an old gentleman, who was also a member of the Sindhi Association, Jaipur like my grandfather. Grandpa had taken us to the  Diwali celebrations of the Sindhi Association, where we were supposed to perform.  What touched me that day were the words used by this old gentleman and the way he was applauded by the audience. That day I learned about their longing, the yearning for their homeland. I’d seen the same yearning in my grandpa’s eyes and in many old eyes of the family. So, when a writer friend wrote a book on Partition stories, how could I miss it and especially when the title was so intriguing and se...

Her father was an army officer and mother a teacher. She was brought up in a strict environment where education was of utmost importance. As I spoke to her over phone, she recalled the day she was slapped  on coming late after her college because she had gone somewhere in the evening with her friends.  Compare this scenario with today's. Today our youth has a list of rights ready with them and parents are taught by counselors to behave like friends rather than parents.  Not only this, she was married into a business family in her early 20s while today, children are asked if they would like to marry or do something else in life. I am writing this because we were batchmates in school . I still remember that young Sheetal who had starry dreams in her shiny eyes. She loved music so much that she could sing anytime anywhere. We would just surround her to loose ourselves into her melodious songs and she would sing with her hands beating the desk like a tabla. So this is Sheetal...

Did you watch the movie “Saand ki Aankh”- A story of two women with indomitable spirits. We have many such women around us and last year I met a girl in my yoga class who has proven that “Age is just a number”. I said girl because though she is forty-two but looks no more than an 18/20-year-old. Meet Richa Gupta who is single and lives in Noida with her mother and two dogs. Workout, her dogs and her mother are her life lines. As a child, she was very good at running and won many competitions but by the time she was about to finish her middle school, her class teacher persuaded her to leave sports and concentrate on grades. Ironical, isn’t it? Anyways she started working on her grades though she had to put in three to four times extra efforts than the average student of her class. But yes, with extra efforts, she improved and so much so that she became a topper in first-year Maths (Honours) in Hansraj College (Delhi University). But due to issues at home, she started smoking and l...