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Jungle Book Play by Bal Vihar Students

Image July 25, 2016 jcisnowjs Leave a comment

Waltham Library is celebrating Jungle Book in this year’s theme; and what could be better than to have kids on stage enacting this popular story in a play format. Students of Bal Vihar School performed the play ‘Going By The Jungle Book’, which was based on the story of Mowgli, written by Rudyard Kipling in his most famous work, ‘The Jungle Book’.

Bal Vihar school was founded in 1996 to imbibe the values of Indian culture, and traditions in our young generation of Indian American. This school teaches not only Hindi language to its students, but also focus on their physical and spiritual well-being. Doing Yoga, reciting Shloka, celebrating each festival with tradition, and taking part in community work are some of their regular activities.

This play ‘Going By The Jungle Book’, was also an attempt to send a unique message of love and selflessness to our society. When I say ‘a unique message’, I want to emphasize on the work of this play’s writers, and also congratulate them, as they have molded this famous Mowgli Story in such a way that it forces you to think if both the villains of this story – Sher Khan (Tiger) and Baldeo (Uncle) representing the animal and human enemies of Mowgli respectively; were not based on the same ideology of Power and Greed. They both believed in power of control and domination rather than equality of law. In this tussle of domination, one thing that both of them failed to understand was, that Power of a Pack, power of a family, power of a like-minded group standing together for one cause, is far greater than any Sher Khan or Baldeo combined.

Play starts with Raksha the mother wolf, finding a man cub(kid) alone in the forest. Seeing that he could die of hunger, she decides to adopt him and named him Mowgli. Mowgli is raised in jungle as a wolf cub by Raksha, with the help of Baloo and Bagheera and whole wolf pack. On the other hand, Sher Khan see this wolf kid, Mowgli, as a threat to his power, and tries to kill him every chance he gets. Mowgli runs away to a nearby village, where he meets Messua, a kind lady who has lost her son few years back. She takes Mowgli under her care and declare him as his long lost son Natthu; which was not taken well by Baldeo. He sees Mowgli as a threat to his sole inheritance on Messua’s property. His greed for money, takes him to setting a trap for Sher khan too. Mowgli, the innocent boy, who thought that whole jungle was his family, tries to save Sher Khan from the deadly trap, but to no avail. In the end, Sher Khan dies from Baldeo’s gunshot; but Messua do manage to save his son Mowgli from Baldeo’s ill intentions.

Kids performing in this play send out a strong message that whole jungle is our family. We should preserve our jungles and our animals. We should also draw a fine line on where we need to stop our financial gain so as not to hurt our ecosystem. There is power in strength of numbers. We should stand together, just like a pack. This is the power of a pack.

Play was entertaining and everyone played their part perfectly; from baloo’s scratches, to bagheera’s irritation over baloo’s lazy attitude; from sher khan’s growling to Mowgli’s innocence; from Baldeo’s cunningness to Messua’s motherly love; from Raksha’s shield to wolf cubs Aaaooooo; it was just Perfect. Kids did a tremendous job, but It was also the effort of parents, teachers and mentors here, who deserve all the credit for this cultural and moral education to kids through a lively and entertaining play.

At the end, I just wanted to say that it was riveting to see these young boys and girls spread out the message of ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’. Our world will be much safer in the hands of these kids.

See below pics taken from the play.

As originally Posted by Jyoti Singh on MyTrendingStories

Life

Ours is a doomed Civilization

Image July 18, 2016 jcisnowjs 2 Comments

I am usually an optimistic person, but sometimes ways of this world make me wonder, if we are not doomed or what? We as in, we people of this world, the so called advanced species of this planet earth.

I was watching a documentary on Planet Earth, and then read and researched about some of our ancient civilizations. Specially on how they all ended. One thing is observed so far, that every civilization has an end date. None of our ancient civilizations have survived, no matter how powerful, advanced, or immortal they looked. Be it Mayans, Mesopotamian, Indus Valley, Egypt, Roman, or Incas.

All our ancient civilizations have either died completely, like Mayans, or they have changed drastically to survive, like ancient Chinese civilization. Few are left in bits and pieces; more like a mix of old with something new and different; like Indus Valley.

Why I am suddenly giving history lessons? I don’t even like history. Well, at least didn’t preferred it in school time.

So, why now?

Most of these civilizations have died of natural causes, like drought, wrong farming techniques, and not foreseeing the future natural calamities, etc. What you cannot see, you cannot control. If you cannot predict that your land is going to be affected by drought or not, you cannot take preventive measures to safeguard yourself; and thus you are in risk of falling prey to this uncertainty of natural disasters.

Now, if you will come to think of our current civilization; which is actually a global one. We are not limited to one culture, or one land, as such. We are global. Regardless of our ancestors; we do not belong to one city, or one country too; we belong to this whole world; this whole Earth. If a land is affected by a natural calamity, we have a better chance of surviving it.

We are so advance now that we can predict almost any natural calamity; and can prevent it to some extent too. We are so advanced that we can stop a meteorite on its way, before it touches our atmosphere. We are kind of invincible. We are immortal civilization.

But, are we?

Here lies the irony.

Our ancient civilizations had no foresight; they didn’t even know what was about to hit them. We have that foresight. We have that power. We have that control. We can see. We can predict. But, are we truly seeing what is just in front of us?

We are a doomed civilization. It’s not because some natural disaster will end this world someday. It’s because, we will be the reason of our own end.

We are the ones who will end our civilization by ourselves. We are killing this world. Not slowly, but such a faster rate that, soon we will reach to a point of no return. We are killing our home.

We are killing Earth. Our only Home.

Our economic development has taken us to such heights that we cannot see how farther down we have pushed our mother Earth to a disastrous end. We are the reason behind Global warming. Increased CO2. Depleting Ozone layer. Increasing water levels of oceans. Melting Ice Caps. Warming weather. Cutting of Trees. Increase of Pollution. This is all our work. We are doing this.

We are responsible for our own doomed death.

Few of the so-called smart and advanced ones among us are depleting the resources of Mother Earth; and few of the Idiots and morons from among us, are killing each other in the name of religion and skin differences.

Rest of us, who are thankfully not so smart and not so dumb, are watching it all happen before our eyes, but not doing enough to stop it.

We are certainly doomed.

Life

WHERE IS THIS HATE TAKING US? FROM DHAKA TO DALLAS…

Image July 9, 2016 jcisnowjs Leave a comment

“As originally posted by Jyoti Singh on MyTrendingStories.com“

It was a beautiful morning. Nice weather. A nice morning ride. One hot cup of tea…. And then I connected with the real world. Horrific… too horrific news. It was running on every news channel. 5 police officer shot dead in an ambush attack during a peaceful #BlackLivesMatter protest. Person who did this killing was not a terrorist. He was a 25-year old-young man. He wanted to kill white people. White people who are police officers. Just 2 days back and since last many years, we were seeing the videos and news of police officers killing black people/kids, in their shuffles and interactions.

In Dhaka, some young educated people with gun, were telling their hostages to recite verses from Quran. Those who didn’t obliged; they were murdered.

We are killing people because they have a skin color different from us; or they follow Jesus, Raam, or none; but not our specially anointed God.

Who is killing whom? It is no longer clear to me. Are Muslims killing us? or, white police officers are killing us? or, black people are killing us? I don’t seem to understand here… who is killing whom?

A killer is a killer. Whom this killer have killed – he was a son, he was a brother, a father, a lover, a friend, a human. He had an identity. The person you have killed just now, based on his skin color, or the religion he follows; that person was a human. He had so many other identities than just being black, or white; or Hindu, or Christian, or Muslim. He was a living human, taking breath, air filling his lungs every second. A person. A person with life, with future, with family, with hope. You have not killed his skin color, or his religion. You have just killed his family. His mother. His sister. His daughter. His wife. His friends. His family. You have killed everyone who have loved that person. You are a killer. Not less than that and not more.

You are just a Killer.

No, you will not go to heaven. No hundreds of ‘hoors’ for you. No, you have done nothing to save black lives. No, you are not keeping your community safe by killing a 15-year old black boy.

What you have done is, you have planted seeds of Hate in this community. You are growing Hate. What you sow you will reap. You will get hate only. You are a Trump. You are a Zakir Naik. You are a hater. You will get hate only. And no, you are not helping your specific community. You are pushing them into hatred.

Where is this hate taking you? Don’t go to a point of no return. Spread Love. Not Hate.

Why can’t you look beyond the color of my skin, or my sexual preference, my religion, or my country of origin? Why would you kill me for a part of my identity? I am much more than that. Much more than anything worth killing for.

Life, Random

Ruby’s shine lost. Disgrace on Indian Education System.

Image June 29, 2016 jcisnowjs 2 Comments

Ruby Rai is trending, not only in her small village ‘Hasi Malahi’, of Bihar; but all over India. She may have dreamt of being famous one day, but not this famous that one day she will be the face of our corrupt Education system. Popularity is good, unless it is followed by arrest and humiliation.

For those who are not aware of our 17-year-old shining girl, Ruby Rai (although I think there will be only a few of those); she is the Arts Topper from Bihar, India. She is a state topper with 444 achieved marks out of total 500. Commendable, isn’t it? Very much so, because the subjects that she has topped in, she didn’t even know what they are all about. It became crystal clear when she sat in front of a Tv camera declaring that Political (prodigal as pronounced by her) science teaches cooking. She must be confused between home science and political science; or, in her home, there is too much politics going on. Anyone can get confused between these two, right?

To be caught red-handed, and that too on national television in this time of social media bloom; she must be devastated. I don’t know, what she must be going through since telecast of her famous interview, but it won’t be pretty for sure.

First, it was hard for me to see her as a victim or as a culprit, but, it was made pretty clear when state government arrested this 17-year old, for cheating in her 12^th class exam. She was arrested and had to take a re-test of exam; which she failed miserably. She wrote a single small statement, when asked to write down an essay. I wonder if she could even pass the exam, leave aside to top it again.

How did she manage to top not only her school but her state?

Simple – Our Corrupt Education System has helped her to do so.

What has been uncovered is that a local school run by Bachcha Rai, takes a huge amount of money as fees in exchange for giving sure shot high percentage marks. It is like you can order the marks you want and pay for it so. As stated by another person involved in the scam, fees charged were 10 times more as compared to other schools; and in return this school had the highest number of toppers in whole state.

Ruby is not the only one arrested here. Overall 17 or more people are arrested in this scam, which includes 3 other toppers like her; Saurabh Shrestha, Rahul Kumar, and Daughter of Bachcha Rai, Shalini Rai. Almost 300 BSES staff has been transferred, some are suspended. It was a racket with huge money involved. I am sure its root will be deeper than it looks, but arrest of Ruby has proven one thing that this huge scam will not be unearthed fully. In fact, a blame game will be played where the smallest pawn will be made an example of.

Ruby is not a victim. Victim is that student who could have been a rightful topper for his/her hard work, but lost because of these Ruby’s and Saurabh’s lack of desire of getting educated in right way.

Ruby is not a criminal too. But she is for sure a beneficiary and totally involved in this. For those who say that her parents are culprit and not her. They are right somewhat, but a 17-year-old, asking her parents to make her pass in exam by bribing officials, does not look so innocent to me. She is an ignorant child, a stupid one. All the humiliation she is facing is because of her own deeds. She may not deserve to be treated like this, but she sure knows what she has done was wrong.

She refused to give a re-test. She didn’t appear for it first time round. Second time she was to be arrested to get a re-test out of her. She refused to wear scarf/mask to cover her face, which is suggested by officers arresting her. Later she obliged. To media she said – Are you going to kill me, if I don’t answer your questions? There is no remorse in her words and her actions. She also said, that she asked her father to make her pass her exam only. She does not wanted to be a topper.

She forgot, a thief is a thief, no matter you are stealing a grocery store or a bank. Your punishment may vary, but you will be punished for it.

Another point I would like to mention here is for those people who are targeting Bihar and Bihari people for this. I have personally worked with some of them, from my first company to my last one. Those I have worked with, were geniuses. They were intelligent and hard-working, and they still are learning and growing in their respective fields. I have also seen one Bihari manager who was a control freak lunatic, without any field knowledge. Point being – you cannot label anyone based on where they are from. Not every Bihari is Ruby Rai. Some Ruby’s live in UP, Delhi, and Haryana too…

It is not only Bihar’s education system who take money to pass/top a student. It happens everywhere. Some places this corruption level is far less than compared to Bihar, but it is an overall Education system failure.

If you want to change this system, first change yourself. Do not expect that every child will be a topper. Do not expect them to do good in every subject. Education is much more than how much marks you have got. Make education simpler. Make it practical. Make it reachable.

Ruby probably cycled 10 km to reach her school (if she had attended any class). How many kids are passionate enough for school, to cover this distance daily?

Kids and Me

Language of Love

Image June 20, 2016 jcisnowjs 2 Comments

We have developed so many languages to talk to each other but still we rarely understand others. Isn’t it ironic that even after having so many languages, we depend on universal language of human emotions when we share our feelings. Words are never enough. In fact, words, may they be of any language, could not do justice to our true feelings. We need something else to understand each other.

To understand love, we need language of love.

Why I am suddenly talking about languages and Love. Well, I do talk about love a lot actually, but it is first time for languages. There is always a first time. Lol.

We visited a friend few weeks back. They just became proud parents of the most beautiful girl, I have ever seen. She is so damn pretty, just like a doll. It is a beautiful experience to see the miracle of birth and hold a tiny living being in your hands, who is your tiny version. Well, both parents were elated to have her, but most happy were the grandparents of the little one. Taking care of the new Mom and little baby doll… looking after their every small need… fulfilling every responsibility and much more.

They came all the way from Chennai, India to help their daughter in law and son, to prepare them for the arrival of the first-born. They speak Tamil, only Tamil, no other language. Auntie however do try to speak/understand few words of English. No problem, as whole family can speak Tamil. Problem – we the visitors were illiterate in Tamil. No Tamil for us. Only Hindi or English.

Was it hard to talk to them? No not at all. They were so lively and so lovable, we didn’t felt any barrier of communication. It was more so as our friend, their son, was acting as translator between parents and us. We loved their hospitality and pure love. What surprised me was kids.

We grownups were all having dinner and kids refused to eat any food. They were fussy and just wanted to watch their cartoon. We decided to give them some time and then feed them. So we were having dinner, when suddenly I realized kids are too quiet… too much to make me uncomfortable. Looked back, and there they were quietly sitting on couch and eating food from uncle’s hands. Auntie ji was serving dosa after dosa to them, while uncle was feeding them small bites with love. All three of my kids eating silently. That was a first. More shocking for me was that they were eating food from someone who was a stranger to them few hours back. Specially Otu, who don’t even sit in the same room as any grownup; he was sitting closest to Dada and was eating from his hands. Kids called them dada and dadi, as in grandpa and grandma. Dada was smiling and feeding them. Dadi was serving them. Grand-kids were enjoying all the attention and love showered on them.

Surprisingly they have never eaten from anyone else’s hands, other than us (me and hubby); not even their own grandparents. I guess when kids see pureness of heart, they just see love… no language, no religion, no age difference, no culture, no relationship, nothing else…. Only love.

Where there is love, you don’t need any other language to understand. Love is enough. It is always enough. ❤