Survie's Article

To introduce Survie in a few words, I would say that, Survie is a Content Designer and a mother of two wonderful boys. She is the quintessential working Mom, managing her work and life balance, through her choices at times and through her tenacity at others. Here is an article from her:

How to Keep Your Kids Busy During Vacation

It’s time for summer vacation again and we, the parents, start wondering how to keep our kids busy WITHOUT SUMMER CAMP!!! Yes right…without Summer Camp!!!

So, friends, there are lot of ways and options available which will definitely help in bringing out your Child’s creativity ranging from art to craft, reading and writing, science and math projects to sports and swimming. Here are some of the ways to keep your kids busy at home:

Crafts:  Kids just love to create. So you can help them on some fun crafts projects which will nurture their imaginations and keep them entertained at the same time. For instance, scrapbooking. You can ask your child to cut some interesting photographs from old magazines or newspapers and to past them in their scrapbook.  You can also think about buying a cheap camera for them so that they can take their own snapshots and make fill their diary with their holiday adventures.

Solving Puzzles: Solving puzzles might sound boring for many of us, but believe me it is one of the best ways to get rid of boredom. Not only it’s entertaining but also improves the child’s ability at problem solving. Also, I feel solving puzzles can be challenging for any of us and challenges are always fun…what say????

Reading: Reading is obviously the best way to pass your time in a meaningful way. Try to get some interesting books for your kids for the vacation. Apart from books, you can also ask them to read some magazines or newspaper.

Cooking: And the last but not the least, cooking. Yes, children love cooking. Get them involved in some kitchen activities and you will find a big smile on their face. This cooking technique works even better if there is some reward for them at the end.

So encourage your kids for such summer activities, I am sure your kids will be active and have an educational summer. So what are you waiting for, get yourself involved and make this summer vacation a great learning time for everyone.

Anushka's Poem

Make Me Human

My poem from long back. I had read this piece in a forwarded mail, about an old lady, who says that the heart of someone who has lived a meaningful life, is full of bruises and cuts, because that is what makes it human. Can't really recall the complete context. She was probably tending to a hurt grandchild. Some of you may remember...

Give me a knife,
Because I wish to carve myself.
Burn me with fire,
So I can prove my tenacity.
Cast me like iron,
Into a figure not replicable.
Chisel out my edges,
So I can be perfect.
Give me a soul,
So I can come to life.
Stab me with a knife,
So I can feel the pain.
Patch up my wound,
And make me human.

Buttons - Story of a Virtual Faux pas

My very first introduction to buttons was the buttons on my frocks. As a toddler, the frock that was like a jacket and had button running from top to bottom, was my favourite. I fortunately found a similar one for my daughter, when she was two years old.

Then there were buttons on the school shirts. The white ones. And on the sweaters. I have chewed on quite a few of them after they fell off, I found stray buttons lying around in the house. I remember one particular button on a yellow sweater, that tasted remotely of orange lozenges. I chewed that one on the sleeve of my sweater very often. Eventually I grew out of the chewing age.

Those were the days of license raj in India and most threads that were used to sew the buttons were not long lasting. And so, most of these buttons would keep falling off, to be replaced either by safety-pins or with press buttons. And therefore we had a white dog shaped empty box of Calcium that we filled with stray buttons of all colours and sizes.

When I was probably thirteen, I learnt about a button bag on Doordarshan, a cloth bag stitched on with buttons of all shapes, sizes and colours. I wanted to have more and more buttons. But I never got on to making a button bag. Stitching them on was quite a labourious task.

Anyway, in my early years buttons had only one meaning. The ones used on clothes. But buttons have a different connotation too, as I started to discover. The 'on' button on TV to begin with. We were accustomed to the black switches on wooden switch boards or knobs in the mixer grinder. Buttons did not switch on or off many things earlier. But TVs came with buttons and our index finger became the key to a new and exciting world.

And soon desktops came with buttons. One on the monitor, one on the CPU, one on the UPS (Uninterrupted Power Supply) etc etc...  

Desktops soon turned into laptops, buttons by then had truly become ubiquitous. A press of a button meant, we were in and out of office. We could be anywhere and yet working. Work from home became the most happening way to be employed. Though only a few privileged ones got this opportunity. There was another underprivileged group of people, who could now ‘work from work’ and ‘work from home’, round the clock.

And soon smart phones and Tablets created a new form of buttons, virtual buttons! Buttons that could be pressed only when there was power on the phone. The concept of virtual gadgets took shape. What we have today within our fingertips, are countless small buttons, that will download just anything from the virtual space, into our smart phones and into our lives.

My friends and family and all my tasks are just a click away. My phone works like a dutiful butler, beeping away every so often, to tell me someone has reached out to me, or something needs to be done.

In this scenario, what happens to slippery fingers and what happens when one wrong button is pressed? With the touch sensitive virtual buttons, there is very little scope for small mistakes, a lot more for big ones. And there is one that I made just two days ago…

My new smart phone is the main culprit. I did not have enough space in the old phone to have too many apps on it. Apps are lethal weapons I must say. Best to have as few of them as possible. But a lesson learnt too late.

And so I downloaded one of the professional networking sites, so I could have it on my fingertips! Not knowing the wows of having slippery fingertips. All went well till the download, besides that, I pressed one button too many. Suggested Contacts “Invite All”, one click of the button, I have no idea how many people I have invited. Hundreds maybe. I have never been a great believer of networking sites till date. Not that it is wrong. I just come from a different era of buttons. And now my phone is loaded with, “your invitation is accepted”. Thanks to all who have been gracious enough to accept my invite. 

I am still tending to my slippery index finger. A plaster for a few days would really help my cause. But there is no stopping me. I am already looking for more and more apps to download on my little device, my trusty butler who understands nothing, but the press of buttons...

A thought that crossed by

Enticed by my thought,
I lost touch of time,
A soft fog descended,
And enveloped the scene,
Light had quietly taken its leave,
The chirping of birds had slowly subsided,
A hollow quiet replaced the day's humbug,
Only pierced by reverberating insect song.

A shrill cry of an owl from a distance,
Repaired my attention from reverie,
I felt a chill under my skin,
An involuntary thought crept in my mind,
Life had marooned me, while I sat there,
On a chilly, dark, foggy, hollow patch.

As the thought crossed me, I recalled,
This was the same pleasant patch of the day,
I was just as alone in the dark,
As I was in the day,
But then I was alone,
And now forlorn,
I shook off the thought,
And walked back home.

Life Unchanging or Unfathomable?

Life falls evenly on all,
Like the sun and the moon and the sky above,
Unchanging. Just the same,
Yet we view it in many shades,
Our minds playing mysterious games,

Is life really just the same?
Encased in those replicated breaths?
Or is It more of what we think?
More of the shades, in our looking glasses?

On a sunny day, some are perked up,
Some exhausted in the heat,
Yet others dehydrate,
No, it cannot be the same for all,
Life cannot be just the breath,
It is what one feels with each breath,

What one believes  is one's truth,
Do we survive on verifiable beliefs? No,
Under the same sky, over this very earth,
There are as many worlds as people alive,
No... more worlds than there are people alive,
For each one is capable of possibilities unexplored,
One question, one doubt is all it takes, for a new world to emerge.

Neither past is unchangeable nor future uncertain,
Thoughts are the unmistakable magic wands,
They can change the past, or make future more certain,
For past is what remains of it in the thought,
And future is but a stroke of that thought,
And how one views it, when one gets there indeed.

Life is an unfathomable mystery,
For the mystery lies in our very thoughts, that we so tirelessly control.

Truth

I always felt that if I closed my eyes,
Long enough,
Tight enough,
Or if I looked away,
Far enough,
It would just go away.

But then I was young,
And the meaning of 'always' changes,
Every passing year,
For as I grew, I found it out,
That "Truth" is etched in stone,
And just as the breath,
It stays!

More permanent than the breath,
It remains, haunting the dead...
And therefore each passing moment,
Those with breath fear the truth,
Or untiringly work to create, a perfect truth.
For those without, have lost that hope...
For better or for the worse.

However the mortal remains may be treated,
Burnt or berried or taken to the Tower of Silence,
Truth stays alive and breathes.
Look away, look away if you wish, look away,
It tempts,
For I will live in places not thought of,
Not contemplated,
Unless you make me your torch and follow me.
And then I shall be your guide.