All Posts

Watching women dressed in different colours during these nine days of Navratri is absolutely a pleasant treat to the eye. Stree shakti or empowerment of women as these nine days depict has taken a different interpretation altogether this year with COVID. Confined to homes, away from the night festivities, the Dandiya to music to Durga Puja to visits to temples and delicious food, women have found ways to carry on the celebrations this time with aplomb. Social media pictures h

Often wondered why the betel leaf and areca nut carry so much importance in South Indian traditions and amongst the Bunt rituals in particular? Tried reading a lot of meanings to it and could relate to a few…some of which are shared here and that which needs enrichment with your thoughts added on…

The new National Education Policy has brought to the forefront historical references to our ancient Universities and education system and bringing it back to Indian education is the claimed scaffold for all the futuristic objectives of education. Universities that were in passing mentioned in our history lessons and which called for a paragraph answer in all examinations, is today being restored to its former glory by the NEP. One scours through the old books and revives from

“If you would not be forgotten, as soon as you are dead and rotten; either write things worthy of reading or do things worthy of writing.” — Benjamin Franklin

A fine morning had my daughter prod me to read Amelie Nothomb’s Strike your Heart. A book that never enticed me and hence had probably not reached my reading list, got me thinking at various levels of the complexity of relationships in human lives. A simple story that begins with an over-anxious and ambitious daughter needling thereafter into her life instances and relationships. What perplexed me the most was the mother-daughter relationship complexity at one level and the s

After having watched a series of the Ramayana epic series along with the grandchildren, had the grandparent instruct the little boy to show his skills in archery like Lord Rama. The display begins and the victim was the older girl. The girl oblivious of the entire demonstration being a pleasing gimmick instantly starts wailing. While the rest of the audience continued to praise the little boy playfully, the girl is comforted by the mother, and attention diverted to the soft t

A weekend drive to Chikmagalur is the best for me whenever I choose to unwind and de-stress. While Saturdays are for strolling through M G Road in Chikmagalur or a lazy afternoon at the club, Sunday mornings are for the long walks ending at a canteen for ‘benne dosa’ and piping hot coffee. Salubrious a beginning of the Sun’s day! This weekend on the eve of Woman’s Day began with the usual order of dosa and coffee at one of the canteens where I chose to sit opposite the cash c

A day of despair indeed for those schools, parents, teachers, and children who took excruciating pains to ensure that classes went on as planned, despite the pandemic. And the Government proclaims this day that there will be no exams or assessments and promotions are granted without assessing the learning outcomes of the child. Despair is seen on the faces of those Principals, teachers, and students who have already completed their assessments, and no words can console them.

There is no time like Spring,

Strange coincidence during these times of the pandemic, that I am offered the book “Where the Crawdads Sing’ by Delia Owens as a part of my reading list by my daughter.

A prayer that stayed from the early chapel visit days in the mind and that when uttered brought a lot of solaces:

Dr. Vidya Shankar Shetty has a through and through career experience in Academics and Education ranging from K12 to Higher Education. Her career map has had her play diverse roles right from establishment to governance, ranging from setting up new schools in India and abroad, colleges, compliance, and project handling of a greenfield University to an established University. Her current role as the CAO at Navkis, From the House of Ramaiah, has her play a crucial role in handli

Dr. Vidya Shankar Shetty has a through and through career experience in Academics and Education ranging from K12 to Higher Education. Her career map has had her play diverse roles right from establishment to governance, ranging from setting up new schools in India and abroad, colleges, compliance, and project handling of a greenfield University to an established University. Her current role as the CAO at Navkis, From the House of Ramaiah, has her play a crucial role in handli

Recollecting Marco Polo’s observations in his book, ‘Travels in the Land of Serpents and Pearls’, wherein he details his observations during his visit to the southern part of the country. Malabar or ‘Maabar’ as he calls it in the 13th century documents his observation of the kings and queens and the jewellery that they wore made out of pearls and other precious gems. The book begins with his description of how the men went gathering pearls from the seas and of how the kings w

Five miles meandering with a mazy motion

While ‘sankramana’ in Sanskrit means ‘commencement of a movement’ , sankranti means the ‘transit of the sun from one zodiac sign…Dhanu rashi to another zodiac sign which is Makara rashi. In other words from Sagitarrius to Capricorn. This northward journey of the sun (Uttarayan) is what calls for celebration as winter recedes during this time, the cold passes away and there is hope and joy in the hearts of mankind as these are also harvest days. Hence Makara Sankranti is the f

When string goes slack

Madame Bovary….the reading of which years ago, triggered thoughts of rebellion in the young me, encouraged you to move away from convention, pushed you to invest in certain things in life which you would not have otherwise indulged yourself in, did not allow you to settle for the small-town life but prodded you to dream beyond……

Come summer in Mangalore, the ‘Thodhank’ or the fruit picking stick would gain a prime position in the courtyard of the family house. Mango trees would be leaning closer to the ground and yet far away from the reach of the human hands, jackfruit would bunch the tree and the trunk would be camouflaged with the bulge of the jackfruits. At the same time the cashew fruit would spread itself liberally across the trees, while breadfruit, papayas and chiku would attract the bats as