nidhiramblers

I did not anticipate that I would be listening to Neema speak on our scriptures, 'shastras' as she terms them, just a month after writing my blog ' pilgrimage thoughts' . Neema and Surya are both ' young' scholars who took a break from their working lives to learn 'Vedanta' and Sanskrit in India. Neema has a Master's degree in Economics from Columbia University and Surya has a Ph.D in Pharma from Paris. Neema Majmudar & Surya Tahora have studied with Swami Dayananda Saraswati , renowned scholar of Vedanta. Both have gone through intensive course of Vedanta studying texts such as Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita, etc with the commentaries of Sankara, and the Panini system of Sanskrit grammar. They have been teaching Vedanta in India and abroad for several years. It is fortunate for us that Neema and Surya have returned to Bangkok. She is working as a Social Affairs Officer, Gender and Development Section at the UNESCAP in Bangkok and Surya conti...

We can never anticipate the cards that are dealt to us in life. This came to my mind when I saw Viji walking past Soi 15 Sukumvit and thought I should talk to her about the 'Challenge' life had presented to them. On my return from India, I met Murthy at a function and spoke to him about my idea to write a blog about their different experience in bringing up Sashank. Murthy said he would be happy to share their experiences and would also talk to Viji about it. He added that Viji has worked with Sashank for the last fifteen years. Murthy suggested that we see the movie Taare Zameen Par, as this movie is also on the same lines and might interest us. I told him we had seen the movie and it was very good. We have known Murthy and Viji from almost since we came to Bangkok. We were always happy to meet them. Murthy has a good mannered and pleasant disposition. Viji is equally friendly and is a person who exudes energy and enthusiasm. Finally we met them a fortnight back to set a date ...

I was at the pool yesterday for my morning swim. I have added this to my routine recently. Meghana, a national swimming champ, can be proud of her uncle! I know how to swim now! Suddenly, I heard a splash and saw two Thai preteen girls jump into the water and were soon swimming with an abandon only kids can have. After their burst of activity they noticed me. They seemed surprised that I was at the middle level of the pool and not at the deep end like them. One of them asked me in Thai 'Pen Mai' (can you swim?) pointing to the deep end. I knew they were amused by a grown man sticking to shoulder depth water. This reaction would have been upsetting for me earlier, but not anymore. This is my story of how I conquered, not my fear of water, but the dread of people laughing at me for being scared. I have been looking at the swimming pool in Rishi court for the last twenty years. I think I swam only once with Rohini when she was here in Bangkok. She can swim well and I think felt ...