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Ladakh - A lesson in Gratitude & Pure Living

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The Ladakh Memoir | Part 1 Last July, Raj and I vacationed on our own for the very first time in 12.5 years since R and D entered our lives. It wasn’t the best feeling leaving  behind the babies with the parents and Tuku, yet this was a much-needed break we both needed from the mundane – a break from work, yelling instructions, household chores, raising children and the 100s of to-dos we pack in everyday!  What better place than the Land of Gorgeous mountains, beautiful rivers and impeccable hospitality, and what better reason than a milestone birthday as a get-away! We landed in Leh on a beautiful sunny Sunday! Armed with tips and tricks from Tuku and a few of our friends, and ably assisted by our guide and driver for the trip – Tenzing, we started ticking off from a longgg bucket list within 15-20 minutes of breathing the freshhhhh mountainous pure air!  Our first pit-stop was the  ‘Hall of Fame’ Museum (War Memorial)  where we heard war stories from pre-independence right until the
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On this Father’s Day (and all other days)

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As a hands-on mommy of two, I can now relate to  a phrase that  my dad used   – “You will NOT understand  what a father goes through  until you have a child of your own”. He ’s  used this  on me on very few occasions .  yet  this sentence  left a profound impact  on me ! I’d “get it from him”  if  •  I miss a call from him as I drove on the highway  as a 20-25-year old (even now, frankly!)  •  I did not turn up at the time I’d said I would ,  from work  and / or from  social outing beyond 9 p.m. •  I was late to our planned time for MSN chat when I went to college in the US as an 18-year-old* *Those were the days  when 10-year olds weren’t gifted an iPhone for their birthdays !  Circa 2001, a  bestie (across the hall) and  I  shared a landline, and if the phone rang twice and she didn’t pick up, I’d  rushhhh  from my room to  pick up  the call before the last ring  cos it could mommy   / daddy calling to speak to me (God forbid, it was some  “news” about any of my grandparents / family
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SECMOL like alternative education vs Traditional schooling

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Raj and I are vacationing in Ladakh, and we had an opportunity to visit the #SECMOLCampus - the inspiration behind the super hit movie 3 Idiots! To say the least, we were beyond inspired - yet the Q remains, will I send R n D to a school like this if I had a choice! Founded by Sonam Wangchuk and inaugurated by HH the Dalai Lama, the  SECMOL Campus is located near the village of  Phey  in the  Indus valley  in the outskirts of Leh. The Students’ Educational and Cultural Movement of Ladakh (SECMOL) is an alternative education system that focuses on sustainability, leadership and culture. The motto of the school is to move away from 3 Rs (Reading, wRiting and aRithmetic) to 3 Hs - Bright Head, Kind Heart and Skilled Hands, and the student guide who took us around the school on a tour seemed to be displaying this, and he’d been here for less than a month or so! ‘Learning by Doing’ vs blackboard and books makes this school stand out - and one can’t but gape at how different life is out here
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#EmbracingEquity

Have you ever wondered why we celebrate ‘International Women’s Day’ every year? One such google search a few years ago led me to this  —>  Labour activist Theresa Malkiel is credited to have begun a movement in New York in 1909, yet it was only in 1975 that the UN began celebrating International Women’s Day (IWD).  Starting 1977, the UN General Assembly declared  March 8  as  ‘International Women’s Day’  in support of women’s rights and global peace, and since then has commemorated the day by establishing a theme each year. The IWD 2023 theme is  #EmbraceEquity . It seeks to get the world talking about why equal  opportunities are no longer enough  - and can in fact be exclusionary, rather than inclusive. While many of us use the words ‘Equality’ and ‘Equity’ inter-changeably,  Equality  means each individual or group of people is given the same resources or opportunities, whereas   Equity  recognizes that each person has different circumstances and allocates the exact resources and
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It’s all in the Name

Two weeks ago, we hosted a lovely newly wedded couple for dinner.. Among the many conversations we had was about how complex life can be when one needs to undertake a name change - an addition or an edit rather! He grew up believing that his name was spelt uniquely signified by birth certificate and many other subsequent documents cos his parents desired so.. (even though his name is a simple one! Hint - a famous comic character we all grew up watching) Imagine his dismay, when he finds out his mom addressed him with the common spelling, at least on the contact list on her cell phone!!! All those years of correcting people to add the right vowels at the right place and convincing them, there was a reason behind the complexity in thy name flashed before him as he threw up his arms in the air as his mom sat there giggling it seems! This was further accentuated with a saga of having his middle name noted in some documents, while it went missing (either by design or by default!) in ma
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  Choose to Challenge It was sixty-one years ago, in 1960 when Sirimavo Bandaranaike was elected as the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka (then called the ‘Dominion of Ceylon’). Forced into politics after her husband was mercilessly assassinated, Sirimavo led the young country for close to five years until 1965. Touted as the first woman leader in the modern world , she was succeeded by Indira Gandhi being elected as the Prime Minister of India in 1966, followed by women leaders from China, Israel, Argentina, Central African Republic taking up as the Head of State / Government in their respective countries. Of course, our generation grew up hearing stories about the infamous ‘Iron Lady’ who was elected as the Prime Minister of UK in 1979 who led for close to a dozen years! Fast forward to 2021, we have 24 women actively leading countries across the globe, and yet we waited unabatedly, fingers crossed for Kamala Harris be sworn-in as the FIRST Vice President of USA . Sat 9000 miles away,
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