I could not get domain name Janya.org. So am going with Janyaa.org. So have to move my blog too. Here are the details:

http://janyaa.wordpress.com

And my website:

http://janyaa.org/

My thoughts are continued here: http://gojanya.blogspot.com/

Why change of venue? No particular reason. Ofcourse you can read my posts here first and then move to my new one.

Yes, I am. I dream a lot. 

Well, I have read the following concept in J.K’s books too.  One world without boundaries? May be. But watch the video. It was one of my favourites, but haven’t listened to it for a while. John Lennon sings so well, it touches your heart. Thanks to a friend for rekindling my memories. I hope Janya helps this cause in long run by providing good education to children.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-b7qaSxuZUg

Imagine there’s no heaven
It’s easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today…

Imagine there’s no countries
It isn’t hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace…

You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world…

You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will live as one

A friend of mine sent me this link today and I wanted to share it with you all. Rohini Nilekani talks about people at TED. But the theme is about what “we people who are freed from survival concerns” can do for others.

Well, Janya is all about this. I hope all of you can support Janya to build a better world for our kids who cannot even afford to go to school. With Janya we are not only attempting to change the drop out rate, but also provide better education for them so that they can reach the heights they might not have imagined. Kids are our future.

Here is her article. A very interesting and enlightening one. 

http://www.livemint.com/2009/02/12222211/Rediscovering-wonder.html

ఓం శ్రీ సరస్వతి దేవ్యై నమః

Well, it’s a great day. We are starting off Janya program for education.

This has been my dream for a while and now the time has come to realize it. During my education (school and college) days, I had teachers who just read from the text books. One of my school teachers would come to the class, copy the lesson to the board and we in turn copied that to our notebooks. I never understood why. At the same time we had a Telugu teacher who taught us grammar (సంధులు, సమాసాలు) so well that I still remember them. We had a science teacher who taught us concepts in interesting ways. But we had a Maths teacher who would solve problems on the board and we tried to understand them by copying them. I still remember a Maths teacher at my aunt’s place Bapatla – Rajeswara Rao garu – who taught me Theorems during my 9th class summer vacation. He had a creative way of explaining the theorems that made it so easy to  ”understand” and “remember”. I used to look forward to go to his classes. This is the sort of interest I want the kids to have. And I hope I can bring this to the kids with this program.

I am hoping you will support me.

I am sure most of us have experienced this in life – comparison with others. When you were a child you were compared with other students and you were compelled to compete with them to move ahead. It’s not a surprise if this continued throughout your student life. Sure it doesn’t end there. It continues to your job, your house, your living etc. 

When we are compared with others, whether it is with our studies or our appearances or sports or anything, we have a sense of anxiety and fear. We focus on moving ahead in any way rather than on gaining knowledge. Of course, there is also a sense of anxiety and uncertainty as we don’t know if we will continue to stay ahead of others. 

Don’t you think we can perform better when we are free of this comparison. We can do better if there is more interest and more freedom. When you are happy and healthy you can learn more easily. But when there is fear of comparison you cannot perform to the fullest.

In school teachers are concerned in getting you to the next class and parents are concerned in getting you ahead in the class. None of them are interested in thinking that you should leave the school as an intelligent human being without fear.

Competition and comparison hides the fear of failure. But we all know that failures are stepping stones of success. You learn when you fail and you succeed from these lessons. But how are we treated when we fail? Well, if we do not want our kids to be in the same situation as us, may be we can instill the right sense of knowledge into them to see they “learn” than just “pass” an exam.

At the same time, don’t compare yourself with others and get dejected/jealous or all related negative feelings. Instead, see if you can get motivated by looking up to others.

In this modern times, everyone of us want a house that has too many bedrooms (more than what we need), too many living rooms, too many other rooms. We have green lawns and some few plants that grow in a ‘landscaped’ garden. I have seen too many of those. And now I have experienced some relief here in the middle of concrete jungle in Vijayawada.  

Sparrows are something that cannot be seen in the modern cities due to cell phone towers or the hustle and bustle of the city life. I was surprised to see those in my uncle’s house. He started with 3 and took great pains to safe guard and multiply them. Now he has around 26 of them. Not just sparrows. He has pigeons as well. Didn’t feel like I was in the city. It was such a wonderful feeling.

Here are couple of pictures.  My childhood is associated with this place. So they may not excite you as much as they did to me. There are more which I will upload later. Could not capture sparrows though.

 

 

 

 

Decorating our grandfather’s picture with garlands made from these flowers was our childhood memory. These flowers are called ‘Radha Krishna’. You can make a garland by inserting one flower into the other. It is very rare to find these flowers anywhere. Additional info for farmers: The leaves cooked in water act as powerful pesticide. 

I was watching the following video which explains some key aspects of economics. What scared me the most was the one on population growth. I cannot even imagine how the growth would be in the next 60 years. Just imagine how life was 60 years back. That should give us an indication.

Most of us like to have more than 1 kid so that our children can grow with siblings to share their life with, especially if we didn’t have any. I was wondering, should we have 2 or more kids or just have 1 and adopt the rest. 

So why not adopt? Of course, we need to do that only if we are confident that we can treat them as our own.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=u5iFESMAU58

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=LOBPNtupL_Q&feature=related

Don’t forget to watch all related videos. 

Agriculture seems to be more of hardwork for farmers, than science. And it is for this reason, we see so many farmers committing suicides as they are not able to survive on their primitive methods of farming. Of course, nature plays an important role too. Educating them on drip irrigation and other aspects of agriculture so as to improve their output would be helpful. 

Here is some information we can use.

http://specials.rediff.com/money/2008/dec/23slide1-an-engineer-from-iit-now-a-farmer.htm

Another motivational story was from my uncle who started growing organic rice. It took him 4 whole years to achieve this. But it’s worth it. And he is currently educating other farmers on this. 

http://green-bujji.blogspot.com

I hope they receive enough education and knowledge to survive.

I came to India few days back to spend time with my family. On day one, we went from Hyderabad to a temple in Basara. On our way, we had to pass through villages with dense trees on the sides, small eat-in places where I had my breakfast without caring much about bottled water or how the food was cooked. I grew up there and touch-wood, until now I could eat anywhere without getting into any trouble.  And of course, I love it. 

I loved the ride. I enjoyed all the trees on my way. Loved the greenery. Was surprised to see monkeys sitting on the road in groups. Sunflower fields were awesome. Saw some creative – environmentally friendly – huts. Then suddenly I felt – am I being crazy? Am I going overboard in enjoying all these simple things in life. What am I missing? Do you enjoy the same way I do?

At the same time, I spent the next 2 days in the hustle and bustle of the city life, shopping, enjoying the food in nice city restaurants. Well, all I can say is life is wonderful no matter where you are – if you have right people with you. It’s been just 3 days and they have been just great. Spending time with family/friends is so precious. I always have a great time when I come here. May be it’s time to think of moving back to India.

On the same note, I honestly believe no matter which place you choose to live in, your happiness is entirely defined by you and you alone.

I just love it here. I tend not to share personal information in my blog (I do so indirectly I guess). But this is something I had to. 

 

If we all have “time” to enjoy nature, we can see how amazing even little things are. A squirrel wandering in your backyard munching on something, birds chirping, all those fruits dropping from your neighbor’s tree (not sure if they are even edible), all the wild flowers on your walking trail etc etc.

Personally, I find “natural” flowers, plants growing wildly, more endearing than “artificial” ones that grow indoors. Even a dried tree is charming. At the same time, I do enjoy all the pretty flowers in the gardens. But there is something special about naturally grown plant kingdom.

When we go to Tirumala on the bus, I would enjoy all the plants (dried/green) that I see on my way. It’s a wonderful ride. Once we are on Tirumala we have beautiful gardens with wonderful plants/flowers. But somehow, I liked the nature on my way up.

I have couple of redwood trees next to my bedroom. I took it for granted and was just happy that it blocks the hot sun. But a friend of mine who visited me recently was sooo excited to see this tree. Apparently she loves redwood trees. She was saying she is jealous that I can see a redwood tree from the window of my bedroom. I laughed it off, but started seeing this tree with different perspective. And I started noticing more of them on my way to work.

I lived at a “concrete” place before where I could not see any nature. At my new place, when I wake up in the morning, I can hear birds (sparrows, hummingbirds and others) chirping, can see squirrels running around on the redwood tree (scared me initially as it sounded so human that I was worried someone was at my window), sometimes have the pleasure of watching a mocking bird. This continues during the day and it is so enjoyable to have such an experience in the middle of the bay area.

Well, these little things that bring some joy to your daily routine should be cherished.

When I lived in Australia, in my backyard I had hundreds of these parrots hanging to the trees. I have never seen such a beautiful site in my life again on a daily basis. It was such a pleasure watching and listening to them.

http://servekrishna.net/images/static/kurma/parrots.jpg