Breaking Home Ties, by Norman Rockwell, on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post in 1954.

Let me post a forward I received yesterday. 

This is one of the most beloved paintings in America, and it puts its finger on something we all pass through, first as the child, and one day as the parent left behind...

The painting is Breaking Home Ties, by Norman Rockwell, on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post in 1954. 

It has moved people for 72 years

This is one of the most beloved paintings in America, and it puts its finger on something we all pass through, first as the child, and one day as the parent left behind...

The painting is Breaking Home Ties, by Norman Rockwell, on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post in 1954. A father and his teenage son sit side by side on the running board of a battered farm truck, waiting at a railway stop. A single track runs along the bottom of the picture. A ticket pokes from the boy's pocket. His suitcase is stacked with schoolbooks and wears a "State U" pennant. The train is coming to carry him off to college, away from home, for the first time in his life.

Everything is in the way they sit.

The son sits upright, scrubbed and dressed in his best, eyes fixed on the horizon, on the track, on the future rushing toward him. He is already half gone. For him that train is the beginning of everything.

His father sits beside him in worn work clothes and scuffed boots, looking the other way, down the line, as if he cannot bear to watch it arrive. The same train means the opposite thing to him. For the son it is the start of a life. For the father it is the day the house grows quieter, the chair at the table sits empty, and the person he built his world around walks out into a life that no longer has him at its centre.

Look at his hands. He is holding two hats. His own battered one, and resting on top of it, his son's crisp new one, held carefully together, because it is the last small thing he can still do for the boy...

And then the dog, its head laid in the son's lap, gazing up, refusing to look away. Rockwell knew exactly what that was for: "The father couldn't show how he felt about the boy's leaving," he said. "The dog did."

It has moved people for 72 years because every leaving is a beginning for one person and an ending for another. The child steps out into the world, as they should. And someone stays behind, watching them go, and loving them enough to let them go anyway...

It was poignant.
It took me to that Sunday, the first Sunday of June 1965.
I had to leave my precious home where love was the hallmark.
It relived the day I had to leave my house at the age of 15.
That day and its previous day  are vivid in my memory.
I was reading the narration aloud for Lila. 

After a point I couldn't go on. 

I was crying

Tears flew down

I couldn't ever get over that separation.

The feelings are intense

And for my Papa and Mummy

And my siblings

They couldn't absorb the shock.

Every one was crying 

As I left home

Mummy later said

Papa after seeing me off

At the bus stand

Returned alone

She saw him

Lying down on my bed

Gave vent to the strife within

Unashamedly crying.

ENTENDRE AND DOUBLE ENTENDRE

Entendre  

Pronounciation: English:  ahn TAHN druh 

                           French:  ahn-tahn-dr

In English, "entendre" (as in double entendre) is pronounced on-TAHN-druh or ahn-TAHN-druh (/ɑːnˈtɑːn.drə/). 

In French, it is pronounced with nasal vowels as ahn-tahn-dr (/ɑ̃.tɑ̃dʁ/), where the final "re" is barely heard. 

You can listen to an audio breakdown via the Cambridge Dictionary

The word entendre is a French verb that means "to hear". 

In English, it is most commonly seen as part of the phrase double entendre, which is a word or phrase with two meanings, where one meaning is usually risqué, crude, or socially awkward

French Verb 

Meaning Is:To hear: 

Passive perception of sound (e.g., J'entends un bruit / "I hear a noise").To understand: 

Grasping the meaning of something (e.g., Bien entendu / "Of course" or literally "well understood")

Double Entendre 

FeaturesTwo interpretations: 

The first meaning is innocent and fits the normal conversation. 

The second meaning is often suggestive or taboo.

Wordplay: 

It relies on puns, homophones, or ambiguous phrasing to deliver a hidden joke

EMINENT EDUCATIONIST D.Y.PATIL PASSES AWAY

 

Eminent educationist, D.Y. Patil passes away, the news read.     

He was 91.

He leaves behind one of India's largest private education networks comprising of 182 institutions, three deemed universities and five state private universities with over 1.5 lakh students and around 26000 employees.

His son and Congress MLC Satej Patil said, "He was the pillar of our family and the institutions he created. Throughout his life, he connected people and transformed the lives of lakhs of students through education. His teachings will continue to inspire us."

He had begun his public career at the age of 19. 

He was known for his loyalty to Congress.            

He was awarded Padma Shri in 1991.

At the peak of his political career, he had stepped away from active politics to pursue his vision of building educational institutions.

He established a vast network of institutions spanning medicine, engineering, pharmacy and other disciplines, transforming higher education access for thousands of students

GOALKEEPERS FOOTBALL OR HOCKEY

 

A goalkeeper has to bear in mind, every goalkeeper concedes goals. 

The important thing is to forget about it quickly and move on. 

If you do that it would help you focus much better.

If you concede a goal and keep thinking about it, you won't be able to perform in the next moment. 

Your biggest quality must be your sincerity. You have to dedicate yourself to improve all the time.

You have to be good in decision making. You have to know the best line you have to take as a goalkeeper, when to come off  the line, how to narrow the angles and how to coordinate with the defenders. 

The need is to keep excellent communication between the goalkeeper and the defence.

They must understand which areas the goalkeeper covers and which areas the defenders should take responsibility for.

The goalkeepers have to be put through goalkeeping exercises by the coaches.

For a goalkeeper, even learning one small skill can make a huge difference. He should have mental toughness. He has to possess a mindset that prompts him to never give up.

If it is hockey, the goalkeeper should constantly work on drag flicks.

Bear in mind it is the goalkeeper who is the last line of defence. 

If he fails, the team fails.

NEERAJ CHOPRA ON HIS INJURY RAVAGED COME BACK

 

Neeraj Chopra, Olympic and World Champion in Javelin Throw, says the past 10 months had tested him in many ways.

He reveals the road to recovery from multiple injuries was tougher than he had imagined.  He was faced with an abductor injury, lower back strain and other niggles that had hampered him.

Neeraj spent months rebuilding his body.

At the end he clinched the Commonwealth Games silver with the season's best effort of 85.83m in challenging conditions in Glasgow.

Neeraj said after winning the silver,"The season continues. One step at a time. To be back  competing at this level feels  good. I was  training every day without knowing if I will have a season to compete this year. This one means so much more than the distance. "

"There are throws that travel far, and then there moments that carry the weight of an entire journey. It was a difficult journey, recovering from multiple injuries, rebuilding my body, finding my rhythm again and learning to be patient when all I wanted was to compete. The past 10 months has tested me in ways I never expected."

NIRMAL PURJA AND MINGMA G

Against odds, Purja's 'formidable rival' brings his body back to base

Nirmal Purja and Mingma Gyalje Sherpa, known across the climbing world as Mingma G, spent years running rival premier outfits in Kathmandu - Purja's Elite Exped and Mingma G's Imagine Nepal. They competed for clients and records on the world's highest mountains.

But a week after the July 30, 2026 avalanche on Broad Peak (8047)in Pakistan-occupiedKashmir that killed Purja and other climbers, Mingma fulfilled a vow he had taken as his team trekked to the site and brought back the body of the man who was once his fiercest professional rival, close friend and on some of moutaineering's most important days, his summit partner.

Mingma's team was forced to trek on foot towards the dangerous slope as deteriorating  conditions had prevented  a Pakistan Army helicopter to fly to the spot.

Mingma said," Other rescue teams have returned due to the risk: only my team is left here now. But we have not given up trying, addressing the pain of the climbers' families.if helicopter flights are not possible, we will retrieve the bodies by trekking."

"This is not about rivalry.  We shared high mountains, big moments and the same risks. Families are waiting. As climbers, we cannot just leave them there, if there is a chance to bring them back"

Mingma's decision to stay carried a weight beyond the recovery itself.

On January 16, 2021, Purja, Mingma and eight other Nepalese climbers completed the first winter ascent of K2 - the most difficult peak and terrain to conquer in the Himalayas. 

They had started as three separate groups, but combined for the final push, stopped just below the summit and stepped onto the top together, singing Nepal's national anthem. 

Mingma, later, had said Purja had suggested that all 10 summit together, so that no one would be called first or second.

From Times of India 6th August 2026

TABLE TENNIS - INDIA'S BRIGHTEST PROSPECT IN TABLE TENNIS - DIVYANSHI BHOWMICK

 

Learn to control your nerves at all points in life.

Competing with seniors and better talented, helps you push ahead well and reach higher levels.

When you are exposed to demanding situations you would have no options,but to tackle them.

Your biggest gain as you do it, would not be in technique but in temperament

The gap between Indians and leading competitors from abroad:

"They have a lot of power and they are extremely fit. Whenever I play them, they are always ready to get to every ball."

15 year old, Divyanshi Bhowmick,  India's brightest prospect in Table Tennis