Posts
Evana Abraham
September 17, 2026
Sunday, September 20, 2026
Evana's imagination goes wild
Evana's imagination goes wild
It's her whole day's effort
Shara queries
We need the artist to explain this. I am art challenged
I respond
I asked her that even before forwarding it.
She said she did that as it came.
That's why I put the caption like that
She said she did that as it came.
That's why I put the caption like that
Shara resigns
Ahh! We will have to content with that
WRITING OUT A PLAN FOR YOUR LIFE - E.L.DOCTOROW
According to E.L.Doctorow, writing out a plan for your life,
"is like driving at night in the fog. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make
the whole trip that way."
Pace Bowling Sensation - M D Niddheesh - Mattakandathil Dinesan Nidheesh
Malayala Manorama Sunday Supplement 20September2026
Look at his philosophy.
Do your job, striving to the utmost
Leave the rest to God
M D Niddheesh
Mattakandathil Dinesan Nidheesh
Can we relate to his statement?
Can we be honest enough to state we are doing likewise?
If yes, we have to go on the way, we are.
If no, we must re-engineer ourselves
RAINDROPS ON THE BEAUTIFUL WHITE ROSE
When raindrops fall
And settle on
The beautiful
White Rose
And settle on
The beautiful
White Rose
"At dawn the garden softly wakes,
A silver hush the morning makes.
Dewdrops glisten on tender leaves,
Like crystal prayers the earth receives.
Raindrops linger where roses bloom,
Pearls of light in fragrant gloom.
Each trembling jewel, a fleeting grace,
Heaven’s tears on nature’s face.
The lilies bow, the branches sigh,
As droplets sparkle, then drift and die.
Yet in their fall, a truth is shown—
Beauty lives in moments alone.
- Anonymous
Thursday, September 17, 2026
KUTS - THE KERALA UNITED THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY
KUTS
The Kerala United Theological Seminary
Kannammoola
Thiruvananthapuram
It's not just Theological Education
It's transformation of lives for more than eight decades
It's not only pastoral care
It's formation of character
It's touching people
It's connecting with the world around
It's equipping people to have an intense relationship with the unprecedented
It's teaching people to live as true Christians
It's unveiling to the world Jesus Christ the redeemer
Deeply entrenched in the Indian ethos
KUTS
Wednesday, September 16, 2026
BEN SHELTON - YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE UNLIMITED TIME ON THE SECOND SERVE
Prajwal Hegde reports from New York City for The Times of India (15.09.2026)- U S Open 2026 - Final
When Alexander Zverev prepares to serve, he bounces the ball and bounces it.. Sometimes 20 or 25 times.
At the other end of the court, his opponent waits and waits.
Ben Shelton wanted to stay loose, while Zverev went through his routine, rather than settling into his return position. He said,"There is not an athlete in the world who would like to watch them do their thing and sit in a ready position-30 seconds before play starts."
"So for me it's the same. I'm not going to sit there with my knees bent,. tension in my body for thirty seconds while I'm waiting."
"I'm going to try to stay loose."
When Shelton took it up with the umpire, he was advised that he had to be at the base line early.
He commented,"That is a stupid rule that you got to be sitting there when the guy goes through his routine."
"I shouldn't have to sit at the line."
"He can start his routine whenever he wants."
"I promise you there will never be a time when he serves and I'm not ready."
"I definitely think, for a first serve, you should be able to do whatever you want. You can use the full 25 seconds every time."
As regards the second serve, he suggested that the time allowed should be curtailed, "There should be some sort of a rule. I'm not sure exactly how you would do it, limiting time on the second serve."
Shelton reiterated, "You shouldn't have unlimited time on the second serve."
Alexander Zverev won the match in four sets.
ALEXANDER ZVEREV WINS US OPEN 2026 - DEDICATES THE VICTORY TO HIS MOTHER
Prajwal Hegde at the US Open - New York City - reports for The Times of India (15.09.2026).
Alexander Zverev (Sascha),29, the 6 ft 6' tall temperamental German, out served and out returned the 23 year old power house Ben Shelton, the American finalist, to win the US Open title 2026.
It is a powerful redemption story.
He had been diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes as a child.
The talented younger child in a tennis family, diagnosed with a condition that could have limited his sporting ambitions, survives a career threatening injury, endures three Grand Slam final defeats, at last wins the French Open in June 2026.
It was only the beginning.
He won the second Grand Slam in 2026 itself on 13th September battling the crowd favourite Ben Shelton at the US Open in four sets.
His victory speech resonates far beyond the tennis world.
It is a mother and son story on adversity, belief and the refusal to let a medical diagnosis dictate a child's future. It is the kind of a story sport is built for, capable of lifting millions of hearts, young and old.
"I want to thank one more person who never actually watches my matches, but is the most important person in my tennis life and in my life in general."
"When your four year old son gets diagnosed with diabetes and doctors tell you that life and sports will be very, very limited for that child, it takes a very very strong mother to walk out and say, 'My son will be wherever he wants to be.'
"If he wants to be a tennis player he'll be a tennis player .. this illness will not define us."
"It takes an unbelievably strong woman to do what she did."
In one corner of the Arthur Ashe stadium, 66 year old Alexander Zverev(Sr), father and coach, bit back tears.
When I read the heart warming speech, I thought of the mother who quietly brought up our two children She had been with them throughout the thick and thin of their lives. Whenever they needed guidance, she was there. She supported them when they failed. She lifted them up. She carried them through illnesses. All along, she had a demanding job, to which she had always been true. She encountered everything with a smile.
She never forced the children into an identity foreclosure.
She encouraged them to evolve.
They have now grown up into fine gentlemen. Not worldbeaters. But they are street smart. She has instilled in them survival instincts. They look at her for inspiration. They shower their love and affection upon her.
I watched her all the time from sidelines. I have often wondered where our children would have been, had she not sustained them.
September 16, 1975 - TOTTERING STEPS INTO THE UNKNOWN
September 16, 1975. My first day in the bank. Executive Trainee. The fulfilment of an ambition. I wanted to begin as a Manager.
It was the culmination of a search that lasted more than three years after I finished my PG. Of course there was an interlude of an year soon after the PG. I taught English in a Junior College at Honavar, Karnataka.
The only hitch when I longed to become a Manager was, I had no idea what the job entailed. On the job, I learned that it meant you had to undertake the lowliest or the meanest tasks out there more than anything else with gusto to be a Manager. I learned delegation would get me nowhere. I learned the man on the job had to be a situational Manager.
The sum total was the Manager had to be a jack of all trades - That the Manager had no power to inject his own desires - That he had to learn to conform. His Will had no priority at all.
Here am I, exactly 51 years after that eventful day and 16 years and 4 and a half months from the date of superannuation.
The journey had taken me far. It was exciting. It was excruciating. I could never predict what the next moment was going to be. The feeling remains the same, even today.
Friday, September 11, 2026
KERALAM - KSEB POWER CUT
KSEB POWER CUT
The following is the email message I have sent just now to the CM Keralam
Power cut damages the image of CM and UDF
The Chief Minister of Keralam
Govt Secretariat
Thiruvananthapuram
Respected Sir,
I am a 200% supporter of yours.
Please do something to stop this power cut by KSEB. It is damaging your and UDF's image a thousand times.
What the man on the street says is for 10 years there had been no power cut. Now UDF has brought it. They say the honeymoon days are over. It is time these people performed.
Perhaps the people at KSEB who are mostly left oriented are doing their mite to tarnish you. It could be due to instructions from their masters.
What I would say is management expertise is required to tide over the crisis.
On the personal front, for two consecutive days the power went off when I was on my treadmill. It was providence that saved me from critical injury.
My shoulder hurts due to the strong grip on the handle that prevented a throwing off
Cutting power off without prior notice, to me, is a criminal offence. I am no lawyer
For God's sake do something to keep the left out of their scheming for power.
Yours faithfully
sd/=
Tuesday, September 8, 2026
IT'S I'M POSSIBLE - NOT IMPOSSIBLE - KAZIA LIZ MEJO
The Malayala Manorama Sunday Supplement on 6th Septembr 2026 carries a feature on Miss.Kazia Liz Mejo, the winner of Miss Universe India 2026 Crown, brilliantly articulated by T.S.Divya.
(making an attempt here for it's translation from Malayalam to English for those who do not know Malayalam as the message conveyed is highly motivational)
Kazia opens her mind.
You may think fortune has favoured me. But, to be precise, there are times I have lost confidence again and again. Though I was born and brought up at Abu Dhabi, I was scared of posing before a camera for my picture. I had preferred to hide my dark face behind the filters.
But I stand before you now as Miss.Universe India 2026.
Here is the journey that took me towards partial realisation of the long cherished dream.
When Harnaaz Sandhu was crowned at the Miss Universe 2021 pageant, I began dreaming of emulating her. It has brought me where I am now.
While I had been in the 9th Standard in school I dreamt that I would become a pop star. I believed the spotlight would be on me as I stood on the stage with a glowing aura. I thought I would become a lawyer when I watched the Web Series 'Suits.' Today I am treading on the Ramp. I am studying law.
The society at times places barriers on our dreams. "This is not good for decent girls." " Never put your feet on multiple trajectories." "If you concentrate too much on the extracurricular, your studies will be disrupted."
However, never cease dreaming. 'Impossible' has a negative connotation. Yet, in 'impossible' you discover the positive, "I'm possible."
The past 12 years' journey had been quite taxing - training in classical dance, music, violin, attending classes for law, modelling assignments at distant locations, preparations for the beauty contests. I used to wake up at 3 am - early in the morning - and had practiced ramp walk on the corridors of the hostel. While I did that in my high heeled footwear, I had tumbled several times injuring myself in the bargain.
Miss Teen International India's 'Miss Teen Diva' 2024 was my initial triumph on the charge towards my dream . But I could only become the first Runner up in Miss Teen International pageant. It was a great disappointment. It depressed me. I was down as I had lost out despite striving very hard. To make it worse, I had been brimming with the desire to win.
But realisation dawned on me, "It is never a failure if you have given it your everything."
Almost everyone would have experienced failure at least once in life. It's very important that one ought to view failure as failure. It is a great lesson. We need to rise up from that to go forth in life.
You may find to your consternation you are unable to realise your dreams. The fall, down the precipice, would prompt you to recalibrate. It would fire your aspirations. To your surprise, what you accomplish would be far beyond expectations.
I know for certain, had I won Miss Teen International Crown in 2024, I would not have been able to stand before you at this juncture as the nineteen year old Miss Universe India 2026.
In the limelight upon the stage, I am very calm. My response had reflected that tranquility in the Miss Universe India finale at Jaipur.
I wish to convey to all girls, who read me, a single advice, "Fake it till you make it. Believe it before you become it."
Quite a long while back, before I won the Miss India Universe Crown, I began addressing myself as the Queen. I visualised myself winning the crown. I would see me crying at the announcement. I had lived that moment many times in advance.
Because I had cried a lot earlier, I couldn't cry much on the stage at Jaipur when I was declared Miss India Universe 2026.
At present I am preparing for that walk on the ramp at Puerto Rico in November 2026 for the Miss Universe Crown. I know you are in that ride with me. I am indeed grateful for your blessings.
There have been queries on the inspiration that drives me.
Even if it is cliche, I affirm, I do not wish to replicate anyone else. I intend to build a legacy of my own. I wish to be unique. I long to be the best.
I wish to tell every one, especially girls, in the world, "Never let barriers curtail your dreams. Opportunities will never come knocking. Build that door yourself. Extend the invitation to opportunities. Stay close to that door when opportunities arrive."
"Be the reason for your own motivation.'
Sunday, September 6, 2026
TO BECOME A GOOD SPEAKER
To become a good speaker, you need confidence and plenty of practice.
PM Narendra Modi was in an interaction with National Teachers Award winners at his residence on the eve of Teachers' Day. He asked an award winning teacher, what she would advise him if he were her student and wanted to become a good orator.
She responded:
"To become a good speaker, you need confidence and plenty of practice."
After her tip, she said, " Sorry Sir. Seeing your aura, my aura went down a little."
The PM urged teachers to take learning beyond classrooms. He advised them to nurture the natural curiosity of children. His exhortation was not to judge students by their academic standards alone. The teachers were called upon to recognise their varied talents even if the children struggled or fell behind in studies. It was for them to chart a developmental track for such children.
THAT'S FAMILY LIFE FOR YOU
We have, for years, been together.
The years that flashed past are vivid.
We are two people who wish to constantly refine ourselves and perform at the utmost.
We always challenge ourselves
We keep asking each other questions.
It is really great, when you have someone who wants you to become a better version of yourself.
It is mutually complementary.
It is brilliance to the fore. when both are striving to make each other perfect, aim for the stars and achieve the seemingly impossible.
That's family life for you.
6th September 2012
6th September 2026
Congratulations
Saturday, September 5, 2026
CAFU
Marcos Evangelista de Morais - Cafu - was born on 7th June 197O.
He is a former professional who had played football for Brazil as a defender.
Widely regarded as one of the greatest full backs of all time, he had been voted into the All-Time Greatest XI as the right full back on his heydays.
As a child, he had been nicknamed, 'Cafu,' in honour of the Brazilian winger Cafuringa.
The legendary player had partaken in three consecutive World Cup finals from 1994. It was a record.
It was a thrilling moment when we saw him holding aloft the 2002 FIFA World Cup Trophy.
The visual of Brazilian captain Cafu standing on top of a precarious, wobbly glass table at the Yokohama stadium while hoisting the 2002 World Cup trophy is universally celebrated as one of football's most enduring images.
The two time World Cup winner says:
"The World Cup is not an exact science. The best do not always win. The champion is not always the best team. It is a sequence of factors that makes you win a World Cup."
If we give it some deep thought we could realise it is the exact replica of real life or the life around us.
It is indeed a sequence of factors. not at all premeditated, that pull us on, that push us to wherever we reach.
We can also see that we have no control over those factors that take us so far.
Life is inexplicable.
Friday, September 4, 2026
A POPULAR DM ABRUPTLY EXITS - DIVYA MITTAL IAS
"Today, I voluntarily resigned from the IAS, bringing an unforgettable 13-year journey to a close." With those words Divya Mittal announced on social media on Sunday, 31st August 2026, that she was walking away from civil services. The resignation of the 43-year old 2013-batch Uttar Pradesh cadre officer serving as special secretary in the revenue department is yet to be formally accepted.
The Times of India of 4th September 2026, reports that her farewell post retraced her journey from IIT-Delhi and IIM-Bangalore to a job -JP Morgan - in London and then back to India to repay what she called a "debt to this soil."
Her decision surprised colleagues and admirers. She had acquired a public following unusual for a bureaucrat. In Mirzapur and Deoria, she became known as an accessible, hands-on administrator. She used social media to communicate on her work.
Her best known initiative brought piped water to Lahuriya Deh, a remote hilltop hamlet. People there had been depending on tankers and pits for drinking water since 1947 and before. The completion of the Lahuriya Deh water project became a source of friction. She had perfoemed the "jal puja' when water reached the village. Elected representatives were absent. Critics accused her of sidelining politicians. Her supporters saw an administrator more interested in finishing the work than managing political optics.
She was transferred from Mirzapur, soon after the event. She remained without a posting for several months.
Those who worked with her describe two distinct phases to her administrative personality. She was soft spoken and approachable with members of the public. But she could lose her temper in official meetings when instructions were ignored. Her willingness to take decisions independently won her admirers. But it did not always create easy relations with elected representatives.
She was DM at Deoria and Mirzapur. When she had sent a represenative to receive a Union Minister - also the Mirzapur MP - it generated a confrontation. Her differences with Committees had generated contoversies. Her visibility added another layer to the friction. Detractors were of the view that the officer's public profile was beginning to overshadow the institution she represented.
She belonged to Rewari, Haryana. Later the family shifted to Delhi. She studied engineering at IIT-delhi -2001-2005- and afterwards the IIM Bangalore. After obtaining her management degree, she joined JP Morgan in London.
Her husband, Gagandeep Singh Dhillon, was her senior at bith IIT-Delhi and IIM-Bangalore. He was with the Citigroup in London. The couple had married in 2007.
Despite well paid jobsnl in international finance they jointly returned to India in 2009 to prepare for civil services. While Mittal entered IAS in 2013, Dhillon joined the Indian Trade Service in 2011.. He worked in areas like foreign trade and export controls. However he resigned from govt service in May 2022. He has returned to financial markets.
Former colleagues state, Divya's ambition and appetite for difficult assignments were evident early on, in her career. When delays arose in cadre allocation at Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, she and two other officers took on the technically demanding exercise themselves and had completed it for the entire batch.
Some officers who know Divya describe her as an "over achiever." They believe professional stagnation may have influenced he move.
According to them she may have found the slower pace of the bureaucratic career quite frustrating, after moving rapidly through elite academic institutions and international finances to demanding to district assignments.
Divya has stated that her resignation was neither impulsive nor due to pressure.
Her interests outside administration have been varied.
Divya Mittal is the author of, "The Crafted Genius." It is a book about preparation, discipline and resilience. She, through her social media posts, frequently discusses parenting. She often harps on what formal education fails to teach - emotional regulation, communication, financial management, loneliness and mental health.
She has indicated that writing, teaching and social service could be among the avenues she explores next.
Though politics is another possibility being discussed - the proximity of the 2027 UP election adding to that speculation - she has said nothing to suggest that a political debut is imminent.
Divya Mittal's farewell note offers only one certainty. She may have surrendered the office through which she pursued her idea of public service. But she does not see herself as having surrendered the idea itself
She states, "The position may be gone. But the dream this country's soil gave me will not leave me."
Rajiv Srivastava & Arvind Chauhan
Wednesday, September 2, 2026
STORIES
Stories become talking points
when fiction stops being fiction
and becomes an extended version
of our own desires.
REBELLION
It is said that in any relationship, only one person actually loves and the other person just lets himself or herself be loved
The small acts of rebellion - preferring career to love and live in relationships - are no longer rebellion. They, today, are accepted social facts.
ADJUSTMENTS
Know all relationships are adjustments.
And that life seldom measures up to love and its crushing cargo of expectations.
Know everyone must make their share of mistakes to learn at least something
THE DIVINE
The divine does not promise us safety.
The divine gives us this moment.
What we make of it is the whole of our spiritual journey
NATURE
Nature owes us no explanation.
There is no message hidden in a flash flood.
No lesson the mountain is trying to teach
THE ANGUISH
When an untimely death occurs,
the anguish is not in the dying.
It is in the years that could not be lived
THE CAPTAIN OF THE ENGLAND CRICKET TEAM - JOE ROOT
The captain of the England cricket team Joe Root is confident of working his way through a dip in form that has seen him trapped LBW nine times in his last 13 innings.
He says,"I've played this game a long time and I've always found ways of solving those problems and working it through. I don't see this as being any different. There's a reason why I've got 14000 runs and a reason why I've played the best part of 15 years at this level."
MORE THE SPADEWORK
The more the spadework -
the more the effort,
the more the practice,
the more the preparation,
the more you work -
the stronger you become
HUMAN BEINGS
Human beings are not defined by what happens to them.
They are defined by how they respond to what happens to them
CEASED TO EXIST - CEASED TO BE
When life was extinguished in the earlier days, there was a certain resignation.
It belonged to the older world, when something that ceased to exist also ceased to be.
Misbehaviour by the driver - copy of Complaint sent to the school
The Principal or the Adminstrative Head
Respected Principal.
Today 2nd September 2026 as I was driving my car to the Kannammoola Seminary where I serve as the Honorary Treasurer, through the Chayakudi Road Pettah/Kannammoola Road there was a traffic hold up. The time was 9.10 am
One big car was coming from the Kannammola side. I was going from Anayara. The car ahead of me somehow managed to proceed. Thinking I too could go like that I followed. But the big car of the Deputy Mayor came forward blocking my passage. It is natural such people deserve the right of way first and always. Citizens have no place or importance in this world of ours
Meanwhile a hunter type yellow painted vehicle, marked SmartSchool, I think I saw the name of the school on it - but I cannot vouchsafe - started blaring his horn wildly. I didn't know why he was doing that. I thought he wanted me to go forward which I dutifully did. Then he came up and abused me. He said ‘vayassayal bodham venom’ or something like that. What I understood was he was abusing me and my age. Anyway I have no power to reduce my age. If possible I would be happy to make it 10 or 15.
I can identify him anywhere because the picture is registered vividly in my mind.
Then someone came and explained I had to reverse my vehicle into a side lane. When I asked how I could do that I was told the school van which was one foot behind would reverse into that lane and I could follow him
I did as I was told.
The hold up unwounded and I could escape the torture and torment
Now, my request is 1. please teach manners to your drivers and his helpers. 2. Dismiss such people if they misbehave beyond tolerable limits.
Road rage is not to abuse or to attack people
If on verification, it is found this vehicle is not yours, I am indeed sorry I have put a false charge on you. I apologise for that in advance
But the incident did happen. I speak the truth
Yours faithfully
sd/=
Monday, August 31, 2026
Stranger ran past school screaming 'Run, Water'
Stranger ran past school screaming 'Run, Water'
It saved 370 kids, teachers
Vishant Agarwala reports from Nuwakot, Nepal in The Times of India of 31st August 2026
"The big flood is coming, run...'
An unidentified man sprinting past Uttargaya Public School in Betrawati, across the river and a few km from Trishuli Bazaar, shouting those words gave more than 370 pupils and their teachers the warning they desperately needed.
Within minutes, children were scrambling towards the forested hill behind the campus as the surge cut across roads and normal escape routes. The school routine had barely begun on Wednesday. Hostel students were at breakfast when the cry rang through the compound. There had been no siren, automated message or official alert before the children began running.
The warning that reached Uttargaya came from a stranger outside the compound - shouting loudly enough for teachers to act. Older pupils from Grades 7 to 10 themselves, and the staff helped younger children through mud, carrying some in arms when they could not keep up.
English teacher Somlal Dangol said,"No one could have imagined a flood this massive was coming. That's why they didn't run far at first - and by the time they saw it, they could no longer escape along the main paths."
Grade 10 student Sujal Lama had finished his morning tuition and was heading towards the school's breakfast when the warning spread. He initially thought the river would not rise very high. Sujal said on Sunday, "If I had gone to eat, the flood would have caught me," . He ran towards the forest, spent the night there and was given food by the teachers once he had gathered enough courage - his teachers said 'bravado' - to return towards the building.
Class 8 student Rashmi Tamang recalled the struggle uphill. "We managed to climb up even though we were covered in mud, but many children couldn't even run," she said.
For one family a parent's attempt to reach the school ended in tragedy. Nawaraj Tamang rushed towards Uttargaya after learning about the flood to find his Grade 10 son Ayush.
Before leaving, he told his mother, Mungsi Tamang, tha he was stepping out to bring Ayush home. Nawaraj was swept away before he could reach the school. Ayush escaped into the forest and survived.
Vice Principal Pawan Sharma and teachers were scattered with groups of children on higher ground, with communication channels disrupted. Sharma said,"Relatives of students are calling continuously, but I don't even have the records of those children with me any more."
LOOK AT THE COLOUR OF THE HIBISCUS FLOWER
LOOK AT THE COLOUR OF THE HIBISCUS FLOWER
THE SB PRESS FAMILY AT TUTORS LANE
TRIVANDRUM
GIFTED US A STEM
SEE HOW IT HAS SURPRISED US
POOKALAM AT TRAVANCORE FRESH SUPERMARKET VANDITHADAM THIRUVANANTHAPURAM 2026
HAPPY ONAM
POOKALAM AT TRAVANCORE FRESH SUPERMARKET VANDITHADAM THIRUVANANTHAPURAM
BY
THE STAFF
THE MAKING OF A POOKALAM BY ENTHUSIASTIC LITTLE CHILDREN
HAPPY ONAM
THE MAKING OF A POOKALAM BY ENTHUSIASTIC LITTLE CHILDREN
Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University, New York - Becka Jill Konnayil - welcomes the incoming class of 2026
Good afternoon, everyone - esteemed faculty members, families, friends, and most of all, to the incoming Class of 2026: congratulations and welcome.
I am Becka Jill Konnayil, a fourth-year medical student here at the Renaissance School of Medicine, and it is my honor to share this special and deeply personal day with all of you.
I still remember the first time the meaning of the white coat was explained to me. I was just starting college as a pre-med, and a close relative stopped by to explain the weight of the career I had decided to pursue. I listened, but truthfully, standard pre-med optimism blinded me to the sheer scale of the journey ahead.
But when I sat in your seats back in 2023, that conversation came back to me. The coat hanging off my arm felt heavy with the future - yet I still clung to the quiet security of being just a medical student, not yet the one holding the scalpel or writing the orders.
They say the further you get in this career, the coat gets both heavier and lighter at once. A few years from now, you will all be doctors, and your words and actions will carry more weight than ever.
I wish I could tell you medical school is a walk in the park. It isnt. There will be dark moments - nights when you question whether you are meant to be here. Take it from someone who has been in your shoes: you are. You've already earned your place. You have already made it through things you thought would break you.
So on the hardest days, remind yourself why you chose medicine in the first place - for the people. People facing physical illness, psychiatric conditions, the weight of injustice, or a system that failed them and needs someone to show up anyway.
That lesson became very real for me three months ago when my father suffered a massive heart attack.
He needed ECMO - mechanical life support for the heart - and spent seven weeks fighting for his life in Stony Brook's cardiothoracic ICU, cared for by the very team that trained us.
I started CPR on him immediately at home, before the ambulance arrived. I don't think I fully processed what I was doing at that moment - training just took over.
Later, once he was stable, his CT surgeon, Dr. Allison McLarty, walked my mother through everything that had happened at home that day. My mother just nodded - she knew.
Dr. McLarty paused, looked at her, and simply said: 'That’s how we train our students.';
Those words have echoed in my head ever since. It captures the entire promise of the training you are about to receive right here at Stony Brook: to recognize a person in need, in any setting, at any hour, and to know what to do. Not because you are expected to be perfect. In medicine, there is no perfection. But because you will have been trained to show up.
That is what I hope you carry with you from this room. On the hard days—when imposter syndrome kicks in—remember that you are meant to be here. This school will help make you into the doctor you’re meant to be: one that patients, families, and your team can depend on - truly, a good doctor.
And RSOM's idea of a good doctor is more than clinical skills.
In addition to robust training, you will also be provided with the resources to be curious past what is required.
In medicine, we talk a lot about gaps: gaps in research, gaps in the system, and gaps within ourselves.
Find the gaps that matter to you and work toward filling them.
Never lose that spark of curiosity - it’s what keeps us striving for improvement.
And the best part is you never have to do it alone. The people sitting near you right now, the ones you have known for only a few weeks, will become the ones who understand your highs and lows - exactly what a hard week feels like without you having to explain it or the celebration after every test regardless of how it went.
Keep them close, and root for them the same way you will want them rooting for you.
So, to the incoming Class of 2026: welcome. We - the students walking ahead of you, the faculty who trained us and will train you, your families and friends who are prouder today than you may ever fully understand - we are all genuinely glad you are here.
Medicine needs exactly the kind of person you already are. And somewhere down the road, in a moment you can't yet predict, this school will have quietly made sure you know exactly what to do.
Once again, congratulations on arriving at this destination, and welcome to the start of another beautiful journey.
Thank you.
RIGHT TO QUESTION NOT DEFIANCE - UJJAL BHUYAN, SUPREME COURT JUDGE
At the convocation ceremony of the National Law University, New Delhi, Justice Ujjal Bhuyan, Hon'ble Judge of the Supreme Court of India, dissected defiance and dissent.
He said, "In a democracy, the right to question is not act of defiance. It is an essential expression of citizenship, liberty and constitutional responsibilty. If we want a democratic society that respects liberty and difference, that culture has to begin somewhere. It can only begin in our Universities. A university ..should be one of the first places where the habit of thinking freely begins."
"In a constitutional democracy like India, govt must listen to citizens, give space for dissent and have institutions that are accountable to society and do not treat every dissent as a threat."
"A university should be a space where an idea is not accepted merely because it is familiar and where students do not hesitate to ask difficult questions simply because the answer may be uncomfortable."
"India's constitution guarantees free speech, thinking and believing differently.'
"Intolerance begins to undermine that framework when disagreement or dissent is no longer treated as a legitimate difference of opinion but as something that must be silenced, rejected or punished. The ability to live with disagreement is, therefore, not merely a social virtue. It is the very essence of a liberal constitutional democracy."
"The maturity of a democracy is reflected not merely in how it treated opinions that are popular, having the majoritarian mandate, but also in how it responds to opinions that are difficult or incovenient."
"The freedom to express an opinion, to disagree with the prevailing view and to participate in public life would be meaningful only when there is space for dissent."
"A democracy becomes meaningful not when everyone speaks the same language of thought, but when different voices can coexist, be heard and be treated with dignity."
"Tolerance under our constitution does not ask us to surrender our individuality. It recognises that a free society would contain different opinions, beliefs and ways of looking at the world."
He concluded quoting the 1986 judgement in Bijoe Emmanuel case by Justice O. Chinnappa Reddy, "Our tradition teaches tolerance. Our philosophy preaches tolerance. Our constitution practices tolerance. Let us not dilute it."
The Times of India 31 August 2026
SPORT KEEPS EVOLVING - FEDERER
Federer said
We all leave the court eventually.
But the sport keeps evolving.
When rephrased it reads:
We all leave our life eventually
But life keeps evolving.
SNAKING GHOST
The Times of India reports on 31st August 2026
Vishant Agarwala
Rebuilt after 2015 quake with India aid, School now swallowed by floods seeks help again
Trishuli Bazaar (Nepal)
Vishant Agarwala
Rebuilt after 2015 quake with India aid, School now swallowed by floods seeks help again
Trishuli Bazaar (Nepal)
Three warnings came within minutes the day it flooded - an accountant rushed in saying water was gushing in, a teacher relayed a phone call from upstream saying the area had been "swallowed", and a parent arrived on a scooter to take his daughter away.
Principal Rajendra Dawadi immediately ordered around 900 students at Tribhuvan Trishuli Secondary School out.
They escaped before the river wiped out the 76-year old campus.
Now, Dawadi, teachers and students agree on one thing. Classes must restart at earliest. But the school must never be rebuilt beside the river. It has to be on higher ground.
"The children - even some of our teachers and domestic staff - are scared of the river ...it is a snaking ghost," Dawadi. told TOI on Sunday. "When they look at it, they feel afraid."
Tribhuvan Trishuli, the oldest School across flood hit Rasuwa, Dhading and Nuwakot districts, had 1643 students.
The flood destroyed virtually everything it owned, including an 18-room, three storey block built with assistance from the Indian embassy after the 2015 earthquake.
All that remained of the School's property were two buses, one of these provided by India.
"Everything is washed away," Dawadi said. *After previous disasters Indian Govt. helped us. We are hopeful this time too Indian govt. will help us re-establish our school."
Close to a thousand people, including the children, had been inside the school when warnings arrived. Thirty girls were in the residential hostel. When they asked Dawadi where they could go because their homes were far away. He told them to follow him uphill.
Dawadi ordered a non teaching employee to ring the bell. The teachers began clearing the classrooms. Staff helped students suffering panic attacks. One girl was being examined by a nurse in the infirmary. All students who were inside the school survived.
Two staff members remain missing, Dawadi said.. Non teaching employee Chulrim Lama had been behind him during the evacuation. He may have turned back towards the school, possibly to close a door. Lower secondary teacher, Santos Parihar, was believed to have been in his room in the teachers' quarters.
Dawadi said India's association with the school went back to before the 2015 earthquake. The proposal for the 18 room building had already been accepted before the quake. The three storey block was subsequently constructed with the embassy's assistance.
Students described the terror of watching their school disappear.
"We were getting ready for the morning assembly when teachers started screaming for us to run up the hill. I left my backpack and books behind in the classroom. Looking back down from the ridge and seeing the river wash over our playground was terrifying. I am just glad all my friends made it safely." Class 10 student Sunita Tamang told TOI.
Class 12 student Rohan Shrestha remembered hearing the flood before seeing it. "The roar of the river sounded like a low thunder before we even saw the mud coming. The teachers moved fast getting everyone out of the hostels and to higher ground. The school is covered in mud now, We don't know when we could go back to class. However we are looking after each other in the temporary camp," he said
For Dawadi , restarting classes quickly was as much about restoring a sense of normalcy as education
Today, it's 31st August 2026 - FATHER WRITES TO SON
Today, it's 31st August 2026
I often think of June 12,2002
How happy I was to drive you to your job. A privilege many parents do not ever get.
Happy you have taken a decision to quit after after 24 years 2 months and 19 days.
What next is certainly uncertain. You have to begin anew.
Yet, what you are doing is what I wanted to do when I was your age or much earlier. Like I told you, I did try. Nothing worked out. The force that brought me to Trivandrum, chose to confine me to my organisation and Trivandrum itself
A look at my ancestral family.
Thalavady
Pappachayan used to say, Johnychayan relished jumping into the dark. He changed jobs many times. But he did well in life.
My Papa, went into the unknown when he boarded the deck on the ship to Singapore at a very young age. The War tormented him. His parents' selfishness or lack of vision prevented his return to Singapore. At the end he could not be what he could have been in life.
Niranam
They were just ordinary people except Babychayan, Mummy's twin brother. He was ambitious. He worked hard to go up. Go up he did.
For me I knew from day one, the job I had, was not my line. But destitutes had no choices. I stayed on. I don't mean to say I didn't do well. But assuming a role unsuited never brings out the real you.
I think I came into my own after I left my organisation.
Choices we make. We may err. But that's life.
You can never put the clock back or rewind life.
Make the best of what is ahead.
As I suggested going into academics may bring out the real you
But again that's a choice difficult to make.
Life is always like that. The uncertainty makes it exiting. The predictable is never there.
The challenge is exacting.
But I know you can. We know you are capable.
Fight like you always did
Sunday, August 30, 2026
HOW SHOULD LEADERS COMMUNICATE DURING A CRISIS
In the event of the onset of a crisis like Coronavirus pandemic or a major war or natural calamities out of the blue, two questions arise.
How should leaders communicate during a crisis?
How should leaders give people a sense of security in the present and hope for the future?
Preaching the virtues of their plans and prosecuting alternative proposals could reduce uncertainty.
Making a political case might rally the base around shared goals.
But the most instructive example had come in 1932 from the Governor of New York, Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
In an early speech in the spring, as his state and the nation faced an unprecedented crisis - the country was reeling from the Great Depression - he announced, "It is common sense to take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly and try a different method. But above all try something."
He delivered his "try something" message in the commencement speech at a small University in Georgia when unemployment was very high. It was the great depression. In the most memorable line from the speech, FDR argued that "the country demands bold, persistent experimentation."
One of the Governor's own advisers described the speech as an act of political stupidity.
The New York Times eviscerated the Governor's speech with the comment "something unspecified is no better than nothing." Trashing the speech, it stated that the Governor was "indefinite, abstract, irresolute" whereas other leaders were "precise, concrete, positive"
It is easy to see the appeal of a confident leader who offers a clear vision, a strong plan and a definitive forecast for the future.
But in times of crisis as well as times of prosperity, what we need is a leader who accepts uncertainty, acknowledges mistakes, learns from others and restructures plans. FDR was offering exactly that. The critics were wrong about how his proposed approach would unfold. He wasn't preaching, prosecuting or appealing to politics. He was speaking with a confident humility
FDR's principle became a touchstone of his leadership.
Although economists still debate which of the resulting reforms lifted the country out of the historic depression, FDR's trial and error method of formulating policy was indeed popular.
The Americans elected him President four times.
Adam Grant
Think Again
Think Again
Saturday, August 29, 2026
GANDHIJI, SATYAGRAHA, ROWLATT ACT, DALIT REPRESENTATION - PRECURSOR TO RESERVATIONS FOR SCs/STs IN INDEPENDENT INDIA
While we were in school, we had a subject, 'Social,Studies.' It was a compendium of History, Geography, Economics and whatever the compilers of the Text Books deemed fit to be placed there. It was an Avial or a Masala. We had no idea what it was all about. Nor did the teachers. They did real teaching. They would read out page by page. I guess no one understood anything. Come exam time, we would mug up whatever was possible and threw up all that into the answer sheets. Curiosity had no place here. Those who memorised best and had the ability to put it on the answer sheets verbatim went places. Pity the rest. They were the majority. They were declared unworthy to go further up.
Gandhiji, Satyagraha and Rowlatt Act had mystified us. Another was the division of Bengal in 1905 that was later annulled
The Times of India of 14 August 2026 gave me a real insight into Gandhiji, Satyagraha, Rowlatt Act and Dalit reservation - the Precursor to Reservation for SCs and STs in independent India for the first time. The writer, Alok Sharma, had exercised great pain in sifting through the volminous data available at the TOI Archives.
Satyagraha
Gandhiji had been in South Africa for twenty one years. He employed Satyagraha as a method of resistance repeatedly to draw attention to the discriminatory laws against Indians. On his return to India he deployed his most potent weapon 'Satyagraha' aginst the British.
It was Satyagraha that finally drove the British exit India
Rowlatt Act
The Rowlatt Act classified Dalits as a minority, whose representatives would be elected only by Dalit voters, just as Muslims, Christians and Sikhs would elect their own representatives. Gandhiji believed this would divide the Hindu society. B.R.Ambedkar supported it as a safe guard for Dalit representation. Opposing a separate electorate for Dalits, proposed under the Communal Award of August 1932, Gandhiji announced a fast unto death from Pune's Yerwada Jail on September 13 through a letter to the British Prime Minister. It had truly altered the course of India's political history. He was already under imprisonment at the Jail for partaking in the Civil Disobedience Movement. The fast was set to begin on Sept 20.
His week long fast led to the Poona pact. It was negotiated by Madan Moham Malaviya and Ambedkar. Gandhiji accepted it.
The pact abandoned a separate electorate but reserved seats for Dalits within the general electorate.
It became a milestone in Dalit representation.
It was the precursor to reservations for SCs and STs in independent India.
The explanation is clear. No one would ever miss the truth. Only hitch is, it took 60-65 years to reach us, the weaklings.
Learning never ceases.
Live Sisyphus And Not Abyss Of Absurd
Vijay Hashia discusses 'Surrender to the Absurd' in The Times of India of 26 August 2026:
Live Sisyphus And Not Abyss Of Absurd
He begins by referring to the recent tragedy involving 18 year old Kunal Murlidhar Chandvade, triggered by his stubborn demand for an Apple phone. His father could not reportedly afford it, It led to the fatal fall from the cliff where the whole family lost their lives. They were attempting to save one another.
According to Crime records Bureau, annual suicide rate in India is 12.2 to 12.3 per 100000 with young adults aged 15-30 at high risk. The reasons include academic stress, a traumatic and negative familial environment, conflicts, depression and anxiety disorders among others.
This is the abyss of the 'absurd.' In his philosophical essay, 'The Myth of Sisyphus,' Albert Camus calls suicide a surrender to the 'absurd.' It occurs when the mind develops the notion i that life is not worth living. The surrender then is meek.. He asserts why we must continue struggling like Sisyphus pushing his boulder endlessly uphill, without promise that the struggle will ever reward or resolve anything and without losing life's hope.
The boulder remains unmovable for Sisyphus and his pushing it is a resolute act against the absurdity of existence.
Retreating and withdrawing from pushing the boulder, he says, is succumbing. And there is one act of dignity left, and that is to continue struggling resolutely even beyond limits of endurance.
Allowing an 'absurd' moment to dictate life's value and meaning is yielding, he says.
A targedy of misfortune ought to have an explanation. A devastating loss ought to contain some rationale. We instinctively search for justification, responsibility, fate or circumstance and we ask why that happened and where the fault lies.
But the world is not irrational nor is the human being incapable of reason. The 'absurd' emerges from the collision between our insatiable desire to understand and the world that does not respond to it. We demand absolute meaning. Existence gives us only contingency, uncertainty and death.
For Camus, faith is consolation disguised as a deep philosohical choice, giving up on reason. He admires boldness to face life honestly without building philosophical theories around it. For Soren Kierkeggaard and Lev Shestov, when logic fails to explain suffering, one turns to faith rather than explanation. Nietzche accepts life's cruely but advocates embracing it fully
No faith, theory or doctrine of fate can make any such tragedy suddenly occur.
Gita, Chapter 2, says, from contemplation on sensory objects arises attachment, from attachment arises desire, from desire arises anger, from anger arises delusion, from delusion arises loss of memory and destruction of intellect and finally the ruin. Upanishads counsel us to enjoy life and the world through detachment and renunciation without greed.
Today thought patterns have shifted towards acquiring material possessions, social media, brand consciousness, self centredness, manufactured personality traits for approval and a craving for social acceptance has engulfed young minds.
The remedy begins at home, where children are allowed to speak early and vent small frustrations. The role of the elders is not to enforce order through writs. The development of the psyche of the children become wholesome when they consent to accept advice when in need and without compulsion.
Nothing is worth losing a life.
It must be lived on, endured through any eventuality and carried forward with resilience and courage.
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