The Musing Mind

Tearful adieu to the departed innocent souls in the school shooting massacre in CT and prayers, asking strength for their parents and families to endure this pain. RIP little ones! (Sandy Hook massacre ) This is not the first incident. There have been many such in many other countries, of varied nature, varied magnitude and with varied motives in recent years. Do we still believe that something more heinous and horrendous will happen on 21.12.12 to bring this world crashing down on us for apocalypse? Will Santa still come down to his little ones? What will happen to the innocent minds of all those little ones who are a witness of this demon-like act? I am sure each one of them must be having a dozen questions for their mommies and daddies. Where are heading to?  This incident has thrown a challenge into our faces - can we retain the belief of Christmas and goodness in this world? Let's try and make our small worlds peaceful to live in!!

"Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens Brown paper packages tied up with strings These are a few of my favorite things Cream colored ponies and crisp apple streudels Doorbells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings These are a few of my favorite things Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes Silver white winters that melt into springs These are a few of my favorite things When the dog bites When the bee stings When I'm feeling sad I simply remember my favorite things And then I don't feel so bad" (Source: Sound of Music) This song reminds me of those simple things which we often tend to forget amidst our fast-paced lifestyle. We all run different races every day, every hour in our lives. Personal, professional, social races. Each with a different target, different pace, different style and

My darling (only) daughter took her class X CBSE board exams and successfully completed them on March 26, 2012. Now it was my duty to find her a good pastime until her school reopens and she moves into class XI. Usually in the CBSE system schools reopen after a brief break in the academic session, roughly around the mid-month of April and close for summer vacations in mid-May. Since she is moving from class X to class XI where you expect new students to join and some old ones to leave for other boards or junior colleges, we presumed that not much activity will take place in school during this period of April-May. After a bit of research we came to a discussion point that she should explore learning of a foreign language in this summer break. Since there are no such facilities in the place we live (Jodhpur), the nearest and convenient place for her would be Ahmedabad where she can be put up in my uncle's place. We found out that the Alliance Francaise centre at Ahmedabad runs Frenc