Beloo Mehra's Blog, page 15

Of Football and Brains

Thatevening I surprised myself when I not only enjoyed but also liked, I mean, really liked a film about football. American football, to be precise.

[Disclaimer # 1. Even after living for about 15 yearsin the USA I never developedany taste for football. Iam one of the thoseIndians who don’t even care for cricket. Basically, I am not into sports.]

What I liked about this film, based on a true story, was the fact that it isn’t really about football. The2015 film,Concussionis actually about a do...

The ‘aam aadmi’ obsession

As far back as I can remember I have always had an aversiontothe phrase ‘aam aadmi‘, the ‘common man’.Before anyone accuses me of elitismor snobbery, or labelsme anti-equality or anti-democracy or hautebourgeois or anything else, let me explain.

I dislike the phrase because it reduces all the great diversity inherent among and withinindividuals, sub-groups and largergroups – diversity ofouter concerns and challenges, diversity oftheir inner ranges ofconscious development – to one featureless...

Did I miss a birthday?

I almost missed my blog’s birthday. It was quite late in the evening that I remembered that my blog completed three years yesterday.

Not only that, I remembered this morning that earlier this monthMatriwordsour research blogalso had its first birthday.

How to mark this special occasion of two birthdays in a month? Well, simply by sharing some pictures from the little summer garden I am enjoying at the moment. This little place where spending even a few minutes in the morning brings a specia...

Stone Worshipers

Sometimes when you are browsing through the photo folder on your computer, you come across some old photograph which takes you on a little meditation of sorts. Bringing you to an insight, an understanding or a realization perhaps, but more like a remembrance ofsomething. Something you had read long time ago. Something you thought you had understood. Sort of. But something that means so much more now. Something that has now revealed a newer meaning.

Has it happened to you?

It happened to me t...

She Loves Me, She Loves Me Not

Remember the game you played as a teenager? He/she loves me, he/she loves me not.

Well, it seems to me that in some ways we don’t really outgrow the silly game. In our not-so-poised moments, we may find ourselves second-guessingthe love the ‘others’ in our lives may have for us. On some level, this couldbe understandable (though it shouldn’t be acceptable consideringthe emotional cost of playingsuch a game), given the mixture that we are of light and darkness, clarity and cloudiness, faith...

Inner Light for the Intellect

Last month,my young nephew who is now in the last year of his high school came to visitme for a few days. And inone of our conversations about his studiesandhis future academic plans the topic swerved over to more serious stuff. We discussed questions such as:why compulsory schooling, why study certain subjects, and finally, who isan intellectual.

This post is about the last question, though the others are equally interesting. But given some of the current context in the country, it makes se...

Knowing by Grace, Again

From the archives, revised and re-offered.

Because learning also requires revisingof the lesson.

Because knowing alsorequires re-offering of the intellect.

Because opening to Her Light also requires re-kindling of the aspiration.

Because receptivity for Her Grace alsorequires re-strengtheningof the instrument.

Re-offered to the Shakti, theMother. On this occasion of International Women’s Day.

Thus herstory begins…

Stifled by her own fears, trapped in her own powerlessness, and imprisoned...

She, who rides the Lion

Ma Durga isin news these days. No, not because it is Durga Puja time.

But because the Asurais in news these days.

A bunch of folks who seethemselves as the voice of the marginalised, the advocate of the down-trodden, the champion of the oppressed have been made the ‘news of the hour’ by some vested interests in our elitist media. This hour could last a while, going by the sheer ignorance and the indifference of some sections of our ‘elite’, ‘educated’, ‘English-chatterati’ classes who rally b...

The Golden Day Special (Guest post by Margaret Phanes)

It gives megreat joy to introduce this very special guest post.

Margaret Phanes is a dear friend, whom I have never met in person but feel a deep friendship with because of our shared love for the Mother and Sri Aurobindo. Ihave known her for many years now. She and I regularly interacted via emails ascolleagues to discuss matters concerning curriculum design, online learning, learners’ concerns. But the interactions that had to do with her beautiful meditative art work were most enlightenin...

Gratitude, in Pictures

A new post in the seriesWhen a Picture Leads

Let this be my way todayto be conscious of the gratitude I owe to the many different things, moments and experiences, big and small. Let this be my way todayto express that gratitude. Let this be my way today to remember that…

“There is no better cure for egoism than a happy gratefulness.” (The Mother)

Today I am grateful…

For morning teatime.

For the moments it allows us tomake all sorts of travel plans, many of which may never materialise, ma...