Beloo Mehra's Blog, page 22

Should Dance Educate? How?

Sri Aurobindo once wrote:

The first and lowest use of Art is the purely aesthetic, the second is the intellectual or educative, the third and highest the spiritual. By speaking of the aesthetic use as the lowest, we do not wish to imply that it is not of immense value to humanity, but simply to assign to it its comparative value in relation to the higher uses. The aesthetic is of immense importance and until it has done its work, mankind is not really fitted to make full use of Art on the higher...

BLEW: On Blogging, Learning, Education & Writing (and a bit about NRIs & ex-NRIs too)

It is always a humbling and learning experience when we are asked to talk about ourselves and our work. Last couple of weeks saw me answering some interesting questions about myself, my book , some pesky issues related to Indian Education, my writing and some personal lessons I am learning along the way.

In this post I share my answers to some of the questions -- four, to be precise -- that I found most thought-provoking in two 'author interviews' that came my way. Though many of the questions...

On the Contrary

A new post in the series - When a Picture Leads




Be honest. Do you look at the world as black or white? 
Liberal or Conservative? Left or Right? Progressive or Traditionalist? Global-citizen or Chauvinistic-nationalist? Internationalist or Jingoist? Secular or Fundamentalist? Rational or Superstitious? Believer or Infidel? Reason-able or Blindly-faithful? Idealist or Practical? Abstract or Realistic? Spiritualist or Materialist? Mystical or Down-to-earth? Pro-development or Pro-environment?...

Me and Me Too

A new post in the series Reminders to self

ME1: "Writing for writing's sake, sorry not my cup of tea, I mean, why should I write just because....? 
ME2: "Hmm..."
ME1: "I mean, I write when I feel I must express something outwardly, when an experience or thought has become so deeply internalized that I begin to feel that I must write it out to make it more real, to make it more living, in another form....you know what I mean...I must write only when I have something to say."
ME2: "So is there...

Current Events 6: 'Ghar Wapsi', the Homecoming

Ten years ago, my mother died with an unfulfilled dream in her eyes. Dream of seeing her home for one last time, home that she and my father had built saving each and every penny they could manage, home that was meant to house high hopes and dreams for their children and their future.

My children who are now living in their comfortable homes in this metropolitan city, busy with their busy lives, obviously don't recall anything about their first home. They were just babies at the time. Nor do t...

Book She Wrote

She is I. Or I am she.Whatever.

No, it's not a post about any deep philosophical question like Who Am I?
This post is however still about me. And about a little book I wrote.

******

But first, let me tell you about the birds. And about the beautiful sounds I am hearing as I write this. The sweet sounds of chirping of birds in my garden, flitting on the neem and coconut trees and around the jasmine and passiflora creepers, their little and loud voices entering this room from the big window near me...

All is Not Well

A new post in the series Light and Sound
When a picture searches for its music, or a piece of music finds its right picture...the result is a magical experience of Light and Sound.  


Rassouli, Breath of Dawn
Certainly, not all is well with the world today.
I don't have to give any examples to prove this fact.

Certainly, not all will get well with the world any time soon.
I don't have to give any reasons to explain why.

Certainly, not all well-wishers of the world, who are more in love with the...

The New Age Guru Who Wasn't

He badly needed to rediscover that lost enthusiasm and zeal for his work. Was he devoid of fresh ideas, was he simply over-exhausted?

He had never felt so ‘blocked’ before. He desperately needed to churn out creatively told stories and well-researched essays for his next self-help book. His fame depended on it, so did his fancy lifestyle.

That afternoon as he walked home after his book signing event, he felt a strange unease. Out of nowhere a rainbow appeared in the sky. He stood in awe for a f...

The Right Remedy

A new post in the series - Satyam Shivam Sundaram A series featuring inspiring words from various sources, words that speak of timeless truths, words that remind me of the deeper and hidden truth behind surface events and phenomena, words that shine light when all seems dark, words that are just what I need - for this moment and for all times to come.


This is a bit unusual post to start off the new year on the blog. But then maybe not. This may be the perfect post for me to kick off new ye...

Current Events 5: Hope in the Times of Violence

She, whose name nobody knew, belonged to a small tribal community from the north-eastern part of the country. She had lost her entire family to the gunshots fired by the terrorists a few days ago, and was now made to live with a big group of strangers in a small tent in a make-shift refugee camp on the outskirts of a nearby town.

On some nights, when the heartrending cries of pain, fear and shock coming from some of the tents tore apart the eerie silence, one woman, looking somewhere far ahead...