A Human's Struggle to stay Human

Peace is the rudimentary necessity of any religion and thus to be a religious person is to inherently be a peacemaker. Today we observe the International Day of Prayer for Peace especially as a gesture of solidarity with the victims of violence in the onslaught of Israel and Palestine. As Christ promises, to be a peacemaker is to be blessed and to be worthy of being called the child of God (Matt 5:9). Peace cannot be achieved through laxity and complacency but through sheer determination and persistence. Peace also cannot be achieved without disrupting the prevailing order. Jesus the Christ whom we call the Prince of Peace has himself shown that the endeavours for peace are disruptive. The vocation of Peace is a faith imperative. For Israel and Palestine peace is still a distant dream. What we find ubiquitously pervasive in these states is the dreadful shadow of violence. Violence, whether physical, structural, psychological or in whichever form it expresses itself, is a

Festivals are an integral part of the rich and diverse cultural heritage of India. In association with the festivals, idol immersion is yet another anthropocentric activity which needs our immediate concern. Ganesh Utsav is at the threshold and we all know how this would end – with polluting one of our scarce natural resources i.e. water, through the immersion of the idols of Ganesh. While idols made out of naturally occurring clay dissolve within hours of immersion in water, Plaster of Paris idols may take anywhere between several months to years to fully dissolve. In addition, when chemical paints are used to decorate the idols, these paints contain heavy metals such as mercury and lead, which seep into the water as the idol dissolves thus intoxicating the water resources. Having said this shall we briefly look into the fact that why at all the idols need to be immersed in water. Why are idols immersed in water? The religious significance attached to this customary trad

There was once a boy who had a great appetite. His father was not financially able to satisfy his craving for food thus the boy was sent to work in a warehouse to earn for himself. The boy ended up in the warehouse sticking labels on bottles and burning the mid-night oil writing short stories. Very early he could identify his niche for writing and started posting publishers his short stories with the intention of getting at least one published. Never did the response knock his door. Though disappointed, the boy engaged in writing and posting implicit in hope. Eventually there was a response. His story was selected but there was no remuneration instead there was a note which read “Well done. Keep writing.” That gave him the impetus to write more passionately. He grew up to become one of the greatest English writers who has produced some of the world’s best known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era. He is none other than Charl

The world is impregnated with myths. The Oxford dictionary defines myth as fictitious, a misrepresented truth or an exaggerated and idealized conception. Corroborating with this definition could overpopulation be debunked as a myth?  There are ambiguities concerning overpopulation as to whether it is a menace or a myth. Today, we observe the World Population Day. The Governing Council of the United Nations Development Programme recommended its introduction in 1989. The inspiration for this came from the interests raised by ‘Five Billion Day’ on July 11, 1987 – the day when the population reached five billion. The theme for this year is ‘Family Planning.’ This is because 2018 marks the 50 th anniversary of International Conference on Human Rights that affirmed family planning as a human right. The Tehran Proclamation, adopted during the conference, states that it is a basic right of parents to be able to decide on the number and spacing of their children.   Before we engage