Conversation Between God and Man

Title : Conversation Between God and Man

Author : G.Venkataraman

Publisher : Media Division, Sri Sathya Sai Sadhana Trust

There comes a time when strongest of the strong anchors give way, leaving the yet inexperienced boats and ships that are tethered to it, bobbing in the open waters. The sheltered life comes to a halt abruptly and the unsettled boats are thrown exposed to the meddling of winds and waves. Human life is no different and one inevitably finds oneself in a situation where the most trusted of the relationships reveal their transient nature. That is the situation when one is left confounded and robbed off - of enthusiasm and even the will to move forward. What for? Why? How? - questions pose a big threat to the natural flow of life on those junctures. One gets acquainted with the feelings which know no language or expression. An amateur human mind may interpret it as insatiable hunger, unquenchable thirst, inadequate sleep, untreatable pain or irreparable broken pieces of heart. But it is far beyond that, it is an absolute vacuum, a bottomless abyss and deep dark tunnel with no light in sight. Where does one go? How does one progress? Even if one starts moving, is it progressing or retrogressing? Who will hold the hand at that time?

While being in that abysmal state for a few months, I often wondered, how a human could equip him/herself to maintain sanity and equanimity during such phases. And as  a parent what can we do to help our children tide over such situations as and when they happen to confront them. After searching unsuccessfully for answers everywhere, one realises that perhaps there's only one way to seek the peaceful state - embarking on the journey towards one's inner self - where the seat of the soul actually is. It may be termed as almighty, omnipresent, all pervasive or by any name that one feels comfortable with. The connect with the supreme authority or one's own true self can be the only permanent anchor and support.

When we so painstakingly pick the best schools, hobby classes, books, besides the regular things of basic needs for our children, shouldn't we be conscious of the fact that they would need a big store of their inner strength as well for all crests and troughs in their lives. Contrarily, who are we to teach them because the spiritual age of an individual may not have any connection with the worldly years that one keeps piling on. Nevertheless, we can do our bit by encouraging them to read in order to build that store house.

'Conversation Between God and Man' is one of those books which can/should be read along with children or to them starting from the primary section itself. It is a simplified version of the conversation that happened between Lord Krishna and Arjuna on the battlefield of Kurukshetra - the essence of Bhagvat Gita. After seeing his family and friends in the rival camp, Arjuna lost all interest to fight the battle and the feeling of futility of the whole bloodshed overpowered him. He was ready to accept defeat over triumph because the victory would come by killing his own kith and kin. Lord Krishna then taught him the mystery of reincarnation and the philosophy behind being a true action-oriented (Karma yogi) person. A karma yogi is the person who can stay in the moment without letting the past or future interfere and that is how one can hope to dedicate oneself to that moment entirely. Reincarnation which is often compared to change of clothes by the soul reinforces the cause and effect theory - as one sows so one reaps. As a soul continues its journey from one life to another, it learns, it enriches and purifies itself to eventually merge with the supreme power.

Dedicated chapters on happiness, conscience, awareness, rebirth, surrender to God and purpose of life convey the timeless teachings of Bhagvat Gita - the voice of Lord Krishna. The connection that it establishes between mind, soul and body brings a lot of clarity and peace. Special emphasis is laid on the importance of one's duty and submission of all that one does to the supreme authority.

'The Gita is not, as is commonly imagined, merely about Krishna giving advice to Arjuna to shed his doubts and get on with the fight. Nor is it specific to any particular religion or school of Spiritual philosophy, as many seem to believe. Rather, it is all about a LIFE BOAT, which, if availed of, can save individuals, entire communities and indeed the whole of humanity, from being drowned by the innumerable difficulties that plague today's society at the macro as well as the micro level.'

I am sure there is sufficient reading material available in all sects and religions and comparing them or picking one over others is not the objective here. The aim is to study enough and to understand enough in order to enjoy the peaceful blissful state - which is the true nature of an individual. I would like to pick many books written by enlightened souls across various religions to read myself and to read to the children so as to see which path makes the understanding easier and lays long lasting impression on the minds.

Wanting Mor

 Wanting Mor

Author: Rukhsana Khan

Duckbill Books

Ages: Young Adult

Characters of colour remain  under-represented in mainstream  literature; Muslim characters, even more so. To the outside world, the closed culture of Islamic societies remains an enigma - often misunderstood, too easily stereotyped.  Pakistani-Canadian author Rukhsana Khan is one of the few writers of YA fiction today writing about ordinary Muslims and their everyday problems, demystifying that enigma for us, one book at a time. Through her novels, and picture books as diverse as Big Red Lollipop, King of the Skies and the haunting The Roses in my Carpets, she has led thousands of young  readers into the lives of Muslim children, showing them the many ways we are all different, and yet, the same.

Wanting Mor, first published in 2009, won the Middle East Book Award for Youth Fiction, and is now available in an Indian imprint as part of Duckbill’s Not Our War series. It is one child’s account of struggling to survive harsh circumstances in the aftermath of the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. It  also voices complex sentiments  the’ free world’ has traditionally had trouble understanding  – those of a devout Muslim  resentful of so-called ‘American’ values  (and the gender equality that goes with them) while willingly submitting to  what seems like acute discrimination, in the culture of her choice.    The book is all the more poignant for being based on the true story of a girl living in an orphanage the author is associated with.  

 

Jameela is an illiterate girl in rural post-war Afghanistan , whose life falls apart after the death of her beloved Mor (Pushto for ‘mother’).  She is then uprooted from the only home she has ever known and forced to follow her father to Kabul where he hopes to better his prospects. Things go even further downhill for her when he spends all their money on alcohol , and then rushes into a marriage with a well to do widow who treats her like a slave.  Jameela toils in the house, endures hunger and humiliation, and struggles to please her stepmother. For her pains, she is abandoned in the marketplace by her own father.  The kindness of strangers saves her, however, and Jameela eventually reaches an orphanage for girls where she finds refuge, companionship and an education.  More significantly, a simple operation for her cleft palate finally frees her from having to hide her face from the world.  But just as she contemplates building a life for herself, circumstances bring her father back into her life. Will Jameela have the courage to live her dreams?

The narrative style of the book (told in first person and the present tense, a device the author seems partial to) lends a touching immediacy to the story, and makes you feel the pain and loneliness  Jameela suffers. The memory of Mor and the values she has instilled in Jameela, remain the mainstay of the child’s life. Mor's homily - If you can’t be beautiful, you should at least be good. People will appreciate that.- becomes the child's anthem, and it is heart breaking to see her throw her energies into housework, struggle not to give in to her anger, and cling to the rituals of prayer in the face of ever-increasing hardship.

Jameela could so easily have been written as a saintly do-gooder. It is to author Khan’s credit, that she lets her heroine be flawed and prickly, brimming with resentment one minute, grudgingly  grateful  the next, and  always struggling with herself to be more like Mor.  She burns with jealousy when her friend Soraya marries her step brother Masood, one of the few positive male characters in the book. Though she has herself been abandoned, Jameela finds it hard to empathize with children like Arwa, a clingy younger inmate of the orphanage. She is less than enamored of the American goodwill that she encounters at the orphanage, and distrustful of Christian missionaries. And while she is her own harshest critic, I couldn’t help but feel that she is far more judgmental of women than she is of men – the orphanage director who seems shamelessly forward with American men, girls who are careless with the rituals of prayer or their conduct outdoors, domineering women like her stepmother and Agha Akram’s wife who mange to manipulate their respective husbands into abandoning her.  Despite her strained relationship with her father and his betrayal of her, she never stops yearning for his return – until, of course, he does, and brings her to the biggest decision of her young life.

The book’s stance on gender equality is likely to furrow a few brows, leaning as it does towards the conservative. The male characters in the book feel oddly undeveloped; all three (Jameela’s father, her stepbrother, the kindly Agha Akram who rescues her in the market) are written as weak, well meaning men who are controlled by their wives. Now all three have suffered the trauma of war, and Jameela’s father has clearly taken Mor’s death hard. Yet they are never given a chance to tell their story. “Men are supposed to be the caretakers of women, Jameela chillingly declares, ’ not the other way round.” 

Jameela’s epiphany comes to her cloaked in betrayal and disappointment. She learns, the hard way, that she will have to fend for herself and make her own fate.  She decides to embrace Mor’s homily, dedicating herself to a lifetime of service. For centuries now, girls across cultures have been conditioned into believing they can only be defined by physical beauty and/ or a selfless devotion to service, with no entitlement to the liberties boys are encouraged to take for granted. This conditioning is the very reason Jameela had remained illiterate, ashamed of her face and bound to the hearth, lacking even the sense to get the medical help that might have saved Mor.  While I loved that she takes charge of her own life, I do wish she could have at least questioned the codes of conduct she chooses to bind herself in.  But that is still a minor gripe - this is a book that had me hooked from page one, and is definitely on my re-read list for its compelling story and memorable heroine.

 Image courtesy: Duckbill Books 

I received a copy of this book from Duckbill for review purposes; the views expressed in this post, however, are entirely my own. 

Trout, Trout, Trout!: A Fish Chant

Trout, Trout, Trout!: A Fish Chant 

Ant, Ant, Ant!: An Insect Chant
by April Pulley Sayre
illustrated by Trip Park

Bird, Bird, Bird!: A Chirping Chant
by April Pulley Sayre
illustrated by Gary Locke


April Pulley Sayre is the author of many popular non-fiction animal picture books. Some of her books we liked are shared in the Non-fiction Animal Picture Books post. Her commitment to accuracy of facts and her talent with lyrical text makes many of her books popular with the kids, especially for read-aloud sessions.

What's not to love about American freshwater fish? Being in trout and salmon country here in the pacific northwest, the younger kid has been learning about fish and other sea creatures as and when they catch his fancy.

As the title says, it is a fish chant. The rhythm sets the pace, making it addictive after the second read.

Threespine Stickleback.
Freshwater Drum.
Lake Chub. Creek Chub.
Chum, chum, chum!

Sockeye salmon. Arctic Char.
Mooneye, Walleye,
Gar, gar, gar!

The book is filled with freshwater fish names some of which are quite silly - makes one wonder how they got their names. The illustrations capture this silliness of the names while not straying far from what the fish really look like. There is a certain wild humor woven into the pictures that my kids easily picked up on and enjoyed heartily.

At a certain level, it is possible to dismiss it as just a gimmick of listing names of fish in some enchanting order, but at another level, it is pretty clever and multi-layered for learning and read-aloud fun.

What's the point of a good formula, if there aren't more along the same lines, right? So, we came upon Ant, Ant, Ant!: An Insect Chant. Unlike some sequels that disappoint, this one is a winner again, at least with the 6 yo.

Employing a similar catchy rhythm, Ant, Ant, Ant! lists various insects,some of which I had never heard of until now. And by the third read, we get curious and start researching these new insects.

Billbug, bed bug,
bark beetle, bee
Painted lady butterfly,
flea, flea, flea!


Cockroach, Earwig.
Like them? Can't!
Firefly, Flower Fly,
Ant, Ant, Ant!

Again, Trip Park has cleverly integrated some subtle humor that kids pick up on. For example, one of the pictures shows an insect reading Trout, Trout, Trout! and a Perch leaps out of the water to make a cameo. Enough to make the resident 6 yo squeal with delight at the discovery.

While Bird, Bird, Bird! is not illustrated by Trip Park as with the other two books, it still has the same lilt and charm and eye-catching popping-out-of-the-book caricature-ish appeal.

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker,
picture that!
Chachalaca, Chickadee,
Chat, Chat, Chat!


Kingbird, Kingfisher,
Kinglet, Kite,
Frigatebird, my word,
what a sight!

While most of the birds were familiar to us, there were quite a handful that we enjoyed learning about.

The only thing that the 6 yo objected to: The inconsistency in title of the 3rd book! While the first one is "Trout! Trout! Trout!" - a particular fish, and the second one is "Ant! Ant! Ant!" - a particular insect, the 3rd book should have been "Chat! Chat! Chat! A Chirping Chant" --OR-- Keep the 3rd the same, and the first should have been "Fish! Fish! Fish! A Bubbling Chant" and the second should have been "Insect! Insect! Insect! A Buzzing Chant" to be in alignment with "Bird! Bird! Bird! A Chirping Chant".


[Teacher's guide for Trout, Trout, Trout!]
[image source: April Pulley Sayre website]