Blog@GraceJunction

Imagine you were forced to parachute yourself on to the Alps with a bottle of water in your hand. As you touch ground, it starts snowing heavily and so you take cover inside a cave. Keeping down the bottle in your hand, you clean the snow off your attire and then go out to gather rest of your gear. When you return in a few minutes, you observe that the bottle of water has frozen. What was water in liquid form is now ice. You panic and frantically try to search for someone who did this act, but there’s nothing in the cave. Eureka ! you cry out, nothing can convert water in to ice, and you write a book on the theory of everything  and try to explain that God is now fully kicked out from the equation.

This is exactly what Stephen Hawking’s new book “The Grand Design” is trying to explain mankind, about how everything that is, has come in to being. Stephen’s book although has not ignited physics, as the theory proposed by him is just an old idea in a new garb. It is a simplistic approach, yet in our secular age it is one that seems to have resonance with a skeptical public. The reason the book has sparked lot of discussion is the philosophical conclusions that he is drawing from his proposed theory. (more…)

The much awaited monsoon had finally descended on our city with a few continuous and long spells. I ve always looked forward towards this time thru the year, a time to be drenched by the rains. It a great time of relief as the cold drops touch you face and drip in to your soul to soothe. This time I was with my son, who equally enjoys the rains. It was fun splashing and jumping in the poodles created in the courtyard of our house. Suddenly my son stopped playing and asked me a question – Dada where does this water come from, Is there a shower tap in the skies? Does God operate them ?. Why are there bubbles in the water? Why is water flowing away, I want to play, why cant we stop it. Later he would cry when the rains would stop or when it would just drizzle and I would tell him, ask God to open the shower. However these questions lingered in my mind and put me on to do some research on this simple thing called water. And I found there is much more beyond this simple thing called water. (more…)

 As we read in the papers, one lady (a britisher by the name Christina) who challenged the Ahmedabadi people to keep the city clean, has brought big shots and like wise common people to hold brooms and sweep the roads (other than of course our reporters who are taking pictures or covering the event!)

The usual mentality is like this …..I had it like this:
Usually, when I go in a car, if I have eaten anything and a wrapper is left, I just roll down the windows and throw it over on the road. It is like who cares anyway - India is a big dustbin. My husband keeps the wrapper near his seat and brings it home and throws it in the dustbin. I always used to think, “Why does he have to carry it all the way home, after all India is a big dustbin?” (more…)

It was fun to see this Sunday our children enact the story of King Solomon’s judgement on the two mothers. Even though it was not the best performance in the world, the children did a very good job. They portrayed the story in the best way they possibly could and left the audience laughing with their dialogues and honest acting, while ushering in some powerful thoughts in to the mind of the audience.

Let’s rewind, go back in to the room and see the teachers trying to teach the kids the story and then the acts. It’s very important to have the sequence this way, because if the storyline has not seeped well in the children then no matter how hard you try to teach the kids to act, they are sure to goof up.

Now the entire act made sense because they followed the story line of the teacher. Picture this – during the training sessions many of the children would act as they would think right, would want to say the dialogues, as they think is correct and many a times never follow the story line. Some of the bold children would want to change the story and do it their own way, add other stories that they have seen and impose their will in to the act. Some children would never want the role that they are having and sometimes everyone wants to do the lead role and be the hero. The teachers did a good job in making the performance make sense. (more…)

Hey hello Mr. Blog Reader. I am the brain of Mr.Hyde Junior! Thinking? Wondering? Trying to figure out? Leave all that hard work to me. Relax and just listen carefully to all that I have to say and things will be clear. And yes, don’t try to make an impression. It will not help. Just plainly simply listen now, period.

I am one of the most important parts of any human being’s body but when I get a wicked heart to scheme, I become the most powerful tool of the modern man! Yes I depend on the heart for oxygen, you see!

But let me tell you what I did to Mr. Hyde Junior. His mother was devout, God loving lady. Her parents brought her up in the fear of God and she slowly became a beautiful young woman in the eyes of the Creator. All the people around adored her, Miss.Wisdom as she was always called by her parents then one day went off to study at the IIM. (more…)

Who or what is Jebar?

TOI today reports of stampedes in villages (in Thorad and Vav talukas) in northern Gujarat. No, it is not a stampede of devotees rushing down a hill, but a stampede of people rushing to ‘fresh water’ tankers that come into their village.

In fact what starts as aggressive jostling often leads to fights and sometimes to stampedes! Not that there are thousands of people at the epicentre of the event! A few dozens, or perhaps a few scores, and yet in the past few years at least four girls have been killed in stampedes!

Now this doesn’t happen only when tankers come, but also when some water starts flowing through their taps installed in the villages by the government. And this supply is irregular, infrequent and unpredictable. (more…)

In today’s Times of India, Nokia the mobile giant has released an ad in the front page for their new handset “6110 Navigator”. The punch line of the ad is “LET’S NEVER GET LOST AGAIN”.

I believe the ad is highlighting two things.
a) The GPS feature of the handset and most importantly
b) Its also highlighting the human being’s vaccum in his heart that says to him sometimes or always that he’s lost in this world and this handset will fill that void and in turn will give the individual a high that says yes, “Now I can never get lost”. (more…)