Filtered Gyan

   "If—" is a poem by British Nobel laureate Rudyard Kipling, written in 1895. He wrote a number of children stories. The all time favourite "Jungle Book" was also written by Rudyard Kipling. If --- If you can keep your head when all about you        Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,    If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,      But make allowance for their doubting too;    If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,      Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,  Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,      And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:  If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;        If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;    If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster      And treat those tw...

A few weeks ago, I had attended a birthday party of my daughter’s friend. There they played a game, the age old ‘Passing the parcel’, however, what was different was the way it was played. The child who was caught with the parcel when the music stopped was asked to leave the circle, but with that parcel as the gift, and then a new parcel was introduced. The game continued till every child got a gift. I asked the mother what was wrong with the earlier version, the version we had all grown up with. She said – “I do not like kids to be disappointed. See, here every child is happy as he or she gets to take a gift home.” In another instance, I was in the park with my daughter. She was playing lock and key with her friends. Now, one of her friends fell down. Her mother, who was on the other side of the park ran to his son, all confused and upset. She scooped her son in her lap and started inquiring – “Are you hurt? Let me see! Do no cry! Shush, mama is here.” The child, had a scr...