One of the places I love to visit is Don Bosco orphanage .About 5 years back I discovered it quite by chance and the fact that is is situated very near our home makes visiting still easier .It is an orphanage run by missionaries .Any child can seek shelter and the police also often brings in children found loitering around.There are about 200 children now .The amazing thing is how well the children are being brought up .They are very well mannered and full of pep and vigour .Also they are taught the essential values .Their premises are sparklingly clean .It seems all the children have certain duties by rotation .Brother Pascal told me that the emphasis is on teaching the kids the balance between rights and duties .They must learn to give back to the society .Considering that most of the kids are runaways it is a pleasure to see them so well integerated .Full of confidence they are also determined to do well at studies They go to different schools and also learn suitable trades that equip them for earning their livelihood .There are many success stories .Inspite of getting aid and donations still more are welcome so please if you have any thing to spare please do donate .Also a visit to this Ashram is sure to cheer you up .The child helpline number is 1098 .Any child in any type of trouble can find friends ready to help at this number .

Recently there was a death in the family.It is always sad but this time it was untimely ,unexpected and sudden .It made me think about the fragility of life .Once my friend and I had decided that before being rude or mean to someone we will just keep in mind that we shd not regret our behaviour if the person disappeared from our life .So this resolution many times stopped us from being illtempered . Now I think Iwill reverse the process .If there are any compliments or thanks to be given I must do that immediately who knows who may disappear without knowing about our love and affection ,thanks and gratitude or vice versa .

A new fairness cream has been launched in the market ."Fair and Handsome "So the men now no longer need to use their sister or wives fairness cream surreptiously. They can boldly buy their own and rub their faces snow white .(It is another thing that men were always described as TDH tall ,dark and handsome) .So for us Indians It will now be fair and handsome .The launch of this cream should please female activists as it is a sure step towards gender equality .Not only the girls but also the boys will join the race to the fairness club .However jokes apart it is really surprising in a country where the complexion of majority of indians ranges from pale peach, golden brown ,olive ,coffee and mahgony the one most venerated is WHITE or GORA .Is it a throw back to our inferiority complex of being ruled by fair skinned Britishers ? In our ancient texts and literature right from Parvati ,Laxmi .to Sita and Draupdi all of them were supposed to be dusky .So I suppose this preoccupation with fair skin is really our homage to Europeans .

Shahrukh Khan has given up smoking on his 40th birthday .With the publicity given to his promise now he has to keep up his promise .It is a difficult thing to do indeed .As Mark Twain said "It is very easy to promise to give up smoking as I have done it a thousand times ."But maybe Shahrukh made his resolution public as under public gaze he will have pressure to keep his promise .It is strange that even after so much publicity against smoking it seems to be on rise .One of the explaination is that there are more tensions to endure and the other is that it is very glamorous to smoke .Both are probably true I wonder if it will help to paste the pictures of smokers 'soot blackened lungs at the cigratte vendor,s outlets ?Children can often be quite persuasive .Like at this Diwali there was considerably less pollution cause children boycotted fireworks .Maybe when these kids grow up seeing the black,mutilated lungs the incidence of smoking will be reduced .

Blame game is an interesting thing .And the most maligned are the parents .They may or may not bequeath a fortune to their kids but they feel guilty about giving diabetes,hypertension etc.However an interesting research has proved that mother 's temperament during pregnancy has an important bearing upon child,s social behaviour as it grows up .So now mothers can claim credit if their child is happy ,sociable and popular .Fathers can also take heart as the research has proved that fathers who spent time with their kids as an infant reared up better adjusted children .
PS .The reseach findings often trouble me as I have this funny feeling that any thing can be proved it is just a matter of intent .(What ever you intend you can find and prove )

Read a very good piece in Times of India by Subroto Bagchi .He wrote about a topic very close to my heart that is integerity .One of the points he made is that many times people do things that are wrong because they have never been told that it is wrong .As children they saw their parents blithely filling wrong returns ,claiming fake benefits and fares .So they did not learn to be honest and truthful .The assumption was that no one can prosper with honesty .Thankfully this mindset is now changing.The new entrants in the industry have shown that it is possible to grow and develop while being law abiding and honest .Many times I have heard the argument that the tax structure is such that it is very difficult to be honest .It always reminds me of Aristotle who said that if the laws are unfair try to get them changed but as long as they are there you must follow them .I am glad big IT giants like Infosys .Mindtree .Wipro .IBM,Intel etc. are good examples for the new comers to emulate .I also believe that in matters of integerity there is only black and white .I hope .pray and wish that all the youngsters will remember that honesty is not the best policy it is the only policy .

So finally with Bhai Dooj Diwali is over .The festival of lights is one of the most beautiful festivals of India .With twinkling lights on the Multi storied apartments Delhi looked like a fairyland .This time it seems Delhi experienced much less pollution than laast years as it was NO to fire crackers .It is good for environment no doubt but than it also means that children have little or no enthusiasm .Diwali is just another day for them .Parents hang the electric bulbs and also do the cleaning and the decorations .Mom prepares special sweets (that too are often bought )So what do the kids do ?Lighting crackers and fireworks kept them excited and busy and also very much involved .So I found most of the kids spending the Diwali night in front of TV .Environmentalists are going to kill me for saying this but please for one night let the kids be kids and have all the fun and frolic and fireworks (ofcourse with safety precautions )
Another change that has happened now is about exchanging sweets .Till someyears back Diwali sweets meant exchanging Thalis with your neighbours .The thalis had mandatory Kheel Batashe and than home made sweets So we looked forward to different types of sweets Sandesh ,Puran poli ,Gujhiya Choorma .It was interesting fare .What happens now is that there are no traditional sweets .All of us buy Haldiram ,Bikanerwala ,Aggarwaals ,Cadbury ,s Priyagold .......................gift packs and exchange them .This year I have doubts that one Haldi ram pack I gave to someone has come back to me via a circuitous route .Next year just to be sure I will certainly put asticker on the boxes to see how many come back tome.The only good thing I can think about this barter system is that since we just pass on the sweets there is no risk of putting on Diwali fat .