Day to Day Psych...
Moonlit nights!
Skylight that is milky white,
Full Moonlight is so bright,
Not as much as the Sunlight,
Keeps us feeling warm on the darkest of nights!
Day to Day Psych...Sunshine & Moonlight!
We as people of the earth experience joy and sorrow in our lifetime in equal measures. Sometimes though the burden can be a little too difficult to bear!!
One may feel down and disheartened to an extent where a sense of worthlessness or unhappiness bogs one down! It would do well to remember that there is so much more to life than broken relationships and sad endings. There is beauty and love in this world that exists only to be discovered!
The way to overcome such depressing thoughts is to live a healthy lifestyle and build our strength both physical and mental! Look for the little joys and tide through the difficult times! Life is like the sea with high and low tides.... keep swimming through the dark phases to places of sunshine!
Our own star in the solar system, The Sun shines through the darkest of clouds and inspires us to do so too!
If the night turns dark and fearful there is always another celestial body shining out there in the darkest of skies taking over from where the Sun left off! The moonlight is more quiet and doesn’t burn as fiercely as the sun but continues to reflect milky white light that is as stunning and as inspiring !
The video with the moonlight will be posted in the next post!!
Day to Day Psych..... Love is in the air!
Do Celebrate valentines Day!
It’s all about love. Sometimes we forget that love is not only about a couple or between two people. It’s all about loving your family, caring for your elders and taking tender care of your children. Everyone in our life is important and all relationships matter. Bonds of friendship are the strongest and can last a lifetime if we tie the knots well!
It’s about building on relationships while keeping our egos and minor tussles aside ! So friends it’s time to celebrate love and the colour is Red!
Here are some lovely red roses smiling on my Mom’s terrace all thanks to her tender loving care!
Day to Day Psych …Kites
After a long day at work I decided to chill in my balcony with my cup of tea at sunset. I decided to keep all my devices far away as I didn’t want to be distracted from my quality time with myself.
Those who have tried it know how difficult it is to practice!
Anyway my thoughts soon settle down and after a few minutes I begin to feel quieter and more in control of myself. Then I begin to observe my surroundings and the outdoor furniture and coffee table firstly come into my line of vision. Random thoughts of replacing some of it come to my mind. The balcony needs greenery and flowers (I love fragrant flowers but haven’t yet gotten down to planting them). I let my eyes wander past the railing towards the park nearby.
The daily activities by the regular ‘Juhuiets’ bring in a sense of comfort. A group of elderly women singing a medley of ‘bhajans’ sitting under a heavily foliaged tree, old men who get together after their daily walk to discuss politics, health, business and life. Toddlers are in their strollers while the older ones are running around with their beach kits while their mothers gather around for a gossip session. Then there are the couples cozying up to each other or college- goers busy with their ‘selfies’ and pictures while posing like models. Then my gaze reaches farther out onto the stunning sun setting on the horizon. I will never tire of seeing the flaming reds, oranges, yellows interspersed by the dark clouds and blue of the sky when the sun sets!!
Suddenly a giant Kite swoops down on spotting its prey and swings back up again to rise high up into the sky. This family of kites has made their home in my area. Those who read my posts might remember the video of a kite that I had posted couple of years ago titled ”Birds and Humans” in which I had mentioned about the pair of kites trying to make a new home here and their fight with a pair of parrots. Today after two years they are all amicably settled in this park…the p
Day to Day Psych... The Train!
Time and Technology have led us to a day where most of us are travelling by air over other modes of travel but how can one forget the thrill of the train journey?
Earlier a journey by train was the most exciting means of travel!! It would start with a plan to visit a few places with friends and cousins followed by making the train reservations, sometimes reserving a whole bogey just for the group. Then all the flurry of packing essentials, books to read and the scrumptious food items including puribhaji, theplas, sandwiches, laddoos & multiple snacks!
Finally the D-day would arrive and we would be standing at the station at odd hours with our own little handbags exchanging notes and peeping out towards the railway lines to check if the train is close by. The thrill of it all can still bring goosebumps to the flesh. The train whistle, bagging the seats & the bunk beds was so exciting. Then would begin a journey with various stations offering different fares where one would get down and enjoy the idlis on banana leaves from the south, the paranthas from the north, vadapavs from the west and puchkas from the east and many more such delicacies. We would place our suitcases across the bunks and play cards on them while some of us preferred to read and some others took in the passing vista of countryside beauty to forever cherish it as a beautiful part of the journey.
Invariably conversation with fellow passengers would lead to some long lasting friendships while some friendships lasted only as far as the travel allowed. Music and games ... chatting nineteen to the dozen was the favourite past time.
I personally loved looking out of the big train window onto those little homes on the hills imagining the life of its inhabitants and the stunning nature surrounding them. Above all the most exciting part of the train travel would be the winding routes passing over hills, little towns, passing by streams & rivers. Nothing could ever beat the
Day to Day Psych by Kavita Mungi…Indians & our civic sense!
Recently I happened to be sitting in the lounge of one of our premiere airlines. I visited the washroom to freshen up. A Chinese woman entered just ahead of me. There were two washrooms. An Indian lady just left one of the two and the Chinese woman walked into it while I took the other one. I heard her grunt in disgust as the Indian who used it before her left the toilet dirty. I thought she would just leave but she proceeded to pull out tissue rolls and clean it thoroughly muttering curses under her breath before using it.
I felt ashamed and didn’t know where to look when she walked out.
Some more examples of a lack of civic sense follow>
1. On entering the washroom at malls and other public places there is toilet tissue and other trash lying on the floor, dirtied toilet seats and one does not want to use the facility. Highway hygiene is even worse, at times impossible to access any clean places to use for basic utility needs!
2. On the way to the airport on a busy route at the junction a car just stops ahead of me. A lady pushes her 7 to 8 year old son out asks him to pee on the side of the road in a beautiful flowerbed and then proceeds ahead again.
3. When my car is lined up in a queue of vehicles at the signal that is red, the minute it turns green the cars behind mine set up a cacophony of honking. Do these drivers want me to fly over all the vehicles ahead? What is the point in adding to the noise pollution senselessly?
4. If one driver has an altercation with another they will block all traffic by getting down from their respective vehicles and coming to blows in the middle of a busy road. Common courtesy requires them to get their vehicles to the side of the road and ensure smooth traffic flow while they continue to sort the matter out.
When will we learn to have basic courtesy for others???
If the civic sense of our children is not nurtured it will only lead to poor ethical values, disregard
Academic Fair at Horizon Academy
Is it really necessary to attend academic fairs?
Oh no!! This weekend I have to attend a academic fair in my sons/daughters school. I really don't want to but he/she is insisting. It will be absolutely boring to go from class to class.
This is the reaction from some parents and I do understand why it is so. The weekend is a relief after the tiring work days for all. So you definitely don't want to go to school to attend some educational fair... probably!
BUT parents...please let me tell you Academic fairs, workshops, career guidance are all extremely important as they help to shape your child's future. If your child is participating in it he/she will study so many fields during the preparation and their choices help us to understand their liking for a particular field at a tender age itself. Besides one also helps the child to explore so many career options.
"Seeing is Believing"
On attending such activities at school one is absolutely stunned by the varied career choices that are actually available to us today.
Children come up with so many innovative careers through their research and with guidance from teachers and parents. I attended a career fair as a Career Counsellor Psychologist at Horizon academy in Nasik and was pleasantly surprised by the numerous career options put up by the students, their presentation and research. Kudos to Kumudini Bangera, Jyothi Samantha and the staff for organising it on such a large scale from the primary section onwards.... mammoth task executed successfully!
Parents need to think of this a as a wonderful opportunity for them to bond with their children..spend quality time with them. Children also learn a lot about team work, leadership skills, social skills, planning and research, oratory skills, creativity, interests, developing hobbies and so much more.
The biggest plus that I see in such situations is that the relationships become stronger between the parent and the child, teacher and the child, parents and teachers,
Gender Bender Video...
This will give you'll a better picture.
Day to Day Psych by Kavita Mungi...Child Abuse workshop.
Let me begin by saying thanks to my dear friend Bhairavi and her daughter Sneha for introducing me to this wonderful NGO Angel express in Juhu. Yesterday I had such a lovely time with the kids from the near by impoverished area who come to Angel express which is run in a public park in the neighbourhood. Anubha the founder and Debika, kudos for making such a difference.
I conducted a workshop along with Sneha (a brilliant student) to make the children aware of their human rights. We selected children in the age group of 9 to 15 years old. We used soft toys, placards and enacted a small skit to explain good touch and bad touch. The following video in this post is from the same workshop.
Child abuse is the physical, sexual or emotional mistreatment or neglect of a child. Many parents often tell their children to beware of strangers but many a times it is some close family member who might abuse the child. It could be someone the child knows and trusts. In the downtrodden community the child is often injured through punching, beating, kicking. While interacting with Anubha and Debika, I realised that these children faced abuse on a regular basis and even after making police complaints nothing much could be done for them. Lot of loopholes in the system allows the guilty to escape. Child protection services in India need to be improved drastically if we want our children to feel safe.
Child abuse is not limited to the poor; it runs across all classes, communities and genders of people. Especially sexual abuse goes undetected, as the adolescent child may be completely unaware of the fact that he/she is being abused. I once remember watching the super Oprah Winfrey talking about her personal experiences. She said that she was abused by a dear uncle when she didn’t even know what he was doing was wrong. Abuse is not always violent, friends! We need to make our children aware of the various kinds of abuse that can
