Of Rajas, big and small, and some creepy crawly insects

It is a sad day for the world -- there is so much unsettling that is happening around the world ...

That a dear friend of mine died yesterday seems to be the only grief that seems justified... all the rest seems totally unnecessary and unjustified... perhaps it is the beginning of the end of this world and this civilisation as we know it... the humanitarian crisis in Sudan, the unbelievable tragedy that is unfolding in Gaza, the misery in the aftermath of the earthquake in Venezuela, the madness of the many wars led by the orange-head in the US and back home... images of protesting fasting students and the arrogance and total insensitivity of those in power at the capitals, both big and small, of the country. 

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Accepting charity is fine, doing charity is not, for the likes of me in Germany

Well, the title is a rather tall claim to make on the basis of just a couple of such incidents. But still these incidents happened and so I have to write and tell you about them. The first incident occured at a well known charity shop in town very close to where I live, and the second has to do with a One-World Shop in a nearby village. And the third story I tell here, just to put things in perspective and to show how things could and should really be; it took place in a Gymansium in a little town outside Wuerzburg. Nothing really happened in any of these occasions, but still a lot happened. So here goes...
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Remembering Rabin Goswami Sir

I am not sure why I have not been able to write about Sir in all these days although his death affected me very badly. On hearing the news of his demise on Friday, 26th June, 2026, I first froze, then came acute cramps, on the third day I started to cry and kept crying for the next three days.  It was only on Wednesday when I needed to write a condolence message on behalf of Sishugram that I first forced myself to find words to say what I felt. But even then I wrote about what he meant for all of us, as a senior and very active member of the Trust Board, as the Koka for all our girls at Sishugram, as a teacher, as a writer and editor, as a lover of plants and vegetables, there were so many roles that he played...

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