Newerways

  Holiday Reading was a wonderful concept in my children’s school. They were given a book to read in English and Hindi during summer vacations and then their understanding was tested and later prizes were showered during the annual function which again were books. These books were classics and a few even contemporary; I too got to read new kinds of literature with them .  The curriculum in ICSE and ISC when I studied was relentless. There was, A Midsummer’s Night Dream, Julius Caesar, Joan of Arc, Richard the second, Mayor of Casterbridge in successive years. I reminisced to my boys. They seemed to have found it incredibly amusing that their mother showed a poor performance in the subject. To add salt to my injury my grandfather even shared a school report card which stated “Needs to work hard in English” and a grade of 4 marked with a red underline describing the inevitable. This report card continues to be an only family heirloom of my academic record despite being in tatters now. Th

                            What a wonderful sight?, a flight of migratory birds descending over the Ana Sagar Lake. These migratory creatures travel across the globe along the flyways. They are an annual attraction to the birders and the non-birders. The majestic beauty of these birds gliding on the surface of water, their winged formations, and their synchronized flights continue to mesmerize us year after year. As we walked along the circular pathway, we could see people tossing wheat puffs high up in the air and these birds swooping down to catch the feed. A  few even kept it on their palms while the birds made a sweep for it. These birds dared to fly over the walkway in numbers, performing acrobatics to indulge us right above our heads.  The other day, I talked to my younger son, who had been working from home since the lockdown and intended to visit  Goa with his friends and work from there. A few of his friends had migrated to beautiful destinations far away from their homes for