communication

There was this interesting point an educational consultant made at a workshop. How is it that a teacher stumbles a little during her first few lecture sessions and then slowly she perfects that topic?
It is because she is repeating the same thing over and over again. The student in turn is still raw because he/she is only listening.

I have seen a lot many talkative people. Most are just blabber-mouths, shooting off on any topic without any knowledge of it.
There are others who end sentences of others and thus pretend they know more than the speaker.
Then there are those who repeat what someone else mentioned with such passion that people believe it was his/her own idea.

Come to think of it, the world is full of these 3 categories and a mild person who is not strong enough to communicate his view will be overridden by these types.

So, the lesson to learn is 'effective communication rules your world' Ha... Ha... as if you did'nt know !!

A lot has happened in my placid life in these 6months
-visit to India for vacation in july and admission of my son into college
-Teaching that took up a lot of energy & my time at home
-Completion of typing & editing my fathers book
-taking care of my sick father for about 20 days
-the death of my beloved father

I remember the days when my parents used to visit me and stay on for a month or two. After they leave there used to be a pain, a void. The empty corner in the room marked by their suitcases would bring tears to my eyes. The absence of their daily disciplined routine would choke me. The children would be dull unable to explain their feelings but missing their love & warmth.

Now, the difference is that my Father has left us forever. As he would say when ill, it was his body that was going to depart and not his Atma. The pain and hollow feeling is obviously stronger. But he would be proud of us if we did'nt mourn him. He would not want us to think about death. He wanted us to think of the life and years for the children of India and the youth whose changing values troubled him in his last days.

It is tough to pick up these threads that he left behind. And now that we cannot catch his guiding hand, it is a daunting task. I truly pray that the project he left behind would be taken up and would do justice to his pure thought and intention.