(Looking at the growing worldwide popularity of the game of football, this article is about the importance of the sport, especially for the poor and developing nations). Cricket has been a national obsession in most of the developing and Third World countries. It is about time that the game should be dropped from the status … Continue reading Time To End Cricket Hype With Football
Sculptor in the sugar factory of machete man to recognize the tough job of harvesting the sugarcane fields manually. Photo and Caption by Rita Puri Part 1: Life In Cuba Rather than the politics of communism or socialism, the face of Cuba is much reflected by its vibrant culture. In their healthy and shining … Continue reading With Small Doses Of Capitalism Cuba Can Achieve Its Socialist Idealism
NY Times April 9, 2018 By Jeff Seb, director of the animal studies program at New York University. You might be aware that chimpanzees can recognize themselves in a mirror, communicate through sign language, pursue goals creatively and form long-lasting friendships. You might also think that these are the kinds of things that a person … Continue reading Court Considering Case For Chimps As Persons
By Promod Puri Hyped, and promoted by the controversy, I got induced to view Padmaavat on the big screen. Besides, seeking some entertainment, my scrutiny was also aiming at any scene, dialogues or actions which could support all the reported fuss and anger in India about Padmaavat extravaganza. Does the movie devalue Rajputs or covet … Continue reading Padmaavat Glorifies Immolation Custom & Stereotypes Muslims
By Akshat Rathi Most of us don’t change our minds. Whether the issue at hand is the repeal of net neutrality in the US or Brexit in the UK, we avoid information that might shift our viewpoints, assuming that our opponents are simply dumber than we are. But recently, I had a change of heart about an important issue—and it showed … Continue reading Carbon Capturing Worth Believing To Save Environment
The following travelogue was written back in 2010 when I visited Fiji, a cluster of islands in the South Pacific region. Besides, visiting some of the most famous tourist attractions, the article also briefly mentions about the people of Fiji, especially its vibrant Indian community. By Promod Puri Our years of build-up excitement of Fiji … Continue reading Joys Of Fiji Travels
By Promod Puri I don’t know if she belongs to the class of housemaid, aka “bai”. If so, then her status could be upgraded in India’s class and caste society. She had a regular assignment at our home around 11 every morning and finishing her limited but reserved task in 15 to 20 minutes. It … Continue reading INDIAN MAID: But She Was Not “Supposed” To Enter Kitchen
By Promod Puri Living in Canada for the past 45 years, my nostalgic window often opens to the blissful sounds of popular Hindi filmi songs and music. From this retreat, the flights to the past are the pleasures of the present. In the voyage, tuning in on Aye mere pyaare vatan, aye mere bichhade chaman, … Continue reading Joy With Old Hindi Filmi Songs
By Promod Puri In split second, rather much sooner, memories can take us to revisit some interesting spots in our lives. For me, one of such repeat visits is to the primary class where I graduated myself from grade 5th to grade 6th and started learning English from alphabets to making small sentences. Towards the … Continue reading Despite Difference Of Opinion Friends Are Friends
By Promod Puri “The past is history, future is mystery, but today is a gift……”, stay in the present and enjoy the moments. These are some of the many favoured in-vogue quotes. The popular quotations or advisories suggest our prospects belong to the moments we live in. We are told to live, feel, and enjoy … Continue reading Past, Present And Future
In recent weeks, there has been one major terrorist attack in Afghanistan where over 150 people died, and two such strikes in Britain killing innocent people. The terror surge is continuing, rather escalating over the years. The question is how far governments and security forces can go to protect their citizens. Every available procedures, technologies, … Continue reading SEEKING WAY TO END TERRORISM
CREATION, CULTIVATION, AND DEVELOPMENT OF THOUGHT By Promod Puri Simple Thought: Infuse purity and ethics in thoughts, base karmas on those thoughts, and enjoy the fruits of those karmas. Mahatma Gandhi says: thoughts become words, words become behavior, behavior becomes habits, habits become values, and values lead to destiny. In the creation of words, behavior, … Continue reading THOUGHTS ON THOUGHT
By Promod Puri Education does not stop after school, college, or university studies. Rather it continues. Pursuing knowledge in the fields already studied along with new interests of learning are part of lifelong schooling. As the formal education ends in early part of life, the journey to explore and gain knowledge goes on. At … Continue reading FAKE NEWS DAMAGES GROWTH OF KNOWLEDGE
Jagessar Das M. D. President Kabir Association of Canada People all over the world talk about tolerance, such as racial tolerance, religious tolerance or cultural tolerance, when they have to live in a society made up of people of different backgrounds. And this tolerance is often thought of as being a virtue. Let us try … Continue reading TOLERANCE OR ACCEPTANCE
By Shyami V. Ramani In 2013, India became the fourth country in the world (after Russia, the United States and the European Union) and the only emerging nation to launch a Mars probe into space. But it remains part of the group of 45 developing countries with less than 50% sanitation coverage, with many citizens … Continue reading Why it’s easier for India to get to Mars than to tackle its toilet challenge
“In the United States, we know what happens when we start dividing ourselves along lines of race or religion or ethnicity. It’s dangerous,” he said. Not just for the minority groups that are subjected to that kind of discrimination or, in some cases in the past violence, but because we don’t then realize our potential … Continue reading WORDS OF WISDOM:
By Promod Puri/Georgia Straight The fun in life includes some simple recreational activities in our daily life. And the one I like the most is just a few steps away as part of my everyday up and down commute. These are the stairs leading up to our apartment. Over the years I have done this … Continue reading HAVE A GOOD TIME WITH STAIRS STEP BY STEP
LIFE IS A GAME OF SOCCER By Promod Puri All our thoughts and actions are influenced and regulated by the consciousness of the landscape of reality around us. In this landscape, one makes a selection of his or her own space in life’s playfield. And the game starts. It is a collective game, a team … Continue reading LIFE IS A GAME OF SOCCER
1. To all the volunteers who strive for dedication and devotion preparing the divine langar and washing dishes in Gurdwaras and Mandirs for the devotees and visitors, as well as for sharing the meals among hungry and homeless people irrespective of their faiths. 2. To those poor and destitute trash collectors who carry shopping carts … Continue reading My Canada Day Salutation Goes:
By Promod Puri While Mahatama Gandhi’s nonviolence activism got him international fame and many followers, an important part of his personal life and preferences has been revealed in a very unknown small book by Mr Kris Tangri. Kris Tangri in his ’90s lives a retired life in Victoria, Canada, after a very successful academic career … Continue reading MAHATMA GANDHI’S PERSONAL PREFERANCES
It is smart, respectable and even practical. Uncles and aunties designations have become popular among younger generation of South Asians to address their parents’ friends or older contacts. Instead of calling them by their first or last names, with prefix Mr. or Mrs., the unrelated nephews and nieces develop a kinship with the choice of … Continue reading Uncles and Aunties
Back in 1972, when I immigrated to Canada and made my first home in Winnipeg, Manitoba, that I happened to know a very helpful and friendly person by the name of C. R. Bector. He was a distinguished professor of mathematics at the University of Manitoba. And out of respect, as being elder to me … Continue reading Bliss of Chajju Ka Chobara
By Promod Puri “Agree to disagree” is a declaration of face saving justification. It happens when two or more parties or individuals after an argumentative discussion fail to agree. And in all civility, the agreement results in agree-to-disagree compromise. With that declaration egos remain intact, but time wasted. Nothing is lost, nothing is gained either. … Continue reading Agree to disagree
(Wamiq Misbahi in NY Times)Trump is a man with a vision for America, not a specific vision, a great vision…the best vision…Trump has a plan to make this country great again….What plan??….a great plan…a plan that will work because it’s the best plan…..Why???… because Trump knows good people…which people???….the best people….people that are not … Continue reading Trump Has Great Plan For America
Grouse Grind Meditation/ as posted in Tripadvisor Climbing the 2.9 km steep Grouse Grind mountainous hike in North Vancouver, BC, beside a strenuous workout on ” Mother Nature’s Stairmaster”, is also a sort of kinetic meditation of about 90 minutes. The focus has to be on the uneven steps and the rough ground underneath … Continue reading Grouse Grind Meditation
By Promod Puri This brief article is inspired by widely acclaimed Vancouver-based spiritual writer Eckhart Tolle’s “Power of Now”. It is not an attempt to give a motivational advice. But coming up with an idea, in line with the basic theme of the “Power of Now” in realizing, accepting, capturing and enjoying every moment happening … Continue reading LIVING IN THE PRESENT
A multi-million-dollar sports carnival of athletic strength and spectacle by physically super human beings has started in Rio De Janeiro amidst the sharp realities of poverty, Zika threat, foul waters and the on-going political instability in Brazil. The show must continue every four years to thrill the interested watchers worldwide if one does not switch … Continue reading THE OLYMPIC SHOW
The basic reason to involve oneself in sports is to seek and maintain healthy body. Recreation comes next. But in the contemporary society social, cultural, competitive, big business and even political aspects dominate the field of sports. Olympics, world cricket and world soccer events are the prime examples of this phenomenon. Mass participation in sports, … Continue reading Sports Is Show Business
It does sound sweet that our fruits and vegetables are getting sweeter. The bitterness in some of the known bitter fruits and vegetables is far less or almost non-existent. Examples are grapefruit, Brussels sprouts and bitter-melon (karela). The natural chemicals involved in creating bitterness are called phytonutrients which are responsible for imparting health benefits in … Continue reading Bitterness Is Healthy
By Arran Stephens The overwhelming majority of the world’s Hindus live in India, which has the largest vegetarian population on earth, numbering many millions. Within the Indian subcontinent, the spectrum of religious thought ranges from strict monotheism to a sweeping panoply of gods, goddesses and animist dieties. Vegetarianism is practiced and scripturally supported by the … Continue reading Hinduism and Vegetarian Diet
