What I learnt from my child.

When your child is born ,you are awestruck in the begining and then slowly the daily routine of wiping,cleaning,feeding ,making them sleep gets you and we stop watching our own child .We stop to observe how nature is unfolding itself before you in the form of your child. And in small ways your child is teaching you small things which make up the essence of the universe.
When your child cries for  three things  i.e hunger,sleep or ill-health he is telling us that these are the basic things we need at any point of time irrespective of our status.Take care of these three things.
When your child smiles as the first form of communication he is teaching us the easiest and the simplest way to communicate with any human being in this world.Just smile!
When your child learns to say his own code words/signs for letting us know what he feels like or what he wants he is telling us the importance of language in our lives.
When he  cries that he wouldn't go to school leaving his lovely home and his set of people and yet has a ball of his time in school once he actually goes there, he is telling us that every body is averse to change BUT it is possible to adapt to the change if we try.
When your child is able to sleep to a lullaby (don't know how!) you realize music is a beautiful instrument to solve problems!
When your child insists on having the a toy and refuses to accept any other alternative is actually showing  the individuality as a trait with which every human being is endowed.
When he loves you no matter how much you rebuke him or scold him  he is showing us what unconditional love is all about.
When he runs and falls and yet springs back to run again  shows us that failure is stepping stone of success indeed.
When he describes people by their dress colour  and not by their religion/caste/skin colour he is showing us the innocent eyes of a human being before these divisions happened.
There are countless more!  Let's observe our children and learn something from them everyday.

Mills and Boon  and girls

I always wondered on why many girls love mills and boons when we know that nothing can be far from the truth.  Ok  if we pick a mills and boon now  these are definitely going to be in it ,contradict me if I am wrong!

First -The guy is definitely a rich man. When I say rich it is filthy rich!He has his own helipad on top of his house and yep he owns a set of islands as well not to forget a hotel in each of the country he visits and so has his own private suite! and nope these are not inheritances!Our guy has singlehandedly built this empire right from scratch. And guess what, he is just thirty now!.Wow .What a man sorry what a superman!!

Second-Now lets take the girl. The girl is definitely young, around 20 and has red hair ,auburn hair with unbelievable shades..not to forget her eyes which are usually blue,green and even grey.Black and brown is emitted.Thats too common! Of course her waist one span and her stomach is as flat as the surface of tiled floor. And legs.....which go on and on! Did I forget her docile nature which easily yields to every demand of the guy starting from marriage to giving and  heir!Yep you heard it right! :).

Third - Now we all love exotic places dont we? Greece,Italy,Spain sound fantastic.Yes they sound fantastic on paper full of passion.If our belongs to one of these countries it will surely fuel the passion between the guy and the girl.So just set the whole  scene in these countries and voila  we have a passionate story in hand.But remember the guy should belong to these coubtries not the girl.A English guy and a spanish girl? Nah doesn't sound that passionate. A English girl and a Greek hunk? Yep that sounds perfect!

Yea so go ahead and start writing your own and make sure you add all the three.. not to forget right doses of intimate scenes :)

Ciao!

Introduction

The sonnets are almost all constructed from three four-line stanzas (called quatrains) and a final couplet composed in iambic pentameter (a meter used extensively in Shakespeare's plays) with the rhyme scheme abab cdcd efef gg (this form is now known as the Shakespearean sonnet).The beginning of the third quatrain usually shifts in mood either a revelation or epiphany.Shakespeare wrote a total of 154 sonnets at the zenith of sonnet hysteria in England.

Theme of his sonnets

It is very clear that most of his sonnets are addressed to a young man whose charm, generosity and beauty are praised to heights. It is believed that the young man is most probably the Earl of Southampton. A total of 126 sonnets are addressed to this man and the rest of 26 are to a woman, referred to a Dark Lady, .The lady is suspected to be Mary Fitton .It is believed that there were some misunderstandings between the three and Shakespeare showed his displeasure through his sonnets during that phase. Most of the sonnets speak of love in general and explore subjects of misunderstandings, disappointment, betrayal etc.

Use of imagery

The lyrical quality of Shakespearean sonnets is maintained but the use of imager y is far from conventional. The images used indicate complex, emotional and intellectual feelings. Abstract images, concrete images like nature and human life are used abundantly. The imagery is either simile or a metaphor. There are many images he has used be it litreral, perceptual, visual, tactile, auditory (sound) or even images pertaining to taste.

Shakespeare's sonnet number 33

The sonnet number 33 is an important sonnet in terms of Shakespeare’s relationship with his male friend .The sonnet marks the misunderstanding between the two and Shakespeare’s unhappiness over it. Here is the   text of the sonnet:

Full many a glorious morning have I seen
Flatter the mountain tops with sovereign eye,
Kissing with golden face the meadows green,
Gilding pale streams with heavenly alchemy;
Anon permit the basest clouds to ride
With ugly rack on his celestial face,
And from the forlorn world his visage hide,
Stealing unseen to west with this disgrace:
Even so my sun one early morn did shine,
With all triumphant splendour on my brow;
But out, alack, he was but one hour mine,
The region cloud hath mask'd him from me now.
Yet him for this my love no whit disdaineth;
Suns of the world may stain when heaven's sun staineth

Paraphrasing of it :

Full many a glorious morning have I seen
Flatter the mountain tops with sovereign eye,

Shakespeare states that he has witnessed glorious mornings with sun(sovereign eye) kissing the mountain tops and lending it beauty and dignity .Likewise Sun(his friend)  has showered his full glory and kindness on him lending him beauty and love.

Anon permit the basest clouds to ride
With ugly rack on his celestial face,
And from the forlorn world his visage hide,
Stealing unseen to west with this disgrace:

But the sun sometimes gets hidden by the ugly clouds which mask his face and hide it from us and sometimes the celestial sun sets in the west without us even noticing it.

Even so my sun one early morn did shine,
With all triumphant splendour on my brow;
But out, alack, he was but one hour mine,
The region cloud hath mask'd him from me now.

Even Shakespeare’s sun (his friend) who once shone on him with kindness is now hidden by the ugly clouds of misunderstandings .Shakespeare is very sad about it .

Yet him for this my love no whit disdaineth;
Suns of the world may stain when heaven's sun staineth

But Shakespeare has no disdain towards his friend. Because he feels that when  the celestial sun  itself can be hidden by the ugly clouds  how can the earthly sun(his friend) escape such a fate. Shakespeare comes to term with it in a poignant way.

Books and children

''Life being very short, and the quiet hours of it few, we ought to waste none of them in reading valueless books.'' (John Ruskin,Sesame and Lillies(1865)). What Ruskin told us  some 150 years back is still valid.Don't you think? How many of us feel so proud and happy that such and such book has made so much of  an impression that it is etched into our souls. A school textbook,an article from a magazine,an Enid Blyton's story , a Jane Austen's novel  or even a grandma's lullaby ,anything that has taught us something ,taught us to understand the  intricacies of life.We all understand the value of books don;t we? We all know how it contributed to our growth as a person. But before I move on further ,I want to make sure I convey this message that when I talk about books adding value to our lives   the value is to our soul alone  and nothing monetory.

What makes me feel sad today is that books have taken a backbench in a child's life.The advent of technology has eased our life no doubt but it has robbed us of our books. Tablet games, Playstations are fun but how much value can they add in the long run? Children see gadgets as a toy rather than a learning tool , which is very natural considering their maturity level.A book is not that complicated.A book is a book. The child needs a real book with real pages.The joy of doing naughty things like Dennis ,to fly on a carpet like Alddin,to see  beautiful Snow White , or to listen to Pied Piper's addictive music .Has your child experienced all these?We have ,when we were children. I remember taking so many book from the library during the summer holidays and literally devouring them.

So what can a book do to a child anyway. Ok I am no expert in children psycholgy but I feel a book will add dash of imagination to a child's mind.He/she will be able visulaise what the author writes in the book and enter the magical world of the book.This also helps them understand what's real and what's not. Reading a story to the child from a book and making him co-relate the pictures and words is a fruitful exercise. The child understands words in pictures. What a fantastic teaching that is .Today the same concept is used in presentations, White Papers etc. A picture is worth a thousand words indeed!. The books meant for learning to read definitely help the child to start reading earlier.The Encyclopaedias are a life-long treasure for a child. They can easily match what they see in real life to the book. How about newspapers? The science and technology section and children's sections are worth a shot.

But can the child do all this alone? NO. He needs our help. The parents and guardians around the child should make time for reading books . We need to sit with the child and first assure him that we are also part of the wonderful book reading journey. Once the child is secure he will pay attention to us. When this becomes a habit the child automatically will read and show interest towards reading.Buy a book as a gift to the child. Toys are good but books are good too. They are the best gift we can give to a child. Put in a effort to select a book by the age group and what may add value to the child in future. Read bedtime stories to the child.The activity not only strengthens parent child relationship but also makes a place in the child's heart .Read-aloud books are fantastic in terms of their simplicity and age -appropriateness. There are many libraries  today which deliver book at doorstep. Browse a book for your child and get it delivered.The child will love it when a book comes all the way to him ! It will rouse his interest.Try it!

Sometimes parents tend to feel they maybe burdening the child if they introduce the child to books which may seem high level.But don't let this deter you.Every piece of information is worth sharing with your child.Nothing is too difficult or small for him.The child sees the information as information only.His  virtue of judgement is still raw hence the child absorbs whatever information we give him in its original form without attaching anything too it. A sample of this is ,my son could tell all planet's name and even their moons at the age of three. And boy how he enjoyed the journey of "space".The book which made him learn all this was a "3D planet book". He still loves it.

So go ahead and grab a book and let your child enter the world of "bookdom" and  watch how it can add value to his life.A stepping stone in his life!All the best.