It is not just about Antarctica, It's about Earth... Youngest Indian teacher to go to Antarctica with sir Robert Swan and 2041 talks about the impact of climate change on the entire planet and how we can 'Be The Change' by making some changes in our life style to the students and staff members of Purkal Youth Development Society.

This time before you use crackers in Diwali do remind yourself that 'If the 5th largest continent of the world loses all its ice then the water level of earth will rise by 65 meteres'. In an informal visit organised by Tvam, Anurag Maloo connected with the hearts of the young students of the school and gave some useful inputs about climate change and global warming to the staff and students of the school. The students of the school took a keen interest in listening to the adventurous tale of Anurag's visit to the driest and windiest continent of the planet - a continent without countries and without any vegetation; and yet the profound silence of the place mesmerizes everyone who visits the majestic place on our beautiful earth. Anurag shared with us the tales of sighting scores of penguins and snores of gigantic blue whales. He also told us what it feels to see the milky way from the southernmost tip of the Earth. A very little known planet which is almost untouched by human beings is a very sacred place indeed. Anurag Maloo was amongst the very few Indians to make a visit to the splendid planet on March, 2013. It was very inspiring to see how Robert Swan has cleaned tonnes of human waste, singlehandedly and has created a knowledge base laboratory which runs completely on renewable energy. If renewable energy can be used on a planet which does not see sun for 6 months in a year why can't we use it in all parts of the Earth argues Robert. 'Consume less and enjoy more - it is not the materialistic things that make you happy but the meaningful acts of service and compassion are the ones that bring joy on earth' said Anurag. Buy as much as you need - everything that you do leaves carbon footprints and climate change is real, thus act wisely to save your planet. The most beautiful part of the presentation was when students and staff members took a pledge to be the change and not the part of the problem. Some of the pledges that students took were: 'I will not waste papers and I will ask students of other classes to not waste papers' 'I will not use electrical devices when not required' 'I will not consume cold drinks' 'I will consume less and use more' 'I will not eat junk foods' As you celebrate diwali this time, do remember that small things can make a big difference. What are the small changes you can make as a help to create a better planet? Also, remember it is not just about a better planet but a better you - coz what you give out comes back to you ten times multiplied. Will you not like to spread smiles and happiness to others and witness how it comes back to you multiplied? The entire team of Tvam wishes you the very best of Diwali. P.S : A small 2 minutes video about Antarctica can be seen at : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOOVu22iPVE Want to know more about Robert Swan? Please see: http://pincsarasota.com/rob-swan-uk/ If you want to see the 12 minutes video of Anurag's journey to Antarctica please see the following link. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdEVQ6iKR0M

The Spirit's Might

The tragedy of Mars in your horoscope

An old woman was with the pundit to look for a match for her son. The pundit was an interesting person, he had opened a marriage bureau alongside his main business of making horoscopes for newly born babies. 'Unfortunately your son has a mangal dosh' said the pundit to the woman. The disheartened woman wondered about the past life karmas of his son, as she had tried to seek match for him with more than fifty girls. 'Pundits are pundits, they don't know that my son is a genius', the woman said to herself as a defense mechanism against defect imposed on her son by the horoscope. A little input from the pundits side had put her in a dilemma about her son's character. She prayer intensely to God to seek answers, and quarreled with Him as to why he gave a mangal dosh to his darling son.

Next day a miracle happened - ' the god of Mars' visited earth. He greeted this lady and gave a brief introduction to her. 'Dear mother my name is Mars, i live at 100000000000000 miles from the sun, and keep on spinning at my axis at revolving around the sun simultaneously; I also want to tell you that I am also called the red planet and some author has written a book in which he has mention Venus's and my name. Dear mother, i have been sent to you by the almighty God himself to help you come out of your plight. I will resolve all your doubts and queries, that you have about me'. 

Amazed, awed, and excited beyond description; the mother remained stunned and silent for few minutes as The god of Mars gazed her smilingly. Soon she remembered her son and the Punditji and all the horrifying things that she had heard about this smiling and beautiful face humbly standing besides her.' Dear Mars, I cannot believe that you are so beautiful looking and charming. You have such a soothing and calming effect, I am really sorry i had been cursing you since so many years of my life' she said. The god of Mars in his benign beauty just smiled back at her and made this lady comfortable in his presence and requested her to ask questions and resolve her queries.

'What is mangal dosh?' she asked. 'Ah! my dear mother i am a perfect creation of God. I have perfect timings to rotate around my axis, you know i complete each rotation at exactly same number of hours everyday. I also have fixed number of days to complete revolution around the sun, i have been doing this job perfectly - years after years since times immemorial. The moons around me are perfectly placed and never collide with me. Dear mother although the Sun pulls me towards itself, i have never collided with it. I have never done any harm to Earth, do you know the distance between earth and me has never changed since ages. I have a beautiful red soil on my top - no other planet in our solar system has soil like me, I am unique. Do you know I am a delight to watch from earth with the help of a telescope. Oh! my dear mother, do you still think I have dosh (defect)? :( 

Astonished mother said, 'Oh! I never thought like this'. That rascal pundit has made a demon out of you. But here you are so elegant, beautiful and pure. 'Dear mother, I want to tell you one more thing. You know i have a brother whose name is Saturn. Do you know Saturn and I or any other planets of the solar system have never fought with each other. You must sometimes try and see Saturn through a telescope, I promise he looks so dashing and handsome. Though Venus and I might fights with each other on earth but mother we have never shown any disrespect to each other since millions of years. Never did it ever happen that there was a cosmic fight between rahus and ketus in the real solar system, they are at perfect harmony with each other. 

'Then who controls our life?' the curious woman asked. 'Oh! mother, you do not have to come to me all the way from USA or India on a mangalyaan to seek answer for this question.' replied the god of Mars. 'Mother would you ever advice your child to go and play with a cobra?' 'Obviously no, even i will dare not do it' replied the woman. ' Ahan! it is our actions that control our life. Is that what you mean?' the woman exclaimed. The god of Mars looked at her smilingly. 'That stupid pundit who claims to be omniscient and send people to heaven has surely reserved a seat in hell for himself.' the woman exclaimed angrily. 'Ah! I am so sorry for demonizing you my child, now i know the real demon. The real demon is not even that pundit but the fear that has been created in our minds through bad conditioning. Nevertheless, i will surely take that pundit to task today'. The god of Mars kept smiling at her and suddenly disappeared before her eyes. 

As the god of Mars disappeared, the woman started trembling and suddenly saw her bright looking son before her eyes. 'What happened Maa? You got up quite late today' the son asked. 'Oh! was it a dream, or was it real?' the woman thought. ' Nevertheless i will surely take the pundit to task today' she said to herself in her mind. 

When are you going to do the same? .... :)

- Harshit
(Tvam India)

The greatest misery lies in being dependent upon others for our happiness

I was listening to a class 11th student of an English medium school. This boy was distressed at that moment of time and was seeking a solution to come out of his dilemma. His girlfriend was ignoring him since morning and that was causing anxiety in him. Well, it will not be wise to accuse this boy for his misery because emotional attachments do not listen to the rational logics and it does require a sheer will power to come out of strong emotions. The same boy  in his previous class had attempted to end his life due to a failed relationship. Can you as a reader somewhat relate to this story? You might not have taken a big step like him but how did it feel when things  did not go right in a relationship.

What are relationships? How many times did we pause and think about it?

Is relationship a transaction where I take something from someone and the other person does the same! Or , is it about adding meaning to someone's life?  How often did we think about adding meaning to someone's life? Moreover, what is meant by adding meaning to someone's life? Isn't it to find a meaning for our own life?   When we have a meaning and profoundness in our life, then we are not shaken to our roots by someone's acceptance or denial; even death of the dearest person does not shake us - on the other hand the separation and death help us to become more profound and deep. Out the depth of heart flows joy which overpowers every grief and rejection. A person with a meaning in his life is the most joyful and balanced man. Great Socrates once said, 'An Unexamined life is not worth living'. With this quote I want to leave the reader with a question -- Do you have a meaning and purpose in your life? If not, how do you think you can find one?

- Team Tvam India

Thanatophobia --- The fear of death

The fear of death is something that keeps on haunting almost all of us. The fear of losing someone who is very dear to us can really disturb us, moreover when we actually lose someone the challenge gets intensified all the more. Generally we tend to avoid this question by making ourselves busy with our day to day activities, but this questions is always lurking at the back of our minds. Does keeping our eyes closed to the problem solves the mystery? What we never stop and think is that are we really going to die? After all what is death? Is it really painful? Is it really horrifying? Here is a first hand experience of people who have seen death very closely. Do find some time to see this beautiful  video.

It is going to challenge our general perception about death and also about our life.

- Team Tvam India