Learn Curve for Girls

Girls Education Project for School Story Curriculum

  • The Obedience of a Wife

    Suhani Dewra

    Meera lived in a large joint family, with more than thirty people inhabiting the sprawling space. The house was always buzzing with activities. There was immediate family to talk to, there were cousins to hang out with around the house, and then there were cousin’s cousins who were always visiting somebody in the house. School added to her every day’s activities. Meera had a gang of girls who she also hung out with over the weekends, sometimes. There was not a dull moment in her life.

    Some years later, Meera was going to graduate from college and was eager to join the workforce. Her discipline before graduation was economics.  

    “Dad, there are some companies that are conducting interviews on the campus for job placement. I hope to crack at least one interview and land a good job?” Meera asked her dad.

    “What form?! You aren’t going to work. I am planning to look for a good match for you to get married,” her dad retorted.

    Meera didn’t get to have a professional life. She pined for it, all through while she was being prepared for finding a suitable man. Every few weeks, she was presented, in a saree, in front of the potential groom and his family. Some never returned after the first introduction. Some others took the first meeting forward, but the search for some man to accept Meera continued. Why were the men not agreeing to marry Meera? Because Meera was of dark complexion. Bluntly put, she was black in color.

    One fine morning, there was yet another family that wanted to see Meera. This time around Meera’s family had a trick.

    “Let’s apply a lot of make up on her to lighten her skin; not merely on her face but also elsewhere,” said an aunt.

    The trick worked. The potential groom agreed to be her lifelong partner. Both the families rejoiced. Meera’s mum hugged her and cried tears of joy.

    That night when Meera had her first conversation with her husband-to-be over the phone, the soon-to-be bride confessed that she had concealed her real complexion with heavy makeup. That was all that was needed for life to come back to square one for Meera. The man and his family withdrew the engagement. Unsure if she had a reason to celebrate for not being tied to a man of such shallow values or mourn the loss of a supposed future, Meera was now beginning to get tired of the game. Meanwhile, her friends had flourishing career. They earned their own money, flashed a debit card when they all hung out, and were happier as they were pursuing their passion.

    As goes the saying nothing is constant in the world, Meera’s display of herself came to a cease. She got married to a man who worked as the General Manager at a sugar factory in a remote village. When Meera moved to her new house, she was startled.

    “We don’t even get bread here!” exclaimed Meera in despair to her husband.

    “It is a tiny village dear. Sugar factories are established in the remotest of areas as the conditions are favourable. But don’t you worry about the bread. I will get them shipped to you from the nearest town,” consoled the husband.

    Life moved on and Meera coped with her everyday life. There were three servants in the large bungalow that the factory’s owner had gifted the General Manager. Every time Meera visited her hometown, she asked for money from the husband and he readily gave her all that she wanted. It was a life of privilege in some ways and yet Meera had never been so unhappy. Her days were long and uneventful. She had no friends for all her friends from town were busy with a full day job. There were some more households from the factory workforce around her bungalow.  But Meera couldn’t socialize with them as they were all in rank lower to her husband.

    “Meera, be nice to them and offer help, but do not socialize with them. You are the GM’s wife. You are above them and should only hobnob with equals,” the husband had advised her.  

    One spring, Meera enrolled into an online cookery course and learnt how to bake cakes. In due course of time, she mastered the art so well that she thought she could begin a cake baking school in her village.

    “Oh no Meera, you can’t do this. What are people going to tell?! That the GM’s wife is selling cakes?! That’s going to sound beneath my dignity,” worried the husband.

    Once again the obedient Meera gave in and gave up on what brought her joy.

    Her husband was a caring man, however, he failed to gather Meera’s mind. While Meera slipped into loneliness. There was not a thing to do in the house or outside.

    Soon after, Meera found another way out to kill her boredom and loneliness. She joined an online guitar class. Her guitar lessons became the joy of her life. She looked forward to each day. After a few months of regular training, Meera was now a decent guitar player. On most days, when her husband returned home after a long day at the sugar factory, she strummed some tunes for him. Her excitement continued for a few weeks and then she grew out of strumming the guitar for his only audience.

     “How about I teach strumming the guitar to some women around,” Meera proposed the idea to her husband.

    “O no, Meera. These women wouldn’t appreciate such a fancy activity. Just keep it to yourself,” he advised.

    The caring husband couldn’t fathom that Meera needed to have an individual life and eventful life, beyond managing the servants. After all she had lived the larger part of her life in a joint family of more than thirty people. Meera retraced her path to loneliness. This time around she wasn’t even going to try to have to a life otherwise.

  • Arundhati visits her aunt  

    Suhani Dewra

    Arundhati undertook a sudden flight to her aunt’s house. Her uncle had passed away a natural death of cardiac arrest. He was 75 and was being treated at the hospital for some days before he breathed his last. Arundhati wanted to be near her aunt. While on her flight, memories of younger days when her aunt used to look after Arundhati conjured up in her mind. She made and packed her lunch for school, checked on her college admission itinerary, and in general her well-being.

    When Arundhati reached the house, her aunt who was in the mourning period was delighted to see her niece. A little shedding of tears happened, of course.

    The house was full of relatives and visitors. The mourning period was scheduled for ten days. Every day, a new set of visitors came to meet Arundhati’s aunt and her children who were now parents themselves. Arundhati’s aunt in general was a woman made of sterner stuff. Never in her life has she been inactive. Whether it was her health issues or any emotions set back, this was a woman who never stopped caring for others. So remained she, even after the loss of her beloved husband.

    “Take my bottle,” she said Arundhati when Arundhati woke up at midnight feeling thirsty. “Do you want to sleep in the room your cousins are?” suggested her aunt feeling Arundhati may want to share the room with people her age. “That’s alright, I will go out to meet Preeti. She must be tired after a long journey,” she murmured when somebody commented that how her daughter-in-law was outside in the living room when she should have directly stepped into the aunt’s room the first thing she arrived. “Tell the cook to pack the night’s dinner for you. You may not want to cook after you reach home,” she suggested a visiting relative who was now returning home.

    Towards the end of ten days, the aunt’s daughter got upset with her mother’s behavior. “Mother, stop this behavior. Just stay in the room and mourn. What are people going to think? That you are not sad about the loss?” she said.

    Arundhati overheard her cousin say this. She wondered, do we have to mourn for the sake of people? Do we have to display suffering to validate suffering?

    These thoughts consumed her for some days.

    On the other side, every day the menu comprised food that the deceased liked eating. Most of them were gourmet food. Women dressed in embellished clothing. “Carry some bright and bling clothes. This is how people dress up in any gathering, be it mourning or wedding. Else people think that you don’t have good clothes,” had said Arundhati’s mother while she was packing her luggage.  At night, a lot of members of the house gathered to chit chat, some about the worldly affairs, others about what was on in somebody’s else’s life.  

    It wasn’t a lifestyle that raised eyebrows. The other family members could carry on with their lives. Only Arundhati’s aunt, being the widowed wife, was expected a certain conduct. Not sure if those around her expected her to be so, or it were only her children and daughter in laws who feared gossip in the colony.  

    While such thoughts were floating in Arundhati’s mind, it occurred to her that when a famous movie actor’s ailing father had died, the son threw a lavish party to celebrate his deceased father’s full life. There was orchestra, there were drinks, and there were lots of guests. Just like a celebration. And that actor’s mother was alive who Arundhati assumed had also participated in the celebration of a life well lived.

    “There are various systems of living. One system of living chooses for the woman to mourn the dead, while another system allows her to celebrate the life that lived,” thought she.

    Back home, Arundhati discussed the details of her stay in her aunt’s house with her once colleague and now friend Surela.

    “But one can’t always grieve. Even if one is mourning, there are moments when light shines through. That is human nature,” Surela reasoned.

    “True, but much is expected of women. A man’s calmness is considered his strength, a women’s is taken as her nonchalance. Can the display of grief measure the amount of love one felt and feels for another person?”

    Neither of them had an answer to this question.

  • Alekhya’s new house

    Suhani Dewra

    Alekhya grew up in a sprawling space of three-store bungalow spread over more than fifteen thousand square feet. It was like a palace. That’s how most houses were in her hometown, which was a small town in a big state. When Alekhya graduated from class III, she moved to a metropolitan city away from her native place. In the big, the usual way of life was in smaller houses built inside a large apartment. The houses were called ‘flats’.

    Alekhya’s flat was a 1,100 square feet house, a stark contrast from her previous house. It had two rooms, a living room, a restroom, two big balconies, and a kitchen where her mum would have to cook without help. This was probably how much space the hall on the second floor of her hometown bungalow occupied. A portion of that house was all Alekhya was going to live in. Her mother sure was not a happy woman moving into a house so small. She felt, it was an insult to her lifestyle to accommodate herself in a space that small.

    Contrary to how her mother felt, Alekhya saw it as a welcoming phase of her life. The flat allowed everybody to be in vicinity of everybody. She saw her siblings and parents all the time, unlike in her previous house when people were scattered in various corners. When a friend called on the landline phone, her grandfather used to call out loudly from the ground floor and Alekhya came downstairs running. In the new house, there wasn’t any need for anybody to speak in a pitch as high as that of a loudspeaker.

    If Alekhya was in the courtyard downstairs playing with her siblings, her mother was upstairs, somewhere in the large hall watching TV. Or her father was in the verandah of the first floor which almost made him feel like a separate part of the house. A smaller space brought togetherness. Mostly importantly, she felt that she was being paid the kind of attention a child her age needed. They spoke more often to her. She found them approachable. Being in sight of her parents did have an enormous positive effect on her, which resulted in her overall well-being, including academic performance. Suhani began to almost top the class. She wasn’t that bright a kid in the past. Of course, like her house, her classroom was also a space as large as a mini theatre. Each class had some sixty students, which again, according to Alekhya’s perspective was a deterrent in receiving attention from the teachers. In the new school, her class included thirty students in a small space, which allowed the teachers to pay attention to each student. Alekhya, in her mind, had deconstructed her anatomy as that of being a child who needed to be paid attention and encouragement.   

    At the personal front as well, Alekhya found the apartment life more fun. There were many children her age in the apartment, whom she played with every evening after returning from school. They played I spy, running and catching, sometimes cricket with the boys, badminton, and many more games. Alekhya also colored drawing books with them. She made some good friends with whom she chatted about things she didn’t speak at home.

    “What’s that spot on your nose, Alekhya,” asked her newly acquired friend.

    “That’s from chicken pox I had contracted,” Alekhya replied.

    “I too had chicken pox. Was it difficult for you to eat food when you had those big spots?” the friend asked again.

    “Ya, when I ate the idli, my throat hurt. It felt like a lump that ached,” she answered.

    Alekhya had never told anybody about idlis hurting her throat. Now, she could.

    It was an eventful life. However, Alekhya kept quiet about it as her mum would not appreciate Alekhya differing in her opinion. Every time she heard some visitor from her hometown say, “Adapting to a flat must have been difficult,” she smiled within.  

  • A vacation to remember

    Suhani Dewra

    Kanisha was back to school. So were her friends. The vacation was the term closure of Class IX. As the girls got together after a long two-month break, they had much to discuss. Each of the girl spoke in length about the highlights of the holidays. Kanisha’s friend Sameera had the most unique vacation.

    “It was the most rigorous course of my life,” Sameera heaved a sigh.

    Sameera had visited a meditation course that was designed to train the mind.

    “Train the mind? O why? We have a sensible mind,” exclaimed her friend.

    “What we think is a sensible mind, isn’t really so. There’s more to it,” Sameera interrupted.

    Sameera started to explain what the itinerary of the course was and what it taught her.

    “By the time the course finished, I felt much lighter and the clarity of how I saw things increased manifold,” said Sameera.

    “Nothing of what you say makes any sense to me,” pat came a reply.

     “So, here is the thing. What we think, how we feel, what we see…can be done better. If we solve an Algebra problem in half-an-hour, we could do it quicker. Say in fifteen minutes. If we feel good from within, we can feel better. If we see the sky blue in color, we could see the same blue color in high definition. For all this to happen, our brain has to be of a certain quality and …… has to be devoid of unnecessary emotions.

    Meditation does that,” elucidated Sameera.

    “That is what I was made to do in the course,” she added.  

    Sameera then elaborated on the everyday activities of the course, which included long hours of practicing meditation.

    “So you say that you are smarter now?” quipped Kanisha.

    “Yes. In some ways. You will see that in the monthly tests,” Sameera replied.

    Just then the teacher entered the class and wondered what were the girls gossiping about.

    “Ma’am, Sameera attended a meditation course during the summer vacation. She says that it helped her brain become sharper,” blurted Kanisha.

    “Oh, yes. Meditation is a tool that most adults use to keep the body and mind in a good shape,” agreed the ma’am. “In fact, Siddhartha Gautama credited his enlightenment to the technique of meditation he discovered,” ma’am added.

    “I thought it was merely a mental exercise; didn’t know it could be so powerful?!” exclaimed Sameera.

    “That is what Siddhartha Gautama said. When he sat under the Peepal tree on the fateful day in Bodh Gaya, a town of Bihar, he followed a practice of meditation that is termed Vipassana, which means ‘to see things as they are’ in the Pali language. As the practice commenced, he started getting rid of all the experiences he had gathered ever since the beginning of his existence. After 49 days of continuous Vipassana, Siddhartha Gautama was fully empty of all what was within him, leading to enlightenment,” explained the ma’am.

    “But ma’am, wasn’t the Buddha who gained enlightenment?” asked a girl.

    “Buddha is anybody who has reached the ultimate version. It is not a name, it is a state of being, which our prince Siddhartha Gautama attained and is therefore addressed as the Buddha.

    “I was always under the impression that Buddha was a name,” commented Kanisha.

    “Me too,” added Sameera.

    “Anybody can be a Buddha for that matter. Sameera, you too if you practice your meditation well and realize the highest version of yourself,” said ma’am.  

    “Ma’am, I wonder if the Buddha was the perfect man, why didn’t he invent something? Like a special vehicle to drive to the Moon, just like how we do to the malls?” questioned Kanisha.

    “Yes. If he was the awakened one, he should have invented video calls back in that age and conquered distance,” came the sentence from another girl.

    “Did he write some scriptures? If he did, I would like to lay my hands on them and get to know him and his teachings better,” yet another comment.

    “Well, Siddhartha Gautama is told to have written nothing. He only offered practical lessons. And coming to answering why didn’t he invent video calls or the special car to the moon, I don’t know. I am not the Buddha, which means I do not have all the answers,” responded ma’am.  

  • A hungry Pakhi

    Suhani Dewra

    Pakhi was in Class II. Every day before Pakhi left to school, her mum asked her what she wanted to eat for lunch when she returned home. Little Pakhi always had a delicious food name to say. Some days it was the pasta, on other days it was a plateful of cupcakes. On the weekends, she wanted garlic bread while towards the beginning of the week, she said Indian naan and spicy curry.

    One spring, Pakhi’s grandma was visiting her. She saw Pakhi’s mum always make Pakhi’s lunch according to Pakhi’s wish.

    “Do you think it’s alright to serve Pakhi what she wants to eat,” asked the grandma.

    “O why not. I love cooking food of Pakhi’s choice,” replied the mum.

    “But Pakhi mostly wants yumm but unhealthy food. She isn’t getting exposed to all healthy food recipes available. Cupcakes are not always healthy. And so are so many other food options she places the order for,” advised the grandma.

    Pakhi’s mum paid no heed to the grandma. She continued to ask Pakhi for her choice for lunch.

    One afternoon, Pakhi came home to find a bowl of salad. “This is not what I had told mum to make. I am not going to eat this,” said a grumpy Pakhi. She looked away from the bowl and refused to eat despite much persuasion from her grandma.

    Pakhi’s mum had fallen sick that morning, which led her grandma to keep salads ready for Pakhi. The little girl stayed hungry all afternoon and then all evening. Then at night, she felt terribly hungry. She came downstairs to the kitchen hoping to find something fun to eat. There was nothing except the bowl of salad that her grandma had left in the refrigerator.

    A hungry Pakhi hurriedly ate all the salad from the bowl. “This doesn’t taste so bad,” murmured the little one.

    The next morning while Pakhi got ready for school, her grandma kissed her bye. “What are you going to make me for lunch, grandma?” asked the little girl.

    “Do you want to eat what I loved eating when I was a girl like you?” asked back grandma.

    “Yes, I want to see what you ate, grandma,” nodded Pakhi.

    Since then, grandma made Pakhi some healthy food option. There were raw fruits, then there were wheat pancakes, and sometime a bowl of rice with vegetables.   

  • Beauty and the Beast

    Suhani Dewra

    Once upon a time there lived a girl named Beauty. One morning her father was leaving to a big town for work. He asked Beauty’s sisters what they wanted from the town.

    “Get me a gold necklace, daddy,” said the eldest sister.

    “Bring me a golden dress, daddy,” asked the second sister.

    It was now Beauty’s turn. “How about you bring me Salman Rushdie’s famous book ‘The Satanic Verses’, daddy. I long to read that book,” said Beauty.

    The father left to town.

    In the town, he carried on business all day. While leaving the town, it struck him that he needed to buy his daughters the gifts they asked for.

    He first went to a jewellery store to purchase an illustrious looking necklace. His next stop was a garment store where he bought a long golden gown for his second daughter. Pleased with his buys, the father now went to the bookstore to find Beauty’s book.

    “I am looking to buy the book ‘The Satanic Verses’ for my daughter, can you show me where it is placed,” the father asked the man at the counter.

    “We don’t sell that book here. It is banned,” informed the man.

    “Oh!” remarked a sad father.

    There was a man standing a little away from them who overheard their conversation and proposed to share his copy of ‘The Satanic Verses’.

    “I had bought the copy while I was in the United States. I don’t mind giving it to you for your daughter. Seems like she has a good taste in selecting the books to read,” proposed the man.

    Beauty’s dad thanked him much and took his email ID.

    “My daughter would surely want to personally thank you for your gesture,” he said.

    When Beauty got the book, she jumped with excitement.

    “O thank you, daddy for bringing me the book. But this doesn’t look like a new book. Looks like somebody has used it,” she said staring hard at the cover of the book.

    “Yes, my dear. It is a pre-used book,” he said.

    Beauty’s daddy then narrated the complete event that had unfolded at the book store.

    “I must thank that gentleman, daddy. Glad that you brought me his email ID,”

    That night Beauty started reading the book and as it grew on her, she took a break to write a thank you note to the owner of the book. Soon Beauty finished reading the banned title while parallelly keeping in touch with his new friend. They wrote to each other about the books they had read and what other titles they planned to read in the future. The conversations continued and soon they realized they were in love with each other.

    With the turn of events, Beauty got married to the gentleman and lived happily ever after.

  • Krishna and Sudama in the forest

    Suhani Dewra

    Krishna and Sudama were students at teacher Sandipani’s ashram. They were fellow classmates as well as best friends.

    One morning, the teacher tasked them to collect wood pieces for bonfire, from the nearby forest. The two friends walked through the forest and got on the job. They cut the wood pieces and wrapped them in a cloth that they had carried from the ashram. It was time to go back to the teacher. As they started on their journey back, it started to pour torrentially.

    “Oh, Krishna, we must take shelter somewhere. The rain is heavy and I am beginning to get drenched. I don’t want to catch a cold,” suggested Sudama.

    “Sure, let’s see if there is shelter around,” agreed Krishna looking around.

    The boys found a gigantic tree, such that they had never seen before. The branches were thick and the leaves so voluminous that heavy rain seemed only mere drizzle under the bushy canopy of the leaves of the tree.

    Soon after the boys took refuse under the tree, Sudama felt hungry. While leaving the ashram in the morning, the teacher’s wife had given him two pouches of roasted chickpea just in case the friends got hungry. One for Sudama and another for Krishna.

    The hungry Sudama fished for his pouch of chickpea in his pocket and began to eat. “Tastes heavenly,” he said. In that moment, greed arose in his mind. He decided to eat Krishna’s share as well.

    “Hey, Krishna. I realize I dropped the pouch of chickpea ma’am gave me for you. I am sorry that you will have to stay hungry. But don’t you worry, we will soon get home,” Sudama lamented.

    Krishna knew that Sudama was quite a foodie. There have been moments in the past when Sudama tried to steal Krishna’s share of food while at the ashram. Krishna gave an investigative look at Sudama’s pockets and knew that the other pouch was also in there.

    “Hey, Sudama, are you sure you dropped the pouch. How about you rummage through the pocket carefully. I am sure you will find my pouch of food in there,” Krishna said pointing to Sudama’s pocket which had the chickpea pouch.

    Sudama knew in that moment that his friend had turned clever and outspoken. It wasn’t any use trying to fool him.

    Pretending to search his pockets, Sudama pulled out the pouch with chickpea and said innocently, “Oh, ya Krishna, it’s right here. So light that I didn’t realize it was even in my pocket. There you go.”

  • Interview with prolific Tamil and English writer JK Sivan

    How many books have you written?

    I have written about 140 books in the past 11 years. This includes stories from Epics, Puranas, Vedas, Vedanta, spiritual scriptures, Indian legends, Acharyas, Rishis et al . I have published and released about 35 books which includes a book on 100 stories of Shree Panduranga. 100 stories on Krishna, in both Tamil and English. I have written books mostly on Shree Krishna and Shree Rama. I have written a book on the complete 18 parvas of Mahabharata including meaning of Gita, Sri Vishnu Sahasranama, and Yakshaprasna.

    Could talk about your writing schedule?

    I write for 18 hours a day. I spend all my time reading, singing and writing. I attend meetings wherever I am invited to speak on spiritual topics . I observe most of the women folk and o ld ladies prefer Tamil books. So, most of my books are in Tamil. I don’t price my books, and I give them away for free. I have 10,000 more copies yet to be distributed. I give away books to libraries, friends, donors, children in schools and old age homes. Now, I am giving publishing rights to Pachyderm Tales and Pustaka. I know both Ms Laksmi Priya and Uma Aparna will be able to distribute the books easily.

    When did you start writing?

    I started writing at my 75th year. Till then, I was busy with my shipping activities, and I never had time. It was at the end of the year 2012. Now I am 86. I started writing through email. In 2012, the only technology we had was email. Through email, I circulated my daily writings and the people, who read, gave me the idea of turning it into a book.

    3, 14,000 people are reading my works as per 2022 FB records. (”JK’s posts have been liked 314000 times’) I get calls from people from India and different parts of the world. I give lots of books to them when they come to see me.

    What was your first book on?

    My first book was for children. It was on Shree Krishna. 100 stories on the life of Shree Krishna. It was based on the stories of the 10th canto of the Srimad Bhagvatham. My book was titled, Vishwaroopavamana Kathagal, which means the stories of a cosmic person in vamana (short) form.

    My first English book was ‘You, I and Krishna’ . Here, every story starts with ‘dear children’ and ends with a moral message.. The pictures are in color in art paper with 280 pages approx. I distributed many free copies of this book. Rs 3 lakhs was donated by a philanthropist in Gujrat attached to the Krishna temple in Dwaraka. 12 of my books are in English. Rest of them are in Tamil. There is great demand for books n English. You, I and Krishna was named that way because there are only three persons in English Grammer.

    First person – I

    Second person is you

    Third person – He, she, it we, etc., but all the three persons are none but Krishna

    Advaita means monism nondual reality. You and I are one and the same. Everything is nothing but one. That is what Adi Shankara taught us. Vishistadvaita was taught to us by Ramanujam. It teaches us that Jeevatma and Paramatman are though separate but joined by the surrender of the individual (SARANAGATHI) to the Supreme Reality.. Qualified monism is thus known as Vishistadvaita, which needs the presence and advice of an Acharya to surrender to HIM.

    What is the essence of Indian philosophy?

    In Indian philosophy, there is nothing but one god. That is the concept of Adi Shankara’s Advaita Philosophy – everything is one. In Dvaita – jeevatama is different from Paramatma. The individual soul reaches the supreme soul ultimately.

    In Indian philosophy the worship of god is the main item. It is called Hindu Sanatana dharma. It not religion but a faith. Tolerance is very important in Hindu Dharma. Sanatana means something that is eternal and ever lasting. The essence of Hinduism is charity, love, discipine, faith in God (devotion) This is what the Geeta also tells us clearly.

    Can you narrate to the audience your favourite story?


    I am a Krishna devotee. Krishna is a God with 16 kalas, Poornaavathara, ie., HE knows, is conscious, that HE is god even when he takes shapes of a man. . Rama as the avatar of a human being appeared to do righteous things. eliminating the wicked and cruel people and helping the righteous was the goal. Parithraanaaya Sadhunaam Vinaasaaya cha dushkritam dharma samsthaabanarththam Sambhavani yuge yuge. That’s why Krishna is called the god of protection. The Hindu Trinity perform the functions of Srishti stithi and samhara or laya. Creation, protection and destruction. Whatever is created must have an end one day. We calculate our life term, age, from the time of birth we are born on earth. Everything is dated on earth. God is beyond time space.

    Guna is character, it is the basis on which mind and heart work for a person. Sattva, rajo tamo guna are the three gunas. characteristics Sattva people who are those who are simple, loving, auspicious, detached from the world and its attractions, and think nothing but social good. They are selfless people who help others and live for others. They live to serve others. They are not attached to this world and are not attracted to this world. This body is given for serving others. Itam sariram paropakaram. Jana seva Janardhana Seva

    What is the essence of Vedanta?


    Vedanta is the end of all the vedas. In the Upanishads we find the Mahavakyas –
    Tat Tvam Asi, Aham Bhrahmasmi, Ayam Atma Brahma and Prajnana Brahma. which mean YOU ARE THAT, I AM BRAHMAN, THIS ATHMA IS BRAMMAN, AND CONSCIOUSNESS IS BRAHMAN.

    The Brahmasutras talk about the sublime Reality, omniscient, omnipresent nameless and formless self of the world, everyone is BRAHMAN

    What is Srividya?

    Sri Vidya is the worship of Rajarajeswari, known as MAHARAJNI. The goddess is worshipped in three forms – Bala Tripura Sundari, young baby girl, Tripura Sundari and Rajarajeshwari. There are 6 forms of worship as established by Adi Shankara. Koumara, worship of Kartikeya; Sauravam, the worship of the Sun; Shivam, worship of Shiva; Vaishnava, the worship of Vishnu, and Shakti, the worship of the Goddess and Ganapathya, worship of Lord Ganesa .

    What is the significance of the Sri Chakra?

    It is a yantra. It contains all the powers. It contains the beeja akshara mantra. powerful letters. When you utter the mantra scorrectly the deity respond. There are so many rituals and festivals for Hindus. Rituals are very important in Sri Vidya Upasana. Upasana means strict adherence to the set procedure of worship.

    Any parting message to the audience?

    Hindus are tolerant and never believe in conversion, and there was no cruelty or hatred towards other religious practices. Only liberty and freedom is given importance. Many children other than Hindus can also benefit from our Vedhas, spiritual scriptures, epics and puranas. Knowledge is Divine. Swamy Vivekananda taught how Hindu beliefs and faith has been collectively organised and developed by our ancient Rishis, and is based on tolerance, peace, love and unity, and nonviolence (ahimsa).

    About J.K. Sivan

    Born in  1939  he  is now nearing  86 yrs  Mr  J K Sivan  hails from a  Tanjorean family of pious and religious scholars  in Tamil, English, and Sanskrit devoted to spreading the values of our culture, tradition and spiritual development in society.

    Sri J.K. Sivan has been occupying very high positions in International Shipowners organisations  being an experienced Marine Insurance claims and insurance, chartering and ship management,  specialist  in India and abroad spanning a period of about half a century.  He lives in Nanganallur now since 1994 after his overseas career.

    He has been actively engaged in  both social and spiritual service to society. Has been President, and Secretary  of  local residents welfare association and organised temple renovations. Has been Secretary of the  Senior Citizens’ Forum Nanganallur.

    Sri Sivan has organised many  pilgrimage tours covering thousands of temple in Tamil Nadu and Southern part of India.

    He has formed  SREE KRISHNARPANAM SEVA SOCIETY  ( which is now a  family Trust since 2018 ),and ever since  mid 2013  has been  writing articles in  English and Tamil through emails, whatsapp, face book and blogs, website,  about our legends, Acharyas, epics  and puranas, and other holy scriptures in the form of short stories for children . His novel way of present has ben  globally well received by Hindus all over numbering lakhs of people.  He has authored about  140+ books  in English and Tamil , of which about  35 were published without a price tag  for children. Through the above Trust Mr Sivan has organised  many  competitions for  children women and seniors  encouraging them in various  activities connected  promotion of spirituality in society and  distributed prizes. He is  recipient of many titles and virudhus including   BAGAVATH SEVA RATHNA from  Kanchi Mutt seer and VAISHNAVA SEVA RATHNA, from Vaishnava Conference at Annankoil.  

  • The Pachyderm Tales Writing Roundtable – 2

    Usha: We were just scribbling on social media. Once Uma Aparna asked us, “if we would like to write?” Today she is saying, “you have gone ahead.”

    Vanaja: I have written on facebook. Now, I have got an award for a story I published with Pachyderm tales. I have got the friendship of Uma Aparna – it is a great friendship.

    Usha: Writing has been a great help to us.

    Vanaja: I, Ruckmani and Usha, we are publishing some books together. We will release 8 books in the next 2-3 months.

    Usha : We want to read to children. We want them to read the Thirukural. We are presenting the Thirukural in story format.

    Vanaja: We want to get together stories for children. We are doing it as a friendship also. We are writing about friendship also.

    Usha: We used the Thirukural couplets to create easy content for children. We are creating nondetailed texts. We are also writing stories about elephants. Children like elephants a lot. How do elephants live? What does an elephant eat? Elephants are harmless and loved by children. To make children sleep all parents in Tamil Nadu will sing, ‘Annai Annai Ayaghar Annai.’

    Usha: One of our stories goes – a small elephant saved and becomes a temple elephant. The stories of the child and the elephant as they grow up is parallelly traced.

    We are documenting the stories of those who do good in society – celebrities, social workers, including Uma Aparna. We are covering stories of people in social service, education and healthcare.

    People want these books. Parents want to read these books to children. Nondetailed books help children read.

    Vanaja: These books are easy to carry and can be read in school. It reaches many people – school libraries, book fairs, reading for book fairs.

    Usha: We are doing a book which contains writing from every continent. I wrote on Europe.

    Usha: We are moving away from fiction towards children’s writing. Writing is very useful in making us feel productive.

    We research and check google to ensure we no one has brought out books and content on the people we are writing about.

    Rukmani: We are writing to take books to children. We want the Thirukural stories to reach small children.

    Ruckmani: We want to write about how girls have come up and how they help society. We have written about their stories. We have written about Uma Aparna.

  • A Pachyderm Tales writing roundtable

    Bhanumati:

    Since I wasa small child I used to read story books a lot. Because of my love for books I got the inspiration to write.

    Alamelu :

    As a small child, I used to read a lot of storybooks – Sujatha, Lakshmi, Indumati, Sandilyan. Uma Aparna encouraged me to write.

    Kamala :

    I like Tamil a lot.Kumudham, Ananda Vigadan etc. I did Katha kalashetram and was a storytelling expert. So I decided to write stories. I read Sujatha, Shree Venugopal – a spiritual writer, Tangadurai – a contemporary writer.

    Bhanumati:

    I have written for Bhagvada Kathaigal. Herein, I have explored the stories of Yashoda and Kannan. How, everyone likes Krishna. I have written in Nadodi kathaigal. In this collection of folktales, grama kathas, I have written on a story on Akbar and Birbal. I have contributed to the anthology – Avvaiyar Amdudha Muyvigel – narratives on the memorable and precious quotes of Tamil Poetess. Then I worked on the anthology Thukadagal which is a lot of small stories strung together. My story Odiporavan is on how a girl will suffer if her husband disappears.

    Kamala:

    I have written for the anthology Dasaavatar. I picked the Parasuraman avataram. This avatarn of Vishnu is an avesham avataran, where the Seer/Sage is short tempered. He serves his father Jamadagni and severs the head of his mother Renuka Devi. Then with the permission of his father  he puts the head back creating two goddesses now Renuka Devi and Marimman.

    Vanaja:

    Our mother tongue is Tamil.

    Jayanti:

    The reading habit in Tamil must be inculcated. When we buy a dress for a child’s birthday. We must buy a book for the child as well.

    Jayanti:

    I did a PhD when I was in my 60s and teaching in a college. I am very proud of a song I wrote which was recorded with Carnatic music by a 10 year old girl and she had included my song among other songs by luminaries. My song was on teachers day and its message was –

    Teachers taught us alphabets and letters

    They are the ladder

    They take us up in life

    Brinda:

    I was always interested in study. I used to read a lot of Tamil magazines. Elders in those days used to say they spoil the children’s mind, but my parents would encourage me to read.  I have studied Tamil in school. My child studied in English. We must help children understand Tamil. That’s why I think its important to write, create literature and spread Tamil.

    Vanaja:

    I had a lot of love for Tamil. My children are in America and my great grand children want to learn Tamil. It is very important to know Tamil. All our children must know Tamil. All our stories in the anthologies are in Tamil.

    Brinda:

    I did BSc in mathematics. After marriage, I did an MA and Mphil. I studied the works of Vallallar the poet and Ramalingayal Adigelall, who believed in the spiritual path of bhakti.

    Ruckmani:

    We started learning English in the 6th standard. Tamil was from 1st standard. We think in Tamil, it comes naturally to us. I used to read a lot of books and my father also used to buy a lot of books. Kumudham, Vigadan, writing by Balakumaran, Sujatha, and Kalki’s classic Ponniyan Selyan. I used to keep writing poetry. I liked writing. Then Uma Aparna became a friend. Through the Pachyderm Tales project, we all joined the writing community. Lakshmi Priya is a great leader and thinks differently. We were all stunned by seeing what she was doing. We don’t just write the story. We would just get together as a group and decide what to write. Some of the books I have written for are Athichudi stories, Temple stories, etc. We all liked contributing to the anthologies, and I got a lot of feedback from people. My favourite contribution was for Velar Nachiyar. I took the angle of how girls were a part of the independence movement. I wrote a story about Kuili, who was the leader of the squad that helped Velan Nachiyar.

    I wanted to write about girls and women who are making an outstanding contribution. I wrote about Lakshmi Priya, about Dr. Renuka helping leprosy patients.

    In Tamil Nadu, the reading habits have reduced. Everybody has a story. There is often more than one story.

    Brinda:

    I did BSc in mathematics. Then I did my MPhil on Vallallr, Tamil saint and poet who wrote on the spiritual path or bhakti. I have published in 6 books and 4 more are on the way.

    Brinda:

    6 books published. 4 more on the way. I write to ensure my stories have a message on values. People must read our stories and know something.

    Vanaja:

    I was always intent on reading and writing as a child. I started writing 4-5 years ago. 16 books will be published.

    Jayanthi:

    We don’t give enough preference to Tamil. I did my PhD in Tamil. If you want to be a Tamil writer, you must study Tamil. I used to write in different types of genres. I went to Sita Lakshmi College and wanted to educate children. As a writer, my intent was to take Tamil to the schools.

    Jayanthi:

    My father was a writer. So, I liked writing a lot. My mother used to run a school. I used to write for Vigadan, Kalki, Kumudhan, when I was in school. I have interviewed many people in cine field. My mother started a school. When I taught children I used to teach Alzh Villiappa’s songs. His children’ s songs were very good. He was superstar of children’s literature. We liked the songs. I wanted songs for my school children. I write poems. I have written more than 80 books – biographies of  many people including JK Rowling.

    Brinda:

    I can’t write is what I thought. I had written with Mangelmallar. I have been writing for 30 years. My name is well known among those who read Tamil Magazine – Brinda Ramani. I have written really popular articles – 30 types of rasam, 30 types of dosa etc. Being a well known writer, I was on facebook. I blog. I did these projects for Uma Aparna.

    Kamala:

    I like Tamil a lot. Kumudham, Ananda Vigadan, Katha kalakshetram. I am a storytelling expert. So, I decided to write stories. Kalki, Sujata, I like a lot. Shree Venugopal is spiritual writer and Pushpa Tangedurai is a contemporary writer.

    Kamala:

    I contributed to the anthology Dasavataram. I wrote about the Parashuraman avatar. This is an aveshan avatara, because he is short tempered. Due to bhakti to his father Jamadagni – he severs the head of his mother. This devi, whose head is then replaced is known as Mariamman, Renuka Devi, Yellamma etc.

    Vanaja:

    Our mother tongue is Tamil we must encourage it. Reading habit should be inculcated rigorously. Just as buy dresses for children during their birthday we must buy books too.

    Jayanthi:

    I have done my PhD. My happiest memory is when a 10 year old creates this song with Carnatic music base –

    Flower bud

    Teachers teach us alphabets and letters.

    They are the ladder

    They take us up

    Revathi:

    Working on these anthologies we learn so much about culture. Through writing literature, we are able to experience culture. We should not let go of our culture and heritage.

    Praveena:

    It is very important to write about culture.

    Revathi:

    Every mother must ensure that the child knows Tamil. We must all make an effort to learn Tamil.

    Praveena:

    Culture is disappearing.

    Revathi:  

    We should get children to learn all languages. English, Hindi and Tamil. We should teach children Tamil. We should not forget Tamil.

    Praveena:

    I am Tamilian and proud to say this to the world. We must take the Thirukural and understands the basics there – how to lead a happy life, be content etc.

    Hema :

    Children today don’t know Tamil. It is to help children learn reading and writing in Tamil that I started writing. I have just started. My mission has just started.

    Prabha:

    We were featured in the Guinness book of records. We brought out 52 books by 62 writers.

    Hema:

    I got a lot of support from my daughter.

    Mythali:  

    Tamil is disappearing. English is today the main subject. In the Tamil we speak there is a lot of English mixture. In our daily speech we use 80% English and 20% Tamil. It is important we introduce children to the Tamil world.

    Revathi:

    Tamil is the language of our state. It is easy to destroy but difficult to preserve your heritage, your mother tongue. I am also fluent in Hindi and do, Tamil and Hindi translations.

    Prabha:

    I produce a youtube channel.

    Hema:

    I have wanted to write a lot. I am also a storyteller.

    Prabha:

    I have a good team and a good publisher. I would like to thank them for supporting me with my writing.

    Mythali:

    I was recently introduced to Uma Aparna. I was running a Montessori school. I have lot of experience in telling stories. Uma Aparna motivated me.

    Hema:

     I have written stories online, infact both stories and poems online. Through this project I got a chance to write for publication.

    Praveena:

      I used to write poems in both English and Tamil. When I was a teacher in school I used to tell stories to students. I used to teach English through stories. I have a youtube channel where I tell stories. Uma Aparna motivated me to write stories. I have written the story of Mimmini and Kinkini – the story of two friends.