In the planting season when the padi fields are left to fallow before they are flooded and the new saplings planted, the Balinese ducks get to partake of the fallen grains, when the stalks of rice are cut and the grains threshed and winnowed by hand. The rice stalks themselves, once de-grained, get fed to…
Jared Diamond, the distinguished Professor of Geography at the UCLA gave the Lewis Thomas Prize Lecture at the Rockefeller Institute, NYC, on March 27, 2003, on “Why Do Some Societies Make Disastrous Decisions” and destroy themselves. This work is also published in his book, Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed, Penguin Book. The references to the US…
“The Second Coming” Turning and turning in the widening gyreThe falcon cannot hear the falconer;Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhereThe ceremony of innocence is drowned;The best lack all conviction, while the worstAre full of passionate intensity.Surely some revelation is at hand;Surely the…
There is a quiet solace in the sleepy air that envelops a tropical afternoon at the year-end, when the weather is cool and kind, the soft skies are heavy with clouds and the rain drives in gentle or sharp torrents, Here, the sleeping dog lies, bolstered by the faith that with evening, her proverbial daily…
Traveling through rural Japan, in the island of Kyushu, one is reminded of the fate of the Christian missionaries who were mercilessly persecuted by the then Shogunate of the Edo era. The fate of those who ministered to the Way, and their proselytes have been dramatized in the 2016 Martin Scorsese’s period portrayal of Shūsaku Endō’s…
In the quiet shade of a sun-filled morning, in a year that has just past its Autumnal Equinox, the lady brown-throated Sunbird rests and preens herself beneath the leafy sprinkles of a Dwarf Peacock, while a nearby Jumbo Wax Apple tree displays its nearly ripened offerings to a variety of impatient creatures as they careen…
The venerable Jean Vanier, who is 89 this year, has in recent times come into the consciousness of those of us who have not encountered him and his life’s work or mission in encountering the disabled and the poor. His biography is widely available, as in this site and his writings are just beginning to…
In the quiet back-roads of northern Hokkaido, I found the Sakura-no-Taki Falls after a short drive through beautiful farm-roads amidst well maintained boxy northern farm houses that typify this part of Japan. Kiyosato, nestled between the Shiretoko and Lake Akan National Parks, is voted one of 100 best Farm Villages in Japan, and the views…
Today’s reading in the Catholic tradition, from the Second Book of Kings have words of such simplicity yet depth of meaning, as to transcend through the ages in its relation to the Miracle of the Feeding of the Five Thousand (John 6:1-15). It is also the hallmark of hospitality in many cultures, both Eastern and…
On a delicate morning, with the early sun streaming through the garden precariously, the yellow sunbirds, and sparrows gather to preen themselves amidst the bauhinias, heliconias, honolulu creepers, gingers, peacocks and blue-peas. Yet it is in the midst of this peace and tranquility, that the battle for our hearts and souls continues. As Fr Josef…