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The poem First Showers is a wonderful depiction ( ചിത്രീകരണം ) of nature’s ability to heal. Human beings live in a cruel world which is so selfish that it does not have enough time to take care of the worries of others. We forget to give comfort to our fellow beings who struggle to live. There are many people who work hard to make two ends meet.   In the poem we find a woman who is returning from her workplace. She is unknowingly caught in the first showers which soothes (give comfort) her like no one else.             The poet Nalini Sharma describes that ‘cool drops kissed my parched face’. The expressions like parched face, frayed nerves, fatigue, weary lines etc suggest the amount of tiredness of the lady. She then describes that the rain soaked ( കുതിർക്കുക) her and soothed her nerves, washed away tiredness from her visage (face) etc. Toward the middle of the poem she uses a beautiful simile: “Wet clothes clun...

           Village Blacksmith is a thought provoking poem that talks about lives of working class men. This poem is written by the famous American poet H.W Longfellow. The poet welcomes us to the life of a village blacksmith. We know that a blacksmith is a metal worker. The type of work he does every day has made his body metallic. The poet says that the blacksmith’s his hands are sinewy (powerful) and his muscles are brawny (strong) like iron bands.             The blacksmith works tirelessly from morning to evening. Because of his continuous work in his forge, his hair is crisp and oily. And because of exposure to heat, the color of his face turned to tan (a brownish color). People who borrowed money or owe something to others lower their heads. But our smith is not indebted to any man anything and therefore he can look straightly into others’ eyes.       ...

The Need for showing mercy We live in a world where everyone runs out of mercy. However, in order to enjoy a peaceful and happy life one must be merciful. There are many people who require our merciful hands laid out to help them. There   are people who suffer because of hunger, war, persecution, personal tragedies, disabilities and so on. They continuously ask us to show them mercy. As young children, we might not be able to help them in a great deal. However our affectionate look and smile can relieve them of their suffering.           In a world where everyone is merciless like the Shylock from the play ‘The Merchant of Venice, we must be like Antonio who readily comes to help his dear friend Bassanio. Happiness is the result of showing mercy to others. Scandinavian countries are on the top list of happiness index. One of the reasons for this is that for decades, empathy (Understanding and entering into another's feel...

            The Mughal emperor Shah Jahan knew that life, youth, wealth and renown would float away down the stream of time. His only dream was to save for the future his heart’s pain: his love for his wife Mumtaz. The harsh thunder of imperial power would fade like a sunset’s deep red splendor. However Shah Jahan’s only hope was that an eternally-heaved sigh would stay to cause sorrow to the sky.             The poet says that precious diamonds like emeralds, rubies and pearls which are like the shining beauty of a rainbow will be gone easily. Even so, one lonely tear would hang on the cheek of time in the form of this great shining Taj Mahal for the future.

Racism; a social evil. Racism is a social evil. It is the prejudice (partiality) that members of one race are intrinsically superior to members of other races . Those who practice racism believe that they belong to a superior race while others belong to an inferior race. They believe that their race is socially, culturally and ethnically advanced and must therefore be so forever. Racism cultivates the ideology of hatred. It promotes hate crimes and becomes a cause for division among human beings based on their color or bodily features. Racists deny other human beings their right to live on this planet. They separate people from their birth. They also deny people born into other races their right to live. German dictator Adolf Hitler is an infamous racist who caused the death of millions of Jews in the name of racism. Even in Indian society itself, racism was practiced in different forms. Untouchability and prohibition to enter public places are examples for that. In o...

The Rose-tree Dear friends,             This is a sorrowful occasion for all of us. We’ve all gathered here to mourn the death of our dear friend, the nightingale.             She was not just a bird to me. She was the best companion I ever had. The news of her sacrifice for the student’s rose is something that cannot be easily forgotten. The last time when she took this brave decision, I had warned (a message informing of danger) her but she did not pay any heed. I know that it was not just her blood that flowed into the veins of me, but I believe that your blood was also there in the veins of the nightingale in the form of love. Friends, I want to talk a lot about the sacrificial love of our nightingale, but for the want of time (lack of time) I conclude my speech. May her soul rest in peace. The Green Lizard Dear friends,      ...

Long time ago in a Japanese village, there lived a poor family that included a little boy, his elder brother, sisters and parents. Each child of the family helped his/her parents except the little boy.             The little boy was cleverest of them all. But he had a problem; the little boy could never grow big. Therefore the boy’s parents took him to a priest’s temple as an acolyte.                         The boy was obedient in all matters but he had one fault. He liked to draw cats during study hours. He drew the cats on the screens of the temple, margins of the priest’s books, on pillars and everywhere.             He was a true artist. The priest got tired of him and decided to send him back with a message: “Avoid large places and keep to small”. ...

A warm good morning to one and all,   It’s a great privilege to get an opportunity like this to ignite our minds with some positive thoughts for the day. Most of us get up  nearly every morning cursing the day. But we must know that every day is a new life to a wise man. All of us lack motivation at various levels. We need someone to pat on our shoulder to say ‘yes, you can’. But most often, this does not happen as people are quiet busy. At this time, rather than looking for external motivation, we must look within us for internal motivation; motivation that comes from ourselves. We  must say to ourselves ‘yes, I can, yes, I must’. Now, I want you to repeat after me: “Yes, I can, yes I must”.  Well, thank you.   Let me draw your attention to the world famous inventor Thomas Alwa Edison. He is known as the magician/wizard of Menlo Park. He has 1000s of inventions to his credit. Among them, the invention of light bulb was a landmark in history. There is...

The poem begins with the simple line: “Laugh and the whole world laughs with you/Weep and you weep alone”. From here onward the poem follows the idea that the world is after pleasure and joy and it does not want to listen to sad stories. Since the world is filled with so much misery, sorrow and personal worries, it has no mirth of its own.             In the following stanza the poet says that men will seek us if we rejoice but they will turn us down if we grieve or feel sorrow. A man who is happy will have many friends but a man who is not happy and hopeless will not have any friends at all. Ours is a world that goes after happiness, not after misery. In simple words the poet repeats the idea that happiness will attract more happiness and sorrow will take us away from enjoying happy moments. Finally, it will make us lonely where we will have to enjoy our own company. A complaining man or sad person will be forced to live...

            My Grandmother’s House is a nostalgic poem written by Kamala Surayya. This poem will create a feeling in us to return to our sweet days of childhood. In this poem she recalls her ancestral house (the home owned and preserved by the same family for several generations) in Malabar where she was unconditionally loved by her grandmother. She begins the poem by describing the condition of her ancestral house after her grandmother died.             In order to show the grief of her grandmother’s departure, she describes that the house itself withdrew into silence. Here she uses the figure of speech of ‘personification’ in which human qualities are given to nonliving things. Later on, when she goes on to describe that snakes moved among books (visual image) we get the feeling that the house was like a haunted one. She then tells us that she wants to go back to the ho...