Monday 18 March 2024

Vijay Benedict, Renowned Bollywood Singer Visits The Church of The Epiphany

Today, the 17th of March was an important day for the Church of The Epiphany members as the Lenten worship was led by Vijay Benedict, a well-known vocalist of Bollywood fame and Revd. Dr. Richard Howell, Director of the Caleb Institute, Farrukhnagar. The church pews were packed and the parishioners and guests were enthralled by spiritual numbers sung by Vijay Benedict. 


Revd. Richard Howell delivered a soul-stirring sermon that had everyone hanging on to their seats. He interacted with the gathering and the children, delivering his message with panache! His message was based on God's love for all humanity. He mixed his sermon with homilies that had the gathering switching between the more serious and lighter moments, tears of praise turning into tears of laughter.

























A special thanks to all those stalwarts who worked behind the scenes. Revd. Daman, the Presbyter in Charge for his guidance, Mr. Sunil Sannoo, Hon'ble Secretary of the Pastorate Committee for the overall supervision, members of the Pastorate Committee for overall logistics, volunteers, Mr. Sundeep Mathur for liaisoning with the guests, Mr. Robin Moses and Mr. D.D.Lal for being there. The day ended with a fellowship lunch.

Sunday 17 March 2024

Practicing Mindful Wildlife Photography



I have often heard from other wildlife photographers, stories about other photographers and their partners pelting stones at wild birds simply so that they could get the quintessential shot of birds in flight. This, unfortunately, goes against the ethics of wildlife photography. Wild birds, especially migratory birds that visit wildlife sanctuaries, wetlands, and other habitats are sensitive during the nesting season. Throwing objects at them, for the express reason that you want to take a shot of them in flight is a highly despicable action. Such actions also make wildlife nervous and fidgety when they spot people in their surroundings. No wonder, such birds and wild animals take flight (pun intended) even before you have lifted the lens to photograph them!

A Wild Jungle Cat Photographed at the Sultanpur National Park

Baiting wild ducks and wild animals is equally bad because the food you give them might not be healthy, exposing them to health risks, and perhaps even affecting their feeding habits. Imagine feeding Ducks and Geeze junk food, chips, wafers, and even bits of biscuits and cookies, along with the non-biodegradable wrappers! When tourists visit a lake and feed ducks and geese junk food, simply so that they might photograph wild birds from a close distance they are insensitive towards nature. A large number of wildlife photographers do encourage the feeding of wildlife simply to draw them closer for a better shot.

Keeping one's distance from wildlife is very important, not only for one's safety, but also to avoid startling nesting birds, or to that effect,  and nursing wild animals. Using a zoom lens will help and choosing wisely what to shoot can help. Also, avoiding rapid movements, keeping still, and merging with the surroundings can be a good idea as accepting the limitations of your lens and moving to something else could be a good solution. 

Native birds including migratory birds are very sensitive during courtship rituals and they don't take noise and disturbance by visitors. Unfortunately, the entry of noisy visitors with toddlers and even some adults can be very disturbing. For this reason, most wild birds move away from the edge of the wetland or brush abutting the dedicated paths on which visitors can walk in National Parks and forests. 

A pair of Sarus Cranes enjoy each other's company


Friday 15 March 2024

The use of three Kinds of Irony in Kalki's The Tiger King

Kalki makes use of three different kinds of irony in his short story, The Tiger King. This is done intentionally to expose the deficiencies, weaknesses, and hypocrisy in the Maharaja's character. Satire as a genre makes liberal use of irony to highlight important social issues subtly.

Kalki uses three types of irony in his short story verbal, dramatic, and situational. The most common of all is verbal irony. 

Verbal irony might be defined as an expression that means the opposite of what is being expressed. In the third paragraph, the author writes, 'Everyone who reads of him will experience the natural desire to meet a man of his indomitable courage.' The words, 'indomitable courage' are ironic in that the Maharaja, far from being courageous, was so scared of the astrologer's predictions being proved right that he wanted to pre-empt the prophecy by exterminating the tigers that threatened his life.

Dramatic irony can be defined as an expression that highlights the fact that the character or the actor is not aware of the outcome of an event but the audience or the reader is. The first paragraph of section III reads, 'From that day onwards it was celebration time for all the tigers inhabiting Pratibandapuram.' Little do they know that they are going to be exterminated in totality by none other than the Tiger King himself! The reader knows that the tigers have no reason to celebrate, rather they need to be prepared to die. In fact, the third paragraph in the third section of the story states, 'Initially the king seemed well set to realize his ambition', meaning that by then, a large number of tigers in the state had already been exterminated by the Tiger King, himself! Another interesting example of the use of dramatic irony in the story is when the Tiger King takes aim at what he thinks is his final tiger, he fires at it, it falls and he leaves, happy that he has finally defeated fate. He states, " I have killed my hundredth tiger. My vow has been fulfilled."- little did he know that his bullet had missed its target and that the tiger was quite alive, dazed by the loud report of the gun, but quite alive! But then, the reader and the hunters know better!

The third type of irony used by Kalki in his short story, The Tiger King is that of situational Irony. Situational irony can be defined as dealing with a situation that has an unexpected outcome. One example is when the Tiger King's arm gets infected by a splinter from a wooden tiger and three surgeons are brought from Madras who operate on him. The outcome of the operation is that the Maharaja 'is dead'. The outcome of the operation was not to cure the Maharaja but to kill him.

One must agree that the entire lesson is built upon irony. The very manner of the Marharaja's death is ironical, the lesson ends on an ironical note when the writer concludes, 'In this manner, the hundredth tiger took its final revenge upon the Tiger King.'

Tuesday 5 March 2024

The Moon - A Poem

 I saw the Moon floating in the distant sky,

Squashed a bit, fiery red, as it went by.

Its surface is pockmarked with craters,

A battle-hardened veteran boasting scars!


In a firmament of twinkling stars, it sails

Dwarfing others, center stage it takes.

Like a beacon, it floats, a guiding light 

For those who journey in the darkest night.


And in the firmament of twinkling stars,

It takes center stage, dwarfing others by its

Light and size. What was a red beacon earlier,

Now lighter in colour, having shed its fever.


(I wondered if a fever had rendered it red,

Or had it risen from a fiery burning coal bed?)

But then as it rose into the dark firmament,

It burned like a beacon across the continent.


And so it went sailing steady, jaunty, and  merry

Across the sky on its  unwavering daily Journey,

As it HAS done to  guide with blessings a host

Or fill with hope those who all hope have lost!


Often seen, and missed, it beckons to the poet,

The scientist, astronaut, and the cosmonaut.

A celestial globe lighting up a world so busy,

With its craters, secrets, and all its mystery.


Curiosity and the Rover did wander across its

Surface, to unlock its origin, sand, and rocks.

Did HE wonder about its purpose as he lonely

Lay in a cave glancing at the globe in the sky?


I saw the Moon floating in the distant sky,

Squashed a bit, fiery red, as it went by,

And wondered if it did not have much to tell,

Mysteries to unravel, and much more to tell!


A Masterpiece so grand, an artist would need,

The Hand that fashioned it, the purpose I plead,

To reveal its cause, to connect distances apart?

Lovers to gaze, hope for those that depart?








Sunday 18 February 2024

Celebrating Success at the Virmani Public School, Roop Nagar, Delhi


When I was invited to the Annual Day Function of the Virmani Public School, Roop Nagar by Mr. Anil Virmani, Chairman of the Virmani Education Trust, I simply had to accept it! I started my career in education as an employee of the trust nearly 29 years ago when I joined the Dhanpatmal Virmani Sr. Secondary School at Roop Nagar, Delhi. Both the Dhanpatmal Virmani Sr. Sec. School and the Virmani Public School (both sister schools) have been close to my heart since they nurtured me during my formative years as a teacher of English.



What I noticed when I visited the Vrimani Public School on the 17th of February was a total transformation, it has become a model of what an ideal public school should look like and what aspiring schools should look up to.







The colour decor of the classrooms was light and pleasing, the display boards were bursting with loads of exemplars of student work, a swanky and well-designed computer lab, and a pleasing and spacious library, all grabbed my attention! All the classrooms had a small metal placard mentioning the name of each member of the trust as a tribute to each member's contribution to the pursuit of education. All of these changes are the fruits of the efforts of  Mr Amitav Virmani, the Manager of the school, and of course the CEO of Education Alliance!

Dr Rekha Sharma, the Principal of the Virmani Public School oversaw the flow of events very efficiently. Her professional approach and growth mindset attitude have, without doubt also contributed to the school's transformation.

I was particularly impressed by how well-groomed our student guides were as they took Avtar Singh (the HOS of the Dhanpatmal Virmani Senior Secondary School) and me on a tour of the classrooms, labs and library. The students who were presenting their displays spoke fluent English and were confident in their approach.

It was simply amazing to see how one of the oldest schools in Roop Nagar has transformed itself, breaking out of the cobwebs of time and typical stereotypes that affect educational institutions, especially government-aided schools! It is truly a model and an example of how out-of-the-box thinking, rational policies, the System's approach and some effort can create models of excellence.



And the best of all was the release of a book titled, 'Tiny Tales, Big Dreams' by students of class 6 A of the Virmani Public School. Students of the class were encouraged to write stories on characters in the lessons they had read in English. In his address to the gathering, Mr Amitav Virmani attributed the success of the school to the positivity of the teachers and the 8 'Cs'. The eight Cs according to him needed for success include: Courage, Curiosity, Creativity, Critical thinking, Consciousness, Collaboration, and Consistency.