Tomichan Matheikal's blog

E-tailers like Flipkart, Amazon and Snapdeal are doing brisk business this festival season.  According to a report in today’s Times of India , Flipkart sold half a million items within the first hour of launching its Big Billion Days event yesterday.  Amazon India sold 1.5 million units in the first 12 hours of its “Great Indian Festival” sale.  Snapdeal had 11 lakh buyers in the first 16 hours. Pakistan is trying to nibble away India with the teeth and nails of terrorists and India is celebrating consumerism.  Consumerism is certainly not as malevolent as terrorism but it isn’t a virtue anyway.  A few years back Professor Galen V. Bodenhausen of Northwestern University concluded after a psychological research that “Irrespective of personality, in situations that activate a consumer mind-set, people show the same sorts of problematic patterns in well-being, including negative affect and social disengagement.” Consumerism makes people more greedy and selfish . My own ob

A recent report by the Institute for Economics and Peace found that there were only just ten countries in the world which were currently free from conflict or war.  Peace is a distant dream on our planet which is still inhabited by people who are no better than the primitive savages.  Use of sophisticated weapons does not make the violence civilised. On the contrary, our weapons as well as our attitudes are infinitely more destructive than those of the savages. 13.3 percent of the globe’s total economic activity, $13.6 trillion, is spent on wars and related activities.  That is the equivalent of $1876 for every person in the world.  In Indian terms, everyone in the world could get Rs 125,000 if we could build up a world of peaceful coexistence. Mahatma Gandhi was the greatest apostle of peace during his lifetime if not in the entire history of mankind. Wars begin in the minds of people.  Gandhi said that in slightly different words.  The Preamble to the Constitution o

It was the autumn of 2004.  Along with a few colleagues including my wife, I went on my first trekking in the Garhwal Himalayas. The school where we worked gave us that opportunity.  We took a group of higher secondary students to Hemkund. Walking up 14,200 feet (4320 metres)in the Devabhoomi on the Himalayas is a soul-stirring experience.  A cosy bus carried us from Delhi to Joshimath (a little less than 500 km) via Rishikesh and Rudraprayag.  The journey from Joshimath to Govind Ghat (22 km) is also by bus but it was breathtaking journey for us.  The road was very narrow and the sides were steep in most places.  I don’t know the present situation.  There were moments which made us gasp in anxiety. With Margret, my wife, at Govind Ghat The beginning of the Trek The trek begins from Govind Ghat.  Tighten your backpack and get going.  It’s a whole day’s climb to Ghangaria depending on the climbing power in your muscles as well as your will.  You breathe in the beau