NewsKidz
Contact information, map and directions, contact form, opening hours, services, ratings, photos, videos and announcements from NewsKidz, Newspaper, .
I recently came across a BBC article on the best films of 2024 (so far). One of the listed films was Perfect Days, a Japanese language film. I read the synopsis and instantly liked the story. It was about a janitor, named Hirayama. The film shows how he enjoys life, even though his job is cleaning public toilets in Tokyo. The secret to his happiness is that Hirayama does his job with pride, and also pursues many other interests. He raises plants; reads novels, listens to American rock music and takes photos of trees, all with the same zeal.
The idea is fascinating: You can lead a happy, fulfilling life no matter what you do for a living! Nevertheless, the promotional lines of the film seem revolve around “imperfect” philosophies like “mindfulness” and “living in the present”. The official trailer shows the janitor mentoring a young girl with the philosophy of “Ima wa ima” (Meaning, “Now is now”). And the teen faithfully repeats “Ima wa ima” as if she was under spell.
I may watch the film soon and may find the janitor's life enjoyable. But I am not sure whether I can appreciate philosophical or mystical undercurrents - say, how the hero sweeps the floor "mindfully" or listens to American rock music "while fully in the present".
First of all, perfect days are born of organising ideas. That is, we should know how to spend our time on a given day. It is science or management. For instance, there are a few areas in life that none of us can afford to neglect. They include: health, relations, education, and career. We only have to decide the action items that contribute to these areas and also try to make time for them.
When I prepare my to-do list, I seek inspiration from the following twelve action categories:
Work
1) Who wakes up thinking about me (I think of customers who expect some deliverables from me for that day.)
2) Plan ahead / work backwards (Usually, customer projects)
3) Followup / Keep them posted
4) Jobs I can't outsource (Mostly, household chores)
Life
5) Rejuvenating rituals (Mine is reading newspaper, playing badminton, having a cup of tea twice a day)
6) Life goals / pet projects (Writing this Newsletter is one among them - though I don’t mind accepting subscriptions!)
7) Say Hi (Getting in touch with friends, relatives)
8) Recollect and reflect (Journaling or sharing the experiences of my day with someone)
Leadership
9) Go to school (Reading a book or watching a Coursera video)
10) Volunteer
11) Groom (especially, my kids. It sometimes involves reading a book section)
12) Pray / Thank people who make your day
However, these are just nudges. Not stable items. Somedays, I consider just one or two categories from the list; or pick up something that is not there in the list; or simply drop any idea of organising the day. I can still consider it to be a perfect day. For, the perfect days are made of both: yin and yang; chaos and order; striving and going with the flow, mindfulness and wavering mind; living in the present and living in the future, happiness and sorrow.
We need to stay clear of any philosophical myths that make us believe that cultivating certain mindset or mental practices can guarantee us round-the-clock happiness. For, the so-called spiritual practices - such as being grateful, mindful or experiencing a meditative state, deal with our mind. And mind is not under our control. Therefore, it is not wise spending time struggling with our own mind.
We can sweep the floor meditatively. Or do our work as if it is worship - even if it is about taking care of public toilets. But at best, these ideas can serve as nudges. It is impossible to incorporate them out of your own will. Not all the time. And that is not our failure.
Our job is only in the outer world: sweeping the floor and not sweeping the mind. For some reason, all we feel is frustration instead of gratefulness, it is still only natural. Similarly, if we feel distracted, while we really want to be focused, it is perfectly okay. Any state of mind is a perfect state of mind. In other words, we should not mind the mind. As far as the mind is concerned, sweeping is done on its own. We only have to let it happen, without interfering with it.
Cheers!
07/12/2023
Dr Sathish Devadoss, Vice Chairman, Devadoss Hospital (centre) presenting a copy of my book, How Not to Kill a Medical Press Release, to Mr. Ashwin Desai, MD, A&T Video Networks (to his right). The event took place on 27th November at Devadoss Hospital, Madurai. More details at https://www.sankarg.com/medical-press-release
24/11/2019
15/11/2019
All about Brexit for kids. https://newskidz.wordpress.com/2019/11/15/will-uk-solve-its-border-issue/
26/10/2019
https://newskidz.wordpress.com/2019/10/26/india-does-not-have-enough-blood-banks/
India Does Not Have Enough Blood Banks Blood banks collect and store blood for medical use. They supply it to hospitals when there is a need. Usually, accident victims, and patients who undergo major surgeries, need blood. India neith…
10/10/2019
Chinese President Xi Jinping is coming to Mamallapuram to meet India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi tomorrow.
India and China are the only two countries with a population of over one billion. They both promote globalization. But they do not see each other as friends. Instead, they see each other as threats.
India and China have many disagreements. They accuse each other of occupying one another's territories. China claims that India is occupying some 90,000 square kilometers of its territory. This includes a part of Arunachal Pradesh. But, India says that China occupies 38,000 square kilometers of its territory in the Aksai Chin Plateau. The plateau lies in the western Himalayas - this includes parts of the Ladakh region.
In 1954, the two countries signed an agreement called Five Principles. These principles were conceived by India’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. But they fought a war in 1962 over the territorial rights. After the war, there ware about 20 talks. Still, they are yet to find a solution for the land issue.
India is opposing China’s Belt and Road Project. This project wants to connect over 150 countries in Asia, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and the Americas by road and rail, along with pipelines and optical fiber cable networks. India is also opposing China’s investments in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, the Maldives, Bhutan and Nepal. Another worry for India is that China continues to support Pakistan, its “all-weather” ally, in the Kashmir issue.
Nobody has a clue whether some of these issues will be taken up for discussion in the meetings tomorrow.
08/10/2019
One half of The Nobel Prize for Physics for 2019 has been awarded to cosmologist James Peebles. And the other half of the Prize is shared by astronomers Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz who discovered the first exoplanet.
James Peebles developed a useful guide for us to understand cosmology. Cosmology is the study of the entire universe. Cosmologists seek to understand the origin, evolution, structure, and ultimate fate of the universe.
Astronomy is the study of the heavenly bodies like stars, planets, and galaxies. Astronomers study the positions, characteristics, motion, evolution, chemistry, and physics of the heavenly bodies.
Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz were the first to find a planet orbiting a star, which is not sun. This planet is known as an exoplanet. Exo in Greek means outside.
This is called an exoplanet because it is outside our solar system. In 1995, these two astronomers discovered the exoplanet (later named 51 Pegasi b) about half the mass of Jupiter. It orbits a star (named: 51 Pegasi) located about 50 light-years away from us.
After their discovery, till today, over 4,000 exoplanets have been discovered in the Milky Way.
The Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine has been awarded to three scientists for their discovery of how cells behave when the supply of oxygen goes up or down.
The scientists Sir Peter Ratcliffe, of the University of Oxford and Francis Crick Institute, William Kaelin, of Harvard, and Gregg Semenza, of Johns Hopkins University share the physiology or medicine prize. They carried out many research in hypoxia. Hypoxia is a dangerous condition that happens when our bodies do not get enough oxygen.
When we do exercises or when we go to high altitude places, the oxygen levels in the body drops. Depending on the supply of oxygen, cells have to make changes to the process of producing energy.
The scientists together found the exact mechanism that makes cells understand how much oxygen is there, and what to do about it. Their findings can help scientists invent medicines to fight anemia, cancer and many other diseases.
17/09/2019
On attacks on the oil fields in Saudi Arabia, and how they affect petrol prices in India. https://newskidz.wordpress.com/2019/09/17/oil-fields-in-saudi-arabia-are-attacked-petrol-price-in-india-may-go-up/
Oil Fields in Saudi Arabia are Attacked. Petrol Price in India may go up. The rebels who rule most of Yemen attacked oil fields in Saudi Arabia on Saturday (14th September) using drones. Saudi Arabia supplies crude oil to many countries including India. Since drones dama…
16/09/2019
Mutual Funds Disappoint Investors
https://newskidz.wordpress.com/2019/09/16/mutual-funds-disappoint-investors/
Mutual Funds Disappoint Investors Most people who invested in small-cap Mutual Funds in the recent years got no returns. Some of them lost upto 8% of their investment in the last 5 years. Companies need money to run their busines…
13/09/2019
New discovery. Water is found in another planet. For the first time. https://newskidz.wordpress.com/2019/09/13/water-is-found-in-another-planet/
Water is found in another planet! For the first time, scientists have found water in another planet. The name of the planet is K2-18b. It is not in our Solar system. It belongs to a group of stars called Leo constellation. K2-18b p…
11/09/2019
On poor sales of vehicles in India. https://newskidz.wordpress.com/2019/09/11/vehicles-are-not-selling-people-lose-jobs/
Vehicles are not selling. People lose jobs. In India, vehicles are not selling well in the last few months. The total number of vehicles sold in the country in August was 18 lakhs. But, during the same month last year, over 24 lakhs were sol…
07/09/2019
Vultures die; Diseases rise. Today is International Vulture Awareness Day.
https://newskidz.wordpress.com/2019/09/07/vultures-die-diseases-rise/
Vultures Die; Diseases Rise The first Saturday in September is the International Vulture Awareness Day. Vulture is a large bird with almost no feathers on its head or neck. They live by eating the flesh of dead animal. That i…
05/09/2019
News for kids on Gold Price increase in India.
https://newskidz.wordpress.com/2019/09/05/gold-price-in-india-increases-to-rs-40000-per-10-grams/
Gold Price in India Increases to Rs 40,000 per 10 grams The price of gold keeps increasing in India. On Wednesday, it increased to about Rs 40,000 per 10 grams. India is the world’s largest consumer of gold. It imports around 800 tonnes of gold every ye…
31/08/2019
Indian Government Creates Four Big Banks
https://newskidz.wordpress.com/2019/08/31/indian-government-creates-four-big-banks/
Indian Government Creates Four Big Banks Government of India owns 18 banks in India. But it has picked 10 banks, and is joining them to create 4 big banks. The Finance Minister, Ms Nirmala Sitharaman made this announcement yesterday. She …