From despair to strength, peace Alana’s an inspiration

From: Trinidad Guardian
Published: Sunday, November 11, 2012
– Michelle Loubon

It was 9 am at Swaha Hindu College, Coalmine Road, Sangre Grande, on October 30. Wheelchair-bound business teacher Alana Gajadhar was teaching a group of Form Three students. Gajadhar shot to national prominence when she graduated with a postgraduate diploma (Dip Ed with distinction) at UWI Spec Auditorium, from St Augustine Campus, on October 27.
Sitting serenely, Gajadhar cut a beautiful picture with her well-coiffed hair and almost perfect makeup. Pausing from her lecture, Gajadhar, 37, spoke of overcoming the disability sustained in an accident (September 30,1991) to pursue a successful career in teaching. Gajadhar was attending St Augustine Girls’ High School when, at age 16, following the accident, she lost all sensation in her legs and became a paraplegic.
Her charges listened with rapt attention. They were drawn from rural catchment areas like Toco, Manzanilla and her hometown Sangre Grande. Gajadhar’s students made the trek to the designated Business class on the ground floor. In 2001, she first taught English at Swaha.

Ten Mistakes Parents Make with Teens

1. Lecture Rather Than Discuss
We want our teens to grow into responsible adults able to make decisions. Why then do we fall back on the old lecture when we should be using any problem area as an opportunity to teach a child the process of making a good decision? Treating them like little children rather than budding adults simply alienates teens. This is not to say they no longer need guidance, it just has to be handled in a more adult manner, with discussion, negotiation, and understanding of the conflicting needs of maturing teens. They need the safety of the home and knowledge that the parents are there, but not suffocating control of an overprotective despot.
2. Ignore the Obvious
Our teens are suddenly sleeping late, missing classes, missing curfew, not introducing new friends, and we write it off as “normal teen behavior.” We often wait until the situation is urgent, burying our heads in the sand to avoid confrontation and more displays of our teen’s belligerent, hostile attitude. Overreacting or underreacting…

Amazing darshan of Hanumanji

This happened in Kalika Mata temple in Ratlam, Madhya Pradesh, India last month. Pictures tell the true story. The Saintwas telling the story of Ramayana and “Hanumanji” appeared in the form of langur (a long-tailed arboreal Asian monkey). The langur first went and sat near the singers and listened to the kirtan, held the microphone