dear readers, hereafter kindly place your enquiries regarding any aspect of Learning Disability or the concerning syllabus with the following organizations / individuals. they will be able to help you with information and guidance. currently i have taken a break from the field.

smt RAMA MANI
psuswaram@gmail.com
no. 894, 5th main, ayyappa nagar
jalahalli west
bangalore 560 015

tel: 2839 6444, 98802 02345

PRAYATNA
Dr Aruna Shankara narayan
# 26, Palace Road, near Mt Carmel College, Bangalore
Tel: 2228 0831

BAALA  SUMA
Mrs Mangala Kanabargi
# 18, ground floor, 1sr cross, shakthi ganapathi nagar, basaweshwar nagar, bangalore.
tel: 2323 1163

SRISHTI Academy
KHB Colony, Basweshwar nagar 2nd stage, Bangalore
Tel: 2320 4875,  2311 3419

SUDHEEKSHA
Mrs Leela Reddy
Rajaji Nagar 4th Block, Bangalore
Tel: 2312 7745

PRAYATNA
Dr Aruna Shankara narayan
# 26, Palace Road, near Mt Carmel College, Bangalore
Tel: 2228 0831

Mrs Aparna Kalyanpur
Sharnag Apartments, 18th Cross, Malleshwaram, Bangalore
Tel: 2334 5731,  98451 98256

PARIVARTHAN
mrs malini sridhar
# 3310, 8th cross, 13th main, HAL 2nd stage, Indiranagar, tel: 2529 8686, 2527 3462

Spastic Society
Diagnostic & Research Centre
Mrs Vijaya prema
# 31, 5th cross, off 5th main, 1st stage Indiranagar
tel: 4074 5900, 2528 0935

Brindavan Education Centre
2nd Block, Jayanagar, Bangalore
tel: 2656 7311, 98868 21812

Mrs Akhila Sadashivan
Banagiri Nagar (near BSK 2nd stage)
tel: 2657 4077, 98867 01959

There are many resource centres in Bangalore that offer coaching to students who take up the syllabus of National Institute of Open Schooling. The list can be had through the Resource Directory published by Banjara Academy, Bangalore. Tel: 2353 5787, 2353 5766.

(the list above is only indicative. not comprehensive)

Hello sanskrit lovers of Bengalooru,

here is a great opportunity to all of you to learn conversing in sanskrit language, just in two days!

here is a detailed info (i have cut n pasted the info from a mail that i have received)

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Thanks & regards,

Guru

9986362187

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let us all join and take pride in samskrita language which is the “mother-of -all-languages”.

Those who are interested to know more about the National Institute of Open Schooling may please visit its website at http://www.nos.org/

All details can be had from its pospectus online.

There are many resource centres in Bangalore that offer coaching to students who take up the syllabus of National Institute of Open Schooling. The list can be had through the Resource Directory published by Banjara Academy, Bangalore. Tel: 2353 5787, 2353 5766.

There are also some schools who teach NIOS syllabus in regular classes from 8th Standard onwards. Here is the list:

Asha Kiran Special Need School (Integrated School), # 15, 7th Main, Indira Nagar 2nd Stage, Bangalore 560038. Tel: 25258159.

Deepika School (Integrated School), 28th Main, 35th Cross, Jayanagar 4th T Block, Bangalore 560011 Principal: Smt Seetha krishnamurthy, Tel: 26645767

Deepika School (Branch), #2805, 14th B Main, 8-E Cross, Attiguppe, Vijayanagar, Bangalore. Smt. Hema Nataraj Tel: 2339 3222

Poorna School, Opposite DPS Bangalore North, Sathnur Village, Bagalur Post, Jalla Hobli, Bangalore 49. Smt Indira Vijayasimha, Tel: 2279 2042

Parijma Learning Centre, BTS Depot Road, Wilson Garden, Bangalore 27. Ms Archana, Tel: 2223 8534, 2224 3634

Kensri School, Mariya Street, Mariyanna Palya, Bangalore 24, Tel: 2353 3528, 2353 7665

Larkspur House of Learning, # 3/4, Berlie Street Cross, Langford Town, Bangalore. Tel: 2272 7183, 98807 11736

Iyer High School, HMT Main Road, Mathikere, Bangalore 54. Tel; 23372714

Nehru Open School, St John’s Chrch Road, Bangalore 05. Tel: 2546 0531

Spastic Society of karnataka, # 31, 5th Cross, Off 5th Main, Indiranagar 1st Stage, Bangalore 38. Tel: 2528 1831, 2527 4633

Cluny Convent High School, 11th Main, 14th Cross, Malleshwaram, Bangalore 03.

Baldwins Girls High School, Richmond Circle, Bangalore

 There may be many other Institutions in Bangalore that are offering NIOS syllabus. Readers may kindly add to the list.

Many parents have been searching for information on centres that may help children with LD.

Banjara Academy, a counselling centre for emotional issues, chaired by Dr. Ali Khwaja, situated in RT Nagar, Bangalore, has publised a Resource Directory listing out various institutions and individuals in Bangalore who are helping children with Learning Disability. The Directory is available at their office for sale. You may please contact them on phones : 2353 5787 and 2353 5766

Best wishes to all.

Time eats up the world!

How true the Upanishadic statement is! Well, I do not have to certify it as the Truth. I am only happy that the Truth of the statement has dawned upon me! I am humbled by the statement. We all have to live this day as if Tomorrow does not exist for us. And if Today were the last day of my life, what do I need to do? ………………………. for the realisation of the Ultimate Truth! ………… well, I do not do anything, I do not seek anything, I just dis-cover by shedding all false identities

Then why am I wasting my time here blogging??? What am I gaining out of this activity?? – other than the fact that it is nurturing my Ego day by day as I see an increase in the number of hits that my Blog receives…………………. and inflating my Ego by basking in all the appreciation that I receive for the posts that I write!……………. it is all ‘me’ and ‘mine’ that increases the restlessness of mind……………… what post to write next? what reply to give to comments? what rejoinders to write?…………………. all reinforcing the “I”………………

No, this is not what I want. There are more important things to realise having born as a human being. More interesting Knowledge to achieve, realise from within, for which I need to devote my Time. I can not while away my time in the illusion that I am the saviour of everybody by providing information about Psychology and Philosophy ……………….. that is my foolishness, my ajnaana……………………..

Dears, I love you all. But I can not get entrapped in this attachment. I need to wriggle out of this. I shall keep in touch with you all whenever I have something interesting to share……………………. but I need to go now, go deep down into myself, clear all garbage, drop all identities, find HIM, find my true self, realise that state of ‘Egolessness’ and get established there…………………….

With lots and lots of LOVE to ALL of YOU !

you must all be wondering why there are no new posts in my blog for over 10 days now. well, my brother who had come down from australia for a vacation fell sick all of a sudden with a mild stroke and was hospitalized. am busy with that. i am sure by god’s grace he will soon recover and i would be back blogging.

love to all of you till then. 

February 14th is an exciting day for young and old lovers alike. It can be a day of celebration of love. Love of all hues and colours, with all its grandness and simplicity. It gives me great pleasure to greet you all on the occasion of Valentine’s Day and say that I Love You All very much!

The word ‘Love’ has various connotations to it. As many connotations as the number of people who think about it and contemplate upon its meaning! The mother’s love to her children, the love between siblings, love and affection between spouses, the love between a Guru and a Shishya, love for God, the love among friends, the love we have for our pets, the love of the country, the love for a noble cause dear to us and so many others and then the most prevalent meaning as understood by ordinary mortals, the love between a young girl and a boy that has been celebrated through out human civilization in various forms of art and literature.

This love between a couple – a boy and a girl, a man and a woman, between two people of the same gender, as it is coming out of the closet more and more these days, generally have three faces to it. The intimacy, passion and the commitment. The generation and sustanance of love between two people depends on the amount of these three ingredients in different proportions.

First of all it is the physical attraction that brings two people close together. This attraction is triggered by the proximity of the two people. Perhaps they live in the same neighbourhood or study in the same class/college or work in the same company or may travel together to workplace. (It need not always be the physical proximity. It can even be the frequent proximity over an electronic medium like this, where the physical attraction exists only in imagination! ) This proximity helps develop  aquaintence that may lead to excahnge of ideas and opinions. When the similarities in ideas and ideals become known, the attraction may grow stronger. They can come closer to each other  emotionally too and sparks fly, making the relationship a passionate one! But sometimes it is mere physical attraction that leads to passion and it may or may not last long. It may be just infatuation and may die down soon.

The emotional closeness leads to intimacy wherein the two individuals are ready to care and share. They may develop concern for each other’s wellbeing that leads to lot of sharing of personal information. This intimacy can lead to passion when the two may desire sexual intimacies. But their love may not feel complete until they feel committed to each other in this relationship. It is this commitment that takes them to the marriage altar.

Out of these three ingredients of intimacy, passion and commitment, passion may not last very long. After few years into relationship, it is bound to wane. It continues its existence, but not on the top of the list. Without a burning passion also, two people can remain good friends. It is the intimacy that keeps them close. Lot of sharing and caring continue to happen that keep them together. They show concern for each other and help the other resolve so many issues. In certain cases love can just be a platonic relationship (without hint of sexual desire between the two) being good friends and being there for each other in case of any crisis.  Coming back to what we were discussing, some times, the intimacy may slowly decline in relationships because of so many factors, like, getting too involved in their own careers, excessive indulgence in undesirable habits like drinking and gambling or even extra marital relationships.  People then slowly drift apart emotionally. They may even go in for a legal separation. But in some cases the commitment that they have made to each other can still bind them together, in the common interest of others who are depending on them.

Now a days we see lot of passion between a couple in the initial stages of friendship, which they may mistakenly believe as love. During the passionate moments they would have revealed their intimate matters to each other. But when passion dies and no commitment binding them, they can break apart leading to the emotional devastation of both.

It is this set of passionate couple that may go overboard celebrating Valentine’s day in all its elation. They shower expensive gifts to each other, dine at the most upmarket restaurant, promising everlasting love to each other. But without the commitment, it just can not last long. Many would be nursing a commitment phobia! How long can they go on like this? One of the partners is bound to seek the commitment in this relationship and the other partner feels that it is time to quit!

These days there are many ‘no-strings-attached’ casual relationships that both young girls and boys are ready to carry on. But it can have very serious repercussions, both on physical and mental health. They can not tread this path ignoring all the warning signs well written on the wall. Somewhere they need feel responsible for themselves and also the other person involved and wake up from this foolish stupor.

Marriage requires commitment. It can have the other two -passion and intimacy also in equal measures. To continue the commitment ’till death do us part’, lot of adjustments and compromises are needed. Subtle sacrifices are done. Love and trust are the strong pillars that keep the couple together. One needs to work on it like in any other relationship. No body can take the partner for granted. Mutual respect need to be accorded, space given to each other and yet feel totally connected. Valentine’s day or no valentine’s day, the intimate emotional bond can continue to get strengthened over the years……………….

All the above mentioned love are limited, conditional. If conditions are not fulfilled, then love disappears. But there can also be a love of a different kind that is limitless and unconditional! It is beyond bodily love or commitmental love. This love is in all our hearts. It is a gift that comes with creation. We are not aware of it. When we are ready to give that love unconditionally to others, the spring of love can overflow. It can touch every heart that comes in contact with that flow. This love is beyond gender, race or religion. It is the ultimate love that can soak everybody and is therepeutic to all. It can be panacea for all illnesses. It is spiritual. You just have to look within and unleash it. It can spread everywhere and pervade the whole universe. More you are ready to give, more it gets replenished. That is the Truth, the auspicious and the beautiful – Satyam, Shivam, Sundaram!

And it is this Love that I am giving all of you on this Valentine’s Day. I have no expectations of reciprocation from the other end.  I simply give becoz I have it in abundance! And I love giving

Love you all!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

I read an interesting (read nonsensical) piece of Research result, in New Indian express, bangalore Edition, dated 7th Feb 08,  found out by the Italian scientists. I call it ‘junk research’ as the results of such researches do more harm than good to woman-kind!

They have found out that wearing high heeled shoes can boost a woman’s sexual desire, as walking with high heeled shoes improves the strength of pelvic floor muscles thus upping her sex life!!!

Can anything be more stupid than advising wearing high heel shoes to improve strength of pelvic muscles? Are there no better exercises to improve ones muscles than to resort to heeled shoes?? Have we all not heard of people breaking their back bones by falling down, unable to balance themselves with a pair of high heels? How many ladies suffer twists in ankle bones, tear in the ligaments, postural faults, all because they could not manage their steps while climbing stairs or by walking on uneven surfaces with these shoes on?

Podiatrists (foot specialists) say that the anatomical position of a heeled shoe wearer is abnormal. This causes lot of stress to the feet as well as to the back bone. This leads to many stress fractures to the foot bones. This also leads to foot ailments, swelling of toes, shooting pain caused by injuries to foot nerves, swelling of the balls of feet etc.

When such is the long list of ‘rewards’ for the high heeled shoe wearer, was there any need to pump in funds to this kind of research to declare another ‘attractive’  result of increased libido for the wearer?! I wonder which woman would want to break her bones, have plastered limbs, be bed-ridden with a ‘high- libido’ !

Any takers???

The whole of last week saw all news papers covering the story of Britney Spears’ hospitalization, for the second time in a month for her mental illness. She has been diagnosed as suffering from Bipolar Disorder. Before we discuss what exactly is Bipolar disorder, lets have a peep at her life story so far:

Britney was born in December, 1981. That makes her 26 years of age now.

In 1993-94, when she was just 12 or 13 years of age, she gives a singing performance with Christina Aguilera and Justin Timberlake.

When 17 years, she releases her first Album “Baby one more time” that sells 25 million copies!

In the year 2000, She co-authors two memoirs with her mother.

In the same year she goes public about her relationship with her boyfriend Justin Timberlake. In 2002 she breaks up her friendship with Timberlake.

In 2003 MTV music awards function, she lip-locks with Madonna that shocks the entire audience. In the same year, she wins a Grammy award for best dance!

In January 2004, she marries her childhood friend Jason Alexander and the marriage ends after 55 hours!

In the same year she befriends Kevin Federline, a backup dancer. And in September 2004 she says “I do” in a surprise  marriage to Federline. She wears a designer wedding gown that cost her $26000.

In September 2005, they beget their first child, a baby boy.

In September 2006, she gives birth to another baby boy. During her 6th month pregnancy she poses sitting nude for Harper’s Bazaar magazine.

In 2007, she gets a divorce from Federline, citing irreconcilable differences.

In the same year she goes for a new hairstyle – going bald!

She gets in and out of Rehab centre for drug abuse and binging and alcohol.

In between her stays at Rehab centres, it was said that she even tried to hang herself once. I have no authentic info on this.

Same year, 2007, Federline files for custody of 2 boys and as she fails the drug test and also due to poor parenting skills, she loses temporarily custody of her 2 children to Federline.

In August 2007, she tries to make a comeback at MTV Video awards function and disappoints everybody with an awful performance.

In November 2007, she pays $120,000 to Federline as Lawyer’s fee.

Next day her new album “Black out” is released and does a roaring business!

In January 2008, she loses custody of her children to Federline. She is hospitalized for an evaluation of her mental status and is proclaimed as suffering from Bipolar disorder. She is discharged after two days.

On 31 January, she is hospitalized again and declared sick requiring longer stay and treatment for Bipolar. Britney alleges that her mother is sleeping around with her ex husband Federline.

Her mother gains legal control of her affairs from her manager who was allegedly using drugs on Britney and mismanaging her funds!

On February 6th Britney is discharged from the hospital much earlier than expected.

My goodness, what a roller coaster story of Britney’s life events!

You must be gasping for breath after reading her story…………………..

But it is all very sad. A teenage celebrity turning out to be a divorced mom at 26, losing custody of her 2 children and ending up in hospital for Bipolar treatment! …………….

What is Bipolar disorder???

Bipolar disorder was earlier called by the name Manic Depressive Disorder. As the name suggests, it is a Serious Mood disorder with extreme swings in mood – swinging from one pole of Mania to another pole of Depression! Hence the name Bipolar.

We all experience mood swings on and off. More so the teenagers with the onset of puberty and hormonal changes and changing expectations from parents, teachers, peer group etc. But these swings become a psychological disorder when the moods swing on and off in a day, in a week, in about two weeks, continuously for over two weeks and it totally turns the daily routine topsy-turvy.  The mood can change from elation to depression in cycles. 4 such cycles that may disrupt family and occupational relationships and routine work within a period of 12 months call for an evaluation by a psychiatrist. When the person is in manic state, he/she experiences elated mood, over confidence, requires less sleep than usual, is in a high energy state, may become restless, hyper active, irritable, argumentative, lose inhibitions, may indulge in drugs, smoking and alcohol, may even go overboard with sexual relationships. They may experience a sense of grandiosity, believe that they have high abilities and power, the sense of judgement lowers, may go on a spending spree, lavish reckless spending, will think the world is under their feet! They try to create situations with impulsivity, with shock value that gets the whole world’s attention.

You see many of these descriptions suiting Britney’s life happenings stated above.

This elated mood can last for a prolonged period or slowly fade giving rise to a feeling of low, a mood of depression! During this phase, they suddenly lose that confidence, start feeling inferior, lose interest in activities loved earlier, may withdraw from socializing, may experience a sense of hopelessness and worthlessness, may get suicidal ideations, may even attempt to take their life, become sad, irritable and anxious, sleep excess or very little, over eat or eat very less, low energy levels and fatigue, crying spells and may indulge in excess smoking, drinking and drugging, wrongly believing that all this would bring solace to their troubled heart and mind!

Again you can see so many of these depressive behaviours occuring in Britney’s life events.

These two moods may occur side by side or one long spell after the other, sometimes experiencing remission or rest from these swings and have normal moods and normal routine activities. The disrupted moods can cause havoc in a person’s life style. Just now you have read how Britney’s lifestyle changed from one episode to the other in such swift sweeping style!

What causes this disorder?  It is found that it can run in families – mother suffering and later on the daughter also catching on to this, making it look like a genetically caused disorder. But it is not so in many cases. Both men and women can get afflicted with this at any age. But usually the onset is during adolescence. It can set off in middle age too. But more women seem to suffer from this as women tend to be emotional and are vulnerable to normal swings in mood due to the hormonal disturbances in every menstrual cycle. The brain chemicals can also cause this type of disorder in some. The life environment and events can trigger such episodes. They may go to any length to seek attention from others. Sometimes, these attention seeking behaviours can have shock value like some instances in Britney’s life – overnight marriage and divorce, lip-lock with Madonna, going bald on an impulse, shaving off such long lovely blonde hair. It is found that many with Borderline Personality Disorder exhibit this kind of mood swings. Many cases go undiagnosed for years before it becomes unmanageable and then psychiatric help is sought. In some cases Bipolar can be mistaken for schizophrenia and wrongly treated, specially when the person starts exhibiting psychotic features like hallucination (sense perceptions that others around do not see or hear) and delusions (wrong beliefs) (Britney may have had this delusion of her mother having relationship with her boy friend and announcing it to the whole world!)

Pharmacological intervention by treating with mood stabilizers can keep the disorder in control. There is no total cure as such. Traces of these behaviours can remain for long. Psycho education to the person and to the family can help manage this better. Psycho therapy and counselling done parallely with medication can go a long way in stabilizing the moods and carrying on the routine life activities without much disruption.

In Britney’s case it was a matter of too much too soon. A young person will not be able to handle so much of success and money and name and fame all at once. Those things can become a very big stress to the mind, though on a positive note. A firm back up of values passed on from parent to child, a positive direction to move on, good support from family and friends at the time of emotional crisis periods, keeping oneself away from abuse of substances, indulging in healthy hobbies and interests can all help alleviate this mental illness to a large extent and manage life with a positive outlook.