But less obvious is the fact that the most important part of our culture is our particular family.The most basic culture in which we develop is the culture of our family, and our parents are its ‘culture leaders’. Moreover , the most significant aspect of that culture is not what our parents tell us about God and the nature of things but rather what they do- how they behave towards each other , towards our siblings , and above all, towards us.

In other words, what we learn about the nature of the world when we are growing up is determined by the actual nature of our experience in the microcosm of the family.

The Road Less Traveled- M.Scott Peck

A new psychology of Love, Traditional values

and Spiritual Growth

…

On January 30, was the marriage anniversary of my parents, who were married in 1967-in Benares, India. My aunt-my mother’s younger sister-Abha Mausi-ji the one amongst our whole family who probably misses my mother the most- rang up from Delhi and told how it had been “Basant Panchami” in 1967 on that day and it is Basant Panchami again on the same day this year -2020. My parents are no more, but their legacy lives on.

Basant Panchami- is the festival which marks the end of the winter and heralds in spring, is dedicated to goddess Saraswati.

LIBRARY

One of the first memories I have of childhood is the home library which my parents started building.

This was before I even started formal school in Pune-Khadki Cantonment area. They got an Encyclopedia for us, and over the years, I went through those volumes.

Later, my grandparents also gifted a collection from Benares, and we went through those too, and compared  what was said in the two sets-giving a great sense of the world in its different dimensions.

The home library which we have in Mississauga, Ontario is an extension of that first library which my parents started around 1970.

When I decided to stay in Ontario for good- in December 2016, I carried with me the book gifted to me by my Nanaji- Maternal Grandfather-Professor GPU (Ganesh Prasad Uniyal) -The Autobiography of Jawaharlal Nehru – which he gave to me in 1982- the last birthday gift he gave us, as he passed away the coming year in 1983. Three books which he gifted- A dictionary, Glimpses of World history by Nehru, and Autobiography of Nehru have enriched our life in many ways over the past decades.

A READING FROM THE BOOK-GIFTED TO ME BY MY GRANDFATHER-GP UNIYAL

IN RIVERWOOD MISSISSAUGA-FEB 2018

FLASH CARDS

As I went through the book- The Road Less Traveled by M Scott Peck- which I have been reading as a comparative study with “Man’s Search for Meaning” By Viktor Frankl which was discussed in our Monthly Book Club- I came across Peck’s assertion of -Religion of Science- in which he interrogates the world of spiritual growth and its relation with science.

See blog

BEING UNHAPPY ABOUT BEING UNHAPPY
https://gracereadings.wordpress.com/2020/02/01/being-unhappy-about-being-unhappy/

In the case of my parents- I first saw revision flash cards used by my father-again even before I started going to formal school.

My niece Divya-ji -who is going through medical studies -the third generation of our family to enter medicine, often asks me what my father PN Bhatt would have advised her. I told her, how my father had a more gentle patient approach- something which I have tried to imbibe over the years- but have still got a long way to go. (Whenever I am impatient with my sons and nieces-nephews- my sisters gently remind me- Have you forgotten your own days Bhaiya).

In the early seventies my father was giving the MD Anesthesiology exam from University of Pune. He had many revision flash cards, of different drugs, their main actions, interactions with other drugs, the main side effects and the contraindications.

I tell who ever asks for advice of study -especially for Professional courses- to make Revision Flash cards, which will be the essence of the course- points without which you will not be given that degree or license to practice.

In a way-science is a religion- practiced by our family for many decades.

In Grade 12- high school (Army Public School-Delhi-1985) I did a science project on the plants of the Ridge of Delhi. My mother had done Masters in Botany.

I was influenced by my father and uncles and followed medicine. Over the decades, have made many different sets of flash cards. These have helped navigate through the different mazes of medicine and their applications.

A VISIT TO ONTARIO SCIENCE CENTRE-EXPLORING THE DIFFERENT SOUNDS OF THE FORESTS WITH MY SONS-2014

WALKS

My parents, grandparents and uncles inculcated the love of walking -especially in the magic hour when night turns into day- in me. We first started going for walks in Lullanagar area of Pune in the mid seventies. Over the decades we went for walks to the Hill Temples in and around Shimla region and Rishikesh Regions of India. In those hills- my father told me about his own family- their origins from Pauri Garhwal and how they shifted to Shimla region in around 1890s, and built a house in Upper Kaithu Bazaar Shimla. As a medical intern, my father took me to those same areas again, and many childhood memories came alive. We climbed up to the Jakhoo Temple of Shimla, which legend has it- was one of the places where the God Hanuman stopped when he came to bring medicines for Ram’s younger brother Laxman.

See Blog- Walkers at Lullanagar

https://prashantbhatt.com/2008/08/19/walkers-at-lullanagar/

Work and life, took me to different continents. I could not -for many reasons and failings- take my own sons for a walk to the hills of Shimla region -in their younger days. But in the same spirit of walking and exploration we did go to temples of Malta and Gozo area , and Sabratha-Leptis areas of Libya-North Africa and explored many walking trails in Mississauga and Southern Ontario area.

A WALK IN THE GJANTIJA TEMPLES AREA- GOZO-2010-DECEMBER

THE OLDEST FREE STANDING STRUCTURES KNOWN TO MAN

AH- THE GOOD OL’ DAYS

Its no good to spend all your time reliving the good ol’ days .

But there is a lot to learn if you can let your memories take you back to a truer you.

Dr. Phil McGraw- The Self Matters-Companion

On the anniversary of my parents wedding- (1967) – I looked back at some of the things they taught and imbibed in us. We went through collages of the home library systems, our journals and looked at the walks of the decades gone by.

COFFEE NEAR GIANT PANDA ENCLOSURE- 2014-OCTOBER

TRIPOLI ZOO DIARY -MAY 2009