hidden image

Daring to be Great and Heroic

P. A. Joseph P. A. Joseph
21 Aug 2023

There is a unique kind of bird namely thorn bird. The botanical name is phacellodomus ruber. It is found in some parts of South America like Brazil, Bolivia, and Argentina. The bird builds a large and complex nest of twigs and thorns. When the bird grows into maturity, it goes in search for a thorny tree, pierces itself with thorns, sings the most beautiful song ever heard, and dies while singing. Some people say it is a mythical bird. Any way its last message of lovely song is beautiful.

Rambai, 106 years young sprinter, took up athletic two years ago, and set world record of 100 m, and 200 m and topped in shot-put at the 18th national open athletic championship  competition held  in Dehradun. After the event, her grand daughter, aged 41, offered to massage her leg but Rambai declined and asked her to serve someone older.

Kalpana Chawla, born on March 17, 1962, in Karnal, Haryana, had her school studies in the home state. When she was 20 she pursued her studies in the US, took American citizenship, had her higher studies there and took PhD in her favorite subject aeronautics engineering. She was the first Indo-US woman flying in the space. During her historic flight in the space- shuttle she had respectable and lovely chat with the then Prime Minister I. K. Gujral who invited her and team members to India. She spent 15 days 22 hours and 20 minutes in the space. While returning, she died, along with seven crew members, when the spacecraft disintegrated on February 1, 2003. 

These stories inspire us to have something to believe, something to visualize, to dream, to prioritize, and even to “prayerise”. I should wake up in the morning with a preoccupation to do something planned in the process of my daily schedule.

Nothing on earth is more powerful than the human mind, both mine and yours. I/we don’t lack any idea and the potential. There are tremendous ideas in the universe, only I need to accept them and make it my own. In the process of selecting ideas, I should have the courage to delete all the negative forces, and all dangerous viruses. I do not get glory in doing something wrong. I need to be right morally, ethically, and spiritually. For a right objective, I should not take a wrong procedure. If I sow positive seeds I will gather positive results, and on the contrary if I sow negative seeds I will reap only negative results. 

Recent Posts

Burial disputes involving Christians in parts of India raise profound constitutional questions on posthumous dignity, religious freedom, and equality. Denial of burial rites in public grounds is not a
apicture Adv. Rev. Dr. George Thekkekara
23 Feb 2026
History is replete with men who mistook endurance for integrity. Do not join their ranks. The office you hold is larger than any individual, and the nation's reputation is more precious than any caree
apicture A. J. Philip
23 Feb 2026
Recent political trends, parliamentary practices, institutional pressures, and majoritarian policies indicate an accelerating drift toward total electoral autocracy and a Hindu-majoritarian state, rai
apicture Jacob Peenikaparambil
23 Feb 2026
A botched AI Summit exposed the troubling gap between spectacle and substance. Rushed planning, opaque agendas, and borrowed showcases overshadowed real research. It reflects deeper systemic issues in
apicture Jaswant Kaur
23 Feb 2026
Minority activists engaging Western institutions report an expanding global network of RSS-linked diaspora organisations, lobbying, funding channels, and cultural fronts that promote a counter-narrati
apicture John Dayal
23 Feb 2026
As the world marks Social Justice Day, India's widening inequality, environmental decline, curbs on press freedom, precarious labour conditions, and marginalisation of vulnerable groups reveal a dange
apicture Cedric Prakash
23 Feb 2026
Anitha's AI-enabled home kitchen shows technology's double-edged sword: it creates income and autonomy for informal workers, yet algorithmic visibility, ratings, and the lack of contracts deepen preca
apicture Jose Vattakuzhy
23 Feb 2026
I have two hundred and six bones, Like any human being; Some are born with more. Three hundred at the beginning. Then fusion, growth, becoming, Numbers change, Caste doesn't.
apicture Dr Suryaraju Mattimalla
23 Feb 2026
If a society cannot protect its women, cannot honour its brave, and cannot respect its talented, then it is not merely losing law and order.
apicture Robert Clements
23 Feb 2026
Communal hatred, seeded by colonial divide-and-rule and revived by modern majoritarianism, is corroding India's syncretic culture. Yet acts of everyday courage remind us that constitutional values and
apicture Ram Puniyani
16 Feb 2026