For a full year, I had stopped posting stories. Today it is January 1, 2022, and my resolution for the year is to post many stories on this site. The first stories will appear within a week or so. I plan to write (mostly) stories for children – stories from different cultures and different countries,…
The Story of these stories
On 31st December 2020, I published the 100th story on this website. I began publishing the ‘inspiring’ stories on 14th April 2020, soon after the pandemic lockdown was imposed in California, where I live now. After publishing 60 stories in the first 60 days, I slowed down, and finally completed 100 stories by the end…
Q03: Hope smiles from the threshold of the year to come
HAPPY NEW YEAR! After the crazy 2020, a New Year has dawned today. To remain hopeful that it would be a better year for the world, I am presenting a set of literary quotations on hope and a better future. Hope Smiles from the threshold of the year to come, Whispering ‘it will be happier’…”…
100. Mahatma Gandhi: A handful of salt shakes an empire
Mahatma Gandhi As the year 2021 dawns, the world faces a whole range of problems including the COVID-19 pandemic, deep internal divisions in the US and other countries, persistent racism and casteism, sharp inequalities, rise of authoritarianism and fascism, climate change, environmental destruction, and so on. The situation is ripe for violence to erupt. In…
099. Emily Greene Balch: A radical champion of peace
Emily Greene Balch When Emily Greene Balch (1867-1961), a US citizen, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1946 for her lifelong work for disarmament and peace, the US government did not congratulate her. The administration had declared her to be a dangerous socialist. Emily Greene belonged to a wealthy family and studied Sociology and…
098. Shirin Ebadi: Fighter for democracy and human rights
Shirin Ebadi Shirin Ebadi was born in Hamadan, Iran, in 1947. Her family consisted of academics and practising Muslims. Shirin Ebadi moved to Tehran with her family when she was a year old. Shirin Ebadi received her law degree and began to serve officially as a judge in March 1969. She was the first woman…
097. Mairead Corrigan and Betty Williams: Partners for Peace in Northern Ireland
Mairead Corrigan Betty Williams On August 10, 1976, three children were struck and killed by the getaway car of a nationalist Irish Republican Army gunman in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The children were two nephews and a niece of Mairead Corrigan, an office secretary and a Catholic. Mairead’s sister, Anne, was badly hurt in the…
096. Jane Addams: Multi-faceted contributor to peace, public welfare, human rights, and much more
Jane Addams Jane Addams was born in 1860 Cedarville, Illinois, US, the eighth of nine children. Her father was a prosperous miller and local political leader. He fought in the Civil War and was a friend of Abraham Lincoln. After a visit to London, Jane was inspired to open a house (called Hull House) in…
095. A Rumi story: The merchant and his parrot
A Persian merchant got a parrot as a gift from his Indian trading partners and kept her in a cage. The parrot could sing well and every day after work the merchant would enjoy listening to her songs. When the merchant left for India again, he asked the parrot what she wanted from her country….
094. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf: The Iron Lady of Liberia
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Born in Monrovia, Liberia in 1938, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf studied economics at Harvard University. After her return to Liberia, she served as Assistant Minister of Finance under President William Tolbert and as Minister of Finance in Samuel K. Doe’s military dictatorship. She became known for her personal financial integrity and differed with…