Your Guide For A Child t July 2022 24 started feeling otherwise. Every word spoken was connected with what that lady blurted out. Her words used to echo in my ears for months. When it became too much for me to take, I discussed the lady’s visit with my mother-in-law. She was shocked and told me not to worry about what happened. That lady was a known gossipmonger in the locality. Amma made me understand that kids are a gift from God and things will happen only according to his wish. It was a great lesson for me that clarify- ing things with the person concerned is always better than doing unnec- essary guesswork and spoiling relations. Page 63 When you are desperate, it means that you have almost lost hope. In such situations, your mind can be so unreasonable, stupid, and idiotic. I never used to attend our Sunday church service at Kottayam when we were there on vacation. According to me, everyone would look at my stomach and they would ask about the good news. In my mother tongue, people who met me in the church would ask me ‘Enthundu vishesham’? It was a way of exchanging pleasantries, ‘what’s the news?’. According to me, the news meant good news and I used to get irritated with this form of talk- ing. I hated going to church. Were people looking at my stomach and ask- ing me about my good news? What was happening? It was all the stupid thoughts crossing my mind! It’s said that an idle mind is a devil’s work- shop, but an inferior mind can be even more dangerous. Did someone say that I was inferior? Not at all. It was again my mind at work. Even before someone could say something my mind was already processing and giv- ing me evidence that people would have told that. There is nothing in this world that can trouble you more than your own thoughts. Maybe as a child, I had read some stories about people without kids and what others talked about them or met someone who was childless. Whatever the case may be I had a different issue to sort out daily, I meant my mind had to. The issues were created by my mind and I was struggling to find out solu- tions.