‘The White Lotus’ is a humble attempt to open the minds of children to stories and facts from Hindu scriptures and religion along with inputs in art, shlokas, culture, cuisine and simple home remedies of India. Older people too will find the articles informative. With the new-age children being glued to the internet, ‘The White Lotus’ aims at providing some useful info that serves to make the time spent online purposeful. It’s not just the colourful pictures and simple and interesting articles that make the read enjoyable, but, lovable characters such as Sitha the little girl who loves to hear stories, her Grandma Rukmini, her little brother Krishna and others will add an endearing quality to the stories and articles. A couple of times a month, the readers can enjoy singing along with the melodious audios of shlokas.
On every weekday there is one new story or an article to enthuse and enrich kids. Children can read a story a day or read the stories of the week over the weekend.
‘The White Lotus’ also stokes the creativity of kids to pen a poem or a story, share their culinary skills by way of recipes or videos, send in sketches or paintings or audios of their music or present their art and craft forms, and we will have them posted on the site under the potpourri section (Conditions apply). A small weekend activity such as quiz or match the following will be available on some weekends to add to the fun quotient.
NOTE FOR PARENTS
The White Lotus would be the ideal answer to those parents who are eager to have their children get to know about India’s rich spiritual and cultural treasures. This will be an interesting way to catch the children’s attention with interesting write-ups, colourful pictures and activities. The information given per day is kept simple so that there is no overload. The White Lotus, although created with children and teenagers in mind, will also be of interest to young adults and older people as they get to know many interesting aspects about this great land – our India. Many a time, we as parents might not be aware of the information given here and we will learn interesting and eye-opening facts about our religion and scriptures and be able to share or discuss it with our children.
The White Lotus will serve as a single platform to learn about the Hindu religion, scriptures, shlokas, mythology, art and craft, cuisines and more. (While most of the articles and stories are simple and children will grasp them easily, a few articles, especially those on scriptures and philosophy might require a little assistance.) The children stand to benefit from the positive impact of the messages of goodness and inspiration that these articles carry. They will learn from the values projected in the articles and be inspired to inculcate these values in their lives . We do hope that both you and your children enjoy and benefit from the messages of The White Lotus.
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SITHA: The curious little girl who loves to listen to stories |
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KRISHNA: Sitha’s mischievous little brother |
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PANDIT VASUDEV: The wise and learned village priest |
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GRANDMA RUKMINI: The children’s Grandmother who is a storehouse of knowledge |
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GOVINDHJI: Father of the children who is a well-read writer |
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MA SUMITHRA: The children’s warm and lively mother |
Little Sitha carefully stretches over and plucks a white lotus from the pond. Grandma Rukmini had said, “Get a white lotus from the pond everyday and place it at the feet of the Ganesha under the peepal tree.” Grandma had done this when she was a small girl and it had instilled in her a sense of discipline in worship. Now, Sitha follows this devoutly everyday , whenever the beautiful white lotus was in bloom in the pond near their home.
Sitha and her family live in India, in a small village surrounded by wooded hills. Sitha and her mischievous little brother Krishna live with their parents, Govindhji who is a writer, and their mother Ma Sumithra along with their grandmother. Although Govindhji sends his children to a school in the city nearby, they preferred to live in the little village on the outskirts where the air was pure and fresh and the surroundings calm and serene.
Grandma Rukmini is a storehouse of knowledge and inspires Sitha with stories and facts from religion and scriptures, tales of gods and saints and insights into the rich Indian culture and tradition. She regales Sitha with stories under the spreading shade of the old Gulmohar tree in the backyard of their home.
One day while Sitha eagerly waited to hear a story, Grandma had smiled at Sitha, cast her gaze beyond the green fields towards the sparkling water of the pond and had said, “Get a lotus from the pond every day and place it at the feet of the Ganesha under the Peepal tree.”
As the trees sway in the cool breeze from the woods, Sitha scurries with the lotus to Ganesha. She has to hurry, as Grandma will be waiting with a new story.
And thus blooms our “THE WHITE LOTUS”, with a story for you everyday.
The White Lotus will carry an article on all weekdays of the year, ie. Monday to Friday. The articles may be in the form of stories on some days or will be write ups on other days. The narration might be by Grandma Rukmini or by some of the other characters in Sitha’s little world.
