Dear readers,

Welcome to our August edition of Eyra!

First of all, I would like us to take a moment to pray for the people in Kerala and parts of Karnataka stuck in floods, and raise our hats to those working tirelessly day and night in rescue and rebuilding operations.

It has been an eventful month, with news of weddings and celebrations, and also some sad demises. We bring you the inspiring story of Aretha Franklin, an amazingly strong and passionate Artist, who we sadly lost this month, but her legend will remain in our hearts forever.

It saddens me when I think about such things, but then I remind myself that this is the reality of life. Makes one wonder how the brain is capable of listening to the heart one moment and quickly switch over to the practical mind the next, in order to cope with pain. This brings me to our Fighter section, where we have a lovely poem by Rema Shivakumar, wondering when should we listen to the voices of our heart and when should we give importance to the voices of our mind.

Sometimes, too much practicality also leads us nowhere. For this issue, we have covered an old age home for single women called Mann Ka Tilak. Meeting the old women there made me feel that there are times we should take pride in being emotional and helping others. If all children understand this, there will not be any abandonment of old people. Well, I will let you read more about it in the Nurturer section.

Moving on to pleasanter topics, we meet Shagun Rathi this time, who bakes mouth-watering cakes in such designs and shapes which a skilled baker can only aspire for. To top it, she actually shares one of her signature recipes with us! Happy gorging, folks! But in all seriousness, what is inspiring is the level of risk and passion she has put in to be an Achiever and make her dream come true. It is never too late to find and achieve your dreams.

And then comes one of my favourite happy-time sections – Beauty. This time we bring you some lovely tips for quick fix skin care, for the next time you have to rush to a party and that last minute deadline does not let you pop in to the salon.

Hope you enjoy our articles this time, as always.

And do not forget to send us your feedback/views/thoughts and opinions. We love to hear from you.

Happy Reading!

Jyoti Shekar

Founder Editor, Eyra