9 Fabulous OS.ME Articles From 2020

In an online course, writer Todd Brison mentioned how an online article stays in people’s minds for a maximum of 48 hours in today’s era.

Todd’s statement got me thinking. Assuming that Todd is right, if an article remains in my mind, that counts for something, right? With this background, I decided to curate 9 os.me posts from 2020 that stayed with me. The rule I set for myself is that I had to remember the articles from memory – I couldn’t look them up os.me.

Without further ado, here they are:

1 – Swami Ma by Sushree Diya Om 

Sushree Diya Om shares an email she sent after visiting the Dakshineshwar Kali temple. This post is all heart and is one of several posts on os.me that combined to help me increase my devotional quotient. The subject is undoubtedly sublime and the writing is equally masterful – newer and experienced writers can study this post to pick up writing tips. 

Want to read the thoughts of a fervent devotee as she visits her Ishta? Look no further and read this sublime post. 

2 – Nature’s Play – 3 by Divya Manoharan 

On her third day at Badrika Ashram, Divya Manoharan wanted a snack to go along with her evening tea. “How come there’s no snack?”, she wondered. Nuts? An apple or a banana?

Most of the times when we have wondered along these lines, that would be that. Not so in this case. Not so in Badrika Ashram. Read her article to find about the amazing events that transpired and whether Divya got her snack.

3 – 22 Things by Supriya

Wisdom transcends age. 

(Then) 22-year old Supriya penned 22 thoughts, and added a bonus 23rd thought, all filled with wisdom. I loved this article back then and I love it today. 

This short read will leave the reader with enough to take home, reflect and practice. 

4 – A Letter to Sadhvi Vrinda Om by Chitrotpala Chaitali Dash 

We would love to write to our heroes and tell them how much we appreciate them.

Resistance usually kicks in and we end up taking no action. When os.me invited readers to write articles, Chitrotpala Chaitali Dash seized the opportunity and wrote a letter to Sadhvi Vrinda Om. Her enterprise and her lovely thoughts caught my attention and stayed with me.

5 – ‘The Black Lotus Movement’ For Me by Prabodh Sapre

“I Can’t Meditate.”

This is a story I told myself for years together. Of course, this is just a story, and a big fat lie. Reading experiences and thoughts of people who’ve been there and done that helped me get past the stories I told myself. 

This article by Prabodh Sapre is one such article. Kirtee Om’s comment in this post also struck my eye – how she maintained a 500-day Black Lotus streak. I now know other folks who have maintained 1000-day streaks. 

I have maintained a 40-day streak in the past – not significant in comparison, but a long way from “I can’t meditate”. 

6 – The Spectacles by Hemanya Vashishtha

“What should I write about?” 

This is a question that plagues many writers. 

Well, anything and everything is material for an article. Hemanya Vashishtha demonstrates this by musing about her spectacles in this article which is light-hearted and deep all at once.

The lesson I take away from Hemanya’s article is that the next time we ask ourselves “What should I write about?”, we can simply look at the object in front of us and use that as a writing prompt (This, by the way, was one of Medha Shri‘s exercises in her writing workshops).

7 – Snakes and Ladder by Shubra Om 

How do you respond when an unruly driver endangers everyone through his reckless driving? Especially when you know that he is in no mood to listen to your words? Do you sit quietly and pray that things work out well? Or do you take some action?

Shubhra Om provides one answer. Her heroism impressed me to no bounds. 

8 – The Magical World of Amar Chitra Katha by Divya Pai 

Dr. Divya Pai has written some serious articles about the trials and tribulations in her that stayed with me and inspired me in various ways. This light-hearted article on Amar Chitra Katha is one of my favorites for a few reasons:

• I, too, grew up reading Amar Chitra Katha
• Right before the pandemic struck, we ordered the entire mythology Amar Chitra Katha series to read to our (then) baby. (We read regularly to him back then, but we’ve been reading other books to him over the last year. He finds 32 pages too long and isn’t keen on the Amar Chitra Kathas now – we need to find a way to get him interested again. But I digress.)

Divya authored a daily inspiration blog for a long time and has been writing a series on temples recently – binge-read them all!

9 – Heavenly Hot Dogs by John Clark

John “JC” Clark writes superlative articles. He draws from his life experiences and provides wisdom in generous quantities. Heavenly Hot Dogs was one of his first articles I read and I became an instant JC fan. 

In Heavenly Hot Dogs, JC tells the story of a popular hot dog seller who turned down a VC investment to continue spending time with his family. JC leaves the reader with food for thought with this question: “May I submit to you that it’s often better to sell hot dogs than to be the manager of this or vice president of that?” 

Now, rights and wrongs don’t come in absolutes. On occasion, it can be right to pursue a calling and choose to be “vice president of that” over selling hot dogs. Indeed, Swamiji makes the point in this post that we should try to be the birds that feed the disabled fox, and not the fox who depends on the largesse of birds.

But when I look to my left and then to my right, I don’t see contentment in the people I see. JC’s point makes total sense given this observation. Contentment is a superpower, and the hot dog seller’s clarity makes him one of the happiest human beings.

********************************

If you have a set of articles which you love, consider writing an article curating said articles for the benefit of a larger audience. 

Image Credit: Kelly Sikkema from Unsplash