Just a short one.

“Disappointments come to those who make appointments with the future”, says one of the Swami Chinmayananda quotes. Absolutely true! But is it not human nature to keep on assessing what is in store for future? We worry about past, ponder over future but count out the present that is more important. Irrespective of accidents and incidents we face in life, if we can learn to balance both our joy and sorrows, and let it not influence us (easier said than done) too much, then life will be as beautiful as the sky; Though there is no right blend of blue hue and whiteness of clouds, it always looks beautiful.

The first time I saw her...

The first time I saw her, I just wanted to hug her and tell her how much I loved her. I had waited for this moment for a long time, to get the first glimpse of her had been too hard to resist. I did not let my parents know how happy I was to get her (after all, I am a man!), even though I knew how happy they were. It was as if they had waited their entire life for this day! The day when my wife delivered a baby, our daughter. (I am proud to have a daughter, I secretly wished for one!)

As I entered the room my wife was in, (though the room was air conditioned I was sweating profusely) she smiled at me and directed her eyes towards the baby that was sleeping peacefully in the cradle. I went to my wife and hugged her. My life had got a different meaning after she came into my life two years ago, this same day! She hugged me back with all her love and her eyes overflowed with tears (as I had expected) .To the extent I knew her, tears showed up in her eyes only when she was happy, she is a strong woman.

After the brief hug, I went to see my daughter. That little one which is going to share the love that belonged only to me and my wife. As I neared her, I could see the fragile outline of her.

She was very small than what I’d expected. Her eyes, as small as pea, were closed in deep slumber. Her hands were the length of my palm and her fingers were folded to a fist, not so tight. I tried to open the fist but thought it would hurt her, just touched her fingers and pulled my hand back. Thoughts of how my parents would have felt the day I was born, how this little one did not know how grand her welcome to the family would be, how my wife was feeling right now, though unspoken, were creating a cacophony in my mind.

For the last 9 months, I was just wondering, how the little one would look like. How my wife would feel the baby inside her every single day throughout the entire period. How would it be to feel a living thing inside you!! The one thing that made me envious of my wife. I would constantly ask her how she felt and she would tell me, being pregnant does not show just physically, but mentally too. Yes, true! I had seen it. From the day the doc confirmed the news, she was altogether a different lady. Each day my love as well as respect for her has grown over these years.

As I sat near the cradle recollecting my thoughts, tears blurred my vision. My love for my daughter overflowed; I had no intention to control. “With arms wide open” (The Band –Creed’s song) made its way to my mind…

Are You a Patriot??

The Merriam-Webster says Patriot (n.): one who loves his/ her country and supports its authority and interests. In the present day, keeping in mind the state of affairs, the dirty politics, it is impossible for a rational Indian to be loyal to the above definition. But a little devotion would not harm.

 Now coming to the point, how many of you at least stand up (leave alone in attention) when you hear The Anthem being played? How many of you remember those martyrs or the events or those dark frightful days of jallianwala bagh, those of the sepoy mutiny and many others which resulted in Independence (which of course does not hold even little significance anymore)? However, I do not intend to say that if you remember these, you are a patriot. NO. The question is ‘what do you do, at least something minimum to protect your country’s honor or to uplift its economy a little or anything that makes this country a little better to live’.

Are the National Holidays yet another off for a lazy day? If so, how will the coming generations know the significance of Indian History?? Just from HISTORY books? Why is that patriotism overflows just on the three National holidays? (FYI: Republic Day, Independence Day and Gandhi Jayanti).Television programmes showing anchors testing the knowledge of The Public about the National Emblems and Indian history, the answers for which they themselves would have learnt a few minutes before the programme, people giving interviews as though they have spent all of their  lives striving for the country’s development, pretence of closing down liquor shops that sell ample amount under the table even during these days, not comparable to the amount sold on the other days! Believe it or not (I was taken aback when I came to know about it), some states even have government run shops (Hats 0ff!). 

We show patriotism in arresting a citizen (read cartoonist) for he sketches the current state of Indian politics. We show patriotism in making the school kids march past the flag post in the scorching sun. We call people from other countries as racists when we refer our own people as gujju, madrasi, mallu, gulti and so on. We take bribes to complete our assigned work when compared to officials from other countries who need to be bribed only to deviate from their work. We are a nation full of talent, that goes abroad for higher studies and job opportunities because there isn’t sufficient here and one day bad mouth the same country that they were born in(I have seen people doing this). Every politician wants to make money so that, even his 50^th generation can have sufficient money to throw ravishing parties. No man seems to be honest in getting their work done, because you do not have enough time but ample money. We bring in reservations as a pact to improve economy and provide better opportunities but they are there for  entirely a different reason. Can you see any sanity in announcing reservations in grave yard??! Heights!

You need not be a Bhagat Singh, a Lal Bahadur Shastri to be called a patriot. You can still be that simple common man who works honestly, shows some actions of goodness towards fellow countrymen, teach his progeny not to grow up as a Hindu, Muslim or a Christian but as an Indian(the formers come after the person being Indian).Simple things done can bring in great changes.

Kal Ho Naa Ho...

The incense sticks burning, the room washed clean. Not a smile on any lips around. Nor is anyone interested in talking to others in the room. Nobody seems to encourage the child that’s trying to walk for the first time. A deep thought rather a reality that’s struck hard seems to affect every person in the room. It’s smell stronger than the incense sticks; it’s touch stronger than that of a mothers caring hands; it’s taste bitter than the neem; it’s sound harder than lightning to bear.But, when it decides to descend nobody can ask her to go back. THE ANGEL OF DEATH. Nobody has a taste of her till the time arrives and none can tell how it is after they taste it. 

“He/ She becomes ‘it’ in a fraction of second.”Life is so unpredictable. So too is death. As a matter of fact, every birth ends in death and when that person dies, as Paulo Coelho says in his ‘Winner Stands Alone’, when a person dies, an entire universe is lost with them. Their experiences of life, their knowledge about things is completely beyond reach; in other words nobody can ever feel or look at the world how the person himself/herself saw or felt.

 People say we never realize someone’s worth until they are gone. But that isn’t the fact. The truth is we miss them, we know them as they are, we know what they are, we know their worth even when they are there. But we do not express it since we know they are with us, they are around us; we assume, we take it for granted that things will never change. We never realize it is all matter of seconds. We never know whom we might lose the next second or whether we will be there that second to lose that someone.

 The absence of a person is felt for a while, but as the days pass ‘Time heals everything’. True, but the deeds that person did or the deeds you did to that person, will it ever fade away from your memory? You may say, to pretend, that you do not remember anything of that sort happening at all; when pointed out; but will you be able to answer the same when you yourself ask the question??

 Just think of that minute when your spouse is no more to say that you love her or him, your parents are gone before you were courteous and kind to them, a very close friend of yours is not here so that you can call them up to just say a ‘Hi’ to feel lighter (though you did not mention it when they were here).Just think of that moment. That moment when you will feel utter darkness around you even when the day is bright, things will really be heavy to bear. Life is a little shorter than you think. Live happily, let others live happily. Help if you can; do not trouble if you cannot. There will definitely be a point in life when you look back and replay your life. Try not to regret but rejoice at that moment.

Insights,a few

The feeling of sitting in a railway station watching the trains pass by, the deserted platforms, long after trains arrive and depart, the same when busy ; can bring in a lot of realizations; At least for me it happened. Realizations?? Rather, I would say, it brought me to think what life means to different people(Pardon me if you feel most of my writings are centered around this; But life has so much to tell you, so much you can learn from; an unending process I would say ).

Why would someone who can speak understandable English and HEALTHY too beg for a time's meal? Is it not true that he is not able to feed himself or just a gimmick to earn money? You would get no answer unless you go behind him till the evening to find it out. Why do you guys (you doesn't mean you, most of you) walk away making a disgusting face when a eunuch comes n stands or sits beside you? Are they not human beings like you? Why are they treated differently for no fault of theirs?

 As the world develops or say advances with technology, people have lost their senses totally. How early would you get into a compartment by pushing an eighty year old man back? And how mean are you when you pull your luggage in a crowd such that it hurts people walking around and behave as though nothing has happened? Come on, if you are a rich spoilt brat, keep all that with you, at your home or travel by a private jet that your parents can afford to buy or I would suggest earn money and buy it for yourself!!

 I agree time and money serve as the most important factors of life these days, leaving behind love, care, honesty that were once prime factors. Reminds me of one of the Billy Joel numbers, ”Honesty …”.You rarely see people greeting others with a smile even when they know each other well. What is the use of a smiley on your Id tag when you are often seen with a frowning face? When you do not have your loved ones with you, what is the use of money that you earned, missing every little happiness in life? What at the age of seventy will you do with it, when you do not even have enough energy to eat? How will you find happiness in big things when you cannot even find it in small things, small as in your kid’s drawing; or relishing your mother’s cooking (Do you really have time for these?, you are really busy, are not you? Running behind something that is there in front of you and running late everyday!!). Live life this moment; In other words, Life is very simple, WE have made it complex by adding many a things that are really not needed. I would prefer looking 1 as 1 instead of (10/100)*101.Take it as it comes; Make it a point that 60 or 70 years into your life, you do not look back and say “I wish I did this/that” or “I wish I was little more kind and courteous to people around me” (Because now you realize that people around you are not, towards you). Certain realizations at certain point in time are really necessary.

 Cheers!