What's the way out?

Read thousands of self-motivational books, hear thousands of lectures by people who ask you to do what you love. Movies and posters saying you money is not everything in life. Gurujis and swamijis mesmerizing you, making you believe that health is more important than wealth. Bottom line is all the above said people, write books, stories, direct movies, lectures, not because they care for you, but because they care for money.

                If they really believe money is not important in life, why don’t they write books for free? Direct movies without salary, and bless people without getting donations, teach yoga and meditation for free?           “Follow your dream” is a fancy word, for which people fall easily. Most of the persons who ask you to follow your dream, are those who aren't aware of their own passion. Motivational experts lecture hours together explaining the benefits of following passion, to the people who haven’t even found their passion yet.

                Assume that you have found your fuming passion, due to some magical spell. First case-You are on safe zone until your passion is something like engineer, IAS, IITs, IIMs, Doctor, CA, business, and so on, Because most probably you will have some backing from parents, society and friends.  On 9 out of 10 occasions, it won’t be your true passion. But the Immense social pressure would have made you believe it’s your passion. Most of the people are doing what they do because, their society thinks, it’s a great thing to do.

“Following your dream” is a like two sided sword. You can’t handle it without hurting yourself or others.

                I sincerely believe that lakhs of people having a common ambition or passion for engineering, medicine, or IAS is abnormal, because if it had been so, technological, medical and economic revolution would have been long begun in our country. We wouldn’t be seeking foreign help for setting up nuclear reactors and aerospace facilities, our children wouldn’t have been malnourished, and rupee value won’t be stumbling.

                Second case-You wake up in middle of a nightmare and find your passion to be something among, sport, arts, music, dance, writing, talking and so the so called weird things. If it’s the case, then no sane father in this country will allow his daughter to marry you. And if you are a girl, then you will get tagged as ‘anti-cultural’, and that you are tarnishing the tradition of this country.

           


    Either you should hurt the feelings of your parents and bear the words of society to pursue your interest, or should dump your passion and live for others.

                                                           
                                                                 What’s the way out?

The story of 'Horses and elephants'

(This is a piece of historical incident. The characters of this story are factual.

 Conversations are imaginary, except for the theme.)

This incident happened in Alexander’s court. It was the tradition of Greek traders, who tour throughout the world, to report to Alexander and gift him the rare artifacts they gathered around. Alexander also held meeting with them, to know about people, economy, heritage and culture of the countries they visited.

                During one such meetings, a trader was explaining to Alexander, “Your majesty! I think you would have heard about a region named India and about its enormous wealth” he continued, “But I guess you wouldn't have heard how big fools they were”. Alexander looked at him confusingly, “What do you mean?” The trader replied with a beaming face, “Yes, they are having high quality horses, strong bulls, and animals like huge mountains, called ‘elephants’” everybody listened to him in utter silence, he continued in a mocking tone, “But those fools, they are using those animals to plough their fields, lift loads and for transportation and farming” A wave of mocking laughter, astonishment and sympathy, spread through the court. One of the ministers commented,”They could have conquered the world using those large number of strong animals; I wish you could have owned those animals, your majesty” Alexander thought, “They are suffering in sun, due to their ignorance”. Court was dispersed after some pep talks.

                Later during that day, Alexander described his teacher Aristotle, about the incident happened in court, that day morning. After hearing every word without interfering, Aristotle paced up and down his room, in deep thoughts. After arriving at a conclusion, he said to Alexander,

                                                                

“Dear Alexander, if really such a land exists where the elephants are used for lifting loads, bulls for farming and horses for transportation, then it should be the most magnificent country in the whole world.” Alexander murmured with curious eyes, “I don’t understand you teacher. Aren’t they wasting the potential of their resources, due to ignorance?” Aristotle replied calmly, “No Alexander, in a place where elephants and horses are used for domestic purpose, it means people and animals are living in harmony as a society. Wisdom is ruling and prevailing in that country. India is a blessed country. ” 

"How big mistake is it?"

Sitting on the sea shore, naturally we look only at the restless waves, waves that travel back and forth without peace. Our vision is limited to the waves. That is why I guess most of the poems on sea, has ‘waves’ as the central theme.

Looking only at the corner of the ocean, we think it’s shallow, restless and unclear. So when we are asked to imagine, draw or describe about ocean, waves are the first thing that comes to our mind and then, sea shore. The ‘restless’ waves and ‘shallow’ seashore.

How big our mistake is, to imagine the ‘restless’ waves and ‘shallow’ seashore as, ‘one big ocean’!

               

     Look straight. Broaden your vision. Envision as long as possible. How majestic is the ocean! How long! How wide! How deep! How clear! How calm! Isn’t this the real ocean? Undivided, deep, wide, continuous, independent. The ocean that has everything within it. Don’t limit your vision with waves, for you may leave without even knowing about the beautiful and serene ocean.

                Similarly, looking at small troubles, difficulties, failures and losses, we imagine it as the whole life. “How big mistake, is it?” They are only the losers, who claim, “Life is pain, hex and, life is full of difficulties”. Remember! They are those persons who never dared to think beyond waves.

             


   If you aren’t blind. If you can see- Dare to see beyond the waves- dare to read, not only the first line of the book in your hand, but through the book till the last line- It is then you can call yourself as someone, who saw the ocean, as someone, who had read a book, as someone who lived the life.

The Child India

School bell for P.T (physical training) period rang in a school. Children of different classes reached the school ground with renewed energy. They got split out in groups and played different games. One such group of boys and girls played together building sand castles. They were at least 7 years old.

                A small boy in that group said, “In today’s class, our teacher taught us to draw the map of India.  He even drew small towns in it! Created streets in those towns and even drew houses in those streets. Can we also draw like that and play within it? But we should draw big map of India in sand first. ”

                This new game seemed interesting to them. So they began drawing India on sand. Marked towns and small houses within it. ‘Child India’ born finally. All the kids inhabited into the ‘child India’. Before becoming the citizens of child India, those 40 little citizens of India, were diversified by class, community, money and lot more things. Upper class Indian, lower class Indian, Hindu child, Muslim child, Christian child, rich, poor and countlessly diversified. But the inhabitants of ‘child India’ had no diversifications, both in soul and sand. The soul thoughts of the citizens of ‘child India’ were the same, undiversified and innocent.

                The citizens of ‘child India’ made schools in their country. They appointed teachers. Cultivated crops, and farms, set up trade. They ran families.  They were in harmony.

                Suddenly one boy said: "Everything is fine. But we haven’t created police".

A tiny girl innocently replied: “We don’t want police. If we have police, then we should make people steal”.

                They dropped the idea of police.

The ‘Child Indian society’ was running beautifully in harmony. But it was time for the school bell.

The time for the citizens of ‘child India’ to get back to ‘real India’.

                                                                 *****

Respected politicians and ‘social architects’ of India. Look at these children quick, before they enter into real India. Learn from them, or at least don’t poison their pure heart.  

At least, let our children live in harmony, in the future.

                                                                     *****

THE PAPER BOAT

When I was in Kinder garden, my parents made me believe, ‘Success’ means reciting alphabets and numbers, without mistake. When I grew into 5^th grade, getting into ‘Top 5 rank’ meant success to me.  When I grew bigger, standards of success too grew bigger. Success meant getting into prestigious institutes for higher studies. I got into one, and thought it’s all over. But life taught me that I had just begun.

                All through my childhood, I wondered, “When I would grow up”.  And now that am a grown up, I worry, “Why did I grew up”. Life was so simple. ’ Home works’ were the only trouble I faced, ’Good byes’ were valid only till the next day morning, ‘Greatest pain’ I felt was due to the scratch in the knee, when I fell down from cycle. ‘Longest waiting moments’ were the ad intervals between the cartoons. ‘The worst character I ever faced’, was that bully who broke my pencil tip.

  

                Back to reality. I stood bewildered. Success wore a thousand new faces, and so did the people.  Everybody had their own definition of success. Success meant to top the college, to lead a college gang, to have a girl friend, to win competitions, to co-ordinate seminars and conferences, to dance in cultural, to do highly creative projects, to do master degree in USA, to secure highly paid job, to satisfy parents, cousins, friends, girlfriend, next house uncle, a nameless well wisher, and it never ends. Each day, every new face I saw, gave a new definition to success.

                Random thoughts hap hazarding my mind, struggling to coin my own definition of success; I strolled through a rainy road, where I saw a kid struggling to float her ‘Paper boat’. Wishing to help her, I took the paper boat and unfolded it.  I read in it, my definition for success, in a shabby handwriting,

“SUCCESSFUL IS THE PERSON, WHO HAD LAUGHED OFTEN AND LOVED MUCH. WHO HAS GAINED THE RESPECT OF THE CHILDREN. WHO LEAVES THE WORLD BETTER THAN HE FOUND IT, WHO HAS NEVER LACKED APPRECIATION FOR THE EARTH’S BEAUTY. WHO NEVER FAILS TO LOOK FOR THE BEST IN OTHER OR GIVE BEST FOR THEMSELVES”

                I silently thanked the kid for ‘paper boat’. She looked gleefully at me, as the paper boat sailed ceremoniously through the rain water.

                                                     “Have you found your ‘paper boat’?”

TO WHOM-SO-EVER IT MAY CONCERN

There are times when we feel completely let down,like everything doomed on us, when we fail in an important commitment in our life or failing in an exam, sport or business or lose of dear ones, or loss of love, etc. Times  when we feel we had hit a rock wall, instead of a fairy tale ending. And when we finally look up, and comes the question in our mind,             “What to do next?”, probably an awkward moment for every one of us.

One thing you should remember in mind during these times is, This is life, a real life, more realistic and more true than in movies and much more true than our imaginations. You might have worked hard and harder than ever, loved someone or something, more than anyone or anything. But it has happened and went out of your hands. All you can and should do is to remain CALM. As Buddha says,

“WAIT, CALM DOWN. LET YOUR DISTURBED MIND GETS CLEARED FIRST. LET THE STORM IN YOUR HEART PASS AWAY. LET PEACE SETTLE THERE. ONLY PEACE CAN GIVE YOU EYES TO SEE THINGS CLEARLY. AFTER THAT YOU WILL NOT NEED ANYBODY TO TEACH YOU ANYTHING. IF YOU GOT CALMED DOWN, YOU CAN FIND YOUR WAY YOURSELF.YOU CAN REACH YOUR GOAL”

Failure doesn't kill you, but it increases your desire to make something happen. After all life’s vast. You have all the time to win back what you lost or to take revenge. When you were a kid, you wouldn't have quit playing "Super Mario", once you lost the first time. So is life. Whatever situation you are in, mountains will always be there..Climb over the mountain and when you finish it, you will find another one, higher and mightier…Never ever hesitate to gear up for that one too.


One last thing you can do to scare away your failure, loss, or what-ever bothers you is this. Look in the mirror yourself and.........................

The Pride in being an 'Indian'

"They(Indians) would not tell a lie for anything in the world and do not utter a word that is not true"
I happened to read this in a travelogue written by Marco Polo, centuries back. I do not know what Marco Polo will write if he visits India now. But his words gave me goose-bumps and inspired me to dig deeper into India's history.

After I strolled through lot of websites and books, I happened to end up on a documentary, "The Story of India" by British historian, Michael Wood, on the history of India. Though initially I watched it to kill my time, very soon I found myself sitting still and listening with all my heart. I saw the passion in his eyes, for my country and its history, in his eyes, which I hadn't felt in me or seen in any other citizen of India(From a platformer to politician).

His enthusiastic exposition of history made me to entirely forget the present and allow myself to be transported as if by magic into the past. He penetrated through the dim mist of 4000 years and transformed into a living reality. When I listened to him, I became afire with enthusiasm, amazed and spell-bound at our cultural wealth and heritage, sat erect in pride and finally moved into tears.

I hadn't felt proud or cried when I saw our I-day parade, nor when I saw 'Chak de India'.
But I cried when a foreigner made me understand the value of our country.

                           I sincerely Thank This man, who made me cry for my country, in pride.

  

The Dog and The Demon

"Thambi...How much do you say for a kilo of onion?", my grandma's old but clear voice stopped the by-passing street vendor. Any street vendor cannot pass through my home, without being stopped by my grandma, who quality checks the commodity (It doesn't matter whether its tomato or Tablet PC's), negotiates the price politely yet strongly, and send them off without buying anything- Everybody have their own hobbies.

Those street vendors too know that she won't buy anything, but they had never hesitated to stop by and bargain equally with her. I don't remember a single day when they had shown their faces off to the old lady's call. I assumed, respecting other people’s hobby was their hobby- Everybody have their own hobbies.

     "Its Rs. 52 per kilo maa", replied the vendor. "I asked for 1 Kg, not for 1 basket of onion" grandma gave an innocent punch. We three know that the bargain will continue for at least 15 more minutes, ending in no purchase. But a shrill scream of a kid, that came from from upstairs snapped off the deal instantly. Grandma shrugged in shock caused by that scream, vendor dropped off his weight balance, and me, I stood blank and my legs forgot that they should run upstairs until my grandma pinched it. In four jumps I climbed the 16 flight stairs, to find the next house kid standing with his legs shivering, hands bleeding, and eyes overflowing with fear and tear. I looked around for a possible cause, there stood Tommy, my pet dog, looking at me innocently with its head tilted to one side, and wagging ts tail.

     It didn't need a detective to guess what would have happened. I know I should wash the wound with clean water and then should take him to hospital. But an unimportant thought disguised itself as the most important issue flashed it my mind. 'Why dogs are always named in English like Tommy, Julie, tiger, Cassie...  and why not they can have Indian names like Anitha, Arun, Raja or Ramya?' My determined mind put aside the sobbing that grew with time and got involved in serious thought. To the luck of that kid, a dumb but logical thought hit my mind unusually soon. 'Perhaps it is the passive revenge, we people are taking against 200 years of British suppression. Insulting them by naming dogs in English'.

     A more confident and anguished scream from the kid brought me back to the real world and I carried him to the hospital. Tommy was already vaccinated so I didn't had the fear of any serious troubles. The doctor said that there's nothing to worry as the wound was due to scratch caused by Tommy's nail. He dressed up the wound and gave the kid a sedative to make him sleep.

     When I came home, I found Tommy tied outside the front gate of home. The kids father who was in dhoti gave me an accusing look as I went to my home. my grandma's face told me stories of commotion caused by him and I understood that he had talked her out to drive Tommy out of the home. I gave her a 'Do something' look, and she gave me back a 'Same to you' look.

    I looked at the kid's father, and said, "So uncle...kid's fine. Doc said noting to worry". He looked menacingly at me as if I tried to feed Tommy his son and said, "But what's sure that this won't happen again?, there are other kids too, its not to safe to have a dog here". I wish I could Untie Tommy and make him to bite that 'demon in dhoti'. So that a menace can be eliminated before Tommy leaves home. But I know Tommy won't bite anybody. He is the perfect example of barking dogs seldom bites. I brought this cute, tiny, shiny, black Labrador, from my friend's home, hiding it in my sister's handbag, so that the bus conductor won't charge for it. I looked at Tommy. He's enjoying the bright sunlight on him, as my home wore a unusually gloomy look anticipating his departure...

     My Grandma finally broke the silence, "Okay, Don't worry, Tommy's a grown up guy, he can find his own food, leave him across the main road near the railway station and come back". Though my grandma said this casually in a steady voice, I didn't failed to notice the longing in her voice. The longing for Tommy to return back home within evening, as the place she said was familiar to Tommy, because he had went walking to that place with grandma lot of times. I know Tommy can surely get back alone from there, and if he comes, then grandma can retain Tommy back by threatening that, "its god's wish that Tommy should be with us, so only he got back all alone, don't get god's curse on you". I untied Tommy trying to hide the excitement because of grandma's plan. But the sugar coated Vicious words from the man, stung our plans. He said, "Paati, Tommy may get hurt due to traffic in that main road, leave him in forest area after that highway".Even before he finished , I know Tommy will be missed in the home for ever. As even a man with six senses and a sickle cant get through that dense forest

     

My head shook firmly in affirmation, as I shifted to plan B. That is to leave Tommy somewhere nearby without telling him. So that Tommy can smell its path back home. This time I completely hid the emotions in my face. I felt quite relived as the demon in dhoti went back into his home.

     I strolled along the road with Tommy, worrying what will he do if he cant find the path back home. But his intelligence and smelling abilities gave me hope. I never imagined, even my plan B,C,D,...Y, Z. will be shattered, because of the voice I heard, "Thambi...Don't go that place alone, I too will come"
Demon in dhoti stood behind me as demon in shirt and dhoti...

---TO BE CONTINUED