Nationalism in Modern Times !!

    I took the glass from the shopkeeper with ecstatic joy and the puffy yellow mango shake smelt like a drink from heaven. It was a Friday evening and I had nothing much to do this weekend. I wanted to enjoy my drink and therefore I was sipping it very slowly. I would pull the drink up and then push it down through the straw, thereby creating bubbles. And then I was watching them burst. I was enjoying my life, just then I heard a strange sound. Something had fallen down from a height and I glanced from one end of the street to another, but in vain. Something had fallen I was sure and I was curious to know what it was. 

    

    "Don't worry Sir, its just a packet", the juicewala pointed out noticing my curious eyes. "What packet !", I exclaimed.  "Sardarji on the third floor throws this trash packet and litters the street every single day", he replied. I looked up to the third floor to have a glimpse of the divine being. There he was, with a red turban and a clean white shirt. He was holding a glass in his hand and with no guilt on his face, was smiling at us.

     I quickly moved out of that place with some puzzled thoughts. Like why he was smiling, why he was happy about the incident and why he did it in the first place. Maybe, his throw was not perfect and having thrown the garbage packet just beside me he missed his previous target. But he should have been sad having missed the target. With these unusual thoughts, I moved towards my home. 

    I don't know why but I started observing some incidents as I walked. These differed from the norm, the accepted standards of the society. I saw: 

• A well dressed man in his forties was ambulating with his pet. It was a small little dog ( a 'pug') roaming with his owner, smelling all the cycles, bikes and cars on his way in order to relieve itself. A number of such dogs had created havoc on the road in the previous days.
• A small eatery shop filled with several people, had thrown all the waste products like food, paper, water, sauce, etc right onto the road.
• A barber was continuously wiping out all the bits and pieces of his customers' hairs on the road.
• Some miscellaneous items like 'chappals', clothes, shoes were thrown in the middle of the road.
• People were relieving themselves on the walls of a government owned land, right below the warning 'Trespassers will be prosecuted'. People chose not to trespass, but to take the revenge right on the entrance gate.
• The base of a 'Peepal' tree was occupied with broken idols of God Ganesha, Goddess Laxmi and others.

     All these incidents were not a single incident, they were a trend. These trends once set by individuals, have been followed sheepishly. But the real question is can we stop them from taking place. The answer is Yes. I too should have disapproved of Sardarji's act, but I did not do it. I should have taken the responsibility of making him aware about the repulsive consequences of his act.

     On the morning of every Republic Day and Independence Day when we are watching national programs on Doordarshan, the small little feeling that we have while listening to the national anthem is something I wish that could stay with me forever. While throwing garbage, urinating in public, giving a bribe, taking a bribe or wasting natural resources, we should always be conscious of that small little feeling we had while singing our national anthem. This can be our modern way of nationalism.

    I happened to meet Sardarji again, but this time in a metro. He was about to throw his chocolate wrapper, when I drew his attention towards the logo of my bag displaying Swacch Bharat Abhiyan. He acted as if he was actually going to keep the wrapper in his bag itself. This time I smiled...

Don’t Be Inspired After Reading This

       “Hitler shall meet the same fate as the Jews of Germany. Hail Britain!!”.  The third time it rings, he wakes up furiously at 8.45 AM. Groping for his cell phone, he gives a boiling look as if he was one of the most wronged man on earth. He realises that his left hand is not conscious at all. Trying to relate this to the dream last night, he subconsciously realises that he was a Second World War soldier from Britain. Maybe, “Winston Churchill”. (Because of the ugly reading that he had been doing from few days).

         He quickly checks all his “Facebook” notifications, the latest updates around the world and because of all the weird pages he has liked on the web, he summarises there is nothing new this morning. He opens his “WhatsApp”, checks out all the messages and once again he surmises that all he has got this morning are the forwarded messages of “Good morning” and some really funny jokes that he reads like a prose.

         Glancing in the mirror, he sees his sullen countenance. Again, a damn morning.  A face distorted by sleep, hairs going in all directions. Murmuring, “My smartness has crossed another level altogether”, he starts brushing his teeth vigorously realising he is getting late for his office. All the necessary things that he had planned to implement after reading “Robin Sharma” stuffs like waking up early in the morning, exercising, meditating, jogging and making a good breakfast were circling in his thought process. And then an epic procrastinating idea, “Kal se pakka karenge, ab bahut ho gaya”.

         With a guilt of having reached office late again, he starts working for his daily office chores. He tries to justify himself that he will work really hard today. Just then, he notices a tiny minuscule ant crawling into his keyboard. It disappears and this makes him a little uneasy. He lifts the keyboard, turns it upside down and with a “to and fro” motion tries to desperately throw out the tiny ant. There she was, right on the desk. The black tiny ant crawling over the white mica sheet of the desk. He smiles, and while holding the keyboard he watches the ant steadily moving out. He keeps a close eye on it. The ant stops, and starts rubbing its antennae vigorously. Unwilling to crawl, he starts getting vexed with a little bit of frown on his face. He whiffs at it with full force and it vanishes.

          “Is everything alright, Ramesh?”, inquires his colleague. “Maybe, he was watching me”, he prompts in his head. “Yes Peter, the day is awesome”. Happy that he had at least taught the ant a lesson of a lifetime. Sadism, at its peak.

            He completes his daily tasks in office, reaches back home by 6 o’ clock evening. He calls his several friends, his parents and siblings and laments about the workload in his office. He justifies them (and himself too) that it was a very tough day at work. He quickly opens his laptop, and with a “fear of missing out” logs on to facebook. Quickly going through the “news feed” and updating himself about all his friends, he opens his “WhatsApp” and reads all the forwarded messages again. Some really funny jokes are read by him like a prose again. He feels content with his life now.

            He has his dinner and now he has all the time in the world before the morning comes again. He calls his fiancée and talks to her over all the futile, trivial and frivolous topics. (He decides to refrain from telling about the ant that made his life miserable that day.) Covering a wide spectrum of his so called important topics for three to four hours, he decides it’s very late and he should sleep now.

           He pounces on a book kept below his laptop, “The Greatness Guide by Robin Sharma”. He pretends to read it subconsciously and gradually falls asleep. This time he is against the “Apartheid System” in South Africa. Oh! Wait a minute! Is he “Nelson Mandela” today?

P.S.   Don’t vegetate like Ramesh does.

Have a fixed set of goals in your life and work towards them.

Don’t just be lost in a reverie. Go there and do it !

“Kat to rahi hi hai,

Kat to jayegi hi,

Kucch aisa kariye,

Ki zindagi gaaye bhi.”

An Obsession of a Winner

          The Plebeians giggled how the little man fell down, stumbling at something where even a naïve could have done better. The critics pointed out, “Here, here you could have done better.”

           But this little man, in the coliseum, in the arena fighting valorously, striving hard but because of his misjudgment falling short again and again. Erring flagrantly but learning with each fall. He knows the great enthusiasms, the great struggles, the great dedications. His face fraught with dust, sweat and blood. He knows the glory of a victory, the happiness that comes at a cost, the breeze of content that triumph brings.

            The little man, even if he fails, at least fails in this commitment shall always find his place a notch above the coward, cold and timid souls, who never tasted victory nor defeat. This man, this little man is a true CHAMPION.

The "Pain" called "Nostalgia" !!

               The clamorous sound entering my ears from the balcony of my room was enticing, I had heard them before. It spoke to me with blithe ignorance. I frisked there and saw children fighting with juvenile enmity over a cricket match episode. Yes this was enticing, not because I tried to be a judge or something but because, I was visualising myself down there.

               I decided to take a stroll down the memory lane. After years have passed (with no substantial addition to my wisdom ), I realised, I did not take time out from my busy life to harbour some memories that bring smile to my face.

It  was yesterday that I thought ,

Papa was a superman,

Mummy was a stringent,

Sister was an obedient,

Brother was an authoritarian.

                Today, I believe I can be all four at different times (or together) : superman, stringent, obedient, authoritarian. Times change with time, this is the obvious excuse people give. But, time flows like an ideal fluid : with steady flow, with no viscosity (that’s the only way, I can thank all the physics I have studied since class sixth).

               Such has the time changed, that we don’t have a moment of laughter in the entire day. We don’t have that touch, that blessed touch of our mothers, of our loved ones. Living several hundreds of thousands of kilometres away from our family is obviously a curse in disguise. Yes, we’ll have our reasons for it and they might be very true but the truth is we know this and we try not to think about this. And we'll always evade this. Ask yourself do you miss your family?

              So, we grow and grow bigger in stature, money, wealth and wisdom but we also evade the truth. The truth that we are in this world for a purpose, which the great ‘Gandhi’ identified as serving the fellow countrymen, the great ‘Lincoln’ identified as fighting for the slaves and the great ‘Castro’ identified as freeing his country from American domination. Ask yourself what is the purpose of your life?

               We’ll perish one day and be finished. Our descendants would not know us because obviously we did nothing substantial to expect them to remember us.

Here’s the rhetorical question.

Yes we earned money, yes we attained knowledge, yes we attained properties but did we attain happiness?

Ask yourself in the mirror.

THE TREASURES IN YOU !!!!!!

There are treasures in life,

 but owners are few

Of money and power

to buy things brand new.

Yet you can be wealthy

and feel regal too,

If you will just look

for the treasures in you.

These treasures in life

are not hard to find

When you look in your heart,

your soul, and your mind.

For when you are willing

to share what’s within,

Your fervent search

for riches will end.

The joy and the laughter,

the smile that you bring;

The heart unafraid

to love and to sing;

The hand always willing

to help those in need;

Ones quick to reach out,

to labor and feed.

So thank you for sharing

these great gifts inside;

The caring, the cheering,

the hug when one cried.

Thanks for the energy,

encouragement too,

And thank you for sharing

the treasures in you.

DON'T WASTE YOUR LIFE !!!!!!

Here I am, walking through time 
taking these steps, through this life of mine 
Where am I now, and where will I go 
Is it all an illusion? - I really don’t know. 


Days seem to pass, before long it’s years 
While I’ve been contemplating life's hopes and Life's fears. 
Watching and waiting, just looking on 
before I knew it, my whole life had gone 


I awoke from Life's dream, and now here I stand 
Looking back at my life with God at my hand 
I learned about life and the meaning of love 
amidst tears of pain, but was that enough? 


In life we can live out our dreams if we want to - its true 
the one who decides, takes chances, makes choices 
IS YOU 


So before you let your life pass you by 
think of these words, Live your dream - don’t be shy 
All you need, you have within 
So live your dream now, let YOUR life begin.....

A SPARKLING ANECDOTE

               A flash of light glared my eye. Suddenly, I found myself into this conscious world. I tried to remember where I am right now, only to find myself on the streets of my hometown. A tear drop rolled down my eye, there must have been a dribble of such drops. My eyes were misty. Disturbed, perturbed and vexed by thoughts of my future, I had lost my power of thought. My power of analysis seemed to be waning. It had been a tough day; in fact instances that very well challenged my little self.

               Mediocre performance in every step of life. I didn’t know what my mettle was. People say everybody has a talent. I didn’t know my talent. I was just flowing and moving on, as my life moved on. It was not what I wanted, but it was what my life wanted. And a plethora of questions, but nobody to answer. It never happened with me before, and I couldn’t understand myself. Nobody cared to think about me so much, so as to make me realize my talent.

                I noticed some struggling people on the road. People who fought day in and day out just to survive and flourish, with a hope of getting prosperity one day. Here are some of them:-
• A labour (maybe) had a very sound sleep on the footpath, felt as if a heaven for him.
• A vendor who used to sell some sweets had a very bad day and was counting his pennies.
• An auto rickshaw stopped by me looking for a passenger desperately for his vacant vehicle.
• A small child carried four buckets brimming with water, on a cycle.
• A handicapped person with no legs was on a block of wood with four wheels and moved slowly.
• A carpenter was working overtime and was desperate for a very small project.
• A rickshaw puller with three passengers and two extra children, tried to wrap up his days’ work with the best deal.

                These people were very simple people but seemed like warriors. I was startled to see their energy, their ebullience. It was a kind of overwhelming feeling. Anyway, I had failed in an interview and my failure seemed to be dwindling down because of these buoyant personalities.

                It started raining, a perfect time of the year for the rains to come. The ambience became so tranquil that I could hear the rain drops falling. People started running for shelter and I don’t know why, but these rains came as a joyful surprise to me. Maybe, because my tears were lost in these rain droplets. I wanted to enjoy the rain but the grave aspects of life had to be given a good thought. I decided to walk down to my home.

               I reached home; my small little puppy sprang upon me and licked me, tried desperately to flaunt his new ball. I was very upset, at the opportunity I missed and messed that day. I went to the bathroom, had a quick shower and yelled “Mom, feeling hungry, had a very tough day”. I didn’t want to do anything, I just switched on the television and it was the “Discovery channel”. I was just shocked to see how people reach the North Pole, where the temperature is 50 degrees below the zero degree (the temperature at which water freezes). Icy storms that end in two or three days. “What drives them to reach there?” This question puzzled me and I switched off the television.

                I had great food, but there were many questions that had to be answered before I slept that day. I asked my mother to oil and massage my head. I don’t know but it definitely has some magic that can charm and invigorate you. I asked my mother, “Mummy, why do people want to live when they have nothing with them?” What an innocent question from a son to his mother!! She replied, “When people have everything with them, then they have nothing to live for. It is the problems that make a human life interesting”. Too stodgy at that instant, I got it though. What followed was a night awakening introspection and retrospection.

                 “Gaurav, get up!!!! It’s very late, here’s your newspaper”, my mother said. I always have a habit of welcoming my new day with a newspaper. I tried to recollect what happened yesterday and my spirits circumscribed. I read my horoscope, which I believe is incumbent for everyone; I rushed to the editorial section. I was reading an article and had a feeling of déjà vu. “It’s my article”, I squalled at the top of my voice in exhilaration. I was so delighted to see my article right up there. I was extremely happy and yes it was a matter of pride. My cell phone rang and a very heavy voice comes from the other side. “Well done, boy!!!! You have your space here and you’re working with us now”, said the editor of ‘The Indian Express’.

                 “This was my mettle, this was my talent,” I realised. Just above my article I saw a quotation from William Shakespeare. “Sweet are the uses of adversity which, like the toad, ugly and venomous, wears yet a precious jewel in his head”. I wondered it was for me. I quickly went to my mother touched her feet, called up my father and said “Papa!!! Your son is working with the Indian Express now”.

28th JUNE - MY BIRTHDAY

Its always exciting to wait for my birthday, days before it actually comes . That one special day ..when everybody wishes me...mom does'nt scold..everybody wants to know whats happening in my life..every single person around me tries to make me feel special.
 
I feel like living my whole life in this particular day..but actually it does'nt happen. Time passes by and so does the hysteria. People keep calling in and I jot down the name of the people who wish me "happy birthday",there are so many of them. But as time passes ,the number of people start getting meagre.
 
Gifts !!! The best part of my birthday is this one. There is a sort of curiosity attached with them. The mere thought invigorates my mind. One of my greatest wish is to sit around thousands of gifts ,all by myself. Opening the well decorated gift wraps ,just like a 4-year old does.
 
I always give parties to people around me, a bit differently. On the day of my birthday, its just the family members and then on some other date its my friends who get this birthday party. (They feel its incumbent to do it!!!!)
 
Right from my childhood , my birthday always falls in holidays , that is, summer vacations in school and semester break in college. This fact has its own advantages and disadvantages. I can protect myself from the diabolic birthday bumps often given in a bad taste. But, I really miss my school and college friends.
 
Now, the biggest fact is as one becomes old this birthday affair and everything attached to it which was ebullient before dwindles down to a morsel.
 
When everybody has left,and its 11'o' clock in the night...when I am all by myself..in solitude..alone in my room, there's a quick recap of the day. I try to remember each and every detail of my birthday and the events that happened the same day. This is the point of time, where I remember the people who did'nt wish me "Happy Birthday !!!!". I start feeling maybe I am not important to them. Then, I recollect how I've been to them and did I wish them ?????
 
Its just me and my thoughts, and thoughts vacillating between pleasure moments and painful moments of my life. I become nostalgic, dredging up past moments. Wrongs that I've done to people around me or when I've been wronged by them, everything just flashes up !!!!!  I try to cry, but the tears dont come !!! And believe me, you really can't fight the tears that are'nt coming. My parents, my family, my life, my happiness, my love, my friends; there are just so many things i owe to...i fear hurting them..i fear losing them..i fear living without them..i fear living upto their expectations, these thoughts become too stodgy for me.
 
These smouldering thoughts keep me awake throughout the night. Dreams turn into smithereens. All my foibles seem like a flaw in the spectrum of my character. I search for a panacea and all I get is the "Valium". Life which was seeming on the crest of a wave few hours back circumscribes into a fiasco.
 
"Mom, give me my breakfast, I'm really getting late", I yelled. Driving my car, I just try to recollect what happened yersterday..and all that comes into my mind is that I really got great 'presents'. I listen to radio and this is the first line i hear from it, " Man is a moral zombie, he needs to cling on to his dreams, because the ramifications of life are really confusing." I wondered it was for me. And , I switched it off without a second thought. I gave an ecstatic smile, overtook the fastest car on the road and was back in my sedentary life.
 
But sometimes , I don't know why, I can feel the reverberations of a din.......[ :):) ]

THE POLITICAL FIASCO

Where's the silver lining ,you keep showing
Where's the silver lining ,I can't see..

Stellar politicians and the political incense,
Yet ,bragging about progress does'nt make sense..

One end of a boat sinking into the water ,
With people hailing in gloom..
The other end up in the air,
With people expecting an utopian boom..

"Thank God !! The hole is not on our side",
Says the illusionary priveleged man,

But the boat is here to vanish,
Its high time we understand..

Hey you rich people,
Keep your opulent gates closed..
There's poverty all around,
One day they will be stoned..

Educate your children and educate them well,
But don't forget there are millions in hell..

Where's the silver lining , You keep showing,
Where's the silver lining ,I cant see..

You talk about GDP ,the overall success meter,
But have you seen a car with one indicator...
There's speed ,fuel and engine heat,
That one indicator can't meet...

Master the donkeys with 'carrots and sticks',
To sapiens dont show these tricks...

They will jolt you out of the equilibrium one day,
Grab your throne and throw you away...

Here's the silver lining ,you can't see,
Here's the silver lining ,I can see.
Here's the silver lining ,I can see.

A REALISATION BEYOND IMAGINATION !!!!!

I slapped the snooze alarm for the third time and finally opened my eyes only to find myself in my hostel room. Last night had been a late one. I don’t remember how it first struck my mind but I got a deep insight when a number of instances around me...started coming up. I frantically thought about such instances and came across several real-life experiences that can just make you feel delighted. You might have not thought about it but you can always experience around you.

            “LOVE” ,the meaning is so deep, intense and touching that its truly undefined. Then there’s other side, there’s no meaning of true love, if you look for a meaning then its not LOVE infact.. So, that makes me perplexed…whether to look out for a meaning or not. I gave up all these thoughts and this is what I thought after that :-

• A smiling baby and her mother – the true definition of love. So pure!!! So unblemished !!! So true!!! The motive of each kind of love should be to reach this level of purity.
• When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn't bend over and paint her toenails anymore. So my grandfather did it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That's love.
• Love is what makes you smile when you're tired.
• Love is when my mummy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is OK
• Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it everyday.
• In my class 6th,during one of my class presentations ,I was on the stage and scared. Among all the people sitting, I could only see my father waving and smiling at me. He was the only one doing that , I was not scared anymore..
• Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day.
• An author and lecturer once talked about a contest he was asked to judge. The purpose of the contest was to find the most caring child. The winner was a 4 year old child whose next door neighbor was an elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife.               Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the old gentleman's yard, climbed onto his lap, and just sat there. When his Mother asked him what he had said to the neighbor, the little boy said, "Nothing, I just helped him cry."

Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. Love does not demand its own way. Love is not irritable, and it does not keep record of when it has been wronged. It is never glad about injustice but rejoices when truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through all circumstances. Love will last forever.

I went through a divine realisation that night..love is “An Elixir of LIFE” is what I ended up with.. We have lost ourselves to the materialistic world. Money,fame,power is all we thrive for but have we ever realised the true essence of life?? The obvious answer is “NO”.