Life – Ink In My Tea

My first Poem… “Karm Path”

हर दिन निडर हो,
चल कर्म पथ पर,

सवेरा सोच कर ये हो,
अंत हो आज तो, रहे ना कुछ मंच पर,

डार हैं समाज से,
डर हैं अपने अंदर,

छोड़ मत समाज को
कर उसकि भी कदर,

कदर् हैं समाज से,
उससे ही पहचान अगर,

झांक अपनी सोच में,
परिवर्तन उस पर ही कर,

साथ अपनों का हो,
उससे हैं आसान सफर,

रोक मत समाज को,
उसके बहुत मुख मगर,

आईना समाज का हो,
उसपर सोच हो निरंतर,

तुझे अगर बैर हो,
बात कर, खुल कर, मिल कर,

विचार अगर ना मील,
उनहे मिला बैठ कर,

मिल जाते विचार तो,
समाज होता केसै पर्रसपर,

रासते कठिन हैं ये,
अकेले हैं मुश्किल डागर,

साथ अगर सब चले,
कट जाये ये मुसकुराकर,

और मुसकान ही तो ये,
निरभर सिर्फ आज पर,

तो उठ खढा और जान ये,
कि आज मे और अभी मे हैं,
जिंदगी का ये लांबा सफर…..

dedicated to the ‘one’ who is the most indispensable person in my life, most near to my heart and dearest to me….

Story of Appreciation

One young academically excellent person went to apply for a managerial position in a big company.He passed the first interview, the director did the last interview, made the last decision.

The director discovered from the CV that the youth’s academic achievements were excellent all the way, from the secondary school until the postgraduate research,

Never had a year when he did not score.

The director asked,

“Did you obtain any scholarships in school?”

The youth answered “none”.

The director asked,

” Was it your father who paid for your school fees?”

The youth answered,

“My father passed away when I was one year old, it was my mother who paid for my school fees.

The director asked,

” Where did your mother work?”

The youth answered,

“My mother worked as clothes cleaner.

The director requested the youth to show his hands.

The youth showed a pair of hands that were smooth and perfect.

The director asked,

” Have you ever helped your mother wash the clothes before?”

The youth answered,

“Never, my mother always wanted me to study and read more books.

Furthermore, my mother can wash clothes faster than me.

The director said,

“I have a request. When you go back today, go and clean your mother’s hands, and then see me tomorrow morning.*The youth felt that his chance of landing the job was high. When he went back, he happily requested his mother to let him clean her hands. His mother felt strange, happy but with mixed feelings, she showed her hands to the kid.

The youth cleaned his mother’s hands slowly. His tear fell as he did that. It was the first time he noticed that his mother’s hands were so wrinkled, and there were so many bruises in her hands. Some bruises were so painful that his mother shivered when they were cleaned with water.

This was the first time the youth realized that it was this pair of hands that washed the clothes everyday to enable him to pay the school fee. The bruises in the mother’s hands were the price that the mother had to pay for his graduation, academic excellence and his future.

After finishing the cleaning of his mother’s hands, the youth quietly washed all the remaining clothes for his mother.

That night, mother and son talked for a very long time.

Next morning, the youth went to the director’s office.

The Director noticed the tears in the youth’s eyes, asked:

” Can you tell me what have you done and learned yesterday in your house?”

The youth answered,

” I cleaned my mother’s hand, and also finished cleaning all the remaining clothes’

The Director asked,

” please tell me your feelings.”

The youth said,

Number 1,

I know now what appreciation is. Without my mother, there would not the successful me today.

Number 2,

By working together and helping my mother, only I now realize how difficult and tough it is to get something done.

Number 3,

I have come to appreciate the importance and value of family relationship.The director said,

” This is what I am looking for to be my manager. I want to recruit a person who can appreciate the help of others, a person who knows the sufferings of others to get things done, and a person who would not put money as his only goal in life. You are hired.Later on, this young person worked very hard, and received the respect of his subordinates. Every employee worked diligently and as a team. The company’s performance improved tremendously.
A child, who has been protected and habitually given whatever he wanted, would develop “entitlement mentality”and would always put himself first. He would be ignorant of his parent’s efforts.

When he starts work, he assumes that every person must listen to him, and when he becomes a manager, he would never know the sufferings of his employees and would always blame others.

For this kind of people, who may be good academically, may be successful for a while, but eventually would not feel sense of achievement.

He will grumble and be full of hatred and fight for more. If we are this kind of protective parents, are we really showing love or are we destroying the kid instead?*

You can let your kid live in a big house, give him a Driver & Car for going around, Eat a Good Meal, learn Piano, Watch a Big Screen TV. But when you are Cutting Grass, please let them experience it. After a Meal, let them Wash their Plates and Bowls together with their Brothers and Sisters. Tell them to Travel in Public Bus, It is not because you do not have Money for Car or to Hire a Maid, but it is because you want to Love them in a right way. You want them to understand, no matter how rich their parents are, one day their hair will Grow Grey, same as the Mother of that young person. The most important thing is your kid learns how to appreciate the effort and experience the difficulty and learns the ability to work with others to get things done.

Something that my parents did to me, and I always thought that why me? But I realized it lately when one day my father told me that “Dhoop me tapega, tabhi sona banega”…. Which I too realized along with its meaning and importance of what he wanted to teach us, he wanted us to experience the world from our own view, he wanted for me to learn from people, learn from situations and circumstances, and lastly to develop the attitude of can-do, to which I myself acknowledged that “The answer is within”. I also realized that “abhav ke prabhav se vyakti bahut kucch kar sakta hain…”. I wanted to share this experience earlier but couldn’t still find words for such enlightened process, the above story helped in it…..

Why is there inequality?

I faced this question recently in a discussion but was unable to answer it in real sense. All thoughts only lead to the types of equalities existing based on economic differences, gender, classes, caste system, color, creed and what not? Or merely some pity reasons that give way to these inequalities but I wasn’t satisfied with any of them. Finally leading me to explore the real root cause and to explore answer to whether inequality is an inevitable feature of human society?

What is inequality? I need not define the term explicitly, but I think I can safely say that the ‘absence of equality can be called as inequality but the presence of equality does not ensure that inequality is absent’. For the known part of the human history, civilizations were fundamentally unequal ones, as all societies have been characterized by inequalities of some kind which in due course has become an immutable feature of society. If we peek into this past we see all sorts of difference in terms of origins, opportunities, education, gender, race, ethnic, wealth, all of which are still a part of the present civilization which many today call a ‘global-village’.

The question I asked in this post cannot be answered in complete sense of the words as things get broken down to the types of inequalities while poking into the causes. Inequality expresses itself in different ways. For many, now some types of inequalities are completely unjustified though it still continue to exist in some form or other. While some types of inequalities find both supporting and defending views. The inequalities which are widely accepted as unwarranted will sooner or later pop-off from the roots as there are left only a few takers for them! But what about the others?

After digging into the available resources, all I found in return were the set of theories that cared for answering why is there inequality? Though most of them was of common view that inequality are inter-generational, without much regard for rationality or efficiency. Some vindicate inequality on the basis of occupations as they are arranged in a hierarchy of material rewards and social prestige according to their functional importance in society and thus it is inevitable as societies must devise some means to motivate the best workers to fill the most important and difficult occupations. Some other justify ‘class division’ with the argument that, in all societies there are positions that objectively have more functional importance than others and ‘Social inequality’ serves a devise by which societies ensure that the most important positions are filled by the most qualified persons. One set of thinkers find ‘education’ to be its cause as there is an increase in wages for those with an education, but has not increased the wages of those without an education, leading to greater inequality. Karl Marx, the most powerful of the thinkers, whose thoughts divided the world into two at a point of time in history, describes a conflict between capitalists and workers where the welfare of the rich causally depends upon the deprivation of the poor. Some school of thought considers ‘power’ to be the reason behind, as ‘Social stratification’ systems function to provide the elite with the political power necessary to procure acceptance and dominance of an ideology which rationalizes the status quo as natural.

All things above provides merely a bird eye view, as in reality the causes are more deeply rooted, with reasons embedded in human civilizations, with practices running for centuries, with champions admiring them and with only a few right-minded souls who dared to resist. Though I started to answer a question, towards the end, I am left with more questions that I have answered!

Is inequality an inevitable feature of human society?
What functions or roles does it serve?
Do ‘we’ care about inequality?
Does inequality usually increase?
How have some societies avoided caste?
Can it be reduced, or even abolished altogether?
Or do we have to accept it as a necessary element in the structure of human society?

It’s clear that it will take a multi-pronged approach to attack the problem which has different causes, at the same time it’s also clear that it will need the ‘efforts of the nation’s’ rather than just a few enlightened souls or centuries later some poor soul like me who only ‘cares’ will be finding the answer to ‘Why is there inequality?’ Let us all start somewhere with little efforts and steps in our own individual capacities, for ‘the journey is the reward we seek‘…..

“The only inequalities that matter begin in the mind. It is not income levels but differences in mental equipment that keep people apart, breed feelings of inferiority.” – Hawkes, Jacquetta

Looking back: 2011

The year is about to end, looking back brings colored memories to the mind. A great year in most sense, one of the most productive, a year that taught me the most and in its course, the year laid down foundations of those decisions that will decide the course of life further.

A year filled with partitions, witnessing historical upheavals and protests, registering rise and fall of regimes, stacks of scams, downing of dictators, financial fall downs, calamitous calamities, extortionate earthquakes and sensations of Sibal! all on account of millions of lives and crushing dreams of other millions. But all this taught us that no level of power can arrest the force of nature, dictators cannot decide for decades, nation can determine their destiny and that common-man carries the power to conclude, thus giving us all a chance to create and contribute in this globalized village where boundaries cannot keep one a bondage. As year ends with great turns and loops, laying a course for those who are seeking a chance to give direction to their dreams, setting foundations for millions to rediscover the meaning of their lost lives in the sands of time.

I hope that with coming year, nations will spring out of the spirals of poverty, illiteracy and joblessness. To create a world where power will not be used to rule, where boundaries will blur, where money is not the motive and where world promotes peace. Though we cannot foresee what’s about to come, but lets dis-remember the folly of past and dream of the futurity as Kaven Ravn says:

Only as high as I can reach can I grow.

Only as far as I can seek can I go.

Only as deep as I can look can I see.

Only as much as I can I dream can I be.

Lastly, lets SALUTE the hero of the year, the ‘COMMON MAN’ !!!

Dhamma Delight -The way of life!

While reading some texts, I came across the writings of the Buddha and feel worth sharing his thoughts, as nowadays many are seeking happiness only in the material things.

The enlightened one, Siddhartha also known as Gautam Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, who left the comforts of his home when he was 29, in search of knowledge and to find the true meaning of life. After wandering for several years, meeting and holding discussions, he chose to find his path to realization, and meditated under a peepal tree at Bodh Gaya in Bihar, where he’s said to have attained enlightenment!

As he realized that every living being be it a animal, a bird, or human has the same basic need i.e. to be happy, and this has remained the same since the beginning of time. And since then we are only trying to change things around us instead of changing things within us!. He taught that life is full of suffering and unhappiness as we have cravings and desires (which are often unfulfilled), and we are not satisfied even we get what we want, and described this as tanha or thrist. As he says:

“For in craving pleasure or in nursing pain. There is only sorrow.”

He prescribed that this craving could be removed by following moderation in everything. Simultaneously he didn’t ask his followers to listen to him blindly rather encouraged people to think for themselves instead of simply accepting. I personally liked what he said on the caste divide in the society that:

“In the sky, there is no distinction of east and west; people create distinctions out of their own minds and then believe them to be true.”

Share this post with your friends if you liked it. Let the message spread !!

The day it published: Plethora of sentiments

The day this happened, I wasn’t even aware of it until noon. The Hindu didn’t even care to inform me! that my article was published in the Open Page of his national daily. I too wasn’t well(same fuckin migraine pain :-/) and planned to read the newspaper with the evening tea (Now, I know that this sounds creepy, but reading newspaper with tea definitely add splashing flavors to both!). Anyway, I came to know after I was tagged about the post by one of my friend and a classmate. And I find it worth sharing the overabundance of diverse sensations that I felt on that day.

Phase-1: “The one with the Breath-Taking” – I was astonished to see that they really printed it, the feeling was really really great and was a moment of being proud of myself, getting my article published in the paper which I considered most esteemed was surely one thing I could not get when I wished!!. It took me some time to absorb the feeling, before I jumped out of the bed shouting, to show the paper to my family. They didn’t even give it a read, they were just so happy of the fact that I got something published…

Phase-2: “The one with the Flooded Mailbox” – As a regular reader of The Hindu, I had read many great articles in the open page which comes every Sunday in place of the editorials, and I always thought that who would have time to compliment, criticize, appreciate, or even threat! the people who wrote in the open page, people would just savior great variety of thought that was part of this page. But I was proved wrong when I opened my inbox, the day my article was published. For once I refreshed my browser page! after seeing 150 unread emails in my inbox and counting!. Sure I would have manged to get 150 spams in a single day, but these many legitimate mails, I really never thought off 😀 . Some people wanted to prove me so wrong that they compiled arguments in multiple pages and sent it as attachments, some people who were in support did the same to show that I am not alone on the other side of the line.

Phase 3: “The Tough one” – Reading these mails were really different, these had the mix of love, appreciation to come up and speak of the other views and to give voice to people who thought on the same lines… while it was also the time for few words of hate, criticism, cynicism, and harsh words from some others. That day really took me through the phase (though for a little time) which every journalist/columnist/writer in the world goes through. Hats off to all of you out there for being so strong to be able to do it everyday. I thanked everyone who took some time to write me, for their genuine, debatable, and really great suggestions, I was really proud that we have such great people out there and I was getting a chance to share words with them. Though I was insanely happy to see that there are others out there who think that my points forms the other part of the arguments, or raises some legitimate arguments. I do also appreciate and thank the others who told me the other side of the argument in humble words. It was when I read some mails with such cynical feelings for me, or when some criticized me for even expressing my views in open, or when some threatened me for doing this ever again, which blew the hell out of me !!!!

Phase 4: “The one where I thank” – It was time when I was sending a mail of thanks to all whose who mailed their views to me or when I was explaining some points asked to me, or when I was debating with some who was on the other side of the debate. I have never mailed to so many people individually, so that day I set a personal record to send maximum number of mails in one single day. I tried my best to answer to as many as possible and to anyone which were in the favor of continuing the debate, or till the point where I was able to convince some that my side has validity too. 🙂

Phase 5: “The Special Ones” – These one were like icing on the cake and that too one of my favorite. I got words of appreciation as well as criticism(but these one were really humble and didn’t just used anything cynical just to oppose me) for my article from some great industrialists, from few cooperate houses, from civil servants, teachers, professors, doctors, lawyers, students………….. These ones really carried away all those fear that was wandering over me once I read the few which threatened to harm me (they didn’t harm, but surely took all my appetite for lunch or a sound sleep that afternoon :P).

It has been months since my last post, but there was this little reason behind this. I really had spent a lot of time on the last post which got published in the Hindu, which did set a benchmark for what I usually write (or will write), and I would scrap anything I write as it would stand nowhere in front of it. However I convinced myself that I would not be able to improve in a day or two, but only if I write more frequently then I ever had until I reach the yardstick I fixed for myself.

PS: I would like to apologize for a mistake in the published article where it says that ” I was in government service for long”, this was actually meant to be like “I was a part of government process to get a service for long”. (I had sent the revised version of the article to the hindu before it was published but don’t know what’s the procedure at their end to handle such cases!)

I’ve Learnt that…

You cannot make someone love you. All you can do is be someone who can be loved. The rest is up to them.
No matter how much I care, some people just don’t care back.
It takes years to build up trust, and only seconds to destroy it.
It’s not what you have in your life, but who you have in your life that counts.
You can do something in an instant that will give you a heartache for life.
No matter how thin you slice it, there are always two sides.
You should always leave loved ones with loving words. It may be the last time you see them.
We are responsible for what we do, no matter how we feel.
There are people who love you dearly, but just don’t know how to show it.
True friendship continues to grow, even over the longest distance. And I think Same goes for true love ( though i haven’t experienced this till now..!! )
Just because someone doesnt love you the way you want them to, doesn’t mean they don’t love you with all they have.
Maturity has more to do with what types of experiences you’ve had and what you’ve learned from them and less to do with how many birthdays you’ve celebrated.
No matter how good a friend someone is, they’re going to hurt you every once in a while and you must forgive them for that.
No matter how bad your heart is broken the world doesn’t stop for your grief.
Just because two people argue, it doesn’t mean they don’t love each other.And just because they don’t argue, it doesn’t mean they do.
We don’t have to change friends if we understand that friends change.
You shouldn’t be so eager to find out a secret. It could change your life forever.
No matter how many friends you have, if you are their pillar, you will feel lonely and lost at the times you need them most.
The people you care most about in life are taken from you to soon.
Although the word “love” can have many different meanings, it loses value when overly used.
Love is not for me to keep, but to pass on to the next person I see ( So, if you have a girl friend, u know what to do.. hehe…)
There are people who love you dearly but just don’t know how to show it.
Even when I have pains, I don’t have to be one.
Every day you should reach out and touch someone. People love that human touch-holding hands, a warm hug, or just a friendly pat on the back.
I have learnt that frienship has gone commercial too, in this decade of time… 😥
I still have a lot to learn…… most of this came from the lyf in college, while some were self-deducted……

Dedicated to all my friends and family, who thought me all this….. luv you ALL ….

25 Step Guide to Complete Your Assignment in the hostel !!

Sit in a straight, comfortable chair in a well-lighted place with your laptop.

Start to read over the assignment carefully, to make certain you understand it, stop in between.

Scroll Down to the bottom, check the deadline, if more than 12 hours left continue, else follow from step 21 !!

Walk down to the cafe and buy some coffee to help you concentrate.

Stop off at another floor, on the way back and visit with your friend’s room. If your friend hasn’t started the assignment yet either, you can both walk to the nearby cafe and get some Maggi (as the best alternative for the mess food).

When you get back to your room, sit in a straight, comfortable chair in a clean, well-lighted place with your laptop.

Read over the assignment again to make absolutely certain you understand it.

Then you check your mails for the fifth time in the day, to check that your mailbox doesn’t flood with spam, you read all of them and then send them to spam folder.

Spend some time on Facebook to help you relax, some on twitter, and some on orkut, post on all your profiles that you are doing assignment, set your status to busy and continue.

Listen to some of your favourite songs, see some clips from movies to help you relax, as you spent a lot of time on Facebook, As soon as it’s over you are going to start.

Get some movies and songs from other hostelries which you don’t have.

Even when your room doesn’t have enough space to let others sit, you choose to rearrange all the soft data in particular folders for songs and videos.

Phone your friend on the other floor and ask if he has started doing the assignment. Exchange derogatory remarks about your teacher, the course, the university, and the world at large.

Sit in a straight, comfortable chair in a clean, well-lighted place with charger now connected to your laptop (If you are using a HP product make sure to connect charger in first step itself !! ).

Read over the assignment again, roll the words across your tongue, savour its special flavour.

Check the newspaper listings to make sure you aren’t missing something truly worthwhile on TV. Or watch some videos on YouTube.

Phone your friend on the third floor to see if he want to give you a company watching. Discuss the finer points of the plot.

Decide to play for few min, to help you relax and concentrate after the gaming, Ask others to join you in gaming, play few multiplayer games, with a promise not to play more than half hour, which takes you 2 hours.

Sit down and do some serious thinking about your plans for the future.

Sleep, to real, as you did a lot of lan gaming.

Sit in a straight, comfortable position in a clean, well-lighted place with your laptop on your bed, Go out to washroom to fresh up.

Ask every hostelite if they have done the assignment.

If they have done, take it from them, make a copy, and go to sleep again.

If they haven’t done it, come back, sleep again, thinking that nobody has done the assignment, so you also should not do it, and then mail your professors to extend the deadline as the assignment is really – really tough.

Complain to everyone next day that you didn’t get any sleep because you had to do the assignment.