There Is Still Hope!

For all the annoyance and disappointment I feel about the stupidity and pathetic quality of the present and previous generations, I have immense hopes about the potential of the young children I meet every day. The kids that wield snazzy gadgets with ease, indulge at will in science and arts as if they are, all of them, blessed prodigies, are the ones who will walk this earth soon as sensible adults.

One thing I love about the kids is their civic sense. A few months ago, I saw and wrote about how a little girl picked up the empty paper cup thrown on the ground by her irresponsible grandmother and put it in a trash can nearby.

Something similar happened today. In the train now, the TTE arrived to verify the tickets of those who had boarded after the main station. Being late night most of the lights in the compartment were turned off. The TTE turned on the lights, verified the tickets and moved on without turning off the lights.

Just as he did the same in my part of the compartment, the little boy, who must have been around 7-8 years and was lying in middle berth, called the TTE yelling, "Uncle, where are you going without turning off the lights? Turn it off and go."

The TTE was a little taken aback and gave a boy a quizzical look. Then, realizing his mistake, said "I will come, darling. Wait."

Meanwhile somebody else turned off the lights and the kid turned away and started sleeping. I was left wondering. In a nation where a vast majority doesn't bother about letting water go waste in public washrooms, doesn't switch off lights and fans when not in use, doesn't feel ashamed about spitting, littering and urinating in public, there is a bright new generation which appears to have been blessed with as much civic sense as they are gifted with smart brains. Would be happy to see such kids grow up with as much civic sense and social responsibility as they have now, without getting negatively influenced by the kind of morons that their parents are. Hopefully!

Be Your Fountainhead

 

We, as a society, have this malaise of depicting happiness as something that one 'achieves'. According to us, happiness is when one excels in academics, when one achieves material success, when one finds a companion or begets offspring, gets to be a celebrity or successful in any stream of life. Our culture, media, even the very way of our lives, portray the achievers, celebrities and the rich as content and happy.

But happiness that depends on all these is not happiness but mere satisfaction that depends on base criteria. The real happiness wells up from within. Just like that of a baby. A baby does not need any price tag on its toys to become happy. A baby plays with a pricey fur toy with the same enthusiasm as it exhibits when it finds a broken twig.

So, let's all learn to be as happy with nothing as we are with everything. There have been people who amassed abundant material wealth, acquired all titles of honour and gathered as many swank gadgets as they could and yet died in a penurious state of mind. I have otherwise seen poor people in ragged clothes go to sleep with nothing but their arms for pillows and a song on their lips.

So, be happy. Stay happy. With everything. Without anything. With everyone. Without anyone. May the stream of happiness finds its fountainhead within your own beautiful selves!

Five Philosophical Lessons

There are five things that I have learnt by reading philosophy - 

1. None of us have a damn clue about anything that is happening around us.

2. But that doesn't stop us from forming our own interpretations and opinions about the same.

3. None of us stay long enough to put it all together and see the big picture, or to even know whether our views were right or wrong.

4. The correctness or otherwise of our opinions is rated by the number of people that accept them and not by the truth they carry.

5. In reality, everything is transient and everything is mere fleeting sensation. Puff! Who cares?!

Happy Independence Day 2017!

We are one of the most corrupt nations in the world. A majority of our citizens are selfish and can't think beyond their stomachs. Civic sense and social responsibility are both alien concepts to most of us. Our politicians are as stinking as they can. The principles of diversity and secularism, which were our prime identity, are both fraying. Religious fanatics and caste ideologies are having a field day. We ridicule the heroes of our Independence Struggle, libeling them with lowly scandals. We pledge our resources to mammoth corporates, sell our votes for petty sums, desecrate our monuments, damage our environment without care, worship false celluloid/sports idols and live out our whole lives in vain.

BUT, today, whenever I see that tricolor being hoisted, I feel a glimmer of hope and abundant pride. Thousands and thousands of our ancestors stood shoulder to shoulder, fighting for this right to hoist our own flag, which isn't mere fabric, but the very symbol of all that is unique and precious about this country.

The past wasn't all guts and glory, but that's where all our present glories emanate from. The present isn't all bright but there are still abundant opportunities for us to wake up and set our steps right. The future isn't always certain, but we can let the tricolor unite and lead us onward as a united nation of responsible, ethical citizens, living in peaceful and prosperous conditions. Jai Hind!

Happy Independence Day!

Book Review – The Quest of the Sparrows, Kartik Sharma & Ravi ‘Nirmal’ Sharma

When the authors of this book first approached me, offering me a free copy in exchange for a review, I felt a little apprehensive. I had already received two books thus from first-time authors and, I must say, both works ended up being dismal. While it is not correct to brush away someone’s hard work thus, the reader in me couldn’t stomach those books and I ended up panning them both. With those experiences at the back of my mind, I agreed to read this book reluctantly. But whatever hesitation I had about reading this work got dispelled as soon as the book began.

Before I get further, here’s the plot – the young Swami Parthiban becomes the leader of a spiritual organization at the ‘demise’ of the elder, Swami Parmanand. Soon after he takes over the mantle of the ‘ashram’, he asks his disciples to undertake a pilgrimage with him to a nearby holy town, with no possessions of any kind, except a change of clothes. He says that such a pilgrimage will teach them to live light, like the sparrows, without all the mental and emotional baggage and evolve spiritually. The book elaborates on the events throughout the pilgrimage, through the words of two of the pilgrims  – Nikhil, a rich NRI whose family life has fallen apart, and Sanjeev, a private detective recruited to prove that Swami Parthiban is nothing but a fraud, moonlighting as a spiritual guru.

Nikhil and Sanjeev narrate the first two chapters, recounting the perspectives, perceptions and eventual spiritual changes that overcame the group as a whole, apart from them as individuals. While Nikhil gets to learn more and more about the purpose of life and changes into a better human being, Sanjeev clears his bitterness and suspicions – arising out of his own past experiences - to end up as a real disciple of Swami Parthiban. The third chapter recounts how the young and hapless Parthiban ended up heading the globally celebrated – and abundantly rich – spiritual organization, from the unenviable life of hiding from the creditors baying for his blood. The fourth and final chapter though undoes all the good work done by the authors in the previous three chapters. Sounding more like an anti-climax of the Indian movies, it will make you wonder whether the authors were in a hurry to finish the book.

Parthiban is not your run-of-the-mill spiritual guru, speaking only in esoteric puzzles and preaching impractical ideals. All ‘his’ ideas are simple, worthy and touch a chord in your mind. That is sure to endear him to you. Thrust into the high pedestal suddenly, he has a foot on the higher path and the other on the mundane ways of life. Such a depiction makes his words sound more real and practical. His flaws, fears, idiosyncrasies and eventual spiritual evolution are all well captured. The writing has a smooth, flowing quality about it. The characters all seem as real as your neighbourhood personas. The ideas are all absolutely lovely.

Though the book is categorized as ‘Fiction’, I am keeping it between the ‘Self-Help’ and ‘Spirituality’ sections of my home library, because it tries to give you the best of both worlds. As good as Robin Sharma’s ‘The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari’, this is a book that I would recommend/gift to all my friends. Who knows?! I myself may pick it up every now and then, choose some random page and ruminate upon the good ideas found in there. Kudos to the authors for coming good on their very first book!

The Nest

Ever since childhood, I have seen various 'winged guests' visit our home. They always arrived uninvited (but definitely not unwanted), made their little homes within our home, took up as little space as possible, built their homes with straw, thread, twigs and any other riffraff they could lay their hands, er... claws upon.

They shared food, made love, threw tiny garbage around, quarreled, laid eggs, caused ruckus and then, one fine day, left without bidding adieu. The only rent they paid was through their chirps and songs. At times, they did leave behind poems too as gifts - either with me or my father.

The new addition to the list of such 'uninvited guests' is the tailor-birds. Choosing the red spot croton's long leaves for their cosy homes, intricately stitching its leaves together, making it fluffy with foam and threads found elsewhere, they have built their own little home inside our home. Wonder what they will leave behind as rent this time!

Love Isn't...

 

Love isn't when you need someone to make you happy. Love is when you want someone to be happy. Simply.

Love isn't when someone's curves and complexion excite you. Love is when their very presence gives you absolute peace.

Love isn't about simply staying together. It is about being together even after Time and Distance cleave you away from one another's arms.

If it doesn't make you feel grateful for a person's presence in your life, fill your heart to the brim and make it flow through the eyes, it isn't Love! 💕