~ Life for Us...~

As the festive season embraces us all and the closure of another Year in everyone’s life entails our being, thoughts pour in my mind regarding the life and times lived in this year – some fond happy and sorrows that everyone has, some dreams achieved and many not, the year was full of frantic laugh and sometimes deep sorrows.

But generally, I am not thankless being – this is life and things will happen when they ought to – over a period of time, you will all start to know how life works, it keeps on happening at snail’s pace and listen to none – the only thing we can do is to oblige its command. 

As a reminiscence of time, this year, there were lot of people who met you and with whom you may have made friends with – new partners with new thoughts and dimensions but synonymously lot of the previous ones may have left you or you may have lost touch with – that’s perfectly OK as this is the true definition of life…it is all about Change that will constantly happen, come what may!

Life in its true meaning is a combination of scenarios that it will throw at you – many a times, you will turn out to be winners and at times you will going to loose, which surely will make you humble and bestow you with teachings.

Life for all of us will certainly not be a bunch of roses always, there would be times of bricks and bats too, by all inevitability life will move on as it stops for none…

Whether you exit on this planet or no makes no big difference to the existence, you just came to live and delve into your karma…earning some karmas and living some, at the defining moment your achievements and aspirations wont be gauged as they never will be , but In all certainty, what good you did to make other’s life comfortable and what good you did to this world will be taken stock of.

As this Year ends in its final dusk, all I pray and hope from the “Grand Design” is to bestow me with the rightful intentions of being humble and doing greater good to achieve my Karma and that the people Iife’s I touch and try to change…I hope this happens soon…. till them as a mortal being I pray and expect….

~ Punditji, a Life of Wisdom ~

Life is just nothing but a confluence of souls in body form – born in different scenarios and difficult-ease situation, every one of us are facing our own challenges. But in its vignettes, Life still deserves to be lived with zeal and zest…My approach to live with its impediments and love-hate situations comes from the observation of people around me, they are continuing and living life with the faith that one day will be different and would be as according to their own wishes and fantasies – god knows if ever that day would come and they would achieve and have their way of approaching life as they think –

Thinking so about these thoughts, I meet strange people living life with all its magnanimity – “Punditji”, is one such soul that I often meet, he sits on his favourite couch and sells potatoes and Onions in our weekly flea mart.

For me, he is the epitome of knowledge, for his whitish – grey hair tells his story of struggle and various life’s juggling – he has been an auto driver, a street hawker and now from a considerable amount of time a Vegetable Seller. His one liner about life is too profound to be considered again – specially when one falls in that scenario trap that we all face on day-to-day basis. He is a proponent of life’s simplicity and always proposes to ease things out whilst one is living. Living his history, he is always in a comparative analysis of time lived – for him now a days people have no patience and always are on the run, they are having fanciful expectations and aspirations from life and that they are not eating a healthy food.

All of his observations is a testament to the diminishing health standards of society we live in where life expectancy is sharply falling – never have ever heard of sudden heart failures and other health hazards – youngsters are as prone as oldies.

Punditji has a unique personality as he always sits in the ‘Lotus’ pose and has a lukewarm water flask as his benchmark – he had switched to drinking lukewarm water since a decade now – and it is his ubiquitous style that he has no ailment at 75^th years of his existence.

Sounds interesting to ears when I heard this, he is simplicity entwined in modernity and a role model for me, the struggles of his life have been unique too, he has raised three sons and a daughter with whatever meagre he has earned in life and all of his children are well settled in life… a feat in today’s world…

Last time when I met him, I had a question in my mind which I asked “Punditji, isn’t it time to retire? , now that every responsibility you have fulfilled and that there is nothing more to be done. He laughed out loud and said “Son, there is always a responsibility on your shoulder, even if your family responsibilities are off, there is responsibility towards people around you and the society for its greater good… Moreover, till the almighty wants me to work and keeps me hale and hearty, I will always work as it gives me my self esteem and my honour…and moreover to meet varied people” ….

Truly, Punditji is a happy man… and would remain so as he has made his life to be in all its simplicity with less needs and great thoughts….!

~ Three to Tango ~

It takes Three to Tango! This is what it seems to be when you see these musketeers roaming around here and there passing time. The school is over today and they are their own masters – though they have certain aspirations, though small and fit in their dreamy world.

If you are trying to open them up by initiating a frank conversation with them, in all probability they will shy away – a cheeky laugh will follow and they would be looking at each other with an expectation to speak up and that who does that first amongst them 😊! 

Just the other day they were playing and engrossed in their own small world, I was meeting them the second time and they instantly recognized me – as I enquired about their schooling and generally about their life, one of them spoke up meekly – “There is no school today!, winter holidays” , to which I reverted,

“Then what is the plan for the day guys?”…

Again came the voice “Uncle, we will just chill and play to our heart’s content and we have nobody to call and bother !” .

“What about your parents?” , I enquired.

The Cheeky one , who had just now found  his confidence talking to me replied “Uncle , both have gone to work and house is empty! 😊.”

Surely, all three were king of their own worlds today and were playing their heart out with a sense of contentment – There were no limitations to their being gaudy and had all the time in this world to be their real selves.

I asked the youngest of them about his name and he smilingly replied “My name is Ramesh” and on further enquiring I got to know that he indeed had no parents and was orphan and was just clinging on to life with both the other buddies he had befriended just months back – the other two being real brother and sister, their parents took Kishore as their third child and was taking care of him – though he was not sent to school.

As Kishore spoke “ Uncle, I will go to school from next session, I love going to School and I love books!” – those words brought a sight of relief and I talked about the importance of going to school or any teaching centre.

The conversations soon turned into a playful one and then I asked what games they were playing – amongst them, who wore a school uniform and went by one name “Kishen” shyly replied “Uncle we have just now created a game out of a single Brick that we found” and now we will pass our time with this brick! , All three musketeers were smiling ear to ear in tandem.

No wonder, we they had understood life better in this tender age and that their daily living had taught them the value of resources and also to remain satiated and in humour with whatever they had in life… As I said a final “Goodbye”, all three were effervescent and reverted with full vigour – they had made me their friend – I promised them a small token of gift that they needed for them to play when they have such occasion – I am sincerely looking forward towards the next meeting and spending time with them – the purity of their thoughts took me into another tangent… being a child is always mesmerizing and finding little ones as a shade of your past living is an honour…