~ A Bench-able Soul ~

 Sitting at meadows of time, the gentle old man just comes and places himself in solitude. There is no exchange of pleasantries, just a semblance of presence pasts me through a whisper of grass and the friction of his shoes.

He faces the sun and suddenly bows down his head as his ageing body cannot take the direct sunshine on himself. Time is our mirror which shows our own self though it might happen after some years of our life. A sudden though gushing through my mind knows me to think otherwise – Uncle must have been young in his heydays and have spend much of his active life working but now that the cycle of destiny and living has started to show cause , the fragility of body has started to show around. 

This would happen to all of us, if we are lucky to reach this stage of life – just factoring in the toil we are taking on our own selves and the style of life we live now a days. Our old seniors are our best examples of living life magnanimously and at the optimum. With less they have certainly attained more – the have done the balancing act which none of us are able to do in our current life – many of us just succumb to the worldly pressures and just give up or start to tread another path.

I see many old souls who share their feelings and emotions and what right or wrong they did during their adventure of life – many just open up their heart and soul in tandem with what they really don’t want us to do in our heydays of living, coz one day would come that we would all sit in seclusion of our thoughts and reminisce our past and filter out things and situations which we could have behaved otherwise !

Now that I see uncle quite often coming to park to have his share of sunlight, I just see a life coming to a natural end, an end which we all have to come to sometime from now. But many of us would surely want the end to be full of satiated desires and a life lived with completeness and kind gratitude towards our creator for giving us this beautiful opportunity to live life with all its goodness – with parents who were so lovable, our friends and even our foes who taught us different vagaries of living and of course our elders who showered their love and blessing in all that we did during our earthly sojourn.

As my time to move neared by, I just prayed to my creator for the beauty of life and feelings which he has given me to observe such simplicities of life and to ponder upon its silent meanings, till then my observations would always be…

~ The Act of Friendship ~

Manohar Lal  seems to be a name which makes one believe of historic times, but when I came to know about this name it was total oxymoron – I could not believe that my new found friend just standing in front of me was no more that 7-8 years of age!

Manohar just loiters around in the street whilst his mother and father are engrossed as a daily wager and struggling to earn as much during, the day so that the family does not sleep empty stomach in the night!

He has been given a key responsibility of taking care of his toddler sister – Nandini he calls her with affection. He is enormously protective of his young sister and always give her precedence in whatever task he does with her – be it being given a toy or a packet of biscuit or anything which he gets from his parents or people of society!

He is my morning friend as he is mostly awake early in the morning when I see his parents struggling to prepare early breakfast and lunch as during the day they are not fortunate enough to cook again – being daily wage laborer’s from Rajasthan, they need to finish their morning chores and rush to the building site – basement of which is their current home as of now. They live a nomadic life and are always on the move , wherever their owner takes a contract.

The other day we both were at our conversation best and to my utter surprise he started to oblige me with a ‘Thank-You’ – this gave me an encouragement to converse with this little toddler in the other language and I generally asked him the following

“Do you go to School”

‘Yes” he said with an enthusiastic affirmation.

“Which School” was my obvious second question to which he replied.

“Sarakari School”

Which Class do you study ?

He kept mum – I secretly presumed that this could be an over head transmission for this sweet friend of mine but quite soon my assumptions was put to rest and his answer came after much thinking

“IInd Class.”

Having given all the answers correctly and to the point, he deserved a pat on the back and also a small gift which he humbly accepted and again said ‘Thanks.”, the meeting thus ended on a happy note!

Nowadays, I see him happy roaming around on the streets along with his sister and making full use of the sunshine. Early in the morning that Manohar is awake as he starts to reprimand his sister for any wrong-doing she does in oblivion. The love and grandeur design of destiny has made them meet in this pane as brother and sister and all I can say in my silent blessing is that “May God always Bless them and they study well and become quite unlike their parents and thus break this vicious circle of poverty which the whole family is currently stuck in.”

The only sad part would be that this is an ephemeral 231friendship that I sowed as when the building next to mine would be completed, his parents would have to uproot and again would reconstruct their humble dwelling when marching orders come from the contractor , till then, I am always in company of a cute little being which I had to meet in this time of the year!

~ A Morning Rendezvous ~

 

What could be a perfect start to your day in life – the splendidness of morning and its freshness just sinks in when you just start to observe the timeless panorama in front of you when dawn has just stepped in. The true sparkle and magnanimity of nature bestows its full semblance and throws opens its divine romance.

The true love of its motherly glance just makes you feel wanted and a sense of thankful anticipation is what you want to give back to nature’s benevolence.

The only impediment which stops us to meet this morning musings is our lethargy – almost all of us a later risers in life, more so, many of us working from home and in no hurry to achieve the unachievable of beating the harsh traffic of Delhi roads and gushing through serpentine queues to be the very first.

A day came in my life when I promised myself a rendezvous with dawn and when everything just looked fresh and pure – The first thing which needed my attention was my timely sleep. This was achieved with much alacrity with the sole purpose and enthusiasm of getting early next morning.

Alas! the alarm clock did its duty and make me leave snooze a little before it rang again and up I was, kicking myself out of bed – A fastidious dressing up and going through my daily morning chores, I wasted no time to be in the part to get that glimpse I always dreamt of !

 The fresh minted dew gave the rays of sun its evocative sunshine which came out as a marvel to the eye – the lush green grass stole my heart and I got me mesmerized with its sheen. Taking a deep breath, I started to jog, the air was as fresh as I had ever breathed over a long-long time. I could sense its newness as if it was just spewed on me – a welcome gift from mother nature!

I could feel the chill of the morning but was equally observant with the warmth of fresh rays of sun, a combination of both made me think about what I had been missing since ages!  I could glimpse through the passing happy faces, walking briskly or jogging their way out with a semblance of freshness of a newly born. The love of nature was all free for us to be enjoyed and but also be thankful about.

As time finally passed, I could accommodate myself into the gift of nature , what it bring forth in its pristine indulgence of early morning – for those who still laze around in the cool comforts of their bed, they really are missing an opportunity of a lifetime !

~ Life is a Celebration ~

Life tends to be a celebration when we ought to celebrate each and every moment engrossed with eternal happiness. Our daily living and attributes of life comes from our mind which is always restless and tends to be so during the day when we perform multitasking and giving keynote deliveries to satiate all and the sundry!

We need certain occasions to smile and show our inert happiness hidden in far reaching depths of our thoughts – but thinking otherwise, do we really need occasions, festivals or dates to enjoy life – for me life tends to be a brilliant opportunity bestowed on you which is to be loved and celebrated every day, every moment of your breath!

Just remind yourself of the limited amount of time you are here, not only to achieve the material things and inanimate objects but to offer gratitude to the higher power for the opportunity given to you to exist. Open your inner self to celebrate your existence and see for yourself how life embraces you. You will always feel elated for no good reason, always a smile on your face will welcome anybody your meet during the day – try this experiment one day and wake up early and silently pray to your higher self with a prayer of humble gratitude and see the wonder happening during the day !You will find enough reasons to smile throughout the day – negative situations and scenarios would be self-defeating and with effortless living, you shall tend to grace the occasion with a awe-inspiring positivity, after all you came to this world without asking anyone and so shall you depart without being asked.

Look consciously around you – all this is already happening, but you have tamed your mind to the far-reaching impossibilities of this not happening to you. There are many such repentances which you shall have if you keep on postponing this celebration of each day in life!

A study in new York on terminally ill patients showed the last wish they could just want to be fructified lead to some unexpected results – most of the patients wanted to spend more time with their loved ones, many wanted to visit far off places in solitude, some wanted to write, some wanted to paint , many wasted their life on accumulating inanimate objects of desire but now repented that they should have been minimalist in their behavior.

So please, start celebrating the festival of life with what you want to do each day and which you had been postponing since time immemorial – after all the least good you can do to yourself is to have less of atonements  when your final day comes till then, Happy Living….

Why are we here for?

So, what is this chaos-ness in this world all about? Is it about power, pelf our authority? Or is it with anything to do with the stars as many astrologers have predicted.

Humanity has been through much ups and downs in its existence and as a knower of little bit of history of this world, there have been many triumph moments where everything was bypassed and the race towards humane living won. Though we are going through turbulent times, we will surely overcome these situations with grand victory through our grit and gumption.

Speaking such so with many of the like-minded people, you get to know about the positivity of situation on thinks. See the case of Covid 19 as a case. What has it taught us whilst we have lived in seclusion of our homes? We have inclined to become more home-bound and fragile towards each other’s emotions. We have started to tender our neighbors, friends towards more respect and humane behavior. Above all, we have started to respect life in all of its dimensions. Our health has taken a subjective priority in our day to day living. Spending time with our elderly which otherwise would not have been possible has been the chore of the day for almost all of us. We have started to think laterally for the people who could not make it through 2021 and feel remorseful for them and their family members. Losing a near and dear one leaves a big void in one’s life which cannot be fulfilled by condolences, but we have become more sensitive to such situations and imagine us in their footsteps.

 For others who survived, we feel obligated and somewhat pacified that we all have a source of earning and a healthy being. We have started to thank God or some virtual power who now that we believe is controlling and running the show. We were never supreme nor will ever be, many a time situation will develop in our lives that would compel us to fold our hands and kneel on our feet to feet to feel obligated and thankful towards what has been bestowed to us.

We are being tested every moment and each and every day on our journey in this life and are being recorded for the behavior we do with others. Nor just with humans but animals and other inanimate things around us, these times have been a test of our character and our ego towards All. Sit and think in silence of your being, you never asked for the family you were born in and you never knew you will ever be born, so your sojourn on this planet is timely and precisely a gift from the Grand design. If you consider yourself to be the master of your life, you cannot predict the place, situation and time of your departure from this world!

We all are equally vulnerable as are others in the food chain, not feeling or observing so is the biggest folly that we are living with. Think you have so much to lose, your health, status, family, character – anything which begets your love is at stake any time of the day.

The only way one can be living is through offering its deep filled gratitude towards each passing day - living with modest behavior in thoughts and actions, observe the kindness nature has bestowed on you so that you can exist and live fruitfully.

Just remember, you are not alone in this world and no matter whatever you have achieved, materialistically or otherwise would be left behind for something better – there is no way that you would accompany your achievements to the other world…. This idiom if kept in mind, will always be a conscious lesson towards your daily act of living in this beautiful world…till then, remain Blissful and Thankful!

~ Life Fades ... ~

Sitting in this magnificent sunshine I admire God’s beauty, with birds chirping around a perfect harmony encompasses the ambiance.

Old folks sitting in benches just snoozing and passing time and awaiting that ‘Final Moment’ talk about their life’s journey – a cache’ they all have to discuss is the regret and many failed decisions they took whilst they lived. Many of them had glorious career’s and they have food for thought to discuss some remarkable events. But one of the silver lining and a lesson for us is that - Do things which you love and don’t overthink!  What you did and didn’t get desired results you will still end up being a happy soul as you will feel no regret of doing things which otherwise you didn’t do!

Many of these octogenarians were discussing the lost opportunities that they could have explored, for them having doing so life could have at different angles and situations as of now would have had different results. At the same time, almost all of them had a nonchalant feeling of simple achievements during their journey. One common feeling partaking everyone was their discussing their children and grandchildren – their true investments and effort which have borne fruit. These accomplishments were far more grandeur than career, money and investments they had made in life.

Now that they are waiting their final moments, they were reminiscing their past and talk incessantly on varied topics – from politics, to their health and retirement benefits and pensions 😊.

A feeling of sadness glooms upon them a missing friend who used to visit them every day – later to know that the person in question is no more. A sudden heart failure led him to his journey in the other world.

All of us shall be having this finality of life and that can be anytime, anyplace, we must pay heed to the decree of the other world, do we have any choice?  We never came on our own accord, our choice of parents, our situation and even our body, sexuality and nature were not of our own being. We were never asked about many things in life which we partook not will we be ever asked before the sudden exit which shall be to the ignominy and sadness for our near and dear ones when we shall depart.

With a definitive expiry date, we are waiting for our last moment – your ego, achievements, attitude, the “I” in you, all would be demolished at one façade. All your achievements and aspiration which you realized will be vilified and would be brought to a zilch. We are all destined to be achieving the same result. Sitting with these souls, all I can decipher is that be humble and oblige to HIS command. All of your goodness would be in thoughts of people whom you will touch and have helped.

This life is a true deception of our image and what we build out of it – for the foolish  who perceived it to gather monies and stature and titles – the journey would be arduous – for the rest , it can sumptuously be turning out a journey to remember with no regrets and happy state of mind – till that time it is your choice what you bring to your platter!

~ Not a Covidiot ~

No, I was no Covidiot, I took every precaution which I could have taken – considering my old mother and kids in the house, but as they say it is a cat and mouse game. Almost everyone of us would have to pass through this grill of life at one point of time.

Covid didn’t come to me as a great surprise or a Eureka moment to be nice about – the toughest part of tacking this invisible pathogen entering your body can give you a nightmare if you start looking for statistics which every newspaper showered around as their prime time editorial. On second thoughts, it just turned out to be a common flu, which had to be aggressively tackled and checked with proper diet, medical consultation which many didn’t go for and still don’t.

A tiring aspect of getting friendly with the disease is the loneliness one must tackle whilst one gets infected, the stigmatization of one’s character and the regimen you need to maintain to get over it!

In my entire life, I could not thank much to the power of technology which made me pass this phase of aloofness from the world – be it my pet mobile phone or the power of the internet, I didn’t feel much distress or a sense of seclusion whilst I started to count my days of my infection. Quite intuitively, I started to love myself and my existence and the belief in GOD getting to its subjectivity. There were zillion of things that you want to do before you leave this world, so the run began to work myself up towards a list of things which I loved to do whilst I am in flesh and blood – once the list was done, the process thus began… 

Sustaining  a healthy regimen and motivating oneself for tasks which you were contemplating since ages is a tough challenge, you need high spirits to rejuvenate your energies and reach a mental stature to be doing them everyday without fail – Covid gave me that brilliant opportunity – our rigmarole of daily hush hush living will never be giving you the opportunity to work towards your own self – what you always wanted to do , may be if you want to just sit idle and look at the sky mesmerizing in your own thoughts – the “No Time” glitch will always objectify your mind and the sprint of time will entice to that endless chase.

Another “Beautiful” aftermath of “Covidofied” ( a term which I made for my situation ) came out to be your love for your family and friends. The ALL “taken for granted” souls that we have around us suddenly seem to be a distant past – a glance of thoughts passes by your mind sometimes, what if you are no more, where will you go , you will have to leave them if situation demands so – considering that you are at HIS mercy all along as there is no drug to treat your worsening situation and all the treatment is symptomatic. The situation can turn tables, what if you lose your near and dear ones to such a frivolous flu – which we had never expected coming! Life changes its dimensions and you start to realize the gift of relations and time.

Penultimately, all I experienced during my living a life of solitude was that start living with depth of every moment. Realize that we all are here for a definitive time, our relations, friends and even foes are there for us on a limited timescale. Once gone, we will never meet in same situations we are – though I am a strong proponent of life after life and that we shall come back to realize our Karma’s. Start loving your situation be how much distressful it may be, time will heal, no one lives perennially, do things what you have been postponing till now, make the silliest of mistakes, laugh on yourself , help people around your, love animals - be it an insect – you have no right to take life which you have not given. Everyone is here for a purpose and proving his worth in this beautiful world … till then happy living!

~ Anna & his Life’s Sumptuous Feat ~

The roadside economy in Delhi marts are a delight to watch – the sparkling lights and the melodramatic vista it offers is food for various thoughts. Not to forget the different characters of people you ought to meet – you get to know their journey of life, their predicaments and various struggles and situations they have passed through and have reached in front of you as you see them.

Life is demanding for everyone and they are not special cases. I came across one such soul – “Anna” he likes to call himself and is proud of his name and lineage, he is our roadside ‘South-Indian’ shop which caters to various people through its varied degree of mouth-watering South Indian dishes.

In his early 50’s, Anna came as a lad of 12 years in Delhi along with his family – all of four people. His parents were moderately educated, and his sister was too young to go to school at that time. Hailing from Tamil Nadu’s remotest of the villages, his father set-up a roadside stall – just a table and a bench for people to sit and started his ‘Entrepreneurial’ journey as the term is considered fag in today’s world of aristocratic English!

For them, it was the dire need to bring food on the table for the family which led his father to take this plunge out of his mediocre savings. Anna tells me that he has continued the ‘Legacy’ of his father in all pristine mode and made this stall as a passion for a lifetime. “It is always an honor to uplift the gifts your parents bestow on you howsoever insignificant as it may look.” – That is the philosophy of life Anna follows. In the midst of passing years, he has established himself as a road-side eatery of repute, he swears by the quality of his Idli’s and Dosa’s and mouth-watering Sambhar which he himself cooks – once in the morning and once in the evening.

He takes this as a responsibility to present before his customers the legacy of his father – who started this shop when Anna was too small to help him. Anna ponders – “My father used to work for 12-14 hours a day to make ends meet, be it sun, rain or cold, he was adamant to stand under the makeshift umbrella and wait for customers. In those times, there were not much roadside stalls, neither were there many customers!”  

Though his Icon is no more, but the keystroke life lessons bestowed by him has been well entrenched in Anna’s philosophy of dialing living, the same has been passed on to his kids.

The tough times have seem to vanish and Anna is all praise for the Almighty for his much mercy, now that he gets many customers that on some days, his stall is inundated with long list of requests. His both kids are doing jobs in reputed MNC’s – a fact that he is proud of and his eyes lit up when he tells all of his story to his chatting customers.

A killing advise which Anna always tells us all “Times always change, I have seen this in my own life, One should always be humble and be obligated to the power of unknown.”

Well, Anna is not much educated and lack many of the IT skills which we all flash but his wisdom is much ahead of the bookish knowledge we all possess – no wonder we are entrapped in varied degree of issues in our lives, with many of us chasing a chimera of false aspirations and a dreamy success and lack internal contentment!

We will see many such Anna’s struggling to make ends meet, but they surely lack the grit and gumption to sail through vagaries of life with their own commitment and philosophy of life – time tells us that they have the real success mantra of life – “Patience” and “True belief in self and the almighty”, rest follows…

~ Message from Masters ~

 Listen to the attributes of the Grand Design, in the cacophony of everyday living, take out time and start to observe the everyday blessings, believe me, you will be astonished on the minutest benevolence of the almighty. You have taken for granted every iota of your breath and have assumed it to be the edifice of casual living – not its certainly is NOT.

Remember your act of living and your existence in its timely resilience is engrossed in its own time-boundedness and it certainly is not ever lasting.

Quite often you must be hearing the eerie noise of ambulance passing by or whilst you open your system and tread through most happening news, you get to know the gravity of the dance of death.

Obey to the messages from higher-up, be whatever power you may call it, It’s certainly is there!!!

Know it to believe in its power of happening. What this time is teaching all of us – “Gratitude” is the only powerful world which rakes a bell in my mind. Be honorable to the never-ending power of the unknown mystifying in varied sense of its existence. Lately, you have started to live quite casually, defying all norms of virtuous living and have taken back the rules of the living-game. 

You have stopped pondering over the various goodies’ nature has bestowed on you, prime being the your “Good Health” which keeps you going through your daily chores. What made you think in this world that you have turned immortal? Is it that you have not been kissed with the tangent of death? For any counter measure, look around, you will be able to gauge the complexities of life around.

Be it air, water or our everyday thoughts, you have corrupted it all. This is not been taken good by the consciousness of this world and we see the world today as it has turned out to be . The ignominy of daily living  involved has cast a shadow on our everlasting existence. The aftermath's are apparent - the current chaos of universe is to be seen with a conscious thought provoking.

To overcome this time and its uncertainly, we need to exemplify our praise to the almighty , seek pardon and obey to his idea of world, rather we do the other way round and thus have to suffer the consequences of our defeat and suffer for our own wrong doings. Till then, let the world know that it is time to act with out prejudice, prestige and self-aggrandizing ego, for you are mortal being and can be asked to leave any day and anytime.

~ The Lost Shoe ~

 Just the other day, whilst walking on the trails of time, I came across a ‘Single Shoe’ which was inadvertently left behind by an unknown Gentleman – don’t know who he was though, the shoe’s other partner has just vanished.

At a desolate spot, the shoe tells us about a lastly inquisition about the wearer – who he was and what made him or her leave him behind. Estranged from the pair, the shoe is in a perfect shape and is in a wearable condition – lot of mendicants and street wanderers wear such shoes as a bargain by the philanthropic types!

The size when gauged perfected with my match – the color didn’t! As the thought grew more fervent, I started to think much about the gentleman and what might have led him to leave behind one shoe which was in perfect order and ordained to accomplish its life with that of its owner.

The answers to all of my questions were kept resting when I see a sleek old man comes gushingly towards me and enquires about the lost shoe which quite embarrassingly trying to match with one of mine – the perfect shot was thus accomplished in a whisker. 

The conversation led me to belief that the gentleman was in fact doing an exercise rigor whilst he had kept the single shoe intentionally as a marking for his running sprint! All my whims and fancies and a thoughtful parlance was laid to rest – Thus the story ended with a gentle talk of well wishing each other with a belief to myself that next time if one sees a secluded shoe in perfect shape, start looking for the rightful owner nearby and not act as inquisitive as one could be else you could find yourself to be in a life of hilarity !

~ Mahesh Uncle & a Tea Cuppa ~

 Sitting on a Tea-Stall, I see a frail looking gentleman adjusting his bicycle on the roadside pavement and taking out some paper teacups and handing over them to a tea-vendor. Many of us would not imagine working at this age of our lives but what test of time exemplifies defies all logic.

He has having a phenomenal strength at his age of life and paddles through the streets of Delhi for about 20 to 30 kms per day. His ‘Sell’ is paper cups and glasses which he sells to street vendors and roadside hawkers.

Mahesh Uncle has had a beautiful past as he describes when I started to converse to him – A Teetotaler that I am, I met him by chance as I was whisking a tea-cuppa with great cherish. He was parking his vehicle – a bicycle which he proudly tells us that he bought with his own ‘hard earned’ money.

Reminiscing his past with great encouragement, he tells us that he was a government employee and was working as a lower divisional clerk at Government of India Press. He has had a great life with a good family – which comprises of two sons and his wife for 38 years now. He lovingly call her “Lakshmi”. On further prodding as to why he is working at this fragile age of his life, he should be sitting at home and enjoying the benefits of retirement, he grows morose suddenly and starts to become sarcastic in nature.

Quite poignantly he tells us that he has started to call him a big failure in life as he was not able to convince his two sons to be with him at this fag end of his life. Both of his sons were educated with much hardships ( being a single earning member of a family of four) and they were made to do professional courses with his hard earned money – both of his ‘Competent’ sons ( as he still proudly talks about them) have left him for a comfortable and chasing life-dreams. He stays in his two room Janta flat in Delhi and for them, his dwelling was short of a curated life. This came as a shocker to him and his wife and they were suddenly left to fend for themselves at this dark hour of life. With meagre savings left, he has no option to work now and bring food on the table every day. The story still lingers on the fact that though his sons send some money back home, but still the craving of love and attachment towards their only hope of old age have left them for a mirage of life.

Thoroughly sipping his tea-cuppa he abruptly utters “Beta, Its by God’s grace that I am hale and hearty and ticking at this age of my life. God is certainly kind! My only tension is about my wife, what will happen when I am no more in this world?” His so called “Knowns’ have left him for good, for a better proposition(s) and a good life not believing in the fact that what they are living is ‘GOLD’,

He is happy that at this age he has a companion – His wife, who is hale and hearty too and is living with him, though with meagre means and always thankful to God.

Mahesh uncle, quickly puts his cup down as he finishes his Tea and after collecting daily money from the Tea-vendor, seats himself on his bicycle only to paddle away to his next destination – a probable tea-vendor may be 2-3 kms away only to tell as story of fortitude and despair which he never though he would see in his life whilst he worked hard to give his sons a better future!