~ On Women’s Day…~

 Today, I pen words owed to the women of world and as we see them in fast changing world of expectations and desires. The woman of today are an ideologue to emulate as she lives in a multifarious world, sometimes she is a mother , at others she is a wife, sometimes she becomes a daughter, at other she is a sister but in all her avatar’s she exemplifies the true spirit of life, of compassion and of all round care. Many of them are just living as a listless and are nameless in this world full of bias and indignity , a world which does not care about the remarkable sacrifices a woman makes whilst she  embraces her situation with no regrets – She is a champion in the house who we seldom revere , at others she is taken for granted but still she carries on with same level of commitment without any expectations, such is the mark of a woman!

At times, she lives in different shades of life, be it a working woman as our mother, sister or wife or she is a housewife without a salary and working tirelessly without an appraisal or an appreciation, but you wont find any less of an effort from these relationships as she is perfect example of Godly existence in our lives.

She is a fighter till the end, be it in the farms or in the countryside as a labourer juxtaposed with her husband toiling hard to earn the family income as well as caressing about her children side by side.

She is also the working maid, who gets up as dawn to work in the households as she takes the responsibility of her family and wants her children to be educated ones and not liker her. She is the power woman – a corporate honcho who reached on the pedestal of success and is now emulated by the sundry and made her way up the jealous male bastion, but she did it all…

She is also the tough soldier on the ground and conquering the sky as a fighter pilot and has proved her worth with zillion stories of valor and honor of protecting the country’s borders!

She is a definitive woman of today – a formidable being who does not beg for a chance to compete but competes with equal fervor and wins all her battles though sheer grit and toil of competency and equivalence. She is not a support seeker but a lady who earns her space with dignity and fight in this male bastion society…

More than 500 years back as GuruNanak ji once said “So Kyun Manda Akhiye, Jitt Jamme Rajan… means why call her inferior? from her, the Kings are born!

Guru Gobindji revered women and made her proud by adding ‘Kaur’ to her title, meaning Princess!!!

~ The Joker ...~

Many a time you will criss-cross people who you might not have observed but who are lessons in themselves, they define a far-reaching meaning about themselves and could be mirrors to your life situations. Just the other day I met a man dressed quite ‘inappropriately’ as according to many sane individuals around him – But his job or situation demanded him to be done the character of an unorthodox looking gentleman – “The Joker” as he was quite loudly shouted at by passers by , mainly kids, who were fascinated by his colorful dress and laugh like demeanor!

His appearance attracted almost everyone – with his continues smiles and provoking gestures, he seems to amuse almost everyone. Sometimes he used to make funny grimaces at others he felt a little sad – people were getting adequate entertainment, but this juxtaposed the situation which led him to behave the way he was!

Suddenly, I could relate our lives situations to what I saw and quietly observed – Here was a man who was there on the street dressed amusingly and making us all laugh through his wit but internally who on earth would have dressed like that and come to the fore of public life – making fun of himself whilst he made other people enjoy!

All I could think was about his predicament which led him to take up this unorthodox job! Could be that he is bound by situations of life to take this up, or may be the pressure of running a family or the responsibilities he has to justify – though he did his job with aplomb and devoted himself to the role he was playing. I thought “ We are also jokers in our lives , Isnt it ?, sanely thinking, if we observe ourselves, we could quite convincingly subject ourselves to the world and situations we live in – donning the hat of different relationships at different times - a father, mother, sister, brother and all sorts of roles during our lifetime – behaving  the way others want us to act!

Many of us are entwined in the responsibilities of relationships which has become the part and parcel of our living. We sometimes smile to make others laugh; we act to make others comfortable. We all are jokers without our dresses who are in the comic world called “Society” which has benchmarked our roles to perform on day to day basis. 

As Shakespeare once said “All the world is a stage…” so here we all are , performing in the circus of life with our ego’s, character, achievements on our sleeve  but with a purpose to entertain each other on this podium.

Just like the Joker, we are also clapped on or reprimanded on our day to day performances – we are judged by people’s insane expectations as we are always expected to make the others laugh be whatever we are going though internally!

Deeply immersed in the sea of thoughts, a sudden lough cheer broke my oblivion to realize that the ‘Act of the Joker’ was over and it was time to shun some money for his benevolence of making us laugh – though again this situation related to the ‘Act of life which we are now, would end one day’ and we would be a bygone memories for near and dear ones who themselves will done the hat of a “Joker’ to satiate the world of its expectations…finally, the stage of life would continue…

~ Life Confessions of a Medic... ~

 Today I write about a poignant talk that I recently had with an eminent personality. His belief in external world is beyond your imagination. Working as a cardiologist in a prominent Delhi hospital, he has seen it all – Instant deaths, life saving moments. Relative's and family members just falling on his feet to save a precious life, the times he has himself lost ground and thought he would not be able to save the patient from clutches of inevitable death. 

As per him, he had immense faith in the abilities of medical science to begin with, what he was taught at MAMC – Maulana Azad Medical College became a cult of his medical practice over the years. Dr Sharma is a septuagenarian who has been practicing Cardiology for three decades! Another feather in his cap has been unequivocal service to the downtrodden, there has been some miraculous cases in his life whereby he had called it quits but some eventful happenings made him believe that all that there is someone up there, some force who is controlling our life’s situation. 

“I have seen it all, the fist Death in front of my eyes made me cry! But it gave me a jolt to my knowledge and my teaching of medical science. The patient was faring well but suddenly in the night his condition deteriorated, and the final call came within seconds – no amount of resurrection was successful.!” Hearing these cantos from a successful medical practitioner is surprise to the ear – why on earth with so much years of practice and handling multifarious cases and complexities of bodies, here is a man talking of the “Unknown” , the “Other Force” who is surely thinks is in command of our destiny and day to day living on this planet. 

As the conversation takes shape, Dr Sharma talks of a case which made him believe in the existence of something intangible which is behind the working of this world. “A Patient in coma after a Cardiac attack once murmured – ‘They have come to take me and are laughing and calling my name!’” , this seems to be when the person was in deep coma and almost brain dead. In medical science this seems to be a case of hallucinations under the effect of heavy medicine’s but for the spirit soul this seems to be the ‘Connect’ with the other world. After some moments he again muttered “Go back ,Go back!” – this is what I have seen myself in the ICU of a hospital.” 

Dr Sharma’s belief is not purely a makeup story but a fact for him – his insistence of facts where death meets life cannot be taken for granted , for it is the fact which most of us generally observe in day to day or our living but are not ready to accept! No Wonder, when a MD Cardiology speaks of his life’s experiences, you need to give a patient hearing and form opinions about what all is there in this world, so much of which is not explored by ourselves! Finally, the conversation ends on note of gratitude to the higher self , which according to Dr Sharma commands and controls the working of this entirety called ‘Universe’ and we are a very subtle part of its existence but it is us who have to believe in this duality of living in materialism and thinking that it is us who are the doers of our situation and destiny , till then  let the benevolence of his presence fall on all of us to live in harmony and in perfect health and obey his commandments!

~ The Honour Of Wasting Time...~

 In the line of an ATM Queue, I get fragile with impatience of long lasting conversations with two gentlemen , one an Octogenarian and other in his middle age, discussing ‘Something of Importance’ to themselves.

The ‘Hurry’ inside me made me quite unaccustomed to as I had a timeline to match. Thinking to myself as to what these gentlemen might be discussion in all perpetuity, I was about to ask them to please hurry up their chores and thus free the ATM machine to make me do the transaction in quick earnest.

Don’t know what stopped me from doing so, I kept waiting and sulking. On a further look I saw that the ‘Problem’ statement was not the ATM machine but the ‘Card’ which was not being accepted by the machine. The wait thus goes longer and so does the temperature within me.

Suddenly with a thug , they ‘CLAP’ and catch my attention and I get to know that the much sought after transaction has just ‘Gone Through’ and the buzzling sound of the ATM is a sign that cash will just flow now. Seeing these two gentlemen, I reminisce that the two elderly gentlemen must be old friends and today unexpectedly the ATM counter has become a meeting place with a lot of coincidence involved.

After the ATM buzzle, the counting of notes thus begins, the ‘Old-Habit’ never dies as they say, this reminds me of the times when these oldies used to count every single rupee to their satisfaction and then leave the cash counter in any nationalized bank.

Coming back to the situational analysis I was in , the ATM door opens and both the gentlemen come out by supporting and balancing each other with a note of ‘Thanks’ towards providing a helping hand for a ‘Successful’ ATM transaction.

To my surprise both turn out to be ‘Strangers’ and in anonymity met with the coincidence of time. The sight turns tearful for my ego , as earlier thinking this to be a waste of time standing in Queue of an ATM and waiting for the Slow ‘Elderly Gentlemen’ to fasten up their transactions turn out to be lesson for life.

Be whatever, even if time is less, the ‘Helping hand of God’ shall always seek you wherever sought. Thinking of the middle aged man, who was repeatedly explaining the nitty-gritty of an ATM machine and its operational attributes, wearing his Office suit, he must have been getting late but still shows his patient side and sees to it that his elder partner is not left half way through the process of extracting money from the ATM Machine. The way they parted ways by greeting themselves off turns out to be a sight to remember.

If I were to sit and think if I had so much of patience to help in such a situation, I could endow myself with a difficult answer. Generations come and go but the values you have engrained from test of time and your family remains encapsulated in your genre and his would be the ‘KEY’ to your day to day performance in Life.

Lesson learnt, the situational analysis on each and every eyesight can be a learned lesson in your life.

Those ‘Ten Minutes’ of my learning would be along with me for a long time to come and thus keep me of remembrance of the situations one can be and the conduct one needs to endure to have successful and pleasing living...

~ Humans of Delhi...~

 Living a life in a metropolis brings you to a level of ample observations, people around you have been just in virtuosity but living a nameless life, a life full of deprivation and struggle.

The sheer gut of these people make you stumble upon the bottleneck’s life offered to them via their birth in poverty but their challenge to life has been enormous. One such soul I keep on meeting near vicinity is “Monu” a native from Uttar Pradesh’s Gorakhpur. He has a peculiar job which many of us might shun him to even talk to him, he is our market’s toilet cleaner.

Weather he likes his job or not was my obvious question I asked Monu the other day, his reticence was palpable by the nature of his work as I though he might not like doing what he is currently into, thus he spoke of some words which touched my heart, the words full of gratitude towards God for him being living in Delhi and earning and feeding his family though his handwork and not begging.

He told me that he came 2 decades ago as a child with his uncle after he had lost both of his parents to a freak accident in his native village. His uncle was a public car parking attendant and he took on himself to make sure that he is able to survive in this costly city. He did so but his conditions of deprivation does not let him go!

He astonished me by make me aware of his education qualifications – “I am a graduate Bhaiya !” – these lines pierced my inner being, Monu surely qualifies for a decent living but what he was upto speaks about the failure of our education system, our society has failed him totally!

For most of us, the dignity of work is what matters the most, here is Man I meet who did this with aplomb and whilst he does so, he quite explicitly keeps his self-respect at the same plinth. Monu has no big qualms about what life offered him, he is surely trying to make a silver lining out of his tough situation through a dignified living – as he proudly tell me “ Bhaiya, no work is big or small…I am batting on the pitch of life and waiting for one loose ball which I shall surely hit for a six!” – What a tremendous attitude this man carries under such depressive situation.

He has two kids who go to a nearby government school and his wife is a housemaid, together they earn much to fend for themselves. The best thing about Monu is his belief in destiny, as he says that God must have grandeur plans for him as if at all he didn’t had, he would have vanished from this existence long back! His gratitude towards the grand design is palpable with his zest for life!

Living a life full of self esteem and working towards his respectability, Monu gave me an exemplified teaching – Come what may , respect life in all of its elements – you never know what comes next, but whilst you do so, remember God’s oblivious presence, for you are being tested on his parameters of living!

~ The Park… ~

 A ground which confounded my existence with my growing up years now behaves the way I never thought it to be. Hours were spent playing all sorts of sports with goodness of friends and foes being those cricket and football matches – the fights and aberrations became the part and parcel of my adolescence.

 But off late, the Park has gained a new definition in my vocabulary of life, there is much to observe, live and dream about its presence around me – the thankless job it does to hordes of people coming to the fore for a simple stroll or an escapade of domestic life.

Today in these uncertain times, the Park has become our new dimension of living, with all sorts of souls avoiding the frenzy moments of homely living, Park is our sole refuge. With blossoming flowers and clear sky paddocks above, the place has an intriguing enigma. Brisk walks have become the norm of the day, I never thought of meeting beautiful people living close in my vicinity – souls brimming with wisdom of life, the die-hard octogenarians who have held formidable positions in government or private sectors but could not beat age and had to call it quits, though still they have not shunned the aura and respectability of positions they held.

On the other facet, I could see life in dilapidation, with no achievement, these lifeless souls occupy benches to time-pass their earthly sojourn and sometimes regret being born with not much luck or hope. Talking with them teaches me much about the dichotomy life offers, on one hand I see materialistic achievements and the boasting of same but on the other side of the aisle I see despondency and failure of life. On one hand I see kids full of confidence and playing their favorite sports, also I visualize toddlers just brought to a gentle stroll with their mothers – hoping for better future of their kids, there first footsteps outside the periphery of their homes. The Oxymoron of life continues as you would find the new and the old walking pass by each other looking with equal inquisition.

Of late with the pandemic taking its toll on the old, I sometimes hear the loss of someone gone without any signs of doing so, just the other day he was taking a stroll, but the life uncertainties took over him. Such vicissitudes of life – the park has seen it all, encapsulating the decree of pain and warmth of its regular inhabitants. Someone becomes a new member, someone losses his membership, the place sees quite a new visitor everyday and offers its meadows to captivating heights.

Park makes me meet both ends and continues to poke me with grim reminders of life – a life with all of its panorama it can offer. Today as I write this piece of thought, the park is all that is there with me, the fragrance of flowers, the buzzing of the winds , all that seems just majestic of what nature showers on you till the time you are here !

Raj ~ A Choice Of Life !

 Today as I was taking a stroll in my neighborhood park, I could see a man passed my vicinity , he seems to be a known face, though wearing a mask, I could decipher he could be my old buddy with whom I have shared some momentous moments of my life in my early childhood.

As we were circumambulating the park periphery, the next meeting was bound to happen, as I saw him coming towards me, I was more certain of the grandeur of his presence and took courage to call him by his name “Raj” – though with a fear of being wrong.

Just having done so, he downed his mask and I took a sigh of relief – Indeed my observation came to be true and it was him , my childhood friend Raj, but there was a total change in his clamor- he was seem to be living a life of seclusion, for so a life of a mendicant (“Sanyas” as we call it in Hinduism).

As we met, we exchanged some age old pleasantries – our own style that we always had but he was a bit restrained as his ‘New look and life’ didn’t permitted him to cross boundaries and tread a path which he had foregone.

The only question which came to my mind looking at his this state of living was “ What have you done to yourself, how and why this complete transition!” – listening to this , he smiled and then slowly talked about his transition from a regular day to day householder to nomadic life and finally taking the path of Sanyas and in complete bhakti and splendor of Lord Krishna!

He told me, he took this stand about eight to ten years ago, leaving all his near and dear ones, including his children and wife – hearing this, I become more inquisitive and asked him, why was this done?

HE was as comatose as his listening to my quest, he thus answered “Something inside me changed completely, and I didn’t want to live a materialistic life full of falsifying ego’s and rat race competition! Ever since I took this path, I have completely detached myself from worldly existence and have thus immersed in all completeness in praise of the Lord – I am a very satisfied soul and no quest for any relationship or materialism!”

I had no more questions to portray for him, we started to chat about generalities of life and living, where humanity is going and what is instore for all of us as we are becoming slaves of materialism and overloading information. He was very amazed about the fast-paced life man has started to live. “In the spiritual world, there is no need to rush for anything”  , he said, further clarifying, everything is self-evolving and there is nothing you or I shall be doing what it is not destined in our path of living!”

The chat became filled with gravity of thoughts, I was liking the spiritual prudence this man had gained whilst I did not completely recon his decision of leaving all of his near and dear ones, but after all it was his life and what path he chose to tread, if his family has accepted it as their destiny , no problem.

Further as time passed, there was lot of talks which we discussed, reminiscing our bygone cricket fights and our cycling sprints – I felt that time has actually stood still, and I just wanted it to be like that!

But alas, we cannot hold time together, there came the moment that we had to say “Adieu” until we meet again and when he comes back to Delhi from Mathura – I have no clue when that will happen, till then I would reminisce my moments today with my childhood friend but now a learned man altogether at a different trajectory of life which might look at ease but actually is full of discipline and focus – May he achieve his spiritual quest for which he took such a big stand , my best wishes would always be with him as a soul who had privilege to call you a friend for life!

~ 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….