~ The Barefoot Runner...~

Living a simplistic life has its own benefits and a recent meeting with a soul lead me to accept this idiom with modesty of my thoughts. Today, I present before you a man who is slowly going towards nirvana – if not spiritually but surely ‘Un-materialistically’, a recent meeting with my friend Shubham lead me to jot his thoughts for you to concur.

He has been running for almost a decade has been catapulted into a running icon in our vicinity – with an aim in his mind to complete a certain distance everyday as a key benchmark, his focus is always on his rhythm and presence of mind.

“I thought of running barefoot after a beautiful experience I read decades ago as a newspaper article. A lady took up this peculiar sport out of an instinct and after much practice, she was able go gauge health benefits which had silently creeped in – She was not a diabetic anymore, and also had severely cut short her daily intake of insulin and BP medicine(s). All this was just because of barefoot running.

Taking that as an example, I took upon myself to try this style of running, though at initial stages of doing so, I had to pass through my own setbacks and had to tackle problems of wounds, corns etc but the resolve was strong enough which kept me going. On the lighter vein, I had much hilarious comments by people who knew me or those who were ‘regulars’ in the park – some sought my explanation of myself trying to run barefoot, some gave me suggestion of running with certain set of spongy shoes, one uncle was just as concerned for me that he was not shy of asking me if he can help buy a pair of sneakers 😊 – that was the best comment I had in my life!

Now that I have an empirics to rely on myself, I have become a vociferous proponent of barefoot running, though the start was tough and I was not able to hold on to my rhythm and pace, with practice and carefully choosing the path in the ground, I was able to create my own niche of running without any footwear.

No wonder I have been able to simply stabilize my blood sugar levels and have ‘almost’ done away with daily dosage of my medicines – also, I have been able to control my anxiety levels – the benefits are aplenty.

I feel good and elated when I am finished with my regular rounds of running and people courageously ask me all sorts of questions about the larger good that I am achieving whilst I run without my shoes – I being an example myself have turned some into ‘Men without Shoes!” , though they are at a nascent stage of their practice, the road is long and arduous but certainly seeing the benefits themselves as an aftermath of such exercise, they are on the verge of engrossing themselves as barefoot runners!

The art of running barefoot has instigated in me a strong feeling of living the way of a minimalist – we all have an inclination of hoarding objects such as clothes, books , electronic devices and much more – usually many of these inanimate objects are of not much of a repetitive usage – keeping them at bay can only be practiced with a strong mind – we all have a lineage of footwear for different occasions but to my it has been a novel experiment to have the minimal approach to live life with the bare minimum.

Consider this , everything that your brain exhumes of many objects that you have collected over a period of time – you waste you precious energy and time to think over it – just try to cut short your items for day to day usage and see for yourself the inert benefits they accompany – think over it as I did long time back and here I am presenting myself the benefits of doing it – all thanks to Barefoot Running…

~ Tsundoku, We all do it...~

Reading books can be the best companionship you can have in the silence of your being. You are your own speaker and the listener too. Diving into the glance, you create an image of the character whilst you read on and it turns out to be such a magnificent experience when you absorb yourself with a character of your liking,

A good book becomes a best friend and leave a lasting memory for years to come – you can have a déjà vu feeling for your thoughts and observations as you create a fantasy of scenarios whilst you turn pages! 

But nowadays, many people have started to stock books with a notion to read them on a future date or time, not knowing such tomorrow might not happen and those books carefully selected according to your interest will be kept as a showcase for ever – a far reaching possibility can be that they might be thrown as scrap by a family Smartian who has the least interest in them. He/she may never know the talk one can do with a good book and how earnestly a change of mind can take place whilst you are in conversation with it.

Tsundoku what they call it – stacking or piling books with an intent to read one fine Day!

‘Tsundoku’ happened to be a word I came across the other day and that formed the basis of my writing today. To a certain extent, we all are practicing Tsundoku knowingly or unknowingly – with a feeling of going through in our minds that a day would soon come when we would have read all the stacked books in our shelves – on the contrary, we also know deep inside our mind and soul that it will be greatest ever wish we can have, yet we are oblivious to accept this reality.

A general reprimand from the family becomes the order of the day, for these bundles of paper we call ‘Books’ occupy a hell lot of space in our cramped places, where every family member is in search and want of a delicate corner to ensure his/her privacy – the sight Tsundoku becomes envious to the delight of everyone – you get into a mode to defend the presence of these inanimate objects bundled together, but carry a vast reservoir of untapped knowledge – What these books preach, if put on to use, can be a life changing moment for many of us, but we are ordained to not read them till the end of time as we are engrossed in other nitty-gritty of our day to day chores.

As you start to finish the books with the passage of time, you will find yourself in harmony of knowledge which somehow creeped in your conscience and which made you a lateral thinker towards day to day living. You will observe a stark change in your persona, which you shall start to cherish as you grow old day by day - that is the magnificence of keeping in touch with your best companions - Books!

A piece of sincere advise – make sure that you lay your hands on to a book which you have not touched since ages – which you always see lying at the corner but intent to read but did not find time to do so, break the shackles and excuse yourself of all invalid explanations of time, space or mood - pick the book up and start reading – that is the only way to be in touch with them – if at all , you could laze around your bed or a park nearby or a library, if you have one, and enjoy the company of your best friend who silently speaks and brims your mind with thoughts and musings of life … till then, Tsundoku is the order of the day!

~ Humans of Delhi...~

He comes once in a month and is always brimming with a smile. In all sweat, he has a bogey of 2-3 gas cylinders – which he exchanges with the empty ones whilst he treads house to house, floor to floor.

The job is tough, but he has now got used to the rigmarole as one does after going through the initial grill of life. The best part of his persona is his bubbly nature, as his demeanor – he is always ready to start a healthy conversation – be it about life, family and rising prices of Gas and petrol.

People often ask him the question of next government decision to rise the price of a gas cylinder which is so indispensable in many households, though many have now switched to piped gas. Acknowledging their pain, he replies back with a smile – many do take his reply quite seriously as somehow, he has that vital information people expect of him.

He always wears his ‘Official’ dress – a green T-shirt splashing the company’s logo he works for and is proud of what he is doing in life – as he tells me with a sparkle in his eyes “ I have been doing this work since 20 years now!, I came from Bihar empty handed and have made my own house and got married here and have kids!”  - he had just shared his entire life sketch in two simple lines, as I watch him with much interest.

He quickly puts the empty cylinder on his cycle and hooks it with all neatness, takes out a cloth and rubs his face to clear the sweat. He smiles again and take out the water bottle to satiate his thirst.

Hearing his fable, I see in him a man in all completeness and satisfaction of life he is living. He has proudly absorbed his life’s situation and is in complete harmony with the situation he is in. In spite of his meagre living and earning capacity, he is happily married, has made his own dwelling, is hale and hearty and of course is proud parent to his two kids – a boy and a girl, both students in a state run school. Of all the parameters I have mentioned, many of us who are reading this today have missed either one or more of the parameters – internally you will move to a thought provoking mode – how come a man whose work entails paddling for miles in Delhi summers remain all contended in life’s situation and still present himself with a contagious smile!

Many of us would envy the fine balance he has made out of his life – he is a winner for many of us, we might not be able to balance things with so many bounties but he has done it with  an ease.

Asked if he wanted a glass of water as it was too hot and humid, he turned down the request as he told me that he always carried a bottle with him whilst he deliver’s cylinders, same was the answer when he was asked if he carried a sanitizer for himself in these times of pandemic.

“Sir, I have small kids and have to work outside and visit homes, I have to be extra careful – which I always am to the best of my ability!” – Such contentment flowing through can only be achieved through strong meditative practice – programming your mind, the worst culprit, is the most arduous task in this world.

Somehow, knowingly or unknowingly he has achieved it , though he must have his own set of regrets, he is treading the path towards a bigger goal. His small achievements which we interpret are actually his biggest!

As he has little time left to report back to his ‘Office’, as he calls it, he hurriedly packs up his bottle and take permission to leave whilst he exchange pleasantries – as he slowly balances his dilapidated bicycle of his three cylinders he has collected, his current task is complete – I watch him silently as he diminishes in quick seconds leaving me with some vital life lessons to follow , one being “Be Contended with what you have, It is HIM who knows what to bestow on you and When….His test of time has no flaws….!”

~ Art of being Idle…~

Have you ever thought how it is to be like sitting completely free, devoid of your thoughts and what you want to do next moment... ? Do this gesture in your life and see for yourself what magnificent change it does to your aura...

Idleness is the synonym of a meditative state of mind, with no thought, your mind is at complete rest with itself and is not processing any information. Idleness can be a new found art of happiness, all you need to do is to shed off your baggage of ‘To-do-List’, howsoever it is important till the point , it is not life threatening.

In idleness, you get superlative thoughts to perform your best – you plan your journey ahead and try to tread the off-beaten path towards your purpose. History is replete with examples where the best minds in the world have got their eureka moments in times of complete Idleness.

In this life of perpetual scurry, we need to take stock of other important things which we might be losing every second. We need to connect to ourselves and listen to the inner voice which has been kept at bay by us for want of time. So, does idleness is another name for lethargy or you can be termed a recluse? Not really, for many of us Idleness can be a blessing in disguise from the razzmatazz of life we all chase every day, setting our own fictitious goals and sky-touching aspirations, Idleness bring about peace and tranquility to the volatile mind.

Give yourself a reliever, it is not you who has to accomplish everything and every target in this universe – you are not the sole object of an example being set as an achiever. Millions of people who are living a mediocre life are happy in their own grooves, better-off than people who are rich and constantly on the toll. We always embark on the deep-rooted prejudices and a heart filled with guilt that makes us constant on the move, we lose peace of mind over trivial subjects and constantly overthink them.

Idleness is the coolest way to be far from all the vices and deserved to be the top priority of your living, now that we have known through recent experiences that all your bank balance which you have acquired through fancy degrees is not sufficient to buy you an oxygen cylinder or a hospital bed- then what makes you run around at the cost of your happiness.

Ever since we took shape, a sense of “Duty’ has been instilled in our beings and ever since we are on the boil, devoid of thoughts and free mind, something always constantly working in our mind.

Today, do yourself a service – sit down in all idleness, stare at the twinkling stars, dive into the color of blue skies, monsoon is just round the corner – listen to the divine music nature plays whilst it rains! And yes don’t forget to have your favorite cup of tea or coffee – you will yourself see the happiness in your entity creeping through, your thoughts getting still, suddenly you will find that all the burdens of big achievements you ought to run after have actually vanished – you feel light and you have done yourself  a mighty favour in doing all this… so next time, make yourself ideal for a while and see what it does to you…don’t think much about what others would think about you…for let them ‘’think’ about your state of ‘Idleness’!!!.....

~ Guddu...Man on a Mission...~

 He comes everyday with his benchmark e-rickshaw, a semblance of his presence nearby as he hoots a peculiar horn which he has installed just recently. Ringing the bell and with a loud shout “Dhoodh) [Milk] , I get to know that ‘Guddu’ is here. I have never ever asked his formal name, for me this name begets a companionship, a sense of being a family to me.

Throughout the corona upsurge, he has been a constant source of motivation and a ray of hope for many of us who had secluded ourselves in the confines of our home. Motivation because, in spite of all the news of death and mayhem, here was a man who was doing his duty with full dedication and honor, knowing fully well that there are sick patients stuck up at their homes who cannot jump out of their peripheries – A lot of it depended on him to provide the daily groceries of essentials – from milk, eggs , bread, lassi (Butter Milk) and bread, Guddu was the man wanted by many of us in every morning.

Doing a thankless job, as many of us believed that he also has to earn his bread and butter and hence he takes this risk of coming out in open at peak of this pandemic where people are getting infected whilst at the closet of their homes. Whatever was our thinking, Guddu just kept on doing his work with equal zeal everyday – making our lives easier day by day!

Today, when I clicked his picture to be included in my blog, his eyes widened with a sense of pride. Many of us have thanked him for the marvel he has done at that critical juncture. Of course, we are not thankless souls after all, in those dire needs, everyone tried to help and assist each other , even if it was through kind words or by passing of keynote WhatsApp messages for medicines or Oxygen cylinders, whatever people could do , they did.

Amongst them there were many such invisible and nameless souls who kept on going on and on and didn’t held themselves back out of fear or inhibition of getting contracted by the virus – for they also have a family back home and are susceptible to the same vagaries of life as we all were!

I asked him, who all are there in his family and didn’t he feel a sense of apprehension when he used to come with same rigor everyday to sell his sundries to homes and sometimes entire containment zones.

His answer was quite astonishing coupled with a gleeful smile – “Bhaiya, I have my old father and mother and wife and two kids, we all are family of six people. I took ultimate precautions everyday I went home as I knew this disease is very contagious and it was running at its peak that time, for an entire two months, I stayed in another room near my home.”

The answer stupefied me and made me think about the dedication of this man and how he successfully balanced out his situation of life. He had to work and had to provide essentials to the needy ones – which he did without failing for even a single day and also made doubly sure that he should not be called the culprit of spreading corona at his home!

As I paid for my buy today, a special mention of thanks was passed on to Guddu from me, His smile said it all - but for me it was really important to make him realize that what seems to be his mundane work was a life savior for many of us!

Many of us have such “Guddu’s” in our vicinity who are invisibles by virtue of regular work they do for the benefit of all – sometimes they are street vendors , garbage collectors or delivery boys – all have families to support and all are equally susceptible to the virus as we are – today I thank them All for their unflinching effort and support and helping us go through that tough phase which made us more human and to see another day of HIS existence!

~ Lost It All..~

 “There is no one at home now…I go and cook for myself, Covid has devastated my life – I had no money to provide for hospitalization or Oxygen Cylinder when my wife and brother died in my arms.”

This poignant story of a rickshaw puller which I boarded today shows the grit of human endeavor to live life come what may. Though Shambhu has openly admitted that he thought of killing himself out of depression but at the last moment some voice made him stop.

“Don’t know what made me stop Sir!” he told me as we forged a connect whilst he was taking me way back home. Today was his day of speaking, to puke his emotions on someone whom he thought gave him a patient hearing – I consider myself blessed and humbled to know the nadir of humanity which Shambu told me.

“Bhaiya, I put my wife in my rickshaw and took her to a government hospital in my vicinity – she fainted on the doorstep out of breathlessness but the guard simply did not let us enter – after some time, a doctor and a healthcare worker came and declared her dead. I could not believe that my destiny had turned so cruel towards me!”

“Bhaiya, being poor and powerless in this world is the worst punishment, as no one listens to you and everyone just shoo you away as filth! We are poor and struggle everyday for our survival. We could not afford doctor’s fee or high-cost medicines and thus have to be dependent on government run hospitals.”

After a brief silences, he again continued … “One week later, I lost my brother, who was also suffering from Covid and for whom I was not able to arrange Oxygen cylinder – He died in my arms in my jugghi (makeover Shanti)” – ridding pillion, I was just listening to the tale of a man who had lost his family out of human insensitivity. I had no better words of comfort than telling him “ Shambhu bhaiya, it was all God’s will.” – though I knew fully well that we as humans did not try and did our best to save his family’s life – We blamed God as that is the easy way out.

“Will you go home now after dropping me Shambhu?” – I asked.

“No bhaiya, I wont go home, the moment I will go home, I will deep dive into fateful memories of my wife and my brother – I only had them as my family and there is no one left now for me to go home. I will sleep in my rickshaw and would go home early morning to take bath and freshen me up to begin my day again.”

I asked him one more question –“Shambhu, from where you get the zeal to live and look towards a better tomorrow?”

He did not speak a word and I presumed that he might not have listened to my question midst the hush-hush of vehicular moment. I repeated the same question but to no avail. Though I felt offended at the gesture shown to me but I understood his dilemma of thoughts and kept quiet. There was no further conversation with Shambhu throughout my journey.

Soon I had arrived at my destination and hurriedly got off to pay Shambhu for his services and lo!. I could see his wet eyes and he was crying silently whilst he drove. I swiftly tried to engage him in the worldly talk and made him remind of his boldness to counter the situation life had thrown him into.

“Shambhu bhaiya, very less people have the courage to live life alone – that too when they have lost their near and dear ones in close interval of time. You are bold and strong and an example for many of people like me who would listen to your story of guts!, I know what you have lost, for I have been in your boat sometime back.” , telling this I paid him and took his phone no - for I want to be in touch with such a man who is a tower of inspiration for me to live on despite being alone and enduring his pain silently. 

As I am writing this now, I can clearly envision what my friend must be doing at this midnight hour – I am sending him my prayers and wishes for I want to see him a family man again – a prerequisite for every one of us to live beautifully in this world full of unexpected happenings and mishaps…

~ The Art of Begging...~

 She Clings to her mother’s loosen cloth and shows her disagreement to ask for alms. Her prawning eyes though are always looking at passersby and their behavior. On a busy road both mother and daughter sit on the pavement and watch life moving on.

I have never seen them ever but until recently they have started to appear and make their presence felt. For sure, they come in the afternoon as I have seen them many times. They sit the whole day asking for whatever they can get from passersby. The girl is shy and keeps a veil around her face – a clear sign that this is oblivious to the life outside her mother’s protective cover. Just the other day she steps out may be the first time and crosses the busy road in a hurry and approaches a mother-daughter duo – fearlessly reminding herself of her own mother. Suddenly, she starts a communication with the lady who happens to come to the mart to purchase her monthly grossly with her daughter.

She starts to beg but with a peculiar grimace on her face , her eyes looking down out of shyness or the shame she has been made to face by her mother – The lady is soon convinced and gives a 10 rupee note to her with a warning not to beg – I can well analyze the whole predicament of the lady who according to me did because she cloned the situation fast and thought of the ‘beggar girl’ as an image of her own daughter- almost of same age. True to the situation, her own daughter threw a volley of questions towards her generous mother, which she had no option but to answer whilst they both unlocked their car and sped away in no time! 

Left behind was the little girl with a 10 Rupee not in her hand and a task to cross the road back and pass on her first beg for the day to her mother – who already had a pouch full of paraphernalia of her askance from many pedestrians who went passed by that pavement where she was sitting.

The sense of greed had just creeped in and the little girl was again reminded to beg more but with some stark instructions – this time the ‘Prey’ was me 😊 . She again crossed the road and directly came towards me asking for alms. The ‘Script’ was thus

“ bhaiya paise dedo.” – [ Give me some Money.]

As I was noticing the begging drama but stood helpless and obligated by looking at her innocence and her helplessness, I asked her “ Beta, Kitne Chahiye.” –[How much you want].

Guess what the answer came – “Bhaiya Dus Rupay!” – [ Ten Rupees!], as if that was the only benchmark set by her mother to ask for – nothing more, nothing less.

I further asked her “ Beta School nahi jatey aap, kaunsi class mein padtey ho?, aapko achcha lagta hai bheek mangna aise? Aapki mummy mana nah karti?” – [ Don’t you go to school? And In which class you study, don’t you feel ashamed whilst you beg and ask for money?]

She gave an answer straight from her heart “ Bhaiya, khane ko nahi hai ghar par, school band ho gaya hai , Ma ne nahi bheja fir, kaapi kitab nahi hai mere pass, paise bhi nahi hai!” – [ I don’t have anything to eat at home, school is closed now and I don’t have books either nor money!]

This time, I knew, her answer was not scripted and it poured my heart out of love and compassion for what she was going through in her life at this age!

What I did, I did but such a situation tore my heart rock bottom – Destiny has an alternative plan for her, I didn’t ask her name in a hurry , may be next time when I forge a bond with her – my little friend, I make sure that she gets much more than she deserves – till then I wait for that meeting to happen!

~ Papa wont come back..~

“Papa won’t come back – I know.” , this disheartening words from a 16 year old girl gave a chill down my spine. Suddenly she had grown old and started to recognize the world with her own imagination and interpretations.

Sahil, my friend left this world last week after being almost bedridden in a hospital fighting corona. All of his focus throughout his life (all of 47 years) since he became a father was for his princess Diya whom he always adored and praised in our talks. Every next sentence was focused on things in and around Diya – such was the love and admiration he had for his daughter. 

Enquiring about her state of mind from Suresh, elder brother of my friend Sahil, he thus spoke -“Hearing about her father’s demise, she went mum and hardly spoke to anyone , she is all self-hypnotized with the thoughts and time she shared with her father, the worst part being, she was not even allowed to see her father one last time. Suresh, further told that Sahil’s last word for Diya were “Just give lot of blessings and love to her, my last one probably…will always love her!”

“It was the toughest message I have ever conveyed to a teenager.” and whilst I did so, I cried and questioned God today, why he did this to us? What wrong we had done to have such situation.

I had no answers to Suresh’s question, and I kept on listening to him with all ears. We as humans can react to the situations and control them to a certain extent, the end results is beyond are reach – this is exactly what Gita explains. Many of us have been prior witness to such occurrences in life when we needed something desperately or wanted situation to turn up in a particular fashion, but it didn’t happen. At other times, we didn’t want situation to roll out as we had no interest in its outcome, it eventually happens – have we thought why this is so, the inevitability is beyond our control.

The twist of time can touch anyone at any moment of our lives , even if we are prepared or not, the situation will go out of control if it has to and we being a witness won’t be able to judge or command the outcome. The belief in the supernatural world or what humans define it as ‘God’ exists due to this compelling factor else if we were to control every bit and pieces of this universe, we would be called God!

As they say, daughters have a spiritual bond with their father, to the envy of the world. In most families by natural instance, daughters are the choices of daddy’s, not that sons are not, but a female child by default take unspoken precedence. This naturally happened with Diya – I have seen her as a new born and have also seen Sahil so lovingly paddling through his new found hobby of cycling with his daughter – all those images when come to my mind makes me nostalgic of an apparent love and connect both father and daughter had. Now that physically the bond has wrecked, in spirit it cannot be broken as for Diya, her father would always be a hero and a living reality. In such short span of time, she has loved and lived the best moments of her life with the most charming man he has ever met till date…. Why not then she should cherish the living memories so lived!

As the call neared its end, Suresh told me another small incidence which doctors told him inside ICU – In his dying moments, Sahil told the medics, tell my family that I will always be there for them through thick and thin, and would be keeping a protective vigil for the rest of their life …. That is a father’s promise to her daughter!

Such was the love and compassion Sahil had for his family – though he is no more in flesh and blood, but I truly know that he would always fulfill his promise which he has always done as a father and a husband… Bye Sahil for your heavenly sojourn, I know your last words would deem come true in form of miracles which Diya might one day tell me whilst she continues her life here in this physical world…!!!

~ In Quest Of Time…~

What you sow shall you reap” the must under-rated saying is the crux of our existence on this planet. This has been proven scientifically through various laws of nature – “Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.” – we have studied this law of physics but have hardly understood its implication in our life. It is only for the sake of marks in our exams that we learnt this by heart followed by few examples. 

At this age of our lives, deeply atoning to this law, we would find it holds good for most of our life’s decisions. What you do to someone would come back to you in another form or event and you shall soon be made to understand as to why this happened with you – “Karma catches up!” – though it is a slow mover but it does get back to you with all the good or the bad things that happened or would happen in your life.

All our lives, we are trying to beguile and chase our dreams and aspirations which find way to nothingness sometimes – someone wants to be a CEO, others want to conquer the world by opening his own startup and making it successful, still someone want to earn ‘Handsomely’ – though I never got to know the stoppage point of all this megalomania and where it would lead us to. 

This point has been proven in the current situations and time we are living – no one knows how we would get out of it – all possible assumptions have been put forward by segments of the society – be it medics, thinkers, spiritualists, mankind has been entwined in the shackles of a tiny virus which enters your body and does what it wants to. You created it or not is another question and most would go into an argumentative mode whilst they debate this topic but now that it has made its presence felt- it controls our lives and I would continue to do so for may be rest of our lives.

I have not seen people so scary in their lives, with many people being pushed into oblivion induced by poverty, hunger and death, there are others who have lost hope of their business revival and many have lost their bread and butter – the situation indeed gets precarious with each passing day.

My constant inducement to my thoughts as to when this would all end has no answers, till the time our medical fraternity justifies the test of time and their judgement, we are in a fix and would remain so.

The answers to these complex situations can ‘occur’ at any time – though our medics are at it as a constant endeavor, a clairvoyance or a majestic occurrence cannot be ruled out. I say this as a far-reaching possibility as I quote to such examples which have occurred in history of time…

The idea of Insulin was actually thought of in a dream by Canadian medics in the year 1921 and it became controversial – how did this dream happen and what induced it cannot be researched as dreams happen – no wonder the idea stuck and we had a lasting solution for diabetics!

The touch of divinity had always been there, for some it was revealed and thus resulted surprise inventions and discoveries of the metaphysical.

Second example I would like to quote upon is the curious case of Srinivasan Ramanujan …with almost negligible resources, he ‘created’ complex mathematical equations which became the bedrock of current scientific and space experiments. Till date, his equations are a hot topic of research for many of the world’s foremost mathematical and scientific minds – to this once asked, he commented that he used to get these divine messages as mathematical equations whilst in deep meditation – though in today’s scientific age, no one would admire such inconclusive logic.

As we would progress with age and time, we would find the most remarkable discoveries as a ‘Eureka’ moment and this would again present itself the concept of “Who is running the show?”. As I always say and believe , there are deep possibilities of the mind to be explored, only time is the only factor which would give a rational reply to our quest, till then, keep exploring…

~ Teri Raza...~

 

Today, I would like to share a small poem penned by my friend and a fellow thinker ... It rightly cascades the present situation we are in and what we are going through...

Kya hai teri marzi, Kya hai teri raza..

Koi door ka, Yaan fir ho paas ka..

Sune jo khabar kisi ki, To ye dil jaye bhara 😢

Koi dhoonde oxygen, ambulance yan haspataal..

Kisi ko chahye Ramdevisir yan blood plasma..

Firta phire maara maara, Hoke hataash behaal..

Jeb mein ho rakhe chaahe ho, Note beshumar, 

mehsoos kare khud ko fir bhi maha-kangaal..

Main positive hun par theek hojaunga, 

mere parivar vaale ko lo bacha..

Sune jo khabar kisi ki, to ye dil jaye bhara 😢

Kehte hain rabb jise, Koi kahe bhagwaan,

Rooth gaya shayad sab se, Koi ja ke le mana..

Ikka dukka koi theek hota hai to khud ko de rahe dilaasa, 

Shayad yahi hai teri marzi, Yahi hai teri raza 🙏

~ The Inhumane Us …~

 “So why did this happen? “– an intriguing question propped up during my group chat with known buddies today. Everyone gave their own explanations of thoughts as they understood and comprehend the situation today.

I had mine and what I perceived it to be …. Thus, it follows…

“The grand design always shows us signals and throws open its magnanimous aura for those who have the urge to connect to it – there is a far greater grand design to which mankind is susceptible – remember that when you were not there , still there was life.

Feeling a sense of obligation towards the life around us – be it plants or animals, we at the top  of our hierarchical food chain have the onus to be kind hearted towards all – as a guardian of this planet and its inhabitants, we were solely responsible for a comfortable living for all whilst we existed with them.

But were we able to do what we were expected of?

We only interpret the retina’s perception as truth and are unmindful of the propositions of the other world – the messages of it are easier to contemplate than thought. All the happenings today have a far-reaching ripple effect in times to come – it is just not a coincidence that we have lost our near and dear ones in flick of a second. Many families have been rendered as emotionally distraught and in spite of the resources and access to the best medical facilities, precious lives could not be saved.

So, think in solitude and try to make a connection to your inner self – may be with a constant practice, you will start to get the answers to the most radical questions you always asked yourself, the answers to which can only come and satiate your quest as a seeker.

Remember, the tumultuous happenings which should be an eyeopener to us – As youngsters, we have not seen the world wars or the great pandemics with our naked eye, but only on various digital platforms, hence we could not gauge the pain and suffering mankind has gone through. But this time, as living beings we could see and feel the mayhem which was bequeathed on us – A visit to the crematorium have left us high and dry and proved our helplessness beyond a certain point. We are just reduced to numbers and nothing more than that. Your existent ceases after you take the last breath.

Death became our daily dosage of living – not a single family has been left untouched with death or hospitalization.

So, where we were wrong to have been punished like this? Have we forgotten to live like humans and have shunned the basic laws of the land – magnanimity, love, acceptance and equality have stopped being virtues for us? Our ancestors were wise and thus lived in harmony with nature and its laws – they equated their existence with all and sundry – both with living and with the inanimate ,but as we progressed scientifically and materialistically, we tried to unearth the natural laws of the universe through our theoretical perceptions of logic and practicality and thus have fiercely ventured into an unchartered territory. Our research and development in science and its outcome has done much damage to our living than it actually profited us.  

We have not left any territory untouched with our so called experimentation of modern science – from genetically altering the DNA of species to launching satellites to explore life outside earth – Man wants to conquer each sphere of the universe not knowing its far reaching repercussions.

We have stopped to listen to the thugs of the grand design – its daily knock on the door and have started to behave as demigods who are bound to conquer the platitudes of existence. The act of doership is ingrained in our conscience and we are masters of the universe – this is what we had thought – we rubbished the idea of living with harmony – killing animals for our food to satiate our taste buds which flamboyantly  showcased our strength. 

When meat becomes taste for us, strongly defied the laws of living and cascaded ourselves towards doomsday – why do we now cry foul? What we did to others, the same is being done to us – Like zillion ants and insects which get crumbled under our feet knowingly or unknowingly, we have been treated as the same.

We never realized during our course of living that almost everything which was needed to survive was already presented before us – air , water, food the basic elements of survival was all there but our hunger for more instigated our inhumanity – we started to kill and obfuscate the existence of other species – the curse of animals came from them and it happened not to be controlled!

We nurture hatred amongst ourselves and other species - bullying them to death and cowardice , our actions are forlorn and with selfish intent. 'We as masters of our own destiny' has been proven wrong with the advent of  pandemic It is now that we have to learn to mend our ways and develop a coherent living with other beings and shun our sense of superiority towards other species - this would be the only way out for our future generations to exist else what has now become a cat and mouse game would remain so for the rest of our lives…!”