~ Lakshmi – A True Soul Of Grit & Gumption ~

She had an effervescence personality and her demeanor was not like any other ordinary mendicant, she took to the streets due to the current happening which lead her to believe how important it was to study and stand on economical grounds and beat the penury of life she was in. Was she her parent’s best choice, a choice which shows them a great future and also move up from the uncertainties of what life offer them as of now?

A chance encounter In front of our office, she was passing through with her siblings and showing them the way as an ordinary trespasser, suddenly a chance eye contact with her made me inquisitive about her future and what she would be in life post the situation we all are in. All of tender age when others of her peers must be studying hard and living on comforts of their homes albeit A/C’s on, she was wandering through the streets of Delhi in order to find food for her family.

Suddenly, she stopped, and a conversation began with me, asking for alms or any other financial help if I could do, she came to the point. Seeing her predicament, I could not resist myself and did what I could have done as per the demand of the situation (though, I would like it to be out of scope in this write-up), she felt a little sense of confidence and started to answer my inquisition.

What is your Name?

Lakshmi” Was the quick answer.

Are these two (a boy and a girl – both of about 6-7 years of age) your brother and Sister?

“Yes Bhaiya”

“Where do you live and why are you roaming around in this scorching heat of Delhi summer?”

“We are in search of food and other alms, my father was a erickshaw driver and he is out of work due to current scenario and we are facing an economic ruin, I study in class 10 in a nearby Govt school and the onus is on me to fend for the family as my mother cooks at home and my father goes out everyday to search for a job and a possible income.”

“Do you want to study and what you want to be in life?

“Bhaiya, I want to just help my parents and by becoming a teacher or a Doctor, I would help them.”

From her weakened voice, I could sense the hurt she had gone through – whilst she begged for alms and other material gains to make her family survive, a severed dent on the self esteem of an enterprising soul – she could be termed a beggar by the raw mind.

Pondering more, I could see that she was bright student and confident enough to study and make a mark for own self and strongly believed that she could take her family out of the economic clutter they were in. The confidence in her vision and approach towards life made me believe the famous idiom “This shall too pass…”

Though in a fix of time, Lakshmi’s determination and valor was unprecedented and was par excellence, she held her head high and was determined to get her family out of this ephemeral situation.

 The last question –

“Lakshmi, will you study more and be something for your own self or will quit school and accept the anomalies of current situation?”

The answer stupefied me and my consciousness.

“Bhaiya, I will prove to my parents, that come what may, I shall be an honor for my family in future , for that I know this is a temporary passing time, I am a good student, only education can beat poverty of life.”

Suddenly, the communication broke and she started to leave in haste for other opportunities to secure her current economic uncertainty. The summer heat was not a damper for her to accomplish task she had partaken.

A life lesson well learnt by a street urchin – come whatever may , aim for your best as the situation may be temporary but your grit and gumption should be permanent. There are enumerable such Lakshmi’s out there who have suddenly found situation for their family as tough and have taken the jumbo step of partaking life’s challenges with equal opportunities with their parents – recalling a recent case when a 15 year old girl paddled her way to her hometown Darbhanga in Bihar, taking care of her ailing father. The excruciating journey of 1200 Kms shook the conscience of our Country and uplifted the resilience of having a Girl Child in the family.

As they say the “Need of the hour produces a Man…”, Covid1-19 has proved beyond doubt that we need to change and look at life in a different perspective altogether. A perspective toward having a humane ground, sensitive to the situation of downtrodden, being accommodative to their predicaments and this to be done without hurting the dignity, self-esteem and honor of those classes.

Let us all give them an equal opportunity and bring in them the confidence to live life on equal terms as we do and see for ourselves what Karma you have done whilst you exist in these uncertain times.

 

 

~ The Invisibles ~

Never before in my living past I had realized the monotony of living indoors.Keeping with the regularity of things to be done sometimes forsake your lackluster attitude towards things, but the trials and demands of the situation make you believe to carry on. 

It is this believe with which our day to day menial tasks which we hardly used to do ourselves come to the fore.Now that situation tends to ease out,I realized the meaningful power of the "Invisibles" which live along with us and have knowingly or unknowingly become inseparable part of our existence. Taking example of our garbage guy who comes knocking on the door every pristine morning without fail and asking for his 'Take' of garbage, I ask him about his general well-being and that what makes him come out of his home . The answers seems to perturb my rationality that everyone is immune to subjectivity of time - Sanjay has a Seven member family to feed - 5 kids and himself with his wife." Sitting at the comforts of his shanty wont feed them bhaiya" is the rational answer i get from him. I understand this harsh fact with practicality of current situation and thank him profusely for the everyday danger and sacrifice he bids on us for his day to day earning.

The second living example of the "Invisibles" which I would like to talk about is our street chowkidar - A guy not more than 45 years if age ,"Ravi" as he likes him to be called, roams around in our vicinity with his candor style and his high pitch of whistle makes his presence felt. Now a days he has lot of responsibility on his shoulders - from checking temperature to inquiring about any entrant in our block, the job demands much effort. Asking him about his family, he responds with a sense of responsibility - "Bhaiya, I have two daughters and parents and wife with whom i share a small room in our neighborhood". Being the only earning member of his family, he shoulders great responsibility to feed all of them at this time of uncertain times.Working for 10-12 hours for a day and exposing himself to high risk of getting infected, he makes sure that we remain safe and secure.

These living examples are just "Invisibles" for most of us as they remain just another working professionals for us and we hardly stop by to notice their inanimate services they render. As time is a good teacher, the best teaching which COVID-19 has taught us to honour these "Invisibles" for making our lives at peace with sense of security and comfort.

Thanks "Sanjay" and "Ravi" for your unending services everyday -though what many would say that it is their sense of burden of their family that they have to oblige, my answer to them is that they were qualified enough to move back to their home towns as they have their own secure dwellings their, but they choose to take up the challenge and cater to what they have been doing Pre-Corona era.

Penultimately, there would be many Sanjay's and Ravi's in your vicinity who are invisibles for us and we have never noticed them as they pass by, it is our duty to oblige and respect their presence in our life for which we remain so much strong and efficient in this dire times.

~ Covid-19 – A true dance of Destiny ~

So, what has been our most coveted learning of COVID-19, the question begets on very minds of people who have been engrossed in the daily rigmarole of life. Having ample time to think and evaluate the current situation we are in, my best instances about what I perceive could be an eye-opener to all of us.

We have been living as free birds in an atmosphere which we have all corrupted – see our natural resources – rivers, lakes, ponds, sea’s, Oceans and Air, all have been physically hijacked and made to suffer. Along with all what we have done, we have donned the hat of a demi-god and played flute in our own self decrepit capacity.

Now that we have enclosed ourselves under physical stay-in caves, nature is fast recovering and getting back to its pristine beauty. The rivers have turned blue, the Particulate Matter (PM) readings have gone down, sky has turned clear, we get up with sounds of birds and other of nature’s paraphernalia – In short nature has started to heal itself in its own way. The pain of loosing loved ones across the globe is synonymous with the hopes and aspirations of what has been left behind. It is only the magnanimity of time which will heal the wounds and put us all on a self-realization mode of our existence.

For the rest of us, staying indoors have been most incapacitated of our actions in living memory. We have devised ways of doing odd things to just kill time or for that matter shut up voices in our heads. We have fine-tuned our living and behavior and thus have started a rollover of measuring life from a different viewpoint. Some of them have unexpectedly discovered new talents such as cooks, bakers. For other’s it has turned out to be a blessing in disguise and they have found out time to stay and spend quality time with their old parents and kids. Many others never thought of themselves to be good moppets to their parents and have started living their childhood. For other, they have turned themselves to be good husbands doing odd jobs such as mopping, cleaning and the Sundry. Thus the saying “Every situation is an opportunity in disguise.” holds true till date and nature in its all mighty stance has proven this adage.

 As human race, we have been adoptive to challenges and this key methodology has helped us test of time. There have been many such occurrences in human history where we have defied our existence and its key challenges. This time too we will rise to the occasion and beat the COVID-19 situation which have been thrown at us, the only rider being that have we become better and more humane living beings?

The answer to this outright question would bear testimony to the upcoming challenges post passing off this scenario – till then all we need to do is to reminisce our past and do a hearty soul-search for what we want in life and what needs to be done to achieve that!

~ Create your Now Moment ~

In our journey of life, we have been landscaping our dreams and aspirations as and when they materialize, one word which all of us are intermittently thinking is 'Tomorrow'

What we always thought of as "Tomorrow" happens to be 'Today' and 'Now'. The unpredictability of life and time postulates one popular observation and that is Start living in Today, seize your 'Now' moment. Whatever you have been thinking of lately or in your life, try to get rid of it by executing it. Having done so, you would have satiated your senses to the brim and would not repent of not doing so if at all you come into a position of not able to do so.

 Life's mavericks have always pointed out to the have's rather than have-nots. Wisdom of life teaches equally to everyone and the rules of the game equates with your abilities to perform synonymously with what is expected by nature.

There are ample such examples which makes us believe that there might not be any tomorrow for all of us, big plans would lay un-materialized and in copious thoughts if not executed and implemented. 

Remember, you are liable for your own self not anyone else. The decisions taken so forth might bring results in an expected or unexpected way but the feeling of taking a momentous decision in a time frame would always give you a feeling of satisfaction that you took one!

Our To-do-List could be classified as according to the zeal it carries, from learning a new skill to getting enchanted to materialistic madness and thus buying your favorite bike, we all have thought of something or else that reaps our mind every now and then. Having thought so, we never factor various infirmities of life bounded by sudden occasions which might not make us reach our objective. 

A sudden melancholy which makes us incapable of doing great things which we have thought, our aspirations which have become bedrock of our living could be nullified by any mischief of life's play.

Our zest of quality of life makes us work hard and in between we forget to devote some precious moments for our own selves. This much we can deserve, for our living is not propounded by high imaginative targets which we have dedicated to ourselves and thus to achieve them, we are trying as hard as one can. Looking around us we find

Take a break, ponder over your thoughts and actions. Time memorial, actions which have engrossed you to achieve the un-achievable - was every achievement worth the effort you dedicated and was that achievement celebrated one? How long that pride of achievement lasted before your next target was set as 'Ready'.

The vicious circle of life will continue at its pace as it always does, till one day, standing in front of the mirror you would see your grayed color, wrinkled eyes and a deteriorated body showing you a true image of what you have done to yourself whilst you chased your endless targets and forgetting your own Now moments.

Concluding my thoughts, all I intent to portray is to use your power of self-thought and start doing things which you have always thought you would do. Create your 'Now Moment' and live your life extraordinarily with an expression that when you are gone tomorrow, you have no regrets of unfulfilled aspirations !

~ An Act of Minimalism ~

Sometimes dire situations make you ponder upon strange happenings. things which you might not have realized in life , which might come calling to you unexpectedly .

The current Covid19 lock-down is one such situation which suddenly happened to all of us. “Caught Unawares" as they say it, we all find ourselves quarantined in our homes by a government order as the only solution to beat this peculiarity of life. What this situation taught me and most of us was that you can be easily beaten up by a small microcosm and thus loose almost everything in knack of time. Your achievements both physical and intangible. Your fragility of life can be challenged at any moment as the case today.

But as they say every cloud has a silver lining and can make you learn far off possibilities which you might not every have thought of otherwise.

As this situation continue to happen, what became my share of learning was the act of 'MINIMALISM’. This virtue came to me as a "Eureka Moment" in my life and suddenly I find myself practicing this unique habit. What started as a search for a particular T-shirt in my cupboard ended me as a changed person. A man with a different perspective towards object lying in our homes, objects which takes you to a time when you have to remember as to when these were of use to you.

Starting from clothes we wear, the day to day utensils and other such items lying barely idle in our homes, there could be many such thought provoking instances which made you believe when you just wanted these object desperately enshrining your home decor but with passage of time these very objects have faded themselves in oblivion but now they stay lifeless just on neglected side of your home satisfying your ego.

I am not going back to time and plan to live a medieval life , the only intent of my embracing minimalism is to de-clutter my existence and free myself of unnecessary stack of objects which are of no or minimal use and which I can live without!

Our almirah's might be stacked with hordes of your best selected clothes which we had collected for differential occasions, but seldom we had got an opportunity to wear them. Same principle applies to zillion other things which might be close to our heart at those moments of time but now the need of the hour is to part ways with them, though might be with a heavy heart, but you know intrinsically that you would not be in a position to use them to your favor. Times have move us all forward to other more important things as most of us have tread various degrees of life's vicissitudes and now have taken ourselves to more important journey, the priorities have certainly changed...

Gauging my day to day life and what is that keeps me going during the day lead me to think parallelly about electronic junk which was of no use to me as I stay engrossed in my daily living. Time could be another factor which is a rarity nowadays and which has lead me to discard these lifeless electronic objects. But on a deep thought it begets my sense of understanding that these are actually not required now, and I would be quite happy to live sans them. There are zillion of other nitty-gritty of life's which demand your attention,who knows there could be another such time when humanity would again befall and have to cage themselves due to a microcosm attack as a greater grand design of nature and this time you are not lucky enough to survive !!!

Penultimately, it is certainly not the sense objects that need minimalism, our accumulated thoughts are another culprit which need a watch , the effort is on....

~ Not CORONA but KARMA ~

Today when all of us are entering an era when we can find our self in precarious positions viz a viz uncertainties of future. We have been severely downgraded by our own actions and are thus paying the price of many misadventures that we have done or are doing. "Sapiens" as we call ourselves and rest on the top echelons of the food chain, we consider ourselves to be Demi-Gods threatening an entire ecosystem of this beautiful planet.

Equality may be a fact which is less prevalent as according to our thinking, but nature has its own grand designs to justify things in its own fashion. The current "Corona" scare is a certain eyeopener for all of us who have a sense of pride and believe in inequalities of living. Today the war is not in the periphery of humanity but human existence, a war between homo sapiens who have been humbled and outcast-ed by organisms.

Can this be derived from the Curse of the zillion animals who have been killed in the name of food, for satiating our taste buds and our own economic greed? or Is this the curse of animals who perished in unstoppable Australian Wildfires? These can be merely inferences of the devastation which is on the cards for all of us if we don’t mend our ways of living and continuous engage in torture with our flora and fauna.

This can be truly considered to be Gods Act of balancing things, a strong hint for all of us to mend things and start living a righteous life. A life bestowed to us to coexist with the living and inanimate. We forgot the basic lesson and started to act our own way, as a result we are at the crossroads of our own destiny, a future of our own making!

For me this epidemic is not "CORONA" but "KARMA" the dance of the getting things settled via your past actions and inaction's. What nature is trying to teach us in its own mild and subtle way? Why are we not getting aligned with the messages from Nature missing a quintessential quality which has been ingrained in us "Humility towards All".

We have lost our touch with our wisdom masters who used to teach us the way of ancient living. The all bestowing “Ancient Wisdom” is the need of the hour and should be put to practice. We have to limit our desires which will lead us to sufferings. With this I ponder on this famous Sanskrit quote which has been profound in my living and am seeing in happening in the current scenario.

यद्यत्संद्दश्यते लोके सर्वं तत्कर्मसम्भवम् ।

सर्वां कर्मांनुसारेण जन्तुर्भोगान्भुनक्ति वै ॥

“Whatever is seen among men (whether pleasure or pain) is born of Karma (actions). All creatures enjoy or suffer, as per their past actions.”

Hope this brings us wisdom and truth amongst our living !

~ Its All In The Planets ~

Sitting and engrossed in my own worldly thoughts and passing my time over a Red light, I come across an unusual knock on my car window.
A sudden jilt passes through my spine as I come out of my daydreaming time, looking outside I visualize a street urchin looking quite emotively towards me and in expectation of something which I didn't knew.
The next moment, he uplifts his hand and brings forward a pot full of oil and a 'Iron" Image protruding out of bucket. After an aware peep, I could see that there were loads of coins of different denominations immersed in mustard oil.

The next sentence I hear is " Jai Shani Dev" and with expected eyes, the boy starts to look at me with a frivolous smile. Now that i start to have a hint of his expectations, I ask him some questions out of my own inquisition.

"What is your name beta?"
"Ravi" , comes the reply.
"Do you go to school?"
"Nahi Uncle - I don’t have time."

I stopped for some time and thought at his fragile age as he doesn't know what he is doing to his life, quite oblivious to a dark future which is waiting for him. My thoughts come to a halt again as he again asks me for some alms to be put in the bucket.

Another question which begets my mind was " Why he must have been doing this? What circumstances made him put in a situation which he currently is?". I probably wont be able to know answers to these questions ever I suppose.

I ask him one more question " Ravi beta what is this bucket for? and what metal image you have put in the bucket? what purpose does it serve?"

He had a ready made answer to all of my questions.
"Uncle - This is Shani Maharaj, yeh aapke kaam sudharenge."
"Aap paise daloge toh aapkae kaam sidh honge."

I asked him one final question " Kaun hai Shani dev? kya aapko pata hai?"

The answer came as a deep silence and quickly he went to another car as he didnt had so much time to stick to one "Customer".

The episode kept me thinking about Ravi and what stars behold for him in times to come,

Finally time never stops and this happened with me as well, as honk from cars behind get my attention, I gear up for the next Red-Light to meet another 'Ravi" with his side of the story...As they say , the Journey never stops....

~ Woman of Substance ~

She comes to our house everyday on a stipulated time, doing her daily tasks in a time bound fashion. Draped in a worn out Saree , she is a working woman by definition. As I see her fully absorbed in her circumstances, thinking and devoted to her job role, she says "Namaste Bhaiya".The revert is synonymous and is with equal fervour. I chance upon breaking a talk with her just out of inquisition and to know about her family - she is new in our neighborhood and was never seen before. On further inquiry, I get to know that she is partaking this "Job" out of self interest and for her two kids who I see standing down near her Rickshaw.

 I ask " What is the name of these two beautiful souls?" -
Pat comes the reply - "Bhaiya "Saurav and Gaurav" both are about 6 years of age.
As the conversation matures, another question props up in my mind " Do they study didi?" - The answer is "Yes", they do study in a "Sarkari" School.

Further she tells me " Bhaiya, I have full intention to make them educated as I am not, My only wish is to make them something out of all the hard work I am doing and ready for sacrificing myself for them!

A sense of belief in education is what she is striving for and why not as that is the best chance she has for her old age. The struggles of life has made her to be tough and vent out to earn and make a respectable living. She could have begged but "NO", the dignity of living gives her the power to respond to tough times. She will win for sure and would beat the circumstances which time is offering her, believing in a perfect saying " When life offers a lemon, make a lemonade!"
For the time being, I have two new small friends now, everyday they visit our home and go happy with an ear to ear smile... That is what was destined for myself and a teaching to follow...God work's in tandem with people around you in differential situations. Your test of time could start anywhere.
I certainly would love to see them grow and achieve the miraculous out of the situation they are currently in ...

By the way , the lady of honour is our Garbage Collector and She being a woman of substance has turned out to be an authentic life teacher to All of us...!

~ Traffic of Life ~

What happens when you don’t challenge the temptation of a green Signal of a traffic light in order to cross it without stoppage. You maintaining the same speed and resist to speed up as prudence sets in and it says “till the time you reach – It would already be a Red light, so stay calm at your own pace.”

Thinking so, a car overtakes you as if it has fallen in the temptation of Inviting Green Light, not knowing if he would be able to surpass it in full confidence. 

I forget to chase the small challenge which was just in front of me….but as time unfolds and reach my destination – a traffic signal which I had to halt due to impending Red light, I come across the same car standing in awe of me. All of my apprehensions came true and that what I had thought was based on my experience of driving and its calculations…. This philosophy holds true in life

The ultimate truth is “Death” which is a red light we have to stop on – this is inevitable and everyone will  achieve it . On the Contrary – the Only Lie is – Life which is a chimera and a salutation of your journey on earth. So the speed with which you are travelling matters in this travel – enrich your journey with your friends and family, don’t rush through to achieve or beat the next signal- the only time you would do is , you have to stop at the ultimate as providence has its own way of setting things out!

PS: Stay calm while you tread this journey called life – ponder over its happenings and the people you have befriended and made company with. Your time is a silent clicking clock which will stop when its own time comes…. Happy Journeying …!!!

~ The Two Marquee Gentlemen ~

Let me today pen down about some of the souls which touch me night and day and that I cannot stop thinking about them at times....

Sudhir - my friend, the pulsation with which he does his work is enormous.Completely engrossed in his daily chores, he greets me with aplomb and with a sense of warmth.
What does he do coming so early , he is a janitor and does all the so called menial jobs which is in th office. From cleaning the desks and arranging of chairs to mopping the floor, the hearty soul is fully charged up with his to-do list. A gentle "Hello Sir Good Morning" is what makes your day to begin with. The energy and humbleness which you get to see whilst you observe Sudhir from  your seat makes you think a zillion questions. What if you were at his place? what would have been his situation that makes him do this work at this stage of his life - barely in his early twenties! At his age, we were all students or must have started our careers.
Life can be tough and demanding for man, you dont know what type of situation one is living with,every day with his relentless work Sudhir teaches me one idiom - no work is menial enough that is should not be done! what life is offering him at this stage of his career, he is doing it with dignity.

Second life i would like to touch is our office guard - Tarachand - The standalone guard who wishes you with rapt attention at the entrance of your office gate. The zeal with which he greets you when you step into office shows the love and appreciation he has for you as he has for his own job.
The sheer strength his duty demands 12 hours standing and maintaining guest records can turn out to be a humongous job for anyone of us.Another key trait he carries is his updated knowledge of the world of politics and economics. You will find him updated in both of this subjects and can often embarrass you for your lack of knowledge on these two.I often confide many political situations with him and to y surprise, he has never let me down on both of these subject.Taking  a short 30 min lunch break, I sometime see him walking the cafeteria aisle, a gentle greet of asking about lunch is all that we speak upon, the next instance, whilst i finish my meal, I see him on his duty-position handling guests and thus is back to square one.


Everyday your life's framework is shaped by many souls whom you touch knowingly or unknowingly. Without them , you might feel crippled in doing your day to day tasks or for that matter situation might not seem to be so easy for you. Shower your respect for these nameless souls who are a major contributors to our lives day in and out.
They might be having a tough situation today, but who knows what is coming their way ? What sort of life they would turn themselves for - Their kids stand
Wee have seen such innumerable examples that kids of rickshawpullers, vegetable vendors, Autodriver's, Household maids have out shined kids from better off families and proven their mettle and become a person of repute in our high esteemed society!

Lets spare a though for "Friends" who are part of your day to day life and with whom you can share a novel bond to be remember for a lifetime - specially when you would retire from your current organisation OR would leave it one day !

~ The Art of Garbage Dumping ~

~ The Art of Garbage Dumping ~

Playfulness can be achieved anywhere and everywhere as it is dependent on your mental state not on how you look or act!
Sitting in my car in Dwarka, I could see a dump of garbage which was probably a collectible spot for everyday pickup. The Garbage dumpers were on their routine job and were busy disposing their collect in small formed pits. suddenly I visioned upon an might be looking at two irregular visitors,who probably were unknown of their being and that both were engrossed in their playful stance. Their biggest toy was the "Rickshaw" which one of them was steering with the other one pushing it hard to move forward. The combined effort had brought them there with their load of collectibles.

Now for them the fun began - they started to dupe the garbage in a playful way. First were the discarded types which they started using as javelin throw- with the thumb voice the tubes used to explode after attaining a trajectory of sorts.This image gave them the laughter of their life's and they started to laugh with their ear to ear smile.

No amount of money on this earth would make you achieve the happiness they had attained whilst they played in the Garbage dump! The second object of toy for the street urchins were the empty cardboard boxes which they started to jump on - the sight of ecstasy one could get while seeing this vision of entertainment was just out of one's being.

We have beautiful parks and grounds with lush green grass to play on but for these two friends it was playing on-the-job with whatever resources they could have attained and fine-tune them for their object of play. One of the life lesson learnt from that 15 minute of stoppage was worth ages - Every second of your life can be made playful , it is not the situation you are in but your mind and how it takes it....both these guys oblivious to the fact that they were being watch made me learn this...Bless them!!!!