~ The Tipping Point ~

 “So, what was the tipping point that led you to moving to start up an eatery?” – was my question to one of my friend whom I met recently whilst we bumped into each other while jogging!

The quirky answer which I got but was not expecting was “I just lost my job in December dude 😊!” – Amit, as my friend’s name goes, was all smiles and not shying away or cooking up stories here – As I knew him from childhood, he has been a pretty straightforward person – whilst we played football or cricket, he was the ‘empire’ and his decision was final!

So what you do know Amit? was my next obvious question – with the same laugh he told me , he has set up a small take-away restaurant in vicinity and provides for home deliveries – the menu includes, baked Momo’s , Chowmien-. “Believe me Sanjeev, it had to happen this way and it just happened. For some years, I had been in different thoughts of starting  something of my own but as luck would have it, I took my unemployment as a blessing in disguise – In fact, now I employ two people and am happy that I have become a small time entrepreneur – who knows what begets for future!

His enthusiasm was filled with ecstasy and he was brimming with confidence. I asked him “ How has been the response?” to which he replied “ The response has been fantastic, Delhiites are just foodies – my initial calculation went haywire and from the first few days till now the orders are pouring in – in-fact, customers have requested me not to shut on Wednesday’s (generally a local holiday here in this part of Delhi!) .

He continued his story  - when I lost my job, It came as a setback as I had been working hard and was an employee of this company for 12 long years, I never expected to be shunned at one go, with an email in my inbox which seems to be cruel. The next few days came as a contemplation for me as I have a family to support and kids who are in school, plus ailing parents. Being the only son, I had to earn anyways, though I had provisions for six months, but you know ho savings perish each day. Thus, there was no point sitting idle or cry over my failures, I had to take the plunge and I took this as an opportunity and started to work on it. In one month, I was sitting in my small take-away restraint and had left back my office life with no regrets!

His enthusiasm had catapulted into his long objective and plans that he was gushingly sharing with me  - “ I have tied up with Swiggy and Zomato and getting excellent response. As I was a foodie myself ( his tummy was an evidence of sorts 😊), I always wanted to hung my boots in some eatery, so time allowed me to intervene in my passion of life!

What is your regrets in life Amit or do you have any” I asked him subtly.

“Why didn’t I parted ways on my own terms in job and took the other route earlier was my only guilt – I could have done it much earlier and have established myself in a decent way till now. I think I wasted lot of time working for somebody who didn’t care even an iota of my efforts whilst I was kicked off at one go!”

Amit’s words was full of agony but also enthusiasm of a futuristic approach. As I see and talk to people, many of us have made our identity as our profession and not thinking otherwise. Also, one more element of interest that I learnt from this meeting was “ never depend on one source of income in life,  pursue your dreams with aplomb, you never know whom you will meet or get help from and that may fructify into your next earning potential!

~ From 'Contact' to 'Connection'...~

The changing dynamics of society has put in front of us some questions which ought to be given valid thoughts , as in a recent discussion we as friends sitting in a café were having regarding the void which have now got created in the families – more so with everybody’s aspirations and fast pace of life, the apertures have become more visible in relationships.

We were set of 5 gentlemen sitting on a coffee table, discussing about our situations and quirks of life to which we all get exposed every day and the general chit-chat speared around the topic of falling relationships.

The oldest amongst us was ‘Sharma Uncle” who is quite revered in our block and has lived his life in all success – having a closely knit family living in togetherness, though a rare feat now a days!

He suddenly started to swear on the reason for broken families and failing relationships – to him there was a difference between a contact and a connection that we have made in our relationships.

To this, my friend “Amit” who quite jokingly put forth his question to him “Sharmaji, what is the different between a ‘Contact’ and ‘Connection’?”

Sharmaji began and started to explain, quite beautifully the difference between a ‘contact’ and a ‘connection’ to bridge the gap between faltering relationships. He thus asked a series of question to Amit sitting on the table.

"Do you talk to your father?", the uncle asked the young pal.

My friend, a CA working in one of the big 4 accounting firm in pune(but now working from home in Delhi due to pandemic) looked visibly annoyed...

The second question was fast as there was no answer by him “When did you talk to him last?"

My friend thus suppressing his annoyance answered: "May be a month ago."

The uncle was quick to respond and thus asked “How many brothers and sisters are you?”

The young man reacted with his eyebrows raised and answered, “2 brothers and 1 Sister.”

The uncle throwed his volley again “Do your brothers and sisters meet often? When did you meet last as a family gathering?"

At this point, the young professional sensed that he is being interviewed but responded "We met last at festival two years ago."

Now the uncle quite laughingly asked my friend: "How many days did you all stay together?"

To this question, my friend kept mum for a second and responded “"Three days..."

As the uncle was asking back to back questions, I started to get the pointers as to what he is trying to dig, but as the conversation was turning quite interesting, I preferred not to intervene!

The next question thus was "How much time did you spend with your Father and mother, sitting right beside him?"

My friend was not in a mood to answer this one as he got the signal as to what was going on – may be he got in somber mood as he told uncle that “ My mother is no more!”

Then there was the final nail in the coffin, after apologizing to my friend after he got to know about the loss of his mother, the old chap questioned him again “Ok son, do you have breakfast, lunch or dinner together? Did you ask how he was? Did you ask how his days are passing after your mother's death?"

Drops of tears started to flow from the eyes of my friend – as I could see that he had gone in the past and flash memories of his mother came visiting him!

At that very moment, something unexpected happened, the uncle came forward and held the hand of my friend and said: "Beta, don’t be embarrassed, upset or sad. I am sorry if I have hurt you unknowingly... But this is basically the answer to your question about "Contact and Connection." You have 'Contact' with your father, but you don't have 'Connection' with him. You are not connected to him. Connection is between heart and heart... Sitting together, sharing meals and caring for each other, touching, shaking hands, having eye contact, spending some time together... All your brothers and sisters have 'Contact' but no ‘Connection' with each other..."

After these words of wisdom, there was a just one sound on the table – the ‘Sound of Silence’ – we all went into a silence mode and started to give deep thought to what we had just heard!

After a few seconds, my friend showed his gratification towards the old man on what he was taught in past few moments, “ Uncleji, thanks very much, today you taught me a life valuable lesson which I will surely keep in mind!”

This small incidence that happened on that table showcases the stark reality of today – Whether at home or in the society everybody has lots of contacts but there is no connection. Everybody is busy in his or her own world. …Let us not maintain just "Contacts" but let us remain "Connected."  Caring, Sharing and Spending time with all our dear ones and live life in a playful mood as if there would be no tomorrow!

~ The Act of Forgiveness …~

Today, I pen my thoughts on the act of forgiveness – a virtue which can do wonders to the life you are living.

Forgive your friends for they were the dudes who were with you in life and they have helped you in thick and thin of life. They were your choice and that’s why you made them your friends, though now they have done something silly or unforgiving and you have severed all relationships with them – but still forgive them for those golden days of your life when they did things to accomplish your friendship!

Forgive your enemies as they are the real guiding force which propelled you to achieve what you did in life – looking back you wanted to beat them in race of life and may be all of your accomplishments were catalyzed by the feeling of enmity you propelled in your heart and thus achieved marvel of life!

Forgive your boss 😊 – yes that is a bit complicated, but still do as after all he is human and has to feel and absorb the pressure of higher-ups – he also has a life and a family to support just like you and he is a sandwich between the higher-ups and you!

Forgive your colleagues – again a tough one as they are probably your best competitors and cause of your ire or jealousy and you have to beat them at any cost – But, again they are humans too and they also pass through the same office rigmarole and grill and are expected of just like you!

Forgive your brother and sister – for they are the best pals God has given you , you probably have shared almost every single life instance with them – remember the fight for toys, the reprimand from parents and doing partners in crime thing!

Forgive your parents, for they are your living Gods, and it is because of them that you came to this life and have reached to this level of living. Think of the sacrifices they have made for you to sustain make you stand in the society – remember the late night rushing to doctor’s or forgoing of their sleep just to make sure that you have a good dreamy sleep for you were ill – they have done it all for your comfort, may be now also they ask you about nitty gritty of your things which you certainly not like as you think that you are much grown up and can take good care of yourself – your salary check is a stamp that defies their logic of you being a kid now!

Forgive yourself , as you are unique in every sense and you came to this world not for others but to live and experience life – whilst doing so, you must have done blunders and that too repeatedly, but for sure you have mend your ways and have started to improve upon your past mistakes and promised yourself to not repeat them till eternity!

Penultimately, forgive your creator – your God , for you must have fought with him and even cursed him for not giving equal opportunities in life to grow, to develop and made you achieve a pedestal in society – you remained just a mediocre employee or a common man BUT again forgive him for the best opportunity he gave you – to grow into a human being with a free will and no bondage!

~ A Golden Handshake…. ~

What happens when you strike a chord with a friend you had played with as a teenager and had a gala time doing all sorts of stupid things for which you were severely reprimanded. You were always partner’s in crime and used to loiter in the streets for hours!

Time stands still to a point where the memories of your last meeting to say a final goodbye flashes on your mind. It just happened the other day when I met my old pal ‘Sobi’ as we had nicknamed him. He was an exceptional cricket player and every captain’s choice – though he

I met Sobi after almost two odd decades as he had moved out of our neighborhood to Gurgoan, a choice his parents made – call it clairvoyance or just an instinctive decision, he did his schooling and went to the prestigious  institute - BITS Pilani for his engineering degree. I had lost count of the numerous letters he used to write to me from there – the only mode of communication till mid 1990’s!

Today I just bumped into him, though on face of it he had changed a lot, but his clarion call of my name made me turn heads and recognize him instantaneously! We exchanged initial pleasantries and asked for each other’s wellbeing and that of the family to which he said that “Papa and Mom are no more and rest all is Ok!”

As I asked him as to what he does for a living- I guess his chest swelled to certain inches as his proud moment had come - his quick reply was that he was working as a director with one of the top IT firms in NCR and was quite handsomely paid – a stark revelation to what I always thought he would be a good cricketer as he had a massive support from his parents!

But as they say, life is full of serendipity and what you think or decide can be turned around any moment, this happened with my friend as well and he became a technocrat.

As our conversation progressed, we talked about our family – wife and kids and that was a point at which suddenly his face went bust! – I was perplexed on the sudden change of his mood as it had turned somber on my asking him about his wife and kids – presuming him to be married and nicely settled at this age of his life!

He tried to avoid the topic and reciprocated my question and started to ask about my parents and wife and kids – I took this as an exception and told him about my life, kids and family!

His poignant looks made me believe that he surely had a story to tell, though his reluctance was quite evident – but suddenly, he started to speak in a low tone about his family – he had lost both of his parents and he was married and had two kids – a son aged 15 and a daughter aged 12 and studying in a prestigious school in Gurgoan but he was now separated from his family, though not divorced!!!

This stark expose kept me mum and I was not in a position to ask him the all important question “Why and how did this happen?” but he sensed my next obvious question and said that it is the peril of the profile and the position I carried !!! I was always engrossed in my office – working 14-18 hours a day just to prove my competency and move up the corporate ladder!   

Now that he had made the choice, he had to forgo some ‘Goodies’ of life which he started to miss – a sentiment he shared with me in equal measure. He told me that he was on the brink of early retirement and was trying to mend his ways and make pact with his estranged wife, but the effort was not successful till date. I advised him to carry on and keep on trying till the last day of your life!

A lesson learnt though this short meeting was that When Serendipity strikes make the most of it – Your parents, wife and kids are part of this design and all of you met under no normal circumstances or a matter of coincidence – but a part of a mega design – make the most of it as you will not be in control of your life long after they are gone!

I wished my friend all the best and shared my phone # or any assistance of help that I might provide – to which he expressed his heartfelt obligation and said “ Sanjeev – our young days were so beautiful – no tension and no responsibilities, and I promise to be in touch from now on!” – a stark fact in times which we  now live!

~ Humans of Delhi... ~

 He is a guard at a major toy shop and has to keep an eagle eye on any of the fit items which are purchased and goes out of the toy store. All sort of buys are made in the store which is mostly full of customers of all walks of life – though majority of them get pulled by the crabby cries of kids who get enticed by the sheer world of the toys they see when they pass through the store.

Wearing a mask, our lonely figure stands on the entrance of this store, sometimes having dived into his sea of thoughts - Our guard is a parent to two daughters, a fact which he so vociferously tells the kids while he smiles at them – he is the first focal point of attention for the kids entering the toy store  to the kids who see him as the first man standing on the front of the shop –

A little gaze at him makes me believe that he must have thought of buying these mimetic toys  for his kids too or for that matter his daughters after they knowing that their father works at a toy store, would surely have demanded a surprise gift – an ever increasing demands of kids nowadays!

Standing there for almost 10 to 12 hours, he observes kids buying best of the toys which their parents can afford or may be not but get compelled to make the purchase no matter what.

What goes in the mind of Bhuvanji when he sees kids talking home toys of various shapes and sizes – many of which are too costly for him to buy with the salary he earns? – all sorts of thoughts came pouring down on me as I stood outside with him, as there were corona restrictions and thus the store management had taken a decision to limit the customers.

As time passed and seconds transformed to minutes, I got to know more about him when I started to talk to him regarding the footfall on the toy-store and also the store opening and closing times. “Sir it is from 11:00 a.m to 9 p.m”, with that he starts to tell me that the store is a favorite of kids and that many of the toys are damn cheap and people buy loads of toys at one go!

As time passes and our guard stands with rapt attention overlooking the mall crowd, a couple comes with their young girl who is crying and looks bragging of his parent’s capacity to buy her a doll displayed on the shelves!

 As I observed, he loves to be playful with kids and he grins when any toddler just sees him as the first point of contact while entering the toy store.

As the kids came out and it was time for me to say a good bye in a hush hush tone, tomorrow again would be the same day for Bhuvanji – the job , the place remains the same but the faces of customers would change….

~ Five Friends In Need...Time, Destiny, Opportunity, Luck, and Faith...~

Quite Often, we loosely talk about those missed opportunities or that make or break moments which could have completely altered the course of our life. Just a pinch of luck could have made you sit at a position of envy for many of your friends, foes and the sundry or could it be a dance of destiny which could have made you live as a destitute with bare minimum and a ridicule of all.

Many times, we have just passed the moments of life where we have just passed or missed that kiss of luck as there was no opportune 'Time' for it. You would have got success with minimal effort with no extra qualifications or added skills or talent, but the event just happened smoothly – you got what you wanted , the situations then too were beyond your control but it just happened miraculously – “It’s the time dude...” would be call of your conscience as it had to happen at that very time! 

There would also have been many events in your previous years for which you might not have been qualified or there were better candidatures confronting your appointment, but as 'Luck' would have it, it was your day and you got that plump post or a lifetime opportunity you were seeking for a long time.

Our life altering moments are much dependent on factors beyond our control, it is the all-mix of these parameters which can make or break your zeal of achievement or for that matter your slog to achieve something. There is no denying the fact that you have to do your bit of work and keep moving for the next achievement you deem fit- you can make grandeur of a living and see yourself at a pedestal , beating all with your effort and hard work.

As the saying goes, 'Every day is a new beginning' and the adage holds ground as there are far reaching new opportunities that you can have and explore - the best of the alternatives one can think of and not limit our perception, effort and vision. Always remember, there is an open ground to be achieved, it does not mean that we have to create castles of aspirations and run for it day and night, neglecting other venues of our living. Our health, relationships, family, attitude, and whole lot of things is what needs a balance - laxity in anyone would make you fall in the spheres of oblivion and vicious cycle of mirth and depression.

Whilst we all live and reminisce our past, you would see that there were million opportunities which you didn’t won but still continued for a better one - that is the zeal which we should aim for - Every time starting afresh would solve many of our miseries of life - It is no race to be won but a journey to be enjoyed.

At the fag-end of our life, when the spectrum of our life lived would be much talked about, you will see what wrongs or right's that we did during our journey - the help we provided, the time we spent with our elders, near and dear ones and also the proudness, ego we carried on our sleeves - All would be a measurable on equal footing and would give you a name, a character in society to be remembered well after you are gone!

I always believe in some basic rules of life which I learned through my set of experiences, that you are not here till Eternity and not everything would be accomplished or would be achieved by your efforts. Many a time, the 'Unknown force', call it God, Providence Luck or a Midas-Touch that would be working in guise - Just observe this little 'hints' which life offers and live happily! Finally, Enjoy this journey and lastly keep this in mind "Many Big and far better things have been done already, don’t take the pride of doing them again!"

~ Our Oldies - Revere Them... ~

Today, I just scribble and go back to time and look at phases of life and how it was looking in 80's and 90's. There were people who were different in attitude and their values of living held them in high esteem. There are still many of them who are living as elderly and brimming with the wisdom of life for they had their set of problems and bottlenecked situations and they did pass their tests with great success.

A commonality almost all of them had was the huge burden of responsibility of their parents and also looking forward and meeting their own expectations. Whilst, they did so, they were simpler than today's beings, had morality and were grounded to the tune of listening and understanding other people's situations. Whilst they remained calm and composed for any hiccups they faltered on, almost always they came out as a winner.  

Quite contrary to today's world we all live in and the razzmatazz of it , we all find ourselves on the running turf - complaining something about , be it our financial constraints, deteriorating relationships or our falling health standards, we have many a subject to be grumpy about.

Having a calm look at the way people have started to go to temples and other religious places not to get peace of mind but to bribe the almighty. Others resort to astrologers and other boastful clairvoyant souls who just give you answers which you would like to listen. Man's quest to seek divinity and internal peace makes him go places from time immemorial. His quest to attain power, fame and riches have gone beyond varied proportions of insanity.

 Contrary to above, our parents are living divine souls and obliging their call for sure would nullify your seeking divinity outside. Many of us now have entered parenthood, and thus have realized the trials and tribulations which our elders must have gone through to give us initial pedestal to fly and explore various possibilities of world. till date many of them must have changed gears and have done the hat of Grandparents and take care of our children with the same attitude and vigor as we do. 

Taking them as living God's, if we start contemplating the truth with all of its purpose and we will get to know that sooner or later we shall be facing the same situation in fag end of our lives. How we partake this journey is the freedom given to us via  free will, results will astonish you in times to come!

 

~ A Nameless Friend...~

“No I don’t want it!” was a denial of an offer of guavas coming from a man who looked desperately hungry and frantically looking here and there for something to eat – How on earth was I seeing a man who was hungry but blatantly refusing my offer and was still pursuing his choice of food with almost no options! This intrigued me to observe him everyday whilst he used to roam around in the neighborhood park, though he was a new visitor who had made park as his daily stroll and a night shelter!

As I started to observe, he  roams around like a loafer in the park , his aimless walking’s made you think about his life- looking like a lost battle for him , may be – for sure he is passing his time as he lives each single day. He had no set plans for the day, he can surprise you by reading a leftover newspaper or any page that he lays his hands on. Sometimes I see him just looking at the sky as silently praying to the higher self for any demands that he might be putting forth.

His life is of intrigue to many who are constant visitors to the park , we greet each other whilst we do our daily rounds of jogging and brisk walking but now that we see him in the park without fail, up and sometimes exercising to make himself fit and live on the edge, I observe him that his previous life must have been of rigmarole and certainly he comes from an educated family background

Just the other day, as we were generally chit-chatting about issues the world is facing, we had an unexpected discusser – it was him, he was listened uninterruptedly as he spoke of key issues engrossing our current lifestyle. No wonder after listening to his valid arguments, we could now strongly believe that the man was an educated lot and that providence had played its game against him!

Though quite reluctantly, one of us asked him about his past life and started to enquire about his name. and his earlier whereabouts. Initially, he kept mum but as an impression, he had put on us he peevishly smiled and spoke “What is in a name?” – These ‘Great’ words were echoed by none other than the literary legend “Shakespeare” and thus spoken by this man with a sarcastic anger. What he had gone through which had led him live in this predicament was getting more of a surprise for all of us.

Since our last informal talks, the mysterious man just vanished and was not to be  seen for almost a week but on a sudden day , he re-appeared with no stubble and a clean shave, his hair nicely combed and to our utter surprise , he was wearing different set of clothes. None of us believed that here was the same man who just few days back appeared like a beggar to all of us and was constantly looking out and searching for things which none of us got to know!

Though, I always believed that he is no beggar but had much more truth behind his current existence, I seem to be right in a particular sense – the nameless fellow sat with us – though maintaining a dignified distance and started to ask about our well-being – definitely , he was in a mood to talk that day – we took this as an opportunity and replied back – keeping in mind the unknown sense of suspicion about him. Then suddenly, he started to tell his poignant tale which made us little skeptic about him.

He thus shared - He was working in a government job ( I excuse myself of mentioning the government company he was working for) but he fell into a dangerous trap of drugs which started off as a puff but consumed him till eternity – his wife and kids ( two daughters) left him for their own good and since then he had no one to stop him to getting into endless quagmire of drugs – till one day , he staked it all and was rendered homeless. He spewed his dark side with sense of regret and that now he has nothing left to himself apart from a small roadside shanty and some clothes which he interchangeably wears. His sad story kept us all voiceless and all we could do was to give him patient hearing.

We tried to enquire about his daughters and wife, but to which he kept silent. He didn’t want to tell us about them or so we believed that he was not in touch with them anymore. Then suddenly, he said “Namstey” and just started to move in his own world of thinking – we, sitting on the bench had got our food for thought and we started to think and comment about his life of misery.

After walking a few steps, he suddenly turned back and voiced “Will you come tomorrow”, will share details about my family!” – to this, we all said “Yes!”. Its been a week that we are still waiting for our nameless friend and have also made a pact to help him in any way possible – but the guy has still kept us waiting, lets see till when though…!

~ Books, Friend for Lifetime… ~

Books become treasures of wisdom and you can learn so much from them. They can spear your thinking and actions – you learn so much form the world of books. You cannot meet everyone on this planet but can go through life histories of people who made themselves big with their attitude of living and the impediments they conquered.

Remember, many people in this world have suffered and overcame grave miseries with their power of thought and the commitment they made to themselves – They have all jotted their experiences into words,  an assembly of which you can call a “Book”

Internally, we all are spiritual being on a human journey to collect and face circumstances in this material world. Since time immemorial, humans have been recording their journey and life’s ups and downs in some form or other. In modern times, this practice has taken shape in forms of collective methodology of a library.

The reading of all good books is like a conversation with the finest minds of past centuries.” – Rene Descartes.

Books can be our love of life; we can get so much to learn from interpreting them. My journey as a reader started from reading newspapers in the morning and have now become a rigorous habit of going through varied subjects of my interest. I never knew that of decades of reading, one day I would be filled with brim and would then start to put my thoughts in words and what I have learned from my best friend of a lifetime -Books!

Once speaking at Columbia University, the Oracle of Omaha and the Boss of Berkshire Hathaway – Mr. warren Buffet advised students to ‘Read 500 pages per day! as this is how knowledge builds up, like compound interest!” – The seems to be a true spirited saying from one of the foremost investors of 20-21^st Century who himself is an avid reader.

I always have been lookout for zillion words of wisdom, of human experiences and failures and again human victory, all typed or scribbled through human consciousness with a view to be listened , spoken out or read and which can then become a life lesson and not repeated in human history.

Great men of wisdom and valor have gone through many trying times , it is only when one gets to the podium of success, that one just notices him, but in the backdrop his mounted failures and efforts always goes unnoticed – it is this journey of trials that books put light on – it gives the know-how of how one struggled to reach the pinnacle of success  though we all forget the journey but only spot the limelight.

Books are an earnest expression of life lived with its ups and downs, some beautiful moments shared during one’s lifetime and also as a view of the person one is – whilst you get immersed in the sea of thoughts when you are going through a good book, you form a noticeable story with a situation that the protagonist might be going through. 

Books  gives you the ‘food for thought’ for your mind to chew on the information so receive and form its own stories – a parallel thinking thus develops which defines your character and interpretation of life’s situations – your mind becomes a storehouse of what you have read and it cleverly brings forth that very situation you fall in – you get the prudence to act and behave in a particular fashion to tackle the situation with confidence.

Finally, books shower you with everyday presence and make you smile, cry and day dream – you relate yourself to a particular situation whilst you go through a story and soon gets absorbed in it – that is what your ‘Best Friend’ can do whilst you sit alone and talk to him!

 

~Gaurav - The fallen ground…~

Life changes faces and today I can juxtapose this fact with an unexpected rendezvous as you may call it with my senior in school and seeing his predicament, I could just oblige to what life can do to any of us.

Gaurav , was his name as far I can remember its been almost two and half decades that we passed out but some intricate memoirs of our travelling in our school bus full of miscreants are vivid.

He was an obedient student and always a Mam’s favorite – the parameters at that time to qualify for such accomplishments was marks and obedience which I shamelessly didn’t bother to achieve. No wonder, he was also a sort of unspoken or tagged monitor of our school bus and had to report to any of the mischief which we as backbencher girls and boys created. Though at times, he would also fall in line and participate in moments of joy and chivalry, when it used to come to show-off in front of school damsels we used to see in awe not because of the beauty but knowledge and study types they were.

I still remember his English vernaculars whilst he used to address us in his authoritative voice (thanks to the backup of teachers on board the bus.)  and this created rift many a time and became the cause of small fights which broke out on the bus aisle. I could not find a single eligible reason to see him in dire state as I had seen him now!

Now that life shows its other side, I see Gaurav falling in the vicious circle of life’s dilemma’s, he was apparently looking depressed and had a shabby demeanor – with an unkempt looks, un-pressed T-shirt an unfashion tericot pant and local sports shoes (what we used to call gola boots in 80’s and 90’s dialects.)

The situation of life made him talk to his own self with utter murmur as he walked slowly engrossed in his own though process. I made myself convinced that next time he comes in front of me, we would certainly exchange pleasantries and start the talk by a simple ‘Hi”.

The moment finally came when we were going to hit head on and he was coming towards me oblivious to my presence, as he came near me and I felt I  could be audible to him , I said “Hi” but to my surprise  my friend gesture felt on deaf ears. He gave me a friendly glance but did not recognize me, though I tried to reminisce him our ‘Happy School Days’, could this be the time lapse or what depression or his health condition has done on him, I could not concede. All my efforts went in vain and gave me a feeling of sadness, what on earth I could do to help or assist him and put his life back on track. His attire was catchy in some respects as he was wearing a Rudraksh beads around his neck and donning almost a white beard – he looked well beyond his age.

Soon, he had passed by me as if nothing had happened but made sink deep into the agony of doing nothing – a man, a friend and a former school mate we used to think highly-off had been disgraced by life and fallen ground. Why life had treated him the way it did? And what sort of circumstances he had gone through or may be going through that he got himself bow down to life’s tribulations? May be I would never get to know his predicament, but the lesson today I learnt from living is that “ Life can turn tumultuous anytime , your situation can change despite your best of efforts and what is coming forth your way , you certainly don’t know!”

 It is this fear that made humanity believe in the power of ‘Unknown” for the man who though he knew it all, God does not exist!

Today, I just pray for my friend’s betterment and that he should cover his lost ground and start living normally , I don’t know his family’s situation or any help they might be pouring in for his getting back to life’s majestic self  but seeing him in thick and thin of living certainly makes you feel gloomy…

~ Hasijaji - Life of Prudence ~

Today I want to present before you a life story of a wonderful man – a septuagenarian who has seen it all in his life’s journey. With an established career and a family to boast of, he now passes much of his time in the neighborhood park , brisk walking and sometimes silently sitting and engrossed in his own world of thoughts and imagination whilst he reads his daily set of newspapers.

I met him during recent times and quickly formed a bond with him as we shared the same bench – the unexpected rendezvous turned out to be a general chitchat of the situation of our country, then progressed into asking about each other's personal details and family's wellbeing. The bond we shared quickly turned out to be of friendliness and the meetings started to happen quite often, almost everyday as the time overlapped.

One day whilst we were talking about life and its uncertainties , we started to share our personal situations and circumstances and what life begets for each of us – “Hasija-ji” as I call him now, shared me a parable about his life – he routed to his topic of marriage and having a family as I had enquired about his! He started that he has two kids and both are very well settled in their own personal life – they were self-attained personalities and had done Bachelors in Engineering from prestigious college of Delhi and made of choice of professional life all by themselves.

Internally, he was very proud of sharing the achievements of his two children and his eyes just lit up whilst he shared their stories but he had a sublime regret, which during the course of his storytelling he quite remorsefully shared with me – he was separated from his better half since more than two decades, as he termed this event as ‘Fault in our stars!” – he had a well educated wife working for a premier bank of India and after initial hiccups , she moved out of life of domesticity – she was confident enough to manage and up bring her two children and she did so with great alacrity – this was again a fact which Hasijaji shared with me as a matter of pride – quite obviously, he still loves his wife very much as I could gauge his tone and demeanor and misses her company. Man is a social animal and cant live without relationships, be whatsoever wealth of achievements one can boast of in his kitty, he has to partner with someone to spearhead this journey of life – especially when, once the kids gets into their own working life and get absorbed in their own family!

“Sanjeevji – Sometimes what you want from life does not happen and initially you regret the situation and start to comprehend and analyze the whole events to find the cause of such happenings, but after a thinking rigor , you have to believe in the power of providence, and you certainly cant ignore it whilst you live.”

I could related to his story with an empathetic feelings as I have almost passed my prime age of being called a youngster – I could gauge what he was talking about and the empirical of life which comes to forefront in everyone’s life.

The best part of him is that, though he is alone, he enjoys his life situations and makes it a point to be happy and does assorted activities – from medication to exercise and also the best part of his living is that “He is a stock market champ!” – here I wont give myself the liberty to exhaust it all but since last 3 decades Hasijaji has been an active stock mart investor and thus has got to know the pulse of market dynamism – though he is ever humble and versatile in his outlook.

We generally talk about varied subjects of life – from destiny to health, wealth and sometimes share our common feelings of spirituality and God – He is a well-travelled  man and one observation about him which captivated my eyes was that he is a voracious reader and carries 3-4 newspapers daily in his bag which he carries daily to the park.

Today, as I met him, we shared commonality about life and the best question we came across was “ What is the purpose of life?, I am 70+, all hale and hearty with good financial strength and no obligation whatsoever but still I ponder of my livability!”– pondering about this question, I had no satiating answer as this is the key question amongst many of us who one day would be free from our moral and societal duties and would sit ideally and wait for our time to end this beautiful journey of life – till then ,many amongst us would be in a state of spiritual quest and meddle over this “Question of a lifetime for which many researches and experiments are being done to know the being of our existence!