This world will be yours…

I remember my mom telling that she was with  my grand dad when he had passed away. Just before his last breath he had asked for the last verse of Vishnu Sahasranamam to be repeated thrice. Only today I realized that the meaning of the verse is as below.

Vanamali Gadi Sharangee
Changee chakreecha Nandaki
Sriman NarayanoVishnur
Vasudevobi Rakshatu

Meaning:
Lord Narayana who also took the form of Krishna! Who holds the bow,sudharshana wheel to protect us from dangers. Please protect us from any danger and make our journey smooth.

When I read the above stanza I was totally moved. Just a few generations ago, people were not educated. There was no TV, Internet or any of the latest gizmo. I dont even know if my grand dad could write his name. But people had a lot of time, believed in God and spent a lot of time on meditating on God. Going to the temple would have been the only outing. The presence of mind and staunch belief in God is what stands out here.

Today, in contrast, the world has become interconnected. All information is available at the finger tips. One need  not run behind temples or pray in front of pictures/images. All that is needed is for a person to spend a few concious moments everyday interconnecting with the truth within them. Just forget all the personal/professional stress and look at the world with an open mind. Cool breeze, soft bird chirps, innocent kids playing, cool water, warm sunshine, welcoming moonshine – this world was created for one to enjoy and live every second.

 

Life is Bliss

There was a person who had different colored glasses. Red, Blue, Green, Yellow. He looked at the water through Yellow glass and claimed that the water was yellow. He was not lying and was totally convinced that the water was yellow. If asked to lecture, he would spend 30 minutes talking about the yellow colored water.

His friend was observing him for some time. Slowly, he walked to our guy and removed his glasses. And lo, the yellow color was gone. Our guy began to see the water as colorless as it always was.

Life is bliss. Untainted enjoyment. Remove the glasses of greed, selfishness, fear and live the real bliss that life is!

P:S – This could be the tone of my post for some more time, so DON’T read my blog if you are looking for interesting anecdotes.

 

Moving from reactive to proactive mode

This blog is my perspective of the difference between people who are successful and others who are “not there” as yet.

Successful people take control of the situation. They know that they are responsible for “any and every” action. They know where they want to be and so there is no “reactive” response.  They consciously take decisions and march ahead and are not slaves of the circumstance.

The other, more common, groups of people are not dumb or weak. They only make themselves the victims of situations as they are in a reactive mode. When the situation so demands, they bring the best out of themselves and stand the full height. However, give the freedom of choice, time and money they prefer to flow through the downstream and unconsciously build the situation that will force them to be reactive. The best example is of a person who starts to exercise after a physical ailment has been pronounced

To bridge the gap,

1. The goal and vision should be clear. It helps to have written goals of where you see yourself in the next 1 year physically, spiritually and at work.
2. Get over that enemy called “laziness”
3. Stop procrastinating
4. Dream and dream big. I sometimes wonder as to why the reality has set in and we stop dreaming as the years roll by
5. Take the extra step, March that extra mile. Life is small, make a mark when you still can…

Hundred… Nooru… Ek Sow…

I went to the floor supervisor and asked to check the security camera. (Luckily there was one above the counter that we had last stopped) When we went to the security room, we were informed that just that one camera had some fault and was not working (as luck would have it)!!! I raised as much hue and cry as possible and complained to the manager. He seemed unruffled and said perhaps the next day while cleaning the shop the bangle might be found (as if it would be handed, even if found!!!) I faithfully called him for the next 2 days. Since nothing happened, I went to register a complaint with the police station along with my colleague. We were asked to go from T. Nagar Police Station to Pondy Bazar Police Station. The constable (we had to wake him up from lumber land) made a fuss about what should go in the report, made me write and then re-write the whole story in Tamil and then asked me come back in the evening when the Sub-inspector would be available. If he is not authorized to collect a FIR why make the victim go through the charade of writing and re-writing the complaint??? We went back to work with some hot pagodas and cakes for my team. I came back in the evening to the police station. The sub asked me as to why I came alone to the police station and that too so late in the evening (BTW, the time was around 7.15 PM; If the Police station is not a safe place at 7.15 PM, then, where is Chennai heading to???) He told me that he could have helped me better if I had come to the police station as soon as the bangle was lost, since the tapes might have been erased by now. He said that the case would remain active and he would update us soon. Till this day, I have not heard anything from them.

Saturday night… O Baby…

Even after 1.5 years, I can still recall that starlit Saturday night as if it was just yesterday.

 It was one of “those” days when everything went as per our plan. By around 7.00 PM my daughter was fed and dressed and both of us were in want of something to do. I said “Shall we go shopping?” and my daughter, Sanjana who had just turned 1, replied “Yesh” and off we went.

 We took a rick and found ourselves in the most crowded shop in town, Saravana stores. Light was bright inside the stop and it was flooded with people and my daughter was bubbling with enthu and kept running all over the shop. I steered her to the kids section which surprisingly was not crowded; she was busy rummaging things and I was busy picking stuff for her. She climbed on to the chair, shelf, table, dress stand… well, almost onto everything except the wall!

 We almost came to the end of shopping for the day. Of course my daughter was constantly “helping” me by pulling and pushing anything and everything that was in her sight and height!!! After a harried 1 hour and an internal vow not to come for shopping alone with her till she turns at least 3, I was clutching around 10 garments for her in one hand and holding my babbling daughter, who was doing all sorts of monkey mischief as she dint want to be lifted, in another hand and was headed in the direction of the billing section. A group of folks brushed past us and 30 seconds later, my daughter exclaimed “Amma mamma valllai pochu”(meaning mom uncle took my bangle away) and whew the gold bangle that she was wearing had gone missing!!! (Irony, my 1 year old daughter was the first to find this out)

 She seemed excited and was wearing a ‘happy’ expression on her face and was constantly pulling at the bangle in her other hand too.  I quickly removed the other gold bangle and kept in my purse lest she hands it over willingly to another mamma!

 The first thought that struck my mind on losing this bangle was Thank God, Sanju is not hurt. The second that occurred was another item for my blog 😉

 (* sequel of what I did after losing the bangle, to follow)

An ode to someone I truly love…

Disclaimer – My first attempt at writing something rhyming… (no way I can call this a poem even in my wild imagination). Read further after removing your critical glasses…

 I guess it was love at first sight
Run into wild imaginations you might
The person that I am referring to by law
Is none other than my mother-in-law 🙂

 When I come home tired from work
I could always look forward with mirth
A kind face to fill me with stories
After cooking & cleaning the whole day like a fairy

 When things go wrong as they sometimes will
There was always the strong will
Of both us which stood steady above
Guess because it was tempered with love

 Then came my little daughter who did metamorphose
Our lives into an Oversized Paradise
Well, there was healthy competition
But only to show our adulation

 Life is never as soft as a rose
when things did turn into a mess
I would only say that she vanquished
coz’ her love and strength will never extinguish

If I were any better I would be twins

An email forward that I remember goes like this.

It was about a person with a positive outlook towards life. His zest for life was such that he would exude positive vibes and people get attracted by his liveliness. When anybody asks ‘How are you?’ his answer would be ‘If I were any better I would be twins…’

It so happened that this person met with an accident and fell from the 9 floor of a building and was rushed to a hospital. The doctors and the attendant around him did not have much hope of his survival. In the Operation theatre, the head nurse who prepared him for the surgery asked the cursory question ‘Any allergies?’. He was on the verge of losing consciousness and was answering with great difficulty. ‘Yep’ he answered. Every single person in the OT stopped their work and listened to him, for any allergy implied that the usual course of drugs might have to be altered. ‘Gravity’ he completed. After everyone had a hearty laugh, he said ‘Please operate on me with the thought that I would come out alive. I want to live…’ He did indeed survive and could get back to work in the next 8 months.

I really don’t know if this is a true story, but it is one of those forwards which I don’t care to forget…

I remember reading about a handicapped person who couldn’t use both the hands draw beautiful pictures by the use of his leg. I used to be inspired by Helen Keller who was born deaf and blind. The teachers who came to teach her before her mentor, Annie Sullivan, told that ‘we cannot teach her because we cannot reach her’. She went ahead to become the first deaf blind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree.

What does all this convey? Life is not about the physical, mental or emotional situations that one is dealt with. It is about the inner spark that makes the person exercise his choice. With time this spark seems to fade. ‘I am bored’ ‘This is mundane’ ‘Just going through the normal procedures every day’ etc. seem to be a general statement these days. Stop now, make a ‘U’ turn and get the Zing going. Let the spark in each of us glow.

What I feel about criticism…

I am reminded of an anonymous quote on criticism ‘In the privacy of our hearts, there are only two possible ways to receive criticism: badly or worse’. I just cannot agree more. 

The dictionary definition of criticism is ‘the act of passing judgment as to the merits of anything’. Expressing what one feels about something done by another person. The critic usually would have a set standard in mind and in 90% of the cases the work done by another person will fall short of this standard and negative criticism is the result. 

Lets get honest, when faced with criticism however matured a person might be, the first reaction would be one of ‘defense’. Maybe outwardly the person might laugh it off, but in the depth of the heart there will be a wave of resentment. An emotional reaction (usually negative and temporary) against the critic is but obvious. Even if a rebuke did not follow the critical comment, there will be a sulking time where the loved ones of the person being criticized get tortured by the minute details of all that happened and how his/her feelings are hurt. 

However between the chasms of the external ‘cool’ reaction and the internal ‘hot’, there should be a plain ground where there is some scope to learn from criticism. The first thing to feel happy about is that there is someone who really cares for your development (I am discounting off irresponsible negative criticism when I say this). One should dispel the external circumstances, ego and consider the point conveyed as a different way of looking at the same thing. One should use ones mind rather than the heart to consider the merits of the criticism and should definitely make an honest sincere attempt to improve if the situation so calls for. 

After all, the tough gets going. If one views criticism with an unbiased mind and transform every single situation into a productive opportunity only the sky is the limit…

Self Esteem

“Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else.”

“The way you treat yourself sets the standard for others.”

 

What does self esteem mean to me?

Is it about building the “EGO” to a larger than life image? I don’t think so… I know many such people who seem to be on a roller-coaster rider of emotions. They end up making their life as well as other’s life miserable.

 

I definitely cannot say that a very “rich” person or a very “healthy” person always has high self-esteem.

 

So, when one says that one holds oneself in high esteem what does it actually mean.

 

Well, according to me, self esteem is about being in perfect harmony with myself. It is about accepting the positives and the known negatives and acting in a dignified homogenous manner when alone or in the presence of an audience; about facing the 2 impostors called success and failure with an equanimous mind unruffled by the amount of joy or sorrow that each might bring knowing full well that the “stuff” that I am made of has changed 0% by these beguilers; about understanding that the quality of life that I lead is 100% my own doing; about “standing up” to the situations and taking full responsibility for all actions good or bad instead of shifting the blame else where; about believing that there is no result that is impossible provided I put in the necessary effort towards the same;

 

Life is a precious gift and my goal(not yet reached there but striving to) is to be in perfect harmony with every second that life has to offer.

 

I would like to close with my favorite quote by Rudyard Kipling

“If you can walk with the crowd and keep your virtue, or walk with Kings-nor lose the common touch; If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you; If all men count with you, but none too much; If you can fill the unforgiving minute with 60 seconds worth of distance run- Yours is the earth and everything that’s in it, And-which is more-you’ll be a man my son.”

What you really want is what you actually get…

 (This blog is not about accidents and deaths that are not in one’s control)

 When faced with a happy or a sad situation one just bloats or cribs as the situation may be. But the reality is that one will only get what one ‘wants’ in life. On retrospect, every situation that one is faced with exists ONLY because consciously or sub consciously each of us had craved for it sometime in our life.

 Here I want to add a disclaimer that I am not an expert at these karmic things but my blog is based purely on my personal experience.

 Let me state instances as far back in my life as I can remember.

 In my sixth grade, I used be inspired by the Speech made my Swami Vivekananda in Chicago in the World Parliaments of Religions. (I still hold a copy of the cassette which I was told contains the original voice(!!!) of Swamiji :)) In my seventh, eighth, ninth grades I found myself participating in many oratorical competitions and winning prizes too.

 

In my ninth grade I was inspired by my class teacher Lally Christopher who used to give pep talks to me telling that there is a lot of potential in me and if only I could break the barriers in my own mind I could come out in flying colors. I found myself getting 92% in X Standard – CBSE All India Secondary School Exam and ‘Second highest total mark’ in my school, which is a reasonably good score in those times.

In college I used to crave to be financially independent. I got the offer letter from CBSI (Now Covansys a subsidiary of CSC) even before I got my final year mark sheet.

I can keep on adding to this list. 

Well, the path is definitely not rosy and there were/are enough thorns on the way. I had been through a lot of rough weather and had made enough mistakes (will definitely blog about some interesting lessons learnt someday) only to come out resilient out of each instance. There are few things that I had really wanted and did not get; but now, with an unbiased mind, if I do a real analysis of the instances that I’d failed the only obvious conclusion that I reach is that “I did not want it badly enough and I did not put in the effort that it needed”

In a nutshell I want to say that God (or some Power that ensures that

                1.       Coulomb force between the electron and protons are just right

2.       Sex ratio is perfect considering the staggering number of death/birth every second and so on…) 

has woven a dynamic web but has still given the end of the ropes in your hands. If the above thought process is true, then can I not conclude that instead of crying over ‘fate’ and fretting over seemingly tough situations in life, one can take a firm grip of one’s life and mould it into any shape that one wants… instead of craving or wanting something sub-consciously, one can just take a determined conscious effort towards what one “actually” wants in life and abracadabra it is lying there waiting for you…