This is Love

A gem of an article i read some where:

Author and lecturer Leo Buscaglia once talked about a contest he was asked to judge.

The purpose of the contest was to find the most caring child.

The winner was a four year old child whose next door neighbor was an elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife.

Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the old gentleman's yard, climbed onto his lap, and just sat there.

When his Mother asked what he had said to the neighbor, the little boy said,

"Nothing, I just helped him cry"....

Rise of the Phoenix

Have you ever realized that life gives us those great opportunities sometimes that just test us in every thing that we do, our abilities, our balance, our mental strength, our beliefs, our values and our dreams itself. It’s like baptism by fire that cannot be compared with any other test that we would have undergone.

We can actually take these so called opportunities and think about the mess that we are in or we can emerge stronger from it. After all, to emerge stronger from something, we need to go though pain. This pain is something like the pain that we feel when we have run hard for a couple of miles. It’s sweet if you want it to be. It’s bitter if you want your heart to feel bitter.

The best part of this test is that, if you believe in your beliefs, and just don’t bow to anything and everything that is thrown at you – mind you, the test is stern – and do not let anything question your beliefs…I think we will emerge so much stronger that we would ourselves be able to challenge any thought which has not been tested. Ever heard of Phoenix the legendary bird, the one which after every 500 years burns and re emerges from the ashes.

I believe strongly in the concept of love. All I know is that I have my belief and that belief will stay that love exists. I might not be happy at the end of my life but well....not all love stories are happy!!

The thing is that if you stop believing in love, you will never be able to know what it is like.

(Follow me…You won't find nobody else like me) ;-)))

Plight of an Indian Soldier

There are just some things which make me feel so mad sometimes. Take for example the apathy that people show to Indian soldiers after they have completed years of duty in keeping us citizens safe. I feel everyone is equally responsible for this mess. The Indian government, the Indian armed forces and most importantly, the Indian People at large. Why is it that people talk about a very big divide between Civilian and Military life. Why is it that the seamless integration is not possible.

I will just recount a story here. In our apartment complex, we had a guard called Joseph for a month when i had shifted recently. The first day when he spoke to me, i was stunned. That guy was so fluent in the English Language that it was odd from the word go. He asked me about where i am from and all the other merry weather questions and then apologized for being inquisitive....inquisitive...I was stunned!!

I then found out that he was a security guard now but earlier he had been a Indian navy petty officer. Its just that he did not have any money after retirement to feed his wife, he had to take up this job where he felt so humiliated saluting some arbit people living in the apartment instead of the Indian Flag and his beloved Navy personnel. He looked as if the weight of the entire earth was on him. He looked much much older than he actually was. My heart went out to him when he talked about "having a job just to keep the pot boiling" and i felt so helpless. If i give this man just money wouldn't it be like treating him like a beggar and taking away any self respect that is left.

Why does it have to be like this. Why can people respect the fact that a person who has served his entire life with so much distinction his entire life has to live his last few years like he is the most unwanted piece in society. Why cant we have support structures for this kind of a problem. After all Joseph cant be the only one facing this problem in a Military of close to 1.5 Million Soldiers.

They deserve to be respected...

Beyond Life

What is it that a person would want to find beyond life. Paradise, Heaven, God....or Death, Destruction......or maybe just plain nothing. Just completely plain nothing...

A very long time back, i had this nightmare once where i was just falling and falling further through empty space. Believe me but this still makes me shudder once in a while. Just imagine the helplessness of the feeling. You can do nothing about it because you cannot...Maybe, just maybe Life Beyond will be like this.

After death, we will just be hurtling through empty space for eternity unless we find the inner strength in our souls which do exist somewhere and which will define the purpose that we are intended to pursue. Maybe only on finding this inner strength will be able to break the shackles of this unseemingly endless existence and be alive once again....

Maybe thats what i need to do even when i am alive on earth....Feel Alive!!

Apt college song...

Do bench aage meri baithti thi woh,
Do bench peeche mera seat yaaron,

Aankhon aankhon mein ishara youn ho gaya
4 saal beeta par baat na bana

Oh Deepa (Any name can be mentioned here),
Man mera kehna, Oh Deepa

Haal hai jo tera, woh haal hai mera
Kuch to tu batana...Oh deepa

Why do people work?

I am sitting in my office today - a Saturday - and just thinking about the work that i am supposed to be doing today and tomorrow, - a Sunday - makes me feel like i am an extremely foolish guy who is living his life rotting away in office hell for no reason at all. But is that TRUE??

I am not so sure that i love this work but maybe at the bottom of the heart, i know that if i hated it completely, i would have walked out of this office ages ago. But i didn't which must mean something. There can be many things making me want to stay here:

1. I am just a big coward who has become "Institutionalized" and do not want to move out of my comfort zone to look for greener - supposedly - pastures.

2. I love my work somewhat and i am feeling that i should learn something from this role that i am playing. The only problem with this statement is that i really do not know what role i am playing or is there really anything that i am learning?

3. I have a cushy job which really pays me very well and i am able to maintain my lifestyle because of that. But that again brings us again to the age old question - which i anyways think is stupid in the first place - about money being the most important thing in life and what about having a great heartfelt life without always having one sliver of thought on a big pot of gold that might crop up?

4. I just plain love the feeling of telling my friends that i worked on weekends and 100 hour weeks and they exclaiming my greatness by saying things like...dude u rock man....u must be the most hardworking person in office or they must be going to make you the CEO soon!!....i know its kinda strange but i can acknowledge that in the deepest recesses of my heart, i sometimes do like this talk...and don't blame me....everyone has a right to dram once in a while. huh!

5. This is a company which doesn't throw out people so even if i have to work hard today and from tomorrow onwards i don't work and just faff my way to glory, it does not matter since i will probably get a average rating and an average payout which would still be significantly higher than what is required for a very very very cozy life.

Well to tell you the truth, i dont know....maybe its one of the reasons listed above, maybe its a combination of more than one, maybe its plain hogwash.....
The fact of the matter is that at the end of the day, i am sitting in my comfy chair under airconditioning and am blogging while i am supposed to be working....and working hard for that matter.....

Puts thing in perspective...right ;)))

Idea of Ideal Love

I believe that i am the most romantic person in the world. I may be wrong but then, even if i am not, i can always try to be one...

My idea of the perfect life...not just in terms of romance but in terms of the life itself is a very simple one. Walking hand in hand with my wife in a big green field and "feeling happy down to your toes" - as CS Lewis would have put it - and not once regretting the fact that you could have lived life differently. Its something like the movie 50 first dates but the difference lies in the fact that its just not about 50 dates, its about making sure that you do it every single day of your life.

Its about a life time of happiness and still finding a way to fall in love when you are 65 years old!!

I believe that is what BLISS is all about .....