Have You Realized???

“I want a new land,

Where I can draw all my dreams in the sand,

But please don’t grant me a sea shore,

And if you do so,

Please cover all my dreams with your helping hands”

The sun rose up with different heat today. The scene that was created by the sun over the sky was so very refreshing. I went to a garden nearby my house to follow my daily routine. The scene was as normal as it used to be. Every day when I go the garden I meet same people; I see same faces fulfilling their daily routines. But today something was different; may be my vision was different today.

I saw a group of around 15 men talking to each other. Some of them were listening, some were laughing, and some of them were representing the group. All were almost of same age; but they all were fully charged, with bright faces, enjoying with their friends. When I moved forward, I saw another group of women in the garden doing exercise. In decent looking circle they all were following the instructions given by an old woman. It was a laughing club, without any hesitation, without any interruptive expressions, they were laughing. The sight was an eye catcher. Then I saw men and women walking on the jogging track, as fast as they can, and while walking; they were continuously talking to the person walking besides them. Their face were expressive, their faces were satisfied, they all were looking happy.

This eternal excitement was forcing me to sit somewhere to control my internal happiness. I was lost in thoughts. I was so happy with what I was seeing in the garden at 6 in the morning. In my journey of 25 years, every old man or woman whom I met, had a reason to cry, to complain, to regret, but, here the scene was proving me wrong. They were all happy, satisfied, charged; I was seeing the youngest old men and women of Ahmedabad. I was trying to unscrew the realities from what I was seeing.

At the age of 60-70-80, when it’s time for someone to take rest and enjoy; opposite to that, what they all were doing at 6 in the morning that too in the winter season? Were they really very happy? Were they really satisfied? I was trying to unmask their faces to read their emotions. I just ask ed one question to myself:-“ Maulik, what would you do if you will not get any chance to express your feelings, thoughts, emotions?”. Question was normal but answer was not. I replied to myself:-“I will start searching for a medium where I can speak all freely, where I can share all my thoughts, where I can laugh with people on my silly jokes, where I can secure appreciations for what is unique in me”. My soul replied:-“May be, they are doing the same, they have found the medium as they wanted to do all these”. I asked:-“but this can be shared with family members too”, but the moment I spoke this, my blood stood still, my eyebrows were trying to hide my repulsion the next moment. Suddenly, my grandfather’s face appeared affront. With same innocence, same maturity, and same charge but with hidden dissatisfaction I could read in his eyes. I got strangled in the lap of a tree. I realized that I reached to the answer.

In this era of technology, we the half humans-half machines (as we are loaded with headphones, cell phones, music players, laptops, televisions etc.) from the soulful sunrise to the hectic sunset; we run the whole day to survive, to fulfill expectations, to serve our society but by doing this, we hardly get time for our “social” life called family. Isn’t it? Just recall your past for 10 days and tell me frankly, when last time you talked with your grandfather and/or grandmother? Did you ask them that if they want anything by holding their hands in your hands? Have you ever said:-“Don’t worry grandfather, I am there?”

Friends, I do not have any doubt on the respect and feelings that you have for your grandparents but this is something serious to think. Tell me, why all the gardens we find are fully occupied by people between the ages of 50 and 80? Are they all dissatisfied by what they are living and getting at from their respective families? We have to think.

Just look at them, they are experienced, mature, focused and above all needy. Yes they are, needy they are. They are hungry; hungry for relations, hungry for love. They want a listener with whom they can share their experiences, with whom they can share their knowledge but unfortunately they are alone. An old man/woman is like that street light pole covered by the crowd. Though it gives shine and light; people understand its value the moment it stops giving the light. It’s painful and shameful for all of us.

Just compare the young generation (including me) with this old generation. Just compare their life style. Just compare young guns with those old think tanks and you will be able to learn the importance of grandparents in individual’s life. 60% of the total news paper readers belong to their group. The knowledge that they have, we just can’t reach to their level and that’s why government has set age limits for all the competitive exams like UPSC, GPSC etc. because if there would not be any limit then I am sure these old think tanks will eat all the seats available with the knowledge that they have. They are household doctors without the degree who with just their touch can repair all the pain. They grew old with the prices, inflation, population, pollution as that is why they are special. They are witness of the journey of this earth from house covered by the greenery to the green house effect. Now you only decide who is young and healthy: the one who doesn’t live his bed even at 10 in the morning or the one who leaves his bed at 5 in the morning to fulfill his routine. Who is happier: the young gun that spends his time with numerous friends at tea stalls, hukkah baar or in the theatre or the one who spends most of his time with trees, birds and other think tanks in the gardens?

But unfortunately the eyes and minds of the LATEST generations are covered by the dist of materialism. We treat them like that statue of our respective lords that we have in the corner of our houses. We organize them and forget and during the festival seasons like DIWALI, we wash them as we want our house to be considered as clean. If cable in not working, we can talk and argue for hours with cable operators but we just can’t manage a few minutes for our grandparents. Yes, I am being rude but me, you; we all know that I am stating a fact. We have time to listen to the problems of our friends who live in luxuries; who are covered by numerous FRIENDS but we often overlook our grandparent’s problem by just saying:-“they have the habit of making complains”. We show all our worries and care if any of our friend is suffering from a seasonal fever, but when it comes to our grandparents, we just ignore it by saying:-“ It’s just because of suffer loss due to age”. We are selfish, aren’t we? Yes we are.

Before me, thousands of thinkers and writers have penned countless articles and quotes on this topic and they partially succeeded but not solely as gardens are still full, grandparents are still helpless. It’s my gentle request my dear friend, trying to be their listener, try to be their helping hands, try to make them happy, try to make them feel special. They are the tree roots of your family. If you think, you are living a healthy and happy life then the greenery that you are cherishing is a gift from those tree roots-your grandparents. Just remember one thing: - “life is a circular road. The point where your grandparents are standing today, you will reach at the same points few years down the line. Now decide what you want. Where you want to see yourself? You want to see yourself with sweets of love, care, family and life in hands or you want to see yourself in the garden, hither half thither full, searching for your listener in those groups? I realized my duties today, have you realized?

Think about it

~Maulik Trivedi

Are You The Person You Wanted To Be?

“Somehow I managed to break the egg,

But mercilessly he threw me in the cage,

I was blind; I painted my destiny with colorless water,

My destiny remained blank and so is the page.

.

Then I went to the mirror,

To find the person I wanted to see,

Mirror smiled weirdly and asked me a question,

Oh! Poor shadow, are you the person you wanted to be?

Dream is something that is achievable and not acceptable. Rewind your life and recall all those days when you were studying harder for your board exams. What was the motive behind that hard work? I am sure, you have had a reason; an ultimate goal to achieve and I am sure that GOAL was the motive, the reason, wasn’t it? Now just compare your present with that ultimate goal that you had in your mind during your 10^th board exams and just ask yourself: - Are you the person you wanted to be?

Think when you were a kid, though your goals were limited but they were achievable, though your dreams were restricted but they were achievable. Think, when you were a kid, everything was possible. You climbed up the trees and the walls, not knowing that you might fell but you made it. What was the reason? Was it because of your goals or the limited dreams? No… You made it because of originality, because of honesty, because of faith you kept in your efforts and in yourself. You were so focused, so desperate, so stubborn; and that is why everything was achievable. but, what happened after then? As you became adult, things seems to be more different and difficult. Why? What was the reason? I will ask you again: - “are you the person you wanted to be?”

Maturity Is Like A Flower. A growing baby is as helpless as a caterpillar moving in the flower. He/she has to learn how to fly before the flower winds up all the petals; petals of social expectations, petals of family responsibilities. Life will never allow you or that baby to live the wished life, ultimate dream, the life you have decorated. The flower will try all hard to kill you as an individual; it will try hard to destroy your originality. My dear friend, just try to learn flying, just find your wings; wings of passion, wings of belief, wings of confidence, wings of faith in you, just find it before the flower indentifies your weaknesses.

We all live an eraser’s life; from the day we born, we start accepting and fulfilling the expectations of our society, we start rubbing the originality by just overlooking what we want and by concentrating on what they want... Why? Why we are so weak at making decisions, why are we so helpless as far as social expectations are concerned? Why we are so dull as far as our life changing goals are concerned? If you feel, you are not the person you wanted to be than gain the character, incarnate the personality you have ever wished your soul to be and try to be the person you wanted to be and you want to see in the mirror every day. Do not compromise as far as your expectations towards your life are concerned, do not compromise as far as your dreams that you have decorated are concerned. One cannot have two ways as far as path of life is concerned, one should not have two paths as far as individual life is concerned.

There are two kinds of persons my dear friend; it’s up to us to choose one of them. One of the kinds is P-pessimist, e-egotistical, r-rigid, s-slipshod, o- orphan, n- narrow minded and the other kind is P-Passionate, e-energetic, r- resilient, s-survivor, o- optimistic, n- negligent; You can chose either of these. One is the easiest to be but the toughest to justify and the other one is the toughest to be but justification can be avoided, adjustments are scope less.

We always get attracted by super hero movies. We just love the way they jump, fly, fight; their characteristics just blow us away. But we easily gain satisfaction by watching them in the movie. We carry the feel. There is something which attracts us towards such movies, isn’t it? What is that? Can you figure out?... abilities and qualities that we have ever wished and we are wishing to have in us but we often avoid the adoption of their power and abilities. Why can’t we adopt their qualities? Why can’t we adopt their abilities? SPIDERMEN climbs on the wall so easily, what quality we should adopt from him? Just stick to your goal, no matter whatever the condition is. We get thrilled by BATMAN ‘s appearance in the dark; what quality we should adopt from him? Stay focused on the goal no matter whether it is day or the night; concentrate on your ultimate destination even if the situations are foggy or visionless. SUPERMAN blows us along with him when he flies flawlessly to rescue the people; what quality we should seize from him? No matter what height are you at, just keep balancing and rush towards the goal, But instead of doing all these, we see such movies just for the sake of enjoyment and entertainment.

We usually learn things from what we see, we never try to personify the character we want rather we try to adjust with what society is expecting from us. We start doing adoption and adjustment with our goals, our dreams, our expectations, our destinations, our focus, and our commitments. The old we grow, the more we erase our originalities. We start covering ourselves by the blanket of conditions and restrictions created or better say decided by the society. Why can’t we have anything in our destiny with no condition? Why can’t we have unconditional love, unconditional achievements, unconditional wishes, unconditional responsibilities, unconditional respect and above everything unconditional life. In my journey of 25 years, I have experienced, gained and seen everything with at least a condition. I have had a reason and right to decorate, divert and dream my life in the way I wished, but I couldn’t just because of this “CONDITIONS APPLIED” tag.

We are the gardeners of our own tree called life. We should and we must water the plant with all the values that we want in us. We can be a gold coin; the more he melts the more value we could gain. We can be an iron bar; the more he hammers the more strength we could gain. We can be a cast bar, no matter in what way and with what he cuts it, eventually it results in a statue with values, but rather being all these, we always prefer to be like water, we easily adopt the situation we come across, we easily adjust to the situation, we let the situation to change our size, shape, color and quality. We are the most adjustable souls. Why?... I don’t know…

It’s better to live than late. Wake up and before you do so, dream big, dream something original, decorate yourself, ask yourself again and again the same question:- “ are you the person you wanted to be?” and find the answer, I am sure the answer would be negative, if it is, then reciprocate and find the qualities and the abilities you have ever wished to have in you as a person. Try to gain it. Be original, neglect conditions, tear the blanket of conditions and live an unconditional life, try to cherish the unconditional happiness, try to get the unconditional love. Try it…give it a try… keep doing it… as you are still answerable to my question: - “Are you the person you wanted to be?”

Think about it.

~Maulik Trivedi

Date:-06/11/2011

HAPPINESS-SADNESS!!

"If you say you are happy, you must know the meaning of pain.."

Life is not what we have faced, life is more about how much we have chased. In the circle of life we all are links in a chain called the emotional bond. No one can ever live without sadness in their life. From every delightful birth to every merciless death; tears, pain, emotions; we will have all of them. There are always two sides, two phases; you will have in your life, Failure with success, problem with solution and happiness with sadness. Having an emotional soul is not a weakness, but it is toughness, it is an achieve-ment and an inner strength.

What is happiness? What is sadness? Life is like a book and all its phases-birth, maturity, adult-hood, happiness, sadness, pain, deaths etc; that we ex-perience are chapters of that book. The sequence of chap-ters may differ for everyone and may be the contents too, but there is no partiality in the chapters of the book. All will have to go through every single chapter. It may be possible that one will have a chapter of sadness in the beginning; other will have it at the end, but all will go through it for sure. So patience is a virtue and positive thinking is a must.

History says those who have utilized their internal pain in a positive direction have created history. Almost all legen-dary poets have had a dark past in their earlier life or in second half.

Great singers, musicians, painters have used their pain, agony in a positive way and today they all have secured space on the pages of golden history of earth.

Why do we take our life so seriously, why do we worry for the future which is so uncertain? Money, fame, suc-cess, and failure; these all come momentarily. But the rat-race for these results in what? Sleepless nights? tension & stress? Maddening recklessness!

And then we will seek and question, we go to spiritual GURUS who will apparently guide us in the direction where one fine day we shall attain peace and calm. It sounds funny.

Isn‘t it? Don‘t we have our own wisdom? Can‘t we create our own path to decide something for ourselves? Why have we cate-gorized our achievements as failure and suc-cess? Can‘t we accept it in the way they come?

I don‘t know why we all are afraid of the final result. Why we all wish for a positive result always? An achievement has no definition, no category, whatever you secure; whatever you gain; failure or success, it‘s undoubtedly an achievement. A failure is nothing but an unwanted output of some extreme inputs, but it doesn‘t mean that failures are always bad or bring dark half with them. Failure also brings another chance, another op-portunity and another hope for a successful sunrise.

So accept the situation in whatever way it comes. There is nothing which is good or bad for you, it‘s only your way of thinking which makes it so. Tomorrow is a brighter sunrise after a dark night of all situations, ei-ther good or bad. Today will die when tomorrow will be born and it would bring rays of happiness along with clouds of sadness and rest of the things will depend upon you and how you deal with them. This too shall pass!

ANGER-The Ultimate Poison

“Be wise. Before you react; think twice. If realized, Don’t Revise. Follow this and you will have happiest sunrise.”

Dissatisfaction is the biggest trouble that the world is facing today but I think, it’s just a way that the world has invented to demonstrate the inner temperament, Isn’t it?

Each of us lives with expectations and each one has self decided level of expectations. But the Life is the distance between the expectation and the reality. This distance is known as dissatisfaction. Each of us thinks that everything is achievable. Nothing is wrong in that, but, it’s dangerous when he thinks that everything is achievable by HIM. As far as achievement is concerned; life is not to achieve anything, by choice but sacrifice of the wish to achieve everything, by choice.

Let’s define the word Anger? What is it? Ask yourself. Anger is the outcome of your inner frustration isn’t it? It’s just a reaction when your ego hurts, isn’t it? It’s just your try to hide your weaknesses when you are helpless, isn’t it? It’s your inner howls when you come across the failure, isn’t it?

We humans are very funny creations of god. We expect the highest with the least patience level. We live with the desperation to know about the future we are unattached to. We all are like that student in the examination hall, who is habitués to worry and think about the result before the exam starts. We all are dependent, yes… dependent; on so many things: Luck, Destiny, Starts, Line That god has carved in our palms. We blindly chase our expectations to achieve them and one fine day, when suddenly, any unwanted turn strikes, we- the weakest suddenly loose our controls, patience and the most important one; the faith in ourselves.

We humans are best at comparison. We can easily compare anything with everything and vice versa. We often compare our achievement with others; and even our failures with others. We often compare the situations and problems that we face with other’s comforts. And when it comes to professional achievements, one always considers him/herself less-matured with compare to other colleagues and by doing such kind of childish comparisons; he/she eventually gives birth to the word anger.

One SHOULD follow the path he WANTS to follow, not the path he thinks he SHOULD follow, but most of us do exactly the opposite and by doing this, we invite Mr. confusion to enter in our life the way Mr. SUNNY DEOL did in the movie DAMINI; a sudden and a surprising one. Everything comes in this world with two sides and so has the mind. To select the best from the options is like “SAMUDRA MANTHAN”, it gives nectar but along with poison, same way, while selecting, we unwontedly receive poison in form of confusion, stress, dissatisfaction, and ego and unfortunately we are not LORD SHIVA at soul who can digest it.

We are gaining elasticity and loosing flexibility but my dear friend :-"Flexibility Is Very Good But Don’t Be an Elastic That Hurts Back Like Hell When Situation Releases It, Try To Be A Chewing Gum That Sticks To The Situation Even if It Destroys The Gum In Parts”. Temperament is good if based on genuine reasons and if you use it in valid direction. Satisfaction- dissatisfactions, expectations-disappointments, success-failure, choices-confusion, ego, weakness, inability; these situations are created by us but unfortunately we have no proper way to deal with. Try to be a rubber-a stretchable soul, avoid comparison, reduce your level of expectations and then everything is tolerable. Define your levels and be an adjustable soul.

So, what is the conclusion? Can Anger be avoided? Do we have any way that can help us to resist such tumor named Anger? No, my dear friend, anger can neither be avoided nor be stopped. Anger is our inner pain and pain cannot be expressed, removed or shared but, Yes! You can divert it from one reason to another. Go for meditation, listen to soft music, and try to be a child, write whatever is running in your mind in the diary. Listen and follow your god. Wait…. Wait… when I say “god”, I am not talking anything related to the person with four hands, who sits in the perfumed room and continuously observing you through a Hi- tech camera. No, this is a mythological definition of god. When I say listen to your god, I am talking about your inner strength, your inner maturity, something inside you which drives you to work, which drives you to emotions, which has kept your emotional soul alive, which ignites in your mind every morning in numerous forms; hope, goal, expectation, happiness, wish, dream etc.

That’s It.

Maulik-The One Man Army

A strange thing happened last night!!

The biggest disaster came across my family two days back, one of my cousin brothers passed away suddenly. It was something next to impossible for me and my family to digest. Needles of Numerous unanswered questions were hurting my brain and my heart beyond my capacity of tolerance. With heavy heart, I was still searching for the answers of those questions like; is it practically possible to accept that the person who was so connected to you will never appear in front of you when you will in a need of that person? He will no longer available when you will want to vomit out your frustration. He left the world with some deep agony and few unshared worries though for him I was a great listener? Is it acceptable for me and my family that the person, who was loaded with some serious responsibilities of a young helping wife and a two years old child, jolted his family’s stability due to some unfavorable conditions?

I was spellbound, I was lost, with tears in the eyes, I was trying to clean my room and…. A strange thing happened. Coincidently, I opened my drawer and I found few things I was solely connected with, in my childhood and my school days. I found an old Panasonic radio. I tried to tune the frequency and surprisingly it was working. I found a walkman with a cassette in it; I changed batteries and tried to listen to it. Against my expectations, it was working. I asked myself a question that: - “Maulik! There was a time when these things were your favorite things; these are the things you were desperate for, than suddenly what happened? How you managed to stay disconnected to such precious things”? With tons of confusion, I continued the work but something was forcing me to find the answer. I sat on the table and suddenly my eyes got fixed on the answer of my question-a thing; my advanced music player.

Suddenly I realized that I stopped using my radio as I got a cassette player on my birthday, in addition to that, again I stopped using the cassette player because I got an advanced USB player. I concluded: I started losing my attachments and addiction to something the moment I came across a better replacement with compare to what I was having. Though things were still working for me and so are they, though things were maintained enough to serve and so are they, the better and advanced option amongst all choices was and so is always a preferable move for me. Practically (as per my understandings), everything comes with an expiry. Anything, rigid or a living being has to die once it reaches to the expiry, no matter how useful or needy we are for that particular person or thing, no matter how important or useless that thing or living being is for us, it has to die once it reaches to the expiry and nature never neglects, It just can’t do that. It always has a replacement for anything and everything. Yes, it takes time for us to adjust to that advancement and replacement but time comes with rays of guidance.

Now, as I just used the word “adjust”, let me set my halogens of clarification on the meaning or definition of word “ADJUST”. Why did I say that we require some time to adjust to the replacement though it’s more advanced and more comfortable in terms of service? Because, when we come across anything for the first time, it always troubles us. Trust me my dear friend, FRIST- is a great teacher. Whenever you face anything for the first time, it never appears in the way we want, it never serves in the form we wish and it never entertains in the mode we are familiar with. Rewind your life and recall: - your first day at school, first touch of your mother, first slap that you faced, first failure, first achievement, first love, first hate, first friend etc and now unfold all the experiences that you have secured during such phases? I am sure, in all such situations, you have had countless problems, disturbance, confusions to face. May be, you have had a phase when you suffered from helplessness. But by facing and accepting these phases and situation, You might have learnt to live with such situations, you, for sure have gained nothing but experience, maturity and power to stabilize your disturbed soul.

Get Attached is an ultimate right for any sentient being but any attachment can’t be categorized as eternal bliss, it’s always an internal wealth. As stated in mythology:-“Any living being is originated from clay”, then according to me: god is a potter, we all are clay-mud and this life is a spinning wheel. Until we reach to our adulthood, god tries to give us a shape by creating different situations and jerks and once we wear a shape called maturity, he puts us into the steam chambers of failures, destructions, death, needs, dissatisfactions, loneliness etc. and if we fail to survive, he may throw us back to mud of repentance and frustration but if we survive, he will grant us nothing great but peace which is next to heaven.

Whenever we accidently meet any unaffordable situation, we start losing strength, we start complaining, we start showing our reactions; we start considering god-a culprit, we start adopting that he has done this and he always does this to family and closed ones. A happily living person throws himself in the valley of pain, valley of sympathy, valley of dependencies, valley of negatives, and valley of helplessness. And ultimately, we lose our identity, we lose our strength, we lose our ability and situation handling power, we lose our faith in ourselves, we lose our patience that we gained after a long life-full of struggles. At the end, we start hiding ourselves behind the curtains of frustrations, quietness, depression, complains, poverty of luck etc. madding recklessness.

As I said, everything comes with an expiry and so is the repentance and agony. If we fail to achieve something, we suffer and its normal reaction, but this suffering phase also comes with and expiry but in response to this, what all we need to do is to show and support our patience, our tolerance and our faith in our inner selves. And in addition, we can’t deny a fact that these patience, tolerance and faith also come with their respective expiries. So start living before you leave. Always remember: - Life is very short to be lived and to live it longer, Be-lieve(believe) in yourself before you start believing god, identify your weaknesses before your strengths, learn to digest your failures before you cherish success, learn to live with pain before you start living happily, learn to understand the meaning of isolation before you join chaos, learn to accept responsibilities before you act immature and last but not the least, accept and adopt your death before you start living your life.

Maulik-The One Man Army

Question From My Dad

Dad asked me:- “ By just seeing your face, how can your mother read all your pain, happiness, tension, worries, expectations that I just can’t?
.
I smiled and replied: - My relation with her is 9 months older than any other relations. In my womb hood, She understood me by just feeling my movements and expression but when you saw me, I was able to cry, was able to smile. I was audible to you, Dad. So you understand me when I share, but she understands me when I express. You Are a Teacher for me who taught me the meaning of life, Dad, But She Is the giver who gifted me a life”

Are You Corruption Free?

“What is more important for a common man?
A corruption free India or other’s lose and gain”

Today, I am spellbound. Neither I am here to prove anything nor do I have anything to justify. I just want to throw some questions to you and me. Current era requires changes. Everything is changing every day except the only thing and that’s the news regarding ANNA HAZARE. A man with GANDHI TOPI has forced politicians to dance like popcorn on the stove.

I am seriously amazed/shocked/happy after seeing the response that ANNA has received. People have proved them wrong who think that a common man has lost his values. Many streets of countless cities are now witnessing the anger that public (can I just use the word “INDIANS”?) has vomit out in past couple of days. No matter whatever the place was, they have defined the word UNITY.
But, as I used the word “response”, let us discuss about the word “reaction”. Let me ask you a question. Whatever we have seen in past few days, was it a reaction? Or it was just a response (momentarily, I will come to this word later on). Yah, ask this question to your inner self. Can we expect this “response” from us for next couple of months? Can we do that? I know the answer you might get from your heart and it’s a NO.

It’s obvious and normal. From the day since we have won the independence, we have seen and we are seeing unwanted and sudden changes in the environment we are living in. In 1947, things were different. Most of the people were self employed. The situation was still healthy. The word INFLATION was a part of thesaurus. People had a few reasons to deal with. The population was 1/5 of the current population of INDIA. There were no Hindu, no Muslim, no Christian, no Scheduled Caste, no OBC, no Muslim OBC, no Christian Scheduled Caste, and Creamy Scheduled Caste, a common man was very well known as HINDUSTANI. Donation policy wasn’t there. Education was the pure and priority. People were not crazy about USA, UK, CANADA. Credit cards were yet to be invented. Technology was still to be adopted. The difference between MAN and MACHINE was very visible and transparent. People were trustworthy.

Compare the situation with current situation, but before that let me come to the CORRUPTION part. What is corruption? Is it just a topic to discuss on? Is it just a word that relates to all those people who are a part of government? I think, It’s a process that converts an innocent baby to a frustrated adult. Ask yourself, are you corruption free? Again the answer is NO. Do we have any other alternative? A common man has become a puppet. He is a wireless programmed robot that just follows a routine. He has tight schedules to follow. He has many tasks to do in a day. He utilizes all his strength after many reasons everyday every second to do justice to them, what more can he do? He is worried about his salary hike as his family needs are increasing faster than the inflation rate, the rate of petrol prices has forced him to make adjustment in his monthly expenses, society maintenance, donation during the school admissions, policy premiums, house loans to pay, hospital bills, bomb blasts, ups and downs in stock market, diabetes etc.

Now tell me, can we expect this common man to come out with an Indian flag to show his response? Can we expect him to Support this LOKPAL BILL for more than two months? After seeing this response, though I am happy, I have a doubt. We are just followers. Aren’t we? Tell me very frankly, among those whom you have seen on the streets in past couple of days, how many of them are really aware of what the LOKPAL BILL is? How many of them really know ANNA HAZARE? I was listening to a radio channel on which one of the RJ raised a question: - those who are corrupt must be in the Jail, Those who are fighting against corruption are too in the jail, then those who all are not in the jail, who are they?

I want to answer this. Those who are free, like you and me are common people. I am a poor common man, who is trend follower, a common man who enjoyed his bike ride for a week after he watched DHOOM movie. A common man who started thinking that he can change the country by killing all the corrupted ministers and politicians after he watched RANG DE BASANTI, but that spark was no longer than a week, A common man for whom 15th august and 26th January are just holidays on which he prefers to have his lunch with family and a 3 hours noon nap, A common man who can’t afford his neighbour’s vehicle in his parking area, a common man who has to wait in a long queue to pay bills, a common man who can’t afford to wait on traffic signal, a common man who is being killed by terrorists in many ways every year, a common man who send messages to get selected in “KAUN BANEGA CROREPATI” so that he can win money for his family, a common man who still believes in mythology, a common man who cries when he sees emotional scenes on television tough he knows they are fake, a common man who gets excited when he sees elephant on the road, a common man who is afraid of dog, a common man who starts acting childish when doctor prescribes him an injection, a common man who used to say “thank god! I am safe” when he sees any news regarding bomb blast or natural disaster. Yes I am a poor common man and so are you.

ANAAJI’s effort is respectable. At least someone has initiated. But this is probably not the solution. This may create a pause against the corruption but it’s not a long lasting solution. If we genuinely want this corruption to be removed from our country then we have to target the education system. We need to educate a child about the dark half of this corruption from the very first day of his educational career. We have to make him understand that though he is surrounded by a corrupted environment, he has to keep himself away from this corruption. A question may arise or better say a question should arise in our mind that what about the corruption that the schooling system is doing. What about the donation part? So when you will go to the school and if you will ask them to stop asking for donation, they will say state government is giving us no grant, state government will throw the same stone to central government. Though the whole hierarchy is responsible, no one is ready to take the responsibility so in that case we can’t expect revolutionary steps from them.

So, what can be done? Instead of raising the voice for a dedicated LOKPAL institution with the power of law, ANNA should try to open a series of education society that can develop the corruption free Indian future with power of love. And “you might not get corruption free investigators for LOKPAL institutions but you will surely get corruption free teachers and professors for education society”. But if we go for these solutions, it will take two to three decades to see a corruption free India.

If we want a drastic change, we can do one thing. Offer good prizes to a common man when he comes and reports against corruption. As “YEH FAYDE KI DUNIYA HAI KAYDE KI NAHI”. We need to target the weakest nerve of a common man. It’s in his nature to expect something in return. He wouldn’t offer a single rupee if any beggar would come to him, but he would be ready to spend thousands of rupees to get the thing done for him. ANNAJI has a great past. He has already secured a lot of respect from the society. Nothing would be changed in his life even if he goes to Jail. People will give him the same love and respect. But just put yourself in the place of ANNA. What all unwanted changes and jerks you will have to face? As a common man society would not accept you in the way it should. You may lose your job, credits, respect. Can we afford this? Again the answer is NO.

End of the day its ANAAJI’s choice and yes! Of course yours also. If you and ANNAJI will go for this ANSHAN thing, the situation wouldn’t change as you, me: we all are corrupt. We have adopted it as a part of our routine. We want comfort no matter how we get it. We have enough reasons to cry, to worry, and to think over. We have a family with needs and expectations; we have a normal working heart with wishes and dreams. ANNA Might be or might not be aware of a common man’s situation. ANNAJI is single. He has no one at home to wait for him. It’s good that he is fighting but the response he expects is a big problem. A common man is very frustrated due to those reasons I have covered in this article, whatever we have seen or we will see in coming days, is not “response” to ANNAJI’s effort, its Reaction-frustration of a common man. It will be reduced eventually. It’s okay if you consider me a selfish creature after reading this, but before you start considering, just ask once to yourself, are you corruption free?

Friends.. Why So Stressed???

“I ran behind those clouds and I ran to find the horizon,
I got lost in the dark,

an anonymous killer, when I needed my brighter sun”

Friends,
Few days back I came across a very strange incident. I was in middle of a meeting and my mobile rang. It was a call from my dad. I mercilessly rejected the call and joined the meeting. But my Dad is a born hard working person so he did not give up and tried my cell countless times. When I ended up with the meeting, I gave him a call back and angrily scolded him. Like a Ramgopal Verma’s movie, we took a pause for 3-4 minutes and then he wished me a very happy birthday. Blast- blast occurred in my empty brain. Tears of culpability and compassion were washing my face for next five minutes. I was tongue tied, couldn’t even say thanks to my dad. That day I realized; how rude, how rigid and how individual I am. All my values, ethics and responsibilities have disappeared behind the clouds of office hours, priorities and to-do lists.

Friends,
Life, from sparkling birth to grief-stricken death is a journey from nothing to something and again to nothing. We are born with an eternal motive and we die with internal dreams. We take birth, we learn walking and we join the race -race for money, race for fame, race for goals, dreams, and expectations. And this race makes us a machine and not a human. We modify our life in a very hectic and unwise way and make it rigid, scheduled and then we count us in the list of responsible persons.

It happens quite often; when a dearest friend from distant place tries to reach us, we ignore his/her take because of fake stress. Such initial steps become practice and we unknowingly develop a habit of it. Though I am also a part of it, to be very frank I hate this professional life the most. This professional life is like a bridge we build on the pillars of money, fame, expectations and hunger of success. It joins dead bodies of social life and personal life with a funeral pyre of plastic packed professional life.

In my surroundings, I have many colleagues who all are living like they are living for the company and not for themselves and their families. They often avoid 10-15 minutes of refreshment and joy that other friends usually take in their daily routine just because work is important for them. They cry, they worry about the work and they always confuse and frustrate themselves by thinking about deadlines and completion dates. Why??? Why they are so much stressed? In fact we all are sailing in the same boat actively or passively.

Why we ignore our personal life, personal hobbies, and personal ways of entertainment? Why we ditch our social life and social responsibilities for the professional task list and goal sheets? Friends, Professional life is just an outer body of a precious pen, and refill of social life is covered by it, but, looks and impression are not always important, what matters the most is the ink of social and personal life, ink of enjoyment and time we have spent, we are spending and we will spend with our closed ones inside the body. And when professional life kicks us out of it, we become as helpless as a boy in the examination hall when his refill gets over.

The most dangerous gift that God has gifted us is our brain. It makes us think. It provides us materials on which we think all the time. When we sleep, thoughts arise as dreams and when we open our diamonds, these materials ignite bulbs of thoughts in our brain. Politics, education, pollution, population, terrorism, inflation, poverty, unemployment, promotions, increment, prices of petrol and diesel, results of television shows…phew and many more topics which keep us busy, worried, stressed and frustrated. Why we all allow these external insects to make a home in our well renovated and comfortable social life that God has given to us?

Remember one thing, after 50-60 years, somewhere on the bed of hospital, when we will be counting our final breaths, no professional life or moment will come to you to pamper you, no personal achievement and success will come to appreciate and motivate you, as professional life is like a doll made of plastic or a robot made of metal, they may make you cry but they cannot wipe your tears. You will only have your social life, you social surroundings, your hobbies, your family and all those blessings you would secure in the rest of your life.

So please talk with your shadow and decide your priorities as time is like sand in your hands, more you try to hold it more it jumps from the gap between your fingers. Please SECURE your present with covers of family and friends to SEE-CURED future.

That’s it.

-Maulik Trivedi

Restart Your Life !!!

“Don’t Be Just A Viewer Of your Dreams, Try To Be A Painter Of It”

We all have reached to the last day of the last month of year 2010, or may be a new beginning is about to start. I am as a normal human, immature to deal with certain situations but somehow I have survived. Every cross road gives you 3 different directions; one is something you think; you should not follow because it’s tough, second that you wish other should follow and last one is the neutral one. Keep going on the same track. It’s obvious for most of us to follow the final solution; because it’s cheaper and most importantly its safer.

Situation is like rubber band; the harder you stretch the more it hurts. Life is just like a table tennis ball, which cannot maintain neutral position. Mind well, a problem is nothing but an origin of solutions. Initial 360 days of a year act like 360 degree circular path and the remaining five days will provide you time to sit when you can talk to yourself and decide what you have gained and what you have lost or compromised in past 360 days?

World is like a carom board and your life is like a striker. You will try to achieve all your goals anyhow and at the end of life you will find yourself alone at the winning position. In our circular journey of life, the whole year we keep ourselves away from bumps and unwanted situations and end of the year when we want to wind-up everything; we find ourselves helpless at starting point.

From tomorrow onwards we will again restart our circular journey and again we will go through those 360 degrees but replication is an initial perfection and so you will get familiar to the path which shall sail you to a situation very much known as “maturity”. Again you will have situation where lack of knowledge, lack of experience, lack of interest may disturb you but one thing will always keep you busy and active and it will make you understand the importance of achievement and that precious thing is a relation called friendship.

A very famous quote says: - a friend in need is a friend indeed. Your friend can be anyone - your family, relative or colleague, but the meaning and motive will remain same forever. I have probably survived only because whenever I was alone, helpless, energy less; I have found you always there as a pointer, supporter, caretaker.

I am here to say thank you for your tremendous support and attention you have provided. It was a very difficult task for me to deal with the situation I have never faced before but, you were always there as an energy source for me. Whenever clouds of problems have made my sky dark, you appeared as a brighter sun and made my path visible. I have updated myself as a person, as a learner, as a sailor of my life and it is only because of you and your support.

After an awaited sunset of 2010 and before the wishful sunrise of 2011, I would like to thank you for all those special moments you have given to me. It was a tough job for me to survive from those challenging situations but you made me brave and so I am here with a refreshed mind state. Thanks for giving me those challenging situations which have helped me to learn and to get familiar with the qualities I have.

Happy new year to you. May God provide you the opportunities which may help you to achieve all your goals and dreams you have decorated in this year. Enjoy the evening, restart your journey and welcome 2011 with a genuine smile. Be a learner and perform like a stunner.

Best of luck,
Always sparkle.
-Maulik Trivedi