I feel Grateful...

It was early in the month of June’12; we had shifted our house which has been our home for over 20 years.

We shifted to a rented house as a temporary arrangement, since our own house; my dad’s first big investment had to be pulled down owing to poor construction. It’s humiliating to get cheated, but the fact remains that we were cheated by the contractor and the building was almost in the stage of collapsing just after 20 years of its construction.

To describe about our house, it was a 1200 sqft building giving us enough space to accommodate our family and guests. We had enough garden space around the house featuring different plantations for the sake of beauty and for few cooking utilities. It is also customary for our family to have a chat post dinner by sitting near the entrance enjoying the evening breeze and we would each account the day’s happening or any plans for the next day.

This routine was thoroughly disturbed one for the reason we moved to a house on the first floor which doesn't leave much space to sit and chat, second we all were upset about losing our house. I was even more upset about moving to a cramped space having lived in a rather spacious building. The first day was very difficult and I was all tears when my dad was sitting in a cramped space having his dinner. I couldn’t stop complaining about how small the house was and I was not able to accept the drastic change in our life style and it was as if we lost our freedom. Days started moving slowly but I never stopped complaining, even the best healer “Time” failed in front of my discontent until, I watched the program of Oprah Winfrey. I have heard about Oprah Winfrey as the most highly paid celebrity in USA and I have feebly wished to watch her show sometime. Oprah Winfrey was visiting India and there was a program about the people and their life style in India, guess it was in TLC channel.

I tuned up to the channel and was waiting for the program to start, a visibly old Oprah Winfrey appeared on the screen and exchanged pleasantries with the Organizers of the program and her quest to explore India started. Her first stop was at Dharavi Slum, I knew some information about Dharavi and its composition of the population.

She entered the slum (I prefer not to call it a slum, it’s a colony with most houses built by bricks) and was greeted by a family and the kids out there. The man a security guard by profession greeted her with garlands, sweets and invited her to visit his home, the procession steered through the narrow streets with Oprah Winfrey leading the crowd to reach the house of her host. The most shocking truth filled the television screen the moment she entered the building, the house what her host referred to was just a 10x5 room. Oprah Winfrey gave a shocked expression and sure the people who were watching the show would have been shocked to see, what the gentleman referred to as his home.

 The house was occupied by the man, his wife and two daughters. This house (literally a room) is the kitchen, living room and bed room for all the four members of the family. This man has lived here for over 30 years and has inherited the house from his parents, while enquired about his goal; he stated that he wanted to give his daughters a very good education so that his daughters can live in a comfortable place. While his younger daughter was just getting into school, his elder daughter was around 10 years old and by the way she communicated conversed Oprah Winfrey, I felt really proud for her father. She was so clear in communicating their plight, her thoughts and her aim in life; quite a rare phenomenon for a girl of that age (at least as far as I know). Oprah Winfrey spent some time understanding their problems and their lifestyle before moving from Dharavi, the program ended in roughly another 30 mins.

The plight of the security guard and his determination to give best education to his daughters moved me. The best part was how his daughter understood their situation and the way she gives her best to studies.

I switched off the television to take a good look at the place we had moved in. It was at least 15 times larger than the one the security guard was living yet I was complaining. That was a moment of awakening and I felt guilty for complaining for complaining about the fate of moving to a smaller house. I stopped complaining and realized that, I must be grateful for having such a huge place to live and I was also thanking my parents for giving me a much comfortable and luxurious life.

 My state of mind was the same as that of a person who stops complaining of not having shoes when he sees someone without legs. I do have legs and I am grateful for that.

Underpaid or Overloaded

Are you one of those, who feel underpaid or overloaded with work?

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This lady is over 65 years old, yet does nine hours of physical labor/day. Her work includes loading a tray with the mixture of cement, sand and water (approx 7 – 10 kgs); carrying that tray for 30 ft - 40 ft to unload in a similar tray used by the masons. Guess what?  she repeats this for almost 100 times (might be more) a day with 20 mins break for lunch and 5 mins(twice) break for tea. She does all this physical labor at this age for a daily wage of Rs.300/day. 

Guess we shouldn't be complaining!!!

My Marriage...

It was indeed a happy moment in my life, except for that I never had the opportunity to meet the bride before I tied the knot, yes it is my marriage day. My parents did not give me the opportunity to meet the girl considering my history of messing up with the earlier arrangements, my marriage was arranged in complete secrecy when I was out of town on an official visit and that came as a rude shock to me. I started the fire fighting with my parents on asking me to marry the same morning when I came back home from my visit, I was in total disagreement with what was happening and of course very angry and disappointed. A army of relatives marched towards me with an hope of convincing me to proceed with the marriage and after facing my resistance they did succeed in the end. I had to give up my fight to avoid embarrassing my parents and relatives in front of the bride's family(certainly strangers to me) and agreed to proceed with the marriage  My mom insisted me to meet the bride and have a word before proceeding with the marriage ceremony but I refused since it was anyways not going to make any difference. There was only one thought that was running at the back of my mind and it was the question of "how did the girl accept to marry me without seeing me?", little did I know that she has seen me in a family function and my family was talking to their family for more than a month; and her family has already done enough background check on me.

My cousins and friends(also the culprits for not keeping me informed) were busy preparing me for the marriage, everyone except me were super excited and happy for me. I stepped out of the grooms room and walked towards the stage with lot of anticipation and excitement and butterflies in the stomach. All my disappointment and anger started leaving me as I was descending towards the stage set for the marriage, I reached the stage and was asked to sit in the place designated for me. The priest started chanting the mantras and I was asked to do some puja's as a part of the marriage ceremony. While I was performing my puja, the priest announced to bring the bride to the stage, I instantly lost focus on the puja and curiosity started building on me to see who and how is the person who is going to share the rest of my life.

There she came walking graciously towards the stage, she had the cutest face I have ever seen and sure anyone would fall in love the instant she smiles. She walked towards the stage with full of shyness and of course with all bridal makeover. She had this little smile on her lips and she refused to lift her head, when she looked up; her eyes refused to meet my eyes. I was flying in the sky and was showering thanks to my parents for finding her as my life partner. She sat next me with her head down and I was literally starring at her mesmerized at the innocence her face carried. I tied the knot on the command of the priest and all the elders and friends standing around us showered their blessings and I already started feeling very lucky.

The rest of the ceremony went on as planned(by my parents) with friends and relatives teasing us and taking turns to pull our legs. Most of the guests started leaving the marriage hall and it was time for me and my wife to leave the hall, I just held her hand with love radiating from my eyes to leave the hall and at that moment there was a huge ring inside my head. It was the alarm I had set in my phone and I had to wake up, I couldn't believe that my marriage was in my dream. I refused to believe that it was a dream and was staring at the wall only to realize “yes it was a dream”, not willing to lose the happiness I tried slipping back to sleep but that wasn't really helping.

I have started wondering how brain works in mysterious ways, it has put together a scene with all my relatives and people whom I have never met including the bride, it was a well executed marriage in my dreams.

- Prasaanth

The Kid Inside....

I am not sure of the majority of the people, but i have always had a kid inside me seeking every opportunity to pop out and enjoy the world. One such opportunity came up when I visited Mysore on an official visit, though there are plenty of places to visit around Mysore I had to refrain from any plans due to the constraint of time and schedule.

After the day's work, self and a colleague decided to hang around any place in Mysore for killing some evening time. We were suggested to visit Mysore palace and the exhibition in the palace grounds, I was excited to look around the palace because of my little interest towards the architecture of early India. Quite unfortunate that we couldn't make it up to the palace on time and we had to settle down with our visit to the exhibition. I wasn't much interested but decided to pursue just to kill some time, the first part of the exhibition were lots of shops from different parts of the country showcasing the articles highlighting the culture of their respective regions. 

The second half started with a series of food stalls to treat our tongues with the delicacies of Karnataka, moving forward we found what I had missed for quite a long time. I saw the giant wheels, saucer discs and many other games, before heading to the rides we did try our luck with some of ring throwing and shooting games only to return empty handed.

After drying off some money trying out our luck, we headed for the real fun towards the rides. The first ride was that of a saucer, we took our seats on our chance and waited for my first fun ride after many years. I was super excited and was also doubly happy on seeing the happy faces of the families, the excitement of the kids and the screaming of the youngsters.

All our rides went on pretty cool with some exciting and thrilling experiences, especially the giant wheel which gave a pretty decent look of Mysore. With every ride I could experience the kid inside me jumping ahead of me, screaming and laughing the heart out, that was pretty cool.

One thing which i understood out of this whole experience is that we really do not need a dinner in costly restaurant or a advanced gadget or any luxuries to satisfy the kid inside us, all we need is a little time for ourselves and our family to be happy.

-Prasaanth

Tigress...

To give a head start this post is not about a Tigress in the wild, but the one I witnessed on the roads of my city.

I have always trusted in the theory that a person's attitude reflects in the way he/she drives his/her vehicle, be it aggression, confidence, patience, courage, etc...

This incident happened five or six months back, I was driving back home and was unusually slow because of some preoccupied thoughts. The traffic was pretty heavy and that aided to my careless and slow driving, it was then a flashy thing grabbed my attention; it was a grand silk saree worn by a girl of almost my age(or even younger). 

She was driving a scooty (the mercedes of every city girl) and to describe her, she was averagely built and was graciously wearing the saree. She had her face covered with a pink scarf and that makes me unlucky for not seeing her face. The traffic started moving and one more factor about this girl caught my attention, it was the way she was steering through the traffic. I have always liked girls who are aggressive since I see them as a confident person, and this girl did not fail to impress me. I started following her pulled by some unknown force and was driving right behind her vehicle, her driving skills sure did not disappoint me and I started to like her even more for her aggression/confidence. At that moment she reminded me of a tigress, but one on the roads.

This going behind the vehicle continued for another 15 mins and soon came a junction with every possibility of the tigress to go on the direction to that of mine and unfortunately I took a lead and crossed a messy signal. I lost her and was very disappointed, I was quick in taking a decision to follow her vehicle in whichever direction she goes and have a pleasure of watching her drive. Luck was in my favour and she continued driving in my direction, all this while I stopped my vehicle and was impatiently looking at my mirror to find her out. I started my vehicle once the tigress crossed me and I continued on my pursuit of following her, well then something unexpected happened for which I adore the tigress.

May be at that point she felt someone following her (good she was very attentive about her surroundings) and slowed down her vehicle probably to doubly ensure her theory. I overtook her to avoid suspicion but slowed down without having the heart to miss the fun of watching her driving. It was at this moment she did something which I have never experienced, this tigress came driving near my bike and started driving at the same speed of mine. I was thrilled and surprised at her courage for this is happening for the first time for me and maybe she is pretty used to this stuff of getting followed. Guess she expected me to make a move which would have given her the opportunity to scream at me but my intentions were otherwise, I was following her to have the simple pleasure of enjoying her driving rather than striking a conversation. 

After driving alongside for few more seconds, she zipped past me and I continued on my pursuit until I was close to my home and the tigress took a different route.

Though the incident is six months old, the experience stays afresh in mind and even today I keep expecting to see the tigress again to experience the pleasure of watching her drive.

The search is on...

-Prasaanth

A sufficient Commodity

Many complain of not having enough time for managing their personal and professional life, in reality they spend time on activities of least importance denying time for important things and feel time is insufficient.

- Prasaanth

Foot prints...

Out heart is like a sea shore, every people leave a foot print which stays until a wave called time washes them away. But, there are very few people who leave their foot prints so deep and strong that even a tsunami of time would fail to wash them away.

-Prasaanth

Time...

We always have sufficient time, just that we manage it poorly and call it insufficient

 - Prasaanth

Fav Quote...

Its not because things are difficult we do not dare; itis because we do not dare that things are difficult

-Seneca(Philosopher) 

Luck or Blessing...

I am usually a reluctant person to give a lift when some stranger asks for it, and to be honest most of the time my reluctance is fueled by the looks of the person or the concern about my own driving. I really do not want to put anyone into risk because of what others complain as my rash driving.

In the recent learning, I understood the importance of being kind and devised one of my daily goals as showing kindness to at least one stranger everyday. 

This particular incident happened last week when I was returning home from the local grocery involving a respectable old man. I was zipping through the road crossing this Old man and there I heard a feeble sound of request for a lift in my bike. I halted few feet away(thanks to the brake system in my bike) and signed at the old man to climb on the bike. Once exchanging pleasantries, the old man thanked me for stopping by and explained the ordeal he was going through for the past one hour because of non-availability of public transport at that time. I was happy that my daily goal of being kind to a stranger is achieved and felt content for helping a old man. While alighting at his destination, the old man gave his heartfelt thanks and blessed me saying "God Save You", I thanked him for his blessing though I mocked the Gods for I believe they are never going to come for my rescue and I am on my own.

I continued with my shopping and started driving back home, fortunately I wasn't driving really fast nor was driving slow. While at a junction, I was shocked to see a kid riding his cycle and heading towards me trying to cross the road. All my driving skills were put into action but my bike refused to halt immediately and little did the kid notice me and bang!!! we collided.

I managed to balance but the poor kid along with his little brother went crashing down on the street and they both fell down, bystanders came to his rescue and we managed to get the kids up and check for injuries. Fortunately, they were not injured(at least on the outside) but their cycle was heavily damaged and my bike suffered little damage.

While returning to home, all that was filled in my mind was the blessing of the old man, the accident and the mental state of the kids. After returning home, I told my mother about the accident, about the old man's blessing and mocked at how the gods failed to fulfill his blessing. My mother patiently waited for me to finish and then said "it is the blessing and gods who saved you and the kids from any major causality". Though I first saw it as an defensive statement, that moment triggered a debate whether it was luck or blessing that something major was averted and...

the debate continues....

-Prasaanth 

Mental Stability...

Because of my new born curiosity towards Buddhism(may be because of my pursuit for peace and using my true potential),I was recently viewing a video featuring His Holiness The Dalai Lama. The time spent I spent on listening to him was as a result of my interest in the teachings of Buddhism and to learn the wisdom possessed by this great and humble human being.

His Holiness The Dalai Lama in that video underlined the fact that Mental Stability is very important for physical stability and I just managed to recollect a recent incident aligning with this fact.

It was in the month of Aug'12, I visited  Ooty to attend a marriage function and we also managed to organize a short visit to all the famous spots in and around Ooty. There is a spot meant for film shooting and we the bunch of enthusiastic so called youngsters started climbing this little hill. Though I wouldn't call this climb very difficult, I would also not call it a easy one. We had to take one or two short breaks before we reached the peak, but once we reached their it was clear that the effort has not gone in vain. 

Having spent some time we started climbing down and as you know that part is the easy one, on the way down we witnessed few Buddhist monks heading towards the peak. All these monks would have been at the age range of 55-70 years, its only when we crossed them did we understand that they were climbing almost at the same speed with which we were climbing down. This left us with disbelief and that was not the end of the story, once we reached the foothills, we turned out to check the progress of the monks(expecting them to rest somewhere) but the larger surprise was they were already in the enjoying the view.

They were full of surprise for us, since the speed at which they climbed was not proportionate to their age and they did what we saw a moderately difficult task with ease.

On recollecting this incident, I truly understand what His Holiness The Dalai Lama is insisting the importance of having a stable mind for a stable body.

- Prasaanth