Lessons learnt from a common man

I have started going to a driving school for last 6 days. I had learnt driving before 3 years too but could not properly drive. So I decided to get the training once again.

By the way, this is not the topic of our talk today. I just want to share with you the lessons which I learnt from my driving instructor. He did not intend to give me a lesson; it was just a normal talk. But I think, what he said is of much more importance to live life efficiently.

The first thing I learnt is importance of consciousness. My instructor was teaching me the value of consciousness while driving but it is as much of importance in our day-to-day life too. Many a times unknowingly we live a total unconscious life. The same activities and same routine to be repeated everyday without giving a single thought about the purpose of activity. But what is consciousness actually? The meaning which I have learnt till date is: Consciousness is a term that refers to the relationship between the mind and the world with which it interacts. It has been defined as: subjectivity, awareness, the ability to experience or to feel, wakefulness, having a sense of selfhood, and the executive control system of the mind. As you see, there are many terms associated with the definition. But the question is: Do we implement all of them or some them in our life? Certainly we do not. But it is the need of the hour to wake up as early as possible.

Consciousness most of the time depends on our state of mind. Generally speaking, it is our actions, values and goals that determine what is the appropriate mind-state in any particular situation. Of course, there may be many reasons for avoiding such mind-states — fear of responsibility, fear of failure, fear of the truth. But we need to overcome all these to apply consciousness in our life.

The second thing he explained me was how to fully utilize the money spent on any damn thing.  He meant to say that we should marginally utilize each and every paisa of our spent money. Our previous generations spent money very wisely compared to us. I think he is absolutely right.

I just felt like to share with you this experience. Hope you didn’t get bored. 

Until that moment…

Until that moment, he had been so quiet that we were afraid that he was dying. He was very much still and silent for a very long time. But finally he broke down….

Some fifteen days back, Sanjay got the news from his Boss that he was to be deputed to a foreign company for some ten days. Sanjay was working with an investment company as a financial consultant. He was very much sincere and dedicated in his hob. But he did had some genuine problems at home. His wife, Swati, was suffering from some disease which he had never disclosed to anyone.  Additionally he had been facing some financial problems too due to which he was unable to give proper treatment to Swati.

It was very painful for him to leave behind his ailing wife and son Samit alone. But this opportunity was able to fetch him some financial benefits which can be used for his wife’s treatment. So he made up his mind to go abroad. After all, it was a matter of some days only. He left for Singapore on 10^th of March and was to be back on 20^th. Swati was to be taken care of by his sister for that time.

Sanjay reached Singapore but his mind and soul was in India. He was so happy that now he will be able to appoint the best doctor for Swati and his Swati will be alright very soon. Although thoughts of Swati and Samit kept running through his mind, he tried his best to complete the assignment within stipulated time. Still he got late by one day.

Sanjay came back on 21^st of March.  What he saw was unbelievable to his eyes. Swati, wearing red saree, was lying unconscious before him. There was no soul in her body. Samit was too young to understand the situation. Sanjay’s sister, Sarita, explained him that Swati was too happy the day before expecting Sanjay’s arrival. She got ready and waiting for Sanjay. But just a sudden stroke and her body was away from her soul.

Sanjay become speechless and thoughtless. He was so much shocked that he became still in the moment. Sarita had to intervene and made him realize the presence of Samit. After seeing Samit, he broke down. Tears went flowing from his eyes. Yes, he was alive and all alone….

Is Indian Society Becoming Self Centered?

In 20^th century, Indian society was considered as a collection of joint families. As we approached 21^st century, number of members in Indian families started going downwards. Some 20 – 30 years back, three or four generations used to live together in India. Today maximum two generations can live together. The former case has become an exception now.

Should we accept that Indian society has started imitating the western world? Is Indian Society becoming self-centered day by day? Well, I think so. An Indian person’s emotional attachment is now limited to just spouse and children. The person who takes good care of parents is considered to be well-behaved and well-mannered. The day will come in India when a person will think about himself or herself only.

Why is this happening? Is this because we are becoming more selfish? Or we have started giving more importance to our own self? All these are western world’s attributes. This is not an Indian culture. It is not at all bad to take care of oneself, but to think about only oneself is not good.

You would say, not all people are same. Yes, I agree with that. There are exceptions to this case also. There are people in India who thinks more about family, society and country than themselves. Exceptions are everywhere. But this is a general scenario in India. And we should worry because this was not the case in the past. We are sensitive people by nature and we do need social support to live. So I think this is a point to bring to notice of all of us.

Movie Review: Welcome to Sajjanpur

You must be wondering why I am writing review of Welcome to Sajjanpur now. You are right. Though it is a 2008 release, I could not watch the movie somehow. So my review of the movie is available to you in 2012. Hope you would enjoy it.

Welcome to Sajjanpur is a witty comedy movie directed by Shyam Benegal, featuring Shreyas Talapade and Amrita rao in lead roles. Ila Arun, Divya Dutta, Ram Kishan, Rajeshwari Sachdev and Kunal Kapoor also make their presence very well.

The movie starts with the introduction of Sajjanpur and the hero of the movie Mahadev whose role has been enacted by Shreyas Talpade. Mahadev is an unemployed graduate with a Bachelor of Arts who had to choose letter writing as an occupation unwillingly. He actually wanted to write a novel. Still he is able to impact many lives by means of his present occupation. Movie satirically shows the real culture and life in typical rural India.

Kamla (Amrita Rao) is Mahadev’s childhood crush. She also happened to come to him to get letters written for her husband Bansiram (Kunal Kapoor). A jealous Mahadev writes opposite to what she really wants to write. But in the end, it is only Mahadev who helps Bansiram financially to purchase a house in Mumbai and call Kamla to live with him.

Another customer of Mahadev is a highly worried mother (Ila Arun) for his daughter Vindhya (Divya Dutta)’s marriage  who is a Manglik. Vindhya’s mother wants her to marry a dog which she refuses to do. Finally she happens to get married to Mahadev only. How ? To resolve this mystery, you need to watch the movie.

Ram Kumar (Ravi Kishan) is also a customer of Mahadev. He is a compounder in village hospital and is in love with Shobha Rani (Rajeshwari Sachdev). Shobha Rani is a widow and daughter-in-law of a retired army soldier.

Other customers include a landlord whose wife, and Munnibai, who is contesting election.

All stories are beautifully and witfully presented. Mahadev himself under pseudo name Sukhdev writes a novel based on all these stories and the novel becomes a best seller which is shown in the movie at the end.

Music is composed by Shantanu Moitra and there are 7 well composed and well written songs in the movie.

Although the movie is inspired by some other movie, it has been still presented differently and I liked it. Story line and the concept is very well explained in the movie. I would give 4 stars to the movie out of 5. Do watch it if you have not.

My Wishes for 2012

As the dawn of 2012 is on the verge of coming, I would like to share my wishes for a happy and peaceful 2012.

I do not want to get into details of what happened and not happened in 2011 as it has been very much covered by many of the newspapers and magazines. What has been passed has been passed. There is no point in discussing it. We should be concerned with what lies ahead of us.

My first wish is for safety and security of the people. May 2012 be a peaceful and calm year. People would respect each others’ individuality and existence. May there be minimum wars in the world. I hope that terrorism would come to end in 2012. There would be much less violence and crime and people would not fear anything. I hope for a safer world in which everybody has his own space and each one can move freely wherever he goes.

I also wish for a prosperous new year 2012. The world would prosper in terms of economy, wealth, health and education. There would not be a single person without food and shelter. Every kid would have the opportunity to go to school and prosper himself intellectually. Medical facilities would be available to each and every person of this beautiful world. No one should die due to dearth of proper treatment.  I really wish that people would have enough money to enjoy their life’s basic desires.

Further, I wish that there would be happiness all around 2012. There would be no grief in the world. We would live a happy life altogether. People would sing, dance and enjoy and there would be lesser mourning. Everyone would accept the situation and try to adjust in. There would not be any chaos in life. Life would become smooth, every problem would become easy.

I know what I am expecting is an ideal situation. But it is believed that what you think does happen, so always think for good. I heartily wish that all these thoughts of mine come true and we would have a wonderful world to live in.

Like birds, let us,
leave behind what we don’t need to carry,
GRUDGES SADNESS PAIN FEAR and REGRETS.
Life is beautiful, Enjoy it.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2012

The Hero of my Childhood and Adolescence

I always craved for writing something about him. I was just waiting for the right time. I don’t know whether this time is right or not, but when I saw Rahul Dravid trending on twitter I could not hold my hands.

The occasion is Sir Don Bradman Oration delivered by him at Canberra in which he covered issues from flaws in cricket scheduling to the need for cricketers to be more transparent. I just heard the speech. It is awesome, marvelous, candid, erudite…. He seems to have won accolades, minds and hearts. There is a long list of adjectives used by tweeple but that is not everything I want to talk about.

Rahul Dravid has been playing cricket for the Indian team for past 16 years and he has been totally committed to the task. He is a classic Test player. He has also proved his competence in one day cricket although he had to take much strain for it. Popularly hailed as “The Wall of Indian cricket”, he is regarded by many to be one of the greatest batsmen in the history of the game. He is also called Mr. Dependable, a person on whom you can depend upon. He also holds many of the cricketing records which you must know if you are a cricket freak. He has really won the hearts of cricket fans. He has been able to mute all his critics by his work. Indeed, actions speak louder than words. He has proved that Practice is the pursuit of excellence without the stress of competition.

Rahul Dravid is basically all that is right about cricket and life also — the tradition, the honor, respect, commitment — in one man. Sincerity and genuineness are in his blood. He is cool, creative, courageous, candid, charismatic, clever, courteous, cultured and yes, charming too. He has achieved many things in life still he is too modest. He is a thorough gentleman in life.

Every human being has some pros and cons in life. But main thing is how to hide your negatives behind your positives, and Rahul Dravid is the best example of this in life. He has each and every quality that makes him an ideal cricketer and person. His persona is fabulous.

 It is possible to write pages and pages on him, but it would be too long. So let me stop here. We hope that he would keep adding many more leaves of achievements in the tree of his life. Amen…

In Mumbai…

I had been to Mumbai for three days last week. It was a pleasant experience of life.

Though I could not visit many of the places, I really liked the spirit of the people. An Indian metro with a population of 3 crore people (most populous city in India and fourth most in the World), Mumbai keeps running all day long. People there seem so energetic and enthusiastic that I don’t think they may be feeling any tiredness.

Now let me share some formal information, which you might know too. Mumbai is Commercial and Entertainment Capital of India. National and Bombay Stock Exchanges are situated there. It is also the home to bollywood and telewood stars. Mumbai is the richest city of India. Mumbai’s  business opportunities  and its potential to offer a higher standard of living attract migrants from all over India. People keep pouring in which belong to many communities and culture. You can experience a variety of people in the city of Mumbai. All kind of social and financial categories of people are available here.

Lots of people imply a heavy traffic. Still, I have seen people observing traffic rules completely. In that sense, the public there is very much disciplined. Public transportation which includes Local Trains, BEST buses, taxis, auto rickshaws and ferries is also very commendable.

I could not get much exposure of the city in a short while, but I liked the atmosphere somehow. It felt like home. I’ll certainly look forward to the next visit of the city of Mumbai – the city of dreams.