Wednesday 21 September 2016

A World That Was Once Wonderful





I saw trees of green,                                                              
red roses too.
I saw them bloom, 
for me and you. 
And I thought to myself,
what a wonderful world. 

I saw skies of blue, 
And clouds of white. 
The bright blessed day, 
The dark sacred night. 
And I thought to myself, 
What a wonderful world. 

The colors of the rainbow, 
So pretty in the sky, 
Was also on the faces, 
Of people going by.
I saw friends shaking hands, 
Saying, "How do you do?" 
They're really saying, 
"I love you". 

I heard babies cry, 
I watched them grow, 
They'd learned much more, 
Than I'll ever know. 
And I thought to myself, 
What a wonderful world. 

Yes, I thought to myself, 
What a wonderful world. 

Oh yeah!

No, what you just read is not a parody of "What a Wonderful World", a phenomenal song which was sung by Louis Armstrong in 1967, but is rather an altered version crafted with the deliberation of reflecting the Modern Day helplessness, aroused in our hearts by domestic and international tensions instigated by groups which proudly promote Terrorism.  

If you too can relate to this feeling of profound loss, which can certainly not be expressed by stating facts or weaving stories, then come sit with me, to bid adieu to the innocent souls of victims from across the globe, who have now become stars, still hoping and expecting from You and I to extinguish hatred and spread nothing other than love and peace. 

Tuesday 20 September 2016

A Freeway To A Better World




On the weekend, while sipping a king size cafe latte in a Rajiv Chowk metro station's Cafe Coffee Day, I wondered what does it take from a person to acknowledge and appreciate the being and effort of another person? I couldn't help observing people's raised eyebrows and instant frowns for neither the coffee was interesting enough to distract me nor was it possible for me to commence reading my new book amidst all the superficial chatter that eclipsed the English country music streaming from cafe's new wireless Bose speakers. 

You might find it hard to believe, but the question remained in my head even after I was done with all the scheduled meetings and was on my way back to home. See, here I am talking about our society at large, including you and me. Each one of us gets our dose of moral conditioning not just from our homes, but also from all the place and people we invest our time and energy on. And, the skill of appreciation, which I am trying to bring to notice, is, unfortunately, absent in most of us. 

Accept it or not, most of us refrain from pausing and dropping a genuinely good note or even a simple smile to any person we come across, who we do find wholeheartedly fusing-in all his/her resource and talent to do something remarkable. Now, you most probably would say "So what? How does it matter? Somebody or the other would pause by and appreciate the chap, why do I have to it? And, by the way, when nobody ever has been all that nice to me, why should I be?" 

Did I just catch you awkwardly smiling? Yeah, I guess I did, because, you see, I understand that you can closely relate to all of this and are also somewhere down the line a bit apologetic for the same. But, if we are human enough to feel apologetic, why aren't we humane enough to dare and drop a note of appreciation to the ones who are enthusiastically trying to do things which you almost always ignored? 

I remember having once read a quote by William James, a well-known psychologist, and philosopher,  “The deepest principle of human nature is a craving to be appreciated.” And, to encourage you furthermore to inculcate this healthy habit, I will now like to clearly list three most astounding benefits which are as follows-

1- A Freeway to a better world:  Your sincere compliment can inspire somebody to fight against all odds and keep making the extraordinary efforts to beautify the world. Assuming that you are a Twitterati as well apart from being an ardent lover of Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Snapchat, I hope you do get to read about the horrifying everyday occurrences inflicted by groups of intolerant people from around the world. Then, explain it to me, how is it that you haven't so far been able to understand the fundamental essentiality of encouraging the people who are doing genuine good? Give it a thought, because, like many other believers, I too believe that the best way to better up any society is by encouraging its selflessly dedicated craftsmen to come together. 

2- A smile accelerator:  The fact that humans seek approval of one other for the work they do, is now scientifically proven. Whether you are a student, a working professional or a parent, you would agree that every time somebody steps forward and sweetly expresses their approval, you feel absolutely elated. So, when a simple note of appreciation can offer greater motivation than Money itself, why don't you start serving back your community by gifting its people a variety of smile accelerators?

3- A matter of Karma:  Nowadays, a lot of people rest their belief in the rules of Karma than that of the ones listed in their religion's holy book. So, if you too are one such believer, you would clearly agree with the fact that complimenting another person's effort and out of the blue gifting warmth to their heart will help you attract positive energy and blessed luck to your own life. 

So, I suggest you to #UnNumb your mind and starting from today mend your behavior towards others and begin to considerately contribute for the betterment of the society. And, yes, most of all, do not ever misinterpret a genuine note of appreciation as somebody's attempt to 'hit' on you. 

Sunday 18 September 2016

The Art of Standing Calmly Against the Wave





The art of standing calmly against the wave of change isn't too hard to master. But, before I go on to profess my understanding in detail, I would like to know, if  you remember having experienced moments which came straight out of the blue when in your mental landscape you sat back and asked yourself while brooding onto the sudden change of events, "Is this it?" "Was it this I was looking for?" "Will my decision be rewarding?" "Will that reward be enough to cheer me up?" Well, if you find this situation relatable, I suggest you get yourself a tumbler of fresh water and sit down to read through. 

To be honest, you aren't the only one; this happens with even the most optimistic of us, whenever we expose our minds to the possibility of change, we do feel a little daunted by the very idea of quitting a skillfully mastered pattern of life. And, why not? We spend an enormous portion of our time in settling down and then if all of a sudden, life expects us to change our ways to a tremendous extent, it will most probably cause a hard-to-overcome discomfort, right?

Having said that I will now ask you to lean back on your chair and calmly place your hands onto its armrest. For what I am going to now say will definitely help you see above and beyond your clouds of chaos. There are no absolute answers or solutions to anything at all, but there are always some tried and tested methods to deal with almost every situation, even with the discomfort caused by fretting over an unexpected change of events. And, trust me, there is an ocean full of little ways which can help you make improvisations at a larger scale. To help you frame a better understanding I have provided below a brief listicle. So, why don't you lean a bit forward now and curiously scroll through? 

Wipe your slate clean- One of our many habits that pull back most of us from performing extraordinarily in our lives is our stubbornness of not redeeming ourselves. We keep carrying the burden of our past unbecoming till the day we realize that we have lost a handsome number of opportunities.  So, I would like to humbly request you to wipe your slate clean and start afresh by giving yourself another chance and by thereafter applying a new perspective to comprehend the situation instead of giving up on the opportunity itself.

Befriend yourself, first- By this, I certainly do not intend to insinuate you to become a narcissist and throw your weight around. I just want to suggest, you know and befriend yourself first and later go onto looking for emotional support in others. Because I certainly believe that we are all complete in ourselves, just that we need to start believing in this fact. So, I will advise you to start acknowledging your strengths and also at the same time come to terms with your existing weaknesses. We all know where exactly we lack, right? We don’t really need others to raise their eyebrows and point it to us at our faces or lose an opportunity on the cost of knowing ourselves less. So, come on, let’s befriend us, first.

Beautify your space- Now do not dismiss this as a "girly thing", because placing and keeping things in order is a habit we all must try to bring into our routines. Ever wondered why at Temples, Gurudwaras, Churches and Mosques, people are able to sit back and meditate with an astounding abundance of energy and concentration? It's because of the exclusive ambiance that these places offer wherein you can come and tie together the broken strings. It’s all about providing your inner-self with the essential free space to think and make mindful and timely decisions. So, why don’t you make a pact with yourself to take due care of your surroundings to become productive like never before? 

Gardening- Spending time with plants can sometimes be the best motivational stimulator. You would be amazed to know that gardening can help reduce the level of stress hormone, can significantly boost up your immunity system and also potentially improve your brain health. I believe that God is in details and trust me, if you spare each day even a small portion of your precious time, to observe the gorgeous plants in your garden, you will most definitely be able to gain back the lost clarity in your life and become more thoughtful about almost everything. 

Take a break- It usually happens, especially over the weekends that we feel we have really been underperforming in regards to handling our roles and responsibilities. I suggest, at times like these, fish out some time for yourself (Yes, yourself alone) and take a break. Use this exclusive time to explore new possibilities, enjoy the existing ones and simply make memories worth revisiting in times of trouble. For instance: Get yourself tickets of the latest blockbuster movie, or make a visit to your favorite cafe or just attend a stand-up comedy gig. 

The Time Dogma- There are very few of us who make the best of our time because most of us frantically hold the dogma of time abundance close to our chests. The sooner we get over this dogma, the happier we can become, because remember "Time is a valuable thing". When we make utilizing each moment a habit, then we automatically make room for future possibilities and also in a way become better equipped with our heads unclouded. 

Never give up learning- I believe, to give up learning at any stage of life is the worst of all decisions. There are innumerable things to observe, absorb and learn from in life. Every occurrence teaches us something extremely valuable, but you can habituate your mind to view the world that way only if we never let our zeal of learning be eclipsed by our ego or arrogance. And, once you commit yourself to be a learner for life, you would not have to fear the sudden stream of change which may knock your shore in the near future. 

Whether, you’re retiring, trying to manage your new business, or are unexpectedly unemployed, the world can seem like a lonely place where you might feel a little unsteady. But, in moments like these, instead of panicking, you can summon all your courage to stand calmly against the wave by pausing, reflecting and mending your ways.

So, #LetsUnNumb and make the best of our lives.

Friday 9 September 2016

Did you zap through all sports channels and yet couldn't find live broadcast of Rio 2016 Paralympics?




Did it occur to you why you couldn't catch the live broadcast of Rio 2016 Paralympics on any of the sports channels in India?

Now, that does sound a little absurd, right? Because, despite you having enthusiastically tweeted about it a day ago, you just couldn't experience the extraordinary thrill of watching some of the most phenomenal athletes putting forth their best at the Rio Paralympics field.

Well, to your surprise, India is amongst the 65 countries in the world including South Asia, South-East Asia, and central Africa – where the Paralympic Games will not be shown on Television. Now, you may assume that the sports broadcasters perhaps do not have the required rights, but what if you get to know that they didn't even bid for the rights?

The list of these ignorant sports channels includes Sony ESPN, Ten Sports,  and also the public broadcaster; Doordarshan Sports. On contrary to their deliberate miss-out in not covering Rio 2016 Paralympics at all, they had a totally different story during Rio 2016 Olympics. For instance; Star Sports, dedicated 8 channels, (Yeah, you heard right) 8 channels to telecast Olympics, out of which 4 channels were in standard definition and the rest 4 in high definition. They enthusiastically broadcasted over 3,000 hours of action during the Games. No, we are not done yet; Star Sports also had 14 live feeds and 36 concurrent feeds on Hotstar, its digital platform. Nevertheless, it looks the Paralympics is just not worth their creative effort.

However, to stream support, our Prime Minister Narendra Modi did tweet; “The people of India will be enthusiastically cheering for our athletes representing India at the Rio 2016 Paralympics, starting 7th Sept.” But, the paradox remains because sports fans in India have no other choice than to disappointedly resort to watching the games online at www.paralympic.org and www.olympicchannel.com.

You would be absolutely amazed to know that this year to bring back glory to our country, sports contingent of 19 athletes are sent to compete at Rio 2016 Paralympics. And, because I strongly feel that these athletes deserve several rounds of applause, I would like to hereby list out their names and their respective events.

Archery-

Pooja- Women Recurve Individual

Athletics-

Men-

Ankur Dhama- 1500meter- T11,
Mariyappan Thangavelu- High Jump- T42,
Varun Singh Bhai- High Jump- T42,
Sharad Kumar- High Jump- T42,
Ram Pal- High Jump- T47,
Devendra Jhajharia- Javelin Throw- F46,
Sundar Singh Gujar- Javelin Throw- F46,
Rinku- Javelin Throw- F46,
Ranbir Narender- Javelin Throw- F42/44,
Sandeep- Javelin Throw- F42/44,
Amit Kumar- Club Throw- F51,
Dharambir- Club Throw- F51,

Women-

Deepa Malik- Shot Put- F53

Powerlifting-

Farman Basha- Men's-49kg

Shooting-

Naresh Sharma- Men's R7-50m Rifle 3 Positions- SH1

Swimming-

Suyash Narayan- Men's 50m Butterfly- S7


I humbly request you, my readers, to respect and remember Rio 2016 Paralympics athletes not just for their medals, but more importantly for their undying spirit and extraordinary courage.


Note- Information related to athletes and their respective events is taken from Official Paralympics Website

Thursday 8 September 2016

Intervention Of The Divine



Dearest Reader,

I know I haven't posted since a very long time. The reason is, I met with an accident lately, an accident which gave me a head injury, but it, more importantly, gave me back my lost clarity. Okay, this might sound a little fancy to you, but that is how it is. Post my accidents, I could recognise and understand the pattern of events in my life so far, with an astounding amount of clarity.

Frankly, after being badly hit and literally thrown onto the ground, by this random vehicle speedily driven by an absolutely inconsiderate driver, in a not-so-busy colony of Delhi, while I was simply crossing the street, I felt as if my breath had numbly paused, for forever.

It was not until later that day in the hospital that I realised I might have bled to death on the spot IF I had not picked the courage to walk and immediately rush for the nearest medical facility, by myself.
So, something in me; I now call it 'an ever-forgiving element of God' in me helped and guidingly took care of me and to everybody else it seemed as if I was the one who rescued me.

My accident now seems to be, perhaps the best thing that happened to me lately. I've now become much more grateful and observant towards the countless graces bestowed upon us all by the spirit (God) which look onto our safety while we every now and then embark on our new journeys.

To keep you immersed in this positive perspective and to inspire you to undertake a retrospection to be able to understand the pattern of life events, I would like to share with you a playlist which has in it some of the most extraordinary Sufi tracks from soulful musicians across the globe.












If you have a story similar to mine, based on an incident which profoundly strengthened your faith in the sublime, feel absolutely free to share the same in the comment box provided below. Till then, stay safe and stay grateful because everything will eventually fall in its right place.