The Shining ball

The stories of the beauty of India’s North Eastern States were long heard. This pull resulted in planning a cycling expedition to any one of the States. This year, Sikkim turned out to be our destination between Oct 22 to Nov 2. 

Mitra bhau Naik, an expert in Cycling and trekking tours was our guide. We landed at Baghdora and after two days of acclimatisation, the Cycling started from the beautiful Darjeeling. 

In the next few days we hopped from one destination to another and were blessed to experience West and South Sikkim. We moved from Darjeeling to Jorethang to Pelling to Yuksom to Ravangla to Gangtok to Namchi to Kalimpong to Siliguri and 

back to Baghdora for our return flight. 

‘Incredible India’ is the only word which can describe the places we visited. Huge Mountains laden with thick vegetation, deep Valleys converging into crystal clear rivers flowing with childlike enthusiasm, clean places being a culture, loud noise an impossibility, kindness of the villagers a permanent virtue and vibrations of happiness all over. The most attractive part of this dream journey was the cuteness of the kids. The combination of chubby cheeks and small innocent eyes was irresistible! 

As we moved along paddling on our bicycles, sometimes on upward slopes and on others, downward, but seldom plain horizontal ones, a crucial lesson was learnt. Four of us, Tukaram Naik, Nilesh Jakotia, Pratik Bafna and myself, used to cycle for hours together. Sometimes for 4 hours, at others 5 and once even for 6 and a half hours, to be totally exhausted. 

We used to push ourselves through the upward slopes for hours and feel like quitting. At times even downward journey used to be a test of our endurance with practically only stones to ride on instead of roads. Sweat running down the forehead, legs aching, eyes fixed on the never ending upward slope, the top of the mountain still high enough to scale, the cycle moving along in inches, lungs thumping in exhaustion, heart ready to give up, the only hope of reaching the destination used to be the mind. Clinging tightly to will power as we used to reach the top a complete sense of satisfaction used to grip in. 

A break for a sip of water, something to munch from our bag, a moment of solitude listening to the birds around and hours of struggle used to just vanish! It was pure magic! 

Till minutes ago, the thought used to be never again will we put ourselves to such physical impossibility and all of a sudden within minutes of achieving our goal it was felt that another peak is definitely scalable. 

In Cricket, the opening batsman have to face the swinging new ball. If they successfully pass the test, in few overs the ball looses its shine and stops swinging. Life becomes easy and now the batsman can enjoy their strokes. 

In life too, sometimes we face tough situations. It seems the end of the world for us. But with a mind of steel, patience as our virtue, confidence of getting over the crisis, if we hold long enough, the tide soon gets over and everything becomes nice and rosy!

Let’s believe, it’s not the end but only a bend! 

Next turn might be the top of the mountain, next ball might loose its shine and stop swinging, the chirping of the birds will again be heard to relish!

Above Comfort Zone!

We are fascinated by people working outside their comfort zone. These are a different breed of people. Always enthusiastic, react to new ideas with an open mind, have an eye towards the future, courageous. 

If 90% of people work within their comfort zones then  there are these select 10% who work outside theirs. 

But what about those rarest of rare who not only work outside their comfort zones but above it.

As we have in Mathematics X, Y and Z planes, these are one among lakhs who work in a plane much above the rest. 

Their Destination is the only thing they know about their work. All the others,  like path towards their destination, method of work, their team,  everything they discover as they move along the path!

Who are they?

Alexander the Great!

Christopher Columbus!

Shivaji Maharaj!

Mahatma Gandhi! 

Abdul Kalam! 

---- and others!

Each one of the above knew only about their Destination..... and nothing else!

What are their Anchors?

Love...... Courage..... Peace!

How is their method of working?

Idea.... Research.... Plan..... Execution!

Their method towards their path?

A committed team,

A Culture in the team,

Perseverance, come what may,

A single point Agenda. 

When these people achieve their goals we are left flabbergasted!

In the final analysis, we conclude that He has chosen our Heroes to come into this world at the right time, at the right place and in the right situation. 

It's not always that someone comes with an idea to create a dent in the Universe! 

Speak, I will

Business requires you to visit all sorts of places. For renewal of Police License I frequent the Police Commissioner's office,  once in 3 years. 

On one such visit it was a rainy day.Parking is a big issue always and on that day it appeared that the whole city's vehicle were parked at that location. Parking a long distance away I started to walk towards my destination. 

The climate was beautiful and I was enjoying the slight drizzle. A little distance away from the building I saw a huge crowd gathered on the streets. They had occupied the whole area and from far it was clear that some strike against the authorities was the agenda. 

As I neared the crowd, I found something odd going on. My eyes could see before me a crowd of almost a thousand gathered in the narrow lane but...... but, my ears could hear almost nothing! 

How is this possible?

As I neared them....... the picture became more and more clear. The gathered people were 'talking' with frantic hand, eye and lip movement, but still no voice heard! It was a gathering of more than 1000 deaf and dumb people! 

As I passed through the crowd there were goose bumps all over me! Just couldn't handle the whole scene around. 

From the displayed boards I came to know that these people had gathered to protest against the government because the authorities had withdrawn some basic rights that the deaf and dumb community were enjoying all these years. People had come from all over the state. Some were wearing similar t-shirts which had the names of their village printed on it. 

I observed one more scene. There was a small clutter of people inside this huge gathering and a leader was addressing this group. It was a sight to see a deaf and dumb Speaker 'addressing' a deaf and dumb audience. The leader was frantically waiving his hands and giving the 'speech'. At frequent intervals he would raise his right hand and the whole audience would follow in unison and show their support by raising their hands too. 

In a state of total shock, as I moved through the crowd, I saw a group of ladies 'sharing' together, a group of senior persons and surprisingly a group of deaf and dumb eunuchs too 'discussing' together. 

It was a different world altogether. But there was no sign which reflected that they were lacking something. It is we, so called normal people, who think that they are 'disabled'. There all of them were laughing, sharing and having the time of their life. 

I finally passed through this crowd and reached the Commissioner's office. On my way back, I again walked through this amazing gathering. This time round, I was more equipped to handle the scenes around. Observed a lot, stored in my memory the scenes and moved away. 

As I reached my car, a storm of thoughts were going on inside me. After sometime as everything settled down I contemplated on the experience. 

God has blessed us with so many physical and mental abilities. If someone is lacking any one of the crucial ability we immediately sympathies on them. But is it really needed. He who has taken away something has ensured that He makes up with an additional ability which will fill the lacuna in that soul. 

Balance in some way or the other is the rule of this world!

Lemon-Chilly Solution.

 

As I see a traffic signal from far off showing green, it seems like the whole world is cooperating with me! But, amidst the traffic, as I near the signal, it turns red and now the whole world seems against me. I curse my luck. This happens only with me, always. Whenever success seems just a step away luck deserts me and I fail. Why does it happen always with me?

As I sat their, behind the wheels, a little annoyed, my patience getting tested for the next 1.5 min, I observe a familiar sight. Looking at that sight I realise it's Saturday. A lady, unkempt, knocking on my car window. She was holding a bundle of lemon and chilly, stitched together with thread. Only on Saturdays, she and her army of friends, appear with this unique product. A no moon day (आमावास्या) also gives them a bonus day to sell this product. 

Humans are superstitious. In India, these superstitions take different and huge  forms. Along with these grave implications also come their solutions. The combination of lemon and chilly is one of them. 

They say, that if 'evil eye' invades us than this lemon-chilly combination keeps it away from us and shields us from ill-fate. Some also say that 'Alaxmi' the goddess of poverty is driven away by this powerful combination. 

Experts prove and preach that for success we need to be disciplined, skillful, knowledgeable, well networked, persistent, patient, strong will-powered, and a lot more things. But, one bad look from someone who doesn't have even 1% of all the required qualities for success, can destroy all our lifelong efforts! How sad! 

So along with the mantras for attaining success we should also have the all important thing growing in our backyard, a plant of lemon and another one of chillies! 

Also, this evil eye strikes only on Saturdays or no moon day. All other days of the week the conditions are not favourable for them. Hence, we need to have a fresh set of lemons and chillies to drive those evil vibrations off, a rotten ones won't do. 

As I sat contemplating on those merchants of good luck, sweating themselves off on a hot summer day, working hard for our success, driving off the goddess of poverty, I observed a little distance away sitting on the divider, beneath the signal pole, was a little child, crying her heart out for attention. With torn clothes, malnourished, sun burnt, eyes deep inside, craving for a little food. 

Their own child is struck with poverty, ill-fate, but we believe that they have the solutions to our bad luck! 

Either these Angels of god are too generous to distribute even their share of luck to us or our belief on lemon-chilly solution is too strong! 

Sharing

 

What are the basic needs of a human?

Food

Clothes

Shelter

What else?

Should we add Oxygen and water too?

Surely. What else?

In the last some days, watching 3 Hollywood movies, 'Cast away', '127 hours' and 'Into the wild', one thing that I found which should be added to the above basic needs for us is 'SHARING'!

Yes, a simple activity of sharing. 

As I started observing people, analysing situations, studying results, it became more and more obvious. A man can live without his basic needs but not without sharing. Believe it or not!

Facebook, Whatsup, and all the other Social Media tools have one and the only reason for their success and that is sharing!

When a man succeeds, he wants to share. When he fails even than he wants to vent out his feelings and share.

When he is in love he wants to share, when he gets rejected, he wants to share.

A Buddha becomes enlightened and for the world to understand the importance of spirituality, he shares!

An artist, whatever medium he is using, whether Painting, or Acting, or Music, or Cooking, what he is basically doing through the art form is sharing!

A blind man shares. A dumb and deaf also finds some way or the other to share!

An Adam without an Eve or an Eve without an Adam is not possible because than there will be no one to share!

What is the toughest punishment meted out to a criminal? 

Hanging might end him of all his troubles. But imprisonment seems to be tougher. If the authority wants to punish more harder, what do they do? The convict is enclosed in a dark cell. Here he has clothes, shelter, food, everything but still it's horrible....why? Because he has no one to share! In this condition he may loose his mental balance too!

If I am happy, I share.

If I am sad, I share. 

..... if I want to express my feelings, my observations, my achievements, my so on and so forth, what do I do?

I write a blog!

...... and I share!

The Game of Housie

Come April and our family gets ready for our annual pilgrimage. Like most of us, my place of birth and our ancestral village are different. It's the time when we have the opportunity to touch our roots and return back. 

I always look forward to this opportunity of visiting the little village in the south coastal region of Karnataka. Our home is situated in the middle of the farms, with a well, a cowshed, et all. It's a fabulous experience. 

This year, the Puja to be performed in the village temple was a once in 12 years Event and hence our whole family, some 14 of us had gathered. 

We living in the city, with the support of mobile, televisions, computers, iPads, do not know what to do with the time when all these supports are removed. As we sat in the verandah of our village home, doing nothing, Hrishant, my 12 year old son, suddenly came up with a box from his baggage. As we grew curious about what might be 

inside this box, he opened it to reveal the game of Housie! 

As you know, this game of Housie (or Tambola) is typically played in kitty parties or when a group of ladies gather for some reason or the other. I always thought that it was a girlie game and had never attempted to be a part of it. 

Variations of Housie : The simple game of Housie  includes three lines (Top, Middle, Bottom) and two or three Full Houses. You can bring in some fun with these variations like..

 

Fastest five - One who cuts the five numbers in a ticket first.

Fastest seven - One who cuts the seven numbers in a ticket first. 

King's corner - the first number in each line (in the above ticket 5,28,6)

Queen's corner - The last number in each line (in the above ticket 80,77,82)

Four Corners - The 4 corner numbers of the ticket (in the above ticket 5, 6, 82, 80)

Lines can be called twice.

Number of Full Houses can be increased.

It typically has a Coordinator who calls out the numbers and the players who participate and test their luck.

With a recently fractured hand, I was the natural Coordinator and all other 13 were playing, children, young ones, seniors, et all. 

As I started calling out the numbers drawn randomly from a packet of numbers, comments started flowing along with some interesting cries like 'Yess', 'ohh', 'oh no', 'my god'. Jumping, clapping, laughing, teasing  as someone reached the 'first five' first, the 'Kings Corner' first, and so on.

As the game went on, I realised that, I who was conducting the game was doing the things mechanically while the participants were having the time of their life! 

Also, the fact came to light that though I was withdrawing the numbers and placing them on my card, which had all the numbers in series, unlike the players cards which had only selected numbers in their individual card, the chances of the players completing their first row, four corners, were much more than I completing them on my sheet. 

After about half an hour, the game was completed with the winners in ecstasy and the losers cursing their luck but each one of them happy. The only one sulking was me! 

As I contemplate, I compare this Event with some similar experiences in life. 

We go to a movie, enjoy it and than feel jealous of the glamorous life of the Stars and Directors of the film.

We go to a Restaurant and think how lucky are the management who can saviour the Restaurant food daily. 

We pass a Mercedes Showroom and think how the owner of the place must be riding a brand new latest model Merc each day. 

But, maybe, like the coordinator of the Housie  game, these people are more than sweating it out  in bringing the Product on our table  while it is we who enjoy the maximum out of it. 

'Uneasy lies the head which wears the crown'. 

A perfect phrase to describe the situation. While everyone thinks the King is the most luckiest person to sit at the citadel it's actually the subjects who are having the time of their life and the poor king is engaged in responsibilities!