God’s Grimace

Disclaimer: This article is not against any God or Religion but is against Human behaviour. Any resemblance with a particular God, Religion or Place of worship is purely coincidental.

It’s a Sunday Morning. You wake up early and decide to pay homage to your favourite God (Yes, in a country where there are so many Gods and Goddesses you do to have your favourite one, don’t you?)
You board the train which is jam-packed (Alas! Sunday isn’t a holiday for local trains) and travel for almost an hour.
You reach the place of worship to find an incessant queue of devotees. Soon you too become one of them.
You are piously waiting in the queue with your hands joined and eyes closed when a sound falls on your ears “एक आदमी का पचास रूपया”...
You don’t need an interpreter to tell you that they want you to pay money so that you can pay respect to your Lord.
A righteous self tells you to withdraw and join that queue where they aren’t charging. But it’s too late, you have already reached the cash counter, and you end up paying.
It takes a few more ‘crowded’ minutes before you enter the main hall of the Lord. But where is He? You can’t find Him. Many heads are creating a hindrance between you and Him.
Finally, your Eyes meet His. Hardly had you started praying when you find His eyes grim. Confused, you stare at Him, and the Lord begins to talk to you...
“Welcome son. Good to see you here. So, paid 50 bucks to see me?”
Ashamed, you lower your eyes. You don’t respond.
“It was I who created you, gave you an ability to think, and out of this thinking you could invent the concept called ‘Trade’.” The Lord continued.
You are confused but are eagerly listening.
“And today you have put me, your own creator on Sale.”
You have no words. You are still listening, gaze lowered even more now.
“I am omnipresent. But still you come here, pay money to see me, and then you offer me a plethora of things. Do you really think that this barter is going to work? I can see everything, good, bad and ugly, and your future is a consequence of your deeds in the past and the present. That is your Karma. Your money and other offerings simply don’t please me.”
You feel like apologizing, but before you could utter a word, a human voice hits your ears,
“यह कब से यहाँ खड़ा है, निकालो इसे बाहर”, one security personnel instructed another.

There resides a Super Hero in You

You board the train to travel to your native town for the festival of Diwali.

The train is running full house. You can see people waiting for the Ticket Checker with their 'Waiting' Tickets.

With a confirmed ticket in your wallet, you consider yourself lucky.

No sooner did you complete the ticket checking formalities and hit your berth for a good night sleep than you catch a glimpse of a kid.

He must be 3 years old and is notorious. He is sharing the berth with his mother.

Making you nostalgic, He reminds you of those days when you too were of his age and used to share the berth with your mother.

As a kid you never slept alone on the berth. You always feared that you will fall down.

Years went by and you grew up. From school to college and from college to office things happened.

At times you succeeded and at times you failed.

But somewhere at the back of your mind the fear still persists- the fear that you will fall down in Life.

You are lost in this reverie when the kid approaches you and startles you with his innocent question,

"Uncle, are you छोटा भीम?"

You don't know how to respond. You simply smile.

No matter how kiddish a questiom, your thoughts gather and revolt,

If a kid can fantasize the super hero in you why can't you identify him. Why do you live in a constant fear?

They say, Kids are Avatars of God Himself. Unknowingly this kid too, alike God enlightens your mind.

There resides a Super Hero in each one of you. Finding him and using his powers to its fullest is the need of the day.

This Diwali, let's unleash the Super Hero within. Come let's give up the fear and pave the way for courage.

Here's wishing you a Happy and a determined Diwali...

Let there be Light...

Being Winner...

This is an era of competition. No sooner a child is born than he finds himself competing with fellow children of his generation in every walk of life.

As parents become managers of this competition, it starts with enrolling the kids in a good school. When parents of children of our generation had an option of a Vernacular medium or an English Medium school, parents today choose a school from a wide variety of options starting from a State Board school to an International board school. Not to mention this selection of school largely depends upon the financial well being of the parents.

And as they start their schooling, parents starts conversating with their kids in English, it really doesn't matter to them about how adept they themselves are with this foreign languague. Good, bad or ugly, they talk to their kids in English only believing that more and more practice will make their kids well versed in English.

Well it doesn't stop here as going to a good school and talking in English are just the basic necessities. Parents want their kids to be all rounders. Being so, children are burdened up with additional load of a plethora of coaching from cricket to swimming, from painting to Karate and what not. When an all round development of kids is a need of the day, a closer look reveals that this desire for all round development comes from a mob mentality. "Since Mr. Sharma's son is a swimmer, I feel my son should be a swimmer too... Since Mrs. Gupta enrolled her daughter for a Karate training, I too followed the suit." Comparison begins.

With comparison there begins a race. And parents, they want their kid to be a winner, an absolute winner. Everyone wants to be a no.1 as a no.2 is actually good for nothing.

And when you are running a race, you either win or you lose. When winning gives you confidence, losing gives you complex. When complex shatters the self confidence, too much of winning gives rise to over confidence which ultimately makes way for Arrogance.

Coming to the scene...

As you happen to play with these kids from an age group of 5 to 12, you find this girl who is most probably the eldest of the lot. You approach her enquiring few details about her, she replies in a tone which is nothing but rude. You don't bother thinking She is just a kid. You move on enquiring about other kids and there too the eldest one pokes her nose, her rudeness crossing all her limits. Offended you go away from the scene.

As you seek information about this rude kid, you come to know that she happens to be an all round winner in whatever She does at Her school. But does her behaviour really reflect those qualities?

Dear Parents, please understand winning doesn't always come from being a numero uno. If you really want to make your kids winners then,

Teach them their mother toungue, English will be taken care by schools. Still you want them to excel in English, give them books thus cultivating in them a hobby of reading.

Teach them values and culture which are Indian.

Teach them how to respect their elders.

Teach them a lesson of equality.

Teach them benevolence.

Teach them that it's not always about winning and failures too are important in order to grow.

Teach them comparison not with others but with their own self.

Most importantly, teach them humanity and a winner will itself emerge out from this human.

#Dedicated to all Parents.