The Way of the Bow

I was thrilled today to find out that Paulo Coelho is sharing some of his best creations on the web ! All for free for his readers and those interesed to read it... What a way to reach out to the masses and soothe their spirit with his balmy writings... I have just started reading the book "The Way of the Bow" and am compelled to share with all of you the following section...

The dialogue is between a master archer and his disciple on the early advice of the former to the later about the art of archery... The dialogue, as in all other Paulo's writing is more symbolical than real.. yet something which can be identified by anybody anywhere...

"The archer who does not share with others the joy of the bow and the arrow will never know his own qualities and defects.

Therefore, before you begin anything, seek out your allies, people who are interested in what you are doing. I'm not saying 'seek out other archers'. I'm saying: find people with other skills, because the way of the bow is no different from any other path that is followed with enthusiasm.

Your allies will not necessarily be the kind of dazzling people to whom everyone looks up and of whom they say: 'There's none better.' On the contrary, they are people who are not afraid of making mistakes and who do, therefore, make mistakes, which is why their work often goes unrecognised. Yet they are just the kind of people who transform the world and, after many mistakes, manage to do something that can make a real difference in their community.

They are people who can't bear to sit around waiting for things to happen in order to decide which attitude to adopt; they decide as they act, well aware that this could prove highly dangerous. Living with such people is important for an archer because he needs to realise that before he faces the target, he must first feel free enough to change direction as he brings the bow up to his chest. When he opens his hand and releases the string, he should say to himself: 'As I was drawing the bow, I travelled a long road. Now I release this arrow knowing that I took the necessary risks and gave of my best.'

The best allies are those who do not think like everyone else. That is why when you seek companions with whom you can share your enthusiasm for archery, trust your intuition and pay no attention to what anyone else may say. People always judge others by taking as a model their own limitations, and other people's opinions are often full of prejudice and fear.

Join with all those who experiment, take risks, fall, get hurt and then take more risks. Stay away from those who affirm truths, who criticise those who do not think like them, people who have never once taken a step unless they were sure they would be respected for doing so, and who prefer certainties to doubts.

Join with those who are open and not afraid to be vulnerable: they understand that people can only improve once they start looking at what their fellows are doing, not in order to judge them, but to admire them for their dedication and courage. You might think that archery would be of no interest to, say, a baker or a farmer, but I can assure you that they will introduce whatever they see into what they do. You will do the same: you will learn from the good baker how to use your hands and how to get the right mix of ingredients. You will learn from the farmer to have patience, to work hard, to respect the seasons and not to curse the storms, because it would be a waste of time.

Join with those who are as flexible as the wood of your bow and who understand the signs along the way. They are people who do not hesitate to change direction when they encounter some insuperable barrier, or when they see a better opportunity. They have the qualities of water: flowing around rocks, adapting to the course of the river, sometimes forming into a lake until the hollow fills to overflowing, and they can continue on their way, because water never forgets that the sea is its destiny and that sooner or later it must be reached. Join with those who have never said: 'Right, that's it, I'm going no further,' because as sure as spring follows winter, nothing ever ends; after achieving your objective, you must start again, always using everything you have learned on the way.

Join with those who sing, tell stories, take pleasure in life, and have joy in their eyes, because joy is contagious and can prevent others from becoming paralysed by depression, loneliness and difficulties. Join with those who do their work with enthusiasm, and because you could be as useful to them as they are to you, try to understand their tools too and how their skills could be improved.

The time has come, therefore, to meet your bow, your arrow, your target and your way."

Vande Mataram

Recently the fatwa (or a decree as it is called) issued by a body of 'Muslim' clergy making it somehow mandatory for the Muslims not to recite Vande Mataram has evoked mixed responses from all across.

Religious clerics as like politicians (the line gets blurred here as both these clans have so much in common irrespective of the group they belong to) love to brew such heady concoction which will ultimately lead to a national frenzy and result in the ultimate spot light shifting to them... These attention grabbers and seekers of cheap popularity forget that this could have been something which may have been a remote possibility in the 70s or 80s... But since then things have changed quite a lot in post liberalisation India... Now it is not the single message of the imam of a particular mosque (asking Muslim to vote for a particular party) which significantly sways the fortune of the party and ushers them in to power... The Muslim of present day have seen through the deceit and cunning game enough to be again lured in to such tactics...

Vande Mataram is a patriotic song which swung the nation in to patriotic fervour and led to the ultimate freedom of the Nation... It has its value in the history of the nation as much as the sacrifice of numerous patriotic Muslims who have laid down their lives for the sake of the motherland... Besides being a free and democratic country as ours, there is no compulsion or coercion on us to sing or not to sing a particular song.. For that matter we are so liberal that we are naturally not shocked at people who do not rise up on their feet for the national anthem too... (most of the time I have been laughed at for standing up for the national anthem even if it is on the T.V)...

However, the larger point here is : have the mullahs ( and it applies to all fundamentalists from all religions) ever issued a fatwa against pressing issues like health, education, livelihood, sanitation, housing and women empowerment.. I need not go on quoting statistics to underline the fact that one of the most backward group currently in this country are the Muslims...The major reason being the fact that these innocent people fall victim to the mullah.. starting from education to the type of health care they should seek out and the way they should live... Everything is dictated by the Mullahs in one form or the other...This very fact has been played to the hilt by our opportunistic politicians who are hand in gloves with these clergies and promise the earth to these poor Innocent people to romp all the way to power... All the promises fades to the background after the win and this section of the society is relegated to the background... The anger and frustration of poverty and helplessness of the people then becomes a favourable breeding ground for malice like anti social activities, crime and young men lured by vested interest in to activities of terrorism... Has any mullah taken cognisance of these facts and issued fatwa against them... How many Mullah have issued fatwa against Muslim household not sending their children for formal education, or marrying their daughter before the legal age or issued fatwa against household for not maintaining sanitation and hygiene...The answer is a resounding NO...

Muslim have been an integral part of the country since time unknown and have contributed to the process of nation building shoulder to shoulder with their fellow countrymen.. They are also a section which sadly lags behind others in term of overall development till date.. The time has come for the government to take cognisance of the fact that these issues can not be allowed to fester and left unaddressed.. Otherwise we may be troubled by problems which will be basically ghost of our past mistakes... Let us learn from the mistakes of mammoth proportion committed by the Big Brother in the West and neither take part nor be a silent spectator to the marginalisation and coercion of a community so much so that they fall easy prey to vested interest and go on a war which seeks to annihiliate the very humankind...

Muslim community simultaneously has to wake up and recognise the fact that the mullahs and vested interests wants anything but their welfare and decide that it is high time that they take the matter of their own development in to their own hand and walk quickly to be at par with the rapid stride of our nation with others...

Somebody aptly told me long time back a phrase which translates in to:

Islam was created by Allah but is deformed by Mullah (clergy)

Well this may not be the whole truth but then it is an indication of what the truth may be like...

Let my country awake....