Warrior of light

Another pearl of wisdom from Paulo Coelho in his regular updates "Warrior of Light" of which I get a mailed update.

Word such as Paulo's is what keeps me focused and inspired. This inspiration is with a believe that whatever I am doing and the way I am doing it helps me grow as a person and learn from my victories and failings.

Here is the excerpt from the great man's thought....

"The Warrior of Light is always trying to improve...

Each blow of his sword carries with it centuries of wisdom and meditation. Each blow has to have the force and the skill of all the warriors of the past, who still continue to bless the combat. Each movement of the fight honors the movements that previous generations have tried to transmit through tradition.

The Warrior of Light enhances the beauty of his blows. Although he behaves like a child.

People are shocked, because they forget that children need to enjoy themselves, play, be a little irreverent, ask inconvenient and immature questions, say silly things.

And they ask, horrified: "And this is the spiritual path? He isn’t even mature!”

The warrior feels proud at that comment. He keeps in contact with God through his innocence and joy, and acts in this way because at the beginning of his fight he affirms to himself:

“I have dreams.”

After some years he realizes that it is possible to reach where he wants to go. He knows that he will be rewarded.

At that moment the great joy that filled his heart disappears. Because on his travels he has discovered the unhappiness of others, the loneliness and frustrations that afflict so many people. The Warrior of Light then feels that he does not deserve what he is to receive.

When he learns to handle his sword, he discovers that his equipment has to be complete – and that includes armor.

He goes out to look for armor and hears what some vendors propose to him.

"Wear the breast-plate of solitude," says one.

"Wear the shield of cynicism," answers another.

"The best armor is not to get involved in anything," suggests a third.

The warrior, however, does not listen to them. He goes serenely to his sacred place and dons the indestructible cloak of faith.

Faith softens all blows. Faith changes poison into crystal-clear water.

His angel whispers to him: "Yield everything." The warrior kneels down and offers his victories to God.

This deliverance obliges the warrior to stop asking silly questions and helps him to overcome his feeling of guilt.

And if, even so, he still feels unworthy of his reward, a Warrior of Light always has a second chance in life.

Like all other men and women, he was not born knowing how to handle his sword. He makes many a mistake before discovering his Personal Legend.

No man or woman can sit down in front of the fire and tell the others: "I have always acted properly." Those who claim this are lying and have not yet learned to know themselves. The true Warrior of Light has already committed injustice in the past.

But during his journeys he realizes that the people to whom he has acted unjustly always cross his path again.

That is why the Warrior of Light has the impression of living two lives at the same time. In one of them he is obliged to do everything that he does not want to do, fighting for ideas that he does not believe in. But there is another life, one that he discovers in his dreams, readings, and meeting people who think like he does.

The warrior lets both lives draw close to one another."

"There is a bridge that connects what I do with what I would like to do," he thinks. Little by little his dreams take over his routine, until he realizes that he is ready for what he has always wanted.

So, a little bit of daring is enough to transform the two lives into just one.

This is his chance to undo the bad that he caused. A chance that he always seizes without any hesitation.

A decade past and a decade to look forward to

The 1st decade of Y2K has come and gone. I still remember the hype and hoopla that Y2K brought on its wake... The whispered conspiracy of the invisible hand hijacking the entire Internet highway with the Y2K bug... or the forecast of Doomsday with the advent of the year 2000... I think all the forecast, foreboding and misgiving was proved to be yet another mild tremor threatening to derail normal life in the long history of mankind...

The last 10 years have been eventful in the history of the world, more so in the case of India and more so for me individually...

The last 10 years has seen the world come more closer due to information and technology and the axiom of Global Village has never been truer than at present... where distances have been compressed in to kilo and megabytes of data flying through the information super highway at the speed of light... bringing lives closer... making sharing of joy as easy as a click of a mouse or a button... never ever man has felt so close and so loved as in the last decade.. it was also a decade which stirred the fear of self and that of others in man.. as terrorism raised its ugly head and manifested itself with all its fury globally... people huddled close to each other and those affected leaned on shoulders of strangers to cry on and trusting them to provide them succor... bringing home the truth that there is none bigger a religion than humanity and none better unifier than human empathy and love for each other... we have learnt to be patient, empathetic, willing to understand each other and the individual perspective... all along willing to prove to the minority of those who nurture hatred the fact that its love, compassion and understanding which sways the majority of humanity which indeed shall ensure the survival of human being as a race...

Closer home, India as a country matured and graduated gradually to claim its rightful position in the league of nations.... its maturity as a democracy and a secular country has been phenomenal in the last one decade where the silent billion have again proved to the world that it has the capability, the resilience as well the will power to hold itself together as a country which was written off time and again by all and sundry as the most unlikelihood in the concept of a nation... but time and again the nation as a whole has risen to the challenge and proved why this glorious country continues to exist since time immemorial in the face of such adverse force and circumstances which it faces from time to time.. as a nation in the last one decade we have not only been able to consolidate our economic growth but also we were able to redefine the extent of equity in the shared wealth of a nation more emphatically.... we saw our political geography and context undergoing a paradigm shift and a nation opting people as leaders on criteria which was purely based on performance and the ability to deliver setting aside narrow consideration of caste, religion, regionality etc aside... we also saw our political leaders more candid and forthcoming in admitting to their failings and willing to reform... true the transition has not been perfect or ideal but augurs well for the time to come when we will hopefully have a clean political system...

On the personal front too I saw myself transition from a world of fixed opinions, narrow perspective and possibilities to one of wider opinions, empathetic perspective and an energy which saw a wider array of possibility that I can do with my life and in the process the improvement I can bring in the lives of others... Post TISS I developed the habit of listening and empathising along with the habit of understanding others perspective and context before jumping to any conclusion... I also see a paradigm shift in the overall development of various people skills in me as I reached out to people from various walks of life and worked with them with ease and comfort ensuring result oriented outcomes... I realised that it is still possible to be good and finish first and also the fact that we do not need to step on people on our climb up the ladder... As I achieved satisfaction at professional front, I was blessed at the personal front in providence helping me to find a life partner who is not only caring, understanding and lovable; but also finding in her a soul mate who is a true companion in the journey of my life...

As we at a global, national and personal level look forward to the next decade with hopes and aspiration, we must remember that it is the indefatigable nature of human spirit combined with a spirit of compassion, understanding and love which will keep us all going in years, decades, centuries and millenia to come..

For Oceans Rise, Cities Fall but Hope Survives.......

E.Q versus I.Q

I am currently reading a book by Daniel Goleman titled ' Emotional Intelligence and working with Emotional Intelligence' which I picked up on my regular trip to the local Crossword stores. In hindsight I must say it was a good pick going by the few chapters that I have been able to read through... Few pages inside and I am totally hooked...

This book has a unique approach to it all and varies a lot from run of the mill books of this genre which tries to utilise mere motivational techinques in underlying the value of EQ over IQ... But this book is all different in its approach as it goes on to explain the scientific credibility of such a 'qualitative' aspect of human behaviour and attitude as EQ...

Till date, the book goes on to argue, much emphasis was given to the Intelligence level of a person (which is again measured by the well founded and proved IQ score) and people generally scoring high on the IQ scale found favour among job givers.. However, it was seen, and no wonder all of us have also seen it happen, that the most intelligent people are not the most capable or for that matter the one with qualities required to be able to work in a team and make things happen... hence to the frustration of top management these so called bright people floundered in their jobs while relatively 'mediocre' people excelled in being able to achieve success through mere Patience, hard work and team building effort... The author underlined the abilities of these people in having more of EQ than IQ which helped them survive tough situation and circumstances and come out right on top...

The author goes on to cite studies and real life incidence on how if a person is low on EQ, simple circumstances can hijack the advantage from his/her side... It goes on to explain that through evolution the development of the brain has been a 'bottom up' process i.e the spinal cord first developed, then the base of the brain and then the body of the brain and so on... primitive brain in lower animals down the phylum in the animal kingdom has shown much of the sensory and motor function being done by the spinal cord and a very primitive brain.. The author argues, based on scientific evidence, that the lower part or the base of our brain resembles close to that found in these group of animals... and rightly so, as the brain stem is, as we were taught in the med school, called medulla oblongota which was kown as the 'love centre' of the brain which processed emotional responses in man.. as these centres, like in lower animals, are attuned to either fight or take flight, on any sudden confrontation or situation, the first thing they do is to put up a fight or flee the situation.. this even before the rational brain (the centre of which is situated in the main body of the brain) has time to rationalise and take an appropriate response.. later when the person realises his/her response triggered by the 'love centre', it is too late to make amends...

It may have sounded a bit jargon ridden in the previous paragraph, but simply put it means that any response to man is first scanned by a centre which takes impulsive and irrational decision which if given some time will be processed through the rational centre and result in a more proper response...

The book also says that sometimes people find themselves in fits of anger in a given situation, where their previous experience combined with the immediacy for action, sends an emergency signal to the rational brain to stop all rationalisation and summon all energy to tackle the impending 'obstacle/danger' in hand.. at those time the rational centre in the brain also loses the ability to 'rationalise' as a state of 'emergency' has already been declared and it is 'forced' to sign up...

It is such an absorbing read that even after 9 hrs of office and 1 hr of working out at the gym, I still take some time out to read it every night...

Will keep you updated about the battle between the E.Q and I.Q... :-)

Scent of the Musk deer

I was gone home on a looooong holiday for a week.... (I know you must be laughing your head off on hearing 7 days as a loooooong holiday)... But that, alas, my friend is a reality for me as I had completely exhausted my leaves what with shuttling back and forth Bhubaneswar during the monsoon....

However, this one week was revealing to me in more ways than one... I got to do everything that i wanted to do (a la Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday).... The very 1st day I got to eat my favourite Alloo dum and dahibara - a local favourite... I got to visit old places of my childhood, slept like a log and just chilled out...

I also visited the local zoo (Nandankanan zoo) after long time... I think it was after my intermediate that I visited the zoo... my Bhanjas were agog and gaping away happily at anything that moved and was not human...

My week long break was also memorable coz I had not seen as much cartoon network and Tom and Jerry show in my entire life as my Bhanjas made us to see... I think I have seen enough to last even my kids for a life time ;)

But the most memorable thing that I will remember and cherish in my heart is the 'introduction' to a person whom I thought I knew all along but whose special character I was not able to know or able to appreciate it even till date...

He happened to be a relative of ours ( I have stopped keeping track of the lengthy spidery web of relations which binds me to infitesimal people and hence prefer to address others with the suffix Bhai, uncle, aunty etc)...

So you must be curious how I came to be 'introduced' to this Bhai of mine... It so transpired that his elder brother is married to my wife's cousin... The couple had invited us for dinner to their house.. Since their's is a joint family and all the brothers stay together, I had the chance to meet this charismatic person...

He is the youngest of all the brothers and at 45 he is still unmarried... He looks thin and sickly and has always been so due to a debilitiating asthmatic condition... I had known him to be a cheerful and jovial character who would give us children sweet and tell us all sorts of story... I also remember him for being the ever helping hand in case of any need and help...

What I did not know about him was about to be revealed to me that night...

We reached their house at about 8 in the evening and settled down to a nice conversation with the family... He usually used to be out of the house on work on ordinary days but made it a point to hang around that day so that he can meet the new Daamat ( Son in law) i.e read me ;)

Slowly slowly as I engaged with a lively discussion with him, out came the treasures of his life time... The cherished booty that he had created over the years... from the broken drawers, in the dilapidated cupboard and from the dirty cellars.. came out marching fine uniquely shaped bottles which looked like female heel shoes, baseball bat, snake, vultures etc etc... And with each of them there was a story attached.. A story of their life and a story which has been untold to the world...

As I was thinking that the collection has come to an end, out marched a note book inside which there were currency note of India from time immemorial with a pouch which had coins of historic value... all of it has been painstakingly collected by the collector from numerous sources - relatives, friends, shops, local flee market...

He also showed a rare collection of wrist watches and rare antique watch pieces some of which were pure gold...

All this he has collected all across the country, from people known and unknown to him...

When he was showing us the collection I could see the excitement in his eye... In that moment it seems that life has come to a stand still for him... As if this was the only thing that he was meant to do.. and that this is the only thing which has kept him goin in life..

He also showed photographs of him through the years on new year days when he dressed up as a fakir, or a doctor or a priest of various religion with just one message written all over his clothes and caps - glorifying the unity we have in diversity, preaching tolerance and coexistence and foremost the value of 'Humanity First' that he preaches to the world... He also makes it a point to donate blood on this day and encourages his friends to do so...

I looked at the person in awe and admiration... here is a person who has not had the best in life... but somehow his spirit is indomitable and he's attitude is so full of Sunshine... braving all the odds to collect all 'tinkers and junks' that he does with passion for which there are no takers and also which do not have a proper place to store.. showing humanity what it is to unconditionally love and have compassion for your fellow human being...

In childhood I used to hear the story of the musk deer and how it used to give out scent from its own body... All the other deer, including the musk deer itself will run all around the jungle in search of that scent unable to locate it...

As i left that night being 'introduced' to my ' musk deer', I felt an untold joy and happiness of having met a person who brought so much meaning to an ordinary life and immense joys to people around him...

My search for the scent has now ended having found my Musk Deer - at least for now....

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....

The Bucket list

Watched "The Bucket List" starring Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson. Its a sweet movie about two terminally ill cancer patient Carter Chambers (Freeman) and billionaire hospital magnate Edward Cole (Nicholson) both of whom meet in the hospital after both have been diagnosed with terminal cancer. Carter makes a "Bucket List" of things that he wants to do before he 'kicked the bucket'... This gets Edward Cole interested and he also adds his list of things that he wants to do before he dies... What ensues after that is an exciting trip of adventure and self discovery for both the men which left me half laughing, half crying...

The movie has a lingering effect on the audience in the sense that it compels you to think... 'that if it was your last day and you had umpteenth thing that needs your attention... things you always thought you could do but never could get yourself down to doing it.. the numerous thing that you wanted to say to your loved ones which has been left unsaid till now.. the piece of your mind which you always hoped to give your half sadist half paranoid boss before you kiss your job goodbye... et al et al...

Haven't all of us had such a long list of things which all of us wanted to do?

As for me its definitely a yes... So here goes my "Bucket List' of things that I would like to do (not necessarily in the same order) before providence decides to call it a day for me...

• Go on a world trip to all the scenic beauty I have seen only in pictures and experience them first hand
• Conquer my perennial fear in maths and become a maths genius
• Turn around the clock and be able to express my love to what could have been my 1st love
• To be able to experience just one golden days of my childhood if I could
• Have a villa at the top of the highest point at Mahabaleswar
• Own a black Scorpio with mind blowing music system
• Do my MPH at Johns' Hopkins (not that I can not but only if it is my last few days)
• To be known as a good human being even when I am gone

I know the list is endless but then can any body have a hold on the wishes that one can make... especially if it is your last few days of your human existence on this earth...

The best thing I liked about the movie is the conversation that Carter and Edward Cole has atop a pyramid in Egypt in which Carter says that the Egyptian have a belief that when they die and go to meet their creator they are asked 2 questions before they are admitted in to heaven:

Q.1. "Did you have joy within your life time?"
Q.2. "Did you bring joy to people within your life time?"

What a symbolic way of squeezing the entire life's existence in to 2 such simple yet loaded question... whether you got joy out of what you did and were you instrumental in bringing joys to people around you..

When I think deeply, that's what life entirely is... getting joy and giving joy.. and the foremost thing that ensures that you get joy is by giving joys to others which ensures that what you give away to others comes back to you in manifold...