Ezine

Sunday, May 29, 2016

Letting go off

Today, I decided to let go off old resentments, hurts and embrace life. It is such a fine feeling. It is almost a feeling of exhilaration. I reached out into the past and connected with people who had hurt me in the process I learnt to let go. I'm not forgiving as there is nothing to forgive. The people who had hurt my feelings did not care and did not ask for forgiveness. I have simply opened the chain around my heart and let feelings and emotions pour.
Trust me friends letting go is a great feeling. It is like surrendering to water ( to use an analogy from my favorite sport swimming), you are washed clean, refreshed and rejuvenated.
You reach out to life and embrace it and you are in a joyous mood. Singing and loving and ready to be loved.
When we enchain our heart with resentment we add bad cholesterol to our arteries and create blockages in our heart and when we learn to let go we breathe in fresh air and give a new supply of blood to our hearts.
Letting go is yoga, you remove all the pain and strain from your body and breathe deeply thus rejuvenating your body. All saints and visionaries advise us to let go. To love and be loved in return. If one allows one's soul to be washed clean one is ready to attain nirvana and what is nirvana but a sense of wholeness.
Letting go does this to you and more it teaches you to embrace life and in the process become one with God.

Saturday, May 28, 2016

Swimming

After a long time I swam well today. I had forgotten swimming and was sad about it. But today I recalled and went back to the time in 2002 when I used to play with children in the swimming pool in Pune. It is an exhilarating feeling and has left me very excited.
I did vigorous exercise for one hour and am feeling very refreshed.It is almost therapeutic and makes one look forward to the whole day.
I would suggest everyone who can to take up this exercise and increase their stamina. I have been going to the gym for the past two weeks and used to swim on weekends. But today I recalled how I used to swim and gained back my prowess at the exercise.
Dear friends follow an exercise regimen as it refreshes you, thrills you and sends adrenaline pumping into your nerves, An early morning swim prepares you for the whole day. Morning cuppa in peace and one hour of swim and a nutritious breakfast makes you fit for the whole day.
I can't explain in words my feelings today and would like one and all to share this feeling.
To sum it up, take up swimming if you can ( that is if you have a pool at your disposal) and enjoy a healthy life.

Friday, May 27, 2016

Responding to natural causes

Today,I read an editorial in Femina, the editor had written about how often we respond to natural causes. Do we consider the cost to pollution when we buy a new cellphone or when we buy a new car?She had further written that our efforts towards conserving the environment make a mockery of the cause of pollution.
How often do we think about the torture endured by an animal when we buy that purse made of pure leather or we buy a shoe made of leather.
It was a short editorial but it set my thoughts rolling. I wondered how wonderful would the city of Mumbai become if every time we throw a wrapper we think about the poor man or woman who cleans the trash thrown by us.
Every tree that we plant adds to the cause of environment. We should proactively consider the cause of environment and show sympathy and empathy towards our fellow human beings and also towards our fellow creatures.
Dear reader start thinking about the environment and our fellow creatures before you reach out for that expensive cellphone or that calf leather purse.
Let us all take a pledge that we will think sensitively about the environment and our fellow creatures before we reach out for that expensive shoe made of pure leather.

Sunday, May 22, 2016

XII standard results

Once again the twelfth standard results are out and a girl who scored 74% is sad because she did not do well. My dear girl, marks are a mere record of how you perform on a particular day in three hours. You may have a headache or may not be feeling particularly well. So, marks are in no way an indication of your capability.
In our school days the toppers used to get 75% to 80% and were they in any way less than today's toppers who score 98% and higher, no in fact they had deep knowledge and even those who did not score so well did well in life.
My memory takes me back into the past and I recall my twelfth standard results where I had flunked in Chemistry. I actually wrote a story to vent out my unhappiness with my bad performance in my 12th standard exams. So my failure in exams gave rise to my creativity.
One of my friend who had also scored low marks in twelfth standard is a trainer and is doing very well in life.
One of my friend an IITian and a school topper told me that Laya, marks matter in school and college days. Later on in life if you are reasonably happy with what you are doing it is okay.
I scored 70% marks in English literature but I recall nothing of what I studied and am pursuing something far away from literature.
This rat race for marks is the bane of Indian culture, we as a culture are into two extremes either we do not educate the children and marry them off early or we push children into scoring high marks and force them into careers they do not like.
We are proud of Indians who are doing well in life but were they all school and college toppers, I doubt it.
Instead of pursuing marks you should  believe in unleashing your personality and develop your talents and passion and I would like to say that let us not make headlines out of how many marks a student has scored. Let us encourage children to pursue their true passion and let us respect all professions instead of madly chasing engineering and medical.
Let us take a vow that we will not laud the scores of any student whether he has scored 90% or less. Rather we will laud those who display a hidden talent and prove their capability to the world by pursuing their passion.

Friday, May 20, 2016

Barkha Dutt at the receiving end of misogynistic remarks

Today I read that the renowned TV anchor Barkha Dutt was at the receiving end of misogynistic remarks. It is a shame as the lady is dignified, intelligent, outspoken and does not warrant such vilification. Indians should hang their heads in shame as they can't tolerate an independent woman who speaks for various causes.
Most people feel that it is lack of education that is the root cause of such activities but believe me it is the Indian mindset that cannot see a woman who is living life on her own terms happy. I recall the remarks made by a colleague of mine on girls who are ready for the casting couch to further their careers as somebody who is giving her everything. While I agree that it is not right to use the casting couch to further one's career it also should not amount to giving one's everything. The vagina is an organ like any other and should not be treated as a place of worship.
It reflects a person's frustration and nothing else when he/she resorts to personal abuse to express their opinion.
I'm sure Barkha Dutt has not paid no heed to such remarks but I feel sad that our nation is not progressing from the level of vilification to vent out frustration.

Monday, May 16, 2016

Life is a mystery

Life is a mystery
seeped in history
full of curious moments,
The moments both joyous and sad
decide what the learning curve of life will be.
Will it be an upward incline showing progress and growth or
a downward decline showing sinking into the depths.
If I were to draw a graph of my life it would be a rise in terms of progress as
well as decline showing moments of doubt and grief.
My life is a mixed bag and I wonder how the graph of lucky and successful people would be
However the unfathomable mystery of life
continues to fascinate me.

An incident from school days

This particular incident took place when I was in the 6th grade. Our SST teacher, Mr. Verma had assigned our class a project. He asked us to make maps of several countries. We all made our projects and submitted it. One student of our class, Lata made a beautiful project. It was hard to imagine how a child of 6th grade could make such beautiful diagrams, but then some people are gifted. I believed that she had made it herself and also wanted to emulate her.
Our teacher also believed that she had made it herself and gave her a score of ten on ten, However one student in our class couldn't digest the fact that one of his classmates had made such a beautiful project. He went to our teacher and told him that Lata had not drawn the diagrams and her father who was a draughtsman in Air force had done the project work for his daughter.
Now, our teacher was in a fix. He had assigned a score of ten on ten to the girl and when questioned, Lata swore that she had made it herself. She even began crying to prove the veracity of her statement. Our teacher told her to draw the maps in front of him. The girl could not do so. She said that in her home she could draw the diagrams as there was space and it was peaceful. In class she couldn't do it as there was disturbance. Maybe she was telling the truth or maybe she was lying, however our teacher changed her scores and gave her lower scores. To this day I remember the incident as it had left a deep impact on me and I had believed that Lata had drawn the diagrams herself.  I Don't know what the truth was and to this day wonder whether the girl had made the project herself or her father had helped her. More stories of my impressionable years in my blog later...