It's wry

I really don't know if this is just coincidence or déjà vu but just the day after I posted my blog on 'Its Give and Take' I was flicking channels last night and the movie 'Evan Almight' just caught my attention and there is this scene when there is a dialogue between the God and Evan Baxter in the movie: "How do we change the world ? "

God : "One Act of Random Kindness at the time..." A R C

Smiles...

Cheers!!!

Its Give and Take

When you are born you come empty handed into this world but when you die you can die rich and the best part is that you can carry along with you your hard earned accumulations which you have worked for throughout your life.

Yes, isn’t it surprising?

I know it’s too good to believe. Your reaction might be one of these ‘HOLY Cow……..are you serious'…..'So what’s the catch huh’….'There ain’t any free lunches mate…what’s the deal'……..'How can I cut my cake and eat it too’………'So what’s the trick behind this’…….'So what do I have to do in return’….These are a couple of queries you might have once you know you actually have the power to carry your accumulations.

Here is a story of a lady who is around 60 and has lived a good life. Lets just say that she is in the semi conscious state and is living her last few minutes and God himself glides down to the earth to make sure her soul has a leisurely and comfortable journey to heaven (We need our comforts boss……..whether we are alive or dead) and God is assembling our checklist on what needs to be carried along with our soul and we are all set and ready with our list.

Here is an excerpt of a conversation between the 60 yr old lady and God….

Lady : “Money : Black, white or any other colour we don’t mind, under table, above the table, in the pockets or in the underwear, in boxes, banks, cans, tins, stuffed in old shoes, in commodes, uhmmmm in the secret box which is hidden behind the grandpa’s photo frame, clandestine library chamber like the one they have in movies, a pooja room which is actually a store room to store money, below the Lakshmiji’s sculpture and uhhhhhhhhh actually everywhere around, in and out in the house will do. It’s a huge list you understand ….Right.”

Silence for two seconds…..then it begins again

Lady: “Property: My property consists of (Small little houses. You know right…..The Hill Road one, carter road , uhhu Malbar Hill, I think we picked up in Panvel too…..Uhmm do farmhouses also come under the category of ‘House’???? Sotto voice (the ones outside India will also be included right…that’s bought with hard earned cash too) OH My God! There I forgot about our offices (you know where we work really hard, where all our sweat, tears and blood is included).Lets see ….I guess you might have a list yourself right…You know kind of database on humans…So that should help you. We will take the whole lot of it… (Smiles)”

Rattles on without a pause

“Jewellery : My Kundan neck piece, my great-great-great-great grandmother’s pearl is a must. It’s sentimental. It’s has traditional value kind off then all my neck pieces with Diamonds, Ruby, Gold, Silver, Platinum, Emerald, Sapphire, Moonstones, Amber. Opal, Topaz. Uhhhhhh…then”

GOD: “UGGGGGGHHHHHHHH uhhhhhhh Lady I get the point, I will look into my little black diary….uhhhhh the human database one….Will take all the details. Not to worry”<>

Lady: “OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG”

“How can I forget, How can I forget…..Holy Cow…………This one is really important….
C-L-O-T-H-E-S ……You know, there is Armani, Benetton, Chanel, Christian Dior, DKNY, D&G, Ed Hardy, Gianna Versace, next…..”

GOD: Waving his hand frantically at the lady….”.uhhhhhhh got it again. All the designers under the English alphabet from A to Z …. I have the black book….database…remember…..got it all”.

GOD: “Is that all? Time to go”.

Lady: “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO………..that’s not even the beginning. You know there is Bags -day time, afternoon, evening and for night outs, with different colours, style, fabrics and sizes. Then there are Shoes you know like day, night, matching Indian outfits or westerner wear there are many varieties as in Mojris, gladiator kind, heels with 1, 2 , 3, 4, 5 inches, sneakers, casual, stilettos, peep-toes, slips on, oshos and uhh you can refer to black diary……..Now Accessories ……….”

Yawn,Yawn. Snore, Snore………..

The list is never ending here.

Now this is not what I am talking about here when I say you can carry along with your hard earned accumulation which you have worked for throughout your life after you die.

I say it’s what one gives back to this world is what one carries with him.

And that according to me is contentment/ tranquil satisfaction of giving back something to this world. It may not be necessary to give it only to your loved and dear ones. There are many people who could do with a small helping hand. It can be a simple smile, understanding, a shoulder to cry or lean on, children who are orphans, an ear to listen to their woes and difficulties of aged parents who are left alone in this world to fight their battles in old age homes, a helping hand to hold those who cant stand on their feet, food to fill those empty stomachs who haven’t had meals since days, clothes to cover their body since they too need it to protect themselves from heat, rain and cold, chapals to cover their feet from cigarettes burns, heat and rains, medicines to those who are battling with illness, funding books, pencils, pens, school uniforms, slates and stationery's to those who want be counted among being literate, just plain understanding and love to the disabled or under developed children and many small gestures from your end can definitely earn you contentment which no money, property, jewellary or clothes can buy you.

When I say small, it can start with a simple smile and understanding on ones part. It can always be in the form of volunteering at old age homes, orphanages, hospices, schools for under developed kids etc and if you are earning you can always contribute according to ones power. It’s not necessary that everyone has to donate a huge sum but even a sum of Rs XX saved every month can make a difference to people who are not as fortunate as we are. When I say contribute it can be in any form of donating money, clothes, household items, one’s time to spend with them, second hand useable items, food, medicines etc….. (People might find this paragraph a bit or lot preachy……but I just could not edit it and no I am not a saint or a priest or hypocrite person nor is this an exaggerate version with little masala)

But all of this giving needs to be done because you believe in yourself and your actions and because you want to do it. Its not a social compulsion, it’s not because you want a better life after you die, because you believe in Moksh or Karma, or believe in ‘What goes around comes around’ nor is it a social necessity or obligations.

If you can’t do any do any of these or just don’t think you feel enough to do it then it’s completely fine. Seriously, you don’t need to justify your decision or action to anybody. It’s your decision and if you don’t feel for it then I strongly believe that you shouldn't do what you don’t believe in.

You should do it out of love and because you want to make a difference to the place where you live. When one does contribute it does not matter whether it’s big or small, what matters is that your participation or you’re attempt will make someone smile and live a better life.

When I say this I don’t mean we give up our clothes, food, money, property or other materialistic assets to people. I do not mean we give up on our social life and live like saints in Himalayas with just two piece of cloth, rudraksh mala all around your body and with little or more charas or ganja in and all over you (that’s what is always depicted in Bollywood films).

No we are humans and we do need basic requirements and some of us do need our comfort and leisure life and there is nothing wrong with it. I don’t say it’s wrong to own a property in Venice or Dharavi, nor do I say we don’t need Armani or Biba; I need Jimmy Choo shoes and Oshos from Bandra Linking road.

All I am saying is that when you respect someone they respect you back. When you love someone they love you back and when you smile at someone they smile right back at you.

It’s a give and take relationship here.

“If love does not know how to give and take without restrictions, it is not love, but a transaction that never fails to lay stress on a plus and a minus.”

All of us are blessed with our set of fortunes here but some might have more and some less and some are empty. We just need to fill in drop by drop to make it an ocean and fill in those empty ones.

You shall ask
What good are dead leaves
And i will tell you
They nourish the sore earth.
You shall ask
What reason is there for winter
And I will tell you
To bring about new leaves
You shall ask
Why are the leaves so green
And I will tell you
Because they are rich with life
You shall ask
Why must summer end
And I will tell you
So that the leaves can die
--needs reference, coming soon!


Cheers!!!

Choice

One does not know whether the word ‘Choice’ is a camouflage in our daily life.

I think it’s a camouflage.

When I hear the word choice the first thing that comes in my mind is a saying *All that glitters is not gold*

“All that glisters is not gold;
Often have you heard that told:
Many a man his life hath sold.
But my outside to behold:
Gilded tombs do worms enfold.
Had you been as wise as bold,
Young in limbs, in judgement old
Your answer had not been inscroll'd
Fare you well, your suit is cold.”
(Act II - Scene VII - Prince of Morocco, William Shakespeare’s)

According to Oxford dictionary choice means *act of choosing*, but do we actually make choices in our life. Isn’t everything in our life pre-determined…from the minute we were conceived till the day we die? We don’t have a choice on what date, month or where we are born, we don’t have a choice about what we eat when we are 6 months old, we don’t have a choice on which pre-school we want to go to, we don’t have a say in which school we want to join in.

Now many people will not agree with this. I know that as we grow up we will have choices (but are they really choices??? One is a good way which is a long hard trip and the other is a shortcut which might be smooth but there is no contentment) so we actually don’t have a choice though it might seem like we have two options.

After schooling as we become adults and are entering colleges, we have our own thinking process and freedom of speech so can call all the shots as to which course we want to join in but over here too we don’t really have a choice. {We may be interested in studying literature, history, math and chemistry…but we are forced to follow the diktats of our Education Dept. which gives us a list of predetermined courses…which are the only one’s conducted in our Universities….so not much choice there also}. We might take up science option so that we can be an Engineer which will earn us our daily bread and butter after five years ( you need to start thinking after 10th standard only what you want to be in life because you have to go through millions of exams, different courses, training, specialization etc…the list is never ending) though what we are really interested in is taking writing as our career but which rather becomes the *other* women in our life and takes in second priority though we might be really passionate and good at what we do but we need to be in this rat race of earning one million per month as our salary and need to show to the world that I am a very powerful man/women. And when we are feeling happy about ourselves that we have made the choice by ourselves…how many of us can honestly say that their choice was not influenced by what the society considers to be a respectable career option and what your family and peers expect from you…So not much of a choice if you ask me since so many factions have to appeased while making one the decision.

Marriage and Kids also do not offer choice. People might argue that no we have a choice of saying ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ to a guy or a girl. But I say it has already been decided before you make your decision.

How we die also is already planned. We can’t choose in what manner we want to die. It’s already decided. It can be through infections, accident, heart attack or you might just live to see your 100th birthday. It is not in our hands or let us say we have no say on how we die. Even suicides according to me are pre-determined action and are not out of choice.

I would say we *compromise* in our life. Very few people actually make *choices* in life and they do make decisions whether the decision is approved by ones parents, wife, kids, society, colleagues, boss, world or the society one lives in. They make choices for themselves because they know it is once in a lifetime you get this opportunity to live for yourself and not for others. You live once and you die once in a lifetime is the motto of people who makes choices.

It takes every single cell in our body to make 'Choice' and most importantly to live every single second with our ‘Choice’ without any regrets.

*Here I would like to thank Mals who sprinkled in all the right spices to make this a perfecto appetizer*

Cheers!!!

Inquisitive mind I tell you….

• Hello people, today what I need to discuss with you guys is about various questions that’s needs a bit of explanation here. I have been interacting with a friend who is Mr-Know-it-all. I have been shooting question at him to enlighten my brain on various terms and concepts and I must confess its refreshing to actually see and hear my brain churning (the brains parts were bit rusty since C was on holiday it did not have too much work to do).
  
  Now Mr-Know-it-all was kind enough to help me out. He suggested that I should read this Non-Fiction (I am not a fan of Non-Fiction books) but I thought what the freak let me try this one. Its not going to kill me (If it does I will just shut the book) so I started reading God’s Debris-A thought experiment by Scott Adams. It was a good read though I will be frank and honest that some part of the paragraphs or pages did go bouncers (totally over my head….Zoom…Zoom.) but I did actually enjoy some section in the book. After all that reading I did have couple of questions. Mr-Know-it-all did answer most of my questions (He had to because I wasn’t hanging up on him until he further blessed me with his insight. Will catch hold of him soon to answer the rest)
  
  These were my Questions:
  
  What is déjà vu?
  
  What is Reincarnation?
  
  Does Karma work? ( As in what goes around, comes around or What you sow is what you reap kind of thing)
  
  Is there actually Right and Wrong in this world?
  
  How does the concept ‘Forgive & Forget’ work? Does it actually work also ( I have my doubts)
  
  
  But I would like to know more from different perspectives. As in does human being (the animal with the brain) have the same wave length as other human on certain concepts.
  
  Let me know if do come across the ‘Eureka’ moment for these above questions. Mankind or just me would be grateful if these above questions are answered as to it will solve all our problems.
  
  
  Cheers!!!