Salute to all the wonderful teachers!

Nothing can be as ecstatic as seeing your budding star on the stage. It is a euphoric feeling to see him master the skills that you could not do. I was just mesmerized by the stunning performance of my son this month in the Annual Day.

He danced to the traditional tunes of a very famous Bengali song depicting immersion of Goddess Durga after nine day long festivities. The stage was shared by his classmates too who did an equally exceptional job by performing to the best of their capabilities.

That was the time when I really felt how much effort the teacher had to put to synchronize everyone’s steps, how much coordination was required amongst the peers to match with the rhythm and how receptive were the tiny tots while performing on the stage.

This really reminds me to applause the teachers’ role in our lives. They act as skilled artisans who craft the skill set of each individual, realize the hidden potential in each one of them and then groom them to demonstrate nothing but the best. The day reminded me of my childhood too.

It brought back the nostalgic memories of all those annual days in which I participated. I think we owe our teachers immense respect and should value their contribution in crafting our skills, till we breathe our last!

Do it even when afraid

Facing our fears is sometimes the hardest thing to do. Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed unless it is faced.

Some people live in their own sweet world of phobias. They are just not ready to come out of it. I wonder why? They have their small world of pre-conceived thoughts where they feel if they try to modify something, the world is going to fall flat on them. They have inhibitions to bring about a change or think of improvements in their life. At times I feel like just pulling out all these people from their safe-zone shells and show them that the world is all about improvements, modifications, betterment and above all self-satisfaction.

You cannot achieve glory overnight but at the same time you cannot tread the glorious path till the time you actively think about what change you want to see. There is no success guarantee formula that any one can give but the assurance that your soul would definitely appreciate your move is always there.

Many of you will also have to make some sacrifices in choosing the righteous path, many of you would also have to welcome various pressures and many would also be pulled into the social stigma of being the undesirably rebellious entity but, your first step is the step of strong unwavering determination to accomplish what you've always wanted.

The next step is to be associated with your dream religiously. Then comes the stage when you have to make sure that nothing can alter your decision and your willingness to bring about the change you want to see. You've to overcome your phobias. You have to be absolutely sure to focus on your goal.

It is then when you'll achieve your goals, you'll accomplish your dreams and see the change in yourself. You'll emerge as a strong personality who knows how to tread the righteous path of success which has many hardships and obstacles to overcome but the destination of achievement is blissful.
 

The world is mine!

I just saw this poem on the net while surfing and I found this so touching and interesting that I could not stop myself from sharing.

The title is “The World is Mine” by “Richa Anirudh”. With due credit to her imagination, I must say that she has penned this down so beautifully that even an always complaining individual would stop by and give it a thought. We become so engrossed in our daily lives and so habitual of complaining about the things, nagging about what has not been done that we forget how fortunate we are and how blessed we are for having this wonderful gift of life! Here’s the poem for all of you:

Today, upon a bus, I saw a very beautiful woman,

 And wished I were as beautiful.

 When suddenly she rose to leave,

 I saw her hobble down the aisle.

 She had one leg and wore a crutch.

 But as she passed, she passed a smile.

 Oh, God, forgive me when I whine.

 I have two legs; the world is mine.

 

 I stopped to buy some candy,

 The lad who sold it had such charm,

 I talked with him, he seemed so glad,

 If I were late, it'd do no harm.

 And as I left, he said to me,

 "I thank you, you've been so kind.

 It's nice to talk with folks like you.

 You see," he said, "I'm blind."

 Oh, God, forgive me when I whine.

 I have two eyes; the world is mine.

 

 Later while walking down the street,

 I saw a child I knew.

 He stood and watched the others play,

 but he did not know what to do.

 I stopped a moment and then I said,

 "Why don't you join them dear?"

 He looked ahead without a word,

 I forgot, he couldn't hear.

 Oh, God, forgive me when I whine,

 I have two ears; the world is mine.

 

 With feet to take me where I'd go,

 With eyes to see the sunset's glow,

 With ears to hear what I'd know.

 With loving family & friends to enjoy life

 Oh, God, forgive me when I whine,

 I've been blessed indeed, the world is mine.

 

 After all, it's just a simple reminder that we have so much to be thankful for!

 Give the gift of love. It never comes back empty J

 

Who did better?

I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody. - Bill Cosby, comedian

I’m sure most of you would end up reading this saying may be a couple of times first before you proceed ahead with this blog. For many, the truth and the fact lies in this single sentence as you must be toiling really hard to please everyone day in and day out. But of all those with whom you are associated with, there would definitely be atleast one person who would not be happy with your behavior, your attitude, your style, or may be anything that is so related to you or your action. Did you ever question yourself whose fault it is?

Without even giving it a second thought, undoubtedly it is your fault for not having thought about yourself. It is your fault for having considered yourself as the genius master of all the tasks. It is your fault for having expected appreciation from people around you. And above all, it is your fault for having neglected yourself for all this period to satisfy others’ needs, expectations and aspirations.

The end result for most of you would have been that you would have been made the victim of an erroneous or rather an unsatisfactory task at the expense of neglecting yourself. What did you achieve? Apart from the innumerous suggestions on this would have been better this way or that way, you all have really ended up wasting quite a substantial amount of time that would have been worthwhile if you would have spent it on yourself. Even if that meant doing nothing and taking rest for some time, it would have added to your energy levels and would have definitely helped you to overcome your sleep deficit quota.

I feel everyone should accept the fact that each individual has a specific skill set, set energy levels and hence working temperament as well. No two individuals can match each other for these factors and hence we should respect everyone’s individuality for this. Again, as I’ve said in my previous blogs stop comparing and stop expecting…this is the only way to live a happy life. This attitude towards life gives you an opportunity to appreciate each individual’s skill set in a much more effective way and lets you honor his/her credentials without demeaning the counterparts.

“Who is better than whom?” is an endless vicious circle that gives rise to “Who did better than whom?” leading to diminishing effects on the individual and his actions too. Hence, don’t ever make a folly to attempt to please everyone. This is an unachievable target and would yield zero output. Rather set your priorities and make your skill set evident to the world so that you can tread on the path of excellence in your field of expertise.

Road to success

It's not inspiring books or presentations that change people's lives; they simply act as a catalyst. It is what you choose to believe and act upon, that's where the change comes. No one can change the life of any individual except that individual.

Going by this belief, I believe that we have immense potential and strength to accomplish great things in life. At times we just forget to prioritize life. I feel time once we set goals for ourselves the path becomes easy because then we know where we have to head. In case, life decides to challenge our decisions or our acts, we still know we don't have to deviate.

You just have to follow your instincts and be bold enough to tread the path of success which as always is a little tough and often not taken by people who think too much about the consequences. The consequences of taking the right path; apparently the difficult path too, is the fear of getting rejection, phobia of un-acceptance and the terror of difference of opinion with the acquaintances.

But to live life to its fullest, one must not forget that you have to accomplish everything in this very term itself. There would be no second chance given to you. Also, every individual is known for the good things he/she has done for the society. The crap always stays there because without that the importance of the good deeds will not be realized and it won't be acknowledged for. At this time, the words of Swami Vivekananda should be heard for. How rightly he said, "Arise, awake and stop not till the goal is achieved."

So, dear readers think about all the positive things in life. Motivate yourself to take the righteous path and shed off your apprehensions of others' viewpoints. Life is yours, so the decisions have to be yours. Till the time you know that you are in the right direction, success would also budge towards you! 

Empowering women

Empowering the women has been my motto and aim in life. Whenever I see women in distress I really get upset. Probably, because I've always imagined women as a source of strength and courage. In Hindu mythology, Goddess Durga is seen as a source of strength, divine power, courage, strong determination and will power.

With this picture in mind, it is just unbelievable to see any woman in distress. Many a times, we see women acting as the enemy of other women. This gives an opportunity to the men to ill treat women because they do have backing of other powerful ladies for their wrong deeds.

I feel women should equip themselves with education. It is solely the education that gives them strength to face the world with all their strength. At times, many people confuse education with literacy. How literate you are is not that important; but being educated definitely adds to your strengths. Education gives you the edge to differentiate between good and bad, useful and useless, meaningful and meaningless, and so on.

This just does not happen by sending the girl child to the school. It happens when it is told to the girl child what to accept and what not to. It also makes more sense by giving valid reasons for doing something. Reasoning helps to make a difference between the right way and the wrong way. This also refrains each woman from becoming a foe to another woman.

A woman can feel connected to another woman only when both are compassionate about each other's situation. Respect and honor for the other individual has to be inculcated as an individual grows. This happens when the moral values are instilled and inculcated. Someone has rightly said, "Practice what you teach and preach." It is with this attitude that a small child witnesses the beauty of characteristic features of each individual and this is how everyone would start appreciating the individualism of every human being on this earth.

Beauty with brains is the need of the hour. Women should not ever succumb to the pressure and should be bold enough to take stand for what they think is right. Why to let anyone make you a pawn for their benefit? Don't let others use you; Almighty has something planned for you, don't let the external pressure deviate you from your righteous path and always trust the notion that if you cannot change anything just ignore and move on but don't ever succumb to pressures in life. 

How to live life?

It matters not how a man dies, but how he lives. The act of dying is not of importance, it lasts so short a time. Samuel Johnson

I read it on one of the social networking sites. I pondered on it a lot. Then, I realized how true it is as ever. I too feel that it is the value that a man brings to the society which is of utmost importance. No one can deny the fact that as social animals we have some moral responsibilities towards different entities, family, friends, acquaintances, colleagues, and above all society. Society is the super set of all other categories. It is constituted of people like you and me.

So why not build a society that provides a platform for our next generation to respect and honor everyone in their lives. The onus of upliftment lies on all of us who expect something better to be given to the next generation. We need to strive hard to give quality education to them, we need to imbibe in them a culture that mutually benefits all the people around and above all we need to teach them that it is the supreme Almighty who has given us a chance to be on this earth! After all, according to our ancient vedas also, the Gods were here on the earth to accomplish great tasks!

For the Gods also, the path to success was rough, it was tough, the hurdles were many, the supporters were meager but the pleasure of success, the joy of victory, the feeling of triumph and the elation of the accomplishment was beyond an explanation! And it is their accomplishments which are given as a reference to us.

I also feel that getting associated to some under privileged people lets us realize the need of everything. It is then we know how blessed we are and why we should contribute to the society. This also makes you appreciate all the positives in life and there is a special bond that you develop with those people. Probably, there is a secret pledge in your heart to serve them with all the means to the best of your capabilities. 

So, give this a thought! It needs few materialistic inputs in terms of resources but a lot of value education that needs to be penetrated in the young minds to encourage them to take the lead in their lives. It is this act that would truly matter while judging how the person lived his life!