14 Feb!

Happy Valentine's Day ! 

I was reading the newspaper one morning. I came across a column of various offers and checked the date of the newspaper. It was 14 Feb, Valentine's day. After marriage, this seems like a normal day most of the time. I ran towards Sheetal’s apartment and rang the bell. Sheetal opened the door.
"Hey, Happy Valentine's day," I said. I saw her face and asked her, "Why do you look so sad? Where is Shekhar?" 
Sheetal replied, "He had to join the duty. He went in the night."
"Alright", I said, "let's go shopping."
Sheetal said "No, I am expecting Shekhar's call in the evening. I should be at home."
"You can receive your call anywhere." I replied. "Anyway, he will call you in the evening. See my husband is on tour and Shekhar also left to join his duty. So let's celebrate Valentine 's Day together. You will feel good." 
"Alright, but not now. Let's go in the evening," Sheetal suggested.
I agreed and went back home to finish my housework. Then I got ready to go but it was 4:30 pm. I switched on the TV and tried to pass my time till 5 pm. While changing the channels, I came across the news channel which broadcasted the news of the terror attack on an army bus. 
I thought about Shekhar. I ran towards Sheetal's apartment. Memories of Sheetal and Shekhar flooded my mind and made me emotional. They got married six months ago and she stayed here with her in-laws. "She is young. Oh, how would Shekhar's parents react?" I asked myself. 
When I reached Sheetal's apartment, she came out and said, "I knew that you will come on time. Wait, let me get my purse."
"Wait," I said. "Where is uncle and aunty?" 
"They went for a walk," she replied. 
I asked her to switch on the television but she said, "No, we don't have time. Let's go."
When I insisted, she switched on the TV and I made her watch the terror attack news. Her face went pale and she sat down in melancholy.
I held her tightly in my arms and tried to console her. After 15 minutes, the phone rang. Since Sheetal's wasn't in the condition to attend the call, I picked up the phone instead.

"Hello, where is sheetal?" Shekhar asked from the other end.
"Shekhar! But the news?" I asked.
"Yes I know. I am about to reach my destination. Tell Sheetal to talk now because I don't know when I can get time to talk next." Shekhar said.
Just then Shekhar's parents arrived from their walk and said, "You both are still here. Didn't go out yet?"  

I just walked out without uttering a word and came back to my apartment. 
Switching on the TV, I sat on the couch watching the protest on social media. We, the people, can bewail on martyrs death. 
What makes them so strong? Always ready to serve their country without the apprehension of death. They give us a safe and secure life to celebrate our special day with our loved ones! 

I am thankful to those who are fighting to protect us and continuously serve our country.
Salute to their families!

Jai Hind !


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Getting Older!

The topic seems quite interesting to me because I am surrounded by those who are getting old. I feel old some time while dealing with younger generations. This stage is very difficult for people to accept they are getting old, their thought is old and not accepted by young people or I can say millennials. The difference of thinking is that, older people forget once they were also young and they used to think the same way when they were in the same stage, Most of the time they behave mawkishly. There is a huge discrepancy between both generations. Lack of acceptance of thought which we called the generation gap.
An incident related to this I am going to share with you. While I was at the bus stop I saw an elderly man and there were a  group of youngsters, all waiting for the buses to arrive.  The Youngsters were smoking in their group. The man in his heavy voice asked the boys not to smoke in public place.
At first, they ignored him and continued smoking without a bother.  Again the elderly man asked them not to smoke, now with irritation.
The elderly man was correct because there were many people waiting for the bus prone to passive smoking. They were getting irritated with smoking but no one wanted to say anything. Because everyone was in there own thoughts. Some of them covered their face but no one wanted to mess with them. This time the boy replied, "what is your problem?" Very rudely.
But then my bus arrived. I boarded the bus and looked back at the man.
The man was standing there shocked by the boy’s rude reply. Quite embarrassed. He would not have expected that, I don't think he insisted further.
But left lots of questions in my mind. And this story to tell.

Sun Set image!

                            "Old age and the passage of time teach all things". Sophocles

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Freedom at a Cost!

“We, the People, recognize that we have responsibilities as well as rights; that our destinies are bound together; that a freedom which only asks what's in it for me, a freedom without a commitment to others, a freedom without love or charity or duty or patriotism, is unworthy of our founding ideals, and those who died in their defense. Barack Obama”

We all are aware about the sacrifices people from all sects had made to achieve independence. It was hard earned and was attained at a huge cost. Different people followed different philosophies and approach to serve the motherland and there was only one thing to go after. Indepedence from foreign rule. There was no ambiguity in the objective. People were allowed to follow the path they had convictions on. But as was apparent, they had major differences of Openion on the best way to pursue the ultimate objective. 
It seems quite similar to the analogy about religion where people practice different faiths but the ultimate goal is quite similar.
Today the task is to maintain this Independence and understand the idea of Freedom in its true sense. And the challenges are quite similar to the ones that we faced over 70 to 100 years ago. The fight is to become representatives of the majority thought and take it to the logical conclusion. And this fight is not just for the Political class to participate in but for all those who want this country to be united and want it to progress proudly into the future.
That brings me to the Idea of Indian-ness. When India agrees on a thought, what does it actually mean. When we pass any law in the Indian parliament, what does it actually mean. My thought alone is not representative of what India thinks, but it may just be a small proportion of the final view that is adopted as a law or rule to follow in India. This is where leaders, may be majorly political but all others as well who excel in their chosen fields and command some following need to play their parts.
'Cost' I mention in the subject is the personal openions that are so true and obvious to me as an individual. This may be non-negotiable for my personal space and this may mean the Freedom to practice my culture and religion and other similar things i deem essential for my independence.
'Price' is the open mindedness and the Indian-ness for the larger good of our Society. If we have no tolerance for an alternate thought to our own or our own smaller religious or other like minded groups, then we are not prepared to pay the price for the Freedom that our ancestors fought for and then this is not the same 'Idea of India'.
I think its a great time now to understand the Idea of India. India, that is a set of multiple Individuals who differ in education, occupation, habits, likes, dislikes, beliefs and almost everything that can be different. It's a challenge very few would be able to take up in its true spirit and this is the ultimate price we need to pay to maintain our Independence going forward.
May the true leaders stand up and take charge. 

Meditation For Us!

                                             

"Meditation means the mind is turned back upon itself. The mind stops all the thought-waves and the world stops. Your consciousness expands. Every time you meditate you will keep your growth."   Swami Vivekanand!


Whenever I think about Meditation it reminds me of my school days. When I learned this from my yoga teacher. Very curious I was when they were telling us about the benefits of yoga. When we were kids everything excited us. ”Meditation” The word just struck my mind. That day I thought I was going to learn something miraculous, the teacher was telling us about meditation I wanted to absorb every bit of knowledge about meditation. The time had come when our meditation teacher gave us the secret mantra to chant during meditation. One by one we were going from our group. In all this excitement and waiting for my chance. I looked around it was a big hall. We called it Meditation room. There were spiritual paintings hanging on the wall but the painting attracted me a lot was Swami Vivekananand. It had been said that Swami Vivekanand was born Dhayan Siddha i.e perfect in meditation by birth. I was observing painting carefully with full of thoughts.
I heard Chetna your turn, the time had come when I was going to get life secret. Finally, the wait was over. Further moving ahead towards the dark room I could see the illustration of the yoga teacher. She called me, come chetna. yes, ma’am, I said to her, She hold my shoulder with her hand. Whispered the secret mantra and said "don't tell anyone". I came out felt like "I carry the day".
That was the day when i came close to Meditation. It makes me emotionally calm. Mentally clear my thoughts, focusing on my work and control my thoughts. Provides me a full of energy day, including good health and always a fresh mind.
Meditation control our senses. Gives us a perfect sense of better Life. The practice of Meditation leads us towards a healthy life.
Everyone comes across a few moments in their life which change their views forever.
However, the mantra is still a secret for everyone.😉
Actually, Meditation itself a secret of flourishing and blissful life.