Showing posts with label Contemplation. Show all posts

"अबे तुझे तीन हफ्ते हो गए ये कहते कहते कि इस हफ्ते जाऊँगा, इस हफ्ते जाऊँगा अब जायेगा भी कि यहीं डेरा डाल के बैठा रहेगा "

कल बैठे बैठे यूं ही पापा से बातचीत करते हुए ये बात छिड़ गयी।
कहने लगे, "हमारे परिवार का रहन सहन कितना ज्यादा simple है? परिवार ३ जगह फैला हुआ है, पर एक भी जगह एक टीवी तक नहीं है, बड़ी कार की बात तो दूर, कोई स्कूटर/मोटरसाईकिल भी नहीं है। वाहन के नाम पर सिर्फ एक साइकिल है रोहतक में, जो भाई साहब को करीब ४५ साल पहले दहेज़ में मिली थी। घर में कोई कूलर/एसी नहीं है (पंखे से काम चल ही जाता है), कोई किसी तरह का कोई आभूषण नहीं पहनता - ना कोई अंगूठी, ना कंगन, ना गले की चेन, यहाँ तक कि कोई घडी भी नहीं बांधता। किसी भी प्रकार का "junk food" खाने कि आदत नहीं है किसी को, कम से कम मसालों से बना भोजन।
कारण ये नहीं कि ये सब खरीदने के लिए पैसा नहीं है, या हैसियत नहीं है, पर बस यूं ही, किसी को शायद लगा ही नहीं कि इन सब के बिना ज़िन्दगी अधूरी है।"

वो बोल रहे थे, और मैं सिर्फ़ सुन रहा था। बीच बीच में "हूँ...हाँ... हम्म" से अपनी उपस्थिति दर्ज कर रहा था।
बात पते की थी। मैंने कभी सोचा नहीं था कि मैं जिस माहौल में पला बढा हूँ, मेरे पास ये सब संसाधन शरू से ही नहीं हैं। पर सोचने कि बात ये है कि मुझे कभी इन सब का अभाव भी महसूस नहीं हुआ, और ना ही अब इन सबकी ज़रुरत महसूस होती है। शायद मैंने इन सबके बिना ही जीना सीख लिया है, और मैं खुद से खुश हूँ। अब तो आदत हो गयी है, या यूं कहें कि खुद को समझा लिया है।
वैसे वो साइकिल (४५ साल पुरानी - "Eastern Star" कंपनी की) अब भी दुरुस्त दौड़ती है और घर के लगभग सभी रसोई के बर्तनों की उम्र मुझसे ज्यादा है।

सोच रहा हूँ कि क्यों / कैसे हर वस्तु इतनी लम्बी चल जाती है हमारे घर में (शायद दुसरे घरों में भी चलती हो, कभी पूछा नहीं)? शायद हमें अपनी चीज़ों को सहेज कर रखने कि आदत है।
घर में कोई भगवान् में यकीन नहीं करता, पर फिर भी कहूँगा कि ईश्वर कि कृपा से सब अच्छा चल रहा है।

महात्मा गाँधी न कहते थे, "सादा जीवन और उच्च विचार ही स्वस्थ जीवन की कुंजी हैं।"
बाकी का तो पता नहीं पर जाने-अनजाने गाँधीजी की ये बात तो हम follow करते ही हैं और गर्व है मुझे अपने इस रहन सहन पर।

I got my first SSB call when I was in 11th (I appeared for it thrice, but that's a different story, some other day). That time I was very very excited about our Armed Forces. While studying about Indian Army at that time, I noticed something about the Army ranks. Let me list the ranks in the top-down order. I learnt them by heart and I still remember:
---------- Officer Ranks ----------
1. General
2. Lieutenant General
3. Major General
4. Brigadier
5. Colonel
6. Lieutenant Colonel
7. Major
8. Captain
9. Lieutenant
---------- JCO Ranks ----------
10. Subedar Major
11. Subedar
12. Naib Subedar
---------- Other Ranks ----------
13. Hawaldar Major
14. Master Hawaldar
15. Hawaldar
16. Naik
17. Lance Naik
18. Sepoy

Ok, now I always wonder about the sequence of these ranks. I see a problem at one place. Look at the pattern:
> Before Captain, there is Lieutenant
> Before Colonel, there is Lieutenant Colonel
> And before General, there is Lieutenant General
All fine till here. Now see this:
> Hawaldar Major is after Hawaldar
> Subedar Major is after Subedar
> But why is Major General before General?

This question might be really absurd, but it just never goes out of my mind. I asked some people about this here at AFMC but didn't get any answer. Responses were like:
> "I don't know"
- Grrr!
> "I know the ranks but I never realised this pattern"
- Thank You!
> "Oh! is it? I never knew that General is after Major General"
- Dumbo, General is the highest rank in Indian Army.
> "Why should we bother?"
- Oh dear! there is nothing to bother about. This is just a question.

Someone wants to help?

करीब ६ साल पहले मेरे दोस्त वैभव ने मुझे एक बात कही थी जो उसकी माँ ने उसे बताई थी:

संकल्प की दृढ़ता १ / उपलब्ध विकल्पों की संख्या

Today I took a different bus to office than I usually catch (via a shorter route that I never knew). Actually, this is something that has occupied my mind since this morning. Let me start with a small analysis.

Everything has its pros and cons. I am talking about the distance of the commute between house and office. Those who stay near to office (around 8-12 kms) definitely save their time spending less time in the company bus as compared to those who live farther. But they have another set of problems to face:

1. Not all buses stop for them. Reason: The buses are packed by the time they reach their place.
2. If any of the buses stop to pick them, they don't get a seat to park themselves.

I don't know the policies of other companies, but in Infosys, Wipro ... buses (especially here in Pune), this is a common scene. Usually female employees opt to stay nearer to the office. So, they are the ones who face the above mentioned problems. They keep waving hands at the buses and the buses flagging their "NO VACANT SEATS" board, pass by. Eventually, they do spend ample time waiting on the road to get into a bus.

Anyways, this is not something I am going to discuss here.

See, we can't help in case of problem one. We can only ask the transport department of our organizations to increase the number of buses - which I tried, but they have an explanation: they have tried (and even succeeded) to cover each and every route of the city, they have counted the number of employees (having bus passes) at each location and manage the timings and routes accordingly, which, on their part sounds quite logical. Actually they have around 12 extra buses running in the city at any given point of time than the exact number of buses required to carry the employees from different parts of the city. I don't have any complaints after that. So, problem one is inevitable.

But in case we face problem two. I am sitting in the bus running to office. Girl employees rush into the bus at one of the stops. Some of them manage to grab a seat but one or two of the lot don't get a seat. I feel I should get up and give the seat to her and I did exactly that. I got up and gave my seat to her. She is happy and I am also happy - anyways its just 15-20 minutes distance. I can manage standing :) Now, at a stop further, some more girls get into the bus. I feel helpless at this point of time. I had only one seat and that's gone. I can't ask others to get up and donate their seats. I know one thing, I have observed this: There are people who want to help but don't have the courage to help. They don't feel like saying,"Excuse me, can you please sit here?" Sometimes they do act, but act late. So, there are good people but they don't let their benignity come out. Something similar happened in the bus today. A girl was standing near to a guy who was sitting with his earphones on (must be listening to radio on his phone). I was looking, standing. After around 10 minutes, he finally did it. He put off his ear plugs and kindly asked her to settle while getting up from his seat. The situation was a bit funny as well as outlandish because he didn't do it instantly. It took him 10 minutes to show that gesture. But I was even happier when I saw another guy sitting besides our hero also got up along with him vacating seat for another lady. I don't know if it was mutual or a follow up.

I didn't know any one in the bus when I got inside. But now I very well know these two boys who showed a little courage for a good cause. Good deed actually. And I am sure they enjoyed what they did and next time they will act real fast :)

Such little nice deeds are a great source of happiness. Believe me, it gives a very nice and pleasant feeling. A feeling of satisfaction, pride.

1. Always get up when you see an old person (respect silver hair) or a physically challenged person standing (Be a gentleman, please!)
2. If not the above, the least you can do is offer a help in holding their bags while you are sitting.

Do try it out! A responsible and wise citizen will get down from the bus when you get down. Remember the Lead India song: "तुम चलो तो हिंदुस्तान चले..."

कुछ दिन पहले मैंने तस्लीम भाई के ब्लॉग पर यह पंक्तियाँ पढीं जो दिल को भीतर तक छू गयीं ।
मुझे ये पंक्तियाँ इतनी उपयुक्त और वास्तविक लगीं की मैं इन्हें यहाँ लिखने से अपने आप को रोक नहीं पाया । और जब से मैंने इन पंक्तियों को पढ़ा है, मैं इन्हें १५-२० बार पढ़ चुका हूँ, और हर बार ये मुझे उतनी ही सच्ची, उतनी ही ताज़ी और उतनी ही दर्दनाक लगती हैं ।

बोये जाते हैं बेटे
और उग आती हैं बेटियाँ ।
खाद पानी बेटों में
और लहलहाती हैं बेटियाँ ।
एवरेस्ट की ऊंचाइयों तक, ठेले जाते हैं बेटे
और चढ जाती हैं बेटियाँ ।
कई तरह गिरते हैं बेटे
और संभाल लेती हैं बेटियाँ ।
सुख के स्वप्न दिखाते बेटे
जीवन का यथार्थ बेटियाँ ।
जीवन तो बेटों का है
और मारी जाती हैं बेटियाँ ।

उपर्युक्त पंक्तियाँ समाज की एक ऐसी बुरी तस्वीर दिखाती हैं जो जन साधारण को सोचने पर मजबूर कर देती हैं ।
सही बोलूँ तो ये पंक्तियाँ पढ़ते ही मुझे ख़याल आया २००३ की चंद्र प्रकाश द्विवेदी द्वारा निर्देशित फ़िल्म "पिंजर" के उस गाने का, जिसके बोल हैं: "चरखा चलाती माँ"। इस गाने में भी कुछ इसी प्रकार का ज़िक्र किया गया है:

"बेटों को देती है महल अटरिया,
बेटियों को देती परदेस रे ।
जग में जनम क्यों लेती है बेटी,
आई रे जुदाई वाली रात रे ।"

मुझे इस फ़िल्म की हर बात पसंद है । निर्देशन, लेखन, छायांकन, कलाकार, गीत, संगीत, सब कुछ ...

No, the CSF here is not "Central Security Force" or "Critical Success Factor" or "Connected Services Framework". It's something new. Actually I happened to have my first encounter with this new CSF this morning. Here it goes:
I have been doing early morning workouts (jogs, exercises etc.) since I was four or five - that makes around 20 years now. Getting up at 4 or 5 in the morning is quite a routine.
But, today something unusual happened. This had never happened with me till date.

I was carrying out with my normal morning exercises. 5:20 AM. I was doing pilates - bent backwards and stretched myself backwards as much as I can. Similar to what appears in the image to the left here. But I was standing.
I remained in the position for about 10 seconds and then I sprang back to my normal standing position. I did it at once, with a jerk. Blunder! Now, I could't see anything, I couldn't stand, I didn't have any control over my body, felt powerless and helpless. I just sat on the stairs of the stadium and then collapsed. I fainted. I regained conciousness after maybe 5-6 seconds or so. Though I got up and continued with my next set of exercises, but I knew something went wrong, couldn't push this idea out of my head. You see, I was consciously unconscious - I knew I am unconscious. Went back to the room and told papa about this with a worried face. Papa being a doctor, so cool.
(Hello! I fainted and he is kewl?)
Replied, "Nothing to worry. You just shouldn't have got back with a speed. You should have done it a bit slowly and smoothly."
"No Papa, that's not the concern. Why did it happen?"
"It happened because of CSF - Cerebral Spinal Fluid. It is a fluid in our head around the brain. When you leaned backwards, it got collected towards that portion of head. It takes sometime for the fluid to float around. So, when you got back up from the stretched back, you didn't give time to the fluid to be back to normal - you collapsed."
"Are you sure, there is nothing to worry? (I am really worried actually) "
"Nah re! but just keep this in mind for future."

I recalled "Hmmm... That's why he never allowed me to spring back while doing this earlier."

Since morning, I am "Googled up" about this. Got a lot of information. If someone wants to learn more, Here it is:
CSF - Cerebrospinal fluid (Wiki) OR CSF - Answers

So next time if something similar happens to you, don't worry, just try to get your CSF to normal position :)

Till then ... Keep exercising!
But a thumb rule while doing any exercise: "Never do anything with a jerk. No sudden or abrupt movements. Each and every action should be smooth - even breathing."

As per the records/beliefs, there are 330 million Gods/Goddesses (deities) in Hindu Religion and surprisingly enough, I am pretty very much sure that I don't believe in even a single of these.

I have had many arguments with many of my friends on this topic and I am happy that none has ever convinced me enough that I change my belief. Everytime I enter into a discussion on this subject, I am taken through some COMMON questions and I believe I had answers of all those(though I believe some of these indeed very silly):

Q: How do you justify your existence?

PR: That is purely a biological phenomenon. Do you want me to explain?

Q: Then where did the first person come from?

PR: It is said that "Apes are our ancestors". Thats again biological. They gradually adapted themselves to the atmospheric changes like temperature and the availability of food. And got transformed to the so called humans.

Q: OK, lets come to the first living being?

PR: So, you are now getting into the "Theory of Evolution". Life arose spontaneously out of the inert chemicals of Earth some 4 billion years ago. Its all about atoms, cells, energy and forces.

Q: And what about before creation of universe?

PR: Do you think God existed before that too? By the way, here I think that where did this GOD come from? Who was the first God, if there are so many?

Q: There is something that makes the world go round. What's that?

PR: That's again scientific. The forces - and can you believe, the weakest force - gravitational force.

Q: There is a supreme power that governs the motion of all the things in universe. That's God.

PR: No dear, again the forces. As per my latest knowledge, its the "Dark Energy" that is responsible for the exponential expansion of universe.

Q: What is your inner self?

PR: Physically my inner self is bones, blood, tissues, cells and a mechanism that keeps me going. And emotionally its my character, my traits, my attitude. Another point, I don't believe in "SOUL", "SPIRIT" etc. :) Ofcourse, my conscience is my guide but that again constitutes my thoughts, my ideas and my moral and ethical sense (which I get from my parents and the environment I am brought up in).

Now, I want to ask a question: Who/What is God and why should I believe in him/her/it? I got varying answers from all but none of those was a concrete one. As per Wiki, "There is no universally accepted definition of God and since God is neither an entity in the universe nor a mathematical object, it is not obvious what kinds of arguments/proofs are relevant to God's existence".

I was going through the excerpts of Salman Rushdie's book - "His fictitious beloved" and found a wonderful answer for the believers of the deity, God. The following conversation between emperor Akbar and his genius minister Birbal gives me another reason to strengthen my belief (disbelief actually):

‘If you were an atheist, Birbal,’ the emperor challenged his first minister, ‘what would you say to the true believers of all the great religions of the world?’ Birbal was a devout Brahmin from Trivikrampur, but he answered unhesitatingly, ‘I would say to them that in my opinion they were all atheists as well; I merely believe in one god less than each of them.’
‘How so?’ the emperor asked. ‘All true believers have good reasons for disbelieving in every god except their own,’ said Birbal, ‘and so it is they who, between them, give me all the reasons for believing in none.’

Hats off to this innate genius. I am a Birbal fan you see and have always admired his quick and witty responses. I have been reading "Birbal tales" since childhood and have enjoyed them a lot. After the serious and a touching (for some) talk on God, let me take you through another Birbal wit from the same book:

"A great linguist was waiting at Akbar’s court, a visitor from a distant Western land: a Jesuit priest who could converse and dispute fluently in dozens of languages. He challenged the emperor to discover his native language. While the emperor was pondering the riddle, his first minister circled the priest and all of a sudden kicked him violently in the backside.
The priest let out a series of oaths—not in Portuguese, but in Italian. ‘You observe, Jahanpanah,’ said Birbal, ‘that when it’s time to unleash a few insults, a man will always choose his mother tongue.’"

He he .. the guy was brilliant, I must say.

After saying all this, I still confess that I do remember (pray to) god at times - hard times, may be when I find myself helpless amidst tough situations. And I consider this very silly and superstitious of myself and surely this again is the impact of the surroundings where I live, the people around me and the environment that I am brought up in.

Another confession here: Though I don't believe in God, I actually enjoy visiting churches, temples, mosques, synagogues and gurudwaras very much. And sadly enough, I try to avoid temples from this list because I find them really noisy. I feel utter peace at churches, mosques. Needless to say, temples are far too ornate and noisy with so many bells around. I went Vaishno Devi a few years back and all the way in that gallery there are bells hanging from the ceiling. And people keep striking them like insane. The sound hammers the ears. Not at all harmonious. Still I feel, at least there is something that keeps these people occupied and there is someone they fear. Though people fear GOD, I find their GOD incapable to mend their ways. They keep worshipping and carry on with their vicious and inhuman acts. No divine force is able to stop them. Oh GOD, please bring them on track. Sorry to seek help from God again :)

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are completely my personal views, not to raise any controversy or start any argument ;)

The basic idea is: I don't think we need to be religious to be good human beings and responsible citizens . Thers is no connection at all.

Two weeks ago, I was in Panchkula celebrating my vacations. I was coming back from a long evening walk with Papa when I happened to cross this "Fresh" store. The scene was something like this: There is this wonderful, colorful, garish, lucrative Reliance Fresh store and in its front, there are these cart-vendors standing on the road with their shimmering lamps, looking at each passer-by with questioning eyes - "What do you want sir/madam?". I was telling Papa that these Reliance people are slowly intruding into each and every segment of the industry and their services are really good and I guess the days of these ubiquitous cart-vendors are almost over. As I had never entered a Reliance Fresh store earlier, I forced him to come along inside the store. As we were about to enter, this strong guy with big moustache leaned forward - saluted and opened the door for us. "Hmmm... good, nice gesture", said Papa. Entering the store with AC on, serene music, flashing vegetables, I was feeling Papa is surely going to be impressed with all this. And I was right, he was happy and surprised at the same time to see everything so clean and fresh that too at the same rate as the cart-vendors outside or may be a little cheaper.
We bought a nice looking musk-melon (Rs. 40/kg). Took it home and put it in fridge. The very next day, when I cut it to serve it to others - "Here comes the Reliance stamped melon". I found a big dark patch inside, of course with its owner - the worm (with family). Almost half of the fruit had to be thrown and needless to say, whatever we ate was not sweet at all. Another comment from Papa, "I think whoever goes inside the store, comes out buying something, otherwise that guard won't salute and open the door for you :) People buy to get that salute/respect which they consider as a status symbol". OK, I thought, "but Reliance people can't get into the fruit to see what's inside", so that doesn't qualify as an accusation.

The same evening, mummy asked me to get some tomatoes. Ok, now is the time to prove how wonderful Reliance products are. The same scene, the same store and the same me of course with same feelings. I straight marched to the tomatoes. I saw the tags - two kinds of tomatoes - "Simple tomato (Rs. 16/kg)" and "Premium tomato (Rs. 19/kg)". Which one should I go for? Anyone! how the hell they'll identify at the cash counter (which kind is it). So, I headed for Premium brand. And as I picked the first tomato, aha! the fluid came from below, this was my reaction: Isshhh! put it aside. How do I pick the nice ones from this crowd of putrid tomatoes? They were stale, they were rotten, they were leaking, they were even stinking and what not. I could hardly find some "OK" tomatoes out of 2 really big baskets of tomatoes and actually I (had to) mixed the two brands (Premium + Plain). The cash counter could never know, which quality it is... how could he ever know :) - they were both (I got @ Rs. 16/kg). And while I was coming out of the store, the security guard smiled, bowed as expected (after all I visted them the 2nd running day). I could recall "दूर के ढोल सुहावने" while exiting.
And as rightly pointed out by Abhishek, in one of his blogs regarding "his experience" with Reliance Fresh, they don't have a proper website of their own. I could find just a single page on Reliance Fresh where the forum link talks about the jobs in Reliance Retail.

Now, the point is, if a giant like Reliance can't maintain the quality of its items, won't the common man turn its back towards the stores and switch back to the push cart vendors. Agreed, that they don't look so clean, but at least these guys work very hard to keep "their" fruits and vegetables fresh by constantly spraying water on it.

If Mukesh Ambani & Co. doesn't do something quickly on this, I am afraid, the freshness of Reliance Fresh is in deep trouble. By the way, I was amazed to see a Relaince Fresh outlet in Rohtak, but again I know for sure that Rohtak people are going to put these guys on toes if they are not going to improve the actual quality of their garish items.