Thursday, January 29, 2009

Mr.Ant MBA, Phd- The Management Guru

When we look around, we hardly see too similar things. Its all different. I have never seen two identical coconut palms. My apartment complex has lots of mango trees. None are similar. If somebody has 10 siblings/children, do they look just the same, though parents are same? Nope. God has created this universe in such diversity… Why?

In a partly joking way, my Guru used to reply “ Coz, God loves fun”. To know the exact reason, one should know the secret of creation. But it’s a secret. It dose not mean that no one can find it. But if someone finds it, he/she wont talk about it, but goes to silence. But other than that secret element, was it just fun? Nope.. Every God made thing has something to tell us. Something to teach us, including spiders…

Look at the ants moving. They go in line, mostly two ways. But they don’t face any traffic jam. They communicates well, give/exchange feedbacks, manages the network well…

What happens when we place some obstacle on their path? It wont stop there and go back but it will find a new and short way to cross it by taking a deviation or walking over it. Ants don’t quit, they have a goal and they are FOCUSED. And they have PATIENCE

God has given ants the ability to sense when it might rain or when the season change. The rest is carried out by them only. They plan that way and keeps enough stock (of food) for the rainy season. PLANNING

On its way an ant finds a food particle which it can not lift alone, what happens? It reports this to his pals and they all put their effort and move it. (I like watching these funny things. sometimes couple of guys pull in one direction and another team pull it in a different direction and the food moves to this direction and that direction…). TEAM WORK

Ant hills are architectural wonders, where they exhibit TEAM INTELLIGENCE, apart from the architectural skills.

Yep, an ant is a Management Guru.

Oh God Beautiful...

I just happened to see the picture of Sri.Paramhansa Yogananda. I thought of him for a moment. Tried to recollect his autobiography. Well, that act helped me remind myself that I don’t have a good memory since most of the ‘search’ did not return any result. I have great respect for him though I am not his devotee. There is a song sung by him and his devotees in his ashram or in yoga camps. I am an Indian, swami Yogananda was also an Indian but I first heard that song sung by an American. I sung that song with an American…strange. And that was for the first time I was seeing a twelve string guitar. He was really good at it. I still love that song (or prayer)….

O God Beautiful; O God Beautiful;
At Thy feet, O I do bow.
In the forest Thou art green;
In the mountain Thou art high;
In the river Thou art restless;
In the ocean Thou art grave.
O God Beautiful; O God Beautiful!
At Thy feet, O I do bow!
To the serviceful Thou art service;
To the lover Thou art love;
To the sorrowful Thou art sympathy;
To the yogi Thou art bliss.

Monday, January 19, 2009

A Breakkkk

Sometimes, whether it’s a vacation or not, a break is a break. This was such a time. I was mostly driving, or walking. Physically, it wasn’t a relaxing one but really tiring. The hot weather did its contribution. My wife asked me many times

“How did you live in this place for these many years?”

Well, sometimes even I wonder. Coz, it was me who was sweating all the time. I always wished to live in colder regions. This travel was a testing time for me as far as my legs are concerned. It ended up in real pain, which I did not expect. One thing I love about the long drives is that this feeling “oh, finally I can use the 5th gear”. We hardly get any chance to use the top gear when we drive in this city. Another thing is that I can drive very fast, though its bit risky sometimes. On the other side, during this particular travel, I drove in 2nd gear in highway for about a kilometer, for the first time in my life so far. There was this hellish traffic, even in highways.

My native city changed a lot. Better roads, more buildings, new apartments, new super markets…

It looked like its season for evangelists. I saw many such stuffs happening in many places. The most interesting thing is their new technique. Most of them had a Hindu name to catch more Hindus. Though they were addressing a group of poor people the preacher/performer was in expensive suit. May be they are hardcore fans of Benny Hinn. During this drive, I even thought:

“What will happen to the poor Hindus, after a decade?”

That thought hit a dead end, when I personally met some Christian foreign nationals who were after Hinduism. When I said “Hi” and extended my hand, they said “Namaste”. It’s picking up very fast in the Europe. Good to see them but sometimes I feel it unfortunate to see Americans and Europeans coming here and teaching us about our own stuffs. (Many a times I depend on a website by a German to find the meanings of Sanskrit words ! ) I had attended one meditation session conducted by one American Guru. I was just curious about him. But he proved that he had spent enough time studying our culture and related stuffs.

I went to a nice restaurant. I had never been there. And I even had no idea that such a restaurant exists in my city. May be its new. Lots and lots of food, both veg and non veg. It was like a feast ...only limitation was the capacity of our stomach. This still remains as a good memory of this trip.

I did not get enough time to meet any of my old friends and I feel very bad about it.

For the first time, I took ‘sea bath’ and I think I should thank my cousin for that. It was he who gave me some tips about playing with the sea. When I got hit by a BIG wave, I felt the power of the sea. I even got bruised. No wonder ancient Indians started respecting sea and even worshipped. But I couldn’t help smiling and thanking God for doing such a wonder creation. Yes, we can feel God in such occasions. The sunset was fantastic.

God, I love you…

Thursday, January 08, 2009

Good Day !

Dear God,

Well, I was wondering whether I should address you ‘dear’ or ‘dearest’. That doubt itself shows that I am not fully convinced by my ‘dear’, right? That’s good, no?

I just thought I mail you. I was sad when I went to bed yesterday night. And finally when it started coming between me and my sleep, I decided to surrender my worries to you and go to sleep. You handled it perfectly and you know what? You gave me a great day today. I just can’t believe it. Man, you are simply great !

I know that you know about the strike and fuel crisis... that was a worry. But still, I tell you, the day you gave did not have enough space to keep much worries. So, I put it in the dust bin.

Thank you God…bless my friends...take care

BIG hug,

With lots of love,

son

Tuesday, January 06, 2009

Let us Start..

The start of every New Year has something in common. Resolutions. Many people take new year resolutions. This is the time we get asked ‘ hey, what is your new year resolution?’

And then many of us wish ‘hope’, new hopes.

What is the nature of a New Year resolution? The typical one would look like

I will spent more time with family
I will quit smoking
I will stop drinking
I will do regular workout and will lose weight
I will watch less TV
I will be more religious (well, some people take even such one)
I will do this…I will do that

Whatever be it, everything has got something in common, in general. These resolutions are not negative ones (am neither talking about any terrorist’s resolution nor a god seller fixing a new target). It has something positive in it. In general, these are harmless to others around us or the society. It won’t disturb the peace in any manner (like when a girl decides to shed some pounds). What does this show? In every human, there is a positive inner call, though it’s very feeble in many. Or may be in many cases, people don’t realize or register such an inner voice. This is something we all inherit from the creator Himself...

I had this experience of people giving a kind of smile, as if that person did something funny when I ask:

“What was your last year’s resolution and did you fulfill it?”

Yes, that smile will tell that it was just another resolution. New Year resolutions are those over which we have control. It has some personal touch. Something we can do for ourselves that doesn’t involve help from others. So, I was thinking why we need to pass a resolution to make a small change in our own lifestyle? Don’t we have any control over our mind? After all, there is no bad time to do something good, like making a prayer. But if somebody is looking for ‘where to start?’, a New Year has the answer.

New hopes. Yes, year after year, when the New Year comes, we hope for a better life. That too is part of every human. We might have hoped a better life during the last New Year and experienced a worse one. But still, we keep that hope. So, let us hope the coming year be a good one, for all of us.

I don’t know whether I am hoping against hopes but let it be a year of peace and harmony.

Thursday, January 01, 2009

New Hope

Can love change this world?

May be sometime ago I might have thought that way. But year after year we saw religions, which were supposed to be the core of love, losing its purpose and tolerance and sowing the seeds of hatred and violence into young hearts.

God used to get lots of flowers and candles as offering, in the earlier days. But now he is trying to get adjusted to blood, bombs, bullets and grenades. God is becoming popular and so do this new breed of worshipers. They are the real threat to peace. They destroy the harmony of the society.

The growth of science or technology did not help a huge section of the society to have a better understanding about humans or humanity. Worst, many used these technological advancements to convert more humans into animals, brute animals. They proved that better education necessarily did not mean better understanding; some even proved that it is the other way. Some of them hid there face behind a mask of love. When love loses its purity its can fit into the synonym role to hatred.


It is so unfortunate that peace gets a meaning only when there is violence. But still…

A new day, a New Year…it can always give us hope…Let this year witness more peace and harmony than bull shits..

HAPPY NEW YEAR !