PULLING HIS LIFE

 

                                          Courtesy : My Smartphone Samsung E7 with 13 M.P Camera

The man appearing in this photo is Suresh Mondal who hails from West Bengal and came to Delhi for survival. He chose rickshaw pulling as the best bet to earn those needy bucks.   When I took his service  to return home from  market during my stay at Delhi a few years ago ,  I was stirred to write his story.

When I conversed  with  Mondal, his smiling gesture gave me a hint that he might open up to share his life with me.  As expected, the whole ride was very pleasant as Suresh though with his wiry frame, peddled his way effortlessly with no strain.   When asked why he came to Delhi for this kind of manual labour, he said that he didn’t get employment throughout the year in his home district Malda, West Bengal which forced him to come to Delhi.  He further stated that he has some   land but not worth to be cultivated due to inadequate rains, coupled with insufficient irrigated water in the area.  

Suresh stands as a latest example of countless people who don't get adequate employment in their towns/villages  throughout the year.  How he manages his life with  a petty daily earnings of Rs.500/- is a million-dollar question.  Myself being fairly employed with five-digit salary in government service is taking a bated breath to manage my house-budget.  But countless manual labourers like Suresh  do manage their lives and we must learn so much from them.

When I dwelt on Suresh's life,  immediately my heart filled with gratitude  as  Almighty showered his blessings abundantly on me as  I was not given the role of Suresh to play.   When I listened to his story, it not only soothed my nerves but I became a little more compassionate and gave Rs.10/ -  extra to him in addition  to the fare bargained.  In a spur of moment, I further loosened my purse strings and gave a further of Rs.10/-   for contributing this story, which had multiplied his joy and he thanked me with a pristine smile.  

WORK IS WORSHIP TO HIM

 

If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as a Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare write a poetry.  He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, ‘Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.                                                      

                                                                                   -          Martin Luther King (Jr.)

 By the time of writing this story,  Sukh Ram just turned 60, retired and proceeded to his native place in Uttarakhand, India after fruitful government service.

 He  was a sweeper in a central police organization, India.   I closely  observed his work life  for  five years.  Truly he is the sweeper the hosts in heaven cherish for. 

Sukh Ram is a silent worker.  I never find him sitting idle during the work hours.  He constantly sweeps the floors and wipes them with wet cloth.  He is such a devoted worker and never gives an opportunity to be pointed out on his work.  He always keeps the floor, wash basins and toilets neat and clean.  Anybody who see the premises must feel so homely.

Whenever I am in low moods, I look at him and draw inspiration.  He is a fountain of energy.  His small built but robust limbs never get tired to climb up and down the stairs during the day.  He always respects his seniors with courtesy and smiling gesture.  I used to see him closely in my afternoons at the library where he reads the local newspapers to keep himself abreast of the world affairs.

When I called and interacted for this story, it was totally an exhilarating experience.  When I see such hard-working people, huge respect flows from my heart and I look into their eyes to draw inspiration for such exemplary work culture.

When I talked to Sukh Ram, I did not feel that I was talking with an old man who was on the verge of retirement.  There was no tiredness on his face. Physically and mentally he looks  sound to work for another decade or so.  

Bookish knowledge is of no avail to you unless it is translated into action.  In the worldly point of view, Sukh Ram is not literate enough to gain media glare nor he did any such extraordinary feat to come to limelight.  He simply did his job so well that caught my attention.  On moral and ethical side, he is taller than his insignificant position in work life.   In one word, he is a package of different sort.

Worshipping the workers, noted Indian poet Subramania Bharati says that:

I sing in praise for the work you do,

Like Brahma, you are creator too.

Whenever I speak to Sukh Ram, these words of Swami Vivekananda resonate my mind:

He who does the lower work is not therefore a lower man.  No man is to be judged by the mere nature of his duties, but all should be judged by the manner and the spirit at which they perform them.

So many people come and go in our lives,  but Sukh Ram etched in my memory  with a permanent home in my heart due to his unparalleled work ethics.

PITY PARROT !

 

A  pity parrot was seen languishing in the cage of one of our resident's apartment some years ago.  That crazy soul who put that parrot in the cage might be  trying to draw raw pleasure by locking up it in the cage.   He might have committed  this act mechanically like  planting   his choice sapling in his backyard.   His argument is agreeable if it is plant life.   But  it should not be the case with  birds.  Birds  look more beautiful when they fly.  When you put them in the cage they can't even flutter their wings freely and  it is against Nature's Law.   Like the way we want freedom, other species also want that prized freedom !

When I saw bird sellers during  one of my visits to Chandini Chowk  in Old Delhi , I was disturbed by the way people stood up in lines to purchase birds so as to beautify their living spaces. It is totally ludicrous.

 If you understand the scheme of Nature, including flora and fauna, you come to know that you can worship beauty in Nature by simply gazing and to hone this skill, you needs a little contemplation. !   

A TALE OF TWO BABY PIGEONS

 

The other day before my morning coffee was served, my wife brought a news with her elegant smile. It was about one of the daily visitors to the balcony of our 3r floor apartment in South Delhi.

 

In fact, our day starts with watching a flock of birds that come daily on the roof-top opposite to our home, to eat the grains spread by the bird-lovers of Aadarsh Andha Vidhyalay, a special school-cum-hostel for visually-challenged children which is a stone's throw from our home.

The news was  of a pigeon who laid two eggs on our sapling- pot. I cracked a joke with my wife that our balcony area turned into maternity ward for that bird  which is a symbol of peace. We decided not to disturb the bird till it hatches it’s eggs. I felt amused by seeing the eggs and hoped to see the baby pigeons in a matter of few days. The reason is that I have never seen in my life the process of hatching by pigeons.  

 

Everything in this world is a marvel. The only prerequisite is, you need to have a pair of curious eyes to watch it. When you do so, a story would  be born to share with the world. Getting an idea or thought for a writer is like laying egg and the process of putting to pen is hatching and the 'final story' is the offspring.

 

We carefully guarded the pigeon during the process of hatching  as crows tried to eat away. My wife used to give me daily updates on the pigeon during our night dinners and how she maintained wakeful eyes to save the eggs.  

 

Though  seeing of pigeon eggs need not be an attention grabber and most of us may dismiss it as an ordinary thing, the writer in me wondered to see the very life process the Creator  orchestrates   through eggs.  But the problem with the most of the folks is when you try to narrate them, they don't endorse the same curiosity which may dip your enthusiasm and you refrain from sharing. But the best way to keep your learning curve in tact with age is to immerse into Nature for certain amount of time daily so that you feel connected. It amounts to be 'education'.

 

The eminent Indian philosopher Jiddu Krishna Murti says that Education is not just to pass examinations, take a degree and a job, get married and settle down, but also to be able to listen to the birds, to see the sky, to see the extraordinary beauty of a tree, and the shape of the hills, and to feel with them, to be really, directly in touch with them. As you grow older, that sense of listening, seeing, unfortunately disappears because you have worries, you want more money, a better car, more children or less children. You become jealous, ambitious, greedy, envious; so you lose the sense of the beauty of the earth.

 

When it comes to pigeon story, finally, the two eggs were hatched and two very beautiful baby pigeons came out and  after some days both of them had flown out.

 

Being a father of two children, my heart ached a lot when the first baby pigeon which grew in size in front of me flew out. The caring attitude of mother-pigeon to groom the baby pigeons gave us subtle lessons of how careful we should be in grooming our children. 

 

The pain of  seeing the baby pigeons leaving us is similar to a child leaving his/her parents after grown up.

Man being a domesticated animal try to connect with everything around him. It happens with everyone and I am not an exception !

WHAT IS ENLIGHTENMENT ?

He who knows others is clever; he who knows himself  is enlightened.

                                                                                                - Lao-tse

Life should not be seen only from the prism of suffering.

No doubt that suffering would give you heavy pain, but it also gives valuable lessons to make life robust in terms of actions and  endeavours. In fact, seeing the sufferings of people pushed the Buddha to the path of enlightenment.

Many people wrongly connote that enlightenment is simply denying all the worldly pleasures and lead a hermit's life in the forest. This concept is totally ridiculous. Enlightenment is a possibility field to know the mechanics of life beyond physical realm and  find your connection with the Creator.

The essence of enlightenment is respecting life in whatever form it is. When you become sensitive to everything around you, it means you are perfectly in tune with the symphony of the universe.

Once you   know your position in the universe, you feel so humbled of your tininess. Astro-physicist Joel Primack, a pre-eminent cosmologist who pioneered the Double Dark Theory opines that about 70 % of the universe is dark energy, 25 % is Dark matter. There are 4 % of invisible atoms and interstellar space. Helium and Hydrogen is 0.5 %.  The stars and planets form less than 0.1 % of the Universe which includes, humans.

Enlightenment happens in personal space and more so, it is a subjective experience. All the life situations should be seen in the larger frame so that you get a better understanding of  slice due to you. Excessive wavering for the things which are not due to you is totally unwise. America’s famous talk-show host Oprah Winfrey suggests  to write ‘Gratitude Journal’ daily so that you can count your daily blessings to lead a serene life.

One major road block in the path of enlightenment is our mindless comparison with others in material comforts of life. We are so obsessed with comparison mania that is the root cause of all sufferings. The solution lies with  a sense of gratitude which comes  just by watching those who are  in more agony.  In fact enlightenment is not a transferable energy/product   which we obtain from the market. It is a natural state which is well within you and it could be reached only by ' Self Search'.

DEATH IS THE END OF MELODRAMA OF LIFE !!

 

The trauma of my aunt’s tragic death  is still hunting me.  It is beyond words to narrate how she fell into a valley while she was going on a horse to reach  the famous Kedarnath Temple in Uttarakhund, India. The manner of death really shocked me and threw me out of gear for some weeks.   The incident had taken me to a new level of wisdom about uncertainty of life.  

Deepak Chopra says that the Prince of Death is just behind you all the time and the only difference is method of execution and length of reprieve.

We see many people who are perturbed to amass wealth in the name of security. To grab the world of possessions they stop enjoying life of present moment and hanker for accumulating wealth.

One great person sagely advises  that " live the life everyday as if it is your last day". In such a living,  you reap the benefits of distilled wisdom of enlightened masters. You need not frighten much about death when it is an inescapable event of life.   Sky is the only limit for human endeavour.  All great personalities who lived on this planet have taught this great lesson.

Steve Jobs, the iconic CEO of Apple Computers who died due to pancreatic cancer is so pragmatic in his ideology. “In his famous 2005 Stanford University speech, he says that :

 

“ When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.”

On death, jobs says that “ remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. “

He further says that “no one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. “

About life, Jobs says that “your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.”  

So don’t fear death which you can't escape and do to unleash your potential !

DO MORE THAN WHAT YOU ARE BEING PAID FOR

 

The whole paradigm of HRD revolves around one concept : How to improve the productivity of an employee ?

The company delegates this responsibility to Human Resources Department (HRD) whose job is to strive to improve the work atmosphere and mindset of employees through a host of measures to increase their productivity. Before anything worthwhile is injected into their veins, the first thing they have to do is, change their value system.

Employees have to be motivated in such a way that their performance matters not only to their professional lives but bring a perceptible change in their personal lives as well. They have to be convinced that beyond money, there are some invaluable things which the money can't buy. So it is a soul-stirring exercise for which a firm ground work needs to be laid.

Normally the employee thinks that he or she should work to the extent of being paid for. Whenever, anything requires beyond his/ her normal competence and effort, he/ she simply throws the ball in the court of their seniors. Due to this, the poor soul lags behind in terms of promotions and other incentives/ avenues.

Here comes the world of difference. He is wise who plunges into action before anybody pushes him. The person who is in cocoon never realizes the credence of this lesson.

America's acclaimed author Napoleon Hill in his famous book " How to sell your way through life" says that one should have the habit of doing more than one is paid for his job. In a chapter exclusively devoted for this concept, Hill dwelt at length on how Henry Ford though is a poor and less educated, but by following this unorthodox principle, became a giant automobile maker of America.

So you can ignore this advice at your own peril.

CHANGE THE JOB TO SATISFY THE INNER 'YOU'

It is a virtual hell to continue in a job when your heart is craving for some other dream profession.

Doing a job is of course for those needy bucks. But, settling with less than what you ought to be should not be accepted as a fate.

Most people think that they should have high IQ (Intelligence Quotient) to score high in life. But, what is needed more than IQ is, RQ i.e. Risk Quotient. It is the ability to endure the risk and explore the uncharted territories. You can otherwise call it the amount of guts required to take a bold decision to tread a path for success.

But in the most of Indians, this RQ is abysmally low, because they are the poor souls to satisfy with what they have in their hand, than a desire to climb up in life. In this respect, our Western counterparts are on a much better footing.

A study reveals that any American adults changes his or her job on an average 7 times in their life time. By doing so, they make a wise choice and settle with the best they deserve.

There are countless people who leave their glittering careers only to settle in their dream professions. Chetan Bhagat, India’s legend novelist left his plum job as an investment banker to transmute his passion into a writing career.

So the home point is, drive your passion into a viable venture and monetize your abilities and the first pre-requisite is to increase the risk appetite or R.Q !

WHAT DETERMINES THE QUALITY OF YOUR INNER LIFE ?

Whatever you do, your intention should always be for the good of people.

As long as the intention is good, you need not worry. The doctor when he uses a knife for the patient's operation , is lauded, whereas the robber when he uses the same knife to torment the householder to steal his wealth, is caught and punished. Here the knife is same, but the person who uses it and the intention are different.

As long as our actions help others to grow in life, we should not think otherwise.

So act with a positive mind-frame!