A mouse in my house!

A shriek pierced my eardrums! With a jolt of adrenaline, I scrambled from my chair and sprinted into the kitchen; why my elder sister had screamed? A robber? A thief? Was she hurt? Or had she seen a ghost? (She’s a horror-movie freak!).
 “It was there!” she shouted, trembling from top to toe, biting her fingers, her eyes popping out in terror. It couldn’t have been plainer that she had really met a ghost…
“A mouse! A big, fatty-black mouse!” she cried.
Ah…I rolled my eyes. Yes, why not? A meagre mouse or rat is no less scary than the meanest ghost! People, especially girls, would agree, eh?!!
Well, I’ve had the chance to meet these lightning-speed fast beings. But nowhere have I found them scary or sinister. Funny and cute would be the apt words, don’t you think? (Urgh! They are not funny but filthy! My sister claims.). They come in all shapes, strength and smartness: big and small; black and brown; hairy and furry with pointed, witty faces, and round, innocent eyes, scurrying and scuttling about, nibbling away the food-bits, troubling our moms in the kitchens!
Once, I took out a long-forgotten, dusty book from my bookshelf to read only to find the entire first chapter torn and eaten, probably by a bookish rat who might have found the chapter thoroughly enjoyable to tuck it away!
Of late, we’ve started keeping Rat-Mouse traps to trap these funny thieves. These traps are steel cages with a lever at the top. The lever is pulled to open the cage and is struck at the loop of the steel mesh. You stick the food-bait in the steel-mesh attached to the lever. Now the rat, seeing the food in the cage, thanks the heavens for its good-luck, and sneaks inside. The moment it touches the lever…Bang shuts the cage! The rat is trapped and, next morning, we see it off from our house. (Sometimes, emotionally, they come back…again and again!)
But some rats, believe me, turn out to be smarty ones. Instead of stepping into the cage, they hop over it and steal the food away. They are tough to catch. They are, I’m very sure, young ones – the gen-next rats. They probably learn the smart-techniques from Youtube videos!
And guess what? Even as I am writing this piece in my diary, I suddenly see a nicely-eaten page where I had recently composed a lovely poem! Alas! My Poem is no more! But wait…
Oddly, I don’t feel sad. I am happy, in fact. The mousy rat must have fallen in love with my poem and considered it irresistibly delicious to have it away! Literary mouse, perhaps! Thank you, Mouse, for being in my house!
***

Thinking “not-too-much” about Happiness…

Sitting on a chair, a pen in my hand, I kept staring at the blank page of my diary, thinking to write on Happiness. I always feel happy to write, and writing on happiness couldn’t have been a happier feeling.

So, I took the plunge and swam in the ocean of thoughts, thinking about ‘happiness’; definitions and descriptions brewing up in my mind. I had my pen ready, its tip hovering just above the paper; when I’ll feel right, then pen would caress the page lovingly; the ink would flow and form beautiful shapes – words resembling my thoughts.

But even in my happiness to write, I couldn’t think for sure what to write on happiness…Of course, potpourri of phrases and proverbs perched at the tip of my tongue and pen; I had the whole treasure of words to myself (thanks to my darling dictionaries!), I could craft sentences adorned with ornamental imagery, magnificent metaphor, awe-inspiring allegories and what not! Still ‘Happiness’ seemed to elude me…             

The more I thought, the more ‘happy-less’ I got…

I stood up, at last, leaving both my pen and my attempts to pen, and decided to spend the day come what may, forgetting all about happiness…

The morning was fine, the clouds feathery and I took a leisured walk nearby. I bought milk, shared an old joke with the hawker, laughed aloud with a pal, greeted the passersby and saw the children hopping about happily. Yet, I didn’t ponder about happiness…

At work, I found myself skimming through a pile of papers on my table, talking a lot about figures and financials, calling clients, shouting summons, arguing about, sealing deals, wishing my buddies on their birthdays and hearing their happy  ‘thank you-s’. Still, I didn’t wonder about happiness…

Coming home at night, I found my mom cooking a delectable ‘vegetable Kofta’ to our delight. Oh, I love my mummy and like to fill my tummy with such yummy stuff! Having devoured, I felt full, fed and happy. And, yet again, I didn’t mull over happiness…

  I plonked down on my bed with a sleepy head, flipping through my favourite chapters of ‘Harry Potter’ and his magical moments that still felt gripping, grand and great. And, so far, all the day and night, I didn’t worry about happiness…

The first rays of dawn woke me up with a happy yawn. And, thus, I thought about happiness…

May be, I thought, happiness was all about thinking ‘not too much’ about happiness! Perhaps, as the saying goes so well, happiness is like a butterfly that alights on you if you lay quiet but flutters away when chased. Well, so I took my pen, opened my dairy, and thinking not too much, wrote all what you are reading now. And believe me, I couldn’t have been happier enough…

This 2017 – Awake the “Modi” in you!

The New Year resolution to “Modi-fy” your life marvellously!

“What’s your 2017-New-year Resolution?” I asked my friend, Kushal, as I sipped a cup of tea. I had posed the question to many and got the usual, cliché and even funny answers like: Weight loss, Fitness goals, to be happier, to get a good job, to marry and what not! 

Well, with a thoughtful smile, Kushal sipped his tea and then offered with an air of sincerity, “It’s quite simple. I will try my best to awake the “Modi” in me!”

I choked over my tea and stared, perplexed at his weird resolution, then asked curiously “Modi? Do you mean our beloved Prime Minister Sir Narendra Modi ji?”

Kushal nodded. Was he kidding? I thought. But he didn’t look he was kidding. He was sort of the guy who walked his talk and not just talked his talk.

                “Are you thinking what I think you are thinking?” I queried and, with a touch of sarcasm, added - “Are you planning to become a political leader like Modi ji who moves the nation with his charisma and action?”

                Kushal laughed, and seeing my eagerness, asked, “Do you want me to explain?”

                “I am all ears!” I said, leaning closer.

                Kushal started, “Observe this: You wake up at 5.00 am sharp in the morning, hone your health by working out and meditating, get ready till 8.00, breakfast and read the important news, talk to your friends or family, reach your office at 9.30 am, complete your files, with no pending backlogs, take important decisions; in between you wish your friends or siblings on their anniversaries or birthdays, then come home, spend quality time with your family, and still feel refreshed and energetic by the time you go to bed, all set to greet the next day with equal enthusiasm and energy! And, what’s best, you follow this every day!” Kushal finished looking as enthusiastic as the one who had known a thought-provoking secret.                

“Well…” I said, knowing fairly where the topic was heading to, “That’s very ideal. But not practical and -     

                “What’s your age?” Kushal interrupted.

                “Mine? I am 26.”

                “Then how come a person aged 66 by the name of Mr Narendra Damodardas Modi clings to this ideal routine every single day?”

                That hit me hard. I was intrigued. I simply stared. Before I could counter, Kushal spoke, “He does all what I just said with unerring discipline and impeccable dedication! You would perhaps argue he is a Prime-Minister, with no family issues. Believe me, he has a family of 125 Crore members known popularly as India! He takes care of himself and everyone, his ears are open to anyone, and he listens with patience and compassion; with a good sense of humour, he smiles through all the difficulties and bears the mountainous pressures with ease and elegance! How does he do that?”

                “I haven’t thought of him this way!” said I, impressed though not fully assured and voiced my doubt, “Still it’s easier said than done. It’s hard, even complicated. ”

                “On the contrary, it’s simple, my friend!” Kushal emphasized staunchly, “If you think consciously, you’ve to follow just one mantra - Modi ji’s marvellous mantra – beautifully known as Balance! Striking balance in every sphere of life will get your life on a roll! It’s all about waking the “Modi” in you!”

                “Well, okay. It sounds really good. But we cannot imitate him. Every human is different” I countered.

                “Yes, every human is different, but what makes all the difference in our life is not Imitation!” Kushal corrected serenely, “But inspiration! Inspiration is not an imitation of a particular person but it is the qualities you draw from that person and instil in yourself.

Let me make it clearer. You aspire to be a singer and still you can be inspired by Modiji. How? His quintessential qualities of patience, humanity, humbleness and humility can motivate us all. And we can adopt these qualities in every wake of our life. That’s inspiration. But, if you imitate his style of walking, talking, etc, that’s imitation!

                   “That’s an amazing angle to look at!” I appreciated, getting keener to know more.

                “Believe me if we espouse even 50% of what Modi ji does, we are bound to embrace excellence in whatever we do! Let me zero in on some of the essential qualities of Modi ji:

·         Rise with Sun: Like Modiji, our Morning mantra should the “5.00 am finest mantra”. It is needless to stress how crucial it is to win the battle of the bed! Morning gives us enough time to hone your health and sharpen your skills.

·         Organise: Modi ji is an extremely well organised person. His home and office is the archetypal example of perfect organisation. Start with your home, with your table and room. Being organized in your home is being organized in your life!       

·         Innovate and Ideate: Modiji’s actions reflect innovative ideas. And to innovate, one has to move out of the comfort arena. Modi ji’s powerfully staggering schemes like Income Declaration, Demonetisation, All India Digitisation and many more of such reflect impactful innovation borne out of impeccable ideas. Equally important is to move out of the comfort zone to actualise these ideas. We can devote our each day doing something that needs stepping off our comfort cowl!

·         Lead and Learn: It needs no saying how charismatic a leader Modiji is. Leadership is not just about walking ahead of others but walking together and learning from everyone. Leadership is the ladder to keep on learning and keeping up with others. So, lead on!    

·         Love and compassion: We all know how Modi ji has a strict yet compassionate persona. He cares for his family called India. He spares considerable time attending and listening to the people, empathising with their problems and sculpting out workable solutions. Likewise, caring for family and loved ones should be the topmost priority in our daily schedule.

Kushal paused, looking thoughtful, then said: “Sustain and Serve is the most crucial of all.”

“Sustain and Serve?” I enquired. “What‘s that?”

Kushal said, “If you ask me to define success, I would say: Success is the summation of Sustain and Serve. That’s pivotal, underlying element of any work we do; the emphatic philosophy one should embrace. Success is not measured by the quantity of wealth or fame but by the quality of service to our fellow people.”

“But how does it relate to Modiji?”

“It relates entirely to Modij’s way of working. Sustain and serve is the reason of his unparalleled success and unmatched recognition. Sustain, in wider terms, is the skills you possess that help you survive – monetarily and non-monetarily. The point is: every human makes effort to sustain but few are selfless to serve out to others. Now serving doesn’t mean just handing out few coins or currency to the beggars sitting outside a temple! Serving is when you make others able. Modi ji is working ardently and assiduously for making India able! Providing education is the one of the various ways of making anyone able. Think for instance - What if every educated person in the country vows to bear the expense of educating at least two illiterate children up to school or even college? The implications are huge and inspiring. There are numerous other ways of making the deprived ones able and independent. If we do it with loyal dedication and selfless authenticity, India will soar up to the status of Super-India in no time!”           

“You nailed me, buddy!” I exclaimed out, amazed and bowled over by the concept. “You are right. Balance is the mantra, along with Sustain and Serve. The year has 12 months. Every month, if we work assiduously towards absorbing Modi ji’s qualities and vow to serve others within our capacity, then by the end of 2017, these qualities will eventually become our habits. Our life will have soared up to the next level of greatness and opened up avenue of possibilities! And, we will surely have awakened the “Modi” within us! Modi ji is simply a Super Man!”

Kushal laughed appreciatively, “Well, he’s both Simple Man and Super Man! So that’s my new year Resolution. What’s yours?”

“Mine is a simple one,” I offered with a wry smile, “Follow Modiji’s marvellous mantra and awake the “Modi” in me!” 

                                                                                ***      

                      

Note: The article is originally written by Saurav Somani and has the copyright on the same. According to the Copyright laws if the article is copied by anyone and posted in any forum, manually or electronically, due mention or reference shall be given to the original artist or author.

Journey of Excellence

“What differentiates Excellence from Perfection?” was the inquisitive question posed by our senior one day. As we floundered for words, she remarked jovially, “In excellence, you are perfect! In perfection, you aren’t excellent!”

We chuckled at the witty paradox but as I pondered over later, the remark seemed to carry much worth than meets the eye.

English Oxford’s Dictionary defines Excellence as “the state of being extremely good” and Perfection as “extremely good, exact and accurate with no faults”. In daily usage, both these words are used interchangeably and mean similar. One can say, “You are excellent!” or “You are perfect” to mean the same. But do they really? Well, delving deeper behind the words would dig out the difference and careful contemplation would clearly cut the two in different connotations.

Renowned author Thomas Greenspoon put it so excellently when he quipped: Excellence is openness to being wrong; Perfection is to be right. Excellence is a journey; Perfection is a destination. Metaphorically, perfection is like climbing the mountain’s peak. Excellence is climbing the same peak and looking forward to more peaks!

 Let’s exemplify the traits: Mr. P has been recently promoted to an elite position in a company. He adopts perfectionism in his ways and wouldn’t allow even a fleck of fault in any work. Even one innocent error is intolerant and could seriously jeopardize the committer’s position. He perceives his methods as perfect and his arrogance wouldn’t allow anyone to alter them. As days go by, his passion for perfection turns into obsession, and gradually many workers resign on account of such rigidity and red-tapism. Eventually, Mr. P, the perfectionist, too gets relegated to lower ranks.

Replace Mr. P with Mr. E, who, embraces the mantra of excellence and espouses the need for continuous flexibility and improvement. For him, an error enlightens the path of progress and pushes one to excel even more. People around him are at ease and are quite open to discuss novel ideas and new methods. Thus, the company’s principle of excellence paves the way for efficiency and effectiveness.

The above example elucidates how Excellence, if truly and earnestly espoused, can triumph over Perfection! In excellence, there is room for improvement and progress unlike in perfection. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that Perfection is arriving at a place and thinking the journey is over; Excellence is arriving at the same place but thinking the journey has just begun!  

The above concepts hold very well in every wake of life. To overcome a challenge successfully, the concept of excellence and not perfection should be adopted.

For professionals like layers the oceanic restructuring of laws and regulations are new challenges. For medical fraternity, the mighty challenges might be to triumph over new diseases and viruses to make a fitter world to live in. Such challenges in the ever-changing economy and society need to be confronted bravely and wisely. Likewise, everyone has their own personal challenges to overcome.

Striving for excellence should be the emphatic philosophy if we intend to excel in our respective arena. As a conclusion, mark the famous saying by author Salvador Dali: Have no fear of perfection-you’ll never reach it. Strive for excellence. Because, as aptly aforesaid, Excellence is a journey...

                                                                ***

Junk Food Invasion!

As I strode into a small hotel near my office, the delicious aroma around me increased my appetite. I inhaled deeply and breathed in the sweet, sour and spicy ambience of the hotel. Without flipping through the menu, I ordered a simple poori-bhaji with some salad. As I sat on my table, waiting for the dish, a sudden raucous laughter fell in my ears and I turned around to see a group of teenagers sitting beside me, chatting loudly. I felt weird, not because of their talking but because of the bizarre combination of food they were having: Noodles, colorful packets of chips and cans of soft drinks! 

I couldn’t help but wonder as to how, over the past few decades the junk foods have successfully infiltrated every nook and corner of the world. There has been a drastic food evolution since the advent of the junky eatables! Believe me it’s quite similar to an alien invasion over earth!

Junk food or fast food has almost zero-nutritional value and is known as “eatable enemy” for our health. Talking about junk foods instantly paints appetizing images in our mind: The gol-gappas, kachoris, samosas, vada-paos, paw-bhajis, aloo-tikis, hamburgers, rolls, chips, pakoras, momos and so many frizzed soft drinks. And yes, one cannot forget the three “P”s boasting itself in the top of every food list. Of course, I am talking about: Pizzas, Pastas, and Patties! They definitely sound like deadly missiles ready to explode out their toxics into our belly!  Whether it be any occasion – birthdays, anniversaries, get-togethers or festivals – these junky dishes always stay in the limelight and are the favorites for junksters (oh sorry, youngsters!)

Gone are the days, when the above foods were considered only as starters or snacks, but now they have gradually managed to promote themselves into the main course! Have you ever considered the reason for them being so influentially famous in the food arena? Well, given the simplicity and ease of preparing them, given their saucy and spicy taste, and given today’s trend of glamour and glitz, they have certainly ruled over the other so called nutritious food stuffs.

Let me give you an example of a diet of today’s youngster:

Breakfast:         Bread-butter-jam/Milk/eggs/pickle/sweet/bhujia (in home)

                         Kachori/Samosa/Sandwitch/one glass of juice/omelet (outside)

Lunch/Dinner: Roti/Rice/Potato dish/paneer dish/Dal/papad/salad (in home with less gravy)

Noodles/Pizza/Pasta (red sauce, white sauce)/Dosa/a much spicy potato dish/a much gravy   paneer dish/Fried rice/Dosa (outside)

 Now you are probably frowning. The diet which I have just written sounds a little healthy if not entirely junky. And obviously enjoying our meals once or twice in a week in hotels or restaurants is not a crime.   Alright, I agree with you. But that’s not where I want to throw light. I just want to impress upon the fact that there is a crucially important ingredient which is missing and I have deliberately excluded it from the above diet! It’s the vegetables. (The veggies may have noticed).

Again, one may argue that vegetables are not entirely avoided by the youngsters and they form a necessary part of daily diet. And again I will agree. Coriander leaves (dhania patta), Mint leaves (pudina), cabbage (patta Gobi), and peas (matar), cauliflower (phul-gobi), spinach (palak) are some of the common vegetables liked by everyone of every age. They obviously make some of the delicious dishes like dhania chutney, pudina chutney, and the evergreen matar paneer!  But what if I roll out the names of bitter gourd (karela), jack-fruit (katahal), Fenugreek leaves (methi patta), ridged gourd (torai), pointed gourd (parval), chulai patta (china spinach), Tlyme-leaved Graliola (brahmi) and so many others? Believe me most of today’s teens haven’t even heard the names! And speaking of karela and methi, the teens will undoubtedly wrinkle their noses in disgust if you ask them to eat these as if they have been given some sort of bitter punishment! 

I am not entirely against the junk foods. We all love junk foods one way or other but we should definitely set a limit on its intake and focus more on the nutritious vegetables and fruits.

Youngsters are full to brim with energy, enthusiasm and have passionate desire to secure a respected position in today’s competitive world. But let me tell you that most of today’s youths, though well-informed in diverse areas, are woefully ignorant in a particular field. Oh yes, it may sound weird: a youth may be a genius minded fellow, having secured All-India-ranks in so many sophisticated degrees but if you ask this youth that what is the current market price of tenga-palak, pudina patta, brahmi saag or even the famous potatoes and onions in the local area, I’ll bet you will definitely expect a completely confused look on his face!

The increasing urbanization of society and the hustle-bustle of fast-moving city life have somehow made the youths uncaring and indifferent towards their diet. The easy availability of junk foods and the attractive advertisements done by the food vendors are the common influential factors. Obesity, High cholesterol, lung diseases, Gastric problems, increased levels of blood pressure and sugar, weak liver, poor concentration and even depression are the ill-effects. Of course, one may debate that today’s youths are gradually inclining towards the fitness centers, gyms and are getting health-conscious. Definitely a healthy trend among the youths, I agree. Still, the junk-food problem remains a pervasively serious issue.

Having said about the irresistible eatable enemies, I am planning to stomach a spicy-creamy, tasty (yet junky) red sauce pasta dish, tonight! Cannot resist! Can You?