At 60! Feeling Helpless?

Life is strange. As children we are dependent on our parents for most of the things. We respect them, love them, care for them as our universe starts from them and ends at them. We grow up, start working, earning and become independent. We no longer have to plead them to eat an ice-cream. Slowly, we imagine ourselves as the supreme leader in the family and forget the sacrifices that they have done to bring us up.

A week ago, I was travelling from Bareilly to Rudrapur by a UP transport bus. An old lady (60+) was sitting with me. We were about to reach Rudrapur. She tried to call her son couple of times so that he could come to the bus-stand to receive her, but she could not. She asked me to help her. I called and gave the phone to her. She put the phone on “Loudspeaker” to listen clearly. Her daughter-in-law picked up the phone and asked her to come on her own. Her husband in the background told the same to her. Old lady pleaded to send her son as she was carrying 3 bags with her and it was already 11 at night. She refused and cut the phone call. Everyone in the bus could hear the conversation. I saw her face. She was tensed, frightened, dejected and could cry at any moment. I felt for the lady. In this cold, temperature below 8, it was difficult to even put your hands out of the pocket.

We reached the bus-stand. I took her bags and helped her, get down the bus. I called a rickshaw for her. She sat and I paid the money. The lady moved her hand over my head in order to give her blessings. She left and I took another rickshaw to my hotel.

I had mixed feelings. I felt bad for what the lady has to go through and felt good that I did nice gesture by helping her. I wonder how children change their feelings towards their parents. We can see many such cases in our neighborhood, where the children abandon their parents or exploit them daily. A lot of introspection is required about how our societies are moving. With the economic growth, the life expectancy in India is also increasing. We all need to secure our future so that we don’t land up in such situations.

Some of the things that we can do are: inculcate good family values to our children. Make them understand that they too will become parents one day. Do not name your assets- land or property after them in advance. Try old-age shelters if nothing works. Do not waste your pension. Try saving some part of it. It is for your benefit only. Children are already losing a lot by not taking their parents’ guidance, which they don’t understand. At the same time government needs to take initiatives for the old age people.

All I can say is let’s be strong to face such adversity in life. Do not expect much. And I hope none of us have to see such a day in our lives.   

U Are Nothing, But a Mass of Habits

The dictionary meaning of habit is “An acquired behavior pattern regularly followed until it has become almost involuntary”. Most of our life is habitual. You do the same things that you did yesterday. That’s how life goes on. You never realize which of your habits are good or bad, just because you don’t analyze them. It happens with everyone.

When I was a child, I remember my father told me once to think everything that you did today before going to sleep. Think what were the things that you did wrong, and not to repeat them. And repeat this each day. This will help you to become a nice individual. After that day, my father never asked me to check whether I was following this practice each day or not. If he would have done that, I would have probably followed it from my childhood days. So, the truth is, I never thought of this question even once for the next 10 years of my life; before one fine day I realized some of my flaws and the number of times I repeated them.

You see, there is no age of developing good habits. Some of us are lucky enough to have great childhood learning, in the proper guidance of their family members. Some might not have it. But, life teaches each one of us. We all fall some or the other time in life, but the important thing is to learn from that fall and continue the journey with more confidence by converting bad habits into good ones.

I remember I had this habit of procrastinating things. Whenever there is any task to do, there is usually some time frame given to complete that task. I used to procrastinate the task up to the last very day. Once, I had to pay heavy price for this bad habit of mine. And that day, I swore before the God I will never ever delay the things.

   

You go and analyze lives of top CEOs of MNCs, top analysts of any country, top officials, top sportsmen, anyone who is doing outstanding in their field of work. They manage thousands, lacks of people. But, you see how they manage themselves. Each and every second of their lives are bounded by their good habits.

Even a small change you do today and make it a habit, it can result in a big way after some years. If you need to keep growing, changes are necessary. Learn to change according to the situation, learn to improvise, otherwise you will fall behind and the time will prevail. Make good habits because habits whatever may be good or bad make you who you are. Remember “Good Things Will Always Remain Good”; how, where, when they might help you in some or the other way, you just can’t imagine.

   

                                                                                                                                                      

A TRIBUTE TO MY FRIENDS

It has been quite a while that I have started writing. I never thought that I would or I should say I could write on a public interface. I have been poor in English throughout my student life. Over the time, I have improved as a writer, as a thinker. Every time I sit to write something, I delve into my past, my life, which has been a normal kind of sorts but unique in its own way. I search out for something, something interesting enough for u all to know. My motive is just to bring happy grin on your face. The little praises like “Gud one”, “Nice” have kept me on and I am really thankful to you all. I want to give special thanks to Anirudh who has been fountainhead of inspiration to me. I want to thank Rashmi, Nitin, Aditya, Tushar, Tushar, Navanshee, Alpa, Pankaj, Pankaj, Ankur, Sadhvi, Jitesh, Rajesh, Lav, Naseem, Rahul, Hitesh and many more who have constantly read my blogs and supported me.

Life is a combination of journeys or phases. One gets over, other starts. Each one has a different impact on us. These small, little stories that I have shared with you are a part of a journey that I have covered with u all. I hope to continue writing more of some stories in the time to come. Remember hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies. ...

COLLEGE LIFE

With less than 2 months to the end of our college, I can’t imagine that momentous day when I will say goodbye to my friends, classmates with whom I have spent last 4 yrs. Its amazing how quickly the time passes and we just continue to move with its wheel.

4yrs of my college life are as clear as crystal in mind. I still remember the first day I walked into the campus with a fear of getting ragged by seniors. We all classmates used to remain together wherever we went (even while going to loo). I remember myself being caught by my seniors on a number of occasions and making me do silly things; but that was fun. I liked it because everything was done in controlled and friendly manner.

Today, when the college is almost over, I can say that there are many such things that I have felt, learnt, experienced in these 4yrs and I consider all those people lucky who enjoy their college life to the fullest. College is about friends, about fun, about exploring the real world. It’s the phase when you enter into adult life and parents give you freedom that you were looking for in the school. Now how to handle that freedom is in your hands. It can either improve you or spoil you.

I remember being tortured in school with those strict rules and regulations. The first time I bunked in college was real fun. I couldn’t believe that the teacher is coming to teach us and all the students of the class are running away after writing “THE CLASS IS ON BUNK TODAY” on blackboard. And there were many such occasions when we bunked the classes and went out to watch the latest movie.

There was hardly anyone in the class who was not called by their nicknames. Making fun of others had become our daily routine. There were numerous moments when our eyes got filled with tears after a big laugh. There was hardly any sentence in which someone didn’t abuse someone else. Taking photographs of each other, giving funny poses.

I am sure everyone had many short time crushes if not the full fledged love story. Some things that we came across in every semester were: Copying the assignments, photocopying the syllabus just a day before exam, running after teachers to complete the attendance, cultural rehearsals before Fest, bullying the person performing on stage and what not…

The tension before job interview; the disappointment after not being selected and the elation after being selected are ultimate moments of life.

But beyond all this, I want to say that college life is the time when a person starts understanding himself more than anyone else. It’s the time of life when one starts foreseeing his career; where he wants his life to be after 5 or 10 yrs. Away from all this fun, he starts taking his life seriously. Other than studies, this is the time of grooming one’s personality and start thinking from a wider perspective.

There are many more things that I want to say about college life, but I guess the words will always seem less when we talk about college.