Month: August 2007

MEET GANDHI- THE FATHER OF OUR NATION

RajanThambehalli2 Comments

Its Independence Day, 60 years, calls in for a celebration. I felt, looking at the media, our commercial ventures made Independence Day lose its tactile sensitivity. It is great to see many different ads coming out; I feel that India has its tenet when celebrating any occasion.

Today morning, a friend of mine was writing an article on India, and she seemed to be very passionate about it. She wanted to underscore the beauty of India, and I am sure it will be good reading. I felt, “Chalo, even I shall share few of my adventures associated with Indian Independence with the same verve as she is.”

Last year, sometime in July, I selected few places of my own volition. The first stop was Ahemadabad. There was a reason to meet one of my good friends, Rachita, working out there. Well, the early signs of her stay at Gujarat weren’t encouraging. Her mother accompanied her, but they both didn’t seem to enjoy the visage of that particular environment. In a way, it is tough on us to be leaving our comfort zone (home) to some other place. I guess, at times, one shall wallow with circumstances when there aren’t many choices given.

I reached the place, and the first thing I did was to book a hotel room for myself. The weather was not dry and was cloudy. It was that time of the season where monsoon was expected any moment. I never set my heart on myself while traveling; I keep reminding myself that I have got too much wanderlust at times, and hence I allow my mind to control most of the situations. I did meet Rachita and her mom. In a way, they were happy to see me being there when there aren’t familiar faces around. They were staying at the company’s guest house until she found herself a place to stay.

The first day was spent in me spending most of my time with them. Rachita wasn’t feeling well for some days. Her mom and I went out in search of a house. We did meet quite a few agents and lots of places. We weren’t entirely happy with what we saw. In a way, getting a house that aunt and Rachita wanted seemed very tenuous, but never did they or even I lose any hope.

On my way back, next to my hotel, there was a theater. I am fond of movies, and I just went in to watch “Omkara.” I paid 20 bucks for this and got a good deal with the seating as well. I did realize the entertainment taxes out here in Bangalore were too much. I guess that goes the same way with any interstate movies.

Day 2: I wanted to visit places. I was sure this place was close. I took the rickshaw, and out I went.

Sabarmati Ashram it was.

I was always fascinated with the way Gandhi worked out his methods. Be it via Ben Kingsley in the movie ‘Gandhi’ or his experiments with truth; he somehow epitomized a man who is not just known for his tonsure.

Previously, I knew Gandhi only through movies and literature. As I walked into this tract of infinite wisdom, I was astonished to see and hear many facts about his life.

The ambience was refreshing, and the first thing I did was enter the museum, which had many of his writings and photographs.

One by one, as it flickered, I was an eagerness to know the reason for him being transcendent and set an example of being truculent by imbibing the concept of ahimsa.

Many of the portraits explained the transports of people and Gandhi in particular for a common purpose. Being Independent; free of being held in thrall by the British.

By looking at the photographs and the events depicted, I was vicarious with the events.
The vision of Gandhi was clear, to turn the barren administration into a verdant.
His veneer appearance spoke more than his abstinence practices. He had principles, and he followed them vehemently.

Few would argue or doubt his principles, but, he had a vision and a dream, he sensed to negate the ever-growing vex among his fellow countrymen, ahimsa was the way to go. He never veered with his principles even at the time of adversity. It spoke volumes of a man who stood by what he thought was veracious.

It was time to give back the voyeur British Government to stop impaling Indians (as we proudly say it) with their illogical, adamant, and, more importantly, egoistic practices at times.

Like, we say, the British did a lot of things that were responsible for the uproar. Spreading English education by Sir William Bentick and encouraging Indians to take part in civil services were precedent for self-awakening for souls.

At times, the vitriolic and virulent attitude of certain officers made us realize that it was high time we needed our land to be ruled by our leaders, not aliens.

I don’t want to go back into history but would like to share the vignette I have or instead I saw out there at the ashram.

It was his sheer dedication and determination that saw the British wane out eventually.

Well, Gandhi didn’t become a leader; he was made to lead. He led because people had faith in him; he had confidence in himself and his abilities to take on the rampant opposition.

However, some people were in opposition to what he believed in. Instead of blaming each other, we must acknowledge the best of all the worlds because everyone had a common goal.

A nation boasting people who are religious, moral, unsavory, fearless, shy, etc

There are possibilities of conflicts of principles and interests. But in this case, it was only principles because the appeal was the same. All had a common interest.

Finally, the Gandhian principles prevailed, and he turned out to be the primary catalyst for our freedom. So he was our Father of the Nation. If Bose had survived and got us freedom through his principles, he would have been bestowed with the above title.

Ultimately, it is all about being survival of the fittest; Gandhi just proved, he need not be physically fit; his taut principles and the tensile strength were indeed very fit.

Even now, his idealisms doesn’t seem to be uncouth; it’s just that we need the courage to follow them. One has to be tendentious and then follow it up. Gandhi’s idealism was accepted because we were short of ideas, and we just took it because it worked for us. So, in theory, the situation is very different now. We need to use these idealisms to fight within rather than people.

Also, people wanted and waited to hear at that time, and it isn’t the same; although people want to hear, do they have time to wait?

And by the time I reached the end of the portrait section, I realized that being independent doesn’t mean staying away or not being dependent on others, Independent means, unclogging ourselves with the ailments we carry throughout the day.

In the real sense, freedom means free ourselves from the prison of our thoughts, which inhibits our movements. This could bring a degree of tempestuous situations at times within us, but it is better to tarry decisions than to end up being tawdry.

Sometimes, we need to carry the necessary unguent to the sore mental muscles. That comes with wisdom. Gandhi expressed the need to read literature and be aware of the world that takes us a step closer to being independent.

If independence means not being dependent, wisdom helps us be aware of situations and, hence, less dependent on others. Serve the food you like; the buffet is ready.

It is better to enjoy the best of all worlds at our disposal than criticize being drawn to the comparison. However, if the comparison is what brings in the money for others, let it be at professional life instead of taking it to our personal lives.

Towards the end of the portrait section, a portrait of his funeral is displayed. Nearly three lakh people gathered on that day.

He wore the robe of verisimilitude. His deeds are indeed highly venerable from all places across the world.

After a while, I visited his home, Hriday Kunj. A familiar sight of a Gandhian sat there. I asked him about the history of this place, he explained in a detailed manner. He did mix his Hindi with Gujarati; I was unimpeachable and didn’t show any signs of not understanding when he spoke in Gujarati. But I could sense what it meant.

I entered the place; it was refreshing. One could forget all the venial thoughts. Except for his room, all other rooms were accessible. Although, one could get a glance at how his room looked like.

And after this, I could see the sad sight of River Sabarmati. It was polluted and dry. Thankfully, Government is restoring the river through one of its projects.

The forecast was rain showers that day, but even the weather gods couldn’t vitiate my visit to this ashram. I could summarize his principles in this way. V for Verity and not Vendetta.

In a way, whenever I behave devilishly, I never realized what went before me. Did people of my age at that time enjoy similar privileges?

The point is it’s not comparing our lives with that of our ancestors. It is all about learning and being progressive. Like we progressed from monkeys to humans, our thoughts must advance. It is all about creating better positions for the coming generations rather than concentrating on minor issues.

I know our tyranny might not help us in progress. But doesn’t the situation arise once again what our ancestors faced?

It is true; history repeats. And it is also true, one must learn from our history.

Sometimes we do dream of having many things. It is all about transmuting our dreams into actualities. The challenges faced in realizing our dreams are what we call the driving forces of life. One could be a hero like Gandhi, Bose, etc., bowled by their talisman qualities.

The way our mind progresses, the problems would have reached another level as well. As proportionately, we are all in the same league as our ancestors were.

In a way, it is equivalent to the lives we live with the ways our forefathers lived. I know it has changed a lot. But, change is the only constant thing in this world.

It is not just to remember them on particular days being allotted as National Holidays.

The way they thought about us being in the right positions would be better if we do the same by thinking of our country’s future. Oh yes, there would be a Gandhi, Bose coming out again. It is likely to be a combination of many qualities than those reminiscent of Gandhi alone or, in particular, any other person alone.

I managed to catch the rickshaw and headed towards the hotel. I realized every idea works as long as it works and continues to work if it had worked.

WHAT WAS ‘I’ RANTING?

RajanThambehalli1 Comment

Incensed by the world around me, I keep wondering how things can be so different; I see people living their lives in the most logical way possible and few others who expect things to happen, busy with their incantation. It’s ingrained in my mind; I meet people who are either ingenuous or ingrate people. I like being an inquisitor and more sort of an interloper who invades into many facets of life.

I heard that thinking about oneself is not being selfish. For most parts of my life, I saw this aspect being mastered only by certain people whose ideals were insuperable and insurmountable.

Their interminable willpower and the ability to deal with inimical, iniquitous people and environment is something I kept wondering whether it is innate or has been cultivated by wisdom. This is a group of intelligentsia, where academic qualification doesn’t have much say.

They lead an idyllic life, minus all the impetuous situations. They do not implore for a living and, for that matter, to be happy; they instead seek out or rather construct a pathway to their intellectual success. They may be impecunious, but they do not rely much on money; although they realize that money is essential, it isn’t that important. They are impregnable to the greed of wealth in the form of money; they prefer the indissoluble’s wealth, unlike cash, which goes through a series of incursions at times.

I was getting curious to meet any one of them who possess such remarkable skills that are incontrovertible. I was an itinerant in search of this spiritual Guru from whom I could imbibe specific skills.

I had to give up many things searching for this Guru, I was not sure, but I wanted to learn. So after reluctance, I was inveigled into this spiritual journey. I was inured to my house, family, and other things that were ineluctable since childhood. I did leave, and few miles I started walking. After few days, I was out of my indigenous place.

Few friends did drop by to change my decision, which, according to them, didn’t make any sense at this point in my life. By this time, I was imbued with similar talks, and I was beginning to immure my purpose by their advice.

To be frank, I was happy to find some friends who wanted me to come back; mainly, they didn’t want me to go out of my comfort zone. Well, one friend just came near me and told “Forget the imbroglio out here, instead of this imposture, you go and discover yourself; I hope this journey shall incapacitate all the unnecessary bugs on your mind.

You have taken a bold step, make sure you are not imprudent on this journey, and at the same time, you incite with all the beautiful things around you. Things can be inclement at times, but that will only help you strengthen your will. Initially, the results of your efforts will be imperceptible, but prolonging your choice shall make your mind inundated with thoughts that will come in handy throughout your journey”.

Won’t I be termed as a hermit if I am not with my friends? And, is it possible to retain my individuality with the inveterate group of people I end up meeting each day?

Life at times can be intractable to those who are invidious with the things and people around them. Hence they lose a chance to appreciate the other side of the coin of life. Accompanying such kind of people at times can be irksome. Some of the quibbles they have are inane to the nth order. True, it is incommodious to include them in our lives, but in no way do we have the right to be invective and indict them with hatred ness.

Their qualities are not irremediable, and neither are we here to find a remedy for others. We are here to find a cure for our inborn illness, and no physicians or chemists have a solution for this. It is us and you for your life.

People not understanding this might lead to an insubstantial life, but I look at it this way; from others’ failures, one must learn. Hence, if the other person enjoys committing mistakes, one must learn not to make them instead of subjecting ourselves to insubordination.

First and foremost, we must learn to agree to disagree on many aspects of life and mainly people’s behavior. People’s actions are irrevocable, just like ours. By knowing ourselves, one can avoid being irreverent to the life we are given to lead.

Through self-awareness, one can imagine iridescent qualities that will ingratiate with the people struggling to know themselves. The majority of the opinions are based on the actions taken by us in a similar situation.

We appreciate it if it goes on par with our thinking; we tend to inveigh the actions if we do not think similarly, or it becomes an innovation if we do not have any idea about the stories.

So basically, most of us do not have any clue as to what is happening in our life. One must be insightful and inter the trivial things that happen around us. One must never interdict the process of “practical intellectual learning.”

PIL, as I would describe. One that happens each moment, it must be realized. PIL has an inordinate fondness of helping us, training us to make our lives better, but very few people learn this, and others behave as though they are inanimate for PIL.

Everyone has their defined problems; it’s mundane. One’s choices determine the outcome. A few of them are time precision, and others are inopportune.

To practice PIL, one need not be an ascetic. One can choose to be intermittent. To be present and mingle with the people and at the same time be separated from the world through sheer will power.

One need not meditate on the snowy mountains to attain intellectual knowledge; one can learn only by being present in this world surrounded by people. This learning to start with is not inscrutable, and with keen dedication, we can get rid of specific infirmity, which inhibits our intellectual growth.

By being more self-aware, one can see the distinctions with people around us and accept the indignation at times. Self-awareness brings indissoluble changes and mostly for the better. One can be inebriated with many thoughts that are not useful, and hence we end up being branded as inept.

Interesting things do happen; one likes to be infantile in decision making others can infract. Exceptionally few conclusions can be indubitable, and sadly even they aren’t spared these days due to differences in opinion that voices out from each corner in this world. So with many people around, authentic learning happens when one allows others to impale our body with their thoughts, which fights with our ideals to indenture to alien ideas.

The fight between standards of self with people is the impetus of life.

It is a war, compromise, friendship and one encounters many personalities during this war. Impertinent, impetuous, imperious, impolitic, incendiary, incontinent, insidious, insolvent, insouciant, insurgent are some of the qualities that impute an infernal life.

However, on the flip side, some people incrust rate themselves with fortitude. More often than not, the battle would be with the former, and hence the outcome can be indomitable and inexorable. So with many people around, we can very well accept that everyone cannot be perfect and carry out things in a manner of inerrancy.

All human beings are capable of error, so why being fussy in living in this world. We need to train ourselves to lift the incubus hovering around us and incur things that aids to intellectual growth.

In a way, we indite our literature of life, and all we must ensure, the pages of our literature to be indelible by people who lead an incorporeal life. By knowing ourselves, we can detach the incognito bug by our identity to indemnify some aspects moving forward. When people can live the life impugning, making incisive remarks about others, why can’t you live quite the opposite way?

The challenge is to avoid immolating our lives to the circumstances instead of fighting the imbecility within us and not waiting until the realization time is imminent.

Instead of leading a life filled with a feeling of ignominy, we have a chance to live quite the opposite manner, which is free from impunity as a result of our actions. We must not allow circumstances to incarcerate us and reduce us to a state of impuissance.

What must I cultivate to strengthen my PIL?

Be an incumbent in your mental office. Keep accurate records of all the things that you do. Never give a chance to incriminate your downfall on others, even if you do, do not prolong it or rather do not repeat it. We do make mistakes and go off track in our impromptu living style.

Allow your mind to accept the impropriety in many facets of life since not all things are made to perfection. Human life is inalienable to many things; one must not try to change it for self-satisfaction. Some remarks are imponderable; hence do not bother to weigh the full import of the content. It doesn’t have it in any case.

View your life like a movie and the circumstances as adventures. Keep your options open so that you don’t reach a stage of impasse, wherein there is no escape. Cultivate the will power so that it is impalpable to the various temptations thrown around. Be importunate to certain things all by yourself to realize the capacity and, to an extent, to gauge one’s tolerance limits.

Appreciate things you have and never importune for stuff in a greedy way; few things go our way, and all other items in our favor are highly implausible.

Instead of imprecating others for being a catalyst in your downfall and treating them with indignity, try not to be severe. Some things are meant to happen in a certain way. The beauty of life and the mystery associated with it is in interpreting events that occur in a certain way.

Instead of blaming situations and passing impious remarks about others, one must cultivate the habit of decoding the event language and becoming better interpreters of life. So you must be able to defend yourself against direct accusations in the same spirit as the innuendos on one’s character.

Certain things are ruled by one’s thoughts and others from different people’s opinions. We must reduce the interregnum between these two reigns that control our mind and its subsequent actions. And one must not show insolence towards the turn of events; one must learn from it rather than get ruined.

Mind and body must be nourished with positive elements so that they are stress-free and reduce the internecine nature of body and mind when combined during stress.

There are rewards and punishment for every deed in this life itself, so you must be responsible for your actions. When great people die early, it is not injustice; it is just that we don’t deserve them or go away to learn something from it.

When a particular section of greats faces adversity, it is a lesson to learn how they overcome it, rather than cursing it or feeling sorry about it. Things happening beyond your control are irreproachable and irreparable at times.

Certain people’s deeds are irrepressible along with their curiosity, so we encounter irreconcilable situations. Still, such things or course of events must be irrefutable rather than us reacting in an irate manner.

An iota of common sense and intellectual knowledge will take us nowhere near our destiny. We must be leaders of our future, and leaders should never appear irresolute when decisions are made. And Remember …………………”

It’s 11 am; oh man, why did I sleep so much???

I took my bath, and while driving, I just got reminded of the very different events. Very few times, my heart and mind weren’t in a state of insurrection. They concurred to many previously intangible things.

Maybe they did, I was surprised. In the interim, let me finish my work today and think about interpreting my dream later in the day when I get back. At least, I am not impenitent for them to join hands; it will be for something better. It wouldn’t be improvident.

Just when I was thinking more about this, I reached my customer’s place. I didn’t know why I am writing this; all I can say is a hidden purpose, and eventually, I did get to know. I could see the word-ly power of me in I.