Learning LIFE!!!

THAT DAY...

2012-08-20T06:36:00.003-07:00

One of my neighbourhood friend’s uncle died last year. He used to live nearby our house. He would everyday go out of his house early morning, god knows where, and then return extremely late at night, drunk. He never talked with anyone in the neighbourhood. Nobody liked mainly for two reasons. First, he was an all day drunkard and secondly he was an unemployed person or so was what the people believed as no one knew what he did for a living. As for me, he was the strangest to person I have ever met. So far, I had come across him only once or twice and honestly, he used to scare me. One sudden day, we got the news that he expired due to high blood pressure. At first I thought who would come to such a person’s funeral but I was so wrong. For the very next day, we came to know to some things about that same person which changed everybody’s point of view about that person. That same person who was an unemployed drunkard and even regarded worthless in the society, as e came to know, was the founder of a social club. He was helping with the studies of poor children through his club. He had also helped built a small temple for a slum area nearby and always used to bring sweets for the children living there. Everyone was shocked when these people who had been touched by his life came to pay their last respects to him. I was touched. While all thought this man to be some worthless man in the society, he turned out to be someone else all together.

What I learned that day, what I learned from life were mainly two things. Firstly, we should never judge anyone until and unless we know their inner side and till we know that e certainly have no right to judge them. Secondly and most importantly, just like that day our life has many things to teach us every single day of our life. Life is like a teacher who gives us practicals first and then theories. It is like a book, ever teaching, ever growing…

GRANTED

2012-08-20T06:32:00.003-07:00

I was in standard five. Our class teacher was new in school. I gave her a very good impression about myself the very first day. With time, I became one of her favorite student. But then one day I did something which broke her trust on me. She always wanted my good and I in return had hurt her. I really felt bad at heart. I decided to apologize to her and promise her that I would never do anything like that again. But somehow that never came out of my mouth. I always thought – ‘She is going nowhere. I will tell her tomorrow.’ And as if it was some kind of a joke she did go away somewhere but my ‘tomorrow’ still never came. She went away even before it was her six months in school and for her I never could become the good girl I once was. And I could have if only I hadn’t taken things for granted…

What I learnt from that year, what I learnt from life was that we should never take anything for granted, ever. Everything has its value and perhaps we learn its value only when it is absent in our life.

So if you have anything to say to anyone, say it today, for no one knows what’s in store for tomorrow. Say it today, do it now. For if that ‘tomorrow’ never comes, ask me how it feels. You’ll carry a burden so deep, so heavy and so large that you’ll never be able to forget it…

THE SHORTCUT TO SUCCESS

2012-08-20T06:30:00.002-07:00

Once I did very bad in my exams. I was disheartened. But more than that I was ashamed. I thought, what would the others think of me? For I had never done bad in my exams in my entire life. I didn’t even feel like studying anymore. What was the point? I would never get back to where I once was, I always kept on saying.

Then one day, one of my teacher called me. He had been observing my behavior since day one. He asked me what my problem was. At first I hesitated but later I told him everything. After hearing my problem, he was at first shocked. I wasn’t like that. And then he told me what perhaps changed my whole point of view for looking at failures. My teacher told that those who fail aren’t failures but those who quit are actually the real failures. He made me understand that if I worked hard from now on then I could easily get back to the height where I once was. But for that I have to work hard every single day. So if I was going to behave like this for the rest of my life then I was really being a loser. His words touched my mind and soul. I understood what he was trying to say. But what I remember most clearly were these following lines – “Remember Ray, failures who never give up are the real winners and failures who quit are the losers. This is the only difference between winners and losers.” Saying so he left. But what he left behind was determined now. I was back. I realized my foolishness. I was just being stupid and wasting my golden time while I should have been studying.

So after that I did not waste a single second. I kept on working hard and worked on all my weak points. Finally, it was exam time again. And then it was time for my results. When I saw my mark sheet my happiness saw no boundaries. I had done very well infact far better than I had ever done. Everyone congratulated me. I realized that no one remembered that this same person had done so bad in her last exams. I was very happy.

What I learnt from that day, what I learnt from life were mainly three things. Firstly, I learnt that only and only quitters were the real failures. Secondly, I learnt that people always remember the present. Everyone forgets the past. So if something bad ever happens to you in the past, make it better in the present. Thirdly and most importantly I learnt the shortcut to happiness which is working hard every single day. So, if you work hard everyday then you will definitely meet success very soon on your way – a thing I will always remember for the rest of my life…

THOSE TIMES WE HAD...

2012-06-30T04:45:00.000-07:00

“We are sure our future will be bright...” as we sang the last line of our school anthem, I felt a mixed sensation of happiness and sadness flowing in the air. A mixture of happiness on the grand success of our annual function and sadness, being the last day of the three day long annual cum parent’s function.

No wonder time flies like an arrow. I still felt like it was only yesterday that we had started our rehearsals for the program. The memories were still so fresh...

*******

“THE MERCHANT OF VENICE!” announced one of the girls. Everybody’s heart was beating fast including mine. We all had assembled in the library room for the very first day of our drama practice for the annual day function. Nobody knew what we were going to do. But what we knew was that we were going to do something. And that was enough for us to be excited about. And since this was our last annual day function ever in this school we were double excited.

After sometime we started with the first scene of the play. We carried on with the play or rather reading out the dialogues of the play, till the third scene. As we finished the last line of the third scene, little did we know that our actual practices were starting only from then.

We were asked to start again from the very beginning by our teachers. Well, that was understandable. It was our second or third time only but deep at heart all of us wanted to finish the whole script once. Anyway, we began from the very beginning of the play again.

But this time as if someone had tied huge chains to us, we could never finish more than the first page of the script in a day. It was only on rare occasions when we would reach the second scene leave alone the third one. And everyday anyone to come on stage to play their role would surely get thousands of mistakes pointed out from them and thousands of corrections for them from the teachers. This carried on for atleast one and a half week. Nobody could be more frustrated than we were right then. Nobody could understand what our teachers were trying to do and why were they doing so. What we knew was that it was making us feel miserable!

Slowly as the days went by, our play was taking some shape. All were glad. But the time we had ahead was even less than two weeks. We had to work harder and faster. Nonetheless our ‘per day only one scene’ agenda carried on. Nobody could be happier to see the whole play being completed atleast for once than us, we thought. After two weeks of hard work we finally did manage to complete the whole drama one day. Really, one should have seen the broad smiles on our faces!

By then, everyone was called by their characters like the one playing ‘Antonio’ was called Antonio and the others were likewise called Bassanio, Shylock, Morocco, etc according to their characters. Infact we all were more familiar with these names than anybody’s actual names.

And who can forget the great times that we, the group members, had together. Despite our miserable never ending practices and the thousands of corrections that we used to get on every dialogue, we always would manage to find some way out to have some fun time. In the little time that we got between the scene changes, we would sit in circles and then chat about all the unusual topics possible or sing our time out. I think that was one talent that we all shared!

Slowly the little time that we had also swept away and we were hardly left with a day or two. Everyone started making props for the play like painting the chairs, making scrolls etc. And it was in these few days that our team work started to blossom. We, along with our teachers, were putting our heart and soul to make the play a huge success.

Finally the big day arrived. It was everyone’s first stage play and so we all were terribly scared. But with our costumes and make up on, we all felt quite confident and were ready to go. We really did well that day and honestly, it was a great achievement for all of us. Two more days to go, we thought as that day came to an end. But as we went down the stage on the third day after finishing the play, we could feel our hearts getting heavy. It was only then did I realize that I would really miss our practices and do anything to get that first day of our rehearsals back. Those times that we had together, those never-ending practices, those thousands of corrections we were asked to rectify, those times when we had fun together were nothing but fond memories now. We would really miss them.

And the thing or rather the ones we would really miss the most was our dear teachers who had put their heart and soul equally or perhaps a lot more than us in the play to make it a grand success. We can never forget the number of headaches they took for us – correcting our mistakes every time we went on stage, running behind our backs to complete the play, preparing our costumes and props etc. Infact, it wouldn’t be wrong to say that our play would never be complete without our four dear teachers. This article can never be complete without saying a huge ‘THANK YOU’ to you all!

As I look back at those days now, I realize that I had learned many things from that play...many things from life. Out of them I would like to mention two. The first one is that team work, dedication and hardwork is very important for anything we do, in order to make it a huge success. And the second one is that often while trying to reach our goal, we get so excited by thinking what lies beyond that goal that we miss the things on our way. And speaking the truth it’s not the goal or what lies beyond that really matters, it’s the journey, it’s the things that we learn on our way. It’s those little things, those little times that we have on our way. Those are what that really matters.

And one more thing, two days after the function we got the news that we ‘MIGHT’ do the play again for a function in the near future. We were already jumping our heads out when we got this news. Well, what do they say – “ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS (really!!!) WELL!”

[This article was sent to me by one of my friend.]

THE OTHER SIDE OF THE COIN

2012-02-13T02:13:00.000-08:00

Last year I got a beautiful opportunity to meet Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, the former president of India in an interactive session held in Gurukul Grammar Higher sec. School Guwahati Assam. Dr. Kalam was supposed to answer the questions of some selected students in the interactive session. But due to lack of time he couldn’t answer everyone’s questions. A sea of sad faces seemed to flow everywhere. But to our surprise, Dr. Kalam before leaving announced that whoever would send him their questions within 24 hours in his given email id, they would surely get their answers. I was overwhelmed. As soon as I reached home, the first thing I did was that I opened my email account and sent him my questions in his given email id. I simply crossed my finger and hoped that I would get a reply soon. Much to my rejoice I did get a reply. This was as follows —

On Mon, Oct 24, 2011 at 11:40 AM, Susie (name changed) wrote:

Dear sir,

I was present in the interactive session held in Gurukul Grammar Higher Sec. School Guwahati Assam. I have some questions to ask to you.

My question are as:-

1} When and How will India be truly called an independent and developed country. When will India be a country free from all sorts of caste and creed and a country not painted in 28 different colours but in just one colour i.e., colour of unity. How will science contribute to it?

2} There are so many vices prevailing in India like marginalization, corruption, caste system etc.which anyone of the many ,according to you, when eradicated, will not only lead to development in one sphere but in the other sphere also.

3} Nobody wants to be teachers nowadays everybody thinks that it is a very low profile job. But I think that it is Infact one of the highest ranking job, For teachers build the mindset of the future builders of the nation. I want to know your opinion here, sir.

REPLY:

Dear Ray,

Thank you for your mail. You have been looking at dark things in the society. I would like you to see the bright side of the society as well. Further, the aspects which you have mentioned can be corrected only by citizens like you. All these aspects cannot be corrected by the government. Each one of us have to practice unity of minds, non-differentiation in terms of religion, caste, creed and develop an attitude of giving. Such an approach will make India a developed nation before the year 2020 which will be devoid of all the negative things pictured by you.

Greetings and best wishes

Kalam.

After getting this reply, I was moved. It maybe true that I have never even met Dr. Kalam in person but this one email changed my way of looking over things. It taught me to look at the other side of the coin too. It taught me to be positive in life.

What I learnt from this email, what I learnt from LIFE is that we must learn to look at the positive side of the picture; before asking for our rights we should know and do our duties. We must learn to look at the other side of the coin too, a lesson which had, has and will leave a deep impact on me perhaps forever...

THE MUSICAL STRING

2012-02-12T06:05:00.000-08:00

Music has a great influence on everyone. I mean, there will be hardly anyone who doesn’t like music. Well, I’d say music has its own way to get into one’s ears.

Music just takes you away to another world. It’s a, well, just a version of fairytale. You just listen to a song and you just fly away. Music speaks in a way everyone understands yet no one does. Music is just magical. Musically magical!

There will be many who listen to songs day and night. Maybe even you! But have you ever given this thought that while you are listening to a particular song how many are listening to that same song at that same time around the globe? Many songs inspire us. For some there are songs which just change their life. And there will be many more whose life has been inspired by the same song which have perhaps inspired me and you. And there are times when you walk through an alien road and then you hear a song in somebody else’s player that is in your playlist too. Though you don’t know that person, you feel connected. You feel connected through that song. What will you name this connection that has been made between you and me and thousands of others through music? How will you name it?

For me, music is like an invisible bond, a musical string that connects you and me and everyone around the globe together. A language we all know and speak.

I have asked a lot of people what does music mean to them. Almost everyone’s answer was same. They said that music isn’t just words and harmony for them. It’s like their dairy through which they sing and convey their feelings. It’s like their food which gives them power to move ahead in life. It’s like a mirror which shows them what they really are. That’s what music to them is.

What I learnt from my day to day life, what I learnt from LIFE is that music ties everyone around the world into an unknowing bond way too powerful and perhaps way too effective.

And music carries a power with it which is way beyond us. No one knows when music exactly started. But it is said that music began with humans. Hence one can say that music was, has and always will be within us.

But seriously what is music? Well it’s a mystery. A musical and magical mystery...