On a Different Note

Pursue happiness vs Create happiness

noreply@blogger.com (Dolly) — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 09:27:00 +0000

"Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" is one of the most famous phrases in the United States Declaration of Independence.

Should we pursue happiness or create happiness? When we closely examine is there a difference between the two?

I read somewhere:
Happiness is Created Through Self Awareness
Self Awareness is the Path to Self Mastery
Self Mastery leads to the personal power to choose Happiness

Wealth, fame, power etc cannot keep us happy. We should know what we really want from life and what to give back to life.

Your destiny is in your hands

noreply@blogger.com (Dolly) — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 09:26:00 +0000

"Watch your thoughts, for they become words.

Watch your words, for they become actions.

Watch your actions, for they become habits.

Watch your habits, for they become character

Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny."

~UNKNOWN

Begging is Illegal

noreply@blogger.com (Dolly) — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 07:59:00 +0000

Beggars at traffic signals, beggars at religious places, beggars on the street, beggars who come to your house, beggars on trains, beggars near restaurants all of them pull at your heart strings, make you feel guilty of being better off than them, make you give some money to them so that you can overcome the guilt.

What we have to keep in mind the next time we reach our wallet to give money to the beggars is that begging is illegal. There are a lot of criminals using begging as an easy way to make money. In fact begging is a big business. There are kids who are forced into begging, there are people who are mutilated so that they can beg. There are drugs bought from the money received from begging.

If you want to give something to somebody who begs, let it be not money but something in kind like food or clothes. Food is the safest option.

What's in a name?

noreply@blogger.com (Dolly) — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 08:33:00 +0000

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose
by any other name would smell as sweet."

From William Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet"

Whose fault is it?

noreply@blogger.com (Dolly) — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 07:49:00 +0000

Our life did not turn out how we wanted it to be. Whose fault is it? Is the reason our upbringing or our childhood trauma or our fate or XYZ person or the country we live in?

The sole reason for how our life turns out is because of the choices we make in life, the decisions we make in life. Nobody is responsible for our present success or failure than we ourselves. Unless we take responsibility for the outcome of our life we cannot be successful.

All You Need Is.....

noreply@blogger.com (Dolly) — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 07:46:00 +0000

All You Need Is .....

If you were to choose one of the following options, what would it be?

Love, Wealth, Peace of Mind, Fame, Success, Friendship, Education, Knowledge, Immortality, Beauty, Health, Sex

Is not having one of these options the reason behind us not getting what we actually want from life?

How Long Does One Success Last?

noreply@blogger.com (Dolly) — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 12:27:00 +0000

How long does one success last? Of course, till the next failure. The thumb rule is not to be affected by your success or failures. Learn from your failures and become a success at the next attempt. Do not not be vain when you are a success. The people who puts up with your tantrums when you are a success knows very well to put you down too when you are a failure. Just be a good human being at all times.

Daily Motivator

noreply@blogger.com (Dolly) — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 12:17:00 +0000

The mail I enjoy reading everyday is from an ex colleague who sends the daily motivators. http://greatday.com/motivate/. Anybody who wants to begin your day on a positive note can visit the site and get the daily motivators. Hats off to Ralph Marston who writes the motivators.

Experience

noreply@blogger.com (Dolly) — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 12:02:00 +0000

Experience is the best teacher. We learn a lot from our experiences. But, do we need to experience everything to learn? Can't we learn from the experiences of others? A very bad experience I had and I do not want others to experience is the pain when we break the bone.
How do we know what are the things worth the experience and what are best avoided? Do our upbringing and circumstances play a role in helping us decide what we should experience and what is best avoided?

What Really Matters

noreply@blogger.com (Dolly) — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 11:58:00 +0000

In our day to day life we do a lot of things, we meet a number of people, we undergo a number of emotions. Many times we wonder if our life is taking the right direction.
Many times we realise that we are not happy with how things turned out for us or how things
turned out in our relationships.
How do we make things work for us? How do we be happy at the end of the day? By doing things that really matters and being with people who really matters.
How do we know what really matters and who really matters?
If you are a person who wants to give back to society, you can take hints from the following
story:
Once there was a very powerful king. He had many wise people as his ministers. He was a very wise and learned person himself. Once his son asked him three questions.
1) What is the most important time in my life?
2) Who is the most important person in my life?
3) What is the most important work in my life?

The King thought for a long time but he could not find the answers. He asked all his learned
ministers. None of their replies satisfied him. He announced a fortune for anyone who could give him satisfactory answers to the questions. Still, he could not get satisfactory answers.
One of his ministers told him that there was a very learned hermit who lived in the jungle nearby. So he went to meet the hermit.
On the way he was attacked by a rival king. As he was not prepared for the attack he got badly hurt. The hermit who heard the noise found the wounded king and nursed him back to health. The king got better and he came to know that the person who had saved him is the hermit who he had come to ask the questions.
He thanked the hermit and asked him the three questions.

The hermit smiled at him and said. "Well son, the most important time in your life is now or the present. You cannot change your past or you do not know what your future has for you. So now is the most important time. Use it well. The most important person in your life is the person you are with at the moment. You do not know if you will be alive to be with somebody else and the most important work in your life is to do good to the person you are with at the moment."

Accident and the Lessons

noreply@blogger.com (Dolly) — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 18:22:00 +0000

A few days back while returning home from office, I happened to witness an accident on the road between a Honda Civic car and a 220CC Pulsar. The Pulsar guy fell on the road and was not willing to get up in spite of the passersby helping him. I suppose nothing serious happened other than a few bruises. The Civic guy was more concerned with his car and instead of helping the fallen Pulsar guy he was examining his car for damages and shouting at him for riding the bike rashly.

I remembered the accident I had almost an year back, which was a lot more serious than this one. I was riding pillion on the bike. We were going fast I suppose and at a junction a Tata Sumo coming faster than us from the right hit us. Nothing happened to my friend who was riding the bike. I suffered multiple fractures on my right leg. I have a rod and four screws in my right leg that the doctors then said can be taken out after two years.

The accident did the following things to me:

A very active person like me was forced to lead a sedentary life.
Even to go 100 metres I use my scooty PEP+ , as walking is very painful.
For the first time in my life I remember being completely dependent on others for the first fifteen days after the accident.
I am afraid to use my car as I think it will be difficult to put the brake and accelerator with my right leg.
Going for treks and aerobics that I used to do before the accident now remains a distant dream.
I started counting my blessings. At least I could take the rod out after two years. I did not have to amputate my leg.
I became more optimistic. I still remember the first time I walked without support after the accident. It was a big victory for me. Now, after a year, people seeing me walk will not realise I have a rod in my leg.

My accident made me put together the following safety rules on the road that I mention to first time drivers/riders and people who ride rashly:

Always go slow at junctions.
Never turn the road into a race course.
Do not take unnecessary ego hassles on the road.
Be cool and level headed once you take the drivers/riders seat.
Speed thrills but kills.
Better late to reach the destination late than reach the destination never due to rash driving.
Lane driving is sane driving.
Always horn before overtaking.
If you want to go left and there is a vehicle in front of you do not overtake the vehicle and go left because the vehicle in front might be going straight. I have seen a lot of accidents take place because of this.
If there is a bigger speeding vehicle behind you, give side and let it pass.
Never sit in the drivers seat if you consumed alcohol or allow anybody who is drunk to drive.
Use the indicators for turns and even if you want to change the lane.
Concentrate on the road while driving.
Use the rear view mirror to check vehicles behind.
Know your vehicle well and the braking time required for your vehicle.
Keep proper distance from the vehicle in front and also from the vehicle at the side while overtaking.

If these rules are followed almost all accidents can be prevented. Even if somebody else is driving rashly you can follow these rules and save yourself. Remember that there are people who want to see you alive. At least for their sake drive safe.

Possession or Multiple Personality Disorder

noreply@blogger.com (Dolly) — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 16:25:00 +0000

Recently I watched the Hindi movie 1920. The storyline of the movie is about possession and exorcism. I have seen a number of movies on exorcism. Possessed person is somebody in whose body an evil spirit or spirits reside. Exorcism is the method in which evil spirits are forced out from a possessed person.
I do not believe in God. I do not believe in spirits or ghosts. When I was younger I often wondered how people got possessed if there were no ghosts and spirits. Now I know that the "possessed person" suffers from a psychological condition called Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID).
The American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) describes Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) as "a psychiatric diagnosis that describes a condition in which a single person displays multiple distinct identities or personalities, each with its own pattern of perceiving and interacting with the environment. The diagnosis requires that at least two personalities routinely take control of the individual behavior with an associated memory loss that goes beyond normal forgetfulness; in addition, symptoms cannot be due to substance abuse or medical condition". Earlier versions of the DSM named the condition multiple personality disorder (MPD).

The symptoms, causes and treatment mentioned below are what I got from the Internet when I searched for DID.

Symptoms

Multiple mannerisms, attitudes and beliefs that are dissimilar to each other
Headaches and other body pains
Distortion or loss of subjective time
Depersonalization
Amnesia
Depression

Patients may experience an extremely broad array of other symptoms that resemble epilepsy, schizophrenia, anxiety, Mood disorders, post traumatic stress, personality, and eating disorders.

Causes

The causes of dissociative identity disorder have not been rightly identified.
The causes are linked with the following:

Overwhelming stress,
Traumatic antecedents,
Insufficient childhood nurturing,
An innate ability to dissociate memories or experiences from consciousness.
Prolonged childhood abuse

Treatment

Treatment of DID may attempt to "reconnect" the identities of the disparate alters into a single functioning identity. Treatment methods may include psychotherapy and medications.

But there is an important question that is bothering me. If there is nothing called possession then how come people with DID has been cured by exorcism? I am waiting to get hold of a psychiatrist or psychologist to get the answer.

Sexual Liberation

noreply@blogger.com (Dolly) — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 16:21:00 +0000

About a year back before I went to the US, I asked a cousin who is also a close friend what he wanted me to get for him when I returned.
"Well, I suppose I get everything in India. Even though the electronic items are cheaper there, I would prefer paying tax to the Indian government and buying them here. If you want you can get for me a few sex toys." he said.
"What?" I asked, thinking I did not hear properly. He repeated what he said and asked me to look up http://www.adameve.com/ the online sex toy shop. He knows I am a non judgemental person.
"If it is an online sex toy store, why don't you order it online? Why do you want me to get it for you?" I asked.
"Don't you think I have not done it?" He asked grinning. "See, Sex toys are banned in India So even though we purchase the sex toys online and the store sends it to us, we will not get it because it will be caught in the customs."
The conversation got me thinking. How come the government bans sex toys? Why are we such a prudish nation?
I asked a few people around. Some of them said that might be the government thinks that only perverts use sex toys and it is against the law of nature.
Does using a sex toy make you a pervert? Of course, NO. If it is so, then sex for pleasure that 99% of the human population indulge in is perversion.

It is high time that we as a nation stopped being hypocrites.

INDIAN NATIONAL ANTHEM - The BEST National Anthem in the World?

noreply@blogger.com (Dolly) — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 05:05:00 +0000

"UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) announces INDIAN NATIONAL ANTHEM as the BEST National Anthem in the World" was the subject of a mail that was recently circulated. There is also information on the Internet that it is a hoax email. Check the link http://teck.in/indian-national-anthem-is-the-best-national-anthem.html

The following are the wordings of the national anthem:

Jaana Gaana Maana Adhinayaka Jayehe
Bharata bhagya vidhata;
Punjaba Sindhu Gujarata Maratha,
Dravida Utkala Banga,
Vindhya, Himachala, Jamuna, Ganga,
Ucchhala Jaladhitaranga;
Taba Shubha Naame Jaage
Taba Shubha Ashish Maage
Gaye taba jaya gaatha.
Jana gana mangala dayaka jaya he
Bharata bhagya vidhata.
Jaya he, jaya he, jaya he,
Jaya jaya jaya, jaya he!

The following is the english translation of the National Anathem:

O! Dispenser of India's destiny, thou art the ruler of the minds of all people
Thy name rouses the hearts of Punjab, Sindh, Gujarat, the Maratha country,
in the Dravida country, Utkala and Bengal;
It echoes in the hills of the Vindhyas and Himalayas,
it mingles in the rhapsodies of the pure waters of Yamuna and the Ganges.
They chant only thy name.
They seek only thy auspicious blessings.
They sing only the glory of thy victory.
The salvation of all people waits in thy hands,
O! Dispenser of India's destiny, thou art the ruler of the minds of all people
Victory to thee, Victory to thee, Victory to thee,
Victory, Victory, Victory, Victory to thee!

There was controversy regarding making "Jana Gana Mana" as the national anthem of India. Tagore wrote the poem in December 1911 at the time of coronation of George v. Some people considered the poem written in praise of the king. They argued Tagore was calling the king, "the overlord of India's destiny".

Tagore said he wrote the poem in honour of God. In a letter to Pulin Behari Sen,Tagore wrote:
"A certain high official in His Majesty's service, who was also my friend, had requested that I write a song of felicitation towards the Emperor. The request simply amazed me. It caused a great stir in my heart. In response to that great mental turmoil, I pronounced the victory in Jana Gana Mana of that Bhagya Vidhata [God of Destiny] of India who has from age after age held steadfast the reins of India's chariot through rise and fall, through the straight path and the curved. That Lord of Destiny, that Reader of the Collective Mind of India, that Perennial Guide, could never be George V, George VI, or any other George. Even my official friend understood this about the song. After all, even if his admiration for the crown was excessive, he was not lacking in simple common sense."

Vande Mataram was rejected as national anthem of India on the grounds that Muslims felt offended by the song's depiction of the nation as "Mother Durga", a Hindu goddess.

If I was in a position of power when "Jana Gana Mana" was considered for the national anthem, being a rationalist, I would have protested and tried my best to choose a poem with a theme that was not religious but patriotic.

Kerala - God's Own Country

noreply@blogger.com (Dolly) — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 03:24:00 +0000

This weekend I am planning to go to Kerala, my native place. Kerala is also known as God's Own Country. The state is also known as God's own country with devil's own people.
If you are a first time visitor to Kerala, you will be amazed by its beauty. There are hill stations, beaches, backwaters, wild life, historic places, palaces, islands and trekking spots. As a tourist you will find the keralites a friendly lot too. They will blow you over by their wisdom and experience. I am proud to be a keralite and the moment I touch the boundary, I enter a mental state of contentment.
But, beneath all this superficial beauty and wisdom, there are some realities that I have noticed. Keralites are very hypocritical. When they are outside Kerala, Keralites are very adjusting people. But once inside kerala something in the wind changes them. They become very opinionated, stubborn, with strong political views, and without dignity of labour.
Long back I read somewhere that the country's highest number of suicides and mental derangement are reported from kerala. A kerala boy living outside kerala might have many girlfriends but once he reaches Kerala, he will not talk to any unknown girls. He will be the ideal son and brother.
I agree there are many negative points in other states of India too. Might be a lot more, but none of the states are marketed as God's own country by the tourist department. When your state has got that tag, you wish God's own people also live there.

My Book

noreply@blogger.com (Dolly) — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 04:38:00 +0000

The book I always dream of writing will be called “I am, so am I”. Through my book, I want to give back to society in terms of projecting some issues, creating awareness, and questioning traditions and superstitions. I want to inspire and move millions, both with the plot and the words.

The center character will be a counselor. There will be seven plots in the form of six people coming to the psychiatrist (female) for counseling and one plot is the story of the psychiatrist herself. The six people are 1) an ambitious person (female) in the corporate world. 2) A person (female) with a relationship problem. 3) A gay student coming to terms with his sexuality 4) An Internet addict (male), 5) A person with multiple personality disorder (female) 6) A God man (male).

The book will take give a glimpse into the human psychology to understand why people behave the way they do. The book will also be a motivational book, celebrating the indomitable human spirit.

The central character will closely hold all the seven plots. The book will be both controversial and engaging.

Perception is not Reality

noreply@blogger.com (Dolly) — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 04:27:00 +0000

Many a time the truth is not what we already know or what we like to hear. There are many traditions that we follow blindly. Unless we look at some issues of life without any bias for what they are we cannot under the issue as a whole. We evaluate a person or a circumstance according to our perception.
There is a story that shows how changing our perception can give a completely different picture of the situation: -
A young woman was sitting in the airport waiting for her delayed flight. She went and bought a box of cookies to eat and kept it in her cabin bag. She took her seat in the waiting area. Next to her seat was middle-aged man. After reading her magazine for some time, she reached to her bag and took out the box of cookies and opened it. As soon as she took a cookie from the box, the man next to her also took one.
She was stunned. “What an ill mannered man”, she thought. But because she did not want to create a scene over some cookies, she did not say anything and behaved as if she did not mind.
For every cookie she took from the box, the man also took one. At last they came to the last cookie. Then the man did a very strange thing, he took the cookie, broke the cookie into half and gave her half. “This is the height of inappropriateness”, the woman thought. “Wait till I get back to my friends and tell about this strange man”.
The woman’s flight arrived and she left the man still sitting there. In the flight, when she reached to take a tissue from the bag, she found her box of cookies intact. All the while, she was eating from the man’s box of cookies. All on a sudden all the bad impression she had formed about the man changed into good ones. She was able to see the man with a new light. A change in perception led to a change in opinion.

Reservation

noreply@blogger.com (Dolly) — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 04:23:00 +0000

The Reservation Bill for professional courses and private jobs has created quite a stir in the Indian sub continent. A large number of students, especially medical students protested against the bill. There were instances of violence too. Political parties twist the issue to their benefits.
The students argue that admissions to higher education and private jobs should be on the basis of merit.
Government is providing free school and subsidized college education to poor students. But a student who is educated from a government school is never at par with a student who gets private education. The quality of government education is very poor. The government should take steps to address this issue of gap in quality of government and private education.
Students who appear for competitive exams for professional courses take tuition. These tuition are very expensive and unaffordable by poor students. The rich kids could take the tuition and pass the competitive exams not because they are superior but just because their parents had money. Reservation for poor students is a way to address this issue unless the government conducts tuition for the poor students or agrees to pay for their tuition costs.
Until the government addresses the issue of quality gap in government and private education and bearing of tuition costs for competitive exams, reservation should be given to poor students. Reservation shouldn't be caste based but all poor students irrespective of caste and creed should get the benefit.
There are people who are of the view that people from lower caste should get reservation because even today it is the lower caste people who do menial jobs like toilet cleaning and sweeping.
What the government can do is go for conditional reservations. In areas where even today there are untouchables, reservation should be caste based. In areas where the caste system has stabilized reservation should be for poor people irrespective of caste. There are even places in India where minority groups like Muslims and Christians bear the burnt. In such places reservation should be given to the minority groups.
It is high time people in India understood the Dignity of labor and came forward to take up any job.

Future

noreply@blogger.com (Dolly) — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 03:55:00 +0000

The past is gone there is no use being haunted by your past. If you think you are a no one at present. Don’t worry work on you future. It is yours. Start working for it. Write down what you want to be in the future. Don’t set unrealistic goals. I quote a poem I wrote on "Future".

“FUTURE” – An ode

Hail to thee, my beloved

Forever by me bothered

My sole hope, thou knowest

Life to thee, l, owest

The worried of hidden past

The sorrows of half-hid present

Wiped out and made humorous

When thy apparition in mind’s eye credulous

Thy presence makes me feel wonderful

Promises to thee my head full

Night after night tossing in bed

Sleep for me alone dead

Thought after thought mincing heart small

I, for means striving, to make it whole

Oft secure only in thy encircling hands

Oh! What ecstasy! Ere dawn, flying over lands.

Thou art my life, hope, my creation

Otherwise serene my sole recreation

When asked about my inspiration

Thy propelling power, I mention

To them, I say, who call me crazy

“Thou art in thy opinion racy”

Care not about the hidden past

Your struggle canst wipe it least

Little bother about half-hid present

That’s soon to become parcel of past

Yonder the future; grasp it, make it thy creation

There by a protector too, that’s my notion

Welcome to thee my prosperous future

Pine I for thee, than any other creature.

Rules for Sucess

noreply@blogger.com (Dolly) — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 03:53:00 +0000

A few basic rules to become a success are:-

1) Failures are the stepping stones to success. If you fail don’t give up hope. Learn from your failures what went wrong and try again.
2) Everything in this world started as an idea so action should follow plans. Knowing what to do and taking the right steps lead to success.
3) Develop your potential.
4) Do not procrastinate.
5) Always have an optimistic attitude.
6) Put in lots of hard work.
7) Pride goes before a fall. Always be humble but be stern whenever necessary.
8) What you think you are, you become. So think of yourself as a success.

Last Words

noreply@blogger.com (Dolly) — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 03:44:00 +0000

I would like to quote the last words of a few famous people who were not prepared for their death, who didn’t know what real achievement was:-

1. Caesare Borgia the statesman said “During the course of my life I have made provisions for everything, but I forgot about death, now I must die completely unprepared”.

2. Voltaire the famous cynic had a terrible end. His nurse said “For all the money in Europe I would not want to relieve that evening. He cried for forgiveness the whole night.”

3. David Hume, the atheist desperately shouted his last words “I am in flames!”

4. King Charles IX, said as he died, “My soul, my soul, what will become of you?”

5. Sir Winston Churchill whispered “what a fool I have been.”

6. Lenin died in mental derangement, imploring chairs and tables for forgiveness.

Achievement

noreply@blogger.com (Dolly) — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 03:41:00 +0000

Let us look at a poem which talks about real achievement.

Achievement

“That man is a success who has lived well,
laughed often and loved much,
who has gained the respect of intelligent men,
and the love of children,
who has filled his niche and accomplished his tasks,
who leaves the world better than he found it,
whether by an improved poppy,
a perfect poem, a rescued soul,
who never lacked appreciation of earth’s
beauty or failed to express it,
who looked for the best in others
and gave the best he had."

Anonymous

Religious Practices: Rich Lady and Chicken

noreply@blogger.com (Dolly) — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 03:34:00 +0000

Let us look at a story which helps us to understand now many of the religious traditions came into practice.

Once a rich lady called some friends together for dinner. She bought chicken and just before cooking, she cut half the chicken and threw it into the dustbin. Her friends were very curious by he act. “Why did you do that”? they asked “My mother used to do it but I am not sure whey she did it.” the rich lady replied. So one day her friends went to her mother to get an explanation.
“Well, my mother used to do it so I copied her” the mother replied. The friends were all the more curious. One day all of them went to the rich lady’s grandmother’s house. The old lady was very old and weak and they thanked their stars that they could meet her before she said farewell to this world. “Well”, she began feebly when the question was put to her, “ at that time we just had a small cooker and we didn’t have a refrigerator, so there was no option but to throw away what didn’t fit in the cooker. At that time chicken wasn’t as costly as today.”

This is how most of our religious practices are. We just don’t question why we do it.

Jumping to conclusions: Blind Men and Elephant

noreply@blogger.com (Dolly) — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 03:33:00 +0000

The four blind men had never seen an elephant as they were blind from birth. All of them had heard a lot about elephants. One day someone brought an elephant to them and said “Touch and feel how an elephant is”. The first blind man touched the trunk and said “The elephant might look like a snake because it feels like a snake”. The second blind man touched the ear and said “ you are wrong the elephant might look like a fan”. The third blind man touched the tip of the tail and said “Both of you are wrong the elephant might look like a broom”. The fourth blind man touched the foot of the elephant and said “The three of you are wrong the elephant might look like the trunk of tree”.
Can we say each of them were correct? No can we say each of them were wrong? No, each of their version plus a lot more is the truth. Do we jump to conclusions just hearing one part of the whole?

Gandhiji

noreply@blogger.com (Dolly) — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 03:28:00 +0000

When in college I wrote an article “Gandhiji – will he got promotion to the state of a divine being” for the college magazine, which shows how gods are created. The article is written here for your reference.

“Gandhiji – I love him, admire him, respect him – words just can’t express my feelings for that great man, who sacrificed his life for a great cause. But why I have often wondered. This enabled me to develop my “Theory of respect of Admiration” according to my theory, “A person respects or admires or adores another because the better has some qualities which the former wishes to have or are capable of deeds which the former never can”. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi had many qualities which I wish to have especially his simplicity, I also think it is very difficult for me to do even a fragment of what he did for this beloved country of ours.

Even though Gandhiji, addressed so by the people respectfully, has been dead only for five decades or so he seems to be a legend to the present young generation. “Generations to come will scarce believe that such a one walked on this earth in flesh and blood”.This was the tribute paid by Albert Einstein to Gandhi.

I agree that its difficult to grasp the fact that a man with such a gentle and soft voice,with such a frail and diminutive figure , clad in a loin cloth attained freedom for a vast nation like ours with his simple but very noble doctrines of non-violence and non co-operation. Nations all over the world are proud of one leader or other. But no nation has ever had or will have a great leader like Gandhi. His only weapon was his strong will power. He provoked awe and respect even in the British against whom he fought. They addressed him as the half naked hero. When he died the whole world was shocked as if another Christ had been nailed to the cross. Such was the impact of Gandhi on the times in which he lived.

My love for the great national hero forces me to take a few precautions. I have to take measure to prevent my children from being influenced by my admiration for Gandhi . The trouble is that when I respect him as a great leader they will start respecting him as a guru and their children will start respecting him as a guru and their children( my grandchildren) will in turn respect him as God. This is because as the generation gap increases the original qualities of the person are exaggerated, more and more enabling an ordinary man to evolve into a divine being.

This tendency was present more during the times when people didn’t have as much scientific knowledge as today or when people didn’t have scientific temper. This must be reason why not many religions are created today; there are only variations of present ones. After a century or two the attainment of our freedom from the British will be considered as a miracle performed by Gandhi.

This view in itself gives enough material for the brainy ones to argue against its probability by saying that if it were so then equally great national leaders like Lenin, Napoleon, Hitler, Julius Caesar, Alexander and the like would have experienced it. The above mentioned men were to a large extent admired for their physical strength or courage. Their love for service, patriotism etc didn’t extent to the people beyond a certain margin. In a way it is not wrong to say that they were selfish. But Gandhiji’s word’s served as a soothing balm to every aching heart, irrespective of nationality, caste, creed and sex. Even without me mentioning all of you my co-citizens must know his greatness.

I can prove my view by referring to Sree Narayana Guru of Kerala. He was completely against idol worship. He wanted his followers to believe that one’s God was inside oneself. He advised them not to use liquor as it was poisonous. But what are his so called followers doing now. They have fixed his idols in glass cases all over Kerala so that people can ask for his blessings also put money in the attached money box on the pretext of attaining some wish or the other. (giving bribe to gods is common practice now?). The walls of some toddy shops in Kerala are adorned with his framed photograph with an electric candle burning in front of it. The drinkers have their quota of smalls, large or double large sitting below it. What a paradox!!!

Gandhiji’s greatness can be appreciated only if he is considered one among us – a man of the century. He not only preached but translated into practice the ideas of non – possession and voluntary poverty. He came down to the level of the poorest of the poor whom he wanted to serve. I am even ready to give up my life, to prevent our blind people from converting him into a divine being. But the trouble is that then I will got promotion to a great disciple or daughter or whatever the people fancy me to be of Gandhi to whom he appeared in a vision and asked to give up my life for the well being of his followers”.