The Human Spirit

An unfortunate and ghastly incident on the night of 16th December has stirred up the entire nation and the angry citizens are out on the roads demanding better social security. More than enough has been said, written, debated since then about what should be done to prevent such incidents from recurring. I don’t want to add to that save that maybe the change begins from us. Rather than looking for the solution from the state, we as citizens should look at ourselves and be less barbaric.


The point that I want to talk about is that somewhere down the line the human spirit in all of us is dying. Incidents like these fortify the thoughts that have been fed in us since childhood about not talking to/trusting strangers and helping someone who might genuinely need help. I don’t blame anyone for having such thoughts as everyone wants to be safe and who knows what resides inside that “normal” looking frame.

So if you see a woman on a chilly winter morning figuring out a way to reach office, would you stop by or drive on or a 50 year old on a windy evening waiting for some sort of transportation to get home. Will you stop or will you think twice. Most of us would drive on because of the aforesaid reasons but just think that those people could genuinely need help. What if your father/ sister/ mother were in a similar situation and a stranger helped them. Wouldn’t you bless them for doing so.

In between all the protests, anger, debates etc. I think we should just step back a bit and not let the human spirit die. I think that’s the biggest need of the hour.

Acceptance

Many a times we struggle in fighting our demons. Our mind plays constant games with us and we put a lot of pressure on ourselves. Long hours of introspection, sleepless nights – all for something which might in the end be not worth being so worried about.


I think a lot of us end up taking life too seriously and live in the anticipation of the perfectness of it. The fact is that life will never be perfect and the beauty of it lies in it’s imperfectness. The unknown challenges that it keeps throwing always keeps us on the edge and the hope of a brighter tomorrow fuels our belief to carry on.

The key here is acceptance. We should be able to embrace the good and the not so good aspects of life with open arms. If we are able to do so, we will not get intimidated easily and therefore will have less demons to struggle with.

PS: There are things that we can change, we should have the strength to do it. There are things that we can’t, we should have the humility to accept that. And we should have the good sense to know the difference between the two.

Homecoming

8 years after passing out from school, I relived some of those great moments again at the Platinum Jubilee Celebrations at Welham. Half my batch had made it for the event and it was 4 days of crazy fun, catching up on old times. It seemed we never left.

Though the school has changed immensely since then, the essence still remains the same. No matter what new boundaries or buildings you build, no matter how many principals, teachers and batches come and go, the essence of a Welham manages to remain the same. What more, even the samosa, sandwich, tea and coffee still taste the same as they did 20 years ago.

It was heartening to revisit the hostels where we spent so much time, see our beds, meet the bearers who still managed to remember us even after so many years, be a part of assembly and read the prayer and sing the hymn.

It’s a connect that’ll remain forever and all I wish is if I could go back in time and relive those days.   

Just a Thought: Twenty One

In the balance scale
Faith & belief far outweigh all logics and reasoning

Sustenance

The weather in Delhi has tried it’s best to make the festive season a bit hazy, but the spirits don’t seem to be slacking. There’s an atmosphere of celebration and people are really looking forward to the Diwali break.

However, what people are not looking forward to is the reality about environmental sustenance. There’s a lot of talk around green & sustainable energy and companies are driving initiatives around it (GE and Mahindra for example). However, the governments and individuals seem to be lacking the enthusiasm that is needed to push these initiatives wherein they would really make an impact. Too little is being done in few pockets. The need of the hour is to look at the menace of pollution at a war footing else we might be in a situation where we might need to wear oxygen masks to walk out.

Just a Thought: Twenty

The burden of Karma carries with you
And is your only companion
As you walk away into oblivion

Hand of God

I'm not referring Maradonna's hand but the ubiquitous hand of the pedestrians in NCR. It's the ultimate weapon that they possess. No matter what the situation is, how heavy or fast moving the traffic is, the hand of god will be out and everything else is supposed to stop and make way for them.

I understand that the traffic etiquette and rules are not pedestrian friendly but at least they can wait for an appropriate moment to step in instead of just barging on the road with their ever so powerful hand. I also understand that India is a power hungry nation and everyone likes to practice whatever power they can. So till the time I find a more powerful weapon than the hand of god, happy braking and hopefully happy driving.