The War that Wasn’t

There is less water in the river this year. The river which was once mighty was flowing now through a shallow and narrow passageway. Like the river, all the lifeforms dependent on river except humans have shrunk too. Forest have died, birds have flown away and deep-water fishes have migrated.  But these are not the only thing bothering Mitthu. The prolonged, one-sided passive war with human kind (self-claimed Sapiens) had been the main source of distress and anguish.

The war had begun long time ago, probably millions of year before now. As always, economics was the basic reason for the face-off. Resource scarcity and competition makes the living tough and leads to confrontation. This war was no different than any other but for two things. First, the war had been continually going on for thousands of years. Second, humans who were actively capturing and decimating their counterparts were oblivious to any such war going on.

They have no written record of it. For when it started, they knew little about record keeping. But the nature always keeps record of everything. It is like a continuously operating camera with infinite record capacity, though most of recordings go directly into archive.

It all began with the evolution of sapiens. They started altering the course of nature and time. Unknowingly at first and deliberately later. They spread like a forest fire of Sahara with no rains coming as a savior. They changed the balance between natural forcing and anthropological forcing. Renaissance came as a blessing for human kind, but spelled disaster for non-sapiens. The successive industrial revolution added to the nightmare.

It was not like non-sapiens did not protest. They used various techniques to pressurize and persuade the sapiens. They first vacated niches to accommodate the extravagant needs of humans. But it only enhanced their self-indulgent nature. Many took sub-ordinate positions and serves them as masters, but only to further epicureanism. Some presented themselves as eatable, some as decorative and some as entertainers.

Mitthu was also one of the entertainers. She serves her master well, but serving was not the only thing she was doing. She was learning their ways. She spoke their languages, knew their preferences and way of living. She knew that one day she will have to use every trick up her sleeve for an everlasting, peaceful, and flourishing life that could perpetuate to eternity. But right now her priority was to serve her master and make him happy.

When these methods of serving seemed futile, they offered passive resistance. Some started hunger strike, some forego their duties, some limited themselves to very small ecumene. The hunger and drought made many weak and they suffered ill-fated death, totally uncalled for and untimely death. They biggest of non-sapiens had the largest heart and first they went extinct. Mitthu always felt that there is no such thing as extinct, the purest must be roaming amongst the Gods.

In spite of everything, the sapiens continued as if it was none of their business and none of their doings. Mitthu knew that all the efforts were falling on deaf ears. She knew that the Sapiens had forgotten the old art of responding to the songs of nature. Failure was all non-sapiens had to show for all the efforts and sacrifices. But they deserved better and that’s what she was preparing for and waiting for the right time to seal a deal towards a bright and wholesome future.

Even amongst the non-sapiens, many were apprehensive of methods of pleasing and path of passive resistance, as not everyone was willing to sacrifice their freedom and future of their kids to mis-deeds of sapiens. A few furious and fierce souls among them wanted to teach sapiens hard lessons for their unforgivable mistakes. This is coming in the form of wrath of nature and mass suicide campaigns (especially from sea living symbiotic creatures, the corals and fishes), Some had developed vengeful revolutionary weapons which were able to go through the defensive mechanisms of sapiens and had ability to wipe them out. Mitthu knew that this cannot be the way forward as humans have acquired many niches and it will have disruptive effect on the survival of every lifeform.

She was in favour of passive resistance along with constructive talks with them to reach at a possible compromise. Even she had some momentary lapses, especially when she remembered her unborn child who had perished to felling of a lush green tree where they nested. But she knew war of this magnitude cannot be fought for personal motives. She was aware of the real reason for the apathy of sapiens. Earlier sapiens had purposefully ignored the art of listening and understanding of nature of their comfort and unfortunately, the later had forgotten the history.

Sapiens were even worse than nuclear disasters and natural calamities. Once a friend from north, Siber the Carne, had told her about how life was flourishing at Chernobyl after nuclear disaster induced human evacuation. In her mind, she had thought about colluding with Microbe De Bacteria for waging a full scale war against them. After all, they cared about none. They have outwitted and eliminated even their siblings like Proto De Neanderthals.

These were the thoughts bothering the recently elected leader of non-sapiens, Mitthu De Parrot. She was sitting on the bank of river Sabarmati and pondering about her next move to stop all the madness that was slowly but surely pushing the world towards an end.

She was aware of the desperate cries of survival coming from the fish community of the river. After all, in a first, fishes were dying of thirst. She was mindful of the request of trees who were starving for the want of soil. She was cognizant of the plight of birds who were perishing for the want of air. She was aware of the dreaded outcomes of the full-scale war that might be just days away. Everything depended on her next move which she knew cannot be delayed anymore.

This wasn’t going to be easy, but what comes easy doesn’t last long. She wasn’t afraid. She was sitting where once the most inspiring and worshipped Mr. Gandhi used to sit and think. Sapiens have forgotten about him. She knew if she’s able to remind them of him, they will listen and negotiate. She wasn’t afraid as she already was at Sabarmati. She wasn’t afraid as she knew this is a war no one can afford to lose. She wasn’t afraid as she felt the divine presence of Mr. Gandhi with her. She wasn’t afraid as she was ready. Tomorrow is going to be a long day, so she flies to a bare tree on the roadside to find the sleep which had eluded her for the past few days.

Parashar Lake

The land of Sage Parashar, a beauty of hills is nearly 50 km from Mandi. A pleasant trek through the forest. Must place to visit in Himachal. Here are some pictures.

The trek Starts from this place.

Frost on the grass…

View from the Top

 

 

The Sacred Parashar Lake and adjoining temple.

To Kill a Mockingbird

To Kill a Mockingbird is a 1960 novel by Harper Lee who has brought to life the happenings of Maycomb County. This is an unforgettable and touching story which presents an organic picture of the county life at that point of time. The author presents the story of contrasting human attitude for people of different races.

The prejudice and hypocrisy of human mind and few men’s fight to change the way of thinking is attempted by the author through character of Mr. Finch. The irrational and inhuman attitudes of that time have been countered strongly by few children. The free child mind could not understand the injustice being done on the basis of race. They saw everyone as equals.

Shoot all Bluejays you want, if you can hit them, but remember it’s a sin to kill a Mockingbird. Here the Bluejays represent the guilty people irrespective of race, class etc. The Mockingbird are honest innocent section of people. The central gist of novel is to make it clear to readers that it’s not colour that makes one white or black. But it is character and deed. Mockingbird are sweet song birds. They do not hurt anyone. They should not become target of human ignorance.

Shimla View from Mall Road

 

The queen of hills- Shimla. Very nice place to visit. Neat and clean city. Recommend to visit at least once. Christmas time would be most perfect to visit.

The view is from Mall Road. Some colonial structures are prominently visible.

Year of No Resolutions-2017

Happy New Year 2017 to all.

The Year 2016 has ended and the public, as usual, welcomed 2017 with open arms and all the hope they could have probably garnered. During the last few days of 2016, the people started contemplating the things they would do in the coming year. They year 2016 must have felt neglected. It must have remembered its beginning and the way it has treated 2015. It must have regretted the doctrine of karma.

One thing is constant in nature and that is Change. So the demise of 2016 and advent of 2017 was a fix. People have always worshiped the rising sun and neglected the setting sun. This led to a underrated farewell of 2016. We can say that it reaped what it sowed, but this tradition has continued for so long now. To blame the Year for this would be naive, rather it can help us understand an important aspect of human behaviour.

We usually tend to give more importance to what is coming than what there is. We like to procrastinate things. We let bygones be bygones. This attitude makes us welcome the future and under-utilize the present. We make resolutions for new year at the expense of what we could and should start any morning. This is the reason why most people can not realize their new year resolution and it become a cyclic feature to make resolution every year to not complete it.

2016 would have been a mixed bag for most, terrible for few and awesome for some. But one thing would have been common for all- the Lessons.

I, too, learnt a few important things. I learnt the true meaning of child is the father of man. I learnt the importance of small talks and how they can be all you need at times. I learnt that love can last longer than life. I learnt that resolutions started on new years are over-hyped and the daily resolutions have better chances of being realized. I learnt that we should be ready to welcome any opportunity if and when it knocks.

That is why, we should welcome 2017 with open mind and flexibility than a strict new year resolution and declare it as Year of No Resolutions. We should Take a day as it comes and let us venture into unknown frontiers than limiting ourselves in known boundaries of resolutions.

Dear Zindagi…

 

Dear Zindagi,

A very welcoming Hello to you. I have been missing you lately and to rekindle our love I am writing this to you. A note to others- This post has nothing to do with the movie Dear Zindagi. Any resemblance is purely coincidental.

Dear Zindagi, you come in so many colours, so many shades and so many flavours. You come as the happiness in the innocent smiles of childhood. You present yourself in the adventures of class “X” untold love stories. You are the intricacies of the youth deciding to become something in life and earn a livelihood. You come as responsibilities we carry of family and friends. You come as strength, weakness, fear, and love. You are together with us till death do part us.

You came as easy as it can be in the beginning in my life. A vibrant environment, loving parents, adorable siblings, interesting friends and all other things define my childhood. I feel privileged for those astounding moments. A big Thank you for all those.

As I grew up and with time I also started aspiring for success and to become a better person in life in every aspect like education, extracurricular activities, acting, manners etc. I started working hard and got results too. College went well. After that I tried to become what I wanted from the very beginning. This is the time I thought I lost touch with Zindagi.

Times have been tough lately. Losing my identity, and losing a few friends have made me realize something. It is that our approach to life is too shallow. I made a few subtle changes that leads to better understanding of situations and Zindagi.

An ideal approach to life would definitely be to take things as it comes and get a closure with the past mistakes. I really appreciate stoicism for two things- it’s non-complaining attitude and the endurance it inculcates in us. Everyone has a few expectations and a few regrets in life. One important lesson is to do what you can do and don’t worry about what you can not do. We can influence only the things that are in our control. Somethings would be eventually be out of our control. Accept a few things and change a few.

Dear Zindagi is a continuous process. Some period are dark, but there is a blessing in disguise. The strength we get through these gives us strength to remain calm in difficult situations. Having a divine peace inside and calmness is important for taking informed decisions. To enjoy Dear Zindagi in all its favours is the key to have a peaceful life. Welcome happiness in its true form as well as tackle tough times in its entirety.

Dear Zindagi, though I would like to change a few things from past(as I do not want to get closure with a few things, don’t know whether I can get it or not), I really appreciate you for all the colours that you have filled my life with. You have given me strength to cope with the complexities that I may have to face in later stages. The thought of losing touch with you was ill-founded and I misinterpreted a tough phase with something other than life, but now I realize the cloak-and-dagger game that you like to play so much. It’s a challenging game, but I would now be more appreciative to small but important things.

Thanks for being with me always and hope to keep this friendship forever.

Love, Dear Zindagi.

 

 

Resist Fear, Assist Love

Love is amazing. It should be our duty to assist and spread love. Ideally love should automatically prevail in the air if we are with our loved ones, the people we care about. Though there may be temporary disruptions, things should get in equilibrium as the time passes. The present materialistic society has made it difficult for love to grow by itself. A child sees the love of his parent in the gifts he gets instead of the efforts the parent are putting in his development. Similar is the case with other relations. This artificial nature of love has been a constraint for unfurling of happiness across the horizon.

Fear is unsettling. We can have problems and pain in life. But Fear of these problems creates a circumstance that inhibits our ability. For example, even if we have prepared very well for an examination, sometimes at the end we may have a feeling to skip the examination. Feeling of nervousness is normal and most of people feel that. But to let that feeling take over our body and mind is fear. At that point we need to resist and block fear and go and give our best.

Here we clearly need to distinguish between discomfort and fear. Discomfort and downs are a part and parcel of life. If there are peaks in life, there will be some troughs. The most important thing with fear is that it is in most cases irrational and an invent of mind. Even if it is not imaginary, it will be an amplified version of reality.

Fear should be fended off with all the strength we can gather. It is a termite that weakens us from inside. It eats us from inside. We feel empty and sad. The thing is that we should be aware of the difficulty of the situation. We should not make-pretend a difficult situation easier as it would come back to bite us. But we should not let it fear us. we should remember that “what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger”. So either you win in this case or you learn to win next time.

But if it were this easier, haven’t we all had it all already. Things don’t work equally for everyone. Some have it easy, some have an uphill task. the good thing is that there are other ways to handle fear.

We know that what we resist persists and what we embrace dissolves. We can accept our fears as they are. This would stop the growth spiral of the fear. We can accept that we might have to live with the ghost in the attic and it may cause us some pain. But we would not let it impact our other activities. Even if we are not well prepared, we would do all we could and give our best.

Love is another very important tool to take fear out. Surrounding ourselves around loved ones and seeking their help could help us in eliminating fear. In the Harry Potter movie, to tackle fear of Death Eaters, it was suggested to imagine the most loved and happy situations. But love is the feeling some people are most afraid of. They need to get over this first. Don’t let few instances to shape things for rest of life. Experiencing different things will clear things up. Live Life with Love.

So, we should either resist or accept fear and spread love to make our and others life enjoyable and Hey! Merry Christmas!

Credits : https://malhotrami.wordpress.com/

The Story of an Exhaust Fan

Hello everyone,

Even though most of you know me, Let me introduce myself again and let me tell the story of my life in my own words.

I am an Exhaust Fan. My place is usually in the kitchen or restrooms. I’m treated differently from a regular fan of your rooms. This has led to a sense of inferiority in our community of exhaust fans(yes, there is a community!).

My birth takes place in a factory. A lot of effort takes place in my making. I am into heavy metals(Metallica, AC/DC being favourite, even though copper, iron are more common) and they constitute major parts of my body. Instead of blood electrons flow into my body and we lie dormant in absence of these. We belong to dwarf fan family and thus are compact than regular fans.

Our community is as diverse as the human race. We come in different colours, ratings, sizes. We have more tolerance towards each other. We do not fight with each other, though our masters have their preferences. We like to serve them well whoever chooses us.

We have with time grown in importance. Our usage has increased many fold in recent decades. We are there in restaurants, theaters, malls, homes, etc. We work in nearly all environments, be it too hot of Sahara Desert or cold of northern Canada. We like to do our work efficiently. We sacrifice our comfort to make internal environment livable. Its not like we would not like to have a place in the middle of the room. But we sacrifice.

Still we are getting discriminated against. Ceiling Fans are services more regularly than us. In times of heat and humid, they even receive appreciation. They are kept in the middle and top of room while we are on the walls, facing opposite side. Thus we are not even able to watch the television(though sometimes we get to stalk the neighbours). A ceiling fan gets to see the master more often than us from the top.

This discrimination concerns us. We do the dirty work so that humans can live in a peaceful and hygienic conditions. We ventilate your kitchen and lavatory and make it refreshing over short period of time. We are like the sin eaters. We are like the army because of whom others can live a peaceful life. But our significance is never recognized.

If you judge things on merit, at least we would like to achieve a few honorary awards for sanitation, public service etc. But what do we get. Overwork, discrimination, Inferior treatment. We give and give and give, but we do not get any appreciation for that. At least a sincere and heartily Thank You is what we expect. But instead we are seen with despise.

This needs to end as soon as possible so that we can get what we deserve. A bill of rights for exhaust fan needs to be adopted for swift implementation of our Rights. I personally request United Nations to take initiative on this issue. This differential treatment needs to end now. We will be serving you anyways, but if our significance is appropriately appreciated we will feel a sense of pride.

Thanking you in anticipation that you all will join this noble cause.

Yours sincerely

The Exhaust Fan.

Life is What You Make it.

Life is synonymous with ups and downs. If you don’t go through a phase of change, you are not living life. Even a rock goes through a cycle- erosion, transportation, sedimentation, and lithification. “Life is What You Make it” is a novel by Preeti Senoy that I read recently. It is about a girl who has gone through a series of ups and downs of life and managed to come out from a complex situation.

The novel has a dual message – One about the awareness about mental health and other about the fragile nature of life. The lead character Ankita who had a photographic memory suffers from Bipolar Disorder. The novel also indirectly justifies that suicide should be considered as a disease and it should be treated at the earliest.

The unpredictable nature of life makes it very important that we live in the present. Take a day at a time and live it to fullest. This does not mean we do not plan for future. We should have a plan which we should strive hard to achieve. But we need to divide task in daily routine which should constitute of not only of our goal but also of all other important activity such as exercise, hobbies, family etc.

At some point in life, there might come an impulsive change that might deviate us from our goal. The attachment and ambition to achieve the goal might leave us in a precarious state of mind. But we need to learn to accept the changes. Even if it is not possible to accept the changes, we need to learn to live till the time when the changes can to altered.

We always have a choice. The choices we make in life makes us what we are in life. So decision making becomes the most important topic which should be inculcated in us from the very beginning. Controlled -Stimulated-Thinking should be developed from childhood.

Some thoughts/ideas are very toxic that can inhibit us from independent thinking. They make a spiral where other important things are dumped. We become the doom of ourselves. We need help of others in these situations and should consult friend, family etc.

The bottom line is that life can be very unpredictable and our responses should vary according to the need of time. Sometimes we should aim for the clouds and sometimes we should aim to settle and pull ourselves from the abyssal plains.