Mrityunjay - The victory over death

The true victory, it seems, lies after all possible insults, criticism, deprivations and mortification. (My observation after reading Karna's Biographical novel, Mrityunjay by Shivaji Savanth.)

YOUTH

I went to the shop bought some things and just as I was showing it to a friend he said that I had paid a rather exorbitant price for that useless thing. I felt bad; it was certainly not the first time. I thought to myself that the whole world is in the business of cheating and swindling! Had I been granted one wish, I would surely finish that scoundrel shopkeeper who cheated on me.

This is one thing, which has increased tremendously over the last few years. More and more people have acquired the expertise of cheating. The domain is not only limited to a select few nowadays! However if that is the way people behave and we need to put up with them, then what is the whole problem about?

The problem, I believe lies more within than outside anywhere. And it is a problem of perception. A famous philosopher Plato once said that “Of all animals the boy is the most unmanageable, inasmuch as he has the fountain of reason in him not yet regulated.” This fountain of reason throws up various arguments that are always contrary to the way of the world.

The pitiful thing is that the whole world seems to be on one side of the shore and we on the other. This also inflicts certain fear of isolation and autarky however the youth is not deterred by it.

Friends!

I was fidgeting with my cell phone thinking whether to call this old friend of mine now or not. It had been long time till we met last, and I had no clue about his routine, there was a high risk lest my phone may disturb him in some work. Deciding not to call up my friend I resumed reading. A few seconds later there was a phone on my cell, and it was the same friend!!!!

Does the above paragraph seem familiar, only then read on!

I consider myself extremely lucky to have found friends in some of the best individuals at all the three places, Bhavnagar, Ahmedabad and Now in New Delhi. However there are always some questions regarding friendship that perplexes me whenever I think on this subject.

· Is it true that as we move ahead in life we lose the ability to make good friends?

· Is it true that one needs to put in deliberate efforts in making friends or is it a natural process like the growing of a flower that should be left on its own accords?

Do think of the answers to these questions, I will also be thinking, and hopefully soon upload them.

When Sabarmati Meets Yamuna

“It is not compatible with the water of Sabarmati which is running in my veins”, I had said these words to one of my new friends in New Delhi who innocuously offered me a drink. It might have looked a bit pompous and haughty of me but in such matters I don’t mind being explicitly blunt. I am against the excessive chauvinism of one’s own region however a strong attraction to one’s own regional identity becomes all the more expressive when one moves out of one’s state. One of the reasons to come to delhi was to get the adequate exposure to develop a national perspective and outlook.

This objective seems to be well on its way. I miss Ahmedabad a lot, but just to compensate myself a bit I keep reminding myself that if not Sabarmati, I am now at the brink of Yamuna. Yamuna is also as important and beautiful as Sabarmati has always been. I am yet to see the flip side of Yamuna, (having seen floods in Sabarmati in 2006-07) I fear what Yamuna might have in store for me during my stay here.

Looking at the issue in a slightly metaphorical sense, I had also thought that the rivers, in early beginning of civilizations, generally built the nature of life of people. Following the logic it was safe to assume that people in this part of the nation also were very much same as the ones in the other parts. Their likes, dislikes, nature, fears, enjoyments and preferences were all quite similar.

As a child we always hear that India is famous for Unity in diversity, perhaps it is this link of similarity as human beings that binds us.

A poem of Anguish

Conscience aches when one says, one will,

-Take a stand, that one knows, is difficult to keep,

and one can’t.

Conscience aches, when one sees around

Just to find people flaunting away happily,

The rules that are to be followed with rigour.

Conscience aches when one speaks,

Unheard always……and hears all that

Oppose all that is taught to be true and good.

Conscience aches when one doubts,

The god whom one loves so dearly.

In a quandary, whether to curse or to laud, the god,

For what he is and what he is not.

FOR All good teachers...

Nani Palkhiwala wrote for a teacher “The issue of his sustained mental effort is not a volume but a man; it could not be embodied in print, it consists in the living word.”

Such a sustained effort can only be a result of a genuine passion.

Therefore the quality that makes an ideal teacher is the passion for teaching. My teacher used to say, “That what you remember, after having forgotten all that was taught; is true learning. A true teacher will always appeal to your heart. An appeal to the heart can never be forgotten.”

Genuine passion ensures good communication, enthusiasm and continuous improvement. Moreover this quality makes the teacher sensitive to the needs of all types of his pupils, his teaching gradually becomes appealing to different types of students at different levels of understanding, thereby doing justice to the whole class consisting students of varying capacities and interests