Do we need a special time to laugh?

See today’s scenario, no astrologer had ever predicted that in future people will designate a specific hour from their daily schedule—only to laugh! Nowadays, we eagerly wait for clock to struck 8.30 or 9 or whatever time that may be, so that we could expose ourselves to a virtual guy on an idiot box, who will assist us in laughing! And at times I have found people are laughing just because they have to for being on the show directly or indirectly. Why to force ourselves to laugh?

      My question is why do we require a foreign factor daily in our life to laugh? Are we not self reliant and capable enough to find humour in our daily life? Remember, no two days are same, and so are life situations. There are umpteen opportunities for every one of us to see the funnier side of the situations we might find ourselves in. Now don’t tell me that you have really forgotten how to laugh—for that can never be the case.

       Laughing, like any other emotion is a natural one which should make our facial muscles and bones move automatically.

      My idea is not to snub stand up comedians, who in fact are much better placed than us to see things differently from others, but to tell everyone that in the humdrum of daily life we should not let go of an opportunity to not only smile our self but make others smile as well.

      And in the end, as I always say if you are stuck with a situation crack a joke on yourself, it’ll relieve you of that situation.

END

© Anchit Barnwal

A 2 Z of inspiration

Anger is a letter away from danger—control it.

Beauty is skin deep—realize it.

Crime is punishable—abstain it.

Democracy is worth having—privilege it.

Ego is to: Eliminate God Out—extinguish it.

Friendships are limited—enjoy them.

Greed is a vice—overcome it.

Human life is for once—live it.

Ideas are abundant—unleash them.

Joy is a must—share it.

Knowledge is worthless—have it.

Love is hard to find—preserve it.

Marriage is an investment—value it.

Nature is truth—accept it.

Opportunities are rare—cease them.

Problems are teachers in disguise—love them.

Questions are meaningful—raise them.

Relationships are fragile—maintain them.

Success is a journey—travel it.

Talent is a gift—nurture it.

Unique you are—celebrate it.

Vision is foresightedness—believe it.

Work is worship—adore it.

XL is extra large—utilise it.

Youth is for once—bless it.

Zoo: a place to realize your own behavior from animals point of view—visit it.

END

© Anchit Barnwal

Test of patience

Krishna was a young man employed in a government job. He had a severe liking for delicious mangoes. But of late his town was falling short of supply of good quality mangoes.

A year Krishna decided to raise a mango tree. He planted the saplings of mango in his farm and nurtured it to see it grew into a big tree.

The season came but the tree remained fruitless, which disappointed Krishna, yet he did not lose his hope and continued nurturing it. The next year he was delighted to see the flowers, but in season they all got infected and rotted without any apparent reason. This made Krishna angry and sad at the same time, still he managed to keep his love for the tree. The third year, again the tree remained fruitless.

Krishna, out of frustration, thought the tree to be a bad omen. He cursed his luck and decided to sell the tree along with the farm and not to further waste his time, money and energy on it. He also decided not to pay heed to the tree for the rest of his life. A nearby farmer bought the farm and the tree.

 Meanwhile Krishna got a transfer of his job and shifted to a new, bigger town which had a good supply of excellent quality mangoes. He relished it everyday.

Years passed, one day he overheard a mango seller shouting, “Ranchpuri mangoes, Ranchpuri mangoes!” he became excited as he was not only familiar with the mangoes, which he used to relish daily, but also with the town Ranchpur, where he had come from, which never had a good supply of quality mangoes. He was curious to know, how and when Ranchpur started producing such an extraordinary kind of mangoes.

Next morning he boarded a bus for Ranchpur and, through an enquiry reached the place of origin of such mangoes. He was astonished to see and know that the mangoes were coming from none other than his own farm which he had sold a long ago.

He went on to meet the owner of the farm. The owner turned out to be the same farmer whom he had sold his tree along with the farm. The owner, now a wealthy person, immediately recognized the man and thanked him for his tree which had encouraged him to plant more of such trees.

The farmer told him, “The year you had sold me your tree, was a drought year. That year the tree had remained fruitless. I had purchased your farm with an intention to do farming but the next year I found the tree to be densely loaded with plump mangoes, whose superior taste and quality made me get the farm’s soil tested. Through report I came to know that such soil was very conducive for mango trees. I, immediately, sowed the whole farm with such saplings. It is my farm’s mangoes which are famous far and wide.”

Listening to the words of the farmer, Krishna was in tears. He had realized his mistake of missing the opportunity right at the place it had started.

Moral: Never undermine patience, it has a sweet fruit. Have patience and you will conquer the desirable.

                                                                            

THE END

© 2011 Anchit Barnwal

Continuity is life

     Is satisfaction the beginning of stagnation in one's liife? I don't think so, as it is satisfaction which gets reflected in our love and devotion towards our work which keep us going. Instead, it's a general sense of complacency which devoid us of our vision for a positive movement.

      Complacency comes from a lack of motivation and desire to grow. When we get complacent our productivity suffers and we stop striving for the better. On the other hand, our devotion towards our work reflects our love and appetite for it which grows up with each of our achievements, the achievements which in turn acts as a catalyst in motivating us to pursue our work persistently. As Tendulkar had pointed out earlier that he is happy with his career but not satisfied, which just underscores his appetite and devotion towards his game.

      Satisfaction is inherent in one’s happiness but to be satisfied to a level where one ceases to practice and enjoy his work is to script one’s own stagnation. To avoid coming to a stand still we must continue to love and learn from our work. Learning being a life long process, any thought of having learned enough would make us stop growing and moving forward. Learning regularly is the only way to stay happy and focused. To continue learning we must continue striving and practicing our work.

      Stagnation robs us of our potency and makes us pointless in our approach, just as the still water which gets contaminated after a while and becomes useless. Swami Vivekanand said, “Arise, awake and stop not till the goal is reached.” Does that mean we can stop when we reach our goal? No. Every time we reach a goal, a newer progressive goal worth achieving awaits our attention, pursuing which becomes a natural way forward for us. Attainment of worthy progressive goals is a continuous process; any decisive halt on our part before or after the attainment of a particular goal will result in our stagnation.

      We should not get disheartened by the obstacles that we may face in reaching our every goal, nor should we flinch ourselves from the hard work. Remember, if we aim right, there would not come a moment of us seeing ourselves coming to an abrupt halt. 

      Love your work; any work done without enthusiasm and passion will never bear the result it should have been otherwise.

      We should, therefore, consciously continue making efforts and let our thoughts remain engaged to our work to avoid stagnation at any stage of our life. The idea is to have a control on our work and not let our work control us. Remember that our efforts may fail, but never fail to make efforts, for they will keep you moving and will surely fetch you results if not today, definitely tomorrow. 

END

© 2011 Anchit Barnwal

THE IMPORTANCE OF BROTHERHOOD

“I will not settle for anything less than the first position in my school marathon this time,” thought, Piyush, a tall, skinny student of a residential school, which housed students from various countries across Asia. Piyush had been preparing hard for the last few months to better his performance of last year when he had missed the gold medal by a whisker to Ibomcha, a non residential Indian. The sports day came; Piyush sat behind the curtains with bated breath to hear the official announcement for his event being made. After a few minutes, as the announcements for athletes to assemble for marathon started, Piyush stood up, stretched himself and moved towards the starting line. So excited was he that he had reached the tracks while announcements were still being made.

      “Piyush, this time you not only have to win a gold medal but also represent our school at district level,” said Raviraj, the bald headed instructor, who was watching him from behind. “Yes, I will try my best,” Piyush squeaked, adjusting his hair which were obstructing his view of the track. He looked around, only to realize that a small crowd of runners of all types, from medium built to short heighted to plump figures had suddenly adorned the starting line. The crowd wished each other as it waited to hear the whistle announcing the start of the race. Suddenly, a quick loud whistle set all the athletes into motion. The atmosphere had come alive with the sounds of cheers, claps, and hoots.

      The first lap of the marathon saw all the runners running in close proximity to each other as no one wanted to be left behind. But after the first lap, the running crowd, with their fluctuating energy levels, steadily started spreading over a larger area of track with some lagging way behind. The third lap saw Piyush, Ibomcha and one Purshottam leaving others far, far behind. All three now nearing the penultimate lap had a tough time to make a lead over the other as none of them showed any sign of slowing down. It went for a while that all three ran in tandem keeping an eye over the other, but in the penultimate lap, Piyush and Purshottam started to feel a dip in their stamina, which made Ibomcha come much ahead of them — so ahead that he was almost out of their sight.

      It was in the last lap when Piyush and Purshottam were just around a quarter kilometer away from the finishing line that they noticed Ibomcha lying unconscious on the track. “Purshottam, see Ibomcha is lying unconscious in the middle of the track! What has happened to him?” asked Piyush tugging Ibomcha, wishing him to get up. Purshottam who was happy seeing Ibomcha lying flat on the ground, quickly put, “I don’t know, let’s go and finish the race first; we are nearing the finishing line.” “I am not coming, I cannot leave Ibomcha unattended, if you wish, you can go,” retorted Piyush, picking up unconscious Ibomcha into his both hands. Meanwhile, Purshottam went ahead running, feeling himself to be lucky enough to have got a chance to win the race. Piyush, on the other hand moved off the tracks carrying Ibomcha’s body to hand it over to the nearest first aid booth.

      Piyush had tears in his eyes as he had missed his dream of coming first but he was content from inside for having helped a fellow human being in need and thus living up to his expectation of being a responsible citizen.

      Though Piyush lost the race that year, his kind deed made him a winner for his life in everyone’s eyes. He stood head and shoulders above the other runners for what he had achieved was phenomenal; what others could only think of. He had proved that he believed in a life built around values, ethics and a sense of common brotherhood.

© Anchit Barnwal 

END

Be always grateful

Anchit Barnwal, Hindustan Times
August 11, 2011                                                                                                                                            

With the rush and constant chasing of new frontiers of life, there often comes a moment when we fail to acknowledge the beauty and essence of what we already have.

 There is a cute little story on how we fail to realise our own worth. A magician called upon a person and made a 10-rupee note disappear from his pocket. The person thought that he would get his money back after the show but that did not happen. By the time the show got over, the man grew impatient and went straight to the magician to enquire about his note.

Seeing the sad, dejected face of the person, the magician returned his note and asked, “Are you happy, now?” “Yes, content and happy,” the man replied.“Did you notice, you haven’t gained anything more than what you had come here with? The only change occurred is that now you are going out with a cheerful face and not with a long one with which you had entered this place,” the magician enquired. “Yes, I understand, our source of happiness lies within us; we need not look for it anywhere else,” the man exclaimed.

“Yes, it’s not that you were not happy earlier, you were. But earlier just because you did not acknowledge the value of what you already possessed, you had also failed to notice your happiness,” said the magician.

That is it. We always want to have more and more of everything without realising that we already have enough to be happy, but we keep harbouring the false notion that we are just one ‘thing’ away from our happiness. And we get entangled with this thought forever, just replacing our demands every time.

It’s in our interest that from time to time we willfully cut ourselves off from the humdrum of our daily life and stop taking a note of everything that we have or have gained with pain and effort, and thus appreciate a thing for its intrinsic value.