Diwali Lunch

This Diwali I was quite excited to be invited by a friend on lunch, to one of the posh restaurants of Delhi, the more exciting part was that this time he was the one who was going to pay the bill and I could indulge in gluttony to eat without worrying much about the bill……!!!
Few days later while interacting with one of the employees at my office I got to know how much hardship and financial problem he was facing due to illness of his wife from the past few years and MBA within me without giving patient hearing to him soon jumped to a solution WHY DON’T YOU GET A HEALTH INSURANCE DONE ??? (We so called MBAs believe that we have the solution to all problems in this world ha ha ha …. which is so untrue). But soon I realized that he would not be able to pay the premium for insurance and no company will cover pre-existing disease…… I realized that the amount which we had spent on Diwali lunch was much higher than the amount which would have given health insurance to that person's entire family for a year...…
God has created an unequal world. It will always have, haves and have-not’s. I have always considered myself in the list of have-nots, though this feeling is subsiding from the day I have come to Muktsar. Money is one of the most powerful tools which if used wisely can bring happiness to many lives. But for any person who belongs to other side of the fence, is it bad for him to splurge money and enjoy life??As they have slogged hard to reach there, is it not their right to spend their money the way they want. Why should they sacrifice their indulgences due to someone who is a non-performer in life?? ”I HAVE ACHIEVED IT so I am going to spend it all on me”. This is the normal attitude. But is it really - I (we) have achieved it?? In one of my interactions with Mr. Geet Sethi,then 5 times world billiard champion ( I don’t know what his current record is) said that whatever he is today, he owes it to many people and society at large; on his own it would not have made one iota of difference to anything. And we people who have not achieved any thing comparable to him have such a big I. In my opinion, we all are prisoners of our birth, the family, community, country we are born in, decides to a very large extent what would be our outlook towards world, what we are going to do in our life and what our personality would be like. Very few people of extraordinary abilities are able to break this prison. We have to carry the burden of where we are born ….since it's not in anyone’s hand in which family, community, country he will be born; it is not within the 'I' in us who has achieved anything. Whatever small or big thing we are today, we owe it to many people and to society directly or indirectly.
But does that mean we should all become saints and stop spending money on things which makes us happy??? We all were born in an unequal world and will die in an unequal world and this inequality is required for the smooth functioning of society, as society needs all sorts of people at all levels and we should be thankful to people who are doing their jobs which we would not like to do and support them so that they keep doing these jobs rather than looking down at them. I hope and pray to god that this inequality can be reduced to some extent, at least every one in this world have food, shelter, good health and happiness……

Mr.and Miss.Right

Life is a constant struggle and it throws new challenges every day. As soon as one is able to answer some of the challenges, a new one crops up. I feel it must be with most people who have crossed quarter of there life, they must be facing this quarter life crises to find Mr. and Miss. Right. By passing a quarter of life, one is able to just answer some of his/her challenges in the professional field and, suddenly we realize a new challenge is standing in front of most of us i.e. to search for Mr. and Miss. Right. And then starts the never ending internet search on matrimonial sites, on matrimonial pages, phone calls, answering some silly questions, meeting the prospective family ….. I wish if we could have a Google application to search Mr./Miss Right.

I am yet to come across a person who doesn’t believe in the institution of marriage. "But you should get married to the person with whom you are fully convinced with", they don’t forget to add this caution phrase. And from here starts a never ending list or fantasies about Mr./Miss Right. It ranges from educational qualification to colour of his skin, from the salary package to how many brothers/sisters he has, from his community/cast to his height, from his personal habits to matching of all 36 guna of your kundali, from social status of family to the nature of Mr. Right and the list of fantasies goes on and on……….
Some people are fortunate enough who believe that they have found there Mr./Miss. Right (before any one could have told them to find one) but is this Mr. Right going to remain Mr. Right forever?? And for these fortunate ones, it is the beginning of convincing parents, making them believe that you would be happy with him/her only, seeking support from friends,relatives………
Well, the couples/marriages who/which have survived the test of time, I feel, are the biggest critics of each other. So if he is Mr./Miss. Right, then everything should be just perfect!! There should be no scope for criticism. In my opinion, there is nothing by the name of Mr./Miss. Right but there could be a probable Mr./Miss Right. God has made all of us imperfect, so one should not be attached to the idea of perfection. If you might have come across this probable Mr./Miss. Right, don’t let him/her go as perfect Mr./Miss right might not exist.
And remember the secret of happy marriage will always remain secret !!!

MUMBAI TO MUKTSAR

Well, they asked why you want to move to smaller town as there would be no experience for you??
He replied “Gautam Buddha got his experience in jungle so I might get mine in smaller town"

They took it seriously and sent him from land of opportunities Mumbai, to land of liberation where 40 Mukta got liberated, Muktsar. From a land of 24 hour electricity supply to a land which on some days gets only 24 minutes of electricity. That led him to a realization that man is never aware of what he has been blessed with, till the time he loses that thing; till then we feel it is our right and always keep on cribbing of want we don’t have and others might have. He realized that he had never thanked god during his stay in Mumbai - for 24 hour electricity, and for many other blessings which he might be aware or unaware of, but kept on cribbing about non-understanding boss or requested god to fulfill his other material desires ASAP or before any one in his peer could achieve it and the list goes on………I am sure it would be the same for every one???

As its' difficult or impossible to predict high and low in stock market, same it is in life; the moment one feels he is happy or doing great it can be the moment of all time high which may not come again, and the moment one feels he has not made it in life, it might be just the end of low time / challenging time which one may not face again and, would be proud of surviving that difficult time throughout his life.

The beauty of life is that one needs to live it as it unfolds, second by second and things will happen when they are supposed to happen. The choice is with us - to spend time waiting for things to happen by cribbing or by preparing ourselves for the challenges of future.

Someone once said “Chance favours the prepared mind” so one should spend the not so good time preparing for the good time as one doesn’t know when the good time will start.
And the biggest evil of all is comparison with the entire world around us. We can keep the locus of our life attached to entire world and not to ourself….We always keep on comparing ourselves with people with whom we studied, worked or who were our counterparts in some walk of life without knowing it might be the best time of that person's life and that our good time is yet to come or giving thought to what all challenges that person might have faced in his life. Comparison cannot be in isolation or in one aspect; it has to be in totality as one cannot compare apples with oranges.

In my opinion we all are unique who cannot be compared to one another. Society doesn't need one kind of people only, rather it needs people from different walks of life. Though we all would like to be Ambani, Tatas…… but as a matter of fact, society does not need so many Ambanis or Tatas…… There will always be handful of them. Can we spend our entire life in comparison to Ambanis, Tata……..??? And be unhappy? Rather, we should come out of the business of comparison and attach the locus of our life to our SELF and to what makes us happy and thank god for his blessings. I am sure, it will lead to happiness from Mumbai to Muktsar and a happier society…………..