Raju ban gaya Gentleman!!

As I began my new job, I was weighing my options for the commute. My search ended with the Route No 2 bus. The first evening when I boarded the bus I was welcomed by a young lad with a warm smile. “New to the bus Madam, which place will you get down?” he questioned me. I was amazed to hear the fluency in his speech for a foreign language, and furnished him with the necessary details.  As time for the departure came close, the bus was filled by young professionals’ chirpy talks. After a minute of hustle bustle and settling we embarked for our journey. At the first red light, the young lad took out his set of books and turned around with enthusiasm. Promptly, the girls sitting nearby hurriedly scanned the books and enquired about his latest progress. Apparently, every evening on the way back home the care taker of this bus is taught English by the passengers. The entire route is filled with chatter related to verbs, tenses and subjects used in English language. The lad has an incessant endeavor to speak correct with the perfect diction. Each day he comes up with a new doubt and each day brings a new learning. It is extremely rewarding to see this young boy’s zeal to learn something new and it is equally good to see professionals after a long day having the patience to teach something new. This makes me realize a very important fact of life that education does not require any high end buildings and funds what it truly requires is a desire to learn and the will to teach.

Sensitivity over Sense

Due to the volatile nature of memory, it is hard to retain all incidences of life in one’s mind. A search in the repertoire of one’s memory shows the planned, strategized and dogmatic happenings are less vivid, then the spontaneous, spur of the moment experiences, where the heart took the decision and the brain took the back seat. Scene by scene picture by picture they are stored in our brain cells. Perhaps, the elaborate storage of such incidences acts as a constant reminder to the mind that not always it rules our decisions. There is an organ below it who sometimes pulls the reins and accomplishes a task completely oblivion to the mind’s assessment of pros and cons. One cherishes such moments, speaks about them with pride and sense of achievement. I write about such an incident where the heart ruled the head, sensitivity prevailed over sense.

While mum was pursuing her graduation. Winters had hit the city very hard. Extreme weather conditions were in the forecast and the mercury just refused to rise. One morning when ma was leaving for her college, a scantily clad old man stopped her. In between the intervals of his shivers, he told her, he was extremely cold and wanted something to warm him. Without second thoughts ma hurried upstairs caught hold of her comforter and came down to wrap this around him. The man received more comfort from ma’s deeds than from her comforter he blessed her and walked away. Ma’s friends and her relatives have narrated this to me many times. I see pride and respect in the eyes of her near and dear ones when they recount the episode. For ma this was an instantaneous act where she listened to her heart and her head had to bow down. For me it is a lesson to be more liberal in the usage of my heart and definitely a soul stirring experience to hear a benevolent deed by my very own mother.

The Circle of Life

This morning when I picked up a Hindi daily as I sipped my morning tea, two stories placed on the front page greeted me. The top headline gave details of the sad demise of Ghazal Maestro - Jagjit Singh, the man who gave words and music to many emotions felt. Who popularized, ‘Tum ko dekha to yeh khyal aaya’ as the eternal love song and made us shed a tear for ‘Chitti na koi sandesh’. Seeing his smiling photograph made me miss the voice with which I and likes of me related ghazals with. My mind hummed while my eyes scanned through the list of his renditions. As I was about to end the list of unforgettable ghazals, I saw the face of a cherubic little boy with a very lovable and confident smile. The newspaper had given this little one a miniscule corner but the words read boldly ‘Jaipur greets the winner of Saregamapa Little Champs 2011 – Azmat Hussain’. Apparently, this little boy a power house of talent had won hearts and accolades for his impeccable singing talent, eventually winning the title with unanimous approval from all over India. People had poured in hundreds, to greet their new and emerging star. Azmat, was quoted as saying that it would be his tenacious efforts to entertain people with his singing. With a sign! I sat back and smiled, true this is the circle of life - When one journey ends the other embarks. With a voice fading and another emerging one truly agrees to Queen’s popular number – ‘The Show Must Go On’.      

Bring the Change

This morning, while surfing a social networking site, I was amazed to see a video post showcasing a protest at my previous work location. Hundreds of young professionals wearing crisp shirts, well creased trousers and ID badges around their neck were shouting slogans supporting an anti corruption movement and ridiculing the current political situation of India. At the first instance, this seemed a wave of change, a radical step against corruption, a ray of hope and above all unified youth of India. However, my mind could not resist raising some questions for these protestors – How many of them have shown strictest refrain from bribing a traffic cop when a traffic rule was broken by them? Who out of them had never given false rental receipts and medical bills to invade annual taxes? How many would out rightly reject a tempting bribe offer if it comes their way? If the answer is none - then our country has stocks of such honest men and women and they can certainly make a difference. Unfortunately, that is not the case, we all have sometime or the other been part of this corrupt system and have not felt guilty about it. A change is definitely required and an effective change will truly be a revolution. Sadly, a constructive change is not apparent from the current situation. I do see updates by people every second showcasing extreme support for, Anna Hazare, but am yet to see a single update of a pledge never to give or take bribe and lead a life of strong ethics and morals. Any anti corruption bill that is passed would have its own share of loop holes which could be tampered for the benefits of the corrupt. So to hunt a solution, I started listening to all the motivational speeches that are doing rounds these days. Read what many had to speak and their take on corruption. One sentence that impressed, inspired and motivated me was spoken by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar – To bring a change in society, bring the change in you first, automatically the society will change. Definitely this peaceful and hassle free method is worth a try – bring the change in yourself.