Welcome to my Life

A poem by me after a very long long time.. Hope my Hindi teacher loves reading it..!

चला चल रहा था मैं राही

चरम सीमा को लांघने की होढ़ में ,
अभिलाषाओं को सच करने की लगन में
चला चल रहा था मैं राही

पल पल को सिक्कों में बदलने की मेहनत में
जिम्मेदारियों को अपनी निजी सफलताओं में बदलने की होढ़ में
चला चल रहा था मैं राही

ध्यानी, एकग्रत, द्रुड संकल्पी
लक्ष्य बाध्य एक तीर की तरह
चला चल रहा था मैं राही

एक दिन, अचानाक एक एहसास हुआ
किसी के न होते हुआ भी होने का आभास हुआ
रुख के मैंने जब ध्यान लगाया
अपने कंधे पे एक तितली को पाया

मैंने पूछा, "कौन हो तुम?"

मुस्कुराके उसने फुसफुसाया
उसके हर स्पर्श ने मेरे तन बदन को गुदगुदाया

वो हँस के बोली,
"अरे , मुझे नहीं पहचाना? "
"क्यूँ बनता है तू मुझसे अंजाना?"

तेरे हर कदम में, तेरे हर राह में,
तेरे हर तड़प में, तेरे हर चाह में,
तेरे हर मेहनत में, हर लगन में,
तेरी हर होढ़ में, हर तोढ़ में,
तेरे जीत में, तेरे हार में,
तेरा साथ निभाया
अपना हर रंग तुझे दिखलाया
पर, जब तूने इन्हे न देखा, न समझा, ना पहचाना
तो इसमे नहीं कोई मेरा दोष!

बस एक बार और कोशिश करती हूँ
छोटे से फलसफे को एक बार और सुनाती हूँ

विजय ओ विजय
तू जी ले ज़रा
तू जी ले ज़रा ..।
तू जी ले ज़रा
तू जी ले ज़रा..।
नाम हैं मेरा "ज़िंदगी"
और मैं एक बार फिर कहती हूँ
तू जी ले ज़रा ..।

तेरे हर कदम में तू जी ले ज़रा
मेरी हर राह में तू जी ले ज़रा
तेरे हर मेहनत में तू जी ले ज़रा
तेरी हर चाह में भी, तू जी ले ज़रा

चाहे जीत हो या हार
इतना याद रखना मेरे यार
... तू जी ले ज़रा ..।

ज़िंदगी को बिताने में नहीं कोई मज़ा
पर ज़िंदगी को जीने में है मज़ा

यह सुन मैंने समझा, ये जाना,
पहचाना और माना
और जब हुआ ये एहसास
तब से, चला नहीं चल रहा था मैं राही
झूमते जी रहा हूँ मैं राही
झूमते जी रहा हूँ मैं राही

Power and you...

Few powerful and strong thoughts dawned on me today morning:

No matter what happens to you in your life, in every situation, especially bad ones, you have 2 powers with you:

1 . Power to forgive

2. Power to ask for forgiveness

These stay with you throughout your journey, even during the bad times.

Whenever you are going to encounter something uncomforting, yet mandatory, one can think of this thought to sail you through that moment:

What can I GIVE this time?

What do you think?

P.S : Pic taken by me at Himalayas in June 2009

Found this story as a chain mail from Raghu, Mysore. Quite a nice story and great learning on practicing the virtue "Accurate Perception and Correct Expression"

In ancient Greece (469 - 399 BC) Socrates was widely lauded for his wisdom.

One day the great philosopher came upon an acquaintance who ran up to him excitedly and said, “Socrates, do you know what I just heard about one of your students?”

“Wait a moment,” Socrates replied. “Before you tell me I’d like you to pass a little test. It’s called the Triple Filter Test..”

“Triple filter?” replied the acquaintance!

“That’s right,” Socrates continued. “Before you talk to me about my student let’s take a moment to filter what you’re going to say. The first filter is Truth. Have you made absolutely sure that what you are about to tell me is true?”

“No,” the man said, “actually I just heard about it and…”

“All right,” said Socrates. “So you don’t really know if it’s true or not. Now let’s try the second filter, the filter of Goodness. Is what you are about to tell me about my student something good?” “No, on the contrary …”

“So,” Socrates continued, “you want to tell me something bad about him, even though you’re not certain it’s true?”

The man shrugged, a little embarrassed.

Socrates continued. “You may still pass the test though, because there is a third filter - the filter of Usefulness. Is what you want to tell me about my student going to be useful to me?”

“No, not really.”

“Well,” concluded Socrates, “if what you want to tell me is neither True nor Good nor even Useful, why tell it to me at all?”

Rajneeti - A Modern day Mahabharata

After a long gap, here comes a movie with a super strong script. Good job done by the scripting team, understanding that Prakash Jha himself was involved in this stage.

A beautiful adaptation of Mahabharata! If Karna was soot putra, here he was the Driver's son. If he was from the lower caste, not a kshatriya, today he belonged to the Dalit community. If Duryodhan was the rightful owner of the kingdom, here his father was the head of the political party and the party was the Question of ownership. And to add humour, the modern Kunti, also uses the term, 'Jyestha Putra', with Ajay, nudging the BR Chopra's Mahabharat episodic dialogue. If Krishna played a pivotal role in decision making there, here he was the prime advisor for the party! If killing people and cheating people was ok then, it is still ok here. In fact a dialogue in the movie said, "politics is not about making the right/wrong decisions, it is about making decisions to ensure the objective is met!" Wow... Kudos to such Dialogues.

The differences were, this Arjun never needed Gitaupdesh, in fact he made his own decisions. This draupadi did not sleep with both the brothers! At least that is what is concluded!

Some of the key highlights in the script were:

1. When the Arjuna or the politician in Ranbeer Kapoor wakes up, thanks to the super duper slap by the Police inspector. That was well directed.

2. When Ranbeer kapoor connivingly declares his brother's entry as the candidate, in front of the entire crowd, and much to Manoj Bajpai and Ajay Devgan's helpless disapproval.. Well thought scene

3. When the corrupt politician is forced to declare the secret ventures of Manoj Bajpai on TV.

The best scene, actually the 2 best scenes in the movie were:

1. When Sarah Thompson and Arjun Rampal die in the bomb blast! - Man that blew me. What direction and camera work! and totally unexpected!

2. In the climax, Ajay Devgan carries the almost dead Manoj Bajpai on his shoulders. That scene spoke volumes about the state of politics in his Party and symbolised the deadness and defeat, while showing his extreme loyalty to his friend, in spite of the sorry state. It just took my heart away! :)

In terms of Acting:

1. Hats off to Nana Patekar. He fully used his charismatic smile and spoke less(Thank God that the Krantiveer days are over!). True Krishna style... Good job!

2. Arjun Rampal is suave in looks and style! Can't expect him to be raw and animalistic! Arjun, stick to stylish and suave characters until you learn the right diction and emotions!

3. Ranbeer Kapoor did a good job. He should do more such roles, to impress me.

4. Katrina Kaif... was just the glamour girl.. nothing much!

5. Big surprise was Shruti seth scenes! Some shararats she did in the movie, much to my surprise!

The strong point in the script was how Ranbeer Kapoor turns every adversary into his side:

1. When his father is assassinated, he uses politics to ensure his brother is alive and accepted by people for the candidature, instead of succummbing to the pain

2. When Katrina Kaif's father refuses to fund his party until Arjun marries her, he is able to convince the love stuck Katrina to marry his brother, instead of harassing the audience with the love triangle saga.

3. The politics that he played in the second half were so dirty, but much needed for his party...

4. In the end, how he convinces Katrina to join politics and uses the emotions of the people to ensure his party wins.

Really high points in the script!

Through out the first half, the script ensured that the audience was glued to the screen.. in fact I missed some major twists because I attended some calls during the movie! Wow!

In total, a well made script that impressed me totally for its fine details and well thought characters.

This script should be a good example to learn, for Mr. Karan Johar, Yash Chopras.

I love such genres of films!

Movies that inspire me to become a Teacher

Recently, on my friends's suggestion, I was willing to look for a change in my career. Was willing to step out of the L&D role. Guess what? Felt suffocated! It was a refreshing idea, but could not bear the thought of not teaching or not conducting sessions! And tonight, came across a beautiful movie about a man with disabilities and how he with determination, dares to turn his dream to reality of becoming a teacher with his disabilities. I am so thankful to God that I am so clear about my career and what I want to do in my life. Its like my genes have been injected with overdose of teaching strength! God... I remember that during my school days, I would sit with other classmates, help them, teach them and would feel so happy doing it. During my college days, I would volunteer to conduct seminars... My classmates would yawn, while being interested in my sesison and I would just go on... Don't think that I would love to help my class sleep with my sessions.. instead, I would love to revolutionise the concept of teaching, and making it a funfilled experience, especially for children. There are couple of movies that I am thankful for inspiring me to be a teacher.

Taare Zameen Par

When I saw this movie, I almost howled... It simply reminded me how much I missed dreaming being a teacher. It just rejuvenated my dreams which I dreamt as a child and gave me a new mission... Reminded me how much I missed being a teacher.. Its going to be a reality soon in future. Thank you Nikunj Sir.

School of life

When I saw this movie, I realised that even I can be a cool teacher. And also, how should I dress up and what could I speak in my class. Superb movie...

Front of the class

This is a classic. I almost wept so many times... when 12 year old Brad decides to fight Tourette's Syndrome and never let it win, when the young Brad, who almost gives up starts again searching for a teacher's job, or when he attends the funeral of one of his students or when he is giving the acceptance speech for Best Teacher... Man... superb movie..

One teacher, that I would never want to be is.. Mrs Tingle.. What a mean teacher! :) Teaching Mrs. Tingle was indeed a funny movie.

There is one more movie which requires a special mention. Freedom Writers... That movie just killed me with love and passion of a teacher towards teaching and her students. That movie so much inspired me to believe in self and to believe the power of teaching. The teacher Erin, could turn drug addicted and indisciplined students into thinkers and learners... Wow.. Hats off to the teacher.

I wish we had many dedicated teachers like Nikunj Sir, Erin mam, Brad Cohen Sir or the real life teachers that I encountered in my school.. Thank you God for presenting them.. They were true gifts to me.

There are many more movies but these inspired me most and I have decided that I'll be a teacher... Why? Because its the right thing to do... :)

Deep breath magic

I take a deep breath and look around. Lush greenary all around me. Lush blue water gushing beside the small garden around me. A bird flies down beside me and this doesn't scare me at all. It rests down on my hand. I look down to see the eagle staring intently at me. I take a step forward. I feel majestic.

Wow!

cOnfiDEnce

Recently I had this beautiful conversation with my friend Anamika, and she led me to this discovery. It was such a revelation, such a thrilling discovery that I am continously playing with it, experimenting. Thought of sharing with everybody.

The thought is... Have Confidence in your ideas, thoughts. In a deep conversation, when a person is listening to somebody, he/she (They) tend not to listen completely, and one of the reasons is they are afraid. They are afraid that the other person's thoughts/ideas are so strong, that it will replace their own thoughts, ideas. So in a bid to battle it out, they tend not to listen completely. They spend half of the time clinging to own thoughts, attaching emotionally to it, defending their ideas and eventually missing out on the opposite person'sviews/ opinions/ thoughts and ideas. This results in arguments, conflicts and heartburns, bitter experiences.
Have you experienced it?
It is possible to listen completely? Is it possible to be with other person's thought completely, with out losing out on your ideas?
Yes. And that is what Anamika taught me the other day.
She said, if you are confident about your thought, if you believe in your thought, 100%, then stop clinging to it while listening to others. If your ideas/thoughts/opinions are stronger than the others' thoughts, then it will CERTAINLY stay with you. Start paying attention to the thought/idea. Be with it, completely absorb it. Analyse it, question it and then check if its really good?
When you do this, you'll realise that you are paying complete attention to the person, being with the thought and completely listening.
Believe me, It is such a pleasure to be in that state! Believe it only after experiencing it! :D
Then I thought, What if the other thoughts are stronger than mine? Then accept it. Let your weak thoughts go away. Between ego and strength, I know I will eventually choose strength. Why? Becuase I want to be with stronger thoughts, I want to be strong!

Is this not Humility? Wow!
Confidence lies in humility in accepting the truth! Another realisation for me! Hahahahha

To be honest, I also think this confidence on your thoughts is like TRUE LOVE. If your love is truly your's, if your thoughts are really strong, it will come to you, they'll stay with you, .
Is confidence also love? Is it loving your thoughts?
Is this another realisation? LOL

Think about it and let me know your thoughts. If they are stronger, let them replace my thoughts! :)