Just ‘Kid’ding....

Have you ever noticed that all parents spend the first 2 years of their children’s lives teaching them to walk and talk and the next 16 years asking them to sit down and shut up! Isn’t it interesting how these turn of events take place?
Nevertheless, the first few years of a child’s life is what every parent holds close to their heart. Their first word, their first step, their first day of school are memories that every parent carries with them for the rest of their life. My mum always reminds me of my first word-mumma. Oh how thrilled she was to hear me say my first word. However, her joy was only short lived when she realized that I would look at my grandma and call her ‘mumma’….and to worsen a mother’s joy…..I would even look at my dad and say ‘mumma’. Mum was quite upset but she soon got over it and now looks back and laughs everytime we talk about it.
Kids are indeed a joy to have around. The love they spread and the joy they find in the ‘little’ yet ever so important things in life, is something that grown ups will probably never understand. Like an incident which my uncle-aunt enjoy telling us about my cousin sister’s first Annual Sports Day. It was the first race of the afternoon.
My sister along with 7 other girls was made to line up for the 80 meters race. While my sister was standing in the line, she spotted her parents(my uncle-aunt) in the crowd. She was so overjoyed to see them-her face beaming and her hands waving out to them. The starter’s gun went off. The little athletes running at top speed. But not my 5-year-old sister. She was in ‘wonderland’ as she continued to stand at the starting line, while the other girls made their way to the finish line! My uncle-aunt made signs to her, trying to persuade her to run. But nah, she just wouldn’t budge. She was more pleased to stand and wave out to them and watch other girls run a silly 80 meters race rather than run it herself!
As I said earlier, kids are a joy to have around. And the place where I live we are surrounded by kids. Some of them just learning to talk, the others in pre-nursery and still more who have recently joined school. I recall an incident when one of the little girls had returned from a first day of nursery. We got talking and I asked her about her first day. She said her teacher was very nice and that she taught them a, b, c. Very enthusiastically, the little girl asked if she could say them for me. Not to dampen her enthu, I said yes and propped myself on a chair expecting her to refresh my memory on the a, b, c we all learnt on our first day at school. But oh dear Lord, I almost fell off my chair when I heard her say- A for apple, A for ball, A for cat, A for dog. Was I dreaming? Did I hear wrong? So I stopped her and asked her to start over and this time I was sure I heard right…..A for apple, A for ball, A for cat, A for dog. Oh it was so hilarious. Now I’m not too sure about b, c, d but on her first day of school, she certainly did learn that it’s not ‘e’ but ‘a’ for ‘everything’!!
I’m sure every parent has their own funny stories which they remember about their kids. I’m only 20 years old and still quite a kid myself, but all I can say to the mummies and daddies (‘if’) reading this, cherish the memories of your kids and someday when you’re not feeling your best, I’m sure these little memories will put a smile on your face! And while we are on the subject of kids, here’s something that an 8 year old boy asked me; How do you translate this in English-“baccha so raha hai”??
Simple, I said; “ The child is sleeping”. But he says no. The English translation of baccha so raha hai is ‘kid-napping’!

The wonder of being born again....

The first birth out of the womb of the mother is painful. The second birth out of oneself is more painful. Most of the people have only one birth and live through life as mediocre midgets. Those who want to grow and achieve, strive and gather knowledge to improve their personality and performance. Such people have a second birth, which completely transforms their life and identity. You and I are born equal but are different too. No man could be ideally successful until he has not found his place. Like a locomotive, he is strong on the track, but weak anywhere else. Most of us follow the mob instead of being an engine pulling bogies and cabins forward. To become the engine, power has to be generated to move the locomotive. Standardisation, conformity, compromise etc. are the enemies of growth and development. To be different, it requires courage and taking risks. Different does not mean that we go on changing. We have to be ourselves. To be ourselves who else is better qualified than we? Herman Melville said: “Its better to fail in originality, than to succeed in imitation.” Average people stand at the same place and become smaller and smaller in size. Trying to be like someone else is self-defeating. The son wants to be like the father; the daughter wants to be like the mother. God has made each one different to have their own identity. If all of us are alike, there is no fun to live in this world. If there is to be sunshine all the 24 hours, the earth would be a desert. There should be day and night, darkness and light, happiness and sorrow, honesty and dishonesty, prosperity and poverty, health and sickness etc. God has given each of us an ability to do certain things well. We can’t reach our destiny or destination taking another man’s road. My science tutor once said, “If you cut your own path instead of following the tracks of others, you will make new discoveries for yourself. Do not follow the beaten track because you may get ultimately beaten; a new path will lead to marvelous discoveries and you will leave a trail!” You will find that the uncommon person alone becomes a champion. Your responsibility is not to remark yourself, but to make the absolute best of what you are made of. Samuel Johnson said: “Almost every man wastes part of his life in attempts to display qualities he does not possess.” An apple tree can only produce apples and not bananas but the apple could be the best and tasty! Water is a great symbol of flexible power. If it cannot follow a direct cause; if there are rocks and boulders enroute, it will always change course and find a way winding around and adopting to the terrain. Yet its power will always be to move ever forward. Ultimately, the river flows into the sea, a larger reservoir, where it can receive any volume of water. Our thoughts are like the river; fifty thousand of them every day, but very few are fit to be applied; others are either unfit or passing thoughts. These few are real assets if they can be worked for our own betterment and others too. The first thing that happens when you are on the move is that you are not going to stay where you are. It is not what you get that makes you successful; it is what you are continuing to do with what you have, that brings success. There is an anonymous poem which says: “Remember this your lifetime thoughts, tomorrow there will be more to do; failures wait for all those who stay with some success made yesterday.” For example, we hear people about their past achievements instead of saying what they wish to achieve in future. Weather-beaten bureaucrats give lectures on what they achieved many years ago and not what should be done today or tomorrow to make life a rich bounty. The beginning is the most important part of any endeavour. Worse than a quitter is anyone who is afraid to begin. Ninety percent of success is to begin and continue. You may be disappointed if you fail, but you are doomed, if you don’t try. W. Clement Stone wrote; “Many fail because they don’t get started: they don’t stir and move forward. They don’t overcome inertia. They don’t begin. Remember that little steps add up and they become big steps. No endeavour is worse than that which is not attempted. You don’t know what you can do until you have tried. Like trees we can grow or wither!” The challenge of life is not to become stereotyped, average, mediocre and also ran. If you wish to excel, you have to shed old habits and be born again!

Find your own trigger!

Some people find it profitable to be engaged in some work like in the garden or ironing clothes or cutting vegetables because such activities do not require any intellectual thought, although physically at work. Many women find cooking or washing clothes monotonous and it is on such occasions which are ideal for day dreaming or indulging in delicious flights of fancy. All that is required is to enhance your inner creativity, to make life happy and serene. Why should we relax in order to become creative? Because, it is only in this state of tranquility that we are able to come into contact with the deeper recesses of our sub-conscious mind that all inspiration grows. Sometimes, we may be painting pictures or writing poetry when we suddenly find a desire to be creative and manifest it. Inspiration comes in a flash as in the case of actors, singers, painters, after many years of grinding work. For example, author Ruth Randall whose work has been so highly acclaimed said that she has been writing all her life, before she was discovered and hailed as a bright new talent. A seed sown in the earth in ideal conditions will choose its own moment to show its tender first shoots and there is no guarantee that you will be standing and watching it. Similarly, your own moment of inspiration may flash at a time when you are thinking if something completely different. Intuition helps and very rarely let us down. We should listen to that small inner voice guiding us along the creative path, possibly in a direction we have never imagined. Creative inspiration is a transient phenomenon comes at an unexpected moment making it important to capture it before it disappears altogether. Whether the idea comes for a splendid new novel or a wonderful new invention or a new musical composition or even as an answer to a difficult problem, which was worrying you, you should write it down. You may think that you can remember it later but your minds become so cluttered with garbage that the inspiration is submerged in the debris. When one of my neighbour uncle was in the police, instinct has helped him a lot in decision making especially in dealing with disorer (as uncle once told me). Even in interrogation of criminals instinct helps indicating whether the criminal is lying or not. Inspiration helps only when you know the subject. You can’t write a wonderful poetry or do a painting or sculpture without creating ideas. You can’t create a new recipe if you are not aware of the result of blending the ingredients. The tragic heroes and heroines are the ones who thought of doing something, postponed it and never started it. Remember, that only those whose minds have been allowed to roam free are capable of creative thoughts and inspirations. As one of my friend said, “I feel sorry for Turtles. Some of them, live to ripe old age but spend their whole lives in a shell.” Before you are ready to come out and speak confidently, you must have the courage to burst through your shell. Many people fortify themselves to live in the comfort zone, like denying a promotion because of change of place or just do the thing and not anything extra. Many permanently perish, because of a mere lack of adventurous spirit and fear to do something at great risk. Many whip and defeat desires, simply because they concentrate on why they cannot do a thing. To succeed in this world, one has to be an ever-growing and ever-evolving character. Life is trial and error and hitting the right spot while oscillating. None in this world had the correct formula or rule book to live a successful life. It is pure experimentation and the results teach us to proceed ahead or stop. Abraham Lincoln said, “Towering genius disdains a beaten path. It seeks regions hitherto unexplored.” A life without mission or purpose is without meaning. Meaning gives life direction. A sense of direction creates the hope of arrival at a preferred destination. To see that destination before it appears on the horizon and to want it more than anything is what life is for. Like all things that make life worth living, pursuing a definite mission involves risk. And risk makes us alert, vigilant and creative to find the solution. A wise risk is the one you will not take now, but won’t be able to take later. It has a lot to do with timing. Jim Elliot a young missionary martyred for his faith, wisely encouraged others when he said, “He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain or what he cannot lose. Today is the only guarantee you have; make the best use of it.” So my friends go ahead and do it and something will happen which will be to your advantage.