promises to keep !

1.) temper - keep in check everyday. shall count and write every time I let it go off .
2.)  facebook: login once in a day only that too in the evening.
3.)  exercise: everyday for 30 minutes.
4.) flexibility: to be attained in body and mind.

A lurking thought.

In some way it is related to my earlier post but not exactly what I meant to write. How I feel  when I compare the dimensions of a man or for that matter even the mankind with the universe and the kind of attitude we have as a race is very difficult to describe. I shall be publishing them very soon. But something which has been lurking in my mind now for quite sometime, I am out with that now. This is about the violence shown in movies/TV programs. I feel that it's time that we change our ideas about how the good wins over  bad. The act of justifying the violence in the process of eliminating evil has to go.  The other day when my lil one asked me, (after watching a hollywood movie scene where the hero kills three people and when the heroine tells him that he did wrong ), did n't he do the right thing mamma as they were bad people and is n't it okay to kill bad people ? In spite of knowing the answer very well and clearly I was shocked and puzzled. Because this is not the point of view I want him to have at all ! What is good and bad according to me is a very relative and very much dependent upon a specific situation. Of course we do have good and bad in a broad way  to guide us through the life. But I feel earnestly that we all should change our viewpoint on how to deal with bad.

I shall elaborate my point with an example. A child, of say eight or nine years,  hits another child and hurts him/her badly. How do we deal with it ? Do we punish the child so bad he feels hurt even more?(Now I do realize that I am comparing a child, who does not understand the seriousness of his actions to fully grown ups, but wait till I finish) This act of hurting is a superficial manifestation of something more serious.  Unless this was an accident(we are not talking of that case) and the first child did it with the actual intention of hurting then the problem at hand to be taken care of is Why did he do it? We shall try to find out the reason and try our best to remove the cause along with being patiently telling the child who did it that what he did was wrong and unacceptable. He/ She might get some punishment also but certainly not hurting him/her more.  So why do we handle the same situation in a very different way for grown ups. The only reason I see is as I said as grown ups we are supposed to know the consequences of our actions not only for the person/persons but for ourselves and hence that should be a deterrent to that act. I agree with it. But what if some people and I believe there are 'some' only do not understand it.  Why we have to have harsh punitive methods to drive home the point that violence in an form is not acceptable ?  I see two things there though not unrelated and independent of each other but still two of them 1.) act of punishment 2.) to convey the message. If our aim is only point 2.) then I must say the methods should and can change. Why can't we try here also to look a little deeper with some compassion  and find out the reason  and try to get rid of the circumstances/ reasons that led to it. I understand that real situations are far more complex than this but what we learn in research is when faced with a difficult problem-break it into smaller pieces and handle them.  All that is needed is patience and a positive outlook.  I believe this would work for every situation in life.

too many interruptions, so rest later,  I am not done yet but may be mercy for the moment :)

Living or Coexistence

The term living should be replaced with coexistence. We as humans get so much lost in our lives that we forget about the millions of other living species which also inhabit our home-the planet Earth. We do not have harmony and peace even within human species. Our brazen misuse and exploitation of the planet has been going on for hundred of years to make our lives more comfortable. But now we can see the consequences coming up not only in the form of natural disasters but many man made disasters. Unfortunately it looks like we still do not realise the seriousness of the matter as one race.  As I see it some of our basic traits like fear, greed and ego run very high not only at the individual level but also at the state level. The problems arising on account of these have led to widespread mistrust if not exactly hatred, huge difference in the distribution of wealth and resources. Settling the matters with in our own human race is a huge challenge, unless each of us overcomes the ego and greed on individual level. Living our lives the way it is going on, we are not creating problems for ourselves, but putting in danger the existence of many other living species, many of them already are extinct.  We live our lives so involved in our materialistic world, that, we never realise some very basic facts which I shall continue in my next post.

Some shots in the Himalayas !

 The  Alaknanda

A beautiful sight

the earth hour !

While observing earth hour on 31st, something I came across -

You must treat the earth well. It was not given to you by your parents. It is loaned to you by your children.  (which is a Kikuyu (Kenya) Saying )

in a restaurant in Haldwani, a town in Uttrakhand during our recent trip to the Himalayas kept coming again and again to my mind.

Now one does not need to have super intelligence to make sense out of it. But still the way we live and treat the earth is anything but anywhere near this sentiment.  In fact the more I think about it more worried I am for what we are going to leave for our children.  Generally it is our very selfish and narrow attitude towards life that makes us live in this manner. But for me the same attitude of selfishness forces to think what I am leaving for my child. Is bringing him up with good education,  providing him with comforts in life, all I need to do for him? I do not think so. I would like my child to live in a world, where love and trust is not only confined to small circles of family and friends  but to all the inhabitants of the planet, earth . I would like to leave this world with natural resources-forests, water,oil etc. for them.

Fortunately or unfortunately(depends upon what you think, former for me) we  have to live our lives with a much more broader outlook in order to make the world/planet a better place or even leave it the way we got it.  If I think about what all needs to be done I just get overwhelmed by enormity of the task and feel helpless and depressed. But I have decided to do whatever I can do in my capacity and I believe anything or everything will change when all of us take this attitude and am sure there are many others who feel the same.  I shall save water, electricity, trees, gas, petrol to whatever extent I can  and I hope you all will. Let us try to leave a better place for our children.  So  let us observe many more undeclared earth hours to save our natural resources.

chal manna !

chal manna hun kuj kariye,  te chal  phir agge wadhiye,
Bahut ho gaye bhane shane, bahut ho gaye lare lappe,
phir to ek chlang mariye, te phir to koi hud tappye.
har ek dar nu piche chad ke, har ek shuk nu jaron mita ke,
josh apne nu, jor  apne nu, ekitha kar ke,
chal manna hun kuj kariye, te chal phir agge wadiye.

(this is written in punjabi-my mother tongue)