Making Sandcastles In Life

Hot sun. Salty air. Rhythmic waves.

A little boy is on his knees scooping and packing the sand with plastic shovels into a bright blue bucket. Then he upends the bucket on the surface and lifts it. And, to the delight of the little architect, a castle tower is created.

All afternoon he will work. Spooning out the moat. Packing the walls. Bottle tops will be sentries. Popsicle sticks will be bridges. A sandcastle will be built.

Big city. Busy streets. Rumbling traffic.

A man is in his office. At his desk he shuffles papers into stacks and delegates assignments. He cradles the phone on his shoulder and punches the keyboard with his fingers. Numbers are juggled and contracts are signed and much to the delight of the man, a profit is made.

All his life he will work. Formulating the plans. Forecasting the future. Annuities will be sentries. Capital gains will be bridges. An empire will be built.

Two builders of two castles. They have much in common. They shape granules into grandeurs. They see nothing and make something. They are diligent and determined. And for both the tide will rise and the end will come.

Yet that is where the similarities cease. For the boy sees the end while the man ignores it. Watch the boy as the dusk approaches.

As the waves near, the wise child jumps to his feet and begins to clap. There is no sorrow. No fear. No regret. He knew this would happen. He is not surprised. And when the great breaker crashes into his castle and his masterpiece is sucked into the sea, he smiles. He smiles, picks up his tools, takes his father's hand, and goes home.

The grownup, however, is not so wise. As the wave of years collapses on his castle he is terrified. He hovers over the sandy monument to protect it. He blocks the waves from the walls he has made. Salt-water soaked and shivering he snarls at the incoming tide.

"It's my castle," he defies.

The ocean need not respond. Both know to whom the sand belongs...

I don't know much about sandcastles. But children do. Watch them and learn. Go ahead and build, but build with a child's heart. When the sun sets and the tides take away your sand castles- applaud the sheer natureness. Salute the process of life and go home.

Jerry - The Ever Positive Guy

Jerry was the kind of guy who was always in a good mood and always had something positive to say. When some one would ask him how is he doing, he would reply, “If I were any better, I would be twins!”.

He was a unique manager because he had several waiters who had followed him around from restaurant to restaurant. The reason the waiters followed Jerry was because of his attitude. He was a natural motivator.

If an employee was having a bad day, Jerry was telling the employee how to look on the positive side of the situation. Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went upto Jerry and asked him, “ I don’t get it! You can’t be a positive person all of the time. How do you do it?”

Jerry replied, “Each morning I wake up and say to myself, ‘Jerry, you have two choices today. You can choose to be in a good mood or you can choose to be in a bad mood.’ I choose to be in a good mood. Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim or I can choose to learn from it. I choose to learn from it.

Every time some one comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaint or I can point out the positive side of life. I choose the positive side of life.” “yeah, right, its not that easy,” I protested.

“Yes, it is” Jerry said. Life is all about choices. When you cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice. You choose how you react to situations. You choose how people will affect your mood. You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood.

If By Rudyard Kipling

Check this poem out by Rudyard Kipling...quite an inspirational one and good one to have a look at when in doubt or dilemma...almost a breathtaking one for me...read for letting loose the right rhythm of maintaining the state of bliss and balance...


If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master,
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!

Seeing Is Believing - Courtesy Polar Express

After a long time had a great feeling on seeing a movie,named Polar Express. The story is about a boy who happened to believe that Santa Claus does not exist. And at the end of the movie, he does believe that the Santa Claus do exist. Now there was nothing new to the theme, what mattered most was the sequence of incidents that he encounters which makes him believe the so called myth.

There had been times aplenty in everybody's life, I guess, that we do not believe in something to happen. We go on thinking that our thinking would never materialize or see the daylight. There are a couple of dialogues which I would like to mention here. One was "Seeing is believing" i.e.what we see is what we believe. And the other was "No matter what train you get into, what matters is that you go on".

Quite simple and sweet. It doesn't matter what or how life makes us to ride itself, what matters is we move on..we move on to see the end of the road, we move on to see the end of our destined journey. And if we can see or believe that something will happen, chances are that we would see our belief happening in front of our eyes. Well, its just requires a small firm stance inside our core, to say that "I BELIEVE IN MY BELIEF"

Knowing The Knowings

I was learning when i fumbled
I was fumbling when i learned
i was laughing when i cried
i was crying when i laughed
I was judging when i was in doubt
I was in doubt when i judged

I was flying when i crashed
I crashed when i tried to fly
I remembered what i thought
I thought what i remembered
I forgot what i thought
I thought what i forgot

I dreamed when i slept
I slept when i dreamed
I did not know what i knew
I knew when i did not know
I hoped when i was lost
I was lost when i hoped

I look back and see
I see and look back
I still donno whether things were difficult,
Or Difficult were things,
But what I feel I think I know,
That what I know I think I feel,
Everything had a meaning
All meaning had everything

We may not the know the knowings,
Knowings may not be known to us,
We have only one option then,
Let the option take care of Us,
And We do our best,
Let the best come out of We.

Subroto's favourite shirt

This story is about the Sahara Chairman, Subroto Chatterjee. He, once during a delegation, gave a short snapshot of an incident that happened in his life.

Subroto was 10 years old. He was very fond of a shirt which was a birthday present. The shirt carried such a importance in his life that he would die and give anything for the sake of it. Once, what happened, was that his shirt accidentally fell to fireplace. He was quick to react and he was able to take his shirt out, just in time. He was happy.

But when he carefully examined, he found a small hole in it. And that was enough to break his soul, let alone his heart. He was disheartened and saddened to the extent that he stopped eating food. When his father came to know of it, he came to his son’s room and enquired about the reason.

On knowing the reason, he simply asked his son to bring the shirt which was his heartthrob. The boy obliged and brought the shirt. The fireplace was still burning at its exteme. He simply threw the shirt inside, in front of his son, and then ensured that it had burned even the last charred remains of the cloth.

Subroto’s left most important organ, popularly known as Heart, skipped a beat or two. Because, what happened, was something he had not imagined in the wildest of his dreams. He was awe-struck, shocked. Now it was the turn of the father, to tell the reason for doing the same.

He began like this – ‘Son, Never, ever in life attach yourself to any material or immaterial thing in this world. You should not give yourself as a scapegoat to anyone and to anything. Enjoy the worldly pleasures as it is but never attach or be a slave to it. And only then can you move forward in life, with ease. “

True in every sense, I think….Well, have you ever heard about the phrase “Aids With Strings”….it’s mostly used when big organizations like WHO or World Bank alikes give monetary aids to countries but these aids comes with its added strings attached to it…these countries are made to offer something else in return….that’s political aspect though.

What I intend to say is let us all enjoy all the beautiful, fun frolic things that life offers but there should always be strings attached to each of them so that we don’t cross our limits and indulge in overdoing a thing, than needed.

Live Life Baby Size !!!

Have you seen seen a small baby smiling to the apex of his/her capacity. How do you feel at that moment. Frankly speaking for me, it would be the moment when I just forget everything and observe the sheer simplicity in the smile. I feel good by myself for having seen this simple gesture from a life form so small.

Why, in fact, just the other day, I was brushing my teeth and opposite to my flat was a scene which was quite hilarious. The terrace of the other building had 4 small kittens who were playing with themselves. All were running after each other, mauling and biting over each other, stopping every now and then, and starting all over again. And in between if they happen to discover some noise or a living form, they would jump at that instance and try to figure out the meaning of it. There was this empty Coca-Cola bottle which moved by itself owing to suddent gish of wind and all our 4 detectives were circling around it to discover what it is.

After seeing them, I was wondering that if we happen to see clearly all around nature, we would have ample proof and solutions to our problems. Everything seems to be saying to us as to what is right and how it all should be, how we should be always active, how we should be just inquisitive about everything, and see the bright side of everything, and the dark sides which will always be there, should be forgotten as fast as possible and learn the lessons that come with them....the thing is we should have our ears and eyes open to engulf the real meaning.

Keep your eyes and ears open for there may be countless such instances for us to make us learn the chapters of life. Happy viewing !!!!

Chhuck Chhuck Kartee Railgadee

"All the passengers pay attention. Train No. 3210 is due to arrive at Platform No. 2 at 10:10 AM"....Sounds familiar, right. This is the usual bhavishyavani which reverberates in railway platforms when we are about to travel to distances in chug-chug railways. Of course, nowadays due to the ever-increasing lack of time, we are presented with other alternative, thanks to the Oliver and Wright brother's invention.

For me, travelling in a train, always carried that oomph factor. The excitement and fingers-crossed environment which it carries had been second to none, till date. Right from the time I leave my home, following events consistently unravels itself --- searching for an auto, letting him fly his three-wheeler, coming to the platform, first thing to notice whether the train is on time by seeing on the display board, checking the platform no., going to the destined place where my bogie should ideally come.

And then, when everything is settled comes the great commentary --- "Train No. 3210 is running late by 2 hrs. It is expected to arrive at ...." We take a huge sigh, not sure though whether of relief or no-idea-what-to-do-all-this-time. Youngsters pick up their best friend (mobile) and then call their supposed-to-be-better-half and would be stuck to them. Families would get time to discuss about their hierarchical structure taking each family member's context one by one. Loners would be left with a couple of choices -- either stroll around as if to measure the length and width of the station or take a magazine/book to read.

But after 2 hours and of course, if everything goes well planned, we abode our vahana. First there would be a sudden hue and cry to sit in the alotted seat. And then after that, we would all be settled. Some take the avatars of kumbhakarana....some take the avatars of sorry-limited-stop talkers....some would be the audience, smiling every now and then....of course not to miss the little angels for whom its the play-time.

And not to forget the chai-chai's, bread-omelette's, samosa's, pakoda's, bisleri's, biscuit's, ice-cream's all coming in regular intervals to let us deviate from our avatars. And of course, the Ticket Collector entry to verify our ticket's identity. And then finally, we reach our destination....if we are going for a vacation, we would be full of energy but if we are coming back, we would be thinking "alas...Back to pavilion...".

Somehow this travel machine always carries with it the spontaneity and excitement of life with itself, which never ends and goes on and on and on.

Stay Connected

An old farmer lived on a farm in the mountains with his young grandson. Each morning Grandpa was up early sitting at the kitchen table reading his Bhagavad-gita. His grandson wanted to be just like him and tried to imitate him in every way he could.

One day the grandson asked, “Grandpa! I try to read the Bhagavad-gita just like you but I don’t understand it, and what I do understand I forget as soon as I close the book. What good does reading the Bhagavad-gita do?”

The grandfather quietly turned from putting coal in the stove and replied, “Take this coal basket down to the river and bring me back a basket of water.”

The boy did as he was told, but all the water leaked out before he got back to the house. The grandfather laughed and said, “You’ll have to move a little faster next time,” and sent him back to the river with the basket to try again. This time the boy ran faster, but again the basket was empty before he returned home. Out of breath, he told his grandfather that it was impossible to carry water in a basket, and he went to get a bucket instead. The old man said, “I don’t want a bucket of water; I want a basket of water. You’re just not trying hard enough,” and he went outside to watch the boy try again.

At this point, the boy knew it was impossible, but he wanted to show his grandfather that even if he ran as fast as he could, the water would leak out before he got back to the house.

The boy again dipped the basket into the river and ran hard, but when he reached his grandfather the basket was again empty. Out of breath, he said, “See Grandpa, it’s useless!”

“So you think it is useless?” The old man said, “Look at the basket.” The boy looked at the basket and for the first time realized that the basket was different. It had been transformed from a dirty old coal basket and was now clean, inside and out.

“Son, that’s what happens when you read the Bhagavad-gita. You might not understand or remember everything, but when you read it, you will be changed, inside and out.”

This story really heightens the necessity of keeping ourselves surrounded by layers of good vibes and sources. What I mean to say here is there may not seem any necessity to persist doing the right thing every time but you know what, one day we would realize that all of the righteous things which we did, had made us shine in our endeavours and at that point of time we would be endearing the fruits of our toil and hardship. Stay positive and stay connected to the right things for our own good.

Letting Others Decide Our Reactions

I walked with a friend to the news-stand the other night, and he bought a paper, thanking the owner politely. The owner, however, did not even acknowledge it.

"A sullen fellow, isn't he?" I commented as we walked away.

"Oh, he's that way every night," shrugged my friend.

"Then why do you continue being so polite to him?" I asked.

And my friend replied, "Why should I let him determine how I'm going to act?"

Simple, yet meaningful theory...isn't it? It doesn't matter how others behave to you....what matters is how you behave to others and how you react to them...stay on ground when you are up and when you are down.....and dont let others decide as to how you should react to a situation.....