Since my childhood, what fascinated me. are innumerable stories.
So, Via This platform, I would love to tell innumerable stories.
Here you can read Books and Movie Reviews, Poems, and some little stories written by me. Get ready to dive into my simple life.
Some topics are debated all over the world by philosophers, mind trainers, and therapists. I’m sure many of you have read “Many lives Many Masters” by Dr. Brian Weiss. In the book, he writes about a patient who is troubled by depression and anxieties and Dr. Brian takes her to her past life, and while making her travel between two lives, the doctor received some real-life lessons from the Masters. It’s an amazing book, do read it.
So, past life regression is a common practice and there is another world, beyond this mortal world, it is very well mentioned in the book.
In our ancient stories and fables, we have read that God came to this world and incarnated as a mortal just like you and me. Lord Vishnu came here as a fish (Matsya) first, then as a tortoise (Kurma), then as a Boar (Varaha), then half Animal half-human (Narsimha) and then as a Human being afterward (Vamana, PrashuRam, Ram, Krishna). These Avatars were compared with Darwin’s theory too. Incarnations and Reincarnations are very usual in the Indian Mythology which somewhat getting proved in the present era.
One such story of Reincarnation was mentioned in the celebrated Epic, the Mahabharata. There was a Character called Shikhandi who was used as a shield to kill Bhisma Pitamah.
Bhishma got a boon from his father Shantanu that no armor can kill him. But Shikhandi reincarnated to kill Bhisma. Confused? Let’s start from the beginning.
One of the three princesses of Kashi was Amba. She was deeply in love with King Salva and wanted to marry him. When all the preparations of the marriage were going on, Bhishma Pitamah came and kidnapped her. He wanted Amba to marry his younger brother. She politely requested him to leave her alone. She cried that she is in love with Salva and wanted to marry him. She begged in front of him and his brother Vichitravirya, who agreed to what she said and took her back to Salva. But Salva didn’t accept her because she was touched by Bhisma and he felt that it wasn’t right. He thought that accepting a girl who had been touched by another man is against the societal norms. He rejected her and told her to go back to Bhishma.
She wasn’t expecting that from her the man she once loved more than anything in this world. She felt dejected, roaming here and there with innumerable oblivious thoughts and dilemma, she decided to go back to Bhishma. There too she had to face dejection. According to a promise to his Father, Bhishma couldn’t get married.
Now Amba was angry. Her eyes filled with vengeance and wanted to take revenge from Bhisma because of creating that mess. But, how? No one can kill Bhisma according to the boon.
She prayed to the Gods, did hard penance, but no one listened to her. Finally, she went to the Himalayas and prayed to Lord Shiva. Lord Kartikeya (Murugan) went to her and gave her a garland. He said that this garland is given to him by Lord Shiva and anyone who wears this can kill Bhisma. She finally saw a ray of hope and went to innumerable rulers in the beautiful continent of the nation, but no one accepted to have a combat with Bhishma. She went to King Drupada, the noble ruler of Panchaal with a final hope, but he also rejected the proposal. In Anger, she hanged that garland at the entry gate of Panchaal and died.
Now call it destiny or karma, she Reincarnated as Shikhandini and took birth as the daughter of King Drupada. At the age of nine, she saw that the garland on the gate and suddenly she remembered everything. At that tender age, she went to the forest and started hard penance. Day and night the fire inside her was increasing and the fuel was a thought - a thought to kill Bhisma.
One day when she came out of a slumber, she saw a Yaksha flying in the sky, smiling at her. She looked at him in amazement. Suddenly he shot an arrow towards her and she became a man. Yes, she became a man, Shikhandi. Her (his) penance became harder and harder with each day passed.
During the Kurukshetra war, When Pandavas realized that Bhishma Pitamah needs to be killed, Lord Krishna suggested them to take help from Shikhandi, Brother of Draupadi - their wife.
When Shikhandi entered the battle, Bhisma recognized him as Amba and didn’t attack him because attacking a woman is against the rules. Using Shikhandi as a shield, Arjun Shot an arrow at Bhishma, which Pierced across his chest.
Revenge accomplished.
On the 18th day, Shikhandi was killed in the war by Ashwathama (son of Dronacharya) by a sword.
It took her long, very long to complete her mission, but even death failed to stop her from killing Bhishma.
In this male-dominated society, women have suffered a lot. This story proves that a woman has the tendency to turn the tables, single-handedly.
This is a story that didn’t get much attention because it is widely believed that women can’t be heroes. This is for all women who think they are weak and can’t survive in this male-dominated society. This is for you.
Thanks for reading.
Om Shanti:
Love, Laughter, and peace
Himanshu R Nagpal
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Social Media is one of the greatest parts of our daily life. Most of us can’t, even imagine our lives without our cell phones. We love putting our pictures on Instagram and Snapchat. We like to write about how we are feeling presently and what are our opinions regarding what’s in the trend. We bombard our Facebook walls with our posts and with the posts of our friends. We like to follow various celebrities on twitter and it somehow feels that we are kind of connected to them virtually.
My dear friend, I’m writing this post not to guide you or advise you to quit social media. I’m writing this to help you understand how social media can make your life away from simplicity.
Let’s try to understand the basic process. Suppose you are at a party and you clicked some picture of yours with your friends and you decided to upload it on say Facebook. So far - so good. The problem appears when your mind tricks you to check your wall, again and again, to look at how many likes/comments/emoticons you have received under your picture. If you get many likes, you start believing that your picture was so damn good and you should share more pictures of you on your wall. On the other hand, if you don’t get many likes/comments/emoticons on your post, you’ll get into a self-criticizing zone where you’ll be going to curse yourself again and again that you’re not so good looking or presentable.
Our mind loves tricking us. It will push you to do things that will compel you to seek attention. And my friend, we all love getting attention. We all love staying above our league. We all love it when people talk about us. And there is nothing wrong about that, provided we don’t alter our actions with the attention to be acceptable/loved/looked upon. Oh, man! I can’t tell you how bad things can get when people start loving you for your fictitious figure. You can’t get so close to anyone. Your life becomes a piece of fiction that you create yourself. You always remain afraid of people around you and they will be aware of the fact that your life is not as perfect as it looks like- and trust me, it kills something inside you.
So after so much psychological stuff, let me help you to opt for simple living without deleting your social media accounts.
The first thing you can do is, that make yourself a promise that no matter, whatever happens, you’ll not upload something untrue about yourself.
You should delete all the pages, people, and groups that are disturbing your psyche. There is no point in growing your friend list when you have no one to have a recharging conversation every night before sleeping.
You should not post anything to raise an idiotic debate with no conclusion. It only disturbs you mentally and gave you a very vague sense of victory or defeat.
I hope these little points help you live a better, stress-free life without quitting social media. There is no harm in staying up to date, provided it doesn’t take you away from who you are, isn’t it?
Om Shanti:
Love, Laughter, And Peace
Himanshu R Nagpal (HRN)
Edited by:- Geetika Nagpal
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This post is not regarding any spiritual or psychological stuff. No matter how much I blabber about the universe and its origin, the truth is I'm a guy who has to figure out a hell lot of practical stuff. So let’s talk practically. I see many and many people who are identified with their cars or hairstyles or shoes they wear. When a person starts getting compliments or complaints about their looks, they start believing that that’s their identity. That’s a kind of identity we strongly believe in.
The other type of identity which I want to denote here is when people are known for their ideologies, for their support to a particular person, a group, or a religion. For example, people are talking a lot about categories according to people’s political ideology – left-wing or right-wing ideology.
The other kind of identity which is extremely common is diversification according to physical features like the color- fair or dark, height- tall or short, and many others.
Now let me tell you why the hell I’m talking about all this stuff. We have to discuss simple living/minimalism right? So let me put it like this.
The goal of this whole process of minimalism is nothing but actually knowing who actually you are. It’s all about knowing what is your actual identity? When you start your journey towards knowing your real self, you start realizing how less you need to live a happy, prosperous, and meaningful life. When you reach a little closer to your true self, you will start questioning yourself that what is the need to put your car in the ignition mode, when you can travel via bicycle?
Oh! But man, I have a six-figure salary, why the hell should I ride a bicycle? This question might appear in your mind. But who has created that norm that if you are successful, you can’t ride a bike?
When one gets a little closer to oneself these societal norms and pressure start dissolving. These questions also start dissolving. We are born in a free nation and I think everyone here has a right to live themselves as per their will. There is no harm in traveling through public transport instead of traveling alone in your personal car. You’ll be saving a Kilogram of carbon emission with your simple act like this.
The whole thing I want to explain here is when you’ll understand that you and your car are two different things. It might be known by your name, but you, my friend, can never be known by your Audi or BMW or any other car. These are just for your convenience and cannot be merged with your identity.
Same with the ideologies, when you start believing yourself as a right-wing guy, no matter how correct is the other person you’ll be always applying the same norms and rules to every situation.
And whether your tall or Short, dark or fair, that’s totally none of the people’s concern. It’s how society is trained to characterize people. But the problem starts when you start believing yourself as the one that people call you. They are just transferring their corrupt files in your system. And I promise I’ll talk about this in a specific post.
I talked above about one’s true personality. The thing is, knowing one’s true self is a life-long process. And I’m extremely far away from knowing that. But one thing which I have discovered in this process -One who starts seeking himself, starts thinking about the world before himself.
What my name is or from where I belong to, that’s really not important. Some People call me Hanuman because of the shape of my jaw. But that’s another story and this is not the right time to discuss that. Right now, I have just returned from Lanka, where, that cruel Raavan rules, who has abducted our queen and motherly figure for us all – Maa Seeta.
With the various boons provided by many gods and saints, I have the capability to fly and cross the mountains and the sea. I have discovered all that also quite recently. But the question arises here that how Lord Rama’s army, our army, will be able to cross this ever-expanding sea. We are thousands Of Vanaras, the soldiers of the monkey tribe. It is completely impossible for our whole army to swim across the sea. Then one of us gave an idea that the only possible way to cross the sea is to make a bridge by rocks and stones so that the whole army can cross the sea easily. Easily said, than done. One of the soldiers threw a large rock in the sea, and as expected, it sunk somewhere deep.
Lord Rama is not an ordinary Mortal and no one knows why he has incarnated in this world. But he is my Lord and I have a deep faith in his name. Reciting his name, again and again, give me a sense of peace, no matter how turbulent the situation is. So, I closed my eyes, took his name, and wrote his name on a large piece of rock with a little stone. I threw that rock in the sea with all the faith I have. The Rock starts floating near the shore. Everyone clapped and reciting my Lord’s name. Jai Shree Rama (All hail to Lord Rama).
So that was it, In no time everyone started writing Lord’s name on the rocks and the process of building the bridge had begun. But the thing which was worrying me was, that all the Rocks were scattered and it was hard to march on that bridge and taking the whole army to the other side.
I sat for a while on the ground near the shore. I was lost in thought when I saw some little squirrels writing Lord’s name on little pebbles and throwing them in the sea. I was smiling, watching their dedication towards Lord’s work. But some of my co-soldiers were laughing and teasing them. They were calling their work worthless. Honestly, I feel bad about the whole situation, but I chose to sit quietly.
I was lost in thoughts when I saw Lord Rama coming towards us with his brother Lakshman. He analyzed the whole situation and bend down towards those little squirrels and started patting them lovingly. One little squirrel closed its eyes like it was in some kind of meditative state. After a couple of minutes, I saw some kind of impression on its back. It looked like that all the impressions of his five fingers were imprinted on that little creature’s back.
“Hanuman” Lord looked lovingly at me and said “ No effort is worthless when we are into this war against the evil. The Little pebbles these great beings are throwing in the sea will bring all the large rocks together and will form a concrete structure.”
My eyes were welling up with tears as I saw all the Large rocks coming up together as those little squirrels were throwing more and more pebbles. Those little pebbles were filling up the spaces between those large rocks, giving our bridge a concrete structure.
When we won the war against the mighty demon, King Raavan, we were celebrating Lord’s Victory, Our Victory, when I saw some little squirrels were jumping around us. I was happy to see that. But what astonished me was the grey finger imprints on each of the Squirrel’s back.
That was nothing but the symbol of compassion Lord has imprinted permanently on the whole clan of those little squirrels for their unforgettable service towards the war against the evil.
But that was a different Yuga.
In Kali Yuga, Whenever I see Squirrels around me, I still see those imprints on their back, which reminds me of that day.
And me, don’t worry, I will not going to leave this world till there will be no one to remember my Lord’s name. I'm still a servant of Lord Rama and always will be.
I’m writing this letter not to talk about some spiritual,
Psychological or a fictional stuff. I’m not going to talk about five simple
ways to do this or to do that. I’m writing this letter to just put all my
emotions into this space and express myself as honestly I can.
On 14th of June, 2020, A well known Hindi film
actor, Sushant Singh Rajput found dead in his flat . Now people might say that
everyday a dozen of people commit suicide, so why am I talking about him only,
if I’m going to talk about suicide? Well, Let’s read on to discover.
Whenever I see that guy’s interview, I don’t see a
superstar. I see myself. I see a guy who is working hard to make his place in an
industry where a few families are ruling since generations. I see that vulnerability
which I find in the eyes of the people like you and me. A person who believes that
hard work is the key. A guy, who tries to fit in a place where he never
belonged to. I see a common man, who loves to express himself, his creativity
to the mass.
I understand that stardom is the part of this field, I’m not
denying it, but why is it so that it is enjoyed by only a handful of people?
Why is it so that the reward of all your hardwork is measured by the idiotic
and scripted awards? Why is it so that the level of your creativity is measured
by your six-pack abs or the kind of sensual scenes one is performing on the
screen? Why is it so that one’s fame is measured by how many chat shows he or
she is attending, sitting around a coffee table and uttering nonsense?
What I believe is, films are nothing but a larger medium to
tell your stories, nothing more and nothing less. Just like other mediums of
story telling, one has a capability to connect with one’s audience. But
everything, in film making is done at a much larger level.
The question arises here, that how and why the hell all this
nonsense stuff enter into this industry? If I may answer this question, I’ll
suggest you to stand up and walk towards the mirror and you’ll see the person
who is actually responsible for all this. Yes, you are responsible. I’m
responsible. We all are responsible. As an audience, we failed in understanding
the genuine creativity and talent. You and me are responsible for a person’s death.
Just because, as slaves, we are serving a handful of people, generation after
generation. We are responsible for his death because we demanded item numbers
instead of good stories. We ran behind those so called celebrities the
privildged ones for autographs and photographs. We ardently watch those idiotic
stories in the form of television serials whose name begins with letter “k”. Or
some of the movies with repetitive stuff, where the protagonist removes his
shirt, showing off his bulging muscles and beating up the antagonist.
Who is demanding all this? Who is enjoying all this? You and
me.
Who has made these star kids great? You and me?
We need to understand that in the face of giving a story a
commercial angle, they are controlling our minds and ruining our lives.
And in all this, who is suffering the most? The people who
are climbing up the ladder of the hierarchy with all their hard work and in
return what they are getting? Criticism from the people who are far less
creative, but more privilidged. Not only that, those handful of people are trying
to boycott his cinema and keeping him under their knees.
See, It is you and me who have created these common people
celebrities. Yes, that’s the bad news. But the good news is, You and me together
can genuinely take that fame and that feeling of a celebrity from some one in
couple on months. That will be the true answer to the people who have
controlled our mind, our thought process from so long.
Everytime I close my eyes, I see his face, His vulnerable
face.
This time Sushant has lost his life, Next time there can be
someone else.
This time it was film industry, next time may be it will happen
in some other industry.
This will not stop unless we get back to our senses and
start appericiating the deserving one not the one who came from the back door.
At Last, as an audience, I deeply apologize to Sushant. I
failed as an audience to see and appereciate your talent.
I’ll see you at some other realm, some other time, watching
you play some more characters. And in that story, there will be a happy ending.
Every day I came across many people who always complain. They complain about everything they come across – Be it their job or their home or their spouse or their neighbors and the list go on and on. But in their daily life and routine, they always miss the chance to say thank you to the almighty who has given us innumerable gifts which generally stays out of our gratitude list. So today, I’m going to talk about one of the greatest gifts to mankind – Nature.
My dear ones, every day we have to be conscious enough that our human body is nothing but an accumulation of the five elements or the Panch-Tattvas. The Panch-tattvas comprises of Water, Sky, Earth, Air, and Fire. No matter how much money we earn or many houses we build, no one can add another element to his or her body. In this blog post, we are going to talk about our connection specifically with Earth, because in the journey towards Minimalism, probably the biggest role is played by Earth.
This might sound a bit philosophical, but trust me, in your journey towards minimalism you cannot proceed without connecting with Earth. So sit back, relax and calmly touch your feet to the ground. As you touch your feet to the ground, feel the energy in your body. We need to understand that Mother Earth is the sole provider of energy. Pray to the Mother Earth to always keep us grounded. Pray to Mother Earth no matter how many worldly possessions we might have, one day, we have to sleep forever in her lap. May She never leave her little children alone. Say Thanks to Mother Earth for always carrying our burden on our shoulders. If possible, every morning bow to her for providing us nourishment, care, and love.
I know this may sound foolish in the beginning, but it is very much required. I have seen many people who constantly quote about simple living on social media platforms. But their lifestyle doesn’t support what they say. They are carrying the latest smartphones, wearing branded watches, uploading their pictures while donating food and stuff to the needy ones, and so on. The only reason behind this is they have lost the connection between themselves and the Mother Earth. They are busy polishing their roofs without gaining strength in their roots.
So let’s say that this is the first step in the process of living life simply and effectively.
Though I have missed this point many times, I want to say that I have no hard feelings for the ones who love gathering stuff and filling up their closet with what all they can. They have full right to live their life as per their will and we are no one to guide them or tell them what’s right and what’s wrong.
Let’s conclude this little post on the fact that no matter how many things we have, we can’t take even a penny with us to the other world. I hope this helps you in making you aware of the fact that we shall not run here and there with the purpose of finding God. God is here, inside us, below our feet, above our head, in each and every breath of ours.
Stay Grounded.
and yes, If you haven't read my earlier articles in this series, you can read Here :-)
I opened a new chapter of my English literature book, not because I wanted to, but because I had no other option as our English teacher said that each student had to read one paragraph of the story before she starts explaining it. Now, I used to get very conscious of speaking or reading in front of the whole class, I couldn’t understand why each student needed to read a paragraph, It should be voluntary, isn’t it? So, I calculated that I was the eighth student who had to read, in the first row. So, I had to read the eighth paragraph. I marked that with a pen and tried to concentrate as the first student started reading.
The heading on the page was “The Woman on Platform 8”. Now, I forgot to mention that I’m a day-dreamer since my childhood. I travel to a distant land in my imagination when someone starts speaking or teaching. Today, People address this with much Psychological jargon like Attention Deficit Disorder or something like that. But, let’s call this day-dreaming for now. At that time, I started focussing on the story because of three major reasons – First, I didn’t want to make any kind of mistake while reading. Second, In case if I started reading the wrong paragraph, the whole class will laugh at me, which will indeed puncture my not so inflated confidence. Third, I find the Title of the story so damn Interesting.
Too much of my surprise, I didn’t face any kind of problem while concentrating on the story. So many times it happens that a story starts with a good beginning but after a couple of minutes I lost somewhere in another world. But, with this story, something magical happened. With the first paragraph, I could imagine platform 8 of Ambala station. With the second paragraph, I was there in the story, I could feel the tangibility of the trains, I could listen to the noises of the vendors and I could see the little stray dogs roaming near the bin, trying to find something to eat. In the third paragraph, I was the Protagonist, sitting on the suitcase and feeding broken biscuits to the stray dogs. I was so involved in the story that I stood mechanically when my turn came to read a paragraph.
“I was going to refuse, out of shyness…” I started reading bending towards my desk. I was so darn conscious because the only voice I could hear in the class was mine. I was sweating a bit. I was trying to concentrate on the pronunciation of the words to not to sound like an alien among sophisticated humans.
“Louder Himanshu” Our teacher shouted which shook my tiny little confidence again. I tried to read louder, but I don’t think it made any difference in the outcome of the pitch of my voice. I completed the paragraph without many errors and sat down with a thump with a little smile and a boosted confidence. I immediately traveled again in the pages of the little book in front of me and I again became the protagonist of the story – Arun, who met a lady on Platform 8 of Ambala station.
The woman on Platform 8 is a story of a twelve-year-old boy waiting for his train, late at night as he had to travel back to his boarding school. He was all alone and was observing carefully what was happening around him – Be it Coolies, or vendors, or train, he was observing everything. He was bored to the core and was feeling very lonely. Suddenly, A middle-aged lady, wearing a white saree came to him and asked him some questions. He started feeling comfortable with her and She took him to have some samosas and jalebis. He ate as much as he could and she was feeling happy watching him eat, just like a mother feels satisfied when she watches her child having his or her favorite dish. The serenity on her face and the simplicity in her character made him feel a motherly affection towards her. Not only this, but she also introduced herself as Arun’s Mother to a friend of him and his mother who came to bid goodbye to his son. Arun felt very touched and kissed her goodbye and also addressed her as his Mother. He waved his hand watched her till she was lost in the crowd as the train took him away.
The Story is written By Mr. Ruskin Bond and that was the first time I read that name. But since then, he got a very reverent position in the list of my Favourite Authors. I read that story not once, not twice but even after completing my 7th Standard (With a hell lot of difficulties and prayers).
After a couple of months, there was news all around That Mr. Bond is coming to our school and one can get a copy of his book signed, provided he bought that book from the school’s bookstall. And then, my business of Daydreaming begun. It was just so realistic and here it goes:-
“I went with a copy of Angry River written by him and he shook my hand before putting his right hand in his shirt’s pocket to find his roller pen. I tried to touch his feet but he stopped me in between and patted my back. He was a little, chubby guy and so fair. His voice was very soothing. I told him that I love his books and his story, The woman on platform 8 is my favorite. He smiled but I threw another question at him. Did I ask him whether he actually knows Arun or is he his friend? He looked at me and shook my hand again and said: “My little friend, I’m Arun.”
I played that so many times in my mind that it became so realistic, just like it actually happened.
Mr. Bond with our Principal Ma’am
And the day arrived when he was finally coming to our school. It was a winter morning and I reached school just before the bell rang. Everything seemed to be so beautiful and fresh. I kept my bag on the bench and came to the corridor. Two of my classmates were standing there and I heard their conversation about Mr. Bond.
“Hey, are you going to the A.V. Room today to get your book signed?”
“Ohh yeah, I got money and I will buy two of his books. I really wish that he could sign both of them.”
I felt that someone threw a grenade towards me with its pin off. At that moment I realized that I forgot to bring money to buy books. I never cursed myself so much in my life. It was a kind of Panic attack and I was numb for a moment. When I attained my consciousness back, I calculated that I had three options in front of me – Beg, Borrow or Steal.
I couldn’t beg because once a tuition Teacher of mine said when I did all the subtraction sums wrong “Ek to tu itna Hatta-Katta hai, Tujhe to koi Bheek bhi nahi dega. Karega kya tu life mein?” I immediately dropped that idea.
I couldn’t borrow because I never learned how to take favor without hurting my own ego. I was and I’m, very bad at expressing myself.
I couldn’t steal because I have seen that people beat Thieves, provided they get caught. And I had no prior experience in that, Neither in stealing nor in getting beaten up.
Finally, I discovered another option.
“I’ll see Mr. Bond some other time.” I tried to soothe my injured, little heart with an ineffective balm of three words – “Some Other Time”.
He came around eleven in the morning and half of my classmates went to him to get their books signed. And I was sitting on the last bench, copying my maths activity because I had to face the reality after Mr. Bond will go, that one gets punished if he doesn’t complete his maths activity. Honestly, I felt like crying. I just wanted to see him so badly. But you know what, I couldn’t cry, because I was thirteen at that time. And thirteen-year-old is a big boy and they say that “Big boys Don’t Cry.”
The freshness I was talking about, flew away. That day I realized that it was all in my head. The Excitement brings that freshness and The boredom scares it away.
“Himanshu, please go and keep these notebooks in the computer laboratory.” My class teacher said. And May God Bless her!
While returning after keeping two dozens of notebooks in the lab, I saw this man with an innocent face while passing through the corridor. He was looking at the Craft board outside Vice-Principal’s office. He was wearing a light blue sweater and sports shoes. His lips, they were somewhat like mine – Big and swelled up. He was discussing something with our Principal. His hands were at his back and were observing everything so calmly, as he was trying to imagine a story inside his head. I never saw his picture before but I saw some of his cartoons, which were usually printed on the cover of his books.
“Did he saw me? here on the first floor?” I wasn’t sure.
Slowly, he went towards the basement and I was watching him go. I was still gazing at the place he was standing a minute before. I finally saw him and I wanted to say this to the whole world. But, I chose to stay quiet. That was my memory and I waited long to share it with the world. I can’t forget that day till my last breath on this “Not so green anymore” Planet.
What was so special about that story?
I really don’t know. But even today when I read that story it touches my soul. I still feel those long-lost emotions I felt when I read that story for the very first time. And then I realize that, though I’m about to turn twenty-eight, a part of me is still twelve-year-old. That part of me hasn’t grown yet. That part of me is still sitting on his suitcase at the Ambala station, waiting for his train, all alone. He is still gazing at the place where Mr. Bond was standing in his blue sweater and sports shoes. And eating Samosas and Jalebis up to his heart’s content.
Most Importantly, that guy had experience being alone for a while, not physically maybe, but yes emotionally. He understands and cherishes those relationships which were made for some time, maybe on a train journey, when one knows that he will never see the other person – Really, Never. Those faces become blurred in the memory but that warmth, it never fades.
But The truth is, at the end of the day, He is all alone – Physically and Emotionally. But that doesn’t mean that he is sad. He is just like that Lone fox dancing in the Bright Moonlight.
So let’s end this by taking some liberty by molding Mr. Bond’s poem in my words –
Somewhere in a distant land, Another Lone fox is Dancing, In the bright moonlight.
Slowly, Learning to express Himself, Thinking without what’s wrong and What’s right.
With a paper on his desk and Pen in his hand, He began to write.
And He will keep on dancing Till the dawn, Because, The night was his by right.
The night couldn’t be darker. The environment couldn’t be more silent. The only sound one could hear was the sound of smoldering fire on the pyre, which seemed like the sound of the burp of fire, after consuming the whole human body and satisfying its hunger. Anuj was sitting calmly, just like every night from the last two years before going home. He missed him every day since he passed away. Each night, after all the workers go home, he goes to the cemetery and sits near a pyre where they burned his Baba’s, his Grandfather’s body.
That night was no different. He parked his scooter near the Cemetery’s gate and quietly sat near that place where once he saw his Baba’s face last time. He was watching the fire, which was about to extinguish continuously for an hour or so. He was missing his Baba so much on that moonless night. He remembers all his teachings, all his philosophies by heart. And the waves of memories were all around in him.
“Baba, where do we go when we die?” asked Anuj when he was still a 9-year-old boy.
“Beta, We don’t go anywhere. We just change our form. Undoubtedly we have to shed our clothes, which is this human body. But you know who we all are? We are nothing but a form of energy. And as they teach you in school that Energy can neither be created and nor we can destroy it. We just change our form. “ the 85-year-old Man replied with visibility of experience in his voice.
“So Baba does that mean that whosoever is dead can see us, but we can’t see them?”
“Not only they can see us, but they also take care of us. They are very much concerned about our well-being.”
“Has someone ever communicated with you from the other side of the line?”
“Beta, first of all, there is no particular line. And yes, My Grandfather, whom I love so very much, tried to protect me from so many unseen circumstances. Not once, not twice, but many times he came to protect me.”
“Oh! will you come to visit me from there?” He asked with a twinkle in his eyes.
“First of all, I’m not going to die so soon. But yes, I will always be there to protect you, my child.” He said and kept his hand on his head. “Jai Shree Ram”. He said
“Jai Shree Ram” Anuj Replied.
He wiped the tears from his cheek when the guard came to lock the gates of the cemetery and told him to go. He bowed towards the pyre and quietly went towards the gate. He constantly kicked his scooter and finally, it got started. He quietly went towards his home after crossing the cemetery once again. The beauty of that particular lane was, there is a Hindu Cemetery next to that there’s a Christian Graveyard. And just next to that there is a Muslim Kabristan. He went quietly as his mind is still busy in showing him the memories of the time he spent with his Baba.
Suddenly an old man, who was covering his whole body with a blanket, asked him for a lift. He asked him to drop him at the mosque which was on a different route. First, he thought of ignoring him, but the other moment he was sitting behind him and both of them were heading towards the mosque.
“Where are you going at this point of time child?” the old man asked Anuj.
“I’m heading towards my Home Uncle. I just got late in the factory.” He replied trying to make the conversation short.
“Don’t go near the Kabaristan at this time my child. There can be ‘Rooh’ or ‘Jin’ around. And don’t enter the gate. It can be dangerous.”
Anuj didn’t reply.
“Where do you stay?”
“Pratap Bagh” he gave the answer crisp and short.
“Then please don’t go back to that route. Go straight from the Masjid and that road will emerge into the main road near that Main traffic signal.”
Anuj Didn’t reply again.
And after a few minutes, they were near Masjid and the old man told him to stop.
“Thank you so much, Beta for dropping me.”
He touched his shoulder to get support to get off from the scooter. The next moment he touched his hair and said “Jai Shree Ram”.
Anuj replied, gave some race and went away.
While coming back the thought came to him that was the old man his Baba who came to see him? But soon he decided to be more practical. Another thought struck him when he rewinds the conversation with the old man. He was speaking fluent Urdu and He seemed to be a Muslim, then why he said Jai Shree Ram? Was he really his Grandfather?
After a fifteen minutes ride, he was at his home. That night, he slept without having dinner.
The next morning he woke up with a thud when someone banged his door.
“Anuj Are you all right?” His Mom was worried when she entered his room.
“What happened Maa? Why are you looking so worried?”
“You don’t get the news? Abdul Bhai told me that there was a building collapsed near the Cemetery last night. Three People died and one of them was going on his scooter when that old building collapsed.”
Anuj was numb, lost in the thoughts of last night.
I will always be there to protect you, my child.” He had said and kept his promise.
Have you ever thought that is there any power which is governing us and protecting us at every turn of life? or are we all alone on this planet? How often we feel that there’s no one to protect us and care for us. And how often we feel that there’s completely no one who can completely understand us and feel for us.
Questions like who created this whole system of life and death and after death always appears in my mind. Who created our emotions? Who created these religions? and there are a lot more ‘Who’ in the list. And one thing which constantly appears in my mind is how can there be no errors or faults in the system? How everyone has to die, no matter sooner or later, no matter who you are, but one has to die. There’s completely no escape.
A few days back I was going through a little emotional trauma and was a bit shattered. I felt that there’s completely no one who can understand me or help me to come out of it. I felt naked. I felt Vulnerable.
But I’m very fortunate that I have some friends who, no matter what happens, never judge me. So, I texted one of my friends and I told her what I was going through. First thing She did is to wholeheartedly listen to me, which I think, made the major impact on my improvement. I felt relaxed and calm. I looked at her display picture. two fairies were standing. Out of curiosity, I asked her who are they. She replied that they are Archangels. I had no idea who Archangels are, so I tried to gather more information. She said that Archangels protect us, heal us and take care of our well-being.
“Is there any Archangel who is protecting me?” I asked her.
She said to me that I need to close my eyes and Inhale and exhale slowly. She asked me whether any picture or number visible to me. Honestly, there were none.
She told me to try again and this time I inhaled through my nostrils and exhaled through my mouth. Out of the blue letter ‘G’ was visible and then a word Gibrel or Gabril appeared in my mind. I can cross my heart and can say that I never heard this name in my entire life.
What she said next actually shook me up and made my eyes moist:-
“Archangel Gabriel is working with you”
Archangel Gabriel, as some of us know, is the one who Conveyed Almighty Allah’s messages to Prophet Muhammad who wrote Al-Quran when he got those messages. She also came to Mother Mary and gave the message that she is about to give birth to the Son of God – Lord Jesus.
Archangel Gabriel helps writers, Poets, Speakers, and communicators to convey their messages clearly and efficiently.
At that moment two things were so darn clear to me. First, that no matter what your religion is, you are not away from the divine grace. Second and most important – I'm Protected.
I felt delighted when I understood that there’s a power who is always protecting you. there’s a power who is there with you on your path. You are not alone my dear. You are Special. You are Protected.
I dedicate this article to Archangel Gabriel who helped me in finding words
In the last blog post, we discussed what living simply looks like and what are the various reasons to opt for simple living. In this article, we’ll try to understand the first and one of the most important attributes of simple living and that is Decluttering.
We, humans, are extremely strange being among the ones who are present on the planet earth. We feel contented and happy in accumulating more and more stuff. We love to own the latest Mobile phone, with the features which are going to be outdated in a couple of months. We love buying more and more fashionable clothes so that we don’t have to repeat them in office parties. And the sole reason behind it that we have that feeling that everyone is looking at us, judging us. We have a tendency to try to stay above our league, Isn’t it? But less do we know that we have a very limited time on this planet. So, we have to take care of what we choose to own, what we choose to be, and how we choose to spend our time.
Warren Buffet put it very beautifully when said that “If you are buying what you don’t need, soon you will have to sell what you need.” Mr. Buffet is one of the greatest investors of the last century. And the kind of life he lives, we can say that he is simplicity personified. He drives his own car, living in the same house for many decades and still one of the richest men living on the planet presently.
So let’s get back to De-Cluttering.
Decluttering is a twin-faced sword. When we talk about De-Cluttering we are talking about controlling our emotions. Buying what will soon not be of any use for us is nothing but our uncontrollable emotions taking a toll on us. So first of all let’s start with clearing what all we don’t need anymore. So the question arises here is how can we classify that what’s required or what’s not required. Now, this might be a debatable topic because our emotions are still ruling our whole system. So I have made a simple rule – make a list of all those items which we haven’t used in the last 90 days. Be it the clothes which don’t fit us anymore but still lying in our closet from so many years, or the old books which we have read and we are not going to read them again, pass it on my dear ones. There are innumerable people who always dream of the things you are thinking to discard, pass it on.
The other aspect of decluttering is thinking before buying new products. You need to set a series of questions that you need to ask yourself before buying any new stuff and bring it to your home.
Is this product going to make my life easier?
Can I afford this product without cutting my basic expenses?
Do I have enough space in my home for this product?
Can I survive without this product for more than three months without this product?
Am I buying this product to impress others?
If any of the above questions make you think that there is no need to buy that product, please don’t buy it. I know it’s difficult but it’s worth doing it. When you make the decision not to buy that thing, whatever it is, you confront those emotions which are troubling you for so long. And the more you will confront them, the better you will be able to take control of yourself. It will always make you feel light and happy. Remember what you read in the last post? ‘Less is always More’.
See you in the next post
And yes, If you haven't read my previous post, you can read Here ☺
Most of us are sitting at home during this lockdown period and must be thinking that when can we finally go out and carry on with our daily activities. Most of us might be getting sick of those funny, yet idiotic tik-tok videos or those silly forwarded messages, which are making fun of this whole situation. But my dear friends, don’t you think that whatever is happening is somewhat is the result of our own deeds? Our Lifestyle was so darn fast that nature was not able to tolerate more. And this is nothing but nature’s warning that we need to slow down. We need to stop for a while a need some time for self-reflection. We need to understand that there is no point in accumulating things and filing our drawers and shelves with the stuff which we rarely use. As it was once said, “It is enough in this world for everyone’s need but not enough for anyone’s greed.”
So my dear ones, I’m starting with this little series of articles through which you can simplify your life.
Now let’s start with the understanding that what is the actual meaning of this simplification of life.
“Simplification of life is nothing but a natural state of being. It focuses mainly on understanding your wants without compromising your requirements. In other words, it’s a gesture of love towards the other beings residing with us on this planet as well as learning to love ourselves.”
Let’s break the definition now and try to understand it more deeply.
It’s a Natural state of being
Since we were born, we started accumulating whatever life threw at us. Be it the way we talk or the way we walk, most of our gestures are accumulated. Our Subconscious mind is busy with recording the stuff which we see and we listen to. But when we talk about the natural state of being, we are talking about what’s genuinely ours. To simplify our lives we need to know ourselves inside out. We need to de-clutter those gestures, those emotions, those ideas which we have copied from someone else. Before proceeding in our respective lives, we need to know who we really are.
Understanding Wants without Compromising requirements
Let’s learn a basic statement of Simple Living – ‘Less is Always More’. Though I would like to talk about this concept in my future blog posts, For now, let’s try to understand that de-cluttering doesn’t mean that you should sell off everything and live your life like a monk. I’m sorry, no hard feelings for monks, but I haven’t lived that life so I’m not in the correct situation to talk about that life. Every person has certain dreams and requirements. One must think big and work hard towards achieving it. But bigger goals should never contradict your basic personality. In the process of achieving goals, one should not become someone who they are not. So the essence of simple living is the concentrated point between wants and requirements.
The gesture of Love towards other Beings
This is the high time that we should genuinely understand that the resources on this planet are limited. No matter how much money we have in our banks or how many cars we own, we should always think about consuming as few resources as possible so that we can offer it to other people. So, Its high time to show some love to our neighbors, to our friends, to the animals around us, so that everyone can use those resources. There is another important statement I want to introduce here regarding the topic – “Sharing is Caring”.
Learning to Love Ourselves
My dear friends, there is a tried and tested thumb rule. Though it took me a hell lot of time to learn this concept, and I’m still learning. So sit back, relax, and try to understand this. It is completely impossible to love others without loving ourselves. That’s the thumb rule. You can’t love/care of/ Respect others without first loving /caring for/ respect yourself. When we shed off what’s not belongs to us, we come to that point where we can reach the person who we really are. And that person is holy. That person is lovable.
So my dear friends, let’s start this journey of making our life simple and worth living. Let’s try to learn a lesson from this pandemic that one should stop for a while and devote some time to think that what we are doing and why we are doing it.
I’ll be coming up with more ideas to make our lives simple and happy. Let’s join hands and try to make this world a better place to live in.
