Let it GrOw!!

Here's where it started. It was the August of 2019, almost a year back from now. We reached Chennai Airport after a 3-day vacation at Puducherry. As soon as we got out of our cab, a volunteer approached us and handed over a packet each to the both of us. It read - towards a Greener world. The volunteer said that the packets have one seed each and insisted that we sow it in the city where we are headed. We hardly noticed it in the hurry to enter the airport. Unknowingly, I might have put the packets in my sling bag. We were clueless about how this small thing will impact us for the next year and maybe beyond that.

If you are wondering that the packet had a substance which we were not supposed to carry on the flight, you are absolutely wrong. Sorry to have disappointed you, but this is not that story :) 

The packet contained exactly what the volunteer had mentioned. I had completely forgotten about it and got hold of the packet only while unpacking a couple of days after we reached Hyderabad. Out of curiosity, we decided to sow the first seed in our small balcony garden and reserve the second one. Thus started our wait for it to yield a plant. The fact that we had no idea what is it to develop into increased our curiosity each day. I remember both of us visiting the balcony multiple times a day to see if the shoot is out yet. With our previous limited experience, we expected to see growth within a few days, or in a maximum of a week. But weeks passed without any signs of life. It was almost a month now and we decided that we will try sowing the second seed in the same space, just beside the earlier seed. Again the cycle of patience and curiosity resumed, but with a slightly lesser enthusiasm this time. At the back of our minds, we were thinking that the seeds had gone bad.

But one fine rainy morning, a tiny shoot was out from the first seed. We were excited. The next thing we wanted to know was what plant it was. We kept guessing and it took us almost another month till we actually figured out that it was a Neem Tree that we were trying to grow in our balcony. In the mean time, the second seed yielded a shoot, Neem again. We used to adore the delicate new leaves coming up on the long stems. It was quite a sight to see both plants grow in the same space competing on new leaves, freshness and height. But we always knew that the plants can't grow in that space and beyond a point, we will have to give those up.

It has been almost a year now and the signs are clearer. The roots are not being contained in the limited space, the stem is leaning. It is not the case that we have never seen plants wither away in our garden. But this is Neem, which has a longer life and huge scope of growth as compared to most other plants that we had. We decided to shift the plants to the common area in our society before it's too late. We will not be able to see and adore the plants so often as we do, but the anticipation of those growing up and becoming big trees acts as a comfort. And besides, we can always place a quick visit.

This episode reiterated a few facts that we subconsciously know but don't realise till such a time comes. 

Fact #1 - Patience is a great virtue to have and to practice.

Fact #2 - Letting go is difficult always.

Fact #3 - Affection and attachment are natural, but they are counterproductive if they hinder growth.

Fact #4 - There is always a brighter side to things.

We are all set to replace the space with new saplings or seeds very soon and will are ready to go through the grind of patience, curiosity, joy and sadness again.

The Closure

                    The waiting room of Ahilya Maternity Care was overflowing with people. Warad chose to wait in the open parking instead. He was holding a bunch of yellow roses. It was overcast with dark clouds thundering in the skies. He was anxious, nervous, jittery, unsure and experiencing a rush of all emotions of uncertainty at the same time. The last time he felt like this was when he was going to propose marriage to Chitra. He vividly remembered the evening. He was carrying a bunch of red roses, then. His eyes could not hold back as one tear rolled down his cheeks when she had said ‘yes’. In a minute, memories flashed in front of his eyes.

                    His trip to nostalgia was broken by a sudden downpour of rain. Warad had to rush towards the lobby to find shelter. There was no space in the lobby or the waiting room where he could wait, peacefully. Tired of his anxiety, he walked up to the reception. “Where can I find Dr. Nisha?” he asked. “Dr. Nisha is on her round, sir. You can wait outside her cabin. Take second left from the lobby.” He decided to try that out since there was no other choice. While he was strolling down the hallway, he suddenly noticed the door of a private room partially open. Subconsciously, he peeped in through the door. For a minute, he thought this was unreal. He saw Chitra, she was sitting on the bed, holding a baby.

                   His feet automatically took him inside the room, closer to Chitra. He held her hand. Both of them had a moment and tears welled up their eyes. He signaled if he could hold the baby. She obliged with a nod. He took the baby in his arms. ‘The babies will look like me, you see’ – Chitra had told him once, he remembered. The baby had Chitra’s features. ‘She was right, always’, Warad thought in his mind. There was no word spoken so far in the room. The silence was broken by Dr. Nisha as she entered. “Warad, Hi! What are you doing here?” “I was looking for you.” replied Warad. “You are not supposed to be in here. Would you mind waiting in my office? It’s right at the end of this hallway.” Warad glanced at the baby and handed it back to Chitra. Their eyes met with an expression of affirmation. He was about to leave when Aditya entered the room with a bunch of red roses. He gave way to Warad with a surprised look.

  

                  Warad was never the same after he broke up with Chitra. He was not ready for another relationship, even after 3 years of things ending between them. It was only because of his parents’ insistence that he decided to meet Nisha as a prospective alliance. In his head, he knew he was not going to pursue it further. But something changed after he met Chitra. All this while, he was still stuck with her. Today, seeing her with her family gave him a sense of closure. His nervousness got curbed. His life opened up for new avenues. He was looking forward to meet Nisha now. He greeted her with the bunch of yellow roses as soon as she entered her cabin. “Do you know her?” Nisha asked. “Do you know him?” Aditya asked. “I used to” was the answer in both the rooms. Sometimes a closure is important to start something new in life. One should be brave enough to say goodbye, and life says a new hello.

Namya's Prasad

One of the folk tales that my grandmother used to tell me was about a Marathi saint called Namdev from Pandharpur. His father was an ardent devotee of Vitthal. Every morning, after the Pooja, he would put Panchamrut Prasad (a mixture of milk, ghee, curd, honey and jaggery) for the deity. Once the Prasad was offered to the god, the father would eat it as a blessing. Young Namdev however, was under an impression that the god himself eats the Prasad every day. To his point, he had always seen the filled bowl of Prasad going in the prayer room and an empty bowl coming out.

Once the father had to go out of town for some work. “Namya”, he said, “tomorrow you will perform Pooja and offer Prasad to Vitthal.” Namya was excited about this. He wanted to meet Vitthal and see him eat the Prasad. He got up early, took bath at the banks of Chandrabhaga and came home to prepare the Panchamrut Prasad. Well versed with all the rituals, he performed the Pooja like a pro. Then came the time of offering Prasad. Namya made a mandal (circle) of holy water on the floor and put the bowl of Prasad inside it. Then he sprinkled holy water around the Prasad and offered it to the god. He was eagerly waiting for Vitthal to come out of the conical headgear wearing, akimbo posed, black colored statue and accept his offerings. Hours passed, but the god still did not come and eat the Prasad. Disheartened, Namya’s innocence was questioning his deeds because of which he thought the god is not accepting Prasad. At that age and stage of belief, crying was inevitable for him. He just wanted to know why the god was being unfair to him. Why would the god accept Prasad from his father and not from Namya?

Distressed by his curiosity, Namdev decided to take an oath. He told Vitthal in a childish, audacious way - “Unless you appear before me and either have the Prasad or tell me the reason why you are not accepting it, I will sit here before your statue and sacrifice food and water.” The father returned in the evening to see Namya sleeping in the prayer room, marks of soiled tears on his flat cheeks. Listening to his story, the father’s heart churned. “Arey vedya, I am the one who eats the Prasad every day after the offering, not Vitthal”, he said. But Namya was in a different zone altogether. Either his father was telling the truth or he was just lying to pacify him. In both conditions, he had taken an oath. And as said in good old days, you can give away your life but can’t go back on an oath. Now this was an actual Dharma-Sankat (catch-22 situation) for the father-son duo. As the legend goes, Vitthal gave in to the prayers of the innocent kid and appeared to accept the Prasad. I always thought Namya was a fool. Why was he so adamant on seeing Vitthal have the Prasad?

I got reminded of this story a few days back when I started the annual ritual of keeping a bowl filled with water in my balcony for the birds. I could see the bowl empty when I came back home in the evening. One day, just after I kept the bowl, I realized that some birds have arrived in the balcony. I did not want them to fly away. So I just peeped through the curtains. It was a bunch of pigeons. Thirsty, they covered the bowl from all the sides and started gulping the water through their beaks. Seeing that was an immensely satisfying experience for me. I chose not to take a picture because it would have diverted my mind and I would have ruined my experience of that satisfaction. It was my Namya’s Prasad being accepted as an offering by the Vitthal. It seems, Namya was not indeed a fool. He was more aware about this satisfaction that I had experienced.

Now, why this story? The point is, it is getting hot every day. Please start putting bowls of water in your balconies or on roofs for birds. Practice your Namya’s Prasad and you might get lucky to experience the same satisfaction one of these days.

-Anurag

Rubaroo with Belief

“And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.” These words from Paulo Coelho sound very philosophical and impractical unless one experiences the power of belief. This is a narrative of one such encounter that I had with belief.

It was 14^th of October, 2017, a Saturday preceded by the auspicious Friday the 13^th. I was leaving from my residence at around 3PM in the afternoon to the venue where we were to perform William Shakespeare’s Macbeth in the evening. Everything was set, rehearsals were done, the backdrop and set were ready at the venue. There was just one mighty challenge before us – the rains. The venue was an open ground, so needless to say that we can’t perform if it rains. The entire ensemble of around 40 people which included over 25 actors and the crew could see all the efforts put up by them in the last 2 months towards this show (literally) going down the drain. The Hindi proverb ‘Mehnat pe paani fir jaana’ was quite literally flaunting off itself to us.

While the others were worried and even sad about the fact that rain wasn’t stopping, I was calm, indifferent and to an extent pessimistic towards this. All these can be owed to the earlier such instances where rains interrupted or even resisted our performances. And surprisingly all these rains were untimely. The first instance was on October 31^st, 2015 when we were to perform Gagan Damama Bajyo – a play based on the life of Bhagat Singh. The show was to start at 7PM, and we were visited by the rains at 6PM. The entire set-up had to be dismantled. Thankfully the rains stopped at 6-45PM and we could start the show with a 15 minutes of delay. The next instance came on May 9^th, 2016 during the performance of a comedy named Art. Who would have thought that on a midsummer evening, heavens would pour down so furiously? We had to move the performance to an indoor auditorium at the same venue with half the capacity. A sold-out show was performed in front of half the audience. The fact that the remaining half couldn’t turn up at the venue due to the rains helped us in managing the show. The worst instance was during September 24^th and 25^th, 2016 when we had to call off the shows for George Orwell’s 1984 on both days due to heavy rains. Eventually the shows were postponed to and performed on the next available dates which was as late as 14^th and 15^th January, 2017. However, it was absolutely disheartening given that we had put in so much of time and effort in the rehearsals.

A heartbreak makes you stronger and prepares you well for the ones to follow. So my pessimism was due to my proactive preparedness for another heartbreak. There were heavy rains on each day since the last 20 days. The precipitation on the D-day was forecasted to be 90% at 7PM which meant we had 90% chances of rains at the time when the show starts. Besides, there is a notion that Macbeth is a cursed play and it should be referred to as The Scottish Play during rehearsals, which of course we did not do. All these were pointing towards one thing – no show happening tonight. There were multiple discussions that happened in the last few days before the show on whether we should postpone the show or whether we should look for a closed auditorium and shift the venue. But the set up was so huge that a closed auditorium would mean compromise on the grandeur of the production. Finally the decision was made to go as per the plan and put up the show on 14^th. The decision seemed to be a failed one as it was drizzling non-stop since 13^th evening.

The crew reached the venue at 11AM in the morning of 14^th and started putting up the backdrop and the set amidst the drizzle. The cast arrived at 3-30PM and make-up started. All faces tensed, sad and disheartened, as if all were waiting for the director to come and announce that the show is called off. The announcement came at 5-30PM, but it was about assembling of the cast on the stage. The director orchestrated the traditional warm-ups on the stage that was a routine before starting the rehearsals. The drizzle was still on. The entourage was still unsure about the show. And suddenly at around 6PM, the drizzle stopped. The skies had a dense cover of clouds who looked ready to pour their hearts out at any moment. I was still negative about the performance. The show was sold out and we were expecting over 400 people to turn up. If it rains during the show, all of them would run for shelter which would be too embarrassing for the production house. It was a big risk already taken.

The stage was set, audience seated, actors on position, backstage crew in action and the show started. The first act of the total 5 came to an end and I looked at the skies. The clouds were still hovering, but no rains. As a contrast, there was frequent lighting striking in the background which could be seen behind the backdrop by the audience. It sweetly blended with the intensity of the play. The show ended, audience applauded and we cheered thus defying all the notions and the odds. The next it rained was at 1-30AM post that midnight when we were busy partying at a drive-in. This was the first evening in the last 20 days or so when it did not rain at all. The skies held on to it exactly this evening. It was difficult for me to digest, decode or comprehend this strange coincidence. The entire gang except me was praying, hoping, believing that the show will happen, and it did. Although my pessimism was prudent, it was of no use to make things work. What made it work was the belief of these people who really wanted it to happen.

Master Oogway from Kung Fu Panda tells us that we must ‘believe’. We understand it theoretically very well that we must have faith and things will fall in place. But what we need is illustrations or first-hand experience like this as an eye-opener, as a driving factor to make us believe, to make us have faith. While I still refuse to believe in God and do not interpret this as some divine intervention, it has surely changed my perspective towards goodness, faith and belief.

 

 

 

Sugarfree Sweets, Smokefree Diwali

We are nearing doom. The water levels have risen. The ice caps are melting. The storms and hurricanes are frequenting. Average temperature of our planet has gone up. These facts are not being stated here newly. We all have heard or read about these from various sources. While some people challenge the factual nature of these statements just to favor capitalists, the universal truth is that Global Warming is real and apocalypse is approaching us faster that we expect.

The news-feed on all of social media since this morning is full of articles, opinions, debates on the honorable Supreme Court of India banning the sale of crackers in Delhi and nearby regions. As if Delhi did not have its own social and political problems, it is on the verge of becoming un-livable owing to the environmental problems. And the SC has taken a call to cater to this. However, the picture being painted with strong political motive is of selective censorship of festivals. Comparisons to Jallikattu and Bakr Eid are being made. The typical "What about them/that?" rhetoric is being played. On the other hand, chain smokers are coming out in support of this move. Wise for them, they cannot afford to do any more damage than they are already doing to the ecosystem. People needing Air Conditioners and Refrigerators 24X7 are exposing their own hypocrisy by preaching righteousness to the world.

The State Government will claim Mr. Prime Minister is behind this move, like they say for every other issue with the laughable claim that the Center does not let them work. The ruling party will call this anti-national, anti-Hindutva and ask the "what about" questions. The opposition will call it religious appeasement by both State and Centre to gain votes, in spite of the fact that they already have got votes and you have got none. Although the thought process behind the decision has remotely nothing to do with religion, all these cartels will make it so to gain a political mileage. And that is how it has been. They have been hiding behind religion to satisfy all their greed. The hurtful part is that majority of us are not even aware of being used as pawns in their battles. The blind loyalty and affiliation that we have is once again leading us to fall from a cliff.

In my opinion, religions have done more bad than good to this world. And a part of the good that religions have done is the festivals which give people reasons to come together and celebrate. But like any other existing thing, a religion too has to evolve with time to exist. And although at a different pace than other, each religion has evolved with time. The fading away of regressive Sati practice, ouster of un-touchability in most parts if not all, education for girls, acceptance towards LGBT community (socially though not legally 'yet') and many other changes are examples of this evolution. Optimizing our festivals is another step towards this evolution, and it is necessary for us to survive now more than any time in history.

Banning of crackers will not drastically reduce pollution in Delhi. But at least it will not worsen what is already terrible there. And besides, is Diwali only about bursting crackers? Does a smoke-free Diwali dampen the warm feeling of people going back home to be with families? Does it reduce the sweetness of a Kaju Katli or a Bundi ka Laddoo? All it does is take care of the environment and our collective health. We prefer sugar-free sweets for our well-being and survival. By the same logic, smoke-free Diwali will multiply the well-being of our surroundings to many-fold.

Leo utilized most part of the 2 minutes of his first ever Oscar speech to give an important message on environment. To quote him - "Let us not take this planet for granted. I do not take tonight for granted." We still cannot avoid the inevitable, we have come too far to go back and correct things for the plant to survive long now. But as Syrio Forel tells Arya Stark - "What do we say to the God of Death? Not today", we need to prolong the doom as much as possible. With that cliched reference from Game of Thrones (which is a must in my blogs just for the love of it), wishing you a safe, happy and smoke-free Diwali.

The Mystery of Satisfaction

I really wonder how satisfaction surveys work in companies. The surveys might help in bringing to the table the concerns that the employees have. But it can hardly lead to any increase in the satisfaction level of the employees. Based on these surveys, the companies devise an action plan to address the concerns and work on the areas of improvement. However, the next year's survey will bring some new issues and the satisfaction level will more of less be the same. The sole reason for this is that it is not human nature to be satisfied.

We humans are a bunch of cribbers. We can crib* about anything and everything.  As the famous line in Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. goes - 'Mehnagai ki maar se lekar cricket team ki haar tak' - from the burdens of inflation to the loss in a sport, we crib about everything. And we continue to  grumble even when the things change as we want them to be. For example, we used to crib when the earlier head of our Government didn't speak much and we crib now when the successor speaks too much of his Mann ki Baat. Courtesy the profession, I have attended a lot of exit interviews where people quote that they are not satisfied with the salary. The matter of fact is no one is ever satisfied with the earnings that one makes. Jim Carrey very wisely said - "I wish everyone becomes rich and get everything they want, so that they can understand that it's not the answer."

Our needs evolve, which is quite accurately depicted by the Maslow's Pyramid. But are we satisfied when we achieve any of the levels? Or are we satisfied when we reach the top of this pyramid? If not then what can we do to achieve satisfaction? Well, I am not saint or preacher to answer that. I too am a seeker of the answer to this question which compelled me to put up this blog. Our expectations grow with the fulfillment of each of our needs. So is expectation the problem? I do not believe so. Because expectation is what keeps one going. An expectation means something is there to look forward to. Having no expectations is like living without any dreams and leaving things to destiny. So what is missing?

I guess we are missing some realization at our end which is acting as a hurdle in the path of our satisfaction, the realization to be thankful. From 'Vadani kawal gheta' (A Marathi prayer to be recited before meals) to 'Thank you God for the food we eat', our ancestors have passed on a tradition of being thankful. But as we move and the times and traditions change, we are becoming less thankful and more dissatisfied. While complaining to our mother about the taste of food, we lack the realization that at least there is food at our table. There are many households where the children are sleeping hungry. While feeling sad about living in a one room flat, we forget that there are numerous people with no roofs on their heads. While cribbing about one's job and pay, we forget about the amount of unemployment in the world. We should be thankful for the food, the shelter, the job and all other things that we have than for the things we desire to have.

Another thing which in my view and with my experience can lead to satisfaction is giving back to the society. Nana Patekar profoundly said, "God has given humans two hands because whatever can be occupied in those two hands is sufficient for the human. Anything beyond that should be given back to the society before it falls of your hands." Only a person with such an empathy can pull people towards a successful campaign called NAAM which helps the farmers in Maharashtra and curb suicides. And there is no lower limit for any help. Whichever way one can help humanity in whatever capacity will act as one's contribution towards society.

Satisfaction is a state of mind which can be achieved with efforts towards being thankful and giving back to the society.  With achievement of each level of needs, we should be more and more thankful for being able to do so and more and more giving. Rather than asking the question 'Am I satisfied?', we should ask ourselves 'Am I thankful? Am I helpful?' and the satisfaction will flow in.

PS - Crib* - This is an adapted word, generally used in Indian context to imply complain or grumble.

A Choice : God or Human Life?

In the recent Marathi movie Ventilator, there is a scene where the protagonist is financially unable to continue to put his father on life support and is discussing with his relatives if he should take a call on shutting the life support off. It is Ganesh festival and a death in family would mean the festival has to be called off. One of his uncles who opposes this decision justifies - "Arey Ganpati mahatwacha ki Baap?" implying "How can you prioritize your father over the Ganpati festival?" The dialogue was meant to ask a question to the society - 'If we have to choose, would we prefer God and religion over human life?' I was unaware that I would get the answer on my way back home.

Post the movie I took the Hyderabad-Mumbai Highway and there was a huge traffic jam near Chanda Nagar bus-stop. As I moved ahead slowly, I realized that there was an accident on the road which led to this jam. I approached the site of the accident and saw that an an 8-seater auto rickshaw was lying overturned on the road blocking the traffic. Ahead of this vehicle was a mob surrounding a victim of the accident. It was a lady lying on the road with blood pool around her head. I parked my vehicle a few paces ahead and came back to the site. The driver was severely injured and others in the auto rickshaw had a narrow escape. But this fateful lady was declared dead on spot.

The road is a highway which leads to Pune and Mumbai. It gets huge traffic jams during morning and evening hours due to the office going vehicles. To make matters worse, there is a temple at the center of one side of the road between the road divider and the footpath. This temple bifurcates the one side of the road into two small lanes from where a maximum of one four-wheeler can pass through at a time. I overheard the injured driver telling the traffic cops that the auto rickshaw was passing beside the temple when a car tried to overtake it. The driver moved the auto rickshaw closer to the temple. The auto rickshaw ran over the ramp adjacent to the temple and got overturned. The lady unfortunately was sitting at the corner on the back seat and her head banged on the road when the auto overturned. (pictorial representation below)

 And this is not the only site in Hyderabad where we have a religious buildings right on the road. The Paradise flyover ends at a mosque which reduced the width of the lane. The high speed road between Habsiguda and Uppal which has heavy moving vehicles running has a long temple right at the center of the road. The church at Mettuguda occupies half of the road which leads to Secunderabad railway station. And these are just a few sites. And to add to the mayhem we have an unending phenomenon in the form of Metro construction at all these sites. And there are no efforts or plans to move these religious buildings to a side of the road since the fragile sentiments of people will get hurt by this. Surprisingly these sentiments never get hurt when liquor shops are named like Balaji Wines or Sri Krishna Bar. This again proves The Great Indian Hypocrisy which finds reference in my previous blogs.

While we all pretend to believe in various religions, we all follow a common religion - the religion of convenience. And there is nothing wrong in tweaking religion for ones comfort as long as it doesn't harm anyone. In fact every religion must reinvent itself frequently enough to align itself with the fast moving technology and human lifestyle. Ultimately religion is something that came into existence due to the need to people to come together and co-exist happily. But when something related to religion comes in path (figuratively and literally in this case) of humanity or threatens human life, there is a problem. Every person can save at least 10-20 minutes of time a day if not for the jams at such sites. And imagine the amount of fuel wasted per vehicle due to the jams. With the threat of global warming looming over the world, we cannot afford to spoil the nature even one bit. Every molecule of carbon emitted in the atmosphere is leading the world to it's end.

The accident could easily have been avoided had the temple not been there. But sadly God takes priority over human life. We, all of us, believers and non-believers have to take a call on this for the sake of humanity. Let us choose logic over religious sentiments. Let us support anything that helps human life. Let us avoid opposition in the name of religion to development. Let us not fight for demolishing a mosque or building a temple unless it assures saving at least one life or feeding at least one hungry stomach. When we can move the statues of our national leaders from the center of cross roads to a side, we can and should be fine with the movement of religious monuments as well. And trust me, God won't be offended with this step.

PS - Posting a modified version of this blog as a letter to Hyderabad Traffic Police.