Fate and Destiny!

Time and again we complain about our luck and so many of us crib and cry about accepting what life throws at us.

We complain and crib and complain some more .

Smallest of things are enough to spoil our mood and take us in a loop of depression.

Today I would like to share one such story of ill-fate and how it was accepted with so much positivity. The story is a familiar one but the thought process it portrays is what I would like to draw attention towards.

Remember the Story of Lord Ram’s Vanvaas.

King Dashrath had consulted his ministers and decided to announce Ram as the new King the following day, he wished to retire and acceed the throne to Ram his eldest son and the most eligible one at that.

Having learnt this Ram was content however it was fate that had other plans.

As we all know King Dashrath bound by his oath to Queen kaikayi sent Ram away for 14 years.

Imagine Ram’s plight and mindset in that situation.

What does one do in such a circumstance , the public wanted him as their King , the ministers had approved, Dashrath had approved but alas destiny had other plans.

When we look at Ramayana today after learning the complete story it seems like a logical step to go away since we know its pivotal and crucial for the death of Raavan however in that moment and in that instance Ram did not know this, Sita did not know , the entire public of Ayodhya did not know. No one knew it.

Think about this, in a few hours he was to be crowned as the king and now was asked to leave for the forest with a ascetic’s life for 14 long years.

When Laxman came to know about this he suggested a solution he said let us take our father King Dashrath captive. As a prisoner you wont have ro follow his orders anymore and after the coronation we can release him. 

Thus his Oath to Mata Kaikayi can be bypassed on account of him being powerless.

But this is Ram we are talking about he had to set an example for the generations to come, not for nothing he is called Maryada Purushottam.

He said to Laxman “I have not done anything that might remotely hurt Maa Kaikayi ever and yet she has wished for something that has brought me to this juncture in my life. There seems to be greater forces at play. 

Fate has something in store for me which I will not be able to comprehend if I do not follow this path, its only logical that I follow this path which is to determine my destiny and so I will accept the Vanvaas”

In this one decision Ram taught us about fate and its power, we all know what happens next and how Ramayana played out further. 

How many of us accept our undesired outcomes with such openness and such gratitude.

Let us understand he did not do things because he was God , he became God because of his actions.

Jai Shree Ram 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

P.S.: its Ram and not Rama , translation from Sanskrit to English has fated this mistake 😝

Bhageerath Prayas

Once upon a time , long long ago there lived a great king (😝 pun Intended).

His name was King “Sagar” or famously known as “सगर राजा”.

After conquering the great lands of bharat he decided to perform the famous Ashwamedha Yagna , and as per practice of the yagna he left a Horse to roam about in the lands , as fate would have it overcome by jealousy this horse was kidnapped by Lord Indra himself and hid in Kapil hrishi’s ashram.

Angered by this Sagar Raja sent his sons all 60,000 of them to search for the horse and in their search of it they reached Kapil Hrishi’s Ashram. 

Disturbed and troubled by the sons of Sagar Raja the sage in a fit of rage burned them all just by looking at them.

After learning about this the King was heartbroken.

Being in a drought affected area a sad Sagar Raja prayed to Lord Brahma for water so as to perform the Jaldana for his 60,000 sons and So Ganga took birth , but Ganga was very headstrong and in her prime wanted to destroy anything that came in her path, In a fit a rage lord Shiva held her up and tied her down in his locks.

Now Sagar Raja again with a heavy heart prayed again to Lord Shiva but he soon died,

His only other son who was left Asmanjeya continued his fathers Penance but he too withered away,

Then his Son Anshuman followed suit and even he too passed away,

The next heir to the throne King Dilip continued the task but alas he too couldn’t please Lord Shiva and soon left for the heavenly abode with time,

Then came Bhageerath the 5th Generation after Sagar Raja and as one knows Ganga is also named Bhageerathi , its after this King Bhageerath she is named so because Bhageerath by his prayers was able to please lord Shiva and shiva let a single stream of Ganga from his locks and thus King Sagars dream of Jaldana for his 60,000 sons was realised by his great great great grandson Bhageerath. 

A herculean effort one would say or as Ami Ganatra Says a “Bhageerath Prayas”

It took 5 generations for an effort started by Sagar Raja to fructify eventually. 

Imagine the patience put in. The amount of discipline, dedication and determination required to be passed on from generation to generation.

We witnessed something similar in our generation but much like many things that happen around us we failed to relate to it and unless one draws parallels it’s really difficult to comprehend the magnanimity of the event.

Ram Mandir was opened on 22nd Jan 2024 it was after almost 496 years that Ram Mandir was rebuilt.

If one takes into account a lifespan of 100 years which in times of Sagar Raja was very common , it would be fair to say that it took almost 5 generations to rebuild the temple. It took a herculean effort no doubt or to simply say a “Bhageerath Prayas”

Great things happened in the land of Ram and now that Ram Mandir is Back let us witness the greatness and Magnanimity of our Land once again.

P.S.: JAI SHREE RAM 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

The tale of 'V' becoming 'B'

It seemed to be very funny to me initially and I used to think that it is just one or two persons inability and laziness to make proper use of their lip muscles and in the process just pronouncing it as "bhee" instead of 'V'.
Slowly I started identifying patterns and came to a conclusion that it was only with the uneducated class or the pan and gutka eating ones or with the ones who are not properly exposed to good grammar and proper English concepts.

But the more time I spent here the more confused I have got, I still try to find patterns but I feel I should just give up now , coz it is everywhere. I talk about this with my wife and she thinks I am just exaggerating, although I know that she knows I am right.

Been here for more than two months now and I have found so many names change their pronunciation , over such long periods of time that today nobody would believe that it has been changed at all.

Let's see some examples
I write this from the city of Bhubaneswar which ideally should be Bhuvaneshwar, Vasant rutu has a festival called Vasant Panchami which is now gladly called Basant Panchami.
Vikram became Bikram and Vishal is now Bishal,  Dhruv is now known as Dhrub.
The list can go onn

Its as if you can observe Evolution in one lifespan. Initially one could only hear people mispronounce V as B and it was only in the spoken form but as time passed it became so prominent that today people even write it as B.
Its like people here want to phase out the usage of letter V.
I am still not able to figure out why ,but the closest reason I feel it could be is because to say V you need to use a couple of more muscles in your lip.

Its like people here are so lazy moving a muscle in the lip is also a pain. Although I could be wrong and there could be a explanatory reason but I am yet to find that.
Also I am still trying to find a word in the English language where this change has actually changed the meaning of the word so as to support my argument

The best example so far ,Biwi has now become Bibi and I think Punjabi's have a different meaning to that word they use it to refer to a lady.

P.S.: I could have been a lawyer
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Moving ahead with past

Watching some of the old videos while sitting and doing nothing makes me realize the memories from the past are still so fresh. It has suddenly made me so nostalgic that I am starting to feel will I ever get to live that life again.

I sit here on this crowded street by the lake and wonder if ever I can get a chance again to be in the hostel with my room mates and once again if we could play the song " yamla pagla deewana" and dance to its tunes as if there is nobody watching and as if it doesn't matter if anybody may be watching.

I clearly remember , what we only cared for then is to dance and make a good video which we could later upload on YouTube, today when I just happened to come across it , all of it just hit me back.
I want to go back to my hostel just for a day, to my flat and I want to feel the life and I want to treasure it, the feeling somehow has so strongly gripped me that I wonder if I will ever be able to come out of it.
I have a good life now but I just feel like I want to relive all those moments. I deeply miss my hostel and the 2 of my best years I spent in SBS.
Only I know how much I would give to just relive one day in the exact same conditions and with exact same people.
However when I just come out of the nostalgia. I realize its of the past and what I have now is because of my glorious past, if I keep going back and dreaming of it I might not have such a great future.
Going forward
New role heading off to kolkata , bigger pay checks, bigger responsibilities , independent lifestyle, more work, more stress, this is what I have to worry about now. But I still wonder will all this give me the kind of memories my past has given me, coz when I made those memories I never once thought , I just had fun and I had lots of it and here I am on the street by the lake side sitting and wondering if I am making any memories.
I guess only time can answer that.

P.S.:Once you have resigned you don't really give a damn about work.
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The reception

Waiting waiting and waiting some more, one thing which always happens and has happened in my life.

Be it on sales calls be it client meetings or for interviews both pre and post, today being another one of those days, lot of thoughts just racing through my mind, like a river all the water is just flowing I don't know how much of water can I retrieve.

Just out of my interview been waiting for over 20 mins now, it seemed to have gone well and I also fell on a couple of accounts but I did recover well, my mind is just trying to hold up thoughts in place and analyze the situation the words just seem too less to put it together. Sonali and Harshal , two of them I tried to prove I am good and they listened.
She asked me what I liked the most, I said "I like when somebody listens, when somebody gives me their undivided attention and I speak and everybody in the room just listens to what I have to say, this right here is what I enjoy, and I enjoy this a lot."
Yes I came up with that instantly and that to so good..
And they listened to all that, lot of questions she asked me to which I gave an instant answers these were totally strange questions but then I could duck them very well,I wonder if I have become experienced to handle such situations.
Give answers instantly which will still please the listener.
I read somewhere a good decision is good because it has come from experience and experience comes from the past mistakes and the more the better decision the more the number of mistakes done, so basically it means I have by now appeared in lot of interviews and have got a knack of how to get through such situation.. I am just saying:-)

Still sitting at the reception and my mind is racing but I am glad I have unloaded a few thoughts at least.
The reception the reception I wonder how long this wait will be for, and will it be worth the time and energy, what offer will they give if they give at all, racing mind.

Just when I was drifting towards the negative side the HR came, took me for lunch and told me that I would be having the second round.

P.S.: I have a feeling this might be it.
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Triumph of good over evil.

http://www.scoopwhoop.com/inothernews/ramayana-actually-happened/

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P.S.: Happy Dussera to all

On the highway

After a quick dinner of peculiar junk food and some other stupid pickup foods felt very hungry at night...specially because of late night train to the native...shifting from s11 to s3 was a tough task considering the number of people traveling without ticket...

Finally at Jhalki the upma ...aahhh the pleasure and the tea was just wow...good enuf to make me drool and write over it...
And making me realize how we miss out appreciating these small things in life...without which our life could most certainly be nothing worth living for...

A small cup of tea....the data connection on your fone....whatsapp for instance...have you ever given a thought as to how convenient our life is today and why it is?...

Anyways...the tea was amazing and so I had to click the pic...maybe someday I will be remembering it over another cup of tea and tell a tale to my partner who will soon be a part of me in every small detail which ever will be.
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P.S.:  Sent by WhatsApp