Life's learning via bone crunching

Hello Readers

Some days back I was talking to one of my closest friend from INDIA  and we came to discuss about a book written by Mrs Preeti Shenoy titled as 34 Bubble Gums and Candies.

This is an amazing book with lots of colors; Preeti has successfully managed to pen down number of small-small inspiring stories from her daily life. I like to call this as “popcorn writing” because first you can keep the small book along side your popcorns in your tiny bags and secondly if you can just forbid your mind from buying popcorns for four consecutive times, you shall have enough savings to buy these low cost books.

But I really liked the message that her book gives and it’s very true, our life is full of bubblegums and candies and all that we need sometimes or may be most of the times is just a steady halt, a pause, time to chew and enjoy the taste.

(Vinay Quote: Suddenly it reminded me of ParleG Pop-Ins , You must be knowing about it If you are a eighty's born kid. I still love this candy and throughout my childhood, I had fought with my not so elder sister(didi) to share my share.)

The childhood is the greatest and fearless period of our life and at the same time the most disastrous one for our parents. And before I say, you smart people should be able to  judge that mine was not an exception to this. 

 

I have my own version of Spiderman movies famous dialogue that very well describes my childhood.

Bro Spiderman says: “With great powers comes the great responsibilities”

My childhood says: - “With ultra adventures & too many powers, comes the ultimate fractured bones and displaced joints: P”

What I am going to share with you today is one of the most sweet story from my childhood, It explains in detail my first bone crunching adventure and just like all the good stories ends , mine too has something to learn from it. 
 

We used to and we still stay in cantonment area of Agra and there is a beautiful garden near to our home called as Company Garden .I believe it was named on the name of   British East India Company before India got her freedom.

At that time I was in class 2^nd and my not so elder sister was in class 3^rd and we used to pass daily via this garden to go to our school. We used to be a gang of 4-5 neighbouring toddlers and my sister was the leader of our gang. She was the one extra courageous 11 year old lady who used to plan for daily doze of our adventures and one classic way of doing that was to keep on changing the regular track to the school.

(Off course only once we were sure that our dad or any elder is not anymore secretly following us.)

That day we decided to follow a hiking track to go to the school which meant - first deviate from the regular path, go downwards on the hillside slope, walk for around 200 meters by the side of the pond, try to see some fishes and finally climb back to join back the regular path.

We all decided and did start to walk downside on the slope but lost in my own world,instead of following her advice to walk slowly; I opted to fly direct from the top to the end using one hanging branch of the banyan tree.

Expecting too much strength from those little pair of hands, result was as expected.A lethal crash in to the bushes, damaging the green beauty and hurting my soft booty.

Every one of us was shocked, we were not ready for this and I was crying hard of the pain.

But my sister was the braver one among us. She anyhow managed to take control of the situation.Amazingly at that age she knew that somehow I am hers responsibility.She managed to call some elders (class 5^th) to help us and really it was a great display of the teamwork by all of them to get me out of there, totally fearless and with no pre concepts in the mind. (Think why I have written this line.) . Lately my dad came and situation was settled in a formal manner.

Now many years have passed since this incident, most of us are doctors, teachers or engineers and almost everyone settled peacefully in their respective life.

But to be honest, I strongly feel that those fearless adventures are the real foundation of whatever we have achieved today.

And this is what I want all of us to remember, understand and value. Internet, PlayStation, FaceBook all are good ways of entertainment but the real learning lies in doing and experiencing the outdoors.

Especially when we are with the kids, we need to ensure to let them drive the show. We need to give them the feeling that they are the decision makers and many times in their life they will require to be responsible for others also.

And see the magic shall happen. <3

Now, I have to give a call to my sister.Have to check what she is cooking today, yesterday I had given her some advice to cook a new style of Pav Bhaji and have to make sure my valuable advice is getting used in the right direction. :)

Bye Bye

Happy Living - Love You All

Lovely Lady Lina

Title of this post : Lina & Vinay

Yes, you have read the title correct. (This is a love story :P )

This post is about Lina and Me and I have a very high place for this "Me" in my heart :).

This is the story about our first meeting , our discussions about life and our sharing of pain and love with each other. (which we are still continuing.)

It was just another regular chilling weekend(I think Saturday with -4 degrees ) of my life in Helsinki. I very well remember that day I  had invited one of my friend's family for lunch at my place.(cooking my super hit desi sandwiches).

I was waiting for their arrival at the metro station when I saw Lina for the first time,a beautiful Fin lady. She  directly came to me and fired world's best question against Vinay Kumar Gupta Ji  "Are you from INDIA" ?.

When I said Yes , She told me that she knew about INDIA and the wonderful customs we have , she had never been there but would love to one day.

Our conversation went around  various topics and traditions and after sometime I got to notice that my friend and his family was already there and my friend was eyeing me with a splash look on his face. :)

(kyaa bhai hum bhi hain vala expression).

To be honest, friends are fine but for me the discussion with Lina was more tempting and It was growing in good direction and my heart was saying I need to listen to her,so I made a quick decision (dumb you may say :P).I asked Lina to join us over lunch.

( My friend family was literally shocked - But  this is me folks, can't help :P .) 

Following the discussion , we went to my flat and after some time Lina also came to join us(1:00 PM around ).

She had brought us three small bottles of a famous raspberry whiskey from Tallin.
(One for me , another for my teetotaler friend and one for his wife and kid may be :P , I still ROFL when I remember their expressions , Sorry guys. )


but its a custom in Helsinki and custom for INDIANS to respect the gift. (We did)

Also she brought with her the picture album of her family and of her dogs. We talked for quite a time
(though I listened mostly , strange kind of Vinay :P ).

She told me about her old days in London where she used to work as a receptionist in a hotel.How she had met her boyfriend in a social gathering. She also told me about the barber they have in Tallin and how much she enjoys to cruise there to get a haircut and about her dogs and the trouble they used to give to her.


It was really a good day , We all enjoyed her company and got a great chance to understand the flavor of a totally different culture. Finally , Lina bid a adieu to us(with a kiss on my forehead) and we all shared our addresses to be in touch in the future.


And its on till now , I have made a custom to call her once in two-three weeks to get in touch and to hear if she is doing good and she never fails to write to me almost from her each trip to Tallin, sharing all the happenings of the life.

And my dear lovely readers , holding this letter of hers in my hands(which i had received yesterday only).

I can assure you guys that she is doing great.

PS : Lina is 75 years old and the day we have met she told me that four days back her partner had died and she didn't know what to do , how to handle it , they had been together for around thirty years and one day suddenly he left her alone in the morning. 

She didn't have any kids or friends to share the pain or to talk about him and somehow she was knowing that we INDIAN knows what happens to the people when they die(if they come back or not)  this triggered the discussion between us and I am glad it happened :). 

Now after reading this narration If any of you want to write to my friend Lina to make her feel special , drop me an email to vinay.gupta.g@gmail.com with a header I WANT TO WRITE TO LINA, I will write the address back to you. (From INDIA you need a fifteen rupee stamp only.)

But please make sure , just write positive letters telling her that how much we love her and to make her feel special  and wanted.

(and please don't complain in future that life had not given you a fair chance to be good to someone who needs your positive words and time break :P )

I am strange sometimes but I know who I am :)

Cheers Guys , Love You All

The corporate saints

The corporate saints:  - A different breed of working professionals among us who are living a very peaceful and happy life by successfully maintaining the thin balance between their personal and professional fronts.

I opted to call them corporate saints because

a)    I believe that through my vast kit of experiences, now I am an over qualified Idiot to understand the essence of being a saint?

b)     I liked this title, Its kind of catchy Isn’t  ?

(Cautionary warning to the people who are under guidance and supervision of some other form of saints: This writer is just a newbie and he is definitely not going to write about people experiencing deep mediation sessions or joining yoga classes in their office premises (actually no writer can), So If you opt to read Vinay and cant relate to your way of seeing the things, you and only you will be responsible to waste your time.)

(Now this is what I call defencive writing: P)

So we were talking about my corporate saints.

Million dollar questions:  Mr Gupta who are these people? What kind of characteristics they hold, who is their master and what are their preaching?

I know I am getting a little dramatic now but as a awakened writer I have to keep you guys alive and awake too.  :P

Okay and as the stage is set now and winds are saying that you are in the mood to listen to me let me narrate WHO ARE THEY.

They are simple people but:

If they see me working late in the office, they ask me to go home and to have some good time with the family. Sometimes literally dragging me to the exit gates to make sure that I spend time with my loved ones.

They always use to meet me with a genuine smile on their faces, they have achieved high designations and posh offices, they are full of visionary ideas, and they are like propelling masses of the positive energies. They are always ready to help and share without any slight sign of EGO.

They are the bosses, they are the subordinates and at the same time they are good fathers / mothers / husbands / wives / sons / daughters. They are very mature to act and manage all these roles of life without mixing the priorities. (Always busy in spreading happiness).

Sharing the incident from one particular day I knew that they have planned a dinner with the family and when I found them working late in the office, I was kind of shocked, they are my heroes and I was sure that they never break such promise.

Curiosity forced me to enquire the reason and they told me that their team consists of lot of young members and as the team was working late so they too decided to stay back. However they have communicated the scenario to the family and have decided to take some goodies for them while driving back home.

(They are really sweet people and very well aware of how to make someone feel wanted and special.)

Honestly, they are very few in number but they are like shining stars, the powerhouses of the booming corporate culture. They keep everyone around them happy. No wonder people want to be friend with them.  (Law of attraction may be. :P)

But trust me (like I care if you not :P), they are real mature people and the live walking answers to all the queries related to work & personal life balance.

I truly believe that they are the real masters and possessor of the true secrets of happiness in today’s world.

(No more a secret for my readers, I know you all love me. :P)

PS : A humble appeal, don’t destroy or abandon your personal life on the name of professional ones and this is my sincere advice(like I am a guru ji) especially to those who are just starting their careers. These corporate houses are strange places,ready to utilize 200 percent of you (Mathematical error: P) and it is finally up to you only how carefully to walk on this thin rope.

Ok , I am not going to bore you more; you people have a fantastic weekend.

I am anyways having my plans to meet some nice people today and couple of Para Olympics tickets(dying to see my heroes) for the weekend. So time to say bye-bye

Uffff -- I am a dam busy person over the weekends: P

Cheers :)

The Village Preacher

Dear Fanatic/Lunatic/Dramatic Readers.

Below is a lovely poem(at least this is what I think :P ).

I kind of spotted this by chance or (by luck) in my in-box today. (forwarded by a good friend from Germany).

So thought of  sharing with you all , off course with due respect to Mr Oliver Smith :


The Village Preacher

Near yonder copse, where once the garden smil’d,
And still where many a garden flower grows wild;
There, where a few torn shrubs the place disclose,
The village Preacher’s modest mansion rose.
A man he was to all the country dear,
And passing rich with forty pounds a year;
Remote from towns he ran his godly race,
Nor e’er had changed,  nor wish’d to change, his place
Unpractis’d he to fawn, or seek for power,
By doctrines fashion’d to the varying hour;
Far other aims his heart had learn’d to prize,
More skill’d to raise the wretched than to rise.
His house was known to all the vagrant train,
He child their wanderings, but reliev’d their pain;
The long-remember’d beggar was his guest,
Whose beard descending swept his aged breast;
The ruined spendthrift, now no longer proud,
Claimed kindred there, and had his claims allow’d;
The broken soldier, kindly bade to stay,
Sat by his fire, and talked the night away;
Wept o’er his wounds or tales of sorrow done,
Shouldered his crutch, and showered how fields were won
Pleased with his guests, the good man learned to glow
And quite forgot their vices in their woe;
Careless their merits or their faults to scan,
He pity gave ere charity began.

Oliver Goldsmith

What they have taught me :)

Hey Readers,

Just read and feel what I am trying to share with you by remembering below people and incidents.

(No heavy writing on this weekend) :P

Some special kids from Missionaries of Charity orphanage home in Agra , They are very sweet and never explicitly demands any materialistic stuff or gifts from me, yeah but at the same time never forgets to share hugs and to ask for the promise to visit them again. 

One old aged beggar from the busy footpaths of Mumbai with whom I shared a cup of  tea and parleg biscuits on a sorrowful day of my life.We sat together and shared our life experiences with each other.The conversation continued for around three hours till late night and we ended giggling and laughing about fucked up situations of our life.

That dying bird on the road , which taught me and my friend a valuable lesson of life that to be "an angel on this planet we do not need special powers , we can achieve that same being in this human body only".

An gesture from my childhood days when I had bought a pair of balloons for me and In a fraction of second I decided to pass them to two street  kids who were staring at me. (I wanted to see them smiling.) 

One stranger lady whom I had met during one of my travels and we had some great philosophical discussions , sitting on the top of a overhead water tank of a building. (we are very good friends now).

Madan for sharing his cycle with a  sweet smile and Bhusan to show interest in learning English( Madan was the chef and Bhusan was the caretaker of the guest house where I was staying in Chennai.)

Visiting the US in 1893, Swami Vivekananda walked along a street in Chicago, clad in two lengths of untailored cloth. At that time in the US, this kind of attire was quite unfamiliar. On seeing this, a woman whispered to her husband, "I don't think that man is a gentleman." Overhearing this remark, Swami Vivekananda said to her politely: "Excuse me, Madam, in your country it is the tailor who makes a man a gentleman, but in the country from which I come, it is character which makes a man a gentleman."

Happy Living

:) 

Don't believe cause just I say

Hey Readers,

This weekend , I have reserved my time for learning and experiencing some mysteries, Therefore I am leaving you with some thoughts and advices to brainstorm.

How the religions and beliefs are formed ?

There is only one universal answer to this question i.e. "By someone experiencing some thing extraordinary and sharing with us". (Raj Yog - Swami Vivekananda)

Therefore It seems that any kind of spiritual books , motivational thoughts , my weekend articles, Sri Mad Bhagwat Geeta , Kuran Sharif , Bible etc are going to teach us something that has been experienced by some living being. (So Its basically kind of second layer of knowledge)

Why can't we be those living beings who can create the foundation of our own religion and beliefs?

This is like a transit to some twilight zone , Now I have reached to a point where Its crystal clear that purest form of knowledge on this planet in what we are going to learn from our own experiences aka by connecting to our own core.

GOD(with in us) bless us all :).

and yeah don't worry , Enjoyment part is not out of our life :P , the only thing we are trying to attain a next level of cautiousness about ourselves.


Happy Living !

"Have you visited ?" or "Have you felt ?" INDIA ?

Hi Readers , 

I am fanatic when it comes to discussions about INDIA and mysteries that surrounds us.

People in west and other countries often confuses "visiting INDIA" to "feeling INDIA".

 

Have you seen INDIA ?

Yes , I have been to Delhi and Mumbai.

Have you felt INDIA ? 

Are you kidding , What kind of joke is this. ?

I am not joking , Its a simple question because If you want to understand real INDIA , You have to feel it.

This is bull-shit , Their is nothing like it , You are just playing with words.I know people in INDIA dying of hunger.

Ok , Do you know about Vrindavan ? They have a temple called as Bankai Bihari . That temple is feeding almost 20000 hungry people daily and If you ask them why , They have just one mysterious answer
"Radhai Radhai :) ".

What is this "Radhai Radhai"  ?

Its a mystery on those smiling faces , How can I know , I am just a software Guy.

Tell me more such good stories , How many others you have.

These are not stories , this is part of our life style , day to day life.Well you need to go and experience yourself.

What else is part of your day to day life style , tell me about your family system.?

Haha , what to tell more then that we still preserve the family system in our roots.

Ahh ,Its not right, I had heard a lot about this one but saw in Mumbai / Delhi , everyone is staying alone.

Hmm... Mumbai or Delhi are just some how infrastructure wise advanced cities of INDIA and secondly even there the people you have seen staying alone are part of a distributed but connected family system. (You can not see It I can.)

Where I can sense whole INDIA then ?

In villages , If you would ever travel in a second class train compartment, You will have a glimpse.And in our country you even need not to break the ice, INDIANS would automatically come to chat to you and would make you feel part of their groups.

Indians are illiterate, Isn't . ?

By your education norms of earning they might be but their exists a different inherited system of education surrounded by values and norms and all INDIANS have that tied to their core by default.

Do you mean we don't have that ?

I never said or meant that , I cannot comment on any other culture , Here I am just talking about INDIAN family system and saying that at the same time we have a very high respect for your culture too.

What do you do to hangout with families ?

We are never in a special need of a hang outs or bonding exercises with families, We are already always in the connected state our decisions are collective. An INDIAN parents will never leave their kid alone in a insecure environment.

That is like killing the freedom of that Kid.

No Its never a question of freedom , Its the way by which they ensure to protect and guide their kid by the means of their own life experiences , they do not expect anything in return and this is just during their teen age , No body teaches or force anything at the age of thirty ,I have experienced this myself. :)

May be you are right , We are facing lot of teen issues.

I know and I am empathetic to that. This is why our system ensured parents supportive role during the soul search period of the kid. (And not even a single of us on this planet is exception to that state.)

How do you know this all ?
This is the environment I have been brought up and If for some reason I was not able to understand any thing said or any actions of my parents, There were always lots of supporting hands to offer a solution , sometimes in terms of extended families.

What ever you are saying makes sense but I am not seeing this in today's INDIAN youth.
Yes , I partially agree to you , resent bombarding of artificial culture and quick happiness has confused one whole generation and this is something which is happening worldwide and I believe going to continue for some more time but I am happy that whenever they would be getting bored of this , Our INDIAN value based system is going to absorb them. (We have Ganga)

How are you so sure about this ?
Cause I have seen the Magic , I have met lot of "Hippies" of  late 70s & 80s who has now got converted in to ISKON devotees.

I want to know more about INDIA , What should I do , Where should I Visit ?
Haha , You are again back to square of one , You need not to visit INDIA my friend just go and feel It , Don't race with any one there , Just go and get vanished in to the crowd. INDIA will talk to you.

Happy Living ...