For a few weeks, there were a few travels planned and well executed too. Travelling is the most undervalued form of learning. When I travel, I am at my absorbing best, I observe people, their stories, their discussions and reactions. In the last month, I made note of some more, sharing more of my Gibberish. This post has been in making for over a month and it is absolutely its candid best. Three discussions, three stories, three shers and one Ghazal as dessert ....that's all.
The Mirage of Happiness: In the middle of my Dubai Dallas flight, I was woken up by the hostess for a meal service. There are not many takers of the "Strictly Vegan Hindu Meal ". It took me a minute to wake up fully. I had used the three empty seats next to me as my flatbed and slept at 37000 feet the same way, I would have slept on the floor of a railway platform on a newspaper. I got up to stretch my legs and do a customary morning tooth brushing. Just outside the restrooms at the extreme rear of this, A 380 was another fellow passenger waiting for the restroom occupancy. A Sikh Gentleman in his 60s, grey shiny majestic beard and sporting a Armani sweatshirt , sardarjee seemed much fresher than I was . I stretched my arms and while I was doing that I hummed a line from the song I was listening in previous leg of the journey " O meri Jugni de taange bagge nee" Jugni oade muho fabe, jinuu satt ishq dee lage "". " Jugni is a storytelling character in Punjabi folk, meri jugni de tange bagge means a well to do person with a horse cart , this art of storytelling belongs to ones who have been hurt in love ". I was relishing myself ....i carried on ...." Dushman mare taan khushi naa kariye , ke sajna vee mar jaana ". Sardarjee responded with a smile, to break ice , he asked me , Do you know the score . I quickly recollected that there is a World Cup India Pakistan Match going on while we will be in transit for these 16 hours. Trying to look connected with cricket (which I am not , I am not a cricket follower) , I said No , but we can find out . He said , I am trying to connect my phone to the flight wifi and isn't connecting. I volunteered to help, after some minor tweaks, the on-air wifi at 37000 feet worked . The conversation progressed to backgrounds and interests. Mr Bindra was originally from Dera Ghazi Khan , not far from where my ancestors came from , some 250 kms to west in fact. He was also from Delhi , we could exchange some fine memories. Now living in Plano TX, widowed, he lived alone. In every conversation, there is a point of inflexion, there is a paradigm shift in every life story. Mr Bindra had two kids, a son and a daughter. His only son got crushed under wheels of a Redline Bus in Delhi in 1999, riding his bullet motorcycle on way to Delhi College of Engineering. His wife passed away next year, his daughter and her husband had moved to the US . Mr Bindra, although completely heartbroken by the son of his death in his prime, didn't lose focus of his life . He runs a Punjabi School housed in a Gurudwara, an old age home for Asian elders and shares his time with them. He was much fitter than most 65 yr olds. His zeal for life showed in his Iphone6, his travels and his outfits. We had an amazing chat about life , punjabism and the pursuit of happiness. I asked him point blank, what makes you happy? He said, my ability to carry on each day and make a difference, pushes me out of bed and forget the pain of the past. he was so right . There is no pursuit of happiness, the happiness lies in the pursuit. Happiness doesn’t meet you , seek you, You have to date Happiness and seek her. Unhappiness seeks you, it occurs as well. We have an obligation to derive and spread Happiness. In my view, Happiness is the first cousin of perseverance, happiness is a by-product of a journey, there is nothing called personal happiness. Can you be happy when the world around is on fire ? We live a shrink-wrapped life, shrink-wrapped in rituals, relationships, mortgages, Money, Pointless travels. I chase happiness like a date ....Mr Bindra concluded his conversation. The sher ...
ज़िंदगानी अज़ाब कर ले क्या , रो के आखें खराब कर ले क्या …
क्या किसी से भी प्यान हम ना करें, आखों को चेनाब कर ले क्या .....
प्यार में हम झूठ कर ले शामिल, गंगाजल को शराब कर ले क्या ......
God is a Beloved: A lot of people ask me why I go to so many temples, I did want to put my point of view forward. A couple of reasons . One I don't seek things or wishes. I pray that God should keep my Gut flaming, my Intent unambiguous and fair , my Will , live and kicking . Rest, I will fight and manage. Second, I have not been scared of God . In last month, I had an amazing trip to Vaishno Devi, just like a child will come to his Mother's place and the Mom will make everything ready to host him. Everything in our trip worked like a clockwork. People who are scared to God, somewhere deep inside, are scared of their karma or their thoughts and deeds. God is a not a Master accountant, who will give pain and happiness to people in an arbitrary fashion. God is simply a source of divine strength. Some months back, I had a situation wherein I had to, unwillingly defend myself in a matter, which did hurt me in an unprecedented way. I wrote, There is nothing in my life that I can't accept or defend in front of a million people, looking in their eye. I look in the eye of my deity every day and sometimes express my displeasure as well. I do somehow contemplate turning an atheist too. So far, The faith has worked right. We are blessed to choose a source of divinity. For me, it will remain temples and pilgrimages, till I get convinced otherwise.
Guts and Layers: One of my prejudices has been to seek the number of layers that people around me have . In todays time and age , we can't expect everyone to be single-layered, we will have a few layers through evolution, one, who we really really are , second, who we pretend to be , third what we hide from the whole world and even ourselves , so forth and so on . That said , In my view , Gut and evolution is being as single layered as possible . Present as much as one can can on horizontal for all to read or keep carrying the paradoxes and pretentious interactions . A few days ago , i asked someone to name all people in her life and describe them by one Tag . Subconsciously that tag will be the most prominent part of that individual's persona. We came up with some interesting Tags ...Gurgaon Jaaneman, DehraDun Dude and Draupadi from Darbhanga, to name a few . In each tag, the person was revealed in entirety. I use those tags often for my own mental storage . We however make no conscious effort to reduce our layers however as we age , either layers will diminish, that would mean you are evolving positively or will go up . Some people carry a new story, a new past for every one they meet. They keep a track of who was told what and how to make sure these " Film sets" don't collide with each other. A few hours ago, I stepped out for Saturday night junk food craving drive . There are some good Momo places in HSR layout, I knew a regular one however it seemed that food joint had moved or owner lost interest. We stopped at a new one , a few hundred yards away . The Momo stall was non-descript, who young girls were in charge . One would be 20 and other would be even younger. I was first surprised to see that in today's Nirbhaya world two girls run a roadside joint so confidently. I asked for a plate and the momos turned out to be nicer than anticipated. They were instantly the new benchmark. While me and kids were eating, an auto driver stopped and asked for a plate too, the younger lady served promptly as well . The auto guy made a lewd remark while leaving "Momos aren't as good as you are " . The senior girl immediately and firmly replied, "don't come to see , come to eat" . I was pleasantly surprised. As expected, I appreciated her firm response. the girl was quiet well verse with all such Auto Rajas. She smiled and said , these men are not the issue, we are not able to scale the operation is an issue . We have one gas stove so make only 500 momos a day between two of us and sell. In next 5 mins, I realised they were the most single layered , gutsy , evolved individuals I had met this year . The girl was from Nepal , had to come to Bangalore to care for his brother who worked as a Cook and got badly burnt by hot oil accident. One fine morning, with 1000 Nepali rupee, and address of a hospital in Bangalore, she left her remote village in Nepal. A few months later her brother got well, had another job, got married and threw the sister out of the house. Back on the road, she landed a housemaids job, learnt cooking, called another cousin from the village (the youngers server) and started her own Momo stall. I was humbled, so much in awe that I couldn't stop myself from telling her that You girls are the reason this country will survive . People who are afraid of death are afraid of life. She had no sterile thoughts and no sterile personalities around her . We take great comfort in predictable patterns we swiftly oppose unpredictability and here there were girls who managed to find their place in a new country, new city with pure Gut and conviction. While these girls were talking another car stopped, a young guy loaded with gold rings and golden watch stepped out and asked his wife what would she prefer. She said veg and the guy ordered half chicken and Half veg plate . The couple sat in a shiny new car, possibly a dowry Car as the couple seemed newly married. he finished momos and came to pay and paid only for veg, he said "Chicken Momos were hot enough" in his Bhojpuri accent. The stall owner girl said you should have returned, you have eaten all momos though. The Guy said, You will get money for Veg Only. Before I could react, The girl was able to put this flashy guy to enough shame and forced him to pay. The guy returned to his car claiming bravado to his wife. A thought crossed my mind, just look at the guy, possibly son a loaded guy in Patna must have studied in hostels courtesy parental money, Must have got his car in dowry . Such people who have Zero standing on their own tend to overshadow real heroes of our society, people who are simple, uncomplicated, single layered. Destiny is no excuse and neither is fear . In my view the Nepali girls are the protagonist in this . Reality is , the flashy guy from Patna will live on his wife's money or in law's money and keep treating the Momo Girls with an attitude. Although making comparisons isn't fair, The flashy guy is the problem of our society. We overpack for journey of life and let our kids do that too . Being rich is not Happiness , being successful also isn't Happiness , avoiding unhappiness is also not the road of happiness , It is relentlessly seeking your purpose of life . Keep Moving, it isn't over till it really is .
and another one appropriate for this post .....
बेवफा हम ही हैं, ऐलान किये देते हैं, चल तेरे काम को आसान किये देते हैं। ……
औकात मेरी कम ही सही लेकिन , हम बेगैरतों को परेशान किये देते हैं ……
Today's Ghazal
भूल जाता हूँ मैं सितम उस के, वो कुछ इस सादगी से मिलता है
आज क्या बात है के फूलों का, रंग तेरी हँसी से मिलता है
मिल के भी जो कभी नहीं मिलता, टूट कर दिल उसी से मिलता है
कार-ओ-बार-ए-जहाँ सँवरते हैं, होश जब बेख़ुदी से मिलता है
Comments
Post a Comment