29 Years, 29 Peoples, Events or Arts

23rd August 2014

Its special day for you, so what is the plan for the day?

This question always remains awkward for me, what is so special and what would be the special plan. Every year on 23^rd August I try to find the answer but never succeeded in getting. 23^rd August my birthday, and this year my 29^th birthday – last 20s birthday of my life – 29 calendars have been thrown off till date and finally hanging 2014. Today I have been asked the same question and I didn’t have answer, but then I decided to find out those 29 peoples or moments of my life that literally either made some impact in my life or left impression till date.

1.       My Mom – Although it’s been more that 10 years I left my home and stay away from my family and twice or thrice in a year I meet my mother, but every time I meet her, I spend time with her find new dimension of our relationship. She and my father are the two persons who really enjoy every bit of my success and my status. She enjoys going long drive in my car and eating “chole bhaturey” in haldiram. She was the one who told me to earn Rs 3000 per month for her happiness and make her proud, and now when I buy a handbag for her of Rs 3000 the joy on her face is priceless.

2.       My father – The man of determination. He shows that he is strong, but his eyes tell the truth when he drops me on railway station or vice versa. He is the man responsible for what I am today and whatever I shall be in future. He shares my success and failure and tells me not to try hard otherwise distance between us will increase.

3.       His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar or Guruji – He is Guru of Gurus, He never makes a follower, he maker leader. The love that he shows for people is remarkable. He gave the greatest gift in life – The wisdom. He is the man responsible for bringing silence and meditation in my life. The power that he provided me is the feeling of being blessed and feeling that “you are not alone”.

4.       Anuj – My friend, my ex roommate and my gurgaon buddy. With him the journey of first job was amazing. He is the man responsible for bringing wisdom in my life. He shows great amount of subtleness for a big challenges and tasks. Our drive on my bike will always remain a good memory and off course too much eatig and sleeping on Sundays.

5.       Neha – My College buddy, a great human being. She taught me great values in life, our memories of togetherness in college left good amount of impression in my life. She will always remain an unforgettable part. Even though circumstances don’t allow us to talk but we share good amount of unsaid words.

6.       Nayan – my project buddy in college. He is a man who is always ready to help you in any situation. With him toughest task of the college happened smoothly. Whatever time we spent together during the first college magazine project was remarkable.

7.       Learning Sudarshan Kriya – No event can match the amount of happiness that sudarshan kriya gave. The truly magical technique of being human.

8.       My mamaji – The age difference between me and my mamaji is just 3 years. He always behaves like friend, like big brother. He is a support just one call away. I remember we use to fight in our childhood for cricket bat. His simplicity is at its best.

9.       Mitu – A friend with Great Spirit. I never found her in demanding state of mind. She is the person of acceptance and her skill always motivates me. Whatever she is or she has, I never found her asking more than that. Even though our friendship is on and off type but whenever either we talk or remain together she remains in that moment to make that moment happy.

10.   India Against corruption – This was really an inspiring event. First time I saw the real feeling of patriotism in people of our country. Whole night people sitting, chanting, shouting, singing in front of India gate. In front of my eyes I saw one or two people dying because of hunger strike. The whole event was electrifying and motivating that really an idea for nation can change the mindset of the people.

11.   Nishimura San – I hardly admire any foreign national, but his name is enough. He is god of electrical component of two wheeler industry. What makes special in him is his style of working and observing each and every minute detail. Working with him was an honour. The most inspiring point was a Hindi slogan written on his Japanese laptop - “Nidhan tak kaam karo”- work until you die.

12.   Aprajita – A perfect listener and a caring friend. Eating her hand made parathas in my last office’s tea break time was always fun. Her curiosity of knowing thing and defending Biharis for good reason were marvellous. What makes she in this list is not the dishes that I ate from her plates but the courage that she showed against the dowry before marriage. She defines the word courage.

13.   Sudhanshu – A best friend. He is my first professional teacher who taught me CATIA. Learning CATIA software from him was fun – parallel working on ORKUT. A silent guy and bold personality. He is very good at hiding his emotions and never let you know the pain of unfavourable situation that he himself is going through. He is very positive person with great courage to smile in each and every situation.

14.   Anjali – A courageous girl, who fought with the thinking of the society and won. I salute this girl for her courage and not only courage but the resilience that she has shown in her life to achieve what she wanted to achieve. I learned being with her that, when you run, you’ll fall, but if you won’t stand again and run then you’ll be grounded.

15.   Arbind – My school friend – He had got a splendour bike, when we both were in our teenage. We shared most of our teenage emotional imbalances and also bunking the tuitions and watching the movie in cinema hall. The fun part was driving far away and sitting idle on the city top and staring the sun set. Funnier part was cutting the coupon from newspaper and selling those and having chhole bhature.

16.   Meeting a family in slum – It’s true that a poor has only one thing to either give or take and that is respect. Such people return your love and respect in multi fold. I still remember the tea at 11 O’clock night that the lady of that house offered and also asked to have dinner from her families share. The most shocking was the story of her family that was in trouble but continuous smile on her families face and faith on god were commendable. I can be sad of not having an iPhone but they are happy of having life and food every day.

17.   Shailesh – An art of living volunteer – A true volunteer. He has got passion for service of the society and spreading the wisdom that he has got. Doing sewa with him was always amazing, I never saw him losing his temper and saying no. A perfect yes person.

18.   This Boy – I found him in the market, begging for food. I started teaching him and gave study materials. Frequently he used to come and take money from me in the name of study materials. He vanished for 2 years. 2 years later I found him sleeping on my door, hungry, dirty and scattered. Bought food for him – He also packed food for next morning, listened his made up stories.  I told him, don’t worry I’ll drop you home, and tell your parents to live better. He vanished in a second, while I was locking the door. He taught me, goods can’t be done to not good people.

19.   Hawa Mithai wala boy – A young entrepreneur. Met an amazingly hardworking boy, who uses to sell “hawa mithai”. In his words; “I wake up 2 O’clock every night and start the preparation, make the sweets till 7 AM, take my breakfast and come out on street to sell. Walk almost 10 -12 km a day to sell all my sweets, till 4’Oclock. Go home eat and sleep. We are living in a nation where those hands, which should carry the weight of books and pencils, carry the 15 kg everyday for daily needs. And he is not poor because he earns more than Rs 32/- everyday.

20.   Swati – A girl without virtue – Its difficult to find good people always, life is not that smooth. I still try to figure out what virtue she had, and what life she lived, living and will live. She made this statement true that in the company of not so good people you learn a lot. In the company of liars the virtue of truth flourishes. Few lines cannot describe her but certainly experience with her was not good.

21.   Anupam – Her father – The man without spine. He literally showed the meaning of practicality in life or how much practical this world has become. Frankly speaking before meeting this man I had this notion that world is full of good people and they pay back the goodness in lieu of goodness. But I was wrong.

22.   Her Sister – Money minded, poor valued person - “We are Chaturvedis who don’t know the meaning of humanity”. What money can do to a non deserving person, she is the perfect example. Above three people have shown the new world, the new set of people where life revolves around the money, but not around the values.

23.   Visit to Pashupatinath temple. This is a place I felt the distance between desire and death. This shiva temple is an ancient temple and doesn’t give the feeling of life, but it gives the feeling of beyond life. The environment itself is transformative. The place has got silence and the power of inner destruction.

24.   Visit to Tihar jail – I was not there as a prisoner but as a course assist. This place gave the experience that how one moment can spoil the life. Each prisoner whom I met and spoke with said the same thing - the crime is momentarily, nut after effect is for long. Also people can change for goodness if time and situation allow them to do so.

25.   Bhatnagar Uncle – The man who touched the gate of the heaven and came back. He suffered from a disease in which the chance of survival is just eight percent. He is one of those. His enormous amount of faith on god saved him. He is a man who always thinks that a change is needed in society and we should always be the part of that change. Service should never be stopped, whether it is small of big. Be a contributor to the society.

26.   The pursuit of happiness – the movie. Out of two movies that influenced me one is this one. Although it’s a true story. Actor sells his blood to climb the ladder of success and to counter his present situation. Moreover, the tears of success wash all the stain of pain.

27.   Into the wild – A journey of a man to his dream destination. This true story gives different insight of the society. The community that we call society, which is above all the race and top of the ecological pyramid afraid of each other. Two stunning lines are “society you are crazy breed” and “when more is less, less is more”.

28.   The fountainhead – A novel. “This is a society of second hander, we do and we believe what others want us to do and wish us to believe”. The success is no success if it is a second hand success and can’t be own. A motivating novel having a panoramic view of life, where only success is not important but own success is important.

29. My mind: my friend, but my biggest enemy – Last but not the least, its part of me. Why I say my mind is the biggest enemy of mine is because I never understood it, even though I tried real hard. It makes me believe convenient things and allow me to drop hard stuffs. It does not allow me to fight for my dream, run for my passion and follow my heart. Wait is on.