No choice

You arrive, there is no choice

You are given love, there is no choice

Things fall out of place, there is no choice

You fight back, there is no choice

And when the result is inevitable, there is no choice

At the end, you live with the result and there is absolutely no choice 

I feel

It still feels that I can come for a hug

It still feels that I can receive a call from you

It still feels that I can share my achievements with you and you will unconditionally love them

It still feels that I can talk to you, laugh with you, take your shade during the tough times, plan for trips, eat food served with love and affection, feel like your baby and so on and so forth

Where does this feeling come from? Why does it arise? When will the heaviness stop? When will I convince myself that it is only feelings that are left? 

I am You

I miss the warm hugs whenever we met

I miss the home cooked food served with love

I miss the life lessons coached keeping me by your side

I miss being treated as your little child however big I grew up

Casual talks, daily 9pm calls, trip plannings - what not, there is a whole lot I am going to miss forever

But I do carry the morals, I carry the character, I simply carry what you stood for, even without you around. Destiny can separate bodies, but it cannot separate the You in me, for, what I am made of is You.

With Love

I know that one day I can pray only through photographs but this is too soon

I know that one day I can offer food only through rituals but this is too soon

I know that one day I can talk by only looking at the empty sky but this is too soon

I know that one day I can perceive you only through memories but this is too soon

You shaped me to what I am today and it is a lot

You gave me so much love and it is a lot

You did not have a different world other than me and it is a lot

So what if it is too soon. What you left me with, is a lot for one lifetime

Till we meet again... I have a lot.

Vaishnava Jana To

"Vaishnava Jana To" was Mahatma Gandhiji's favorite Bhajan that was played in his daily Satsangs. 

Sat means truth and sang means company, together Satsang means being in the company of the truth. In Satsangs, people unite through music, meditation and wisdom. Those days when there wasn't electronic media, connecting people across India and keeping them united for a single cause was managed through daily Satsangs. That is the power of a Satsang.

Fast forward to now, Indian Ministry of External Affairs took the effort of spreading this message across the World by uniting singers from 124 countries for the rendition of this bhajan. The result is simply beautiful. Watch it here: 

Written by a poet Narsinh Mehta in Gujarati, the bhajan outlines the qualities of someone who can call themselves a Vaishnav, though with a broader outlook one can see that it applies to any human. Even if we could aim at following a tiny percent of these, it would make a huge difference in our day to day lives.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaishnava_Jana_To

Making a choice

Often I get into cross roads where I have to make a choice: is this the right thing for my son or not? The question gets more complicated, sometimes, when I have a strong preference for or against something.

If it is good for him and I also like to do it - no worries, the answer is clear. Go for it.

If it is not good for him and I also don't like it - again no worries, don't go for it.

The confusion comes in the other 2 cases:

It is not good for him, but I have a strong liking for it. For eg. he is more right brain types and I want him to become an Engineer. DISASTER. Something that needs to be avoided.

Lastly and most importantly, it is good for him, but I have a strong dislike. For eg. he likes playing with a neighbor's kid and it is good for him, but the neighbor and I fought and the heavens have fallen down. Here, it takes a lot of courage, commitment and what not to let him still do it. And if I did it, I really did something for him. Something worth cherishing and feeling proud of oneself.

When I am at crossroads, many a times this analysis helped me get to the answer quickly.

Presentation Skills

In my long career, I've attended quite a lot of corporate trainings on presentation skills/soft skills. Some were from the best in industry and some were the routine spend-the-budget types. The trainers come with lot of assessment tests to understand what the individual knows or doesn't know and suggest a ways to improve the skills and excel in communication.

While the ones who have a natural ability to communicate pick up things well and excel, the one's who don't have it can stumble. The most common tip the trainers give is to practice.

Two things can happen. One who has the natural ability take the tips, improve themselves, they put their head/heart/blood everything and when they deliver a speech if almost every cell in their body contributes to the speech, it ends up becoming a NaMo speech. But on the other hand, if someone doesn't have the natural ability and keep only practicing, can end up giving max-to-max a RaGa speech.

Clearly, what can make a big difference is one's inner ability/one's inner self/personality. Now, the ones who are not natural communicators stand at a big disadvantage and if they want to improve, I found that Meditation can be the most simplest and effective method. For, Meditation has the ability to clear one's mind, bring clarity to the thoughts, improve one's observation and give confidence to speak. After all, a good speech is not about using the most complex English words, but it is the ability to capture the pulse of the audience and communicate with them in a way they can correlate. It is the ability to put forward one's thoughts without confusion so that people can understand. Meditation helps do that exactly. How it does? The answer lies in practicing Meditation :-)