One dark shade of life

"As I entered one of the biggest old age home in the city, I saw one old man gazing at a single beautiful bright flower amidst many on the ground. He was so engrossed with its beauty that he would smile at it and shake his head. I wanted to pat his back or rather peep in his heart to read the message of the flower, but I just opted silence and stood just beside him. After few minutes I saw a tear rolling down his cheek. I was perplexed was he happy or sad? What was the message from the flower that made him sink so deep in his thought? What did it remind him? Was he gazing at the flower or his own life?

I looked at his eye they were burning red with agony and pain. He had just realized that his life is just like this bright flower. Many would come and glorify the new bloomed flower in the dawn, but after a day or two when its colours had withered to darkness and it cannot stand firm with its head held high, the same people would walk unnoticed without even heeding its cry."

Life seems to be meaningless. Isn't it ? An individual slogs all through his life for the family and with a view that a day would come when he can just relax in his armchair and read his favorite book and tell tales of his youthful days to the younger generation. He will term those days as "And they lived happily ever after". Alas! he forgets that the day of his rest is someone else's busy day and the loved one won't even owe a second for him.

Vicissitudes of life have contributed to the misery of elders with none to depend on, no means of income, no emotional security making them destitute with a question, about how to carry on with their lives. The growing intolerance among youth, coupled with their inability to adjust with the elderly, is just one of the prime reasons for the rise in the number of old age homes in India.

The fading joint family system in India and other innumerable factors have given rise to west-inspired phenomena of old age homes. Surprising cost of living and scanty return on savings have almost pushed these senior citizens on roads. Such an act has triggered the security net of the helpless, which has almost vanished in many states in India with Kerala topping the list.

They have started walking out of their own home in search of a journey that promises peace, joy and celebration of life with a group of people who share the same boat of life (the wrecked one). However not may rather none of them receive it. Young people with vigor and strength forget that its not too late for them to be in the same shoes. Its just one life that we all have,why can't we be a support to the needy who is not a stranger? Why cant we build a world of love that shelters all, irrespective of age? Why can't life just begin after retirement, than end?

If you respect the one who has moulded you into a fine being, then just hold their hand and lead them straight into your home. They don't need your money or luxury, they just need a shoulder to lean. Help them lead the last few days of their life that doesn't trigger loneliness.

It Isn’t that Bad…

The other day I was reading a quotation in the newspaper, saying that Love and failure are the only two things that give you maturity. Today wen I met Smita , my childhood friend I realized how true this fact is. Try to think about the persons, who have never fallen in love or have never suffered a major failure in life, you’ll quite probable to feel a lack of maturity among them. And this is evident from their thoughts, actions and reactions. They have never realized the deepest emotions and the feelings that come up when one has failed. When some big failures or heart breaking events take place in our lives, most of us go through a phase of depression and detachment for some time. The time depends on the how serious you were about the thing you just lost. And these are the times that give us an insight into all that life is. These times take us deep down somewhere away from everything and when we come out of them we realize that there is much that is beyond what we have lost.

When we loose someone, we tend to feel that it is the end of the world and we are into a gloom which we feel will never end. We get disinterested in everything and everyone around us. But after some time you start feeling that there are other things and options too in this world and your life. With passage of time you start coming put of your shell. It is during this state that you start appreciating numerous other things. And the most important thing is that you start knowing yourself better than ever before. You start recognizing your hidden desires, the things you always wanted to do but were too engrossed in other things to pay attention to them. You start giving thought to your talents, abilities and capabilities. Many persons take to their artistic instincts. They either go ahead to learn something or improve upon if they have already learnt something. The difference between the earlier learning and now is that a level of maturity and depth is added. The way you look at things is changed. You might have acquired an artistic skill earlier just to add it to list of things you know, or because you had a liking for it or because it was thrust upon you since your early days. But now you put yourself into these things to have peace for yourself or you like these things to be your companions in solitude.

A few years back Smita was very good at language and would do just about anything to enrich it, and had many interests that made her popular in every kind of group. She was twenty-three then and just out in the professional world. As a human she also fell in love with a colleague of hers. She was totally absorbed in her dream world . But before her dreams could take a real form, they were shattered. That is when she went into a shell and refused to believe anybody and preferred to stay aloof. If she had to be in the company of others, she would maintain such silence that each one around would feel the heat of discomfort. Best of her friends could not make her speak and one by one started drifting apart. She stayed in this state for about a year , when all she would do was to stare the ceiling of her room with her mind wandering what has happened.

After a year or so she started braking the shell at least for herself. She joined a study group to study some ancient scriptures. She always had a desire to do read them but could never manage time for it as it was divided among all the persons she was associated with in the past and there were things which always took the priority. Now that she has distanced herself from all such distractions and was completely available to herself, she whatever she did had cent percent concentration .She also started putting her free time into reading. This helped her nourish her thirst for fulfilling her literary interests. She restarted her classical dance practice. Still she was not very interested in talking to anybody and was happiest when all alone, but she did not let her mind wonder here and there but would put it in doing things that satisfied the person inside her.

In the process when she had a need to express herself, she could not relate herself with anybody. It was not that people around her were not ready to listen to her or would not have understood her and her feeling, after all we all go through it sometime or the other may be to a different extent. But as a matter of belief, she did not want to express herself. This made her one day to sit and write about all that she needed to express. And in fact all the reading that she had been doing, helped her to emerge as a writer. Today she regularly writes for a periodical and the writer in her is a gift of all the suffering that she had gone through. The literary interests and the appreciation of language were always there but it was her suffering and her failure in love that brought maturity to her thought and it was her detachment from the world that gave her enough time and concentration to put herself so well on the paper.

The positive aspect in the whole story is that with the flow of time not only is Smita coming out of her depression also a new human being is taking birth inside her who does not gets disturbed easily by life’s turmoil, probably because she has already seen the worst. Now she has an attitude which is which is more understanding of other persons’ emotions and feelings and acceptance of the life as it is and not how she wanted it to be.

As persons who can see his death approaching, are the ones who live life to the fullest, similarly when a person has suffered enough or have lost people dearest to them, start looking at life with a different perspective.

So failure is not all that bad. Imagine all that we miss if we miss failure in life.

Recipe Fafda (Chickpea snack)

Finally succeed to make fafda, The famous gujarati snack.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups Besan

• 1/4 tsp Baking Soda

• 1/4 tsp Ajwain

• 1/4 tsp Turmeric Powder

• 1 tbsp Oil

• 1/2 tsp Salt

How to make Fafda:

• Mix the besan, soda, ajwain, haldi, oil (1 tbsp) and salt together in a bowl. Add water to it and knead into soft dough.

• Take a portion of the dough and place it on a greased surface.

• With base of your palm, flatten the dough and drag the dough in straight line(it looks like strip). with the help of thin knife apart the strip from surface

• Fry these strips over medium heat until crisp. Let them cool.

• Fafda is ready to eat. Serve with spicy chutney.

Here is a fafda making video which is on LARI :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgujBQVjcnc&feature=related

Keep smiling !!!!!!!!

Misconceptions about donating blood

People want to donate blood but there are some Misconceptions about donating blood make them reluctant from donating. Here I’ve tried to sort out some of them.

"I will feel drained and tired after donating" - You will not feel drained or tired if you continue to drink fluids and have a good meal.

"I cannot resume normal activities" - You can resume all your normal activities, though you're asked to refrain.

"I will have low blood" - If you are okayed to donate by the doctor you will still have surplus blood after the donation.

"I can't take alcohol..." - You can on the next day.

"It will be painful while donating" - No, you will not feel any pain.

"I will feel dizzy and may faint" - You will not faint or feel uncomfortable after donating blood.

"I may get AIDS!" - No! Make sure disposable syringes are used and all measures are taken to keep you germ free.

"My blood is common. I don't think there will be demand for it" - That is why the demand for your type is greater than for rare types.

so friends Donate blood to save a life ……. and feel good !

Woman's Day 2010

Every year, about 78,000 mothers die in childbirth and from complications of pregnancy in India, according to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). The figures illustrate how poor women in rural India have largely been left behind by India's economic boom which has lifted millions of people out of poverty.

India's maternal mortality rate stands at 450 per 100,000 live births, against 540 in 1998-1999. The figures are way behind India's Millennium Development Goals which call for a reduction to 109 by 2015, according to UNICEF. By comparison, fellow Asian giant China's maternal mortality rate has dropped to below 50.

India's fight to lower maternal mortality rates is failing due to growing social inequalities and shortages in primary healthcare facilities. Millions of births are not attended by doctors, nurses or trained midwives, despite India's booming economy which grew at nearly 9 percent in each of the past three years. Around two-thirds of Indian women still deliver babies at home. Women from the lower castes suffer the most as they are often denied access to basic healthcare.

Maternal deaths are avoidable with the help of skilled health personnel, adequate nutrition, better medical facilities and family planning, medical groups say. But poor women, especially in rural India where fertility rates are higher and teenage marriages are common, face an uphill battle to overcome lack of access to medical care.

Health centre staff in many areas demanding money from poor women for delivery. Many were turned away from the centres and were forced to give birth on the road or the hospital compound.

Indian women get married at a median age of just 17 years. Among women aged 15-19, 16 percent have already begun childbearing. The younger a girl is when she becomes pregnant, the greater the health risk for herself and baby.

Women's food intake must improve if the region's high maternal mortality rate is to drop. More than half of Indian women have anaemia, another potential killer during childbirth, compared to 24 percent of men.

"Inside the homes, women are the last to get food. They are much more vulnerable and that is why they are dying."

Tarikh pe Tarikh (Why so much waiting)

Many people must have heard of this dialogue "Tarikh pe Tarikh" from Damini movie, it must be really frustrating experience to the people who are suffering from that syndrome of Government.The same happens to people who says “No matter what is, I hate waiting!”


to wait for the bathroom ;
to wait in long lines of the grocery store ;
waiting for answers that you already know the answer to ;
waiting for ordered food (they say 1/2 hour they mean 2 hours) ;
waiting for a parking spot when someone knows you are waiting, so they go as slow as possible;

or it could

Be a reply on messenger/e-mail;
Be a girlfriend or flight delay hours if any;
Be salary at the end of the month;
Be that holiday;
Be huge queue .... that is the hospital, bank, cash etc.
Be exam result;
Be that link ... and the phone that never rings ...!

Give Me Some Sunshine..

GIVE ME SOME SUNSHINE, GIVE ME SOME RAY, GIVE ME ANOTHER CHANCE, I WANNA GROW UP ONCE AGAIN. - From the movie 3 idiots

I’m an Indian and by seeing the current status of nation, I don’t feel proud of myself and my nation at all. “So mein se Assi Beiman Fir Bhi Mera Bharat Mahan”. What a poor joke!

Before one and half years back in Gujarat different colleges were working under different universities, few were dimmed universities, but after that all were together combined under GUJARAT TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY. Now syllabuses are changed for students but I didn’t find any creative or worth in doing so. The condition is worst because students are over burdened because previous few subjects are combined to make one subject, so syllabuses have become lengthier.

Most of the students are getting admission to earn more and more money, which is again good for themselves and their parents. One or two students were interested to join Indian Defense and civil services. No one is interested to join politics, no one is interested to become a scientist or inventor or businessman. Every one is interested to do job under others. Everyone wish financially secure life without risk and struggle.

This means that no more Ambanies and Tatas will be born anymore. (bad news for India)

Don’t spoil my cake !!

Now that is shocking, but I’m used to listen this now from teenagers. In colleges of India we are not giving quality education, we are producing quantity of engineers. I’m having sympathy to those people who are always opposing western culture and progress without knowing their latest syllabuses with superb infrastructure of colleges. Because they are not ready to see the nude truth of society in which still girls are killed because of their gender before birth.

I believe that teaching is one of the biggest responsibilities in society, because we are working with young blood. We are in a race to win, to gain more and more money. Today youngsters forget to create their own path; they are path followers like others. That’s a bad sign for society for growth as well as for creativity.

Day by day teenager suicide cases are increasing. Parents should be close to their kids, they should provide healthy atmosphere in home. I believe that communication is the best way to remove depression of your kids, one hour quality time one can spend with their kids, they can motivate them, none of parents were saying their kids that no matter how much marks you will get in examination but grasp the topic thoroughly. That can be the biggest achievement for a student.

But mostly parents are not motivating students but they are remanding to their own kids.(P...lease, Life is not just a competition)

Give right your kids to decide what they wish to do in life, you can advice them, but you should not command them to choose career according to your wish. Let them be responsible for their life. Every profession now a days is full of opportunities and competitions. Let them survive themselves. I always say that difficulties are god messages to improve, to generate new abilities in oneself.

If only these many changes occur then I believe that atleast India will get few patents or few good scientists indeed.

KIDS ARE LIKE BIRDS, LET THEM FLY TO THEIR DESTINATION OF THEIR OWN SKY.