The Limitless Child...!

Place: Somewhere between reality and fantasy

So, the whole world has entered a new year. The hangover is now over and the feeling of your regular job, apathetic colleagues and EMIs sink in. The terrorists are here to attack our country’s integrity. The calendars roll every day. A moment of positivity as the year changes is just a pretext to make you feel good. This makes you gather your energies once again and try fighting the odds that surround you. So, is there a permanent solution that can unleash the lost positivity, you may require a week later? There is a timeless solution to this and it lies within you.

Remember, yourself as a child. You were limitless, fearless and beaming with energy every time you fell. The moment you heard the sound of an airplane you searched it all in the skies. And each time you traced the airplane you dreamt of being a pilot. You were an astronaut the other day, a writer during the weekends, a cricketer in the evening and much more. A child believes in whatever he/she is doing and is careless of the effects of his/her actions. We often grow up and know more that makes us think of limitations that impede us.

Here are six short stories (Source: Self-Written, Quora and Internet) that will make you think how wonderful it would be to tackle your problems as a child and be limitless for the rest of your limited time on earth:

1.       The Self-Belief:

My little cousin was travelling with his grandfather on a scooter one day.

My great uncle told my cousin, "Please hold me tightly."

My cousin replied, "Why Dadu, will you fall down?"

No matter how miniscule you are, never lose your confidence.

                 2. The Selfless Care for loved ones:

A lovely little girl was holding two apples with both hands.

Her mother came in and softly asked her little daughter with a smile: my sweetie, could you give your mom one of your two apples?

The girl looked up at her mom for some seconds, then she suddenly took a quick bite on one apple, and then quickly on the other.

The mom felt the smile on her face freeze. She tried hard not to reveal her disappointment.

Then the little girl handed one of her bitten apples to her mom, and said: “Mummy, here you are. This is the sweeter one…!

 No matter who you are, how experienced you are, and how knowledgeable you think you are, always delay judgement. Give others the privilege to explain themselves. What you see may not be the reality. Never conclude for others.

  

3. The Effortless Enthusiasm:

               

We hate each Monday after a long weekend and crave for an extra day between Saturday and Sunday. I am no different and was brooding over going to office on a Monday morning. As I was walking, a little girl ran past me with her mother. She was oozing with energy to go to school. Her school bag was heavier than her. She wasn’t paid to go to school. She had homework to finish over weekend and a scolding teacher is a regular scene in every school. Despite all odds, she could not wait to board her school bus. On the other hand, I enjoyed my weekend watching my favourite movies, I was paid to go to office and I had a lighter laptop on my back.

                The only thing we lack in life to fight our troubles is a smile and an endless effortless enthusiasm, a little girl could easily carry these things on a regular basis.

4. The Fearless Fighting Spirit:

I was at Mumbai Airport and was annoyed by a 4 year old kid’s excitement as he was going to board airplane for the first time. He was running everywhere, touching all outlets that sell coffee and chocolates and almost fell seeing a plane through the glasses. We gathered ourselves and a blue coloured bus was ready to pick us up. The kid was startled and annoyed. He was not ready to board the bus. His father was embarrassed and convinced him to board the bus for a large pack of chocolates. The bus began turning its wheels and he shrieked: “Dad, the pilot has cheated us. Instead of airplane, we are now going Bangalore in a bus. But don’t worry. I am going to fight the pilot and take our money back as soon as I reach Bangalore.” Everyone in the bus started laughing.

It is not the size of the dog in the fight that counts; it is the size of the fight in the dog that matters. A lesson the child was oblivious of and yet practised.

5. The Carefree Thoughts:

Everyone dreads Mumbai rains. Some fear it so much that they carry an umbrella all the time during the year. It was July and was raining incessantly. I was running like a headless chicken to get my shoes, clothes and other belongings inside the house and then I see something magical. I see my 5 year old neighbour, a little girl, storming out of her house with her little umbrella, dancing in the rain. Her mother rushes out and picks her in. 5 minutes later… The little girl is again out in the rain and this time without an umbrella. Her mother picks her back and this merry go round race repeats once more.

Be Carefree. The storms can’t budge you.

  

6. Reality Distortion:

An excerpt from the movie: The Dark Knight Rises

Blind Prisoner: How can you move faster than possible, fight longer than possible without the most powerful impulse of the spirit: the fear of death?

Bruce Wayne: I do fear death. I fear dying in here, while my city burns, and there's no one there to save it.

Blind Prisoner: Then make the climb.

Bruce Wayne: How?

Blind Prisoner: As the child did. Without the rope. Then fear will find you again.

 The realism warranted every prisoner to climb out with a rope. The child did not know it and made it. Steve Jobs did distort reality to see futuristic products. The kids do it on a regular basis.

It is easier said than done. The world expects us to be mature and not childish. These words can be an easy rebuttal to this story. Remember, growing up is a myth. The day you stop thinking like a child, you stop living…!

Amit Leela Purohit
The Lone Soldier
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Beyond the Idea of Power : Maa

Gist : The constancy of change makes it the most powerful thing in time and space. Something equally powerful is waiting for you at the story’s end…!

Disclaimer : The writer is agnostic.

Two Years : 2013 - 2015 : Yes, it has been a long time. A lot has changed since I stopped updating this space. There were a lot of reasons that made my pen pause with a thoughts. One of the thoughts were that this halt may be the end of my journey of words. My life, lives of scores of people around me, the world and the space has changed and evolved in some good and bad sense.

Source : Internet

From the death of personalities like Margaret Thatcher, Paul Walker, Dr Kalam, Nelson Mandela, Rajesh Khanna, B.B. King and many more to change of political guard in India and Pakistan, these two years have witnessed a lot of changes. If you are many of those who look up to skies for solace, spectacular events like the Venus meeting the moon, the conjunction of the Venus and Jupiter left us spell bound. Brutal terror attacks were witnessed on various faces of Mother Earth leaving scars on faces of some of her children forever. ISRO’s Mangalyaan and NASA’s New Horizons are keeping our hopes alive of finding someone in outer space. Needless to say no-brainer movies (Isi baat pe chal beta selfie le le re…!) in India are making more than 1 billion (in INR) and a couple of TV shows enter their 8th year of telecast leaving me baffled.

Many lovemaking souls were separated, few settled together and some of them are / would be proud parents of the future. Some dreams were realized, many were broken and few dreams are living on the anticipation of hope. In this changing world, everything is changing. I observed an Egyptian mummy aged fact that nothing in this world is constant except change. And this makes change the most powerful thing in the world. There is no Eureka in this moment. But as I grow, week by week, I feel the changes in my approach to life, I understand the constancy of change keeps the universe ticking. In this constant race of survival, we often take a few moments to ponder over the changes around us. Some like me learn the hard way of living and innocence gets traded for the education of a lifetime.

It is the constancy of change that makes it powerful than the change itself. The changes when kick in make us realize its power. Writing this, I feel weak as we, all, are subjected to change and could not be more powerful than its certainty. Change is certain.

So whose power equates the constancy of change?

Source : Internet

The sound of drum beats in the air with devotion and a mood of revelry is unleashed. Yes, the festival celebrating glory and bravery of Mother (Maa) --- Navratri/Durga Puja is around the corner. Navratri is the longest dancing festival in the world. There is a surprising sense of energy in people who are lost in the worship of Maa. People dance to pray. Some pray for worldly things like Money, Macbook and a Mauritius trip. Some crave for power, fearlessness and wisdom. However, all think that the Holy Maa shall grant them all. Well they are not wrong in some sense as it is Maa that gives life and kindles the sense of survival in any creature of world - animal or human. We have read a lot about how mothers shaped greatness of some great men and women.

And this answers that what equates the most powerful thing in time and space. Maa. She carries power equal to the constancy of change as her view towards children is beyond change and remains constant as time flows. Child, whether ugly or beautiful, a success or failure, intelligent or foolish, any form of life be an animal, bird or human, it is Maa that protects and nourishes her child. There are lot of videos on internet showing a prey’s mother attacks the predator to save its child. More than 10 species of animals die after giving birth. The most interesting of them is Salmon fish. It travels more than 2000 kilometers to give birth to its offspring and the journey drenches its energy. It gets washed out and becomes an easy catch for the predators.

Source : Internet

A lot of Vedic stories also depict the larger than God stature of Maa. Maa powers life and gives it the form best suited for survival. All situations, be it good or worse, the first priority of Maa is well being of its children. This makes her equally powerful to the constancy of change. This piece of text may change you the way you look at Navratri/Durga Puja celebrations. We end up praying the power that equates the powerful change that alters our lives.

Well, with this word around Maa, I restart my blog and shall try to come up with more pieces of interesting text.

Amit Leela Purohit

The Lone Soldier

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Who are We? Where are we going?

P.S. - I don’t know philosophy.

I shall be turning 25 and the world still amazes me. Well, the amazement lies neither in the underwater fauna nor some outer-world asteroids. It rests in basic things that human beings do. The way people decide, prioritize and act. The reader here might be a 17 year old high school graduate waiting for his results or a 31 year old boy/girl waiting to get married. The sample may also include a 48 year old cashier sitting in his office or a 24 year old girl who recently married somebody she never knew.

If we could know who are we?

Who are we?

I still look avenues beyond truth and capability in finding myself. I failed. The question haunts me like a somnambulist who haunts his own peaceful nights in oblivion. Most of us don’t know what we were meant to be in this world. We were born and that followed a list of random tasks that dented us into what others wanted us to be. Hard Fact. So, who are we? Are we the ones who run after money and keep wasting our best years of time? Or, the ones who are ready to die to go viral on the social network? Or, the ones who carry their family bastion and roll the family silver in grass and hash? Or, the regular managers who give their subordinates their peace of mind? Or, the naive job-seeker who did everything that the world spelt correct to get employed? Or, an individual caged in an iconic buildings waiting for attention? Or, an upcoming artist (photographer, writer, band-member etc) waiting for the big break? AND, the ones who are still in the journey to know who are we?

It may be a boring set of questions and there may be a striking chance that it would not have covered all samples of personalities or would have matched the reader’s current situation. But the answer to all the questions is same and unknown. 

The tryst between existence and purpose remains unattended unsolved and gets complicated as times pass, days go and years change.

Are we heading anywhere?

Where are we going?

Today, we live in a world of jobless growth and unprecedented polarity. The 80-20 rule is now no more applicable when I talk about the financial polarity. By now we don’t know our identity so it is difficult to say where we would be heading to. But as human beings we are well known among ourselves to figure out the solutions to problems of unimaginable complexity. The television sets keep on flashing so called ‘News’ depicting money laundering, corruption, rapes, success stories (rarely), murder stories and so on. For regular people like most of us, it gives a view to the daily course of events happening around or with us. So are we going in the direction of a humane less future? This isn't being negative in any aspects, rather it is being practical in all aspects. And lets not forget the vices that the media misses to report. The daily pressures that we meet in our lives related to success, work, marriage, money and sustenance. This makes me feel like a blind traveler hoping to feel the breeze that blows around the Seven Wonders of the World.

So, Who are we AND Where are we going?

Are we The Angry Birds?

They say there is a thin line between existence and living. We might not be knowing our identity and our reason to exist but we know one thing in our lives better than what others tell us. We very well know that what we are doing! And if most of the things we do doesn't make us happy. It gets us money though that helps us doing some of the stuff that creates an illusionary happiness. 

The ways to be successful and the ways to be satisfied never meet and everyday we tend to drift from the latter.

What are we doing?

We are all searching things that make us happy. We try to make ourselves available around people and places that we think can make us happier - knowingly or unknowingly. And in this quest, we tend to lose the major chunk of time that result in unhappiness. Strange and True. We tend to keep items of materialistic values like gadgets, cosmetic items, and travel badges and so on around us to keep that illusionary happiness alive. I often see people doing secretive stuff that may range from keeping hobbies to scoring flings. Secrets keep us grounded. But still the question stands tall. We actually don’t know what are we doing and tend to do stuff that majority of human looking creatures around us do. Some tend to go a step further when they lose their integrity and intellect while coping with ‘people’ around them. 

Most of the times we keep ourselves busy in filling the gaps of the past. The gaps may be enlisted as a failed relationship, a broken dream or a mounting loan (for car, degrees etc.) 

We all are now turning into instruments of searching things that make us stand out from the others. In due course of events, we are losing wisdom to the search engines available and tend to believe them as messengers of God (whose existence is still doubted).

I read a book titled ‘Into the Wild’ by Jon Krakauer. It is a story about a boy who tries to know the reason behind his existence and dies in the end. Many of you might have read the book or would have watched the movie. Try and get connected with your own selves instead of getting connected with the whole world on the go...!

“If we admit that human life can be ruled by reason, then all possibility of life is destroyed"

- Into the Wild, Jon Krakaeur.

 Amit Purohit
 The Lone Soldier
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Smiling in Tough Times

Jotting all the possibilities of an uncertain life and watching a shriveled golden butt of a rolling paper, I sat on a broken pave that was said to be built by a philanthropist.

Am ‘OMNI’ loaded with school kids passed by leaving dirt on the roads kissing the air around me and a little child was literally thrown out of the crowded cab. I smiled; he pondered and smiled at me again. The kids that made themselves comfortable at the back of the cab waved at me.

The little gesture relieved me of something I was rattling off my heads with. It was almost suffocating to hang out in the OMNI yet the children were happy. A child can teach a man in despair a lot of lessons. Many of the gestures these little angels make go unnoticed. I was surrounded by four children in my own house. However, I never saw what they did in their daily dose of doings. I never observed how they tackle ‘failure’ or ‘indifferent behavior’; the lexicon they might have been oblivion of.  What was next? I donned my  Sherlock hat and started looking around. 

10 minutes later…

One of my nieces came to me and then started a funny conversation:

Niece : Aley Chachu!! Mujh me naa bahut taakat agai hai

I : Kaise?

Niece : Dadi boli roti khaegi to taakat ayegi. Maine to 2 roti khali.

She showed her cute biceps and said these words in a conviction I hardly carried, with even one of the most empirical formula I remembered during my engineering. I was taken aback and I tried her to give her conviction a hard time. The conversation continued…

I : Kahan hai teri taakat?

Niece: Dikhau taakat.

I : Ha dikha.

She gasped one of my fingers in her tiny hands took me to the wooden table that was kept in the center of my room. She pushed the table hard and succeeded. Her eyes glared in victory.

Niece : Dekha chachu meri taakat!!!

I was almost blown with the simplicity in which she carried what she believed in at the age of 4. Honestly, I don’t have that mannerism in carrying off what I believe at 24.

I was feeling a little bit conscious now as the fundamental lessons of life were articulately present in kids who never knew what Algebra and Astrophysics was. And then came one of my cutest and youngest niece from the other room.She was giving her Nani a tough time by juggling things kept on the center table. She then fell and was hurt by the edge of the table. Her Nani went nuts and then started a heated conversation between two women, one of the ages 3 and 58.

Nani  (with all fire in her eyes) : Chali jaa yaha se hum nai rakhenge tujhe…!

I was startled. Had anyone would have said me this; I would have thrown my boot in front of his face and would have left the face, grumbling about never to come back.

Niece : Nai mai to tikne aayi hu yaha pe. Nai jaungi

Nani (In a higher pitch) : Nai chali jaa.

And then what my niece did was out of my worldly senses. She came close to her Nani and tried to entangle her (Nani) big tummy in her arms. She smiled and said:

Niece : Nai jaungi. Yahi rahungi…!!!

Looking at the gleam of innocence in her eyes, her Nani melted like an ice on a frying pan. She was almost in tears looking at the little kid. And I was lost in the thoughts of how easily can indifferent behavior be tackled.

Life seems tougher and is tough but some days can be made easier if we try and find reasons to smile. And yes smiling is contagious and chronic; just keep riding the virus it caused. 

It is simple to carry a smile, even in tough times…!Came across a song by Raghu Dixit. Sing with me:

“Aaj bhi tu dekhta hoga,

Kahin dur saatwan aasman,

Kaise khoya jaa raha hai apne aap me insaan,

Hey Bhagwan! Mujh ko tu zindagi dobara de de…!!!”

---Amit Purohit (The Lone Soldier)

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The Haddi Mode

2013 : Let me Lead...!

Many of us believed and thought that 2012 was one of the longest and toughest years in their lives. Some of us even took life changing decisions in the year and realized the ways to the real journey beyond the meadows and against the tides. Some of my friends were shattered in the first 10 days of the New Year and thought the 2012 cataclysm hasn’t deserted their lives.

Let’s stop winding the clocks back and ring in the New Year with some fresh pieces of music and few liters of wine.

So, the next question gets fired: ‘Huh! What is it that you got new?’

I don’t have anything new but I would like to share with you an inside story about people management in the leading institutions and industries in my country and abroad.

It is going the ‘Haddi’ (Read: Bone) way.  

The Haddi Fight

Recently, one of my close friends and advisor to life decisions was boarding an overseas flight to his work place. Every Business Unit Leader wants him to be the lead in his team. In interesting course of events, he coined this term when I asked so what does the Big Boss (Business Head) wants you to do?

And he said nobody knows what is to be done. But everyone wants the Haddi. And I was startled and said him to repeat the lexicon. Then he said in some clearer diction. HADDI He said everyone wants him in their team but no one bothers what and where the ‘Haddi’ wishes to go. We shared a good laugh and then the flight untwined its wings and kissed the clouds to the deserts of dates where oil is cheaper than milk…!

The Haddi and the Boss

Every working guy is like a Haddi today. The top administrators wish to have a multi-toothed gear with them who can shift numbers as the terrain changes. It is same as now an engineer (or an accountant) and then a logistics guy; Now a researcher and then a procurement guy. Every second organization including the art Industry is hunting Haddi. He sings well may even act, so take him on board. Here is a B.Tech with an MBA, take him board; may solve some shop floor problems.

So, when people come to me with their logic saying Multi-tasking is the new thing on the dash board, I smirk and say, “Do hell with the domain expertise and let the fire clouds from the oil tankers of some oil company shake hands with the clouds in the skies!!!”

Let’s come out of our offices and observe the Haddi thing in some personal arena. Your own sibling or you would be the haddi of the family if you or he/she is successful and single. Every aunt, neighbor or some distant relative would come to you with marriage, business or even career proposals and would like to get the haddi on their platter and precisely in the same order…

If you are not contended with whatever state of affairs you are onto and someone is coming for you and trying to pull you in his/her business, just smile and activate the Haddi Mode in your life…!

Sing aloud and join me:

Ek rang guniyo ka nirala,

Ek rang agyani...

Rang Rang me Hod Lagi hai,

Rang Rangi Manmani…

(Song : Des Mera Rangreziya Babu, Peepli Live, Composer : Indian Ocean)

Amit Purohit

The Lone Soldier

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Meri Skirt se Unchi Meri Awaaz hai – Letter to Mr. President

Disclaimer: The writer is not a believer of religion, economy and politics (in the same order).

Dear Mr. President,

No animals were killed while I was writing this. But a girl somewhere in my country might be facing molestation, rape or some eve teaser as I write or finish this piece of writing.

I am not going to reiterate the incident that happened in a city where you live and at the time when you were having your dinner. We all were out of our minds and sight by the incident and I along with some of my friends came to meet you today morning. As expected we were not allowed to meet you. We don't wish to hear condolence messages from you; rather we claim serious belief of reinforcement of my security on the very roads where the Army, the Navy and the Air force showcase their pride every year on the Republic Day.

Sir, I have not read the Constitution of India, but I am told that if you wish, with your interference you have all the powers to call the people who can amend the Constitution of India. I request you to amend and ensure stricter enforcement of laws pertaining to attacks on the dignity of women of this country.

I wish you to act before my sister admitted to Delhi Hospital walks out and breathe the air that led her succumb.

I am not writing this letter for apathy, sympathy or empathy, favor or soothing words of praise in my honor to strive pain. I am writing this to claim what is mine.

I don’t hope for a positive response. But yes, I am expecting a prompt action.

With Best Possible Regards,

The Women of India

P.S.

I need not to teach you about the importance of women saying that they are the ones who brought Olympic Medals to the country.

Try sending water through the pipelines that your officials have laid through the city instead of smashing it in my face when I stand for my rights.

And finally, don’t let Google say ‘Do you mean rape?’ When I type India.

Amit Purohit

The Lone Soldier

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Little Do I...

Little do I move ahead…

                On the ways I had wished…

As the seasons blink…

                Little do I grow on the sands I stood…

Little do the clouds move in the sky…

                When the Sun ponders over its daily plan…

Little do I sing these days…

                The Songs of Summer and Spring…

The keys of my piano remain silent…

                So do I; Often the clock kicks me awake…

Little do I follow…

                The footsteps of Destiny and Time…

Keeping and Falling things in place…

                Little do I follow my life and its pace…!

 Time has its own magical pace that plays an instrumental role in human life. Be it pacifying some emotions or altering one’s plans.  Everyone keeps speeding up day in and day out to match the so called inimical pace by garnering land or paper rockets and balls (Read: Degrees & Currency Notes). Let me take some time out, take a pause for some unknown cause and let me be oblivion of any such apocryphal pace and see what was left and what more could suffice…!!!

Amit Purohit

The Lone Soldier

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