Freedom...!

A traveler towards the end of a day in his journey through the jungle, reached a tranquil cottage and found a monk, seemingly detached from the outer world, meditating inside. The voyager waited for the monk to finish his service so that he can ask monk's permission to rest for the night at his place before continuing his journey the following morning. As the monk completed his services and found a stranger to accompany him in his remote cottage, he knew what brought the visitor there. Without any questions, the monk greeted his guest and asked him to be at home as long as he wished to.

Around the dawn, the monk went out for his morning rituals and the guest woke up in the morning with an unsettling sound that was crying ‘Freedom...’ incessantly. It turned out to be a Parrot in a cage that was screeching ‘Freedom…!’ Taken aback by what he saw, the visitor was perplexed to find out that a detached monk, who supposedly has renounced the worldly life, kept a poor bird locked in the cage and make it cry for ‘Freedom’. With great generosity and sympathy the guest unlocked the door of the cage to make the bird free but alas, the bird wouldn’t move an inch but will continue its song of freedom sitting on the cage bar.

Already confused with the human behavior, the savior of the Parrot was now even more beset with the behavior of the bird! However he resolved that it must be the conditioning of the Parrot to be locked in the cage forever that failed it to realize the opportunity it was longing for all this time. With greater compassion the guest put his hand in the cage to take the parrot out and set it free when the bird attacked his hand ferociously and wounded it with its sharp beak. Determined to bestow the salvation unto the poor creature, the guest took the bird out with great effort and courage and set it free in the sky outside the cottage eventually.

As the traveler left for the river to get ready for his journey ahead and returned to the cottage to pay his respects to his host for the night, there was still no sign of the monk around but the visitor’s ears could register a familiar sound coming from the open cage, crying out loud… ‘Freedom…!’

When there is no thought, let alone conviction or action, behind a slogan that is shouted, it remains a far cry that will never become a realization… ever!

…That’s it!

Denial...!

"What we fear most is that we will be denied the opportunity 

to fulfill our true potential," Pallotta says.

Diplomacy...!

George Bernard Shaw went to a store to buy shoes. He selected his shoes and asked the salesman if he can pay by Cheque. The Salesman reached the manager to seek his advice in the matter and the manager in turn took the matter to the Store owner. 

When the Store owner found out that the person requesting to accept the payment of 10 Pounds by Cheque was none other than the legendary author George Bernard Shaw, he invited Shaw to be seated and have some drink while he can arrange for the transaction.

George Bernard Shaw issued 10 Cheques each of 1 Pound for the 10 Pound shoe and the Store owner couldn't hide his astonishment. With a puzzled look on his face the owner asked, 'Mr. Shaw, although there is no problem for me to accept 10 Cheques instead of one, what made you write 10 Cheques in place of one...?'

George Bernard Shaw replied, 'My dear friend, I never offer my autograph to anybody for any reason. Each of this Cheque has my signature on it and you could comfortably sell each of it for 5 Pounds to any amount that my admirer could afford and wish to pay for...'

The Store owner couldn't believe his luck as he tried to figure out the amount of profit he could make on just one sale of a pair of shoes. However, being the businessman that he was, he doubted something and shared his concern with the Writer, 'Excuse me, Sir, but I fail to understand, what good it would do to you, anyway...?'

Shaw with a witty smile on his face replied... 'What do you think, which of my admirer will 'buy' this Cheque to en-cash it? None... I guess! And that would make this pair of shoes absolutely free-of-cost to me!'

Every story doesn't necessarily have a moral... some times it's just an anecdote! And each of my post doesn't necessarily relate to CSR... 

...or does it...!?!

Trilogy...!

A farmer asked his son to work every day at his farm.

His friend said to him, “You do not have to make your son work so hard. You know it very well that the crops would grow just as good…!"

The wise farmer replied, “I am not cultivating my crops, but my child…!"

- That’s called discipline

The baby mosquito went for its first ever ‘flight’.

On returning parent mosquitoes asked him, “How was your trip?”

Baby mosquito replied, “It was great! Everybody was clapping for me…!”

- That’s called attitude

Once upon a time there was a childless King who wanted to choose a worthy successor to his throne after he passed away. He called all the young children in his kingdom to his palace one day and said, “It has come time for me to choose the next King. I have decided to choose one of you as my successor, as my Crown Prince, and groom you to be the King after I am gone.”

The amazed children listened spellbound as the King spoke, “I am going to give each one of you a seed today – Just One Seed. It is a very special seed. I want you all to go home, plant the seed, water it, nurture it, and come back here to me exactly one year from today with the plant you have grown from this one seed. I will then judge the plants that you bring to me and whoever grows the best plant will be the Crown Prince, the next King after me.”

After a year has passed, the King escorted a small shy boy to the throne and said to everyone, “One year ago I gave all of you a seed. I told you to take the seed, plant it, water it, and bring it back to me today. But what you did not know is that I gave you all boiled seeds that would not grow. Except this honest boy, all of you have brought me beautiful plants with exotic flowers and even trees with fruit. When you found out that the seed would not grow, you substituted another seed for the one I gave you. This boy was the only one with the sincerity to nurture the barren seed for one whole year with dedication, hope and perseverance and had the courage and honesty to bring me the desolate pot with my seed in it. Therefore, I select him as my Crown Prince to be the next King...!”

- That’s called integrity

Only Integrity with a Attitude of Discipline would take you there... 

Way to go...

'Interesting...!'

When people respond to something in an expression, it does not necessarily mean what it sounds… for example, when a British says, ‘I almost agree…’, it translates to ‘I don’t agree at all…!’ I was just wondering what people, not only British but any human that has evolved beyond sign language and can communicate with spoken words, mean when I hear the expression… ‘Interesting!’ Because, if I get it more often, I must be very interesting person [in the figure of speech, that is!] but the facts contradict the presumption, I believe!

What do people actually mean when they respond to anything as, ‘Interesting…!’

Optimistic Perception [Hypothesis]

1. Interesting… I am enthused to deliberate your idea as I find it kind of out-of-the-box! 

2. Interesting… I would like a little elaboration of it! 

3. Interesting… What you say entices me! 

4. Interesting… I am listening! 

5. Interesting… It excites me!

Realistic Expression [Practice]

6. Interesting… WTF?

7. Interesting… Are you still talking!

8. Interesting… Am I supposed to respond?

9. Interesting… I don’t give a damn what you mean…

10. Interesting… I haven’t heard a dumber thing than this!

11. Interesting… ‘Why on earth I couldn’t think of this before…?’ 

12. Interesting… I just missed what you said but I don’t want you to repeat it!

13. Interesting… You are better off with it as long as you don’t involve me in it!

14. Interesting… When would you learn to think practical and make some sense for mutual benefit?

15. Interesting… You are speaking some alien language, but I don’t want to lose my dignity and disclose my ignorance…!

Intrigued Take-away [Con]

16. Interesting… Thanks buddy, your game is over!

17. Interesting… Where could I get the data for this?

18. Interesting… I must ‘document’ this before s/he does!

19. Interesting… How to manipulate this fool with intelligent ideas…?

20. Interesting… This could move me a position higher in the hierarchy!

Rule no. 10 [Refer to Rule no. 9]

21. Interesting… Oh, yeah! So you think you are that smarter ass who can move me out of here, huh?!?

This is the list that I could make ‘as far as my belief, exposure, knowledge and memory is concerned’; you are welcome to edit it with modification, addition or deletion, as you please… Just remember, whatever you suggest, I will have only one expression for you… ‘Very Interesting!’

Way to go…!

Example...!

Amazon and Pepsi are not only the exemplary token of today’s consumerism; both should be regarded as the ambassadors of modern living with slogans like ‘Aur Dikhao’ and ‘Ye Dil Mange More!’ It’s been decades Humans have gotten rid of the orthodox values like being modest, living simple and thinking great. The times demand that while flaunting the latest and high-featured tech-gadgets you should be flamboyant, live extravagantly and think only if it is absolutely inevitable in a life-and-death situation like, 'what should we do for the dinner?' Meaning which restaurant to go… not what to cook, you dated geek!

There is no need of a philosopher to preach what is the best way of learning? ‘Example (or model) isn’t another way to teach, it’s the only way to teach…’ said Albert Einstein, the legendary Scientist who wanted to stop all scientific research for he could foresee what human would be capable of if the scientific and technological development continued and how it would go beyond the control of humans. Anyway, we have long passed that now and, whether we like it or not, we are standing on the verge of an Armageddon! And that’s what we are teaching our children as they learn better by imitating, developmental psychology says!

Believe it or not, I have met children in pre-primary and nursery schools (‘do we need any of them’ is a different story just like ‘do we need old-age homes’, but later on that) who had ambitions of being a Doctor, IT Professional or even a Politician! I was as surprised as you are (am I assuming that?) and couldn’t figure out where does it come from when I realized the theory of conditioning. How on earth the kids who are still being toilet-trained are so ‘calculative’? It’s simple… they (over)heard it; or they are made to hear to it, repeatedly. The daily soap effect, you know… saying a same thing 3 times with same expression with different light and sound effects. ‘It makes an impact...’ one of the TV Gurus said to me…!

TV, the Media is the second ‘teacher’ of this generation who can actually live on it. Remember a Student who comes from a family that earns Rs. 3,000 a month but manages to travel the whole country by Air and replay the same tape everywhere that once was hit at a ‘Cultural Program of Poetry Recitation’ in a university? This generation is really smart and knows the worth (read: face value) of everything. And they have learned it from their icons, their idols… the celebrities that are celebrated for not any specific contribution but their status that they have earned with their impeccable ‘Art of Having’!

Have we got everything right in a nation where... a Chief Justice breaks in tears in a National Conference, people and cattle are dying for water and the visit of politicians to offer them solace (not water!) is costing hundreds of thousands of liters of water to prepare helipads, women are considering themselves liberated by snatching their ‘right’ to enter the sanctum sanctorum of ancient temples and continuing the ‘tradition’ by following the ‘rituals’, a popular sport event is being celebrated and a rampant fire burning Museum of Natural History that destroys countless collections of the country's flora and fauna and possibly invaluable reference books is being said 'tragic' and moaned on the backdrop of Reserve Bank Governor’s earnest remarks about the economy… to list the minimum. Although there are also few positive things happening in the midst of this, their endurance, volume and impact would be negligible in the long course in absence of one major virtue that is missing – integrity!

Unless and until everybody, each and every one of us who considers himself/herself ‘Indian’, doesn’t make ‘Integrity’ the way of life and live by it every moment, there is no point in teaching children ‘Honesty’ by narrating Moral Stories. One who doesn’t practice what s/he preaches is a hypocrite and as we consider Einstein the intelligent one, we must agree that ‘example is the only way to teach’; what can we expect the next generation to become who is watching hypocrisy all around… noble ones?

Sustainability is not just a matter of Policy; it is a matter of individual and institutional ethics. It takes people of integrity and appropriate institutional structures to realize sustainable and inclusive development. 

(A Righteous) Way to go…!

EARTH DAY

Our cosmic oasis, cosmic blue pearl

the most beautiful planet in the universe

all the continents and the oceans of the world

united we stand as flora and fauna

united we stand as species of one earth

black, brown, white, different colours

we are humans, the earth is our home.

Our cosmic oasis, cosmic blue pearl

the most beautiful planet in the universe

all the people and the nations of the world

all for one and one for all

united we unfurl the blue marble flag

black, brown, white, different colours

we are humans, the earth is our home…!

‘Earth Anthem’ by Abhay Kumar