Tag: #bloggingfundamentals

To be with Nature ……..

Our life has become hectic today. Most of us live in cities not by choice but because of better opportunities and facilities. We are surrounded by concrete all around.

We begin our day by looking at other buildings and cars and trucks on the road. We are impacted by the pollution all around us. Many times, we are not able to even go for a walk or pursue any hobby of our choice.

We do not have the time to even admire the beauty of nature. However, I am lucky to live just opposite to the Arabian Sea in Mumbai. It has been a dream come true for me. The largeness of the ocean keeps me grounded. As I set to office, I am again in the midst of traffic and pollution. Even at work, it is just concrete all around and hardly any trees, flowers or birds to admire.

I sometimes wonder whether it is worth leaving our villages or towns to a distant land in search of a vocation. Although, it is true that most of us have moved to cities more by the call of duty rather than our preferred choice, it is sad that we miss nature all around us every day of our lives.

I had been spent three weeks recently in a village on the outskirts of Coimbatore in south India. It is surrounded by the western ghats. I woke up to the call of the rooster and then hear the melodious sounds of birds with the morning coffee. When I go for a stroll, I see peacocks, cattle, birds and other animals co-existing peacefully and harmoniously with the villagers around them. If I look around, we have green banana groves or rice fields ready for the next sowing season. I can hear the sound of the train gushing through the horizon on the hill side. The western ghats are daunting and beautiful in the backdrop. They make you realize that as human beings we are tiny tots in front of them.

The happy and contended people around makes you realize that it is not money and material facilities alone, which keeps you happy in life. You sync with nature and enjoy the smell of the earth and the song of the birds around you.

I also wonder how we have have forgotten to enjoy these small and beautiful things in life. We justify ourselves by stating that we are working hard and building the future for our families and so on.

I would recommend that each of us should spend at least one week every year in the hills or the plains in the villages and be with nature. We may not realize what we miss unless we experience it.

Let us be humble and enjoy the beautiful things Mother Nature provides us.

S Ramesh Shankar

“Life goes on… “

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I have been living and working in Mumbai for more than five years now. While Mumbai may not be one of the greenest or cleanest city in the world, there is something in the spirit of Mumbai, which touches your heart every day.

The first and foremost attribute of the Mumbai spirit is the professionalism displayed by almost everyone living in this city. When it rains in Mumbai, it really pours. One day of heavy rain and it impacts the suburban rail system, the buses, cabs and almost all modes of transport. The city is sometimes paralysed. However, I have never seen my maid at home or my driver give me an excuse of rains and hence their inability to report for work. Work is worship and “Life goes on… ” irrespective of rain, sun or wind. People find their way. They may have to take a train, then a cab and a bus and may travel more than 40 Kms one way but they never have an excuse not ato discharge their duties conscientiously.

The second attribute of Mumbai, which I adore is the ability to bounce back. The city witnessed one of the world’s dastardly terror attack in November 2008 but it bounced back within days to normalcy. Subsequently, I have myself witnessed a few terror attacks in Zaveri bazaar, Dadar and other places but this does not lower the spirit of the common man here to bounce back and get back to his work. The city saw one of the worst floods in 2005 but it took just days to bounce back. I have lived across India but have not seen such a spirit anywhere else.

The third quality of this city is the co-existence of the rich and the poor with equal respect and space. The city is the host to some of the richest people in the world and they live in skyscrapers and own some of the costliest homes themselves. Next to these mansions are the slums, where the common Mumbaikars may be residing. Everyone is happy and content with what they have. There is no artificial attempt to show off their richness or hide their poverty. You cannot make out by the life style of anyone if she is rich or poor.

It is these attributes of Mumbai, which we can be proud of.

“Life goes on”,come what may.  This has a lesson for each one of us to never give an excuse for anything, bounce back and be content with what you have in life.

My salutations  to the spirit of Mumbai and to her citizens.

S Ramesh Shankar

Gratitude

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Our pet “Sandy”

An ability to repay a non monetary debt would be “Gratitude” in my books. There are many incidents in our lives, where parents, friends and relatives come to our rescue, when we are in trouble. They bail us out without expecting anything in return. We feel good to come out of a difficulty but sooner than later forget that someone had helped us, when we needed it most.

I have many instances in my life, where I have benefited from such acts of generosity from my friends, family and relatives. My wife once told me that one of her relatives helped her fund her higher education when she was a child. As she grew up, this could have easily been forgotten as her relative was well off and did not bother that he helped her. But, she remembers this act of kindness throughout her life and is grateful for the same even today. Today, when God has helped us meet all our material needs in life, she has always insisted that we should support some needy children in their education as her sense of gratitude to someone who helped her. Even today after more than three decades, she bows in reverence to the relative who helped her.

I have another personal experience in my own life. My father was admitted in hospital and was serious and in an intensive care unit. I had just started my career and I was short of financial resources to support my father’s treatment. At this critical juncture, when some of my close people around me did not help me, here was a relative and friend, who went out of the way to financially support me, without expecting anything in return. I am indebted to them throughout my life. Today, I look at opportunities of how I could help them and others in distress as this act of support can never be measured in monetary terms or repaid. Today, even if I am in a position to repay them financially with all the interest till date, I will fail in my duties if I am not grateful to them for the rest of my life for their act of kindness.

I should say that even animals teach us to be grateful to others. I had a Labrador at home some years back. Her name was Sandy. I recall many days in my life when I was on tour, she would not eat or sleep till my wife and kids ate and slept. She was grateful to them since they had reared her during her younger days and taken care of her for all her needs. Her sense of gratitude sometimes put us to shame when we realised that we were more selfish then even animals as greedy human beings.

It is the sense of gratitude, which grounds you and makes you realize that money cannot buy everything in life and if you forget to repay your non monetary debts, it is you , who lose not the lenders.

Shall we commit to be grateful in life ?

S Ramesh Shankar