An acknowledgement is a way to peace

The first time that I formally got introduced to the word ‘acknowledgement’ was after having sent my application for the EAMCET exam, back in the year 2001; during that time I did not know what the intensity of the word meant, to me it was similar to a receipt that you get after making a monetary transaction. But over the years, ‘acknowledgement’, to my understanding became as important as any feeling that needs to be expressed in time.

In our daily lives there are plenty of things which need a pressing acknowledgement and this practice for me starts as each day begins. Today, I would like to share a list of my daily acknowledgements that I make to different things, different people and myself every day. I write this only to throw some light on the importance of our ‘response system’ and I am hoping that you like it. In case you do, then you can also take a cue from here and treat it like your cheat-sheet for something new to add to your personal schedule!

• Each morning as I wake up, I join my hands in acknowledgement to the incomparable Sun god for being where he is and reinstating the faith in the maxim that ‘somethings never change’ and life can be brightened each day.

• I acknowledge the ‘Good Mornings’ that I receive from my family and also from each parent and student who comes to school, individually. I quite well remember how terrible I’d feel as a child when I greeted ‘Good Morning’ to a random teacher at school and they would simply walk by without responding (there could be many reasons for such behaviour, but for me the feeling was bad). And therefore, I never want to be a similar case.

• For the morning tea, breakfast, lunch and dinner at home or outside, I make sure I acknowledge the effort put in making them to all those who cook and serve.

• At work I acknowledge my employee for the work she does by appreciating her time to time, though we don’t have a lot of common topics to talk.

• The e-mails and the messages that I receive both on social networking sites and phone are acknowledged by me in time, unless I am totally not in a position to access them.
(I see that life has become a little more complicated with technology and transparency coming together… so when I say this I mean situations… in which you get to know that an sms has been ‘delivered’ or an FB/Watsapp message has been ‘seen’ or ‘read’…it feels a lot of anxiety when there is no acknowledgement for it.)

• Sometimes a few strangers smile at you, for unknown reasons… a smile back to them is also an acknowledgement for the kindness they exhibit. (I sure know that a few of you may think that smiling at strangers can lead to unpleasant situations, to that I’d say…a lot of other planned gestures also may lead to similar stuff…why not take a chance with kindness then?) I smile at total strangers!

• Responding to an ‘I love you’… This is very crucial. A lot of times we think an ‘I love you’ is a fishy gesture… but with your personal experiences try to respond aptly to those who make an effort to say this to you and make you feel wonderful! I just love receiving and giving ‘I love yous’.

• Returning a missed call, replying to forward sms on a festival by a friend, thanking people for buying things from you(in case you’re a seller), thanking people for being around, saying a sorry in time are all candid examples of a civilized acknowledgement. I simply follow each of them and I feel a lot wonderful for having a strong response system inside of me.

I do not recall of a time or date in specific when I started responding to everything that needed to be acknowledged, but I can surely see how much of a difference it makes to anyone who has conveyed something, to receive a response.

To a lot of people it comes easier to scold, shunt or give a negative feedback about something. We however need to understand that a response, appreciation, suggestion, humble denial, agreement, gratitude and apology are far more superior forms of any acknowledgement that human civilization has ever seen!

So, happy acknowledging folks and yes I so love you!!!

Peace.Happiness

Nirupama

Sometimes, a hug is all you need!!!

It was the March of 2013, I was still getting over a grave pain of having lost Vinu(my college friend who was a biker), though not too close a friend, Vinu somehow managed to seize the hearts of people who knew him. The pain was more of losing a young ambitious, well-wishing guy, the only son left to his parents. It was then that I could relate to how some people felt having lost their favourite leaders, celebrities despite never having met them in person. The world sure has unlimited emotions trapped inside of it!

It was during this time, that a very dear friend understood this feeling of mine without me putting it into words. And the only treatment was a warm hug, for reassurance that life has moved on ever-since. This was the first and the last time I ever received this hug from that friend. But the lesson learnt was very deep. A genuine hug has magical powers!

Today, its been over a year since I have been adopting the "magic-hug" session with the students in my school. So here's what I do...after they finish the school assembly I hug each of them individually and wish them "Good Morning" followed by their name, and in return they hug me back more warmly and say "Good Morning Teacher"...The energy that passes on, the reassurance that we are there for each other is commendable(no words involved). With 28 children, it takes time, but I sure don't get exhausted! Because, I have learnt... that in life ...Sometimes, a hug is all you need!!!

Love and Hugs

Nirupama

To change or not to change?

As people wade through various joyous and distasteful incidents in their life, the one cross road that most people come across in their minds is “to change or not to change?” The change here could refer to a person’s individual self, his lifestyle, his company (people who he gets along with), the place where he stays and the list may go on!

So who exactly decides whether all or some of these things have to be changed: You, your friend, a stranger turned friend or any other person?

It was a few days ago that I happened to talk to one such person. A new found friend he was, who managed to probe questions that I would generally not answer someone if I knew what the conversation was leading to. The conversation clearly appeared to be a forced session of ‘I want to help you’ despite my insisting that I am happy the way things are with me. It was amusing at the way how people in the name of feeling a ‘connection’ with you want to change you, whether or not you like it.

This incident brought to me a new perspective of life & living and that is… when people see you on a certain day, or even if they have been seeing you for a long time, they would not know the end-to-end of every single story that goes on in your life, somewhere there will be a point where they may get disconnected with you, but you are the only one who has experienced every feeling, every story, every emotion bit by bit and this makes you the sole decider of what to do with yourself. Your choices as against your circumstances may look wrong to some people, people may sometimes even bruise you with their words on your decision making; however it’s you who has to take a call to allow people’s advice affect you in any manner.

I am a firm believer of destiny and I think that destiny is pre-destined.

I feel Karma has a role to play too (what goes around comes around).

And I also know that the two statements that I made above are contradictions to each other; so that may make me look like a confused person, but I have my own reasons to believe in my own thoughts, fairly because its only I who knows the story of my life, just the way it is going!

So the next time when you don’t want to change for an advice from a person, how much ever you respect them…do what makes you feel right and light and yes let them know about it too!

How I fell in love with Shiva!!!

My understanding and knowledge of god as a Hindu has always been based upon what I acquired from my elders at home, neighbours, teachers, festivals, religious books, stories related to them and few other sources that I am unable to recall right now. As a result of this understanding, Krishna became my favourite god over all of my growing years and the god that I feared was Shiva!

So, why did I fear him? is the question...to which there is more than one answer. Sometimes, it was the way staunch prayers and rule-bound rituals were offered for a 'Shiva Trayodashi' (also called Pradosh), some other times there was the super-strict "Solah-Somvaari"(16-Mondays) fast with a list of unchangeable and rigid rules for both prayer and fasting. Then there is the "Maha Mrityunjay Mantr" which is said to save lives right out of death-trap, but again with a condition, there can be no scope of the hymn being misspelt! With these and a few more, my fear of Shiva grew...I always saw him like a strict father with a cane, ready to bash up for the smallest mistakes. But all of this had to stop somewhere and it faded one fine morning, when I decided to read a book much more holier than any holy books I have read so far... The holy book is called "Immortals of Meluha". Until then I was still not too happy with Shiva, but as I read the first few pages, I exactly knew why we fall in love with gods, when we do!

Shiva, then got into my realisation as one subtle man with his own thoughts and rules of his tribe, with his respect for everyone who cared to be, with seamless love for Sati, with the insecurities of a little child, with compassion for Ganesh, with undeterred brotherhood for Brihaspati, a passionate dancer, a joy maker, a ready-to-go traveller, simple yet super smart at analytics, a singer... Shiva is so much me. How then could I stay away from him? How else do we fall in love?

Falling in love with Shiva therefore made me love god! It helped me reinstate my faith in the Inner Shiva! Therefore Shivoham.

I suppose...this is how "Har-Har-Mahadev" takes its grip in every era!

Thankyou Amish Tripathi for this abundance!

Satyam.Shivam.Sundaram!!!

Nirupama

मैने गाँधी को नहीं मारा

"Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Mara"...this is the title of a Hindi feature film that was released in the year 2005. The film covers a wide range of emotions in its story and describes from start to end how a person is trapped in his own delusion of having killed Gandhi ji. As the film moves towards a hopeful end, the one thing that touched my soul was the truth lying behind the role and dialogues that Anupam Kher had delivered.

More than a hundred films in different languages have been made with Gandhi ji as the soul of the story and more often than not the core offerings of all such films are for the audience to understand how powerful “non-violence” is, how easy it is to stay “truthful”, how wonderful are the consequences of having “patience”. And with almost every such film, the closing line is very similar to one another with a disappointing note that ‘the country Gandhi ji dreamt of is getting more corrupt by each day’.

But wait, there is some good news left…
*The women of our country have become more and more self-sufficient.

*The men of our country have radically improved their inclination towards family and emotional aspects.

*More and more people are resorting to vegetarianism.

*People with a high and influential social stature are taking to causes that are most basic and are determined to make differences.

There are a lot of statistics that can be put together to show the fact that our country and countrymen are not as terrible and bad as they sound. There lies deep within a lot of us (if not all) sincerity, devotion and true childlike instinct for our motherland, which can be seen in our small little day-to-day acts. There is a certain genuine belief and action displayed by us from time-to-time that sums up towards a constantly developing country and not to forget helps in avoiding uncontrollable disasters. I agree that it’s not all that good, but trust me it’s not all that bad too! With the implementation of Gandhi Ji’s virtues in my very own life, without much preaching… I can proudly say that “Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Mara”…He still continues to live in every genuine person and believer of Karma!

Satyamev Jayate!
Niru

Of Music and Pure Bliss

जय माँ सरस्वती संगीत की तू देवी
सातों सुर को हम लेकर करें आराधना तेरी
Most songs of worship that are etched in our minds are received at home or school at an early age. But, these two beautiful lines that fill my heart with divinity whenever I pray for strength and wisdom are a part of praise of goddess Saraswati is one such prayer that I never received at home or school or even any temple. My first and only encounter with the bliss of the tunes of this prayer song was at the Military College of Electronic and Mechanical Engineering (MCEME). Strange isn’t it?

It was the summer of 2012 when I was a coordinating a music concert at the MCEME, Hyderabad. Till such time that the program began, I did not have the slightest idea that I were to witness one of the most beautiful musical performances of my life. Presented by the musical duo Shri Ritesh and Rajneesh Mishra, the concert began with some intricate notes of music and ascended with a master piece. But like with most works of art, music also has its chosen audience, which has the capability to respond aptly to its intricacies. So, what happened to the young cadets of MCEME who formed the audience there? No, they did not lose their interest in the program neither did they feel out of place, because these men with golden voice knew what exactly it takes to connect with the audience…and what I saw after this was a pure show stealer, something too rare.

Picture this… a batch of close to 200 cadets of the MCEME(the audience) were seated in the auditorium in the most disciplined format like in all the army set-ups with supreme silence, no phones ringing, no cameras flashing. An obedient audience that was! Considering that there should be some powerful take-away for the group the maestros involved them in sing-along act. The group initially hesitated to croon but this song being a prayer and with utmost simple tunes was too absorbing to not be sung. In just a few moments every voice got alive!

It felt like Ritesh and Rajneesh ji were sitting in the clouds and compelling some mystic showers from another world!

It is since then that this is my favourite Saraswati Vandana…I connect in no time with my deity! The reasons are many… the tunes of the song, the reigning yet humble voice of the leading singers, the echoes of the chorus by the uniform clad men, the aura of the performance and the extreme positive vibrations…It makes my Saraswati Vandana complete every time I sing this and so is it today as I celebrate Saraswati Pooja and welcome the Basant Panchami with pure bliss!

I think this is how the world gets its regular dosage of peace…through small drops of infinite goodness!
Music rules every heart!

Love.Peace.Music

Niru

My Mother's Bindi!

I belong to a family of ever-evolving members. 

A father, who grew up looking at and dealing with tough times, making sense of things through personal experience and respecting the tiniest joys he was able to reap throughout! A mother, who took care of a new family, when she was herself at an age to be taken care of. She would get irritated, confused of situations but surprisingly never stopped doing what she had to. Two siblings, who were bonded over the touchstone of time and the bond continues to grow stronger. A nephew, whose second skin is love and obedience.

All through my life till now, things have changed dramatically, but what refuses to change is the willingness of this family to stay hooked, understand each other and love unconditionally.

And here is a beautiful instance of this superior understanding that I found in my sister, my li'l nephew and myself for our most beloved mother!

After my father left us for his journey to the heavens ten years ago, he didn't just create a void in our hearts, but the social stigma of a widow also fell upon my mother. When he was alive, my mother loved to dress up beautifully. After the weariness of the entire day due to the household chores, she would prim herself up and decorate her forehead with a bright red Bindi, in the evening; I never saw her put a lipstick, so her Bindi and her flaring red Sindoor were the visual delight to my eyes. I always loved women decked up according to their capacity and with Maa being so beautiful, the inclination was so obvious. After Papa left, the whole ritual changed. It ceased. She refused to even see her face in the mirror; she lost weight in enormous amounts. The situation was awful and to get things in control we had to create things like in past, without hurting anyone! I searched for answers in my surroundings, I asked some real close friends whose mothers had the same suffering and the only answer I got was..."It would take time." But it was too tough to take it and then one day I decided, rather dared to ask my mother if she could put a small Bindi on her forehead, as expected she got upset. But we had to make it work, we wanted her to like herself again and after repeat efforts by my sister, nephew and I, we could manage to give my mother a reason to look back into the mirror. She slowly accepted that the Bindi is no taboo and she now adorns herself with it often, though not all the time. 

This for me is a personal achievement. Whenever she goes out I make sure I see her off with a Bindi and she smiles! 

Love.Peace.Happiness 

Niru