Friday, November 3

SECRET OF SUCCESS

Success - One of the most vital factor to capture the vision of self in other's eye . We often read many books , articles , magazines ; look for people who attained heights ; seek inputs from achievers on how to accomplish the targets that we have set for our own to find the key called "Secret" of success.

The below story comprehends the secret of success is nothing but "STRONG WILL" to attain.


Story :-

A young man asked Socrates the secret of Success. Socrates told the young man to meet him near the river the next morning.

They met and Socrates asked the young man to walk with him towards the river.When the water got up to their neck, Socrates took the young man by surprise and ducked him into the water. The man struggled to get out but Socrates was strong and kept him there until he started turning blue.The young man struggled hard and finally managed to get out and the first thing he did was to gasp and take deep breath. Socrates asked "What you wanted the most when you were there?" The man replied, "Air".


Socrates said "that's the secret to success. When you want success as badly as you wanted air, you will get it. There is no other secret".

Wednesday, November 9

STEPPING STONE... NOT FAILURE !


Everybody like/love to acknowledge the presence of the most exciting gifts - happiness, peace, joy, love, fun, family, friends ; life has stored for us and intentionally take every step to have them as part of our integral life ; As we go with notion – SEEK THE BEST!!  The moment we have them we say - SUCCESS , Yayy !! :)


Well, The path is not always a bed of roses, because it’s "LIFE" – Traitor / Teacher / Guardian; depends on the way we look and perceive things. 


More often than not we get nervous / panic / irked when we encounter the unseen terrain and consider it as the worst thing ever happened than appreciating it. The travel time on the new terrain looks tough, boring, appalling, unexciting and pale yet it is also needed because every side of the coin has something to give/take . We try to brush this terrain aside as it's not a cake walk and develop negativity towards it.

The unseen terrain - "FAILURE", we say often , it's a STEPPING STONE - I say. Amusing?!

Below prose is a way to convey the prominent presence of unseen terrain in the journey of our life.

You had peace
You had love 

You were contended
You were happy

Everyone envied you
Everything was good

Till I walked into your JOURNEY

I made you feel  terrible
I made you feel different

I took away your peace
I took away your happiness

I gave you pain
I gave you anger

I taught you - right / wrong
I taught you - true / false

My presence made you indestructible
My presence made you unbreakable

You have hate towards me , call me - FAILURE
I say , STEPPING STONE not FAILURE


                                             © Rahul Raghotham

Monday, September 21

LIFE GAME !

We always have a way to look at things, conceive and comprehend them in a way - that it turns out to be a benchmark for self and incorporate the same principle if it arises in future.In today's date, many of us , get this concept wrong and try to implement these even on human relations - SAD . 

A person who likes you  - pushes you , scolds you , cares for you and silently be a shielded rock around you. If you take him/her wrong for the right things done by him/her , then you are not only losing a person for life but also signalling him to lose hope and belief in self.

The prose is on the above thoughts - A person who gave his/her  best to have a healthy bonding in his/ her relation , but sadly he/she got only venom and loses - LIFE GAME.

I stand here with a teary-eye
The past flashes like a movie reel

The chirpy smile
The kid's nature
The innocence attitude
The arrogant brat

BROUGHT YOU NEAR

The moments of joy
The moments of care 
The moments of fights
The moments of fun

FILLED MY LIFE

The request to CHANGE, was to see you PROFICIENT
The request to LEARN , was to see you KNOWLEDGEABLE 
The request to be SERIOUS, was to see you COMMENDABLE

But , this made me BAD in your view

I stood by , when you were down
I stood by , when you were wrong
I stood by , when you were arrogant

As days passed , you perceived me wrong
As days passed , you took me for granted

YOU RESENTED ME

I held your hand at the verge of MY AIM
I held your hand at the verge of MY DREAM
I held your hand at the verge of MY SELF

Your activities made me realize
Your attitude made me introspect

The thought of having you
The thought of seeing you 
Is a DREAM ... DISTANT DREAM


I Lost YOU
I Lost SELF
I Lost The LIFE GAME 

                                            © Rahul Raghotham
                                          

Tuesday, August 18

AMISH Preface and My Story !

The title seems to be confusing or intriguing?Well it's a preface that is given by Nation's Best Author.
I feel a writer is one who can pen down any given idea or at least give an attempt to see if he/she can visualize things by taking someone's else stand. So here is my attempt to carve the story using the preface given by none-other than Amish.(Author of Shiva Trilogy).

Amish Preface: 

Close to the city of Paithan, in a small village called Sauviragram, which lay along the banks of the great river Godavari, lived a woman named Ilaa. Being cotton farmers, her family was well to do, but not among the richest in their area. It was the harvest season, and cotton had to be picked from the plants. The wholesalers and traders from Paithan would be arriving in just a few weeks, carrying gold and goods for barter. They would exchange what they carried for the cotton that the farmers grew. The bales of cotton had to be ready in time! Work was at its peak!

But Ilaa was not to be found in the fields. She wasn't working. Instead, she was sitting by the banks of the great river Godavari.

'I am sick of this!' she grunted loudly.

Continuation:


‘I am sick of this!’ she said feebly, head down touching her lap and hands covering over the head and face, tears rolling her face , allowing her to loose in her own thoughts.

'Bhauji Shinde, my father, a well-known Vaidhya in the town Sauviragram. I, being the youngest child in the family had the privilege of getting special attention right from grandparents to maids in the house. The pampering, the love, the care they showered on me was inexpressible.

Bhauji being a Vaidya, had an exclusive room to work on herbs, plants which had medicinal values and articulate his observations and research.He always allowed me to enter the room unlike his routine way of escorting people to his temple (which he always said).

Ilaa, my dear young pretty daughter, father calls me into his temple for assistance. It was one such day , he was so engrossed in doing experiments to find a medicine and does the probability check to ensure the best medicine is given to the people of  Sauviragram. At the age of 9, I suggested the molecular quantity of each herb and it yielded the best result he was looking for. Surprised father, could not comprehend the knowledge and the ease at which this young kid of his helped him in resolving the riddle and asked how I knew about medicine. I was also unsure, chuckling my face , I ran away into the backyard of the house to play.

My dad, did observe some strange talent in me and allowed me to accompany in his research than just assist, as I used to do earlier. Days moved and my work with dad was on full swing - knowledge being shared as a teacher and pampered me as a father. Soon I was gaining the attention among the localities too.

I was forced to marry Morarji the laziest and abusive priest of Paithan at the age of 17. I was considered too old of my age as per norms of the society. With marriage , my life also changed as expected  but I did not know that it was a way that almighty had planned to sharpen my skills in medicine with the magical touch I had in that field(My father believed so,atleast).

I moved to Paithan along with my husband Morarji. He being laziest priest , spent his days playing cards, having some useless talks with the folks around the city and not supporting me in anyway required. I spent time doing household things, being a righteous wife that a husband expects and working on herbs which was a part of my life, already. I was getting attention from the Paithanites for the magical touch I had in Vaidhya because of the local word of mouth.

After finishing the household work, I used to go around the river  Godavari and gaze the jadibootis which had cured many things during the sowing season – snake bites, cuts, wounds and fevers. In a way the work of mine was credited to my husband as he was anointed by local Shavukar as the highest priest of the temple and I got an opportunity to spend time to wander in and around the forest looking for a rare herbs which had a medicinal value.

As the days passed on, Morarji could not with-stand my growing fame. He being lazy and rude by nature, grew even more aggressive and monster ultimately, with this new possession of mine. He started abusing, cursing and tortured me mentally and physically which eventually made me to stop practicing the medical skill.

Every-time I cross the herbs in my backyard an unknown pain gushes my spine .I learnt to gulp the pain and realise that I cannot spend any more time with the herbs and upgrade my medicinal skills. The detachment of medicine from my life made me a living-dead- human-body. Nothing interested me and guilt started building up for not helping people with the knowledge and skill I had-Vaidhyam.

Days turned into weeks to months and years without practicing. The rage in me piled up making me more aggressive than ever. My lazy husband with his virtuous habits, which was good for nothing, asked us to come onto the roads after paying every penny in the form of debts. Wandering from place to place in the name of work to feed me and my family was really becoming ruthless day by day because of my husband’s character and the negative name he got in society.I finally end-up with my husband and kid in the cotton fields doing farming to earn bread and butter.Today, it was a day to spend in cotton field to pluck the cotton from plants and earn money that could serve us for atleast another three months. 


But , I am here sitting on the banks of the great river Godavari because of my husband again , with no penny in hand.


 My grandmother always used to say that one is remembered not for his wealth or health but for the character he/she owned in his/her lifetime.’

A voice familiar to Ilaa was crying in pain , shook her thoughts bringing to reality.Still head on her lap, Ilaa tried to recollect the voice , within seconds she could relate that it was her 5 years baby boy Pathan who crying in pain .

Ilaa stood in attention and looked around for Pathan who was sitting at the bottom of the tree on the banks of Godavari. The motherhood in Ilaa did not hold her any longer, she ran towards the boy. As she was approaching the kid she wiped her tears rolling from cheek and she sees that Morarji was lying unmoved. The moment Illa checks her husband she could recognise the snake bite, the hidden Vaidhya in her comes to rescue without Ilaa’s conscience.

Morarji , after recovering from the incident , realises the mistake he did and asks for the forgiveness to Ilaa. It was high time that Ilaa  had no more positive regards to him and decides not forgive her husband but she cleared him that she had no grudges to revenge.


Ilaa realises the worth of self -"Vaidhya". Ilaa starts practicing Vaidhyam , treats people, inculcates the best values to her child.Ilaa took over Vaidhya completely and she was well known not only in Pathan bu across the country .

Ilaa lives rest of her life in peace doing what she was passionate about. 
 

PERSON SEEKS PEACE WHERE THE PASSION LIES .!

Tuesday, June 16

Follow Heart !

The life is turned out so unpredictable these days , unlike past.We are so used to extremities in life - from suffering to enjoying. Seems like life is black and white and we have no time for the nuances . Stuck in the vicious circle of life , we have forgotten to monitor and focus on our interests and hobbies.I'm no exception.I have stopped - to ponder , to listen music  or even enjoy.

Being keen to focus on my interests and break the routine , I logged into my blog to pen an idea.Before I could write my idea, a mail caught my eye, held my curiosity as i read.The mail held my nerves and thoughts so void , a question kept hunting my mind - What  was I doing all this while ? Will I ever have the guts to change the path and perceive something useful or at least can I do something in my own boundaries without changing anything in my life. 

A long outstanding conversation with self told that at least take a step to tell the story of a person who did something worthful , may be sometime sooner or later you would definitely do something on similar lines. And when you visit your own article you can suffice your own conscience that you have done it.  

So , here it is , A  story of a person who followed her heart pushing the best career she had in hand.

The story in her own words:

"I have always believed that one should help those whom we deem to be needy.But our busy lives , ambitions and strive to touch the sky justifies us to be greedy.We make ourselves believe no one "asks" without perhaps a sinister ulterior motive.We pretend to "care" but we don't. We pretend to "listen" but we are only talking.

It's the age when you decide what you want to pursue in your life as career. Looking at the circumstances and the incidents happening around, a notion preoccupied in my mind was to be a "DOCTOR" and serve the poor.Finishing my bachelors I moved abroad to pursue my masters in medicine. During my stay in overseas , I have seen myself along with friends doing odd stuff to support the living and not giving any alms to the needy.

All the time I believed  - " Earn more to share the alms to the needy".

As the time passed I finished my masters and still doing nothing for the poor which was the actual motto to study medicine, moved to motherland with a job in hand which paid me decent salary. I joined the job with many hopes and started working ., this went on for few months . The incident that happened one day made me revisit my thoughts and decisions.

It was sometime mid August on a rainy day ,  when I was returning from my work on my usual ,  something happened within me made me realize that I am no different to others while I'm supposed to be one.

I saw a little girl getting drenched from head to toe with no cover on head and barely any good clothes to withstand the rain , asking me to buy 5 roses for just 10 rupees , which she apparently sold to support self. I asked her to go(usual trait of everyone) , and she left without saying anything. With in split seconds after she left I questioned self , " What was I doing?" .  I earn fine , spent 200 rupees on a lousy movie in a money minting multiples few minutes back , I couldn't have helped her ? Not just with the girl but generally in life ? Working on "Gyann" which will never benefit the poor. Perplexed, I looked around , hoping I could find her , talk to her , but I was late, she was gone beyond my eyesight. I have visited that place so many times in anticipation, but I have never found her.That day I stopped my practice and joined a NGO to pursue my dream.

Most of the foreign NGO's have no idea whats in real , they go by records just records.I pledged that I would not be a preacher of NGO policy or blindfolded one to the things happening around which at least I can reach out to the right person to get the work done. I have helped kids with their school fee , have tried to understand how little children in "homes" ( I mean orphanages , I just don't like the word though) , I am trying to bridge the gaps in time and geography so that I can start teaching these children.
TODAY MY WORK IS MY PASSION AND MY INTEREST..
But ! I will never be able to forgive myself for that on day when I have been so insensitive.Wish to meet her soon.

Life is not all black and white.It is supposed to be a RAINBOW. To feel the essence of it, we need to stop every now and then - to cherish the colours of life , feel the beauty around , more importantly to LIVE than just breath".

If at least one of us could change our perspective towards life then the effort of sharing this story will be meaningful. 

 As  Cesare Pavese says ,
'WE DON'T REMEMBER DAYS , WE REMEMBER MOMENTS' .

Lets have a MOMENTS filled LIFE .