My Writings....

  PERCEPTION IS ONLY A TRUTH TO ONESELF An incident happened to me few days back, when I went to a small shop to buy vegetables. We did the exchange of money and vegetables. I was about to return when I noticed that the shopkeeper was struggling with his laptop. Honestly, I smiled at first as I was happy to see a shopkeeper operating an electronic gadget like laptop. I asked him then, “Uncle, can I help you?”. He said, “Thank you Deekra, but I have already called the one who developed this to resolve this issue”. I should not but asked out of curiosity, “Developed what?”. He smiled and said, “I am launching my website to book orders and will start home delivery of vegetables.” I was happily shocked as I knew that Uncle since few years when he started his business on literally a very small scale. I said, “Best wishes for your online presence, Uncle 😊 . But can I ask you what made you travel so long?” He laughed and answered, “The same reason what made us stay at home for 8+ mon...

  HOLDING HAND AT RIGHT TIME IS AN EARTHING TOO A prosperous king was living happily with his family and countrymen in a small district comprising of handful of villages. He did not earn his ‘King crown’ by being a successor of his ancestors who ruled the kingdom. He had earned his crown by his perseverance to serve his motherland, so he and his people were prosperous and not just successful. The king’s only son was very fond of mountains and loved climbing, tracking, and associated adventurous activities. He requested his father to send him to learn this art from one of the very renowned Guru in another district. The king had no objection in letting him do these activities but not from the Guru his son wanted to be a disciple of. He explained his son to visit another Guru in different district and learn from him. At first, the son refused to follow his father’s advice. The relation between father-child was the same as it is today. We do not first understand the reason behind...

  IF YOU WANT TO BE DIFFERENT, BE SIMPLE I was in search of an incident or a tale which can become an apt for my message via this article. More than the moral which this story speaks, the approach shown here is really encouraging. It was a time in Indian history before many decades when this incident took place. Our country was being ruled by a strong emperor, whose kingdom consisted of intelligent ministers. One day, a Lapidary (an artist who identifies and makes real/man-made stones, gemstones into decorative items and designs like engraved gems) arrived in his kingdom. The king wholeheartedly welcomed this guest and offered him stay for a day or two. He explained his whereabouts, his art, his knowledge of stones, his work, everything to king. The king decided to pilot his intelligent ministers for their knowledge. Next day, King called his ministers and every single person of his kingdom for this assessment. He asked this lapidary to take this test forward. The lapidary expl...

  SHADOWS HAVE MORE TO SAY THAN LIGHT A resourced archer was passing by a village in his way back to home. He had to cross one dense forest in between. The forest and its thick and thin journey were known to him, so he was not expecting any surprises in between. Every tree and lane felt like his own. He must have just started his forest journey, whereby he saw bullseyes at each tree, with an arrow exactly at the center hole. Being an archer himself, he was amazed to see such wonderful piece of work. He was a master in his art so he could not digest such convincing spot-on results of all arrows at center for every bullseye. He could not move ahead without acknowledging the master of this art. He kept himself waiting for some time. An hour later, he saw a man coming towards his side. He asked this stranger if he knows the artist who targeted these many bullseyes. The stranger replied, “I did this”. The man got completely blank. He churned his mind at fastest speed but he could no...

EVEN BETTER TOMORROW MUST TURN INTO “PRESENT” TO PROVE ITSELF BETTER There were two saints living in an Ashram, situated at a very aloof place. The saints had the privilege of getting teaching and life lessons from a respected Guru. As to gain knowledge about Nature as a part of their learning process, the two went to a forest and stayed there for few days. On their way back to Ashram, there was a bridge over a river which they had to cross. As they embarked near bridge, they saw one little girl of about 10-12 years trying hard to start her journey on bridge. One of the saints felt her fear and went straight to her. He carried the little girl on his shoulder and initiated his bridge-walk. The journey almost took 20 mins and then, the two saints and little girl reached the other side of the river safely. The little girl was relaxed feeling herself safe and thanked the saint. The saint smiled at her and acknowledged her gratitude. The two saints continued their journey and were already h...

  THE MOUTH OF CRITICISM SHOULD EQUALLY WEIGH AS THE CRITICISM ITSELF A respected family in a village were earning their living by making artistic ceramic flowerpots since decades. It was fourth generation of this family who was contributing to his ancestor’s legacy. The father-son duo was showing their best piece of fine arts with their work. The son could translate his father’s teaching at next level, and he was surpassing his dad’s work in terms of quality and delicacy that this art demands. The father used to get extremely happy with what his son could do but planned and managed to keep himself calm and under control. The duo shaped ample varieties of flowerpots that could attract people from various villages and towns. They were in the pink of their business. Days passed by in glory and the son was getting much sell of his pots than his father. Whenever he made something unique, he used to show his work to his father. His father used to point at least one mistake in his m...

  BELONGING MAKES YOU REALIZE HOW IMPORTANT YOU ARE TO SOMEBODY A young entrepreneur, one of the richest in his town, was living with his family. His wife was equally good in her own profession. The couple were blessed with two cute children, elder son was of eight years and little one of five years. One fine day, the father decided to take his children for dinner at their favorite pizza place and then for a just released animated cartoon movie, as the lady was out of town for office work. The trio dressed themselves perfectly for their party time and started the journey in their car. They had super time at the pizza place and were all set for the must-watch cartoon movie. The movie was about to start when the younger son felt worn out and kept his head on his father’s lap sitting next to him. The father lovingly pampered him and made sure that his son was comfortable while sleeping on his lap. All these actions were being observed by his elder son.   While the father ...

WE OFTEN MISS TO KEEP CHECK ON THINGS THAT MONEY CANNOT BUY ANECDOTE 1 A father with his 10 years old son, were travelling in train back to their village. Their co-passenger consisted of one young man, amongst many others. The journey had just started. Sometime later, this 10-year-old boy asked his father with great amazement, “Papa, what are these objects which are moving opposite to us? What are those people doing in fields?” and many more. With a big smile on his face, his father was answering his boy’s every obvious question with delight and satisfaction. Soon after this father-son interaction went a mile, the young man lost his temper. He was frustrated with this conversation. He busted his anger and said to father, “Is your son mentally ill? Is he so dumb to not recognize trees, farmers and other things? Please take him to doctor but do not disturb me. I am really getting irritated with your silly talks.” The father gently smiled and replied, “Gentleman, my s...

A story on WHAT WE SEE and WHAT SHOULD BE SEEN... Once a Guru and his disciple decided to route themselves to all pilgrimage places nearby their city. The Guru was very knowledgeable and foresighted. For all the people who followed him, whatever this Guru wishes was bound to happen in a way or the other. On their way, they walked through a small village where handful of people were residing. They welcomed the Guru and his disciple, made comfortable arrangements for them to rest for a night and privileged them with their care and time. With commencement of very next day, the two had to leave this village to continue their journey. All the people greeted them with the hope to bless them again with their presence. The Guru thanked the villagers with tears. While leaving the village, the Guru said to his disciple, “I wish all the people of this village gets scattered. I will pray that they start living at different places”. The disciple could not digest this statement. Ins...

When we imagine a peacock (male peafowls), the first thing that clicks our mind is its most decorative and beautiful tail, called Morpich (often called as TRAIN). The amalgamation of infinite colors, long yet delicate TRAIN holds much significance in the beauty that they carry. This TRAIN is an inseparable part of Lord Krishna’s character. It is actually difficult to imagine Krishna without this feather. Let us understand Why and How. I was going through the lectures and publications of our Gujarati poet and emcee, Mr. Ankit Trivedi. He was delivering a lecture in USA about Lord Krishna few years’ back. He narrated one incident which indirectly pointed to this TRAIN and its relation to Mythology. One day, during Exile phase of Lord Ram and Mother Sita, they were travelling to reach one Ashram. On their way, Mother Sita was extremely thirsty and was not in a position to reach their destination with dehydrated body. Lord Rama looked for a stream or a lake but he could not...

HUMANS ARE NOT ABOVE ALL, HUMANITY IS ABOVE GOD I received a very impressive message yesterday about this year 2020, especially for cricket lovers. It was, “It is raining, can we just end this 2020 by Duckworth-Lewis method?” This one-liner message is very loud and clear. I feel, we just have to breath this year. If we can manage to do this on our own, we have already embraced victory. Everything else, will happen at its time. This pandemic is a trigger event for all of us for countless things and gestures that we have missed in our way of living. Apparently, if we take proper care of ourselves, we are indirectly contributing in well-being of others. It was not known till this year that, a proper hygiene habits and care would get so contagious J When we will start enjoying our regular office environment, a mask-free journey, Sunday brunch, a sound-sleep in afternoon, one-hour long drive with family and a full course meal in a lavish restaurant, please make sure to rem...

SOME PEOPLE WILL NEVER SUPPORT YOU, BECAUSE THEY ARE AFRAID OF WHAT YOU MIGHT BECOME A soul, A personality who left us few days back does not need any introduction. A person who convinced us that talent, hard work and dedication is not an intellectual property of particular group of people. A reel and real life hero who taught us that virtual world is fake. For me, a guy who holds brilliant academic achievements can never be emotionally too weak to commit such a deed. He was a metaphor of life whom we lost. Indeed, he was a great actor who could manage to hide all his sorrows, his words, his feelings and his anxiety to achieve everything in life. When you fight a battle with your own emotions, expectations V/S the rest, the result is obvious unfortunately. He gained his own peace and space at the cost of his fame, his popularity, his wealth, his owns and even his life. He actually explained us what inner peace and mental happiness sounds like because everything else, was a ...

If pictures are worth of 1000 words, than sometimes a conversation of two minutes with unknown is worthy of having a permanent place in our heart and mind all our life. I often try to connect my content with a story, not only because it becomes more impactful but because it stays with us, reminds us and corrects us in crucial times. Mr. Mehra was a successful businessman of his state. His life consisted of his wife, his only son, a beautiful and luxurious bungalow with a swimming pool, his personal office and all other amenities that one can desire for. Given above credentials, it is obvious that he was living a hectic life. One such day, he came from office at 11PM. He was too tired to get his dine. He went straight to his room, turned on AC and thought of having a sound sleep for next 6 to 7 hours. He kept changing his position on bed but he could not sleep. It was 2AM in the clock but he was still awake. He then started roaming in his house, in his garden but ever...

One of the most delightful things of all time is to walk down the memory lane. Irrespective of which stage of life you are into, reviving into incidents, people, situations, times, etc. recharges your mood and day, without a doubt J I genuinely feel that this attraction towards old and especially childhood memories is because of its authenticity. Childhood times are unalloyed for each one of us. The innocence that we carry into our behavior, our physical or mental state of being is unmatched, solely because it is super concentrated by purity and absolutely undiluted. If things, people and time would have been the same today, we might not have valued these old memories as much as we do today. Things change, people change and so time for betterment, as Change is the only constant. But I guess we have misinterpreted its intended meaning. Reference to context of a saying or a quotation is equally important as its meaning. This “Change” is for our adaptability, technology, proces...

This is a small attempt to elaborate one of the forwards I received recently in my social media account. These are based on real life incidents so hopefully it will turn the needle of our thought process. Incident 1 Way back in 1983, a very renowned American Tennis Player Arthur Ashe was diagnosed with AIDS, which he got due to infected blood he received during a Heart Surgery.  One day, he received a letter from one of his fan. With a deep sense of grievance, the content had a question for Arthur as to why God picked him for such a fatal disease. Before I pen down Arthur’s response to this question, I would like to admit that his answer was much more prestigious and respectable than his three Grand Slam titles, Wimbledon title, US open trophy and so on... put together. Being a celebrity to millions is not only about awards, recognition , fame, red carpets, etc. It is equally about how to absorb all these successes and still be human and deep rooted with values. Art...