The 'Pet' Leopard

The bunch of 10-12 year old kids watched with wide open eyes as the guide put his hand inside the bars of the cage and petted the leopard inside it!! They were scared.... and amazed at the same time. The leopard was behaving as if he was a pet dog!!

The guy (let’s call him Mr. X) turned to the kids and said that it was a wild leopard and none of them should even think of doing what he just did. "He will bite your hand right off!!", he said. The kids gasped!! And Mr. X only smiled. He could see it written in their eyes. They were seeking an explanation, and he was about to tell them one of the biggest truths of life.

“This leopard was badly injured and rejected by his peers when we found him. He was in a bad shape, and everyone thought that he might not live. But, I decided to do something about it. I gave all that I could to the poor animal...medical attention, care, companionship and love. Yes, Love. I gave it to him at a time when he needed it the most. I cared for him when he was down and out, and had lost the desire to live. At first there was not much improvement. But then slowly, he started responding!! He healed and was back to being the ferocious wild animal that he was.” Mr. X said with a smile on his face. “But there was one big difference. He knew who had been there for him in the times when he was down and out. And he remembers that. And that is the reason why he lets me pet him, because he acknowledges the fact that I was there for him when he needed it the most.” His grin grew bigger, and the kids eyes even bigger!!

And one of the kids in that group started a blog called ‘Spring Blossoms’, much later in his life. Me.J

That incident left a life-long impression in my mind, and a lesson I need to remember, but forget repeatedly. The love given by a friend in times of need has the power to tame even a wild animal, leave alone the supposed civilized humans. At times, I forget this while figuring out who my 'friends' are and who are 'the others'.

We might have many ‘friends’, but we fail to realize the difference between friends and acquaintances. The ones, who are there for you when you need them, when you are down and out, are the Friends. The rest, you might want to call them acquaintances or something else, but definitely not friends. I had learnt an important lesson that day – “Be there for your friends, and value those who are there for you when you need them, with your life.”

THANK YOU ALL MY WONDERFUL FRIENDS. YOU ARE MY ANGELS. J (I need not name anyone, because you know it. J)

The 'Jab We Met' experience...................

Prologue -

--> Jab We Met is a Hindi movie in which the female protagonist misses her train and then meets a guy with whom she eventually falls in love. Lovely movie- go watch it if you have not. :)

--> Mumbai Central, Kurla, Byculla, Dockyard Road, Borivali are all sub-urban stations of Bombay, and the city is full of countless such stations for the local trains.

7th December, 2009

We all have heard about the 'kissas' that keep happening day in and day out in the city of Bombay. I too heard them. But, today it was my turn to witness one such 'kissa' first hand. (A 'kissa' is an interesting incident.)

After a lot of trouble, I had managed to get a confirmed ticket for going from Bombay to Amritsar. The scheduled time for departure of the train was 9.25 pm on 7th December, 2009, from Mumbai Central.

7th December also happens to be my Mom's b'day. That was the reason why I had booked my ticket on a night train. But then, since I was leaving, my Mom decided to celebrate it with our family at my maternal home. So, we left together and stopped for 5 minutes to buy a cake for her. I had decided to travel by a local train to reach the boarding station, since going by road in the rush hour would amount to foolishness. I reached Kurla from where I was supposed to get on another local for Byculla and get a taxi from there to reach Mumbai Central. Bombay and its commuting...PHEW!!

All this would normally take around 1 hour. We left the cake shop at 8.40. (First mistake -10 minutes late.) We reached Kurla at 8.50 and I quickly boarded a train that would take me to Mumbai CST (a terminus for all local trains) by literally jumping onto a moving train. After a while I asked a co-passenger about the time it would take to reach Byculla. He said around 15 minutes, and I thought, 'Okay, I think I would make it'. After a couple of minutes, he said that, 'You want to go to Byculla?? This train is a harbour line train, and it does not go to Byculla!!' (Bombay has 3 lines of local trains - Western , Central & Harbour, & Byculla is on the Central line.) I was shocked!! I knew well about the different lines, but in my hurry to get on a train, I did not realize that I had got on a harbour line train. (Second mistake that cost me 5 crucial minutes.) I called up a friend and asked about the nearest station to Byculla on the harbour line, since all the lines of local train lines run parallel to each other. I got off at a station called Dockyard Road. I ran and got on a cab, and asked the cabbie to get me to Mumbai Central ASAP, and also offered to pay extra to him for getting me there in lesser time. We hit traffic, but still managed to reach by 9.25. I was praying all through. I got off the cab, jumped over the divider and RAN. I got a porter to grab my baggage and ran with him. I reached the platform from where the train was to leave...huffing and panting.

I could see the train's end. It was chugging away, slowly. It had left on time, and I had reached about 2 minutes late. I had missed the train................................................

I quickly decided to run and try to catch the train from the next stop called Borivali, the last stop of my train in Bombay. I hopped on the local train completely packed with the rush hour crowd. People advised me against getting on the train, since it was very crowded, and it would only get more crowded before reaching Borivali, thus making it almost impossible to get off. 2 bags and a laptop bag would not have made my task any easier. But, still I had to get on it, if I was to have any chance of making it in time to get on my missed train. I explained my predicament to the co-passengers, and was delighted to see that all of them were ready to accommodate a silly guy who was trying to catch a train. One of them gave me space to stand with my bags, another one told me about how much time the train would take to reach Borivali, and yet another guy tried to calm me by saying that I would reach in time. I got to know from the railway inquiry (computerised and manual, both), that the train was running late by 22 mins, and thus it would reach at 10.24 pm. I called repeatedly to confirm the same and was relieved when I got the same info each time i called. I thought that I just might make it. One guy even called up his friend to find out if my train was indeed running late. He even offered to help me get down off the crowded train, and eventually did so too. I LOVE Bombay, and its lovely people. :)

I reached Borivali at 10.14 and could not find the train anywhere. I inquired at a tea stall, and got to know that the train had LEFT. At its scheduled time of 10.06. I reconfirmed the same at the Ticket Checker's office. The railway inquiry was wrong.

OMG I missed the train!! For the first time in my life, I had missed a train. And that too right in the beginning of a fortnight long trip.

Some might term it as irresponsible behaviour on my part, or maybe laugh it off, or hold me responsible and scold me, or even say that 'you advertised about your trip to everyone, toh pakka kisi ki nazar lag gayi hai'. I agree, it was irresponsible on my part, and I should have left earlier, and with a buffer on my hand. It was funny to a certain extent as well. But, still it has been a great learning experience. It was a first in my life, and I hope it would be the last. And somehow, as soon as the realization sunk in that the train has left, I somehow had the feeling that it happened for the good.

So, now I have booked a ticket for 10th, and I would be skipping the Amritsar leg of the trip. (I guess Babaji wants me to come to him at some other time.)

This is how my 'Jab We Met' experience unfolded. Full of drama, tension, helpful Mumbaikars, running around, and ironies, but sadly without 'my Kareena'!! :P

PS - This post is a narrative of the day's dramatic events, as well as a confusing guide to the confusing commute of the Bombay city. LOL

Everything happens for a REASON...

During the past few days, rather months, a few things have happened that I, as at the moment, am forced to think were not so good. I feel things could, rather should have been different. I was forced to leave a company which many (including me) dream to get into. And, I have my CA exams in november. I so want this course to get over now. I'm eagerly waiting for getting those 'two alphabets - CA' as a prefix in my name. Life seems to have hit a rut. But, as it has happened in the past.....

[Past - After my 10th grade Boards I was all set to get into the science stream..to be able to pursue my long cherished dream of doing Software Engineering. I was always fond of computers,and this was something that I had always thought of taking up as a career. I had filed my form for getting readmitted in my school (in Ahmedabad) in the 11th grade in the science stream. But,when I went for submitting the form, I found out something that would change the course of my life forever. I remember it very vividly. I had gone to my school with my Chachu, and Dad was at office. They said the criteria for getting into science was 60 marks each in Maths, Science and English, and I had 89 in Science, 85 in English, and 52 in Maths................. I was shattered !! Maths had always scared me. Thanks to a teacher in my 9th and 10th grade, I had become Arithmophobic. And now it had led to this - NO SCIENCE....................... I went back to home, spoke to Dad, and he managed to convince me that commerce was not a bad option at all. I somehow filled in my form and got into commerce, and I ended up losing touch with most of my good friends in school who had taken up engineering in various colleges. Their bonds grew stronger, and I got left out. :(

And after only 10-15 days of studying in that school, we moved to Surat, and over there I could have taken up science. But, I had made up my mind. So I continued with commmerce, and I used to hate it in the beginning. But, gradually I started liking it, and then we moved again, this time to Rajkot. I did my 12th grade frm there. Over there I enrolled for taking Maths and Accounts tutions, and to my surprise, I started loving both the subjects. I got to study and clarify my concepts from two wonderful teachers (concepts - one of the most important things that one needs to undersntand and like a subject), and I scored well in both the subjects, 90 in Maths !! GoodBye Arithmophobia, Hello Commerce !!]

I have this huge regret, or whtevr u wud call it. First, I was this complete shy and introvert baby in school... no fun, only books & a few friends, with whom I couldn't even maintain contact due to my frequent moves from one city to the other. And then I wasn't able to enjoy my college life. During my Grad, I was in a college in lucknow (my Dad is a banker, and we kept on moving frm one place to the other) and to top it all, the college was a boyz college. No activites, no fun, not many friends, just sucky politics, elections and nothin else. And I'm a student of CA which is a self study course, so no classroom studies, no college, no college group... nothing.

I so feel that i hv missd out the college group fun - the night outs, the road trips, the hostel fun and the not so fun part of it, the games on college LAN... Oh God... how could i miss so many things ??? I was so not into fun...................

But now, when I look back at those petty things in accounts which used to freak me out at that time, I get amused. I now feel that it was so silly of me to think of it like that. The only problem was that I took some time to adjust. By God's grace, things have turned out fine. I'm pursuing two courses which I'm goin to finish soon, I did a substantial part of my internship from a very good place...something which I always dreamed of, and I can say that I have a good set of friends (Touchwood..!!) But still I'm getting this feelin that I mentioned in the beginning of this post.. of life having hit a rut. But, I get a reassurance from the fact that in the past too things were seemingly pretty bad, and my life had taken a completely different course from what I had wanted. And it was all for good. So many things that are happening now, my friends, the cities that I lived in, my experiences, the whole way that I live life, might not have happend had I filled my form for the science stream. I don't know what they would have been, but as I have mentioned in the title of this post... 'EVERYTHING HAPPENS FOR A REASON' !! I guess there were some very good reasons for evrything that happened... some that I can see.. and some that I can't. One that I can see is that if it wud not hv been this way, then I wudn't have realized the value of such things, people and experiences, which I now do.. immensely. And, thus I'm trying to make the most of it, because these years of life...The Best Days (refer my earlier post)... they are never going to come back (time never comes back, but these days are extremely special). I'm trying to have a bit of fun, and by God's grace, have been able to come - into contact / back into contact, with a few people whom I consider to be my good friends. :) And then, later on when I would do my MBA, I'm going to make sure to make the most of it, make up for all that I have missed in the past... :) ... Yaaaaayyyy... :P :D ...

I read this wonderful mail today...

'God know exactly and with perfection about what is being allowed to happen to you in your life at this precise moment...

His purpose is simple..He wants to show you things that only you can understand by living what you are living, And by being in the place you are now...'

I know God's watching over me, and thus I'm open to all the surprises and challanges that life has in store for me. I'm sure many would not agree to this, and even I would not feel this way many times in my life. But, then I would look at this post, think about my past, and try to get back in sync with the twists and turns. :) I try to be flexible, and would continue to do so, and enjoy the journey as much as the destination !!

So Life... Bring it on...!!! :)

The Mask....

The words of a song i heard some months back...

Facing the world with a smile...They don't see wat is hid inside...
They see all the happiness..They don't see the tears i have cried...

this made me think...this world we live in... the framework of society... the very psyche of people is full of hypocrisy....pretense...masks...people pretend to be somethng different from what they are...i used to hate such people... and used to try n stay away from such people... coz i dint understand the need for such behaviours... but as i grew up... i observed... i learnt thru my experiences that its very very important to keep some cards close to your chest... you have to keep certain aspects of your personality to yourself... i'm nt saying that being a hypocrite is correct... it never was... and it never would b right... but then there is a difference between wearing a mask to protect the inner child... the innocence... and wearing a mask just for the heck of it... or to do so for onez selfish reasons...n its worse when such a mask is worn to hurt otherz....

i feel wearing a mask in the society is important... coz otherwise thr r people who r sitting out there.. waiting to pounce upon you and take advantage of your honesty... this world is not meant for the people who r naive to the extent that they dont realize when are they being exploited...you have to be careful and speak in a careful measure... speak only what is required...

but then i also dont intend sayin that this mask has to be there at all times... therez absolutely no need for it when you are with your friends...your near and dear ones... the ones you trust... the ones with whom you feel comfortable...n this is where most of us err...trust the wrong people... or trust the people who ought not to be trusted... and end up getting hurt... or taken advantage of.. in whatever way that might be...

so one needs to be careful...very very careful...and put on a mask where it is needed to protect the inner child... the 'Spark' ... the innocence inside us... as the song goes...put on a brave face...no matter what you might be feeling inside...let it be known to only the 'right' people... but who are the 'right' poeple... well... we all r learning... getting hurt... n learning evn more...and it never stops...and im not saying that im very good at this...coz i too m learning...

Commitment..

Commitment...this is a very important 11 letter word which has a lot of sentiments attached to it. I have heard a lot about it...the views of guys and girls...but i feel there is a huge gap between the views and the reality.

It is a general view amongst girls that guys are afraid of commitment...guys try and find ways to weasel outta any sort of commitment...and usually guys face a lotta flak because of this so-called "commitment fear". But today i would like to do a reality check...is it really as bad as it appears ?? are the girls right and guys actually are afraid of commitment ??

Ok lets begin with the views of guys...i have heard this from a lot of friends...n seen it in a lotta movies...and a particular part of the sitcom "Friends" where the guy goes crazy when he suddenly realizes that he is going to get married and marriage means "A Life-long commitment". I was speaking to some of my office colleagues a few days back...all guys...and they were like "Marriage...I cant imagine getting married and being committed for life...i cant imagine myself being a father and having so much responsibilty..." and this was the general consensus amongst the group. Ya ya...i know all the girls would agree to this and say "See I told You...!!...All guys are afraid of commitment"...thats what the opinion girls generally have...

But i have a completely different view...and thats when i thought of posting somethng on this topic. I feel that more than being afraid of commitment...it is actually the fear of the "Unknown" ..the fear of "What if something goes wrong in this decision ??" that pulls us down...we always fear anything that we are not sure about...be it taking the first step of our life while learning to walk...or walking alone in the dark...or the final moment of our lives...Death...

Commitment too falls in the category of the "Unknown"...most of us are unsure...would it be fine...what if it does not go fine...what if this...what if that...all sorts of thoughts...but i feel this fear is not limited to guys...i think all the girls feel it too...its not right to generalize it with a statement "All guys are afraid of commitment"...coz i think even the girls go through the same feelings...the doubts...the fear...i feel it has more to do with how a particular individual feels rather than the fact that the person is a guy or a girl...its a human tendency. I'm a guy...and im sure i too would feel unsure when the time would come...i too would have fear....but i would not let it pull me down and stop me from getting into the commitment...we never know what life holds for us in future...but then that doesnt stop us from doing so many other thngs...thngs which we do day in n day out...even though just like commitment...we dont know what will happen in those thngs in future...then why single out commitment ?? and why generalize it with a statement that all guys are afraid of commitment ?? thre would be many girls who would be afraid...n there would be many guys...

I feel that this is a very debatable topic...and thus cannot be generalized...i dont intend to start an argument. This is my opinion and i know many will disagree with it. But then this is what i feel and what i stand by. I'm a guy, and i'm not afraid of commitment....period.