Three Families

 One family...

Seemingly enjoying their time, having fun in the sea...
Probably not worrying about times to come...

One family...
Seemingly involved in some deep discussion...
Probably discussing about times to come...

One family...
Seemingly carrying out rituals after the passing of a member...
Probably mourning the loss & reflecting on the times gone by....

One onlooker...
Seemingly hopeful, with a camera in his hand, looking at all of them....
Probably pondering if he can capture this moment for any of them, in order to put food on his family's plate...

Each family, probably going through different phases of their existence. Each of the 9 individuals, further going through separate phases each, much like how each unit within an organization, each team within a unit and each member within a team might be going through their own wide spectrum of highs/plateaus/lows at various points in time. Each will pass through every phase time and again, when and how long, is the unknown variable. The ability to gauge who is going through what, probably being the secret sauce that everyone would like to lay their hands on...

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"...nahi sir, main Vishnu bhakt hun, Lakshmi bhakt toh sab hote hai..."

"...nahi sir, main Vishnu bhakt hun, Lakshmi bhakt toh sab hote hai..."

["No Sir, I am a disciple of Lord Vishnu, though most people follow Goddess Lakshmi"]

...said the vendor at the beach. You'll spot many stalls selling healthy juices, snacks & soups at the Juhu beach in the morning. Today I thought of trying out a soup. While I was sipping on it, one of the customers (might be a regular) told him "You'll raise your prices & forget us as you grow your business". That's when he said what I quoted above.

"Sir, let me tell you a story." he then added, in Hindi. I'll narrate it in English.

"There was once a king. He had a servant who was always happy. The king observed that the servant would sing & dance daily evening as he'd go back home. He envied the servant's state as he himself was always stressed. He shared this with his minister. The minister was shrewd. "Your Majesty, give me a few days and you will see the servant will stop his singing & dancing" he said.

Next day, the minister hid Rs. 99 under the king's pillow. The servant found it and kept it. At first, he & his wife got worried about where to safely store the money. Then the servant thought it'll be great to find another rupee to take the figure to 100. So from next day, he started looking out in the castle to find another rupee. Days passed, he tried a lot but couldn't find it. So he started saving, staying hungry in order to save enough to push the figure to 100. He eventually managed to do it. But now he felt he should have Rs.101 & again started worrying. That's when his wife lost it & reminded him of how he had stopped singing & dancing daily evening & how he had stopped enjoying his life altogether since he found Rs. 99.

So you see sir, the servant first lost his peace of mind due to the fear of losing Rs.99 & then he lost it further trying to take the figure higher. I am happy with my earnings & pace of growth." he concluded.

While my logical mind questioned a few things in the story, I loved the point he was trying to make. While we may have heard the same or similar stories often in our lives, it's always nice to hear these time & again. Reinforcement helps.

And the soup made up of methi (fenugreek), ajwain, ginger, amba haldi (mango ginger) and few other things was superb too. Try it the next time you visit the morning beach at Mumbai.

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"Papa, can you please play Manike Mage Hithe?"

 "Papa, can you please play Manike Mage Hithe?"

..asked my kid. We were in the car, on our way to pick my wife from the airport. Now my kid usually loves English songs, occasionally Hindi. So this was a first. A Sinhala song. We do not speak or understand the language, so I was surprised she liked it.

Am sure most of you may have heard this viral song or heard about it atleast. The song has been viewed over a 100 million times on YouTube as of September 2021.

A couple of months back, a friend messaged me saying "Just listen to this song, it's mesmerizing. I can't stop listening to it." I reluctantantly clicked on the link and heard it. "Nothing great about this" I told myself and moved on.

Few weeks later, after repeatedly stumbling upon the song on social media, I slowly took a liking to it. Eventually I found myself listening to it on loop on my daily jogs. I was hooked on to it. And now it seems my kid is hooked on to it too.

1. As they say, music is indeed the universal language that cuts through multiple barriers like language, beliefs and age among other things.

2. In general, if something sounds good, you need not understand everything about it in entirety in order to accept/like it.

3. Our opinions/likes/preferences change so often and so easily. Something we pass off as ordinary might suddenly seem great and on the other hand something we put a lot of value to might seem quite ordinary at a later point in time.

4. The creators of this song as well as creators of all things that ever went viral would never ever have anticipated/expected the resounding success that they would have experienced. You keep doing your thing. What has to fail will fail and what has to fly will fly.

Btw, if you haven't heard this song yet, then maybe you can give it a shot now. I think it grows on you after a few repetitions.

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It can travel over ice...land...water...almost any surface...

It can travel over ice...

It can travel over land...

It can travel over water...

It can travel over almost any surface...

It can seamlessly travel from one type of surface to another...

So I spotted this hovercraft at the beach. While I knew this craft is called a hovercraft, I wasn't entirely sure why it is called so.

Turns out, a hovercraft, also known as an air-cushion vehicle or ACV, is an amphibious craft capable of travelling over land, water, mud, ice, and other surfaces. Hovercraft use blowers to produce a large volume of air below the hull, or air cushion, that is slightly above atmospheric pressure. The pressure difference between the higher pressure air below the hull and lower pressure ambient air above it produces lift, which causes the hull to float above the running surface. [ Source: Wikipedia ]

Which essentially means that this thing practically moves by floating on air, flying, in a way, irrespective of the surface area it is moving on.

One part boat, one part airplane and one part helicopter. In fact, a hovercraft is operated by a pilot more like an aircraft than a captain as a marine vessel.

Now only if we could remotely be as versatile as this magnificent craft by:

- performing uniformly across all kinds of pressures and situations.

- being uniform in our mindset while evaluating every person and situation we come across.

- keeping our cool & staying rational at all times irrespective of the situation at hand.

- avoiding/minimizing friction as we move through different phases of our relationships, career and life.

While all of this seems nearly impossible, in challenging times perhaps, we can borrow a leaf from the hovercraft's book, by trying to adapt to the surroundings, the way it does when it seamlessly moves from one surface type to another. A hovercraft is extremely noisy, so is our mind, at times, but till the time it helps us float/glide through with minimal friction against our surroundings/principles, the noisy ride might just be worth it.

Onwards and upwards.

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Albinism Awareness Day

 When one is looking at a group of tigers and a white tiger appears, one might think.....

"Wow!! How magnificent!!"



When one is looking at a flock of pigeons and one spots a white pigeon, one might think....

"Isn't it so beautiful?"



When one is in the middle of a bunch of people and one spots someone with albinism, one might think....

"Oh, they have a case of albinism"

Perhaps the tiger, pigeon & person going through albinism wish to be seen in the same gaze as its peers would be seen in...The way we look at and treat the exact same phenomenon differently across different species/situations/seniority/societal class is how complex we humans are...

Btw, June 13 is celebrated as International Albinism Awareness Day, something that I am sure most of us weren't aware of. I just found out too.

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The door of vulnerability.

 The door of vulnerability.

The wall that you build around yourself may be very strong and magnificent, yet you will always need to build a door of vulnerability, to let people in from time to time, to open yourself to them without hesitation and to let you explore the world beyond those stellar walls... else it's you and your magnificent self all alone behind the magnificent wall.

The door is probably the weakest structure in any wall/fort - yet, without it, the fort is cut out from the rest of the world. The door is the most vulnerable, yet, the most powerful.

It was one influential paaji (elder brother in Punjabi) from Singapore that got me thinking over it... am yet to finish building mine.

Make that door if you haven't. Start opening it a bit more often if you already have.

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Disability Lies In The Eyes Of The Beholder

 "Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder"

...they say.. what about disability?

So I see this 3 legged dog almost daily on my morning jogs at the beach. The first day I saw him, I was amazed to see how he was jumping all around and it's tail wagging away in merry.

Today when I saw him I thought of clicking a picture. But I saw it was too close to some lady so I kept jogging. On my way back I spotted it again but I saw it was still walking behind the same lady. Thats when it struck me he is probably with the lady. So I approached her and asked if he is with her... "it's a she" she said smiling... ( and there, I thought.. no matter how much I try to be gender neutral in my talks and words there are still times I fail..)

So I told her how inspiring her dog was. Thats when she said "Her name is Sheeba. She is 13 years old". "I love her spirit I must say" I said... "The doctors say it's her spirit that has got her so far. She has arthritis and has a spinal disease yet she is going strong. We've been coming at the beach for the last 10 years" she added.

After I bid them good bye I pondered about the term "Persons With Disabilities" (PWD). I guess it's a globally acceptable term. But a term which reminds them of a disability surely can't be best option. How about "Persons With Special Abilities"? This dog is good at doing things on 3 limbs which dogs with 4 limbs might not be. She has got a grit way way more than them. Same applies with people isn't it? People with special abilities are thriving at what they do coz they have special abilities that helps them thrive. And if they aren't thriving then it is probably us "normal" people that are a failure. We haven't supported them enough.

Coming back to Sheeba, the dog, She was so inspiring that I felt like petting her - but I have a mild case of Cynophobia (fear of dogs) I think so I try and stay away from them. Next time (probably tomorrow) if I am lucky enough to meet her, I will try and pet her if Neha is fine with it t

oo.

Neha is the lady I mentioned here and I asked her if I can take a picture and write about it if she was okay with it. "I'll tag you, if you wish on LinkedIn/IG/FB when I write about it" I told her.

"I ain't on any of the social media platforms..." is how she dropped the mic as I left from there, with my jaws wide open (in my mind).

Disability Lies In The Eyes Of The Beholder.

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