Living To Tell!

It all starts when Giri comes home for his vacation, i have to end up telling him a story to make him sleep, and this guy is not the one who settles down for a "once upon a time!" kind of a tale, nor he can take the flicks of the new Bollywood, Tollywood movies. At his age he has seen all the movies that i could afford to see all my life! Once feeling frustrated he pops a question - Dont you have your own story? :)

Now my story! you see... Wake-up in the morning, go to office at nine, work till evening, attend few scrummu!! calls :) and get back to home with work again for the next day.. Wow Exciting ha!!
But then I manage to tell my nephew about the trips that i take to the forests and the camps that i stayed in. his eyes and ears lit's up to my tales about the snakes and animals I saw through the forests!

A few months back I had been persisted by Sunil to Attend a Conference - India Inclusion Summit organised by SAP Labs. The plot was that I should reach the Hotel Ritz at 9 in the morning and stay through the whole day listening to Success stories of people with Disabilities and get inspired!! Now with Reddigarulu's egos flaring up every other second, how could he ever get inspired listening to someone's else stories!!

But then there it was the "Goonga Pehelwan" - Virender Singh. The wrestler who  still needs to loose a match against the "abled-men". The guy with his beefy macho looks is 5 times champion in the Deaf Olympics. And the fact that there is no wrestler born in this country to defeat him!! Virender wants to compete the 2016 Olympics!! but this is where our sports authorities have fallen short off recognizing his efforts, The International Olympics Association doesn't Prohibit a disabled Athlete from competing with the able bodied men. So why didn't he participate in the Olympics yet. The Indian officials believe that he might not hear the Referee's  whistle!! Today a group of young people are making a movie out of his living story. For me there was a story to hear from a mute wrestler!!

What followed next was India's Blade Runner - Maj. DP Singh's  Marathon Saga. A Kargil War Hero who lost his Leg for a shell that landed a meter away from him. The Doctors declared him dead!! but this guy with multiple fractures to his body and a amputee runs every marathon so far, he has formed a group named "The Challenging Ones".

 

It is said that he still has a hundred fragments of the exploded shell left in his body. But the spirit with which he spoke at the conference and the humor that he possessed made us to believe that its just a piece of cake to get back to life and do the unthinkable!!

The mute Wrestler  and the Blade Runner could have easily settled down for a lifetime pension and for the incentives of being a disabled, instead choose to be different and Live to tell a Story. A story of there own!!

Its easy to play safe, its easy to follow the crowd, its convenient to compromise. would that prove that we even exist!!

I'm packing my bag for the next trip :) who knows I might just end up Living to tell :)

Getting Spiritual

A squirrel on the shores, saw the monkeys help build Rama a bridge to cross to Lanka. Feeling excited, the little one also participated in helping the folks. Though it couldn't carry boulders, it filled in the gaps by placing small pebbles between those boulders. Appreciating the efforts, Lord Rama held the squirrel in his hands and gently stroked the back of it with his three fingers and three lines appeared where the Lord had touched. Since then every squirrel that came to existence, bore the lines of the Lord on its back.

Few decades back, Mahatma Gandhi walked through our country helping us achieve our Independence, it is believed the last words that he uttered before dieing was Hey Ram... Since then every individual who carried his surname Gandhi became the Prime Ministers :).

And Mother Theresa needs no introduction!!!

In all of the three lives above, God has only been a mere catalyst. the real substance in them has been their ability to help and stand tall supporting the needy.

Charity, social service, philanthropy or what ever, are not just means of helping the people and feel satisfied and worthy to the society, but are a pool of opportunities that we don't see under the hood. in the morning as i wear my shoes to start off the day. i just get to see the snippets of the morning jyothishi's.

There would be a sanyasi sitting next to a pretty host :) attending to a call where she records the name birth date of the victim suffering from a usual day to day problem, as in not able to get a job, losses in business, unable to get married and all the blah blah.. and the Gurugalu will advice the person to feed the poor, offer food for cows, give cloths to the elders and so on. I sometimes used to wonder, how would feeding the cows would help me to get married :).

The Sanathana Dharma (Hinduism) never talks about all the material possession that a person should have. instead the scriptures only advice us to perform our due-full duties that we should carry out of helping the needy people. in doing so our self esteem grows with confidence giving immense opportunities that we failed to see other-wise.

So next time, lets not waste pleading in front of temples, and idols for that small little wishes, instead get down to people and bring in a smile, and you will see opportunities and luck touching your feet :)