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KYA KAMAAL HAI

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  “Yes, and how many ears must one man have before he can hear people cry?” From Bob Dylan’s song – ‘Blowing in the Wind’ O ur two-month summer programme just concluded, yesterday. We had decided to keep the certification ceremony simple; and, therefore, held it in our newly-renovated premises. Three of our young students were capturing the memories through their mobile cameras. Tanvir Shaikh, an aspiring pilot, was one of them. Around 1 noon, all of a sudden, Tanvir’s phone rang (as he hadn’t kept it on the silent mode)… The ringtone was a soothing azan (the Islamic call to prayer). Among the 25-plus members present in the room, he was the only Muslim. The haunting sound of azan had turned every head turn towards Tanvir… who sounded apologetic for not keeping his phone on the silent mode. I, instantly, said to all, “It’s a beautiful call to prayer... Let’s be silent for a moment.” I let the azan play, as the Grace before meal…… The stillness in the room was very poig...
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RANCHODS... THE WINNERS

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  S ome months ago, while speaking on phone, a friend of mine (62), said, “Mujhe phir se pyaar ho gaya hai.” (I am in love again). Before I could say, ‘What?’, he clarified, “Krishna se.” Well, I knew about my friend’s fascination towards ISKCON during last few years, and I had observed how anchored and peaceful he had become. It’s an amazing transformation. Still, that early morning, when he said, “Mujhe phir se pyaar ho gaya hai,” I wasn’t thinking about ‘Krishna’… Instead, being a mortal, I was thinking, “What… at 62?” Then, two weeks ago, this young girl (23), who had just completed her LLB, had turned up for one of our Sunday Workshops. Everybody’s eyebrows had gone up seeing the ISKCON marks on her forehead, prominently displayed… It’s clear, that the young girl had not only just turned a lawyer, she had, also, just turned Krishna’s beloved… “Very good,” I thought, “it will help her stay away from the dirty, dark stand-up comedy shows.” Of late, it’s interesting to ...
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I HEARD IT FROM A SQUIRREL

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  Sometimes, big trees grow out of acorns… I think, I heard that from a squirrel.” Jerry Coleman   L ittle squirrels are my favourites… They are very inspiring creatures. If you watch them, you will notice how busy they are –- all the time jumping and hopping… all the time collecting acorns -– the little seeds of oak trees … for that matter, seeds of any trees… yes, they gather them, dig holes in the ground and burry so many of them, all over –- to save them for the winter season. But, then, they are known for their forgetfulness… Most of the seeds do not get retrieved by these forgetful squirrels… and, they grow into mighty trees… and, trees grow into gigantic forests… M any years ago, on seeing my relentless acts of writing, publishing them into books and magazines, a gentleman had reminded me of the relentless acts of little squirrels… “They just burry the nuts in the ground and forget about them. The nuts, which are forgetfully left behind, become great trees.”...
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IN SEARCH OF THEIR FATHER

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  “I sit before flowers, 
 hoping they will train me in the art of opening up.” Shane Koyczan   T oday was the second session for this group of young kids. They come from underprivileged areas of our suburb. An NGO has been helping them through computer and AI skills. The same NGO has requested our Centre to help them in their soft skills… develop self-confidence, communication and interpersonal skills. I found one of the young girls a bit lost during the session. “ Beta , you are feeling ok?” I asked her. Then, to involve her in the proceedings, I nudged her gently to come up to the stage and tell something about her… To my surprise, the young girl did not get rattled. She stood there in front of about 20 of us (including her peers, two instructors and me). “You can speak in Hindi, if you wish,” I encouraged her, “Or, you can mix Hindi and English.” The girl chose to do it mixed… “Friends, my name is Muskaan… I have recently cleared my tenth standard, and I ...
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LISTEN LIKE YOU MIGHT BE WRONG

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  “I concluded, that in politics, as in life, the real struggle  is not us-versus-them. It is us-versus-us.”   Miles Taylor   D uring yesterday’s PD session, our young kids were debating.  Most of them have just cleared their class-10 and are seeking admission in what they believe to be the ‘best colleges in town’. It’s very interesting –-   even entertaining -– when you listen to them. Some are fed-up wearing uniforms till now… So, they want to be free from it by joining some town-side colleges which have no uniform… Some want to step out of their ‘suburban bubbles’… explore the joy and roughness of commuting by Mumbai local… “Nothing else teaches us how to be rough-and-tough,” they argue. Some assume, that some of the downtown colleges will give them the ‘best’ teaching, while some think, that these colleges will help them with varieties of clubs… “Such exposure makes us confident in life,” they assert. When these young kids debate on this su...
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WHY DO WE FALL, BRUCE?

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  “Dare to fail and you will never fail to dare!”  Selma Benkiran   T hirteen-year-old Aarya was on stage, this evening. She wanted to share with us about one of her major fears -– the fear of failure. I knew about her passion for playing football since she was very small. She played for her school and regularly toured with her school team, both inside and outside the state of Maharashtra. She was a crazy fan of Lionel Messy and had spoken animatedly about him in the class (She had attended our PD programme consecutively for five summers) arguing with others, as to why Messy was greater than Ronaldo… why he was the real GOAT. Thus, this evening, when she was on stage, I didn’t expect Aarya to share what she did. She told us about her nagging fear of failure -– how, often, it weighed upon her head, made her feel overwhelmed, and even prevented her from taking part in several important competitions… “What if I fail?” Well, to those, who are not familiar with fear o...
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EATING TOGETHER

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  “Lord, we don't need another mountain There are mountains and hillsides enough to climb There are oceans and rivers enough to cross Enough to last until the end of time.” From the song ‘What the world needs now’   by Dionne Warwick S ome days ago, I messaged to a young mother: “Ma’am, Noyonika (daughter) has to attend a workshop tomorrow from 4 to 6 pm. The topic of the work shop will be ‘Effective use of time.” Then, I added, “Ma’am, even you can join the workshop… You know, it’s a useful subject.” It's was 10.30 in the night when I sent this message. “Noyonika will attend the workshop, Sir. I won’t be able to attend as it would be a working day.”   She added, “Sir, I am still on my way home.” And, here at our home, we were set to go off to bed. I told my wife about the conversation I just had. A couple of days later, during the Public Speaking session, Noyomika was on stage. I told everyone about the conversation I had with her mother a few days earlier...
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THE COMPOUNDING EFFECT OF CONSISTENCY

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"At the heart of mastery lives consistency.” Robin Sharma W e get to hear a lot about the compounding effect of our investments. Obviously, the reference is to our financial investments. “Start early with whatever little investment... Stay consistent... Stay long invested... and, over the years, you will be surprised to see how hugely your wealth grows.” To me, that wisdom on financial literacy did not come either early or late in life. Rather, as I did not choose to invest financially, I did not amass any financial wealth in my life. However, unwittingly, I started making my small investments — daily, consistently, over long years — in my random writings. And, the same Law of Compounding applied here, too... my wealth of written work compounded into a great treasure... Today, when I am coming out with ten books from my years of blogging, all that I have to do is — to draw from this ‘rich well’... As a young migrant into this city of dreams, when I was barely 20-plus —...
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THE COBBLER'S SHOES

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  “You, always, say such lovely things to me, Red. Do you say them to yourself?”   Talia Hibbert,  Get a Life, Chloe Brown   F or several years –- particularly in my twenties to thirties (and even in the first part of forties)   -- I have done a hell lot of work. Read ‘hell lot’ means heavy work, hard work, donkey work, or whatever. Before I married to my wife, I had married to my work… and, that first marriage continued till, one day -- right in the midst of my frantic work, my wife fell severely ill, got hospitalized for a month… then, for almost two years, needed my total attention…   I remember going through anxiety and guilt at the same time. It was difficult to reset my priorities at that point of time… It was telling on my own health… One evening, my dear friend and associate at The Dawn Club, Dr. Deepak, who had just become a Psychiatrist in his mid-twenties, came over to my place. We both sat on the floor, and he helped me deal with my a...
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THE WILD, WAYSIDE FLOWERS
There is, always, something extra-ordinary in the wild, wayside flowers...