pure melody!

Years back, there used to be a serial on DD, 'charitraheen'. I was searching for 'Sheetal, manjul, komal' from this serial. This song has mesmerised me for years. I found this site http://www.salilda.com/tvserials.asp (The World of Salil Chaudhary). As a bonus, also found the title music of Vividha!, another serial based on Rabindranath Tagore's short stories and a ghazal composed by Salil Chaudhary. This site is a music mine, the more you dig, the more you get....

Inspiration

My father once bought a couple of paper backs on Swami Vivekananda. I must be in third or fourth grade at that time. After reading the books, I yearned for more of Swami Vivekananda's teachings. Seeing my interest, he got me a few more books. I sought those books and his writings again. They are more than just words...
The Vivekananda Vedanta Network (http://www.vivekananda.org/index2.asp) offers a host of information on Swami Vivekananda. The poems reveal an altogether different persona of the Great man, a revelation to me. 'Hold on Yet a While, Brave Heart' is my personal favourite.

HOLD ON YET A WHILE, BRAVE HEART
(Written to H. H. The Maharaja of Khetri, Rajputana.)

If the sun by the cloud is hidden a bit,

If the welkin shows but gloom,

Still hold on yet a while, brave heart,

The victory is sure to come.

No winter was but summer came behind,

Each hollow crests the wave,

They push each other in light and shade;

Be steady then and brave.

The duties of life are sore indeed,

And its pleasures fleeting, vain,

The goal so shadowy seems and dim,

Yet plod on through the dark, brave heart,

With all thy might and main.

Not a work will be lost, no struggle vain,

Though hopes be blighted, powers gone;

Of thy loins shall come the heirs to all,

Then hold on yet a while, brave soul,

No good is e'er undone.

Though the good and the wise in life are few,

Yet theirs are the reins to lead,

The masses know but late the worth;

Heed none and gently guide.

With thee are those who see afar,

With thee is the Lord of might,

All blessings pour on thee, great soul,

To thee may all come right!

(Source:http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Complete_Works_of_Swami_Vivekananda/Volume_4/Writings:_Poems/Hold_on_Yet_a_While%2C_Brave_Heart)

Time moves on.....

From The Bible:

To everything there is a season,
a time for every purpose under the sun.
A time to be born and a time to die;
a time to plant and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
a time to kill and a time to heal ...
a time to weep and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn and a time to dance ...
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing;
a time to lose and a time to seek;
a time to rend and a time to sew;
a time to keep silent and a time to speak;
a time to love and a time to hate;
a time for war and a time for peace.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

The Endings...

What I witnessed today reminded me of Alfred Lord Tennyson's poem:

Home They Brought Her Warrior Dead

Home they brought her warrior dead:
She nor swooned, nor uttered cry:
All her maidens, watching, said,
'She must weep or she will die.'

Then they praised him, soft and low,
Called him worthy to be loved,
Truest friend and noblest foe;
Yet she neither spoke nor moved.

Stole a maiden from her place,
Lightly to the warrior stepped,
Took the face-cloth from the face;
Yet she neither moved nor wept.

Rose a nurse of ninety years,
Set his child upon her knee--
Like summer tempest came her tears--
'Sweet my child, I live for thee.'

When we were about to leave the cremation ground, I saw three Army men, carrying a wreath and enquiring about a particular no. of funeral pyre. They had come to pay their last respects when all others had left. I looked back and saw them saluting..I couldn't help but think as to what happened to the Army punctuality.....

Patience

Just yesterday, we were discussing about a lost virtue, if it could be called so, patience. I was at an ATM counter trying really hard to extract some money out of it. Hard, cause, the machine wouldn't work. I tried once, twice and finally with a different card but it failed to oblige. The amount of time spent on the activity is anybody's guess. While I was struggling with the machine, a policeman suddenly entered the booth. I was like monsieur, please read 'one person at a time' clearly mentioned outside. The guard followed him and in a very polite manner plainly stated the words. However, this man was in no mood to hear anyone. He started shouting that he was not supposed to stand outside and refused to budge. This, when there were no long queues . I think if he had been at the end of a queue, he would have taken out his pistol:). I guess, people like him should be provided Vantage cards...they need them:) And, I wonder if the machine survived his wrath....

New Year celebrations

Spending a few hours with the denizens of the Old Age home was quite a learning experience. They exuberated liveliness, warmth and innocence. I cannot forget one of the ladies, who was literally jiving away to the dance numbers. All the time that we were there, there was not a single moment that she did not enjoy. She wanted to be clicked in all the possible poses and we obliged her. Since everyone was clicking pics with digital cameras, one of the elderly persons started to enquire about the latest models and the most recent technologies. So, my colleague started to explain photography in the most simplistic ways. The gentleman listened to him patiently and finally when he was done, he gently remarked that he himself was a photographer! Ahem, ahem....a bouncer! Then, as we were singing for them, they joined us most enthusiastically and had a quite a few interesting requests as well. One of the septuagenarians sang the most naughty bollywood numbers and he remembered the complete lyrics! This was followed by a session of shaero-shayari...again, leaving us all amazed. Then, there was a gentleman who was very warm with everybody and had a vivacious laughter. He told us that he was a young man of 82! He had been a leading advocate of his times but had become deaf due to a personal tragedy where he had lost all his kids. Nevertheless, none of us could match his spirits. When we were about to leave, he called me and gave me a ten rupee note asking me to buy some soup for myself. In the end, all of them wanted us to come back and give them the hard copies of the pics that we had clicked...that's all.

Micro-entrepreneurs

I was just reading about entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship in India. Suddenly my focus shifted to the rural India where people with their positive approach, proactive thinking and enterprise are just looking for the right kind of opportunity to improve their lives. I came across a story of a woman from an orthodox Muslim family, having six children and a husband without a job. Finally, with the help of microfinance institutions, she set up her own school bag making unit. She is now earning comfortably enough to feed her six children. With the microcredit, microfinance, various non farm sector schemes, the rural women have become micro-entrepreneurs. And then I read a about a rural business school in Maharashtra. Now the women can look forward to technical training and know how on how to start and go about their project. The efforts, the spirit and the burning desire to do something, to move ahead with fervour is all that matters.
How the old adage stands true….”where there is a will, there is a way”.