Empty Vessel

It’s an empty vessel 
~Author unknown




A young farmer was covered with sweat as he paddled his boat up the river. He was going upstream to deliver his produce to the village and he was in a hurry. It was a hot day and he wanted to make his delivery and get home before dark. As he looked ahead, he spotted another vessel, heading rapidly downstream towards his boat. It was coming at a good pace too. This farmer rowed furiously to get out of the way, but it did not seem to help.
He yelled at the other vessel, “Change direction, you idiot! You are going to hit me. The river is wide. Change your course". His screaming was of no use. The other vessel hit his boat with a big loud thud. He was enraged as he stood up and cried out to the other vessel. “Stupid! How could you manage to hit my boat in the middle of this wide river? What is wrong with you? "
 
And as he looked at the other vessel he realized that there was no one in the other boat. He was screaming at an empty vessel that had broken free of its moorings and was going downstream with the current.
The lesson is very simple. 

There is never anyone in the other boat.
 
When we are angry we are screaming at an empty vessel.
 
All of us know people who drive us crazy, whom we hate to the core with passion. We may have spent countless hours reliving the moments when this person was unfair, unappreciative or inconsiderate to us. Even remembering this person pumps up our blood pressure.
 
The best way of dealing with people like this is to not let them make us angry. Getting angry doesn’t help in improving the situation and life is too short to waste on feeling bad or staying with grudges.
Next time when there is a surge of anger in you, just remember this.
 
There is never anyone in the other boat. It’s an empty vessel always.

Nice guys?

It's not the "nice" guy who brings about real social change. "Nice" guys look nice because they're conforming. It's the "bad" guys, who only look nice a hundred years later, that are the real Dynamic force in social evolution.



Source:
Pirsig, Robert M., Lila. An inquiry into morals. New York (Bantam Books) 1991, 161

Dreams

Throw your dreams into space like a kite,
and you do not know what it will bring back,
a new life, a new friend, a new love, a new country.
~~Anais Nin

Beauty

 

Shocking photo created a hero, but not to his family

 James Zwerg's physical wounds healed after he was attacked by an Alabama mob, but the emotional wounds festered.

 Excerpt from John Blake's 2004 book "Children of the Movement." given below. Originial article can be found here.


Zwerg's parents had forsaken him for joining the civil rights movement. That same night, he had written a letter that was to be handed to them in case he was killed. It explained his decision to join the Freedom Riders.
Zwerg called his mother to tell her where he was going.
"Don't go. Don't go," she said. "You can't do this to your father."
"I have no choice. I have to," he said.
"You killed your father," his mother replied. Then she hung up.
The Greyhound bus doors hissed open. Zwerg had volunteered to go first. The mob swarmed him as he stepped off the bus, yelling, "Nigger lover! Nigger lover!"
Then, as the mob grabbed him, Zwerg closed his eyes and bowed his head to pray. "The Lord is my light and salvation, of whom shall I fear ... "
The mob dragged him away.

Zwerg tells the story behind the photo


Many thanks to my friend Cindy for sharing this story from the Civil Rights movement in America. There may have been many heroes like Zwerg who gave up their safe life to move towards unknown and sometimes as in his case sad future. But in their heart they never gave up hope and fought for what matters to us all : Freedom.

My heart is with Zwerg and others like him who help the world become a better place for all.

BookFish is 2 years old. Happy Birthday !

I co-founded BookFish Community with Anant Awadhut, Tushar Nafde and Dhimant Bhundia, a community of Book lovers in MindTree , Pune about two years ago. Yesterday we celebrated BookFish's 2nd birthday in Pune. BookFish is one of the most vibrant and active communities in MindTree which has over 9,000 employees across the world. 

BookFish has over 500 members across various MindTree locations. This is a community of volunteers who believe in the power of Books. They believe that we must not limit ourselves to reading books, we must also share the knowledge we get from the books. BookFish organizes book readings, discussions and fun sessions all connected with the thoughts of learning and sharing knowledge. These sessions are open for all.

I helped this community grow from a mere 4 people to over 100 people in MindTree, Pune and other locations. I love books so creating and helping BookFish grow was the most normal thing to do. But when I started working on it, I realised the power of Communities. How can few people come together and create something that goes on growing even when they are no longer around? I found the answer to that question. I also realised the power of ideas! They say one idea can change the world - that is so true and I have been lucky to experience this myself.

MindTree is a wonderful company. I say this to people all the time, " You can go out of MindTree, but MindTree will not go out of you!" :) Thanks to amazing people like Ashok Soota, Subroto Bagchi and others who founded this company. 

I will post pictures from the BookFish birthday celebrations soon. 

Meanwhile, Happy Reading to all of you ~~  :)

You will make mistakes...

"Question: I am interested in so many things, and I have a terrible fear because my mother keeps telling me that I'm just going to be exploring the rest of my life and never get anything done. But I find it really hard to set my ways and say, "Well, do I want to do this, or should I try to exploit that, or should I escape and completely do one thing?"

Anaïs Nin: One word I would banish from the dictionary is 'escape.' Just banish that and you'll be fine. Because that word has been misused regarding anybody who wanted to move away from a certain spot and wanted to grow. He was an escapist. You know if you forget that word you will have a much easier time. Also you're in the prime, the beginning of your life; you should experiment with everything, try everything.... We are taught all these dichotomies, and I only learned later that they could work in harmony. We have created false dichotomies; we create false ambivalences, and very painful one's sometimes -the feeling that we have to choose. But I think at one point we finally realize, sometimes subconsciously, whether or not we are really fitted for what we try and if it's what we want to do.

You have a right to experiment with your life. You will make mistakes. And they are right too. No, I think there was too rigid a pattern. You came out of an education and are supposed to know your vocation. Your vocation is fixed, and maybe ten years later you find you are not a teacher anymore or you're not a painter anymore. It may happen. It has happened. I mean Gauguin decided at a certain point he wasn't a banker anymore; he was a painter. And so he walked away from banking. I think we have a right to change course. But society is the one that keeps demanding that we fit in and not disturb things. They would like you to fit in right away so that things work now."

— Anaïs Nin

 

Khalil Gibran

 "The philosopher's soul dwells in his head, the poet's soul is in his heart; the singer's soul lingers about his throat, but the soul of the dancer abides in all her body"

~~Khalil Gibran

Change

It has been a few months since I wrote anything on this blog. Life has been strange since the past few months. Too many things have changed. Too many of these changes are not nice. Some are very nice though. 

I have been having so much trouble finding that balance  in my life. Am I peaceful? I guess I am. Am I doing what I love to do - no, not completely. I deeply seek more change and it is coming. I can see that. Where it will take me , I don't know.

Time flies! It scares me at times.  :)

Hi!

Hello Visitor :) Don't forget to say 'Hi' ! :o)


Gam zeh ya'avor

One day Solomon decided to humble Benaiah Ben Yehoyada, his most trusted minister. He said to him, "Benaiah, there is a certain ring that I want you to bring to me. I wish to wear it for Sukkot which gives you six months to find it." "If it exists anywhere on earth, your majesty," replied Benaiah, "I will find it and bring it to you, but what makes the ring so special?" "It has magic powers," answered the king. "If a happy man looks at it, he becomes sad, and if a sad man looks at it, he becomes happy." Solomon knew that no such ring existed in the world, but he wished to give his minister a little taste of humility. Spring passed and then summer, and still Benaiah had no idea where he could find the ring. On the night before Sukkot, he decided to take a walk in one of the poorest quarters of Jerusalem. He passed by a merchant who had begun to set out the day's wares on a shabby carpet. "Have you by any chance heard of a magic ring that makes the happy wearer forget his joy and the broken-hearted wearer forget his sorrows?" asked Benaiah. He watched the grandfather take a plain gold ring from his carpet and engrave something on it. When Benaiah read the words on the ring, his face broke out in a wide smile. That night the entire city welcomed in the holiday of Sukkot with great festivity. "Well, my friend," said Solomon, "have you found what I sent you after?" All the ministers laughed and Solomon himself smiled. To everyone's surprise, Benaiah held up a small gold ring and declared, "Here it is, your majesty!" As soon as Solomon read the inscription, the smile vanished from his face. The jeweler had written three Hebrew letters on the gold band: gimel, zayin, yud, which began the words "Gam zeh ya'avor" -- "This too shall pass." At that moment Solomon realized that all his wisdom and fabulous wealth and tremendous power were but fleeting things, for one day he would be nothing but dust.

It's Raining in Love by Richard Brautigan

 

I don't know what it is,
 but I distrust myself
 when I start to like a girl
 a lot.

 It makes me nervous.
 I don't say the right things
 or perhaps I start
 to examine,
 evaluate,
 compute
 what I am saying.

 If I say, "Do you think it's going to rain?"
 and she says, "I don't know,"
 I start thinking: Does she really like me?

 In other words
 I get a little creepy.

 A friend of mine once said,
 "It's twenty times better to be friends
 with someone
 than it is to be in love with them."

 I think he's right and besides,
 it's raining somewhere, programming flowers
 and keeping snails happy.
 That's all taken care of.

 BUT

 if a girl likes me a lot
 and starts getting real nervous
 and suddenly begins asking me funny questions
 and looks sad if I give the wrong answers
 and she says things like,
 "Do you think it's going to rain?"
 and I say, "It beats me,"
 and she says, "Oh,"
 and looks a little sad
 at the clear blue California sky,
 I think: Thank God, it's you, baby, this time
 instead of me.

~someone shared this poem with me today..i fell in love with it ~

The Power of Words

The power of words so beautifully illustrated in this video. How many times do we think before we say some thing. Talking is such a natural thing for most of us. But do we really think about how our words would touch someone? Good or bad - words once out of your mouth cannot be taken back. They just go away. Words that you write, they float away too.  Words are so powerful.

So choose wisely. :)

A different kind of meeting

I left work a bit early that day as I was not feeling too well. I took the company 2 pm shuttle that drops me off near the University Main Gate. It was terribly hot and I got down from the cab and walked to the University wall shielding myself from the blazing sun. There was no one near just cars, buses and bikes zooming away. I look around for an auto but a few that came my way didn't stop. I was wondering how much longer I would have to stand in that unbearable heat. A thought came to my mind - what would happen if I fainted here. I always have my address and contact numbers in the purse. I wondered if I should call my brother as his office is not too far from the University. But i didn't call him as I knew he was busy with some client meetings that day. 

I look around as I heard some noise coming from the University Gate corner. There was a Policeman there waving a stick and saying something. I look around me - there was no one. He was calling me??? For a moment , I felt terrible fear in my heart. Was this a wrong place to wait for an auto?? Wow..what else could i have done wrong? Why was he calling me? That's when all those questions were zooming in my head I realised I am as scared of the Police as I am of say a Thief! I looked at him again. He was still calling me and was walking towards me. I walked towards him and kept wondering what does he want?


When we came near each other, he said ,'Madam , you need an auto?' I was shocked for a moment as all my thoughts came crashing down. I stammered out a 'Yes'. He smiled and said, 'Stand here near me and I will get you an auto!'  I didn't know what to think. He looked around, another bunch of cars, buses and bikes zoomed by.....no auto. And then we saw two empty autos coming down that road. Immediately he pulled out his whistle and directed them to stop near us. Both the auto people looked out and asked where I wanted to go. This was super! I mean they never ask you decently, most just bark at you. I am sure the Policeman near me gave them a feeling that I was some big personality in that place or something...lol... Anyway, I got into one of the autos, thanked our Police man for his help and started off on my way home.

This is the first time in my life I have spoken with a Police man. In the corner of my mind I guess I think of them to be corrupt and ruthless. Most stories in media just reinforces these thoughts. You need to stay away from that bunch of people (police) - we need them in the society to deal with the criminals but they are also another kind of criminals!

Did this incident change how I feel about the Police? Yes it did, because it made me realise how biased my mind had become towards them unknowingly.  I think of myself as a person who thinks rationally and yet there are so many biases inside my head. One such bias came out and hit me in my face that day. Many thanks to you , dear Police Man at the University Gate, for making me look inside my mind and understand that not all human beings are the same. It is stupid to generalize and even worse to let irrationals fears grow inside you.

When we treat man as he is, we make him worse than he is; when we treat him as if he already were what he potentially could be, we make him what he should be.

~~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

The Four Agreement

the four agreements - Don Miguel Ruiz's code for life

agreement 1

Be impeccable with your word - Speak with integrity. Say only what you mean. Avoid using the word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others. Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and love.

agreement 2

Don’t take anything personally - Nothing others do is because of you. What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own dream. When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won’t be the victim of needless suffering.

agreement 3

Don’t make assumptions - Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really want. Communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstandings, sadness and drama. With just this one agreement, you can completely transform your life.

agreement 4

Always do your best - Your best is going to change from moment to moment; it will be different when you are healthy as opposed to sick. Under any circumstance, simply do your best, and you will avoid self-judgment, self-abuse and regret.

Thought of You

Thought of You - by Ryan Woodward

Beautiful animation, choreography and song! Check it out. :)

Zumba!

I am so fascinated by this exercise form at the moment! I think it is fun and good work out for the whole body. Have you taken Zumba classes? How was your experience?

History of Zumba:

The Original "Fitness-Party"
As a fitness instructor in his native Cali, Colombia, Alberto "Beto" Perez's  life took an unexpected turn one fateful day in the mid-‘90s when he darted off to teach an aerobics class and forgot his traditional aerobics music. He improvised using his own mix of music from tapes he had in his backpack (salsa and merengue music he grew up with). Spontaneously, he created a new kind of dance-fitness, one that focused on letting the music move you (instead of counting reps over the music). Energy electrified the room; people couldn’t stop smiling. His class loved it! And on that day, a revolutionary new fitness concept was born – the Zumba Fitness-Party™.