Tag Archives: COVID-19

क्या है ये ज़िन्दगी ! (What is this life?)

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I don’t know how many of you would know about or have seen this TV serial,

By the name of: Ye Jo Hai Zindagi!

It was a Natayam;

A medium of conveying the dynamics of life in an entertaining manner to the audience,

As a kid, how simple, life seemed to be at that time!

Later we realized,

How complicated it was,

Not that we weren’t aware of the inherent complications earlier,

But we tended to make it more complex as we grew up,

By turning, let’s say

Beautiful emotions like friendship into give and take relations,

Incorporating our agenda in every talk that we do,

Focusing on doing only those things which could bring some kind of profit,

As a result,

Life became a mess for most of us,

Reality check came in the form of Covid,

Where, like it or not,

Each one of us was forced to introspect in some way or the other,

Realizing life has always been about enjoying so called little moments,

Being in the present,

Not worrying too much,

And

Dealing with situations in life as and when they come.

So, before delving a lot into the philosophies of life,

Why not just keep it simple, as it was meant to be!

Source for the Image: https://www.amazon.com/Yeh-Jo-Hai-Zindagi/dp/B07SV4RXKD

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Group Sensitivity!

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Not that they have not existed since ages,

and

Not that we all are not social beings,

The way we communicate has certainly changed in this digital and especially Covid era,

Be it the video calls on apps like Zoom, Skype etc.

or

Be it the chat apps such as Whatsapp, Snapchat etc.

But the very reason am writing this post is because of an unfortunate occurrence on one of the whatsapp groups that I happen to be a part of,

Don’t know what the need was,

Cannot decipher why it was mentioned,

yet

What came out from a certain representation was sheer hatred for a particular community,

Which made me wonder,

Have we truly lost the essence of being human?

Have we given up on sensitivities of not hurting people around us?

Have we become ruthless letting our opinionated and judgmental mind to rule our persona?

If not,

Then why think and act in such a questionable manner?

Guess, we have all forgotten,

Some kind of restraint always helps and personal attacks never,

for

An eye for an eye will only make the entire world go blind!

Source for the Image: https://theconversation.com/how-whatsapp-group-admin-became-one-of-the-most-powerful-jobs-in-politics-126041

G for!

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For those who are reading this: 

Most of us might have felt at some point of time in our lives that we could have been or could be doing much more. 

Might have felt that the true potential has not been realized. 

Might have had been haunted by thoughts and questions: what if I would have taken some other course? 

But 

A thing that we don’t realize is: 

After all, whatever we have achieved is nothing short of a feat. 

What we have in our possession is not that everyone has a privilege of claiming. 

Be it the:

Job,

Family,

Friends, 

Or

Other material possessions, 

Why then:

This feeling of disappointment,

This frustration, 

This temperament, 

This constant need to prove to the world, 

And

This inability of being able to appreciate and praise others for so called small things in life. 

Does it even register: 

Just few words of genuine praise can change or even save someone’s life, 

Just few words of courtesy can make someone’s day, 

Jadoo ki jhappi (an affectionate hug) of Munna Bhai does work, 

Considering we are maintaining social distancing in these times, 

And 

Considering people are getting depressed for so many reasons, 

What’s stopping us from offering something that doesn’t take a lot of effort and could indeed impact lives in the real sense! 

So, my dear friends, please don’t stop yourself from offering this genuine praise, 

to 

Whosoever comes in contact with you in these challenging times. 

Might even act as a life saving fresh breath of air to the affected and the depressed. 

Wondering what this G is for?

Grateful for:

To begin with alive in these times,

Getting those all important meals,

The health of our loved ones, family and friends,

There is still hope,

Enabling us to take a break from mindless and senseless lives,

and

Being able to connect and communicate, courtesy social medial platforms and calling apps,

If these are not enough for one to be grateful,

I wonder what will be!

Source for the Image: https://leadx.org/articles/we-know-we-ought-to-be-grateful-but/, https://steemit.com/writing/@doitvoluntarily/the-pursuit-of-wanting-more, https://www.amazon.in/initial-Alphabet-Monograme-Notebook-monogramend/dp/B083XVYVY3

Being Alex–Great?

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Nearly everyone might have heard of Alexander-the Great.

Seem to be drawing great inspiration from the man, most of us have chosen a certain kind of a roller coaster life ride for ourselves and our loved ones.

I wonder what inspired us to do so?

Primarily social conditioning, which includes demands from society, parents etc. which in turn shapes our own thoughts about goals and purpose in life.

How about drawing ourselves out of this so called wonderful journey, taking a moment to ponder whether its worth it all?

Is becoming powerful (Alexander) in our respective spheres is what we need in life?

What has this tendency brought us all to?

Not to mention the fact that all of us as a society are struggling big time to deal with this tiny little Covid-19 virus!

There must be something that we are not doing that great!

If we don’t realize this now, then when?

For there is a price to pay,

Consequences to deal with,

For nothing comes free in life,

And nature has its own cruel way of taking things back to where it belongs.

Possibly, a wake up call it is, for all!

A realization,

To think and act responsibly,

To go beyond what seems to be the perceived truth,

To be what one is supposed to be as a human being,

To explore the very dimensions of life

and

More importantly, change our role models,

For emulating Alexander, is not working out to be great at all!

Source for the Image: https://www.zogam.com/articles/articles-i/general-articles/3437-alexander-the-great-tangthu.html, https://www.paho.org/en/news/10-11-2020-rapid-antigen-tests-arriving-countries-assist-covid-19-response-americas

Use and Throw!

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A monologue from a learned philosopher and a professor by profession, just remembered:

“People come into your life for a reason.

Nothing comes free or with a label of being unconditional.

Be it the person who comes to me for a PhD,

Be it the people who want to collaborate with me on a project,

or

Be it the love of my life whom I treat as a part of my extended self,

Few might comment that its all about using and throwing,

Well, that’s one perspective but surely has different ways of looking at it,

It could be perceived as give and take,

May be represented as a symbiotic existential relationship,

or

Spiritually speaking, just a payback of one’s own Karmas,

It’s how you judge or form an opinion about the interaction determines whether it makes you happy or not.

Whether you are annoyed and feel cheated,

or

Whether you take it in your stride as part of what’s meant to be.

After all, even Corona is trying to do use the human body for its existence,

Sooner or later, it’s bound to realize that living and letting live is a sustainable solution for both, though it’s still learning.

When the tiniest of entities may endeavor to learn this fundamental aspect of life,

Why can’t we as beings?”

Source for the image: https://www.webmd.com/lung/coronavirus, https://theconversation.com/3-philosophers-set-up-a-booth-on-a-street-corner-heres-what-people-asked-110866

Shukran!

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Taking a cue from a very dear friend who has this wonderful habit of saying shukran (Arabic word meaning thank you) every now and then,

And why not,

Especially in these precarious times,

Where one never knows how long one is going to live,

Not just because of Corona but the very manner in which our generation has been consuming pretty much everything on this planet,

Its never enough no matter how many times one says shukran to the people one comes across in one’s life time,

thank you

Be it the parents to start with, who brought us here, nurtured us to become who we are today,

Be it our spouses/siblings/cousins/friends who made this life worth living,

Be it the teachers who acted as friends, philosophers and guides in this journey of acquiring knowledge,

or

Be it the mentors and seniors who pretty much laid the path for us to grow professionally,

We often take it for granted what people have done for us,

We often are drawn into the illusion of having achieved everything unilaterally,

and

We often ignore all the contributions/sacrifices our near and dear ones make for us,

Just to see us happy achieving our dreams and fulfilling our aspirations,

Now,

With no more excuses of being busy or not having enough time,

Why not just say it loud,

Give some form and shape to the gratitude that we all feel,

And take that first step to bringing one’s near-dear ones even closer,

Up for it, are you?

SHUKRAN 🙂

Source for the Image: https://www.multibhashi.com/gratitude-meaning-in-tamil/

Zoomiyana

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Quite a world,

Quite a life,

Quite a scenario,

Quite a tribe,

Yes, these are the times, when everything goes for a toss,

And it doesn’t matter whether it’s a heads or a tails,

As long as one is surviving,

fun

The one and only key to all happiness that each one of us is bound to get in the future.

Well, things are opening up, for good, supposedly,

And if we look back at how it panned out, this lockdown that is,

Zoomiyana, or the art of finding happiness in something, the way i choose to define it as, became a norm,

With people dating on Zoom Ishq, 

Proposing online in the hope of getting married on Zoom Shaadi, 

Performing rituals via Zoom Puja, 

And pretty much Zooming In on anything and everything concerning humanity,

Now that we have had enough time to break the habit and do some good (#Sutta4G)

and

The new normal in the state of being adapted,

Another opportunity to live it all over again,

But

With certain sense of responsibility,

With certain consideration for others,

With going beyond just thinking about self,

and

With adhering to all guidelines,

So,

ज़ूमियाये (zoomiyaye) मगर ज़िम्मेदारी से !

Source for the image: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fun

I-Zone

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Do you guys remember the famous dialogue from the Bollywood movie 3 Idiots?

All is well, all is well! 

In the times of COVID-19, no better time to remind ourselves of,

All’s going to be well!

The world is indeed changing,

The very definition of normalcy is going for a toss,

So much of uncertainty,

And I admit it’s hard to cope up with these forced changes happening all around,

News hovering around the people falling sick or dying every day,

It kind of becomes depressing at times,

For the not so affluent, the workers, the times are even more challenging,

With them having to fight for the basic necessities of life, the very survival,

Moraine Lake in Banff National Park - Canada

Though

What keeps us all going is the hope that,

This too shall pass,

As Homo Sapiens, we all believe that we would not just disappear like Dinosaurs did,

What this situation does is to give us all time in the world to introspect,

On

Our lifestyle that we got so habituated to pursuing,

Our aspirations for which we almost forgot that we all are indeed a mortal species,

Our priorities in life, very well knowing that tomorrow we can die,

And

Make amends, aim being creating a sustainable future for the generations to come.

The only question being,

Are we all prepared to get out of the I-ZONE and think about the 8.4 Million species that exist with us on this planet Earth?

Source for the Image: https://www.gettyimages.in/photos/nature