Me a stranger here, in this 'colleague bites colleague' business world; not for me the crafty weaving, 'thrust and feint' tactics and the crafty 'your money is my money, and of course, MY MONEY IS MY MONEY' attitude! (made famous by a comic song from a tamil movie!
What is the true meaning of aiswaryam? and me not talking about aishwarya rai or the the other actress by the same first name (aishwarya, d/o lakshmi). Aiswaryam = prosperity/wealth/assets/worth.
What is the true measure of a person? His/her worth?
Looks like nowadays the basic word-charitra or character - is no longer figuring as the top item in the checklist!
yeh paisa, hey paisa, nahin koi, tere jaisa!
me born in a family where most of the attitudes have been shaped by the 'simple living, high thinking' philosophy; and also : TRUST IN GOD, DO THE RIGHT; as well as MAN MAKETH THE MONEY AND MONEY SHOULD NEVER MAKE THE MAN1
but aajkal bada mushkil hain, with these 'outdated?' thinking modes!
but one sticks one, for one can't be anything else, however painful the realizations may be ki aajkal ke daur main khush rehna hain, to bade se bada jhoot bolo, logo ko apne bal se kuchlo, and what's the famous word : GET AHEAD! of what, pray?! me thinks your own goodness/conscience; for other wise, peeche reh jaoge, apne acchai ke bal par !
my great grand-dad, who was orphaned at an early age, was a self-made man; his name was Kandaswamy (called naina, which means daddy in telugu, by one and all; he served as a sub-registrar, in telugu speaking parts of the madras presidency during british times). His story looks so much of a fantasy these days. When he was due for marriage, his prospective father-in-law asked him : ongittai enn ponnai nambi eppadi oppadaikaradu?! On what basis can I trust/rely upon you and hand over my daughter to you? (in other words, how can i be sure that you will keep her well). The simple, down-to-earth reply won the heart of the father-in-law and led to marriage of engal naina (thank goodness, otherwise, you couldn't have read this blog, agar naina kuvare reh jaata to yeh mumkin nahin tha...!). The reply was : I don't have any wealth or assets worth mentioning but I have my two hands; I will work and keep her and my family happy! It touched the gentleman who asked this question and he hugged naina and said : nin daan enn maapillai! thou art my son-in-law!
Today, even if the parents are willing to think like this, very few girls and boys would be so naive! for times have changed! isiliye YAHAN MAIN AJNABI HOON, MAIN JO HOON BAS WAHI HOON!
(and proud of that too!).
a great rafi clarion-call song for the lonely hearts : ham jaiso ke bhag main likha chahat ka vardan nahin, jisne hamko janam diya (meaning god and not parents!) woh patthar hain bhagwan nahin!
basti basti, parbat parbat gaata jaaye banjara lekar dil ka ektara!
'kadam kadam par honi (arre baba dhoni nahin, honi=fate!) baithi apna jaal bichaye; na jaane is nagari main ab kaun kahan reh jaaye, kaun kahan reh jaaye, basti, basti...
and my favourite line (okay, me a deewana mast-ram, who arrogantly cocks-a-snook at the worldly pursuits of wealth and properties!) : DHAN DAULAT KE PEECHE KYON HAIN YEH DUNIYA DEEWANI, YAHAN KI DAULAT YAHAN RAHEGI, SAATH NAHIN HAIN JAANI!
And who says EVERYONE HAS A PRICE?! (might be seemingly true in some idiotic businessman's brazen dictionary! ); arre, janaab, DUTY HI SAB KUCH HOTA HAIN! paisa, pyaar, kuch kuch hi hota hain!
howzzat?! hey, epg (ennamopodaganesha!) neat finish!
Koi puch raha hain : iss pagal ka kya hoga, bhai?! arre, hamein kya pata ji?! usse khud bhi to khabar nahin hain!
only one thing is certain : woh baazi harna nahin chahta/jaanta!
alak niranjan! lage raho, ganeshbhai! apne bhagya se muqabla karte raho, apne hi kamjoriyon se ladte raho! kyonki doosro ke jai se pehle khud pe jai kare!
okay, okay, i know i should keep this brief!
Smile, please! kyonki, main kaise bhool jaun MAIN HOON HINDUSTANI!( i can see one of my best friends really smiling at this; kyon hain na?!).
chalo ji; BHOOL JAAYEN SAARE GAM; kyonki chamka chamka subah ka taara!
with best wishes and regards,
from
philhaal ANDHERE MAIN JO BAITHE HAIN! (woh pucca kahegi : tu kitna filmi hain, ganesha!)
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2 comments:
Hey come on ! Itna bhi bleak scenario nahin hai. While I do agree that a lot of people subscribe nowadays to the 'get ahead (nice thought btw- get ahead of what? one's own goodnes?)at any cost there are a lot of others who don't - yours truly being a case in point.
Naturally duniya mein rehna hai to one needs to be a little practical as well about money matters.Money may not be everything but it definitely counts for something ,mainly as a facilitator. For instance if a person were to lose a limb due to an accident no amount of money can make up for it.But dear friend it can certainly make things easier to bear. Just compare the situation of a disabled person with no money to one who does. Think about it a bit and you will know what I mean.
You know what they say " money(here I include all materialistic trappings) is a good servant but a bad master". The trick lies in knowing how to remain the master and more importantly to realise that material things are made for people and NOT the other way around.
As far as this ' simple living high thinking ' goes - well I think its just an example of reverse snobbery. Does that mean that everyone who is poor has very elevated thinking and vice versa ? Anyone who has spent enough years on this planet (ergo interacted with a fair number of people) would know it isn't so. And when we ourselves say that a lack of money doesn't detract from a person's good qualities ( including of course 'thinking') why then should an excess of money do so?
In cricketing lingo they say 'form is temporary but class is permenent'. I think that's applicable in real life too. One's financial status / career situation (form) being temporary while the basic human values and qualities that make up a person (class) being permanent.
Liked where you conclude on an optimistic note.Aapki bhasha mein - Jai ho!
POST SCRIPTUM:
Just wanted to make a point about what you say -'duty hi sab kuchh hota hai'. Yes of course to do one's duty is important but why should other things in life become less important on that count?
Well I have come to realise that Life (I use the capital letter judiciously) can NOT be divided into neat little compartments. It is infact more akin to a juggler who has several balls in the air and must keep them all up there simultaneously.
So an "All or none" approach in life becomes detrimental to our own growth as persons. A holistically evolved/ing person needs to balance all aspects of life. Otherwise our personality becomes lopsided. And then my friend you can not even discharge your duty ( which was the point to begin with) perfectly.
Also you are familiar with the fact that 'man proposes but God disposes' ! So its not very wise to postpone things for a 'suitable ' point in future.(You may do so in the short term out of practical considerations ofcourse - I am talking in a broader perspective here).Future kisne dekha hai? By the time your predetermined time for something arrives the entire paradigm might have shifted and then where are you?
Apropos of nothing much , the great Shankaracharya once engaged in a 'Shastrartha'( debate on philosophy and/or spirituality - although having written this I laughed. I mean how can these matters ever become a topic of debate? But it seems they were very popular amongst our 'Gyanis' in ancient times.)So anyways as I said he engaged in a celebrated debate in Varanasi (the site is still marked) with Mandan Mishra who was a renowned scholar and reportedly rather arrogant to boot.( Again a bit of a paradox - how can someone who really has Gyaan become proud? If there is one thing the acquisition of knowledge teaches - its only this that one's own pool of knowledge is an insignificant drop in the vast ocean of wisdom that remains unconquered. One would think the thought would engender humility rather than arrogance !) Anyhow to get back to the story (induction effect of Hari katha working would you say?)
Shankaracharya beat him soundly at which point the challenge was taken up by that gentleman's wife. And she brought the great man to point non plus by demonstrating that despite his vast learning his gyaan was apoorna as it lacked experience of certain aspects of life. Shankaracharya accepted defeat at that point and went through complex strategems to round off his learning , only then did he return and taking up the debate completed his victory!
You must be wondering what this is all about. Well I just wanted to say that jeeven mein 'poornata' bahut avashyak hai ( even for great souls to phir ordinary mortals ki baat hi kya hai). Kisi bhi ek aspect ko hum agar abadhya roop se badhne dete hain to of necessity doosre aspects of life become rather stunted . And apni duty ya koi bhi doosri cheez acchi tarah se wohi poora kar sakta hai jo swayam ek poorna or well balanced manushya ho!
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