Thoughts & After-thoughts !

       The year 2025 has indeed been a roller-coaster ride for quite a lot of us. Highs and lows came unannounced, often overlapping, leaving little time to pause and reflect. Yet, as the year draws to a close, reflection becomes inevitable. If I were to sum up 2025 for myself in a few words, it would be: Patience, Gratitude, Calmness, Trust, Perseverance, and Health. On both personal and professional fronts, life has been humbling with every passing day. One of the most important lessons I learnt is that when you let go of your ego, carry goodwill, and act with bona fide intentions, the Invisible Hand somehow takes care of you. There is a quiet reassurance in surrendering yourself to the Almighty. Once you do that, you realise that the universe, in its own way, aligns things for you. Of late, many people have been describing me as calm and stable. While I appreciate the observation, my own understanding of calmness is slightly different. To me, calmness is chaos...

 On a chilly morning, while traveling to Leh from Kargil, I noticed a few labourers of the Border Roads Organization (BRO) at the heights of Photu la and Namik la. The temperature was -16 degree Celsius and those workers were on to their daily duties of road maintenance. Among those, I observed one lady (perhaps from the Central India) who was busy with her routine duties. Carrying a broom in her hand she was cleaning the road, of the debris that falls on the road as shooting stones and slides. Apart from the broom, she was also carrying a bundle of firewood tied to her back, perhaps to light a fire by the roadside for keeping herself and her companions warm amidst the chilly weather. I was awestruck and a sense of gratitude took over me ! What conditions would have compelled her and her fellow workers to travel thousands of miles to the harsh conditions of Ladakh to make a living, I thought. Certainly, it wouldn't be a choice she made out of her sheer will ! Our lives are similar...

Life is a journey rich with daily lessons, new experiences, and evolving relationships. It isn’t meant to be static; rather, it’s a blend of stability and fluidity, shaped by each moment's joys and challenges. Just as stagnant water turns stale and breeds decay, a life that resists change can lose its vitality, becoming a source of stress and dissatisfaction. There’s a subtle yet powerful difference between being stable and being static. Stability brings inner strength and resilience, allowing us to navigate the changing currents of life with a steady hand. Staticness, on the other hand, can trap us in routines and limitations, making us immune to growth and evolution. Life, in essence, is about maintaining balance—grounded yet adaptable to the winds of change.   While stability in our purpose is essential, we should remain open to the flow of change. The scriptures emphasize that life is a play of opposites, and one must neither cling to joys nor despair over sorrows. Stability is...

Imagine, you have been pursuing a goal, a dream that doesn't let you sleep. What if you successfully accomplish your dream or reach your goal? What impact will it have on your life? How different your life will be after you have achieved what you aspired for? Will that be the end of the pursuit? Will that satiate your hunger forever? Arguably not! Let me share my perspective: During my childhood, I dreamt of representing India in Cricket (like most children in India who play cricket dream about). I was so much passionate about this dream, that day-in and day-out, I imagined myself in team-India jersey. When playing in local-tournaments in my town, the feel of National Anthem being played just before the start of the game would give me goose-bumps, and I took the feel of being a part of an international game. I would be thrilled imagining, how satisfying it will be when I would actually be a part of an international cricket competition. Unfortunately, this dream of mine experienced ...

Pigeons are strange creatures- arguably among most resilient and even most invasive.Who knows, they might be thinking same about us Humans! This article comes from an entirely personal experience of mine. Pigeons are almost ubiquitous in cities like Delhi. More often than not, they are a sheer nuisance in case they chose to reside in spaces of your home- more particularly, if over the Air Conditioner! Let me start a brief overview for the context: Since second half of the year 2018, I along with my cousins (while preparing for Civil services) rented a  furnished flat in Delhi. Naturally, we got an AC (window AC) pre-fitted. And since past more than one and half years, we haven't been able to use that AC even once- thanks to some uninvited guests- PIGEONS!  It is not that we never tried to get rid of the pigeons. I tried every possible way to scare them away. Even searched on the internet about ways to get rid of pigeons. In fact, once We covered the entire spa...

Hello there! Hope you are doing well amid these challenging times! Today I don't intend to write a post sharing any gyan whatsoever. Rather, I just want to have a fruitful discussion with you people. A discussion seeking answers to some of the questions that keep on coming into my mind at (ir)regular intervals. I hope you will participate in the discussion. You might have observed that there are times when we know that we should or shouldn't do something, even then we end up not doing or doing those things respectively. I would suggest you to think of any such instance, where you know that you should not do a particular task. It might be as naive as indulging in some extra calories (your favorite dessert) even if you are dieting (or suffering from diabetes). Or the case of a (arguably) bad habit like Smoking, Drinking etc. which you know that you shouldn't pursue, even then you crave for indulging in those habits. In these times of Coronavirus (COVID-19) we all kno...