A good old wise man….

Disclaimer:-

” All rights reserved. Any resemblance to places or people(living or dead) are purely coincidental. Inspired from a real life story. Product strictly meant for entertainment(if it works 😛 ) & try not to let it be a matter of ridicule. 🙂 ”

Today:- 4th August 2010

About three & a half years ago….

Trivandrum district, Kerala. A typical engineering college & hostel (not at all a rarity of times, but symbolizing the trademark of the city). An unassuming young l’ill lad, a novice to this renowned fraternity. Obnoxious, self-centered, lost, apprehensive, reserved & angry, but largely gullible. Life had taken an abrupt & very much unexpected turn for this goody. Uprooted from a life of ease & comfort, somewhere in middle-east, he was replanted to God’s own country, without any prior notifications or survival preparations. The problem with our friend here was in his psyche. All his friends had flocked to greener pastures & here he was alone,stuck up in a new city, new country with no immediate acquaintances. Attributing a lot to eye-candy visuals of  developed countries, while seeing this third world country as downtrodden, he was having a tough time coping up, all the while, feeling low & angry. With no options left, the guy set out on the pursuit of creating a social circle for himself, often falling prey to the scurviness of God’s own people.

Out of all the misery & troubles bestowed upon our pal, there was one fact remaining as the sole shine of hope. “Freedom“. He wasn’t immediately answerable to anyone. Could go anytime, anywhere he wanted, could meet anyone he wanted, could eat anything he wanted, all this without the usual constraints or limits. More importantly, he had the monthly allowance, more than that was needed to sustain him through, with a trendy enough lifestyle. Now here laid the most important problem. “Money-management“. Our dear never knew the meaning of the term “frugality“. Always trying to making it up for the inner contentment, the guy kept on squandering money for the futile pursuits, private transport & costly restaurants. As they say, you can never get enough of what you really don’t need. He even went on to the foolish extend of fancying that “treating friends” is indeed a good deed bringing blessings!! To make the matters worse, the word “accountability” was also missing in his dictionary.

Now the story begins. After keeping apart for daily basic expenses(which by now was NIL), our dude had exhausted remaining of the month’s allowance on material pursuits & was taken aback when college authorities came up with a new type of fees with some fancy name. After getting mollified through phone for half an hour, Dad relented & complied on ‘refilling’ the account on the very next day. As is the case with the coming of every, very much anticipated events, guy was sleepless throughout the night & was eagerly waiting for the morning to arrive to go & empty the ‘refilled’ account.

As always, not breaking the protocol, he hailed his most favorite private transport, “auto”(bus service, he considered below his status). Purse was empty, but thats okay, after all they were heading to the nearest Federal Bank ATM. Having an entire auto all for himself was indeed a matter of pride & pleasure for our hero. The only issue with auto service, if ever, he had, was with some uncouth, blabbermouth auto drivers, screaming over traffic & fares, but nevertheless, considered some of them as family who were warm enough to discuss their personal problems and issues. The present auto driver, around 60, was neither of the two, being very much reserved. To our friend’s dismay, Nalanchira Federal Bank ATM was out of cash. Back at those times, “any card, any ATM” concept wasn’t yet materialized. Dejected, after explanation, auto driver complied to head to the second nearest Federal Bank ATM, LIC, Pattom. Presumably, the driver wasn’t busy (unlike many) & had an inclination to help. At LIC, Pattom too, same fate. Out of cash. Next stop, Statue. Meter running. Scorching noon heat. Same, out of cash. 😦 Our helpless, restless & apprehensive friend was turning increasingly angry & irritated. But all the while, driver keeping his silence, cool as a water melon, kept on suggesting next in line ATM locations. Meter running. Headed to Vellayambalam ATM. Might have been the last in the list. As expected, same situation, out of cash, there too. 😦 By now, it was quite certain that none of the Federal Bank ATMs in the city had been refilled for the day. Cursing the authorities, now the biggest worry plaguing our hero’s mind was to somehow pay off the auto driver without much hue & cry. But the reality was in stark contrast to his beliefs. Auto driver somehow guessed the plight of our tragic hero (not having a single penny to pay him) & spoke for the first time:-

Driver:- “Boy, did you have your lunch?”

Now our sick dude was seriously perplexed & taken aback by the question. Forgoing all the dignity & ego, he explained his pitiful plight to the driver.

He just smiled & said, “Saaramilla mone, varuu, enthenkilum kazikkam”.                    (“Doesn’t matter, come lets have something to eat”)

He took the boy to a nearby restaurant. Bought himself & the boy two meals with fish curry. Unassumingly, struck up a conversation. Talked about his own son of the same age studying for some degree program, & various other random things. Also gave some simple money-management tips. Consoled our now greatly relieved lad about the ATMs getting credited by evening & assured of dropping him back to his hostel. After dropping the guy back, the good old, wise man even offered some money if needed for some immediate expenses. Our boy duly declined the offer & took driver’s ph no. to pay him back when his account got credited.

By the next day morning, boy’s account was credited. He duly paid the kind driver his auto fare, thanked him profusely & promised to ask for his service in future.

AARRGGHH!! enough of this mask & veil throughout the story!! The boy is myself & that day I studied a hell lot, which were right in front of me, but always failed to take heed of. 🙂

Love

Vishnu Sivaprasad

Krishna….Ni Bhe Gha-Ni, Baroo..

Lord Krishna & Jesus Christ has always been my two most favorite deities. Its a special symbiotic relationship I share with them. I try my best to conform myself to the necessary deeds to let them live in me. The norms & nuances of  the relation are extremely simple. Whenever Iam broke, desolate, helpless & hopeless, I cry desperately to them, fling onto them my present disastrous scenario & seek an immediate realization of the desired scenario. Though they dont provide me with the sought after, desired, rosy-tinted scenario at the whiff of the moment, they do send certain symbols, objects, things, beings or subjects that serve me with my pursuit to happiness. Now I aint gonna give it fancy names like portkey as in Harrypotter or falsely interpret it to being a totem. They are just signs & tools they provide aiding in the directions to happiness & contentment, & are quite distinct in being themselves. Sure enough, it had always worked till now & its authenticity must be felt evident for you from the degree of conviction with which I speak. Now if you ask me, why particularly Krishna & Jesus, there is no definite answer. Have been fascinated by the tales of naughtiness of Krishna in his childhood, comic-relief in his  being a romantic lover with grapewine stories about having around 3000 wives, while all the time being righteous, generous & guide to ultimate salvation. All the while awed & inspired by Jesus Christ who shed his blood on cross conceiving  the wrong doings of mankind & freeing all humans off their sins.

Now, today, here, the topic on which I plan to shed my insight into, pertains to one of the concepts Lord Krishna brought into Bhagavat Githa as part of Geethopadeshams. Its called “Vasudhaiva Kudumbagam“. In modern terms, can be analogous to the terms “New World Order” or “White Globe“. Yep, you guessed it right, its peaceful, mutual coexistence. Everyone living as a one, big, happy family :). One world, one country, one state, everyone resonating the same heartbeat, identity & existence. Every language, every culture, every tradition preserving its own identity & bloodline while keeping up the TOLERANCE for others. Now let us dwell upon some of the obvious & explicit positives of “White Globe”….

1. No more…me, you….you, me…..mine,yours….yours,mine…. 🙂

2. The entire concept of defense & military, maintaining an army for each country looses its sheen & importance. For US, the cost of war in Iraq is $734,241,300,000 while that it wasted in Afghanistan is estimated around $284,324,900,000. Still counting. Now just imagine how much is being required for maintaining individual defense systems of each country. Of course, even for the “White Globe” concept, you may need a defense mechanism against an alien invasion, but for each other, we could save up all those dollars! 😛

3. Chain Reaction:- Since everything & everyone are open to all, modernity or a breakthrough erupting in one part of the world can scathe a trail throughout the world, without knowing any demarcations of boundaries.

4. No secrecy or competition: Governments no more have to shell out big bucks to keep their scientific discoveries & military strategies a secret for years from their own population & others.

These are just few, vague practical implications of “Vasudhaiva Kudumbagam” or “New World Order” or “White Globe”, as you may call it. I aint a bit learned enough to contemplate fully on its application or implications. Of course, the concept sounds like an UTOPIAN world, but it relies on each one of us for its worthy application. Satiated, if the post could serve you as a food for thought…

Love

Vishnu Sivaprasad

[P.S. Credits to my buddies, Adith & Praveen to share with me their own perception about the concept of “Vasudhaiva Kudumbagam”….Thank you, pals…. 🙂 ]