you are what you think

  The festival of light is just over. We celebrated with much joy and enthusiasm. One of the happiest part of Diwali is to share gifts and sweets with people around us. This tradition stemmed from the very need of spreading positivity among people outside our immediate family. Even we observe the tradition of distributing prasad after temple visit, instead of simply keeping the prasad to oneself. Why are we supposed to prioritize the well-being of outsiders? What is the need of generosity if we keep the religious reason aside? Some people are wired to act in generous way given any situation. This kind of acts don't arise out of any calculation. Some people are not capable of being generous. This is a pure spontaneous choice. Of course, one can practice kindness consciously in everyday action to support people around and inspire us to be better version of ourselves. But generosity is a way of leading life and it can not be forced on anyone. Human beings are designed to be social an...

  Living in a big city presents us with many opportunities to learn and grow. We get to mingle with people from diverse backgrounds. We enjoy multitude of options when it comes to eat, shop, play, travel and entertain. In addition, the same daily house chores seem interesting to perform with varied tools and technical products. There exists some flip sides of city life as well. The constant hue and cry of city can interfere with one's physical and mental health.  I spent my childhood in a small town. I used to hear about students enjoying sophisticated education system and used to ask my parents to send me to some good school there. As time passed, I got the chance to live in big cities in India and abroad. After spending few decades amidst fanfare of metro cities, now I yearn to go back to some rural place. There is a saying, 'home is where the heart is'. Once we get caught up by the life style of a place, it is quite difficult to reset the habits. The idea of uprooting f...

 Aaate jaate khubsurat awara sadko pe, kabhi kabhi ittefaq se, kitne anjaan log mil jaate he; unme se kuchh log bhul jaate he, kuchh yaad rahe jaate he - these are the words from a famous hindi song sung by Kishore Kumar few decades back. These lines talk about the strangers we meet randomly in life, some are forgotten, some are still occupying our memory. I have vivid memory of the public transports I availed in different cities across the world. Auto rickshaw drivers of India grab a fair share of that memory. Many of them brought the angry avatar out of me with their unjust demand, some impressed me with their inspiring attitude. I am going to dedicate this post to those auto drivers who made me realize that simple living and high thinking is still not a myth in today's world. I started my career in Kolkata where I used to catch auto rickshaw for commute, in case I missed the office bus. Auto fare in Kolkata is fixed for a given route unlike other cities in India. It used to be ...

  Its been a while since I have been trying to resolve the dilemma - which one can bring more good to our life - a mind with no assumptions or a mind with memories? A combination of both could have been the best choice. Unfortunately, such state of mind is very difficult to achieve. Human being learns from experience. Memories of good and bad experiences make us mature to navigate the paths of life. But the tendency to take all possible precautions often interfere with our ability to stay vulnerable to welcome new experience with open heart. It requires delicate balance. In younger days, I used to hear from elders that older days were better. Elder people used to describe their positive encounters with good natured people in their younger days. After spending couple of decades on this planet, I often keep thinking of my earlier days. And I also feel the same. Our next generation will feel the same when they will turn older. Does it mean the world is getting devoid of genuine peopl...