Present - The only link between past and the future

 

With clouds all around in an evening flight from Delhi to Bangalore, the pilot confirms there is choppy weather ahead and hence, we need to tighten our seat belts. Thoughts of all that could go wrong in a splash of a second swirl in my mind, including a Netflix series where a plane went through choppy weather and as they landed, 5 years had passed by. And ah! I start thinking, that could happen to me too. It would have taken a maximum of three minutes to process this entire chain of thought, of all that could potentially happen and then, a small click in my head somewhere affirms, “Everything is alright, you will be fine.”

This switch in a matter of minutes, makes me think of how our mind plays games with us. I do believe, as we grow up, we tend to see everything with an element of skepticism and naturally more often than not our mind finds comfort in planning for the future with caution and at times negativity. It is equally comforting to make ourselves the victim in the current moment.

Common statements we all hear and practice where our mind is playing to give justification for our action in past or for a potential future outcome where we don’t want to take direct responsibility and not act in present moment

• I will be thinking of changing my department next year, if my peer is promoted and is going to lead the business, I don’t want to work with him in the future (we are so dependent on somebody else’s future actions, that we are basing our own actions/future on them).
• Although I didn’t want to go to a party I still went as my friends insisted, I didn’t enjoy it a single bit (the victim is also the decision maker of going to the party). It is comforting to put the responsibility on someone else.
• I have done my bit in this relationship, but my partner is just not understanding, they have always been like this (the victim here is me as I am the one putting in the efforts, either take the action consistently and be happy with it or move out of the situation). 

 Of course, in life, emotions are a little more complicated than what is mentioned here and we seem to be governed by many conditionings: self, social, moral, financial. But the ways of life can be less complicated if we try to live more in the present moment and have a broad idea of where we want to go as well as have a strong belief in our actions and unwavering faith.

Back to my fear of being a victim in a flight in bad weather to quickly watching the beauty of multi-layered clouds outside the plane window, I realised the journey of training my mind to be in the present moment has helped me immensely. I am able to time and again get back my mind to what I am doing ‘Now’.

This has worked wonders for me, my journey started at a time when I was going through a difficult phase in my life and I felt loosing control over all phases of my life and obviously future!!. Being the control freak that I was, it felt as if I was turning out to be a loser. Slowly, I realised, other than my actions in the present moment, I never had and will never have any control over the outcomes. The results were actually a manifestation of consistent effort in a particular direction and the power to work on those efforts came from staying in the present moment.

We are taught all through in our lives to focus to outcomes, achieve certain grades in exam or enter a particular university or a high paying job, complete the most profitable project, a happy married, family life, houses, cars, hefty amount in your bank account and then we will be happy… but having passed through the journey, I do feel we should change the teachings if you will enjoy the current moment and be fully immersed in whatever you are doing without thinking of the outcome, you will be happy. And being happy is what the eventual purpose of life is, isn’t it?

I do remember that my favourite assignments at work have been where I blissfully enjoyed solving complex problems, without thinking about the time in the clock or money I was going to earn. As those were the moments, I was living in the present. Such are the instances even in personal life. Present is where life exists.

Few practices which have helped me stay in the moment that I wanted to share:

1)      Start one day at a time - I started by living in the current day, worrying about just the present day, as living just in the moment was too scary for me in the beginning!!

2)      If you are worried about future or upset about past, indulge yourself in some other activity which engages you actively, walking running, painting, gardening, playing where your energy is well channelised

3)      Write down positive affirmations about yourself, reassuring yourself always helps

4)      This one is my second best favourite, I learnt from a reel of a spiritual teacher, when you are anxious, feel your breath, if you can feel it, means you are still breathing, means there is more that you can do ‘Now’. Be calm, you have not lost the plot.

5)      This is one is my go-to when my mind wanders - Do some Japa (again affirmation but towards the larger Universe or greater power)

6)      Last but not the least, living in the present does not mean you are not planning, it just means you are not worrying unnecessarily about the future and focusing on your actions for this moment and being honest about it.

Though I have surely not perfected the art and it is a work in progress, but to me Now is the only thing in my hand and rest all is designed by a bigger Power or Universe and is purely out of my control.

Most recommended book on this topic : Eckhart Tolle’s 'Power of Now' is an amazing one on this.

Motherhood

Spending time with my daughter on mother's day in her hostel was least on my agenda, but guess that was destined for today and I am enjoying every bit of it.
Having had a very conventional upbringing my own relation with my mother was quite traditional but she is the strong force behind my educational, professional and ofcourse personal journey.

My experience of motherhood has  taught me many a things and I am sure few more lessons to be learnt

1) Being a mother is being part of Nature's miracle : Giving birth to other living being is the nature's best miracle for expansion and I am grateful for it.  It is still surprises me how suddenly after giving birth to a child you start intuitively understanding how to take care, protect, nurture etc. (While this is also related to hormones, mother nature has a huge role to play to instill these emotions in us)

2) Being a mother is not just about caring and protecting always :To begin with, I thought being a mother was all about being around her, taking care of her against any hurts, it's much later I realised it is also about letting her fall, get up on her own and start walking again. Yet be there, when she needs you.
It is a difficult balance between being a pampering and disciplined mother, guess thats an art.


3) Life skills and Value system is the critical part : As was my duty to hold her hand when she started walking, it was equally my duty and was fun teaching her driving. I enjoy teaching her financial management skills as much as l loved teaching alphabets and colours to an adorable young kid.
Rather than telling her to keep digital platforms away for critical times, we had to make it a way of life at home first for her to subtly take the message .
Going on luxury vacation is only one form of exploration, we have explored trekking, kayaking and meditation retreats together as well.  Ofcourse, both of us have our terms laid out upfront for these outings, we try to enjoy what other one likes too.


4) Parenting is a test of patience : This is tested so often, be it on simple topics of what to eat, wear to complex topics of what professional course to take. When to get up in morning to which stock to invest in.
I am thankful bringing up a child has made me patient in other fields of my life too.

5) Self care : Last but not the least my biggest lesson is as much it is critical to take care of her, I need to take care of myself first, for motherhood is only one part of my life but not the life in total. This is the biggest lesson I want her to take.

I have frankly enjoyed every phase of motherhood and continue to do so but I liked being a friend more than being a disciplined parent. I am sure there are more twists and turns ahead in the journey, both with my mother and daughter and I look forward to it with open arms.

Coffee, Cake and Consistency

 Sitting in a newly opened bakery and enjoying a nice cake, I appreciated how nicely it was baked because all of the ingredients were well mixed and of good consistency. I wondered if that wasn't true for everything in life. Consistency creates habits, which define our approach to life and, as a result, how happy or satisfied we are.

Sipping a nice cup of coffee with a nice consistency of milk, water, and cocoa made me think that we all have the inherent strength, ideas, and intentions to achieve results, so why do only a few people succeed? Is it luck, fate, or some other factor at work?

When we were students, we wanted to take proper, regular notes, attend classes, and get good grades at the beginning of each academic session. But after the first week, we gave ourselves leeway to be lenient for a day, then a week, and by the time we realised, the year had passed us by, and we blamed it on bad company, distractions, and sometimes even teachers. Isn't it the same for the workplace? We blame our co-workers, competitors and seniors, but the question is, are we consistent in our effort every day? When the allure of a task wears off , we either perceive it to be simple, boring, or overly difficult. If by much effort, we get close to finishing the task, the last mile appears to be the longest. However, it is not the last mile that is the longest, but it is the point at which our willpower or interest are exhausted, that makes it feel difficult.

Similarly in our relationships, whether with family or friends, if we don't get into a habit of spending quality time with them on a regular basis, a drift begins and eventually the gap becomes so large that we can't bridge it.

I believe this is the same reason why religious rituals, such as mantra chanting, Sunday church prayers, fasting on specific days, and so on, were instituted in the first place. All of this helps us develop the habit of repeating the same prayer to the Supreme Being, providing us with the much-needed faith and assurance to keep moving even in the most difficult circumstances.

Many health businesses make a lot of money based on this psychological fact; many of us join health clubs at the start of the year and leave well before the 15th of January because maintaining consistency is boring and, ah! there is always a next month.

This is also a fundamental based on which the finance industry has picked up.  Mutual funds thrive on monthly Systematic Investment Plan (SIP) which is nothing more than making a habit of consistently saving and similar can be sent for loan EMIs. Unfortunately,  when you fail to follow these financial habits, there is a penalty to pay that we can see, but  there is a similar penalty for other habits that are not followed on a regular basis that we can not see. Non-financial inconsistencies result in more severe penalties, which are difficult  to quantify but are serious, such as unhappiness, restlessness, dissatisfaction etc.

As I pay the bill and leave, I realise the power of habit and how controlling one's mind of distraction helps make the habit of focusing on right objectives and  allowing us to live a happy and fulfilled life.

This morning my daily affirmations diary mentioned about the same "Good and bad habits both take time to acquire force. Powerful bad habits can be displaced by opposite good habits if the latter are patiently cultured." - Sri Sri Paramhansa Yogananda

Gratitude - The Real Essence

 

I read a beautiful line in one of the Insta-reels few days back, “If there was only one prayer you must do each day, it should be Gratitude”.

I always thought I was full of Gratitude for what others have done for me or what God has given me. But little did I reflect, it was a thanks to satisfy my own ego. Have we ever wondered what is Gratitude, the dictionary meaning of the word is to be thankful for what is being provided.

 There are lot of things in our lives to be thankful for, atleast I can say that for myself ...I am thankful for being born and associated with good family, basic necessity like food, clothing, shelter, good education, good organisation to work for, close friends, an active mind, active body, blessings of a Guru. I am sure each and everyone of us has got such list of multiple things to be thankful of and we do thank our God and stars for the same.

 Off late, I had been in discussions with various people on this topic of Gratitude and most of them agreed there are multiple things to be thankful for but yet they are pained and unsatisfied for many a things they don't have or they think they deserve but don't have.

 To yearn for more is not wrong as that is the tendency with which we are born. This is what keeps going and achieve new things, a fact well verified and attested by many a psychologists and spiritual gurus alike. Yearning for more is not bad but being unhappy during the process for that yearning is what makes us unhappy. As a shloka in Isha Upanishad says on yearning for finding completeness is all what we each one of us crave for.

 पूर्णमद: पूर्णमिदं पूर्णात् , पूर्ण मुदच्यते, 

पूर्णस्य पूर्णमादाय, पूर्ण मेवा वशिष्यते। 

Which simply put means, since Divine Consciousness is complete (Purna) and Inner World is also complete (Purna) and we all  manifest to have same completeness inside out and outside in  

 Hence, the basic question arises if we are thankful at one end, why are we unhappy at the other end. To me, we are thankful about materialistic or let's say tangible  things that we acquire mostly, a house, a car, a promotion, a child, a status in society, marriage, birthday etc. Have we not seen our good selves going to worship places and donating money on any big occasion when we are happy and thankful. We do this because we relate it to achievements of tangible kinds and this our way of thanking the Supreme. Likewise, we give gifts or return gifts on birthday parties, anniversary or other get togethers, again our way of showing gratitude to our close ones.

 I often wonder how many times have we shown Gratitude to God and others around us when we are in a difficult or unpleasant situation. Do we often say thank you God, I didn't get a promotion or pay hike, do we say thank you to our family members when they act or do things we don't like. Do we express our Gratitude for a person who cheated upon us or who let us down.

I had a boss in one of early career roles who I thought didn’t like me and hence I was denied promotions for two consecutive years and I would crib a lot about her. On a hindsight after a time lapse, I thought it was good as it made me acquire a new skill and look for a new job. But, I must admit for those two years, I was not grateful to her for her behaviour towards me.

 Gratitude is of course the only prayer we should do but with a slight twist

 We should be thankful for all the good things, pleasant situations, health, happiness, prosperity that we have but we should also be grateful towards all the unhappy, unpleasant and failures we encounter every day. Gratitude is not only a feeling of thanking God and near ones but it is also a feeling of surrendering to His will and situations we encounter with a firm resolve to keep on acting on every situation that comes our way. Its only when surrender is part of Gratitude, we are truly living the essence of this word.

 Every year on the  first day of the new calendar year, we  have a habit of going through how the year went by more as a reflection. This year we did it a week earlier on Christmas day instead and little did any one of us know what last week had in store for us and in one of the most unexpected event of loosing my father to a very short illness.

As much as I wanted to mourn his going and there was a portion of my mind which wanted to cry and have some emotional outburst but there was very undefined peace around the situation. Of course, I miss him and will always do but more than that I cherish the life he lived on his own terms with all his knowledge and flair. So, when I surrendered to the situation, it was calm and peaceful. And that is when I realised the true meaning of Gratitude.

 Gratitude is not an emotion to be lived on occasions but a life habit to be incorporated in our every day life. In grief, in sorrow, in happiness, in love, in tears and smile I hope I remember only one prayer and that is "Thank You"

 

The Wanderer

As a famous poet said

मंजिल मिल ही जायेगी एक दिन, भटकते-भटकते ही सही ।
गुमराह तो वो है,जो घर से निकले ही नहीं…

One will find their destination one day, even if by wandering array

Lost are those, who don’t step out of their home for fear of dismay

Earlier this year as lockdowns eased and I had my bout of Covid in first week January and got my Covid shots. With immunity developed in my body or so I thought, the wanderer in me let loose and I had to be on the road.

As I carried on my wanderings, a combination of long and short weekends, work travels, balancing  my work and family commitments, I went from far flung areas in India to a new country, it has been a fulfilling experience. Thanks to good telecom connectivity, I could manage many a things, long solo driving, road trips with friends, trekking, kayaking, hill stations, deserts, old and new cities, spiritual destinations, food tours etc. Though the range of places visited varied drastically, there were some common themes across, which were my learnings from the travel.

1)      Friends make the achievement and its celebration more enjoyable: A trek to Triund over a weekend through a beautiful town called Dharamshala. For reasons unknown to all of us, we took the difficult path to the Summit with almost 90 degree climb and for which most of us were underprepared. Heavy rain half way through, made us take shelter in this small tuck shop, sitting on on food containers and shivering in cold as we gobbled many plates of maggi, many cups of tea and bread butter prepared lovingly by young shop owner Bablu. 90 minutes went by in all the eating and chatting away the fun stories of the trek with him. Reaching the top and staying overnight in a small makeshift tuck shop, we were blessed to see million of stars and constellations. I can still close my eyes and imagine those diamonds like stars, true to the childhood poem shining so bright.

But the best part of the trek was yet to come post our climb down was a sumptuous brunch at a café in the winter afternoon sun, we had best of wood fired pizza, pasta, kebabs, kalamari, nachos, beer, tea, coffee, tiramisu and multiple rounds of it. Hours of non stop eating and laughter, I am sure we consumed more calories in this luxurious lunch than the ones we spent on the trek. I wish we could capture the feeling and fun in pictures celebration of this trek and laughter reminded me of the college days

 

2)      Childhood memories are fun to revisit : Very closely related was another trip, this time an official one and we were a group of colleagues visiting Shimla, another hill station. One of our colleagues had spent his childhood in Shimla and the love with which he took all of us around the Mall road, best bakery shops, best restuarants, his school, monkey menace, fond memories of crossing his old home and how he used to have fun with his friends and family, tasting each and every savoury he loved in his childhood, I could see him reliving all his memories in those when he was explaining the city to us. The happiness for him knew no bounds and thanks to him we could see the best of the place through his eyes.  

We all can grow up to do big things in life, achieve big goals but the child in us always remains and is as innocent as it always was  

3)      Life with limited variables is happy, peaceful and healthy :  Another trip to a small quiet village called Chitkul at a height of about 14,000 feet simply stole my heart. A village with about 100 houses, limited vegetation, a small water stream, limited electricity (now solar electricity is generated) but amongst all of this I was amazed to see people having such a satisfaction on their face despite limited means and what we call in urban areas as limited perspective. The homestay where we were staying was run by young people who would close the kitchen at 8 in night, difficult to city dwellers like us. In the morning, as we were roaming around in the village near the monastery, we met an old lady of 92 years sitting in the small window of her wooden house. As we started talking to her, she jumped out of the window with so swiftly that we were amazed, she had not moved out of the village for last 65 years but was quiet happy with her life with limited variables. She was for sure not having any FOMO and jokingly asked is what are we doing in her village and if we don’t have any work to do other than coming to these remote places.

I wonder if the life there is happy, peaceful and healthy  with limited options and variables

 

4)      Honesty still prevails despite commercialisation at its peak : We had two unique experiences in these trips

One of the friends left his Ipad in the train when we deboarded it and remembered it only after 2 hours or so. As we headed back to railway station in our faint attempt to recover it, we were not sure if we are going to get it but the railway police had the possession of it and gave it us rightfully after few checks. We were all surprised and pleasantly so to experience this when most of us in the group had lost hope of getting it back.

On the same trip, one of the friends left his phone in a quaint tea shop in a remote village and the villagers were nice to give it back when we went to take it. They even refused or should I say got angry when we tried to tip them.

Instances like this for sure reinstates faith in honesty, humanity and simplicity of life.

5)      Nature and spirituality display their true essence when they are in their true form  Going to far flung desert areas, higher up in himalayan alititudes to historical places in Gujarat, I felt one thing in common when spiritual and natural places are untouched they send us more subtle messages.

An old buddhist monastery in Tabo, had fresco paintings of Buddha which was almost 1000 year old, yet it gave such peaceful vibes though one is not allowed to click pictures or even throw torch light on it. Likewise an hundreds of year old temple in Gujarat in a quaint village was so peaceful with limited human intervention there. Just sitting in these places, takes one to a peaceful zone.

There were no pictures allowed in most of these places, they were devoid of commercialisation, very less visited, limited people around. Possibly, when human mind stops apply logic is the point from where consciousness takes it play and hence makes these places so peaceful

 

6)      Faith is your best and only co passenger in life – Through these travels, few of them with group and others solo, where I didn’t know the terrain, literally and philosophically, the constant companion with me was Faith or call it Trust. A trust that there are paths (read driveable roads!) laid out as moved crossed some very dangerous mountain passes, trust that the pilot who is flying the plane is able to manevour through the choppy weather when the predictions were not strong, a trust on one’s own ability or the group camaraderie that if we get stuck or one of us falls sick, we will be able to manage together and above all a Faith that someone somewhere has designed a path and journey for you and all you need to do is to start walking

 While there were many more instances and learnings, I just felt to pen these key ones in this blog.

 In this journey of life, I hope my learnings continue and hence the wanderings continue !

Oh, it paused !

 

 When I was a teenager, video cassette players were the newest gadget and it got cinema halls to our drawing rooms, a new technology made us crazy kids, watching 3 to 4 movies in a night, forwarding unwarranted scenes or songs, the poor cassette player would run non stop. One of these movies nights, it paused after just two movies and we could not fast forward it. The technician said, it got heated up by non-stop usage and has to be ‘cooled down’ for some time before we could restart it. Now, of course, the technology has changed and we can watch tv for hours.

Years later, I keep on remembering this through a series of incidents, where a simple pause button could help us.

Scene 1 : An annual business performance review meeting .Business graphs going northwards and aspirations to go higher and bolder. It was all applauds and nothing could have gone wrong. The meeting co-chair was all excited and passionate to grow the business. Of course, she was working long hours virtually everyday and didn't feel the need to say no even if her plate was full. This ‘can do attitude’ was the medal she was proud of.

Right after the lunch break, she started palpitating, felt breathless and within minutes rushed to a nearby hospital. Though the vitals came out to be okay, doctors said she was overworked, was advised to take some rest and ‘switch off’ from work for sometime. In a nutshell, she was asked to ‘Pause’ before she picks up again…Poor girl she didn't knew if that was a word in her dictionary !

Scene 2 : Final exam for the Grade XII, she was a bright student and had studied hard for the subject, pushing all boundaries, burning midnight oil, leaving no stone unturned, she was studying 18-20 hours a day, afterall it was her least liked subject, Mathematics and she had to crack it irrespective. Days before the exams, her anxiousness was so high, she didn't sleep for 3 nights before the exam and was totally tired as she entered the examination hall.

The invigilator handed her the question paper and her mind just went blank, she could not recall even a single theorem or formula. Results came out and she scored barely to pass through the exam, her worst ever performance.  

If she would have given her mind some ‘pause’ in days before the exam and given it the much deserved break, results could be different.

Scene 3 :A remote himalayan destination, serene, nature at its best and barely habituated. Of course, the phone signals are rare and one is virtually and literally cut off from the world. They say, if there is heaven on earth, it is in this place. A young couple is visiting the place to spend time with each other away from city life. The restlessness is visible on both their faces, as they are not able to check office emails and check if their team is on the critical project they left behind and yes, there is a critical project which is in the proposal stage and the wife is worried if it will be assigned to a contemporary instead of her.

After spending a day in utter discomfort with the realisation that network is not working, they realised the best thing is to click pictures and share with family and friends. Alas, that didn’t work too… They were so frustrated in the place because of non-connectivity, the entire vacation was all about finding a 5 minute network on one hilltop or a hotel corner and they could not enjoy it… Was it a guilt of taking a holiday or fear of missing out on action when they were away, but wish they pressed the pause button before they left the work for vacation, they would have enjoyed more. 

As I started connecting these dots, I realized it not just happens with me but with many of us. After all, human body and mind are like machines. It does get heated up and has to be paused to cool down before we start again.

What I learnt after years of frustration and ruffling many feathers in my formative years, I wish we were taught not only importance of excellence but also importance of pausing, many situation could be different. But as they say, ‘Its sunrise when you wake up’. I have my waking up and wish for all of us to have that too.

So now, I don't say  "Oh, it paused".. but I say, it is time to pause, so stop, smile and enjoy the moment.

Human Stories - Kolkata

Two years of pandemic and my life changed from an avid traveller to just shuttling between two ends of the Capital city. With 2022 and lock down easing out, my wanderings have started quicker than before.

Unlike my usual interest on non-metro and less crowded places, this time was one of the most crowded city in India, a city known for its literary depth, a city famous for its temples, a city famous for its food and also a city where income disparity so evident in its everyday life (which big city doesn’t have it anyways) ..this time it had to be City of Joy, Kolkata.
I have always loved exploring cities either by walking or cycling rather than in cabs, considering it was a long weekend and the roads less crowded, walking and exploring bylanes was fun.

Walking through the city does give you a chance to explore, understand the culture but also always helps me to connect dots through people’s behaviour.
Few things have remained common, whichever city I go to :

A) Food habits gives us a sense of belongingness:

Though I am not a foodie, but I had a long list of recommendation of places to eat even before I started planning the trip. A city which is famous for its street food, it was obvious for me to go and try it's Puchkas (sweet and sour water balls) at two different joints on consecutive days. I can write a long tale about their taste but there was a unique thing which struck me this time
Both the joints were well visited and they had one thing in common, in both the places there were large groups of young college students apparently studying out of India and were visiting the city for first time. Amongst these groups, there would be one city-native person who talks local language, Bengali for the shop keeper and English for their friends and was explaining proudly the culture, relating to the street food and telling them how to eat it and enjoy the food. There was a sense of pride for city in their tones. Despite being away from their native place for long, they talking about food of their city gave them a sense of being connected.

I remembered that's how I explain Indian food to my friends and colleagues who come from other countries.
Food, we eat while growing up being the basic human need, does give us a sense of belongingness and is inherent part of who we are. This is the sheer reason that despite having best food available in even the most renowed restrauant, one does crave for home food after few days (ghar ka khana!)

B) Passion and excellence drives customer satisfaction:
There is a college street in Kolkata where you can find millions of books across genres in a sphere of 2 kms, you name it and you can find it, be it history, philosophy, science, religion, fiction, curriculum based or otherwise.

We went there without any particular book in mind but just for the feel of the place and ended up buying multiple books. Now that’s not unique considering the love for books we have, but to my utter surprise I bought the book, ‘Physics for non science people’. I don’t and can’t read science books by the sheer volume of formulas and complicated jargons it has, but the reason, I bought it was the ‘shop keeper, Mr. Das. He was so passionate about his books, he asked our interests and kept on showing us books and discussed with us topics at length. His sheer passion and energy on his face was so evident that he cared less even if we buy it, he kept on narrating stories from this book as if it was a film reel and we ended up taking it, his passion was infectious.

Tea vendor : A tea-lover like me needs to find good tea-joints in any city I go. This one was little one tucked opposite the stock exchange in a corner shop, selling just few items, he has a huge clientele who would just drive by his small shop, you would otherwise ignore but for the long queue of people around the stall. The passion and smile with which he and his team serve the tea and few snacks item with it, makes the shop a case study of management schools in itself. I did notice each and every employee in the shop would engage with customers for a small chit chat, which gave it all a personal touch. Surprisingly, the pricing of a ‘kesar chai’ is almost 5 times I would pay to a tea vendor in Delhi, but he is able to justify it with all the specialty he puts in the tea.

Both these shops are not big, no branding, no advertisement but if I ever visit the city again, I will first head to them for the sheer customer centricity they have.

C) Human resilience is paramount despite all adversities:
Tourism industry though badly hit by Pandemic, I was amazed to see the optimism of the hotel staff
Staying in a luxurious 5 star hotel and talking to hotel manager on the outlook of the business, he said we are giving away many freebies in order to remain in business and sustain livelihood for our employees though cut down by huge numbers. There was a sense of despair as he shared hotel was on low occupancy but they were trying all they could to keep the ship alive. It is difficult to keep the hotel going despite the deep pockets, but there is always a ray of hope, after each pandemic wave of tourism picking up.

 
Right outside the hotel gate is a busy or should I say very busy flea market. There was a young, may be eight year old girl selling flowers which were almost wilting. I was observing her standing at the hotel gate, she tried to sell her flowers to me, unsuccessfully. With noon sun at its peak, she sat down tiringly at one corner and the moment she saw me looking at her, she again rushed to me, asking if I can buy her some food instead.I asked her, what she wanted to eat and there came a big childish smile and a spark in her eyes, Chowmein. Watching her eat chowmein with great satisfaction was a treat for me. The moment she finished her much desired meal, there was an optimism in her eyes, of selling her flowers again and she jumped to the crossing again convincing others.

Optimism for future and resilience, irrespective of rich or poor is a human trait we are borne with and it comes forth more in adversity.

D) We are all equal in eyes of God
As I headed to the most famous temple in the city, Covid and long queues did play in my mind. To my pleasure, it was not crowded and the arrangement was well managed with security guards at the entrance ensuring everyone was wearing a mask and maintaining a distance.

As we stood in the queue, there came a orange robed monk, who was trying to enter the temple without the mask and kept on arguing with the security that it is not needed and he will cover his face with his neck scarf. This monk seemed to be belonging to a big religious society is what I could infer based on the number of disciples with him. But neither the monk nor his disciples could convince the security personnel and finally they had to go and but masks before entering the temple.

I smiled when the security guard told the monk, Covid does not discriminate in monk or common man and I mentally added neither does God !!

As I headed back from Kolkata,it was good food, good shopping and above all a bagful of joyous learnings from the city… till the next wandering !