Love Indeed!

It was a gloomy noon for Sanjay, lots of things were running in his mind and he was not able to concentrate on work. He decided to take a break and go out for lunch. Anyone who saw Sanjay that day would have immediately recognized that something was very wrong. He had a bleak, expressionless face with an unkempt hair and as he walked out of the company premises, the merrymaking sounds of the Valentine’s Day celebrations at the cafeteria started to fade.

Not interested in anything, he entered the nearest Marrybrown and ordered some French fries. The festive mood set the ambience of the restaurant with red heart balloons everywhere. Sanjay's emotions took him back in time, when he was in a similar restaurant five years ago, where he had met his wife Sanjana. He remembered the magical twinkle in her eyes. Life was so beautiful back then and all happy moments of togetherness flashed in his memory. He remembered the days when He and Sanjana fought for their love and won each other with their parents' approval.   As he was in this beautiful reverie, the stern voice of the bearer brought him back to reality.

As he picked up his fork to eat, Sanjay realized that there was a beautifully garnished Fried Chicken special meal placed in his table. Irritated by this, Sanjay called upon the bearer and complained.

The bearer just smiled and said, "But sir, today being Valentine’s Day, this is our special meal. I thought you would be happy to have it".

Sanjay, who was in no mood to have a heavy meal said in a grim voice, "Please give me what I asked for, not something that is your specialty".

The bearer shrugged his shoulders and gave him what he had ordered for. Quenching his anger with a Pepsi, Sanjay finished his petty lunch and walked back to his office with no mood to work.

He suddenly remembered that he had left his car with the mechanic in the nearby garage. He decided to go check if it was ready now.  As he walked towards the garage, he remembered how he had gifted this car to his sweet wife on her birthday last year. Sanjay always wanted to be the best husband and so he would show his love by buying lavish gifts for Sanjana on every possible occasion. He had always been so happy with what he had done for her.  But with this car, everything that he had imagined crashed. Sanjana didn't seem that very happy with the car. She just smiled and gave him a faint kiss on his cheeks, but there was something missing. Sanjay was so irritated with her attitude that day as she did not understand the magnitude of love for her. From that day, everything changed. Whatever he tried to do for her, he was never able to please her. Small misunderstandings turned to arguments and arguments turned to quarrels. The twinkle in her eyes faded out.

Yesterday, when he had tried to put an end to all these misunderstandings with a beautiful diamond ring, things turned sour. He had never seen her like that before, her fiery voice reverberating through the whole house. She shouted at him and stopped speaking to him from then on.

With this woeful turn of events in his mind, Sanjay took a peep into his car seat lining. To add to his annoy, it was untouched. He summoned for the mechanic and the mechanic approached Sanjay with a proud smile. He directly came to Sanjay and pointed to the brand new Bridgestone tyres that were fixed to his cars.

With a gleeful smile, he patted on those wheels and asked Sanjay, "Sir, I've given the best to you. You must be a very happy man now!".

 A confused Sanjay said, "But I asked you to replace my seat lining, why did you change my tyres?"

"Sir, we are the only authorized dealers of Bridgestone tyres in this city. I thought you would be very happy to see these tyres. Anyways I'll fix your seat lining now. It'll be ready in another 15 min.

Nodding his head, Sanjay turned back to go to his office. Just then, a big poster in the garage caught his attention. It read, "What's the use of loving a person, if you cannot love them the way they want to be loved?"

 Sanjay's eyes were opened. He understood everything that moment. Sanjana's voice echoed in his mind. This time, he listened.

In all her frustration, she had told him, “I don't want your car, I want your care. I don't want your diamond ring, I want a friend. Sanjay, why can't you understand what I need? I need you. I need your love, I need your time. When only are you going to understand me?"

Sanjay realized profoundly that he had always given his wife what he wanted to give her and not what she needed. He gave her what made him feel great as a husband and not what she really wanted from him as her husband.

He rushed back to his office and asked for permission for the rest of the day. He came back to Marrybrown and ordered for Sanjana’s favorite - Chili Cheese Burger, to be packed. The bearer packed it and gave it to him and said, "Sir, Chili Cheese Burger! Just, what you asked for!” Sanjay took it and with a huge grin thanked him.

His car was ready, by the time he reached the garage. The seat lining was perfect. Exactly, what he had asked for. The mechanic came and handed over the keys to Sanjay and said, "Sir, just what you needed! “ Sanjay smiled again and said "Thank You".

He rushed home to surprise his wife. He was so happy and as he entered his house as quiet as a cat, he saw Sanjana seated on the sofa. He opened his arms and in a romantic voice called her, "Honey, Happy Valentine’s Day!”

Tears welled up in her eyes as she ran to her beloved.

“I love you sweetheart!"

"Sorry for all that I told you yesterday", she said as she embraced him tightly.  

Sanjay saw the twinkle in her eyes again as he gifted her, her favorite Chili Cheese Burger, just the way she liked it.

A Love that meets a need is Love indeed!

WYSIWYB - What you see is What you Believe

Little Billu was wide awake and was staring at the artificial stars and the moon on his ceiling. He could not sleep that night as the excitement over his grampa's visit was still lingering in his little heart. His grampa had got him lots of toys that day, but even before he could play with them, mummy had asked Billu to go to bed early. He loved his grampa and wished he could spend more time with him. The voices outside the bedroom were so clear and Billu’s heart ached to be a part of those voices. Just then, the voices grew louder and Billu realized that they were nearing the bedroom. As the lights were switched on, Billu jumped out of bed and hugged his grampa. He knew that his grampa would sleep with him.

Billu got onto the bed quickly and was waiting for his grampa to finish his prayer. Grampa winked at Billu after finishing his prayer and got into bed. "Story! Story! Story?” little Billu demanded and grampa read him a story from a book.....

Once upon a time, there was a well-educated man who announced to his friends that he would not believe in the existence of god! He said that he would never believe anything which he could not understand.

An old farmer overheard the remark, turned to the young man and said, "As I went into town today, I passed a field where some sheep were feeding. Do you believe that?" "Yes," said the young man. "Not far away from the sheep some cows were also grazing. Do you believe that?" "Yes," was the reply! "Not far from the cows were some pigs eating grass. Do you believe that?" "Yes." "All right, now you listen to this," said the farmer. "The grass the sheep ate turned into wool. The grass the cows ate turned into hair. The grass the pigs ate turned into bristles. The grass seeds that the chickens eat turn into feathers. Do you believe that?" "Yes," the young man said. "Do you understand it?" "No," admitted the young man.

"Young man," said the farmer, "if you live long, you will find that there are a great many things which you believe without understanding. God is one of them."

Billu smiled and slept peacefully in the cozy arms of his grampa.

Next day morning Billu could not spend time with grampa and left for school with a longing heart. But when he returned, he was in for a pleasant surprise. His grampa had arranged for a small picnic and away he went, along with his parents to a beach resort. After spending a lot of time in the beach the family sat together for dinner. Grampa started talking about his next book - "on belief and God!”, but daddy didn’t seem too interested in it. Daddy quickly finished his dinner and commented, “I will not believe in the imaginary god. I believe only in things that I see, hear and understand". Grampa just smiled, he did not answer. Instead he asked Billu to tell everyone a story. Billu got excited and narrated grampa's latest story without skipping a beat. Daddy stood up and said, "I don’t understand how the same grass changes into hair, wool, bristles or feathers, but I do see it. I believe it because I see it; I can now understand it with science. So, it again comes back to my belief on things that I see and hear - what I see and hear is what I believe. I don’t want to understand everything, but I need to see or hear to believe in something. So I don’t believe in God! I have never seen him nor heard his voice.

Grampa was silent; he again had an ‘all knowing smile’ on his lips. After helping mummy set all things right, Grampa invited Daddy for a walk. Billu understood that his daddy had won the argument but he did not want his grampa to lose. He knew that grampa was taking daddy out to talk more on this. Billu stayed back indoors for a minute, he knelt down and prayed. He then jumped up and ran out to catch up with grampa.

Grampa walked slowly and was waiting for daddy to complete his call on his mobile. After the call got over grampa asked daddy, "imagine if I gather a motley crowd and utter the word 'cell' and ask them what was I referring to, what do you think they would answer?” Daddy thought over it and answered, "They would definitely tell that you were referring to a cell phone". Grampa looked at daddy in the eye and smiled. Daddy started thinking again and said, "well it could have also been a ‘battery cell’ or to ‘sell’ a product". Grampa said, "It could have also been perceived as a ‘bacterial cell’ or as a ‘prison cell’, right?". Daddy nodded. "But why where you so confident when you said I was referring to a cell phone?" grampa enquired. Daddy said, "That’s because I thought that you were referring to the cell phone". Grampa nodded. Daddy said, the context in which the word was spoken also matters and in the current context I believed you spoke about the cell phone.

Daddy was sporting a victorious smile as he sat down on the shore of the beach. Grampa sat next to him and said, “son, have you ever wondered why two different people see an elephant and a mouse in the same shapeless cloud?". Daddy said, "It’s because it depends on their perception - what they think the cloud looks like”. "Exactly!” affirmed grampa as he stood up. He continued, "see son, the act of seeing and hearing when understood deeply will reveal you the truth. You told me that you will believe only things that you hear, but did you know that you only hear what you believed you heard? The act of seeing is coordination between your eye and your mind. The eye presents the picture and the mind attributes a meaning to it. This attributed meaning is what you see. Your belief system preprograms your mind and this directly is responsible for your perception / context. So, your belief is the base. If my mind is preprogrammed with “fullness”, I’ll see a half filled water bottle but if my mind is preprogrammed with “emptiness”, I’ll see the same water bottle as a half empty bottle”.

When I asked you what will people perceive when I say 'cell', you were very sure that everyone will perceive it as a cell phone. You claim that in this context this was applicable. But if I had asked the same question in the same situation to a school goer, he would have heard it as a ‘bacterial cell’. A shopkeeper would have heard it as ‘sell’ and a jail warden would have perceived it as a ‘prison cell’. So don’t you realize that there is something deeper than a context or a situation? Daddy just blinked. Grampa continued, “You need not accept my view now, but think over it. You will understand that your beliefs drive you. So the fact is: what you believe is what you see - what you believe is what you hear”.

“Son, I believe God created everything and so I am able see God’s hand in everything. You believe that everything has a scientific tint to it and you are able to see it. On a larger scale, this is exactly what all religious doctrines tell us – “Believe and you shall see”. Daddy looked up and smiled. His smile was his affirmation.

Billu did not understand anything that was going on. But he understood that grampa has won the discussion. Billu believed his grampa would win, and he saw it happen.

Mirror Mirror

 Rahul was a dedicated employee. He worked overtime everyday and made sure he finished his daily tasks before he started home. Everyone liked him for his dedication and there was even a gossip that the top management was planning to promote him to a Project Manager level.

With an ever smiling face Rahul always made people around him glad. He was friendly with every colleague of his and life was going smooth. That’s when Swetha joined the company as a Test Engineer. Little did Rahul know that she was here to Test him. In one of the casual talks over coffee, Rahul recognized that Swetha was his 5^th grade colleague in school. Both of them were excited to know how life had brought them both back together. Though they never even exchanged a word during their school days, a new kind of friendship started blooming between them.

Swetha, being a very bubbly character, became the centre of attraction of the company. She too was a dedicated worker, and even though people advised her to start early, she would make sure, she derived complete satisfaction from the day’s work before starting home. Everyday, after work, Swetha and Rahul would discuss everything that they did that day. Their friendship grew. Swetha came to know that Rahul was married to his college sweetheart, and that they were expecting a baby shortly. Rahul came to know that Swetha lived with her parents and was planning to get married soon.

It was the company’s annual meeting and awards were given to employees who excelled in their respective fields. Swetha was awarded the “Best New Employee of the year” award. As she was collecting her award, she was asked to give a speech on what she felt about the award. She smiled, took the mike in her hand and just said “Thank You!”, before breaking into tears. She came down and sat next to Rahul. Rahul was not sure, what he should be doing. He took her out to the refreshments area and they both sat down near an ice cream stall.

She looked at him and asked, “Rahul, a woman is equal to a man right? She can do anything that a man can do, right?”.

Rahul smiled and said, “Yes, why are you asking this?”

Swetha wiped her tears and told Rahul about her real life. She said how, her dad lost his job two years back in the government employees strike. Since then, it was she and her sister who were expected to run the family. Though her dad who was a very good person at heart, he believed that girls were a burden. He had this belief that girls cannot do anything for the family, they were just an expense. To add to the woe, her sister who got married last year, had a fight with her husband and was back home. Though the family is comfortable now, her dad would always lament every evening that how he was unable to run his family and how these girls are useless. He always had this feeling that they will leave him someday.

She said, “You know Rahul, I always feel that I am failure at home. That’s the reason why I put in extra effort and work in office to get a sense of satisfaction to know that I am worth atleast something”.

Rahul understood her pain and that evening, dropped her in the bus stand and started home. As he entered his home, his wife stared at him with a dejected look. “Late today too?”, when will you understand Rahul?”. Irritated at her inhumane attitude, or atleast that what he thought, Rahul said he had dinner and went straight to bed. All through the night, he was thinking about swetha and all the pain that she had been hiding behind her smile. He slept with thoughts of how he will be able to help her. The sun rose, and Rahul had an idea.

He started early to office, completed his day’s tasks earlier than before and waited for Swetha to join him. Swetha regained her bubbly smile and came and sat near Rahul. Rahul started to discuss his solution with her.

He said, “Swetha, I feel, you are trying to escape your situation at home. Trying to stay late and gain satisfaction from work is good. But at what cost? If you had spent the same amount of time with your family, won’t it be better? I understand your dad’s concern. Take him out somewhere, bring him to office once. Let him see, where you work. Let him know that you care for him. Instead of trying to run away from what you do not like, try to change it and I tell you, you have the power to change it. A person who is able to win the best new employee of the year award within six months of joining, can surely change the situation in her family. Talk to your sister, you will surely be able to resolve the situation.” 

Swetha smiled, “I understand Rahul. But I am not able to break free from the mindset that home = failure”. Rahul said, “ I understand Swetha, lets get started from today, start early today. Take your sister to temple today evening. See how things change.” Swetha looked at him with a blank face. She stood up and said. “Let me try, Thanks Rahul”, and she left.

Before Rahul could get up, a thought pushed him to sit and contemplate. What was he doing with his life? Why was he working late every day?

He did have a wonderful marriage with his sweetheart, but all the love seemed to wane as their life moved on. Since theirs was a love marriage, his wife Diana, had left her family and decided to live with him, just like how he abandoned his family. Love was in the air for some initial days, but then somehow misunderstandings cropped up. Religion, which was never a divide between them, suddenly started taking an upper hand. His simple expectations, like even requesting her to keep a bindi, were understood as activities where he pushed his religion into her. Added to the woe, he was not sure, in which faith he should be growing his child. All these confusions, made him stay late, work hard, go home and retire to bed immediately.

What was he doing? He realized that he too was just escaping from his situations. He understood that everything that Swetha was facing was very similar to what he has been hiding away from. Now he knew what he should be doing.

He woke up early next day, prepared coffee and woke Diana up. Surprised to se the change in attitude, Diana hugged him and cried. Both got ready to attend church that day. As he was dressing up, he looked into the mirror. There was a label on the top corner which read, “Shwetha Mirrors”. He just smiled.

How true! Friends are truly mirrors! What did your mirror reflect to you today?

The Dreamer Bee

There was once a dreamer bee among the honey bee community of a particular jungle. his dream was to build a colony on the tallest tree in the jungle. it was a time when survival was tough as every honey comb the community built were identified and plundered by the humans. when all others were busy in building their next comb, he would narrate fantasy stories of how he would achieve his dream. since most of the bees were very badly hurt in the earlier combat with humans, building of the new comb progressed slowly.  without lending a helping hand he told everyone that if he accomplished his dream then there would be sustainable surplus food for everyone in the colony.

that evening as he was roaming in the wild jungle he got trapped inside a huge moving box. this moving box rolled along the irregular jungle roads and pulled into a clearing in the jungle. the dreamer bee had never been to this place of the jungle. as he was trying to understand what this place was, the van in which he was trapped entered the garage of the new factory. when the door of the van opened, the roaring sound of the machinery, brought shivers to the bee. but being an explorer, he decided he would explore this new place and tell his friends about his new adventurous journey.

as he flew past the huge machinery, a very familiar smell filled his nostrils. yes! it was honey. the new factory was a honey processing factory and it had a huge resevoir of fresh honey. the dreamer bee leaped with joy and flew back to his colony to share the good news of availability of a huge tank of fresh honey. but to his dismay the elders of the community ridiculed him for his lazy attitude in helping the community in building the comb. after a bitter quarrel, he was expelled from the community for spreading false rumours and also for being lazy and bringing disgrace to the otherwise busy honey bee community. the dremer bee decided it did not want anyone as it found a better place to live. he flew back to the factory and tasted the fresh honey from the reservoir.

he relaxed in his new found home, the hole on the wall that was just the right fit. he was so proud of his achievement and cursed the elders for not alowing the others to enjoy the freedom that he promised in this new real utopian place. days rolled by and he drank and relaxed and did the same thing over and over again. he found a new bigger hole as his first home became too small for him.  he had always dreamed of becoming a king and now he was living like one. every now and then he used to think of his life in the jungle and how his colony bees risked their very lives to bring honey to the comb. there were even times when no food was available and they kept on their vigil for honey in empty stomach.      

he believed that he being a bigger person now can speak some sense into the elders and ask everyone to leave that risky life and come to this royal place.  he, after a very long time flew out of is royal palace. he realized that he was not able to fly as he used to. with a good purpose in his heart, he pushed hard and continued his journey to find his colony. he travelled far and wide, but was not able to find them.  as he flew towards the center of the jungle, he reached a very familiar place - his dream - the tallest tree in the jungle. he realised that he had almost forgotten about this dream of his. as he looked up, he saw a big graceful honey comb in the exact way what he had imagined. he saw a group of enthusiastic honey bees hovering over a dandelion and extracting nectar. there was another group of bees practicing the art of stinging. he saw the little bees struggling to cope up the butterflies in identifying the right flower to sit on.  the dreamer bee's eyes swelled with tears and soon he realised that though he had a surplus amount of precious honey with him, he never lived his life.

wake up dreamer bees ! where are you heading to ? do you remember the time when you were happily in pursuit of your dream? do you remember the days when you woke up with excitement and enthusiasm just to get closer to your dream? live your life! live your dream! you just have one life to realize your dream. build your dream and the dream will build you.