Before pushing someone too hard

Sometimes people do it for fun, sometimes out of ego or other strong emotions. They push a person till he surrenders.

 

When we are in the superior position we tend to forget about the cat, the cat always try to escape injury. It uses all its skill to run away but they say that a cornered cat reminds one of its wild sister, tigress.

 

In our jest or ego we ignore the feeling of others, and sometimes they surprise us by striking back with the vehemence of the cat, or worse, the deadly vehemence of a threatened snake.

 

That is why wise people don’t try the patience of others. They never push someone to corner. They let others decide what they want to do or should do.

Before criticizing

Never criticize a man until you've walked a mile in his moccasins. -- Native American Proverb

I have loved this quote ever since I first read this quote. I am very slow to form any type of opinion about anyone. Though I make a mental picture of everyone instantly but I take very long time to bring them on my lips. Usually I just skip the latter part and keep them to myself or share with some very hand-counted people. People about whom I am confident that will rectify me if they think I am wrong.

 

Very frankly speaking its very easy to say, “I would have never done that.” But if we dig deep we will see that almost all actions have roots far deeper than we see from above. And in most cases, if we go down with the root a little, with an open mind we will see that his life was leading to it.

 

No normal human being can happily do wrong things, so when someone does some thing wrong it means that there was something wrong with his life, or the circumstances in which the thing happened. Before hating or pointing our finger at him we should see and feel his condition.

Anything

Anything you could ever want or be you already have and are. -- David Russell

 

A handful of pearls stringed together to be worn by any one who can realize their worth.  Ever since the day I started to believe this quote my life became happier and content.

 

It’s a beautiful truth; we are what we wanted to be. If we don’t like it we can always improve ourselves to better but we should never be upset or sad.

 

There are some exceptions to every case, but most of us consciously make ourselves. We change ourselves due to different reasons and chisel out the latest versions. But we should always remember one thing, human soul is made of light, we can any time remodel it if we sincerely try. It’s not made of stone or metal that once done is done, there is no turning back.

 

I have seen people changing themselves completely, sometimes for better sometimes for worse.

An easy life

Do not believe that he who seeks to comfort you lives untroubled among the simple and quiet words that sometimes do you good. His life has much difficulty... Were it otherwise he would never have been able to find those words.

            -- Rainer Maria Rilke

 

We very quickly form this opinion. A person who is smiling too much has never tasted pain.  A person who preaches has not seen the real life from close circles. Mostly it is wrong. He has suffered that is why he is offering you the counsel. So that you are spared from the pain. Or may be he has seen someone else suffer. That is why he is able to offer you the counsel.

 

People who are courageous and wise rarely discuss their own pain and sufferings. For they know that they have reached this place of peace after suffering too long and bringing back those memories will only cause them further pain, without any gain. Just like putting finger in a wound that is healing. So they avoid those memories after learning lessons from them, and prefer to share their lessons with others so they are spared from committing the same follies.

Age and wisdom

Not by age but by capacity is wisdom acquired….. Titus Maccius Plautus

 

Wisdom has nothing to do with age. I have seen senior citizens innocent as small babes and young men and women as wise as sage. Just think, all the prophets of human history have gained immense wisdom before reaching maturity.

 

How much wisdom a person will be able to soak depends on his capacity. Some people soak wisdom by instinct. It appears as if they become wise by just being. They don’t need to study hard, they just read all the things we read and simply squeeze out the wisdom out of that. Have seen so many of them that I know its true about some people. They are just wise.

 

No one looks at their black hair, they just listen to them when they speak and realize that they are speaking the facts of life. They are uttering the greatest words of wisdom with the ease of a seventy year old weather ripe person.

Reading

Never read a book through merely because you have begun it.

            -- John Witherspoon

 

It took me years to learn this word of wisdom. When I was growing up I used to believe that if I start doing a thing I should finish it.

 

I have read so many horrible books and seen so many horrible movies just because I started them. Then I realized with maturity that the thinking should be done before starting. And if in the midway I realize that I am wasting my time on a thing then its perfectly alright to put it down after a through analysis of .the results and consequences.

 

I believe that its foolishness to continue in a road just because I started to walk in it, knowing all the time that it leads me nowhere or away from my destination.

 

Sometimes we realize our mistakes a little late, we should stop it then and there in place of furthering it.

 

Heroes

Our heroes are people and people are flawed. Don't let that taint the thing you love.

-- Randy K. Milholland, 

 

The above caption depicts my view on my heroes, my heroes are not celebrities always, they are sometimes people I love and adore and sometimes people I have never even seen. I hold the above view for both of them.

 

When we adore someone too much we tend to forget that they are human beings who may commit serious mistakes or even sin. If that mistake or sin is forgivable or his repentance is genuine we may re think before withdrawing our love and trust on him.

 

Its very easy to expect but its not half that easy to perform as per that expectations. It’s a harsh truth that we expect too much from our idols. Often that expectation crosses every limit of rationality. So we should be compassionate if they don’t meet our expectations.

 

That will make the life pleasant for us and easy for them.

The pond

When I was a child I used to live in Uttar Pradesh, my father worked there as a doctor, we used to visit burdwan once in a four year. At that time the pond attached to my ancestral home was well maintained. I still remember the warnings given out to us, to never go near the pond because one of my nephews have been rescued from it. Don’t know about the authenticity of the story but it reined our adventurous spirits for sure.

When I returned to live there in 1985 it was still fully alive and a fisherman used to breed and catch fish there. He had to stop it because of the harassments by the goons of the locality. After that the pond slowly filled up. If I am not wrong it must have been sold by now, that is the plot.

But back then it was beautiful. I have seen so many colours of it. When I first saw it, it was simply blackish from my first floor window and a little transparent from the banks. It never had crystal clear water, may be because of the fishes. During the monsoon the water used to become green, clear, distinct green and then the small plants used to cover the entire surface. It looked really gorgeous but the fishermen used to drag them away and pile in the banks because they disturbed the growth of fish.

There were atleast seven or eight coconut trees, two jack fruit, a berry and four mango trees surrounding it. These coconut trees were home to families of egrets. Their babies cry like human babies and make a strange clucking sound in the night. It took quite a time to get habituated of them but in toto they were quite amusing.

It was quite a beautiful sight to see egrets meditating on the water and the kingfishers on the branches, in case some absent minded fish gives them too easy a catch. When these two birds fly they make a very beautiful sight. Especially the egrets when they are flying against dark monsoon clouds. I adore that scene.

It’s a real joy to have a water body near your home and my home at burdwan had atleast half a dozen visible from the roof top. Water bodies are truly beautiful and are unfortunately the most abused things too. I am a big advocate of them. I personally believe its utter foolishness to fill them up or pollute them unnecessarily. Sooner or later nature settles the score.

Fruit bearing trees

I love flower trees/plants. They are the most gorgeous trees without any doubt. But fruit bearing trees have their own advantages too. Especially for those who love animals and birds and are a little grown up.

My home at burdwan had a lot of fruit bearing trees- coconut, mango, berry, guava, custard apple etc etc.

When we were growing up we used to fight tooth and nail with birds, squirrels and langurs. It was really fun. Now when I look back I think we were far funnier than those innocent children of nature. No sooner than we heard them squeaking in the trees we used to run and try to scare them away. Every one ran away but the langurs. It was next to impossible to make them leave. But we tried all the same.

Then after growing up it became fun to watch them eat. They used to spend hours on the trees, feeding on leaves, fruits. Feeding their children, nursing them, playing. As for birds and squirrels they were every day visitors. That did not reduce their charm by the way.

Its great to have some fruit trees around you if you don’t have destructible properties around them. For example, if you plant a few fruit trees in your vegetable or flower garden you will like rolling on the ground and howling when a group of langur or squirrels have been through them. They are very, very destructive. Sparrows and squirrels are deadly for small plants and langurs are killers.. they destroy almost all plants, sapling or grown up. But if you want to plant only big trees, in that case fruit trees can be quite fun if you want to share them with other children of nature.

As for me, my dream garden contains a small pond and lots of fruit trees surrounding it, and a covered portion full of flower plants.