Why Running Matters | Keep the faith alive

I kind of empathise with Dean's blog. Dean Karnazes is a renowned ultramarathoner and the author of several books chronicling his long-distance, international running exploits. My recent experience at outdoor runs has impelled me to take a deeper look into why running holds such power. Why is it so important. When you distill it all down, here is what I’ve uncovered.

Fundamentally speaking there are so many things in life that divide us, that separate us and tear us apart, take us away from each other, be it race, religion, creed, color, socioeconomic level, nationality or any diverse factors. But running is something that we all share in common. Regardless of any of these divisive factors, we all run in the same way. It is a commonality we humans share in a world that emphasizes our differences.

Running unites us and brings us together because, in the words of the great Bill Rodgers, “We sweat the same. We struggle the same.” Running is a simple, primitive act, and therein lays its power. For it is one of the few commonalities left between us as a human race.

Toeing the starting line of a marathon, regardless of the language you speak, the God you worship or the color of your skin, we all stand as equal. Perhaps the world would be a better place if more people ran.

Keep the faith alive. Keep Running, Keep living

Human Paradox

I met a guy today in a coffee shop. I had escaped my gym routine today. 10k run yesterday morning with barely any proper sleep had definitely taken a toll on my body. The muscles were hurting and the body felt tired. After the daily grind of the office, driving back home listening to some country music, the soul inside me couldn't escape the thought of sipping in a coffee. I ordered one at a nearby barista on the way back home. A tiny timid guy in his early 20s came in to serve the same. The place barely had human souls. Blame the 9:30 slightly cold night after a busy Monday for commoners; most of them would preferred to go back home. So I tried striking a conversation with the guy who served my coffee. The young timid guy courteously kept the cup on the table and walked away. I said - "You seem to be new here. Do you work here during evening hours ? " He didn't reply. I couldn't control my urge. I asked again - "Hey". The guy just walked away. For a moment I took his behavior to be rude. I tried ignoring him but the human tendency of being ignored couldn't just sublime. Leaving my coffee midway , I strolled past the gate and went to the counter to talk to the cafe manager. I asked him why does he have such a rude staff and if they treated their customer same. He apologized and said, "Sir, I would like to apologize on behalf of him, but unfortunately he is deaf and cannot speak too".

I was left speechless. Coming back to my table I thought, how quickly and easily we judge someone without knowing the other side of story; How easily we expect from people without knowing the other side of story, how easily we extrapolate without knowing the other side of story. I thought, here is a guy who cannot speak and cannot hear but still he is working hard to make a living for himself, who still respect himself and not let his weakness come in between his survival quest. As he came back to collect the left over's from my table. I stood up, shook his hand. He smiled back. His smile sounded so comforting. The coffee tasted much better now.

As I was driving back I pondered paradoxes in the human context are abound. We are all human; but few are humane. Most of us think we are virtuous; but few are bereft of vice. We are all uniquely blessed with the power to imagine, extrapolate, inquire and to perceive beyond immediacy but so few see beyond the reach of their noses and so much consumed by the grind of daily existence. Many of us feel self-righteous; but few shrink from hurting the weak and vulnerable. To be fallible is to be human but individually we think we are infallible. Why does human intimacy rob mutual respect and interpersonal relationships so hard to sustain when man is so gregarious and craves for human contact? We are endowed with the unique power of reason, viveka (wisdom) andvichakshana (discrimination) but we act so often without them. We are infinitely creative but often mindlessly destructive. Instead of feeling ashamed for our anger and avarice, we use them as a cover and justification for their actions arising from them.

We make daily choices but often avoid facing the consequences.

Power of Dream

There is something beyond books and grades. The system has to get out of red tape and mediocrity. Every school should teach students to remove such words as mediocrity and compromise from their dictionary. Teach them about the power of dreams, passion, having a subject like biography or autobiography and tell those stories from the Wings of Fire, Made in Japanand many more. Every student should know about the great dreamers and achievers and the likes of Akio Moritas,and the Einsteins.

A very pragmatic and radical approach towards education is bound to take this nation to greater heights and would make the future citizens of the country to question the answers rather than answering the questions.

An educational system should foster a culture of change, a culture of dreaming high with a personal vision and a culture which would breed confidence in children. It is the sole responsibility of the educational system to blend the personality of the students at a young age and not that of the industry to start from scratch. The deciders of a future economy are the students of the present economy, but some one called a teacher (I would rather call them mentors and sculptors of the future economy) is required to catalyse the mindset of the future economy. A mediocre teacher teaches, a good teacher motivates, an excellent teacher inspires.

The power of dream is so amazing. It instills hope, the will the challenge the status quo. A new year, a new beginning, hope we dream more and dream big.

Happy New Year

Crisis of Intolerance

What we confront today is, above all, a crisis of intolerance. It is the fountainhead of our problems, for failed marriages, broken homes, social strife, and religious bigotry. Intolerance leads to irritation, irritation to anger and anger to violence and hatred. If hatred is the child of intolerance, self-righteousness is the father of intolerance, an almost visceral feeling that one is always right.

Tolerance cannot be transplanted particularly in an adult mind. It has to be germinated, nurtured and nourished from the embryonic stage, from childhood, at home and at school. Our most basic instinct, that we are always right, even more the other man is always wrong has to be tempered and tamed. Conflict and contention are inherent and inseparable from life. They have to be managed without resort to violence and injury to others and turned into a creative force.

What role can education play ? Well it essay a good role. A child should be taught that there are no absolutes; there are at least two sides to every situation; no one is ever completely right or wrong, good or bad and in life there is always a middle way of compromise and conciliation. Above all taking things for granted or being taken for granted is not going to help either of them. Character building and conflict management ought to be the main purpose of education. Stability and tolerance in modern societies are possible only if religion is restored to its original place and intent. Religious leaders of all faiths should take the lead in this endeavour. Technology should be kept on short leash and used to alleviate suffering and to better the lot of the weak and vulnerable.

We cannot talk about human species and human nature in abstract terms. It is but a conglomeration of all of us, no more, no less. In the ultimate reckoning, we have to look inwards for solutions. Buddha said on his deathbed "be a lamp unto yourself". Lord Krishna took pains to educate, instruct and guide Arjuna on where his duty lay. He did not proclaim "I say it; so you do it". A few days before Godse put a bullet into the already broken heart, a distraught Gandhiji said "follow your inner voice". Are we up to it or are we condemned not to listen?

The Regional Fundamentalism

The sole purpose of education was to make us better individual, to build a up a society free from the stigma of caste, religion, and other factors which are so insignificant when it comes to differentiate a person from another. It's depressing to see that these stigmas still play such a big factor in people's lives. We talk about nation building, we talk about building up a free and liberated society, we talk about space, research, scientific developments, we talk about rapes and molestation but somewhere forget that the regional fundamentalism has somewhere still plagued our lives. We talk about so many things but fail to apply the same in our own lives, we fail to apply the things which we believed are wrong. It's always tough to stand for it but may be humans are born weak, may be humans were never strong.

I never understand why the educated class fall prey to these stigmas. The concept of empowerment and liberated thinking can never be re-inforced unless we apply it and free our own lives. I feel sad to see people around me getting convenient day by day, taking paths that are easy and can be easily justified. We are trying to justify our weakness by pushing ball to other people's court, wrapping our in-competencies in the delicious wrappers of easy to be justifed thoughts.

We have this thought. "I cant really do anything about it". Well let me tell you - if you can't do anything about it, if you can't fight against it, don't talk fancy stuff. High time we get our 101 courses correct before even proceeding to advanced levels. Better give a right to someone else to be educated, someone who can fight for what you are. Poverty and illiteracy aren't the biggest problem we are facing today, it's our daily compromises that we make which is the biggest problem we are facing today.

Faith | Belief

If you ask most people, they’ll tell you that faith and belief are the same thing. I used to think so myself. And that leads to all sorts of confusion.

The trouble is they are interrelated, which makes them very close in meaning. So close, in fact, that many modern manuscripts don’t always differentiate clearly between the two. And that leads to even more confusion.

What Is Belief?

So our beliefs are things that we are thoroughly convinced of. Usually (but not always) they are ideas, concepts that we gather through acquiring information and experience. Because of that, our beliefs can change over time as we gain more knowledge and experience more things throughout our lives.

How Is Faith Different?

Faith includes our beliefs, but it is bigger than that. Faith requires action. If it doesn’t move us to do something or say something – actually take some kind of action – it’s not really faith at all. Until we take action our “faith” is just a bunch of words. As a side note, some people get confused and turned around on this point and try to do good things to generate faith. The last part of that whole faith equation is confidence.

Putting It All Together

So now you can see how belief and faith are interrelated. The difference between the two is subtle. When we believe the truth with enough confidence to take action we exercise faith. And it doesn’t take much of that faith to see huge things happen, even miraculous things. And you can see where unbelief, that is believing things that aren’t true – believing lies – completely clogs up the working of our faith. Unbelief prevents us from ever seeing the miraculous in our lives. Too often we spend time and energy trying to increase our faith We pray and plead with God, begging him to give us more faith.

The good news is that we can change our unbelief into belief. It’s really a fairly simple, straight forward process. We just need to become more fully persuaded of the truth instead of the misconceptions and lies that we are currently holding on to.

The more we expose our minds to the truth, the more we become persuaded and convinced of that truth. However this differentiation will always be subjected to one's discretion of judgement till the mankind is alive.

Law of Acceptance

Trusting is a fundamental part of acceptance. Many of us have a hard time trusting, possibly because of a deep rooted false belief that life must be hard, or that we don’t deserve the very best that life has to offer. We think it can’t be this easy. But trusting is a part of our Spiritual growth and by affirming Divine Order whenever we seem fearful or stressed, we stay in the positive flow and see how the very best happens. Hindsight often proves this to us.

We start looking at life as challenges for us to grow into the best people we can be, not just problems to be solved. When things are going in a different way than what you have originally planned, when you get delayed or plans get changed, or even when that car in front of you is moving slower than you would like, say to yourself or affirm out loud, “Divine Order, I know this is happening for my best.”

Relax and accept the situation exactly as it is. This puts you right back into your center of peace and serenity. With practice this gets easier and easier and you trust the process more and more. The great thing that is learned is that you do not have to give up your peace, no matter what is going on around you.

As you fully accept what is happening around you, you stay out of any fearful emotions, and can act, not react to the situation. You feel more empowered in the process, not angry at yourself for giving your serenity away. It has been wisely said, our serenity is in direct proportion to our acceptance of life. We can learn to let go of our fear based thoughts, trust the Universal flow of life and enjoy the journey even more along the way. Practice acceptance and things will be better.

The shit called Caste in India

Since time immemorial the world has been divided into different classes and categories, some depending on the birth right, wealth,knowledge and others purely by sense of belongingness. Thus society as a whole has always been on its way of division and its everywhere its absence is inevitable. The worst of all that happens here is when this difference causes the rift in between people who love each other in the form of inter caste marriage when both the parties families are neck on neck against it.

Life in itself is not much of a problem enough that even to be with the one we love and vow to spend the rest of our life is in it at the threshold. It is one of the hottest topics for every generation whether it is the classic Romeo and Juliet or even the next door neighbor. Despite the fact that numerous facts and figures have come and gone with time but the one and only constant thing which is never changing and remains till this day is inter caste marriage problems the much talk about of every nation and caste. Though we have had done so many development in science and technology; even we have been able to send men to the moon, brought up equality and freedom with education to one and all. Brought out the women from being the housewives to working mothers, yet this centuries old tag of issues regarding two different culture, caste or even faith has never been erased by the knowledge gained at expensive colleges or even by the high rise in the standard of livelihood.

Love is a beautiful feeling and true love is the greatest gift to mankind. In this fast advancing world where everyone has their own differences and individualism, it is very hard to get someone to accept us the way we are not for what others think or how the world looks at us. It is a thing to cherish and kept.

I just hope someday people get beyond the logics of caste and religion and accept humans for what  they are and what they do.

The Loss

A friend of mine lost his mom yesterday. I heard about it as soon as I woke up and was left reeling. What shall I do? What am I supposed to do? Shall I call him? Or shall I call his elder sister and ask about whereabouts? What shall I tell them even if I did call? What words and tone do I choose? How might he react? I myself was in a state of shock and remorse and then these questions. I have been crying since morning. I didn’t know if I would be able to talk even if I called him.

And then, I decided to call him, but then I could hardly talk for more than 2 minutes. I didn't want to weaken him anymore. Saying back , “I will call back”, I hung up. And then I thought I would leave him alone for sometime. That might appear rude, yet sometimes the best way to help people in pain is to let them be. Give them time to get over it. His loss is a tragic loss, and nothing I would say can replace the loss.

There is nothing I can do about this, is there? The dead do not come back, no matter how hard we wish they did. Yet I can’t help but want her back. Lots of people die every day, don’t they? Some are wished back and some not, still no one comes back.

And again as I take my hands off my friend’s cell phone number, I wish he hadn’t lost his mom, so that I could help myself from sympathizing with him, so that I could talk to him the way we used to and not feel awkward about it or anything else.

Anyway, the best I could do is: Dear Aunty, you were the best mom my friend could ever have had, and as much as I hope that you hadn’t gone, I sincerely wish that your son would be okay; that he’d have the courage to look after your family and himself too. I only hope he’d be happy again”

 

Breaking Taboos

“Daddy, I am so scared.” Twelve year old Tanaya ran and hugged her father.

“What happened to my big brave daughter?” “Daddy, I guess it’s blood.. Daddy, I think I saw blood in my skirt today.”

Tanaya had lost her mother six months back and Ashutosh, her father was finding it difficult bringing up his daughter all by himself. He was madly in love with his wife and he had ruled second marriage options as proposed by his relatives. He was a doting dad and tried his best to be a mother and father to Tanaya.

“Daddy”, Tanaya spoke again. “Daddy, I saw blood in my skirt. Rashi told me that it is periods. I am on periods. Am I on periods daddy?” It was not exactly a comfortable question for Ashutosh so he tried to evade her questions at least for some time.

“Tanaya baby, do you want an ice cream? Chocolate flavour?” Tanaya made a face. “You know daddy, Rashi was right. She told me that you wouldn’t talk to me about this. Even she discusses all this with her mom. I wish mom was alive. I am sorry I told you about this. Just forget that I ever told you this.”

Ashutosh was startled and a little ashamed. He didn’t want to make Tanaya feel bad about something which was so normal. He just wanted to buy some time for himself. “Tanaya sweetie, why would you feel like that? I am your mommy too, remember? I wonder why Rashi would put such things into your head.”

“Then why wouldn’t you talk about it daddy? I am so scared. Will I die like mommy too?” “Oh no baby, never ever say that. You are daddy’s princess.” “But daddy.. blood?” “Come, we’ll go out, have ice cream and then discuss about this. This is a wonderful thing. Always be proud of this.” Ashutosh held his daughter’s hand and escorted her outside the door.

As Tanaya took a large bite off her orange flavoured ice cream, Ashutosh asked her to narrate the day’s happenings. “Daddy, I saw blood on my skirt today and I am very scared.” “Well little Tanaya, let me narrate a little story to you.” “Oh sure, daddy. Make it an interesting one.”

“It is an interesting one, kid. When your mommy was as little as you, she also saw blood on her skirt. She ran up to her dad who told her that she had received the biggest gift of her life that day.” Tanaya had her doubts. “How was it the biggest gift of her life daddy?” “Because that day she got periods for the very first time. It gave her the power to be a mother. It gave her you.” “Does that mean daddy, that I can become like mommy too?” “Yes, of course, you’re already like your mommy with your hazel eyes and chestnut hair.” “Thank You daddy. I love you. I’ll tell that annoying Rashi that my father is the best. He told me everything. I have some more questions but I’ll ask them tomorrow. I need some sleep.”

Ashutosh heaved a sigh of relief. He’d broken a taboo. Tomorrow he would be adequately prepared to break another taboo and talk to her about something society would not have approved of. As he put Tanaya to sleep, Ashutosh could feel his wife smiling at him. He had not been a good husband to her while she was alive but he would try his best to be a good father to their daughter.

Courtesy – Ministry of Humor

One of the beautiful story I have read recently. As a society we need to develop perspective, talk about things that we have been always uncomfortable about, let loose our apprehensions, free our anxieties.

It’s a beautiful world and we can definitely make it better.