WHAT’S YOUR STORY?

For me every person is a story. Each individual’s behavior, actions, and beliefs, portray a story. Some stories represent the darker sides of humanity while others illustrate the utmost level of benevolence. Some exhibit the indomitable will and human strength while others show fear and distress.

Some will get you motivated and teach you the right lessons in life while other stories will teach you the pitfalls to be avoided. Some will follow you till the end while others will leave you midway. Some stories will make your life beautiful while others will give you experiences.

The story of a poor young boy selling balloons outside a garden while a boy of the same age enjoying inside the garden with his parents shows the irony of life. In yet another story, a man jogs on a treadmill in his personal gym while looking outside and sees a poor man pushing a cartload of goods. In the former case, the man indulges in physical activity to keep himself fit while in the latter the man indulges in physical activity to earn livelihood.

The story of a typical middle class Indian household where a woman in the house applies a vermillion mark before turning on their newly bought AC shows how despite the advances we have made with time, we still hold on to our cultural roots.

A story of how an old woman waiting to cross the road is helped by a teenage boy shows how despite claims by the older generation that the new generation is completely cut off & do not possess any values shows that the younger ones still possess the will and desire to help people as and when they could.

Yet another story of how a middle aged couple fighting in a full public view lends credence to the old age wisdom of ‘not washing your dirty linen in public’.

Another story of an extreme case in which a man storms out of his house after a fight with his wife. As the day proceeds both of them realise their mistake and decide to apologise to each other in the evening. However, on the way home, the man dies after getting hit by a car. This shows the importance of cherishing & savouring each and every moment with your loves ones in this uncertain life.

These and various other stories that you experience fill you with varying emotions and shape your lives in a certain way.

Life is an experience to be experienced. And dealing with people is and will always be one of the top experiences. But how often we commit a fallacy by judging a story by reading just one line (a particular trait of a person) or reading the title (designation of a person). In my interactions with people I find them doing just that.

There is a lesson to be learned from each story. Just observe people, talk to them and you will learn something or the other from that person. You can learn some of the most important lessons of life that cannot be found in any book. So go ahead and enjoy as many interesting stories as you can. Talk to as many strangers as you can, get to know them, find what is it that excites them or gets them afraid.

It might be a bit uncomfortable for you initially and people might view you with suspicion but keep doing this and soon you will learn the art of talking to people and understanding which strings to pull to make them open their hearts out.

In the process you might end up making some good friends. As they say “Strangers are just friends waiting to happen!”

After all the important question is- in the end do you want your book of life to contain beautiful & interesting stories or just repentances and missed encounters?

Francois Pinault – Rising from Poverty to Becoming Luxury Retail King

Believing in what negative people think of you or giving in to self-limiting thoughts is the biggest obstruction to success. People who channelize negative comments into changing their lives are winners; French business mogul and art collector Francois Pinault is one of them.

                    Things went worst for Francois Pinault when he was consistently teased for being poor in high school by his fellow students and he finally opted to drop out. He turned the negative experiences of his life into a stream of positive energies, altered those negative words made against him into positive ones and proceeded in life with determination, consistency, and hard work. Difficult life situations made him learn to deal with them head on and he ended up becoming the man behind some the world’s famous high-fashion houses including Stella McCartney, Alexander McQueen, and YSL.

                               After quitting his high school in 1947, he joined his family’s business – timber trading. In the 1970s when he already had the knowledge of how to keep going on with business he started buying smaller firms and transforming them into giant enterprise. His strategy in taking over small enterprises and turning them into mega brands has helped him to establish the sprawling empire. Today his net worth stands over $15 billion.

                            His story is inspiring for those who believe in dreaming big and keeping faith that they do come true with perseverance and sincere hard work. Critics or doubters can’t take your courage away if you stay strong enough to stand firm, regardless of circumstances

Life lessons to learn

Life itself is an opportunity to make it meaningful and significant; some become explorer and dive deep to take out the treasure while the others just sit, watch, and applaud for them.
I
t doesn’t matter if you’ve been a C or D grader throughout your school/college life. At any point in time, you can evolve as ‘the greatest’ provided you feel determined for something worthy and work diligently.

Never give up on life. If at any point in life you feel losing the battle, think about the people  and many others; read their stories, recharge your soul and continue the journey. It’s you who can help yourself to emerge a winner!

Bruce Lee on Succeeding in Whatever Field You Choose

We are the result of our thoughts; success follows those who act upon their ‘right’, ‘pure’ and ‘positive’ thoughts that determine the outcome. A single negative thought can devour your body’s flesh, consume mental strength and vigor and drive you insane. Watch your thoughts, they are as powerful as sunlight and as dangerous as poison.

All dreamers may not be winners but all winners are certainly big-dreamers who are not bothered of failure; failure that carries the seeds of greater reward. They are bothered of affording a low aim. People with low aim surrender their hopes and dreams to self-limiting beliefs and reside within the blinkered outlook of the life but people with great vision embrace failure with open arms and arise on their way to success. Demand for success and live for your dreams; let failures come and go.

Cast aside all fixed patterns that limit your true potential and try to restrict in the circle of illusion where you end up in your same starting point. Fixed pattern never works out neatly or clearly specially for those who desire to evolve with their distinctiveness they have dreamt of. so just create a pattern on your own. Innovative ideas are often found outside the box, which is why creative people feel uncomfortable in the small fixed patters. They struggle, stumble upon and face gruesome circumstances but come out at the end.

When you are fenced in by the skeleton of your rigid habits, you actually close yourself from all form of probability that could have been taken you to the era of freedom where you can move like water, respond like an echo, and withstand the storm where trees get uprooted. Break the underlying layer of rigidity in your personality to grow while letting things happen in their way and adjusting to them

God, in reality, is no external being who does magic (as most of us think) when you’re at your knees praying for you wish. It’s actually impossible to find HIM outside of yourself, even if you try for your whole life; therefore derive bliss within your inner-self. When you demand everything from none but yourself you accomplish every bit of things you’ve ever wished.

“There is one Supreme Ruler, the inmost Self of all beings, who makes His one form manifold. Eternal happiness belongs to the wise, who perceive Him within themselves – not to others.” Vedas

A lifetime isn’t forever, it is to be felt to the fullest and explored to its full potential in your own interpretation; so, don’t adjust it in others’ concepts, squeeze it within any traditional or patterned ideas or discipline it in systems that don’t work for you.

Doubters are the greatest destroyers of self esteem and self confidence, they fill your aspirations up with gibberish and debris by showing you how everything is theoretically impossible. Remember, there will be doubters, non-believers but there will always be you to prove them wrong by shining in the morning glow with your positive beliefs.

We all have 24 hours a day but what makes the difference is what we do with this precious time. If you are spending time sleeping or imaging something or doing funny stuffs, you are really not wasting time but if you are spending time looking for the key to happiness or worrying at something, then you really are. The time wasted never come back, so invest it in every possible means.

Life is a series of punches and challenges and they will blow you off regardless of whether you wish for it or not. Difficulty or challenge is the passageway to engagement and improvement in life; therefore, develop the strength and vitality to endure and overcome them. The joy of overcoming difficulties is divine, don’t miss it.

You are born talented and gifted! It just is that you haven’t explored your true potential. If you’ve ever felt to copy someone (may be your role model), then take inspiration from how he/she dealt with difficulties, how they were strong and held their head high in front of struggles and overcome challenges. When you try to be the other version on someone, you will ultimately become Mr. NOBODY.

Do We Still Need A Reservation Or Quota System In India?

Whether to have a reservation/quota system or not is still a debatable question in India. The Indian Constitution has a law for the same and according to this; reservation has been made to bring underprivileged classes at par with privileged or general ones. There are numerous reservations like reservation for women, reservation for physically challenged, reservation for economically backward class, reservation for Scheduled Castes etc. Though, reservation system is an evident discrimination, but it had been started with a very good objective of uplifting the socially backward society to give them equality of opportunities. But with time its meaning and the way it has been taken by the people has left many of us to believe that it has stopped delivering for what it was made. People have started misusing it. There are many examples of people making false documents just to get a seat in a college or a job. This leaves the more eligible candidate to give their seat to a person belonging to a reserve category.

What has led to the formulation of reservation system in India?The deep rooted caste system in India is the actual cause of the reservation system. Dominantly, the skin colour of the person was taken into account at the time when caste system came into being, like the fairer ones enjoyed being Brahmins or upper caste and the darker ones were Shudras or lower caste. This led to the total segregation of our society and to equalize this, the idea of reservation came into existence after independence. Hence in 1950 the quota for backward classes was made and from time to time many new quotas and reservations have been added to this.
But still, the condition of so called underprivileged sections in India are the same even that we have crossed so many decades of independence. Reservation is working in the opposite direction to its main objective as is demarcating the society further. It is being used to uplift one section of the society at the cost of another, which is not fair. Instead of this there should be equal opportunities for all. Moreover, a capable candidate does not need any certificate of being from a lower caste to prove their worth. It is his mind, education and ability to compete that can bring change in life. Taking a seat just by showing your under privileged certificate won’t give you anything, but just the degree or a job.
Also the reservation system in India is creating a workforce which is not capable enough to compete at the global level. India needs people for growth and development but reservation is adding undeserving candidates as well. So I think reservation system should be demolished and if the government really wants to uplift the underprivileged sections of the society then a well-balanced policies should be formulated. First of all such sections of the society should be clearly identified that need development and financial aids. Then to uplift them free education, or incentives and financial assistance should be provided. Once done let them face the competition, true competition. Make them capable, show them theright path and infuse a fighting spirit in them as no one is against healthy competition.
There was a quota system in US as well, but it was abolished long ago. But it does not mean that they are not working for the underprivileged in their society. For admission and appointment purposes, now they have point systems in which people from backward regions are given some extra points but, not a certain number of seats. So, though the government is helping the needy, but it is not at all discriminating or snatching away the rights of eligible candidates.
Also from time to time such reforms or laws must be evaluated by experts and their impact on the development of under privileged and overall society must be assessed. Also, calculate the way these are changing the per capita income, number of people below poverty line etc. Politicians should stop using reservation system as a gimmick to have a permanent vote bank. Education should not be a part of politics. Instead nurture the saplings right from childhood for their bright future and then there won’t be any need of so called reservation system in India