They need LOVE...........!!!

Bang..., Bang....!!! “What Crap!!”……. was lying on my bed on a Saturday morning. ‘Who is banging on the door on a Saturday morning’, I mused.. I stood up… rubbing my eyes… walked upto the door… opened it… “Hello” I looked down… and saw a short old lady standing at my door smiling at me… I tried my best to respond in a same tone… “Hi”… with a forced smile… “Son, I stay in the apartment right above yours. I wanted to discuss with you something…”… I guess I heard this only … was too sleepy to pay attention… Still… I replied, “ok…” “Can I come inside…?” she asked “Yep… sure…” I led her to the drawing room which was obviously – messed up (being a bachelor’s apartment). She looked at the sofa… bent a bit… held the side of the sofa… other hand on the seat… her legs and arms trembling… and she finally bent further and sat down.. Well… that for sure opened my eyes… “Son, I am an old woman, so I am sorry if I am bothering you at this time of the day.” she smiled. “No problems aunty. Please tell me”, I said “Son, I came to know from neighbors that you work in some computer related stuff. I was having a problem in sending an e-mail. I am new to this. I have never worked in this thing. So I thought, if you can help me”, said the old woman smiling… ‘What is it? The production support which I do in my company was already on my nerves. And now this lady comes at this time of the day and asks to repair her computer. Sending a Mail!!!!!!...’ I mused “Sure”… ‘I don’t have an option’… latter half was not audible... I hope… I went back to bedroom… pulled my towel underneath the pile of clothes… cursing my fate… went to bathroom… washed my face… came out… and what I see… Her smiling face…!!! “Let’s go aunty”, I said… The alley outside my apartment was not broad enough… and her baby steps assured that I walk the snail’s speed till I get bored to death… “It is such a beautiful morning… Sun’s out… cool breeze… perfect time to go and do some jogging… … …” she went on… every statement of hers was followed by ‘yep’ from my side… Anyway… we reached… I entered… It was silent… … I heard something… I guess it was my heartbeat… I heard her breathing… She looked at my feet and said “You can take out your slippers over there…” ‘Hmm… cleanliness freaks...!’ I took out my slippers… went inside. It was one of the most beautiful drawing rooms I have ever seen. “Nobody at home?” I asked her “I live alone, son”, smiled the old woman. ‘Alone, it was so difficult for me to believe that. This old lady who even found it difficult to sit on a sofa… had such a beautiful drawing room.’ “There it is, my headache”, she pointed towards the laptop on the desk. ‘Koool….. Log in… send a mail for her… and run back to bed…’ I switched on the laptop… asked her the login id and pass and opened the outlook… “Well … my son bought me this laptop. He is such a sweet boy…” she smiled I smiled back… concentrating on the screen. “He came … gave me the laptop… connected everything for me… the internet… I don’t know what it does… how it helps… but he told me using internet I can see the world… he taught me how to send the mail… how to receive it… how to make an email… how to start the computer… how to shut the computer down…”…. Second round…!! She went on and on… I smiled back… “So what is the problem, aunty”, I said pointing towards outlook. She looked at the screen. Her eyes almost closed with the radiations from the pc. “I … I used to send mail…”…. “I don’t know where I can find the mail which I sent….”, she said “In the Sent mails probably…”, I replied… “Ahah… Where’s that…??”, she asked… I took the mouse from her… “Give it to me aunty!!” I went to Sent Items and showed her the sent mails. “Aunty, are these the ones you sent?” I asked She touched the screen…. clapped her hands in jubilation… “Uhh yes’s... wonderful…. here they are…!!!.... They got stuck here… that’s why they did not reach him”, she smiled as a child. I was confused but I guess I understood her ignorance. “Aunty, If you see the mails in this folder which is ‘Sent Items’, this means… that the mails have been sent.”, I said. “Uhh… You mean… the mails are already sent to him!!” she asked I saw the screen. Saw the name to which the mail was sent. “Ya… Aunty. The mail has been sent to Ashwin Tyagi”…”Who he is?” I asked. “He is my sweeet son… I call him Ashu”, she smiled. “Hmm…” “Aunty, why did you think that the mail was not sent?” I asked. “Son, Ashu told me that if we click on the receive button, we receive emails. So I used to send a mail. Then I used to click on Receive. And I used to find no e-mail. I again used to send one. I clicked on receive. I found no e-mail. I have been doing this past 5 months. I guess you are mistaken. There is surely some problem”, she said. My heart skipped a beat. 5 months!! I opened the Sent Items again. My sleepy eyes missed the long list of e-mails sent to Ashwin when I saw it the first time. ‘Beta Ashu…. How are you… ? I hope you are fine. I am missing you so much. Come home some time.’ ‘Beta Ashu… did you get my previous mail? I did not get your reply…’ ‘Beta Ashu… I understand you will be busy with your work… don’t worry… reply whenever you are free’ ‘Beta Ashu… I thought I will mail you… I am doing good… I have made kheer for you. Do come’ ‘Beta Ashu… yesterday I had some pain in my neck… now it is fine… I applied jhandu balm.’ …… List was endless… And painful Was it the radiation from pc or was it something else in my eyes…!! Last email with the same ID was – ‘This is the test mail’ Swallowing what I saw, “Aunty”, opening the last mail, “Who sent this mail?” “Ohh… this mail was sent by Ashu only to show me how to send the mail”, smiled the old woman. I did not know how to react… when she spoke “I know there is some problem with the computer. I am sure. He called me a month back. He was in a meeting. So I could not ask him” “He works for a big company…. Earns a lot now. I am so proud of him”, she smiled. I did not want to. But I did say – “You should be aunty…” “Yess…” she said with her charismatic smile … “He is such a grown up now… so responsible… he is married to a beautiful girl who used to be his classmate. Now he has one boy and one girl…” she smiled and said like a child… “Both used to work out of town, so they shifted over there 3 years back. He used to call me earlier, but then he got busy… so we could not talk much. My ears started giving me some problem and I was not able to listen to him on phone, so he gave me this laptop.”, she said. I was still… I was listening to her… and was watching her smile which was excited by the thought of her son. “So, can you fix this son?” she asked I did not want to say that it is working fine. I didn’t have an answer better than this - “Aunty, I guess, the send button is working fine but the receive button is not working. So Ashu is getting your mail but he does not know that you are not getting his mail. But I don’t know how to fix it.” “ohh…”, she looked a bit sad. I was silent. All I could do. “…. Can you do me one more favour?” she asked “Sure aunty… sure”, I said. If I could do anything today for her!! “It is very irritating for me to type. Hitting those buttons! It takes me ages to find the characters. If Send thing is working, I want to send one last mail to my son. Can you type one last mail for me?” she smiled. I had no option. Yet again. But this time I guess I wanted to do it. I wanted to relieve her from this expectation of receiving a mail. “Sure aunty, tell me what should I type”, I opened a new mail. “Type…” “Beta Ashu… This is my neighbour typing from my pc…” “There seemed to be some problem in sending mails. So I called him to help me.” “He also works for a big company like you.” “He found the problem but he does not know how to fix it.” “The problem is that send button is working fine… but the receive button is not working. Hence, I am not able to receive your mails when I click on the receive button.” “Beta, it has been 5 months. Please come and meet me. I am missing you so much.” “I do not want this laptop. I do not want to see the world in internet.” “I want to see you.” “Come home.” “Your mother…” I typed the last words… I gasped and turned towards her… I guess I saw tears in her eyes … with the same smile… She wiped her eyes… smiled “Yess….please send the mail” I clicked on send. She stood up. Turned around. Went to the bedroom. I guess I heard her crying. I felt lonely… She came. Hurried towards the kitchen. “Do you love kheer??” she asked. I smiled… with the tears which just didn’t go “Yes aunty…” From the refrigerator she took out the bowl and gave it to me. “Have this. I made it with my own hands…” she smiled. I took the bowl from her. And I saw my hands were trembling. “Thanks Aunty… Thanks a lot”, I said. “Thank you Beta. I am so sorry… that I disturbed you this morning”, she said. A ‘tear-let’ fell from my eyes. But I guess I did well in hiding it. “No Aunty… Please don’t say so… do let me know whenever you need me”, I said. “Thanks beta”, she said. I put on my slippers. Went outside. “Bye Aunty”, I said. “Bye Beta”, I saw the last look on her face which saw the loneliness that was going to come. She closed the door. I stopped at the stairs. I cried for the lady who “sent” her love many a times… but did not “receive” anything in return… I really must say there will be many moms who must be having the same situation as mentioned here. Let’s not forget the person who loves us more than we love ourselves …

Good enough - I got some reviews... :D...!!!

I got some reviews for my earlier post. Some good, some neutral, nothing bad and some to improve that thought. I would like to highlight two of the thoughts from my friends Prashant Bacchewar and Hariprasad Govardhanam, which made me think a lot.
Let me explain the first one, Prashant asked me that “Do India has less job opportunities?” He also pointed out an example saying “We cannot find people to work in the farms.”
His argument was 100% perfect. So a part of 80% of people who are BPL is there because of their fault. Let us try to improve their attitude. We can help the other part of people who are trying hard, and who need some helping hand.
And the second thought was “How do you want to help them? Is it materialistic or in some other way?” This was asked by Hari. And his thought was “This dependence (the help given), if furnished, will only make them more dependent. We should encourage people to let them understand that they can improve themselves”
I felt that his argument was good. But just to add upon that “For the people who have basic amenities, the above would be a right thing to do. But for the people who don’t even have good food to eat, will this be a good thing to do? Let us feed them first, bring them to a position from where they can think about improving themselves. I don’t feel this would be crippling them by any means”
Money and material wouldn’t help anybody directly. In fact, it would increase the dependency. Money and materials spent in right way would be of great help for those 80% of people. One of the possible ways is to give education. And that’s why my ambition is to start an educational institution to the nation. This would be my returns to the nation which gave me everything.

By improving the status of the people, we can change India...!!!

Many people have always told that by changing themselves they can change India.

For them one small piece of information, according to IMF (International Monetary Fund) about 45% of us (Indians) are not getting even $1 per day and about 80% of us are getting less than $2 per day.
After saying this, I’ll put forward you some questions.
• How much money one require to have a healthy food, good dress and decent shelter?
• Do you think this $2 (approx. Rs. 96/-) will be sufficient?

Atleast, I don’t think so.
So, about 80% of us don’t have atleast one of healthy food, good dress and decent shelter. Isn’t it?
If this the case, How do you think they change themselves for good?
They need their basic amenities first, and this is the responsibility of the other 20% of us to provide them that. Isn’t it?
Let us provide the basic amenities required to survive and then let us leave them to change.

I feel by improving the status of the people, we can change India.

All they need is CARE..., Can't we give it to them who gave their entire life for us....!!!???

A frail old man went to live with his son, daughter-in-law, and four-year grandson. The old man's hands trembled, his eyesight was blurred, and his step faltered. The family ate together at the table. But the elderly grandfather's shaky hands and failing sight made eating difficult. Peas rolled off his spoon onto the floor. When he grasped the glass, milk spilled on the tablecloth.

The son and daughter-in-law became irritated with the mess. "We must do something about Grandfather," said the son. "I've had enough of his spilled milk, noisy eating, and food on the floor". So the husband and wife set a small table in the corner. There, Grandfather ate alone while the rest of the family enjoyed their dinners together.

Since Grandfather had broken a dish or two, his food was served in a wooden bowl. When the family glanced in Grandfather's direction, sometimes he had a tear in his eye as he sat alone. Still, the only words the couple had for him were sharp admonitions when he dropped a fork or spilled food.

The four-year-old watched it all in silence. One evening before supper, the father noticed his son playing with wood scraps on the floor. He asked the child sweetly, "What are you making?" Just as sweetly, the boy responded, "Oh, I am making a little bowl for you and Mama to eat your food in when you get old." The four year old smiled and went back to work.

The words so struck the parents that they were speechless. Then tears started to stream down their cheeks. Though no word was spoken, both knew what must be done. That evening the husband took Grandfather's hand and gently led him back to the family table. For the remainder of his days he ate every meal with the family. And for some reason, neither husband nor wife seemed to care any longer when a fork was dropped, milk spilled, or the tablecloth soiled

Heart is what is IMPORTANT....!!!

An old man lived alone in a village. He wanted to spade his potato garden, but it was very hard work. His only son, who would have helped him, was in prison. The old man wrote a letter to his son and mentioned his situation:

Dear Son,
I am feeling pretty bad because it looks like I won't be able to plant my potato garden this year. I hate to miss doing the garden, because your mother always loved planting time. I'm just getting too old to be digging up a garden plot. If you were here, all my troubles would be over. I know you would dig the plot for me, if you weren't in prison.
Love,
Dad

Shortly, the old man received this telegram: "For Heaven's sake, Dad, don't dig up the garden!! That's where I buried the GUNS!!"
At 4 a.m. the next morning, a dozen FBI agents and local police officers showed up and dug up the entire garden without finding any guns.
Confused, the old man wrote another note to his son telling him what happened, and asked him what to do next.
His son's reply was: "Go ahead and plant your potatoes, Dad.. It's the best I could do for you from here."

Moral:
NO MATTER WHERE YOU ARE IN THE WORLD..., IF YOU HAVE DECIDED TO DO SOMETHING DEEP FROM YOUR HEART YOU CAN DO IT. IT IS THE THOUGHT THAT MATTERS... NOT WHERE YOU ARE OR WHERE THE PERSON IS...!!!

விவசாயம்... வாழ்க...!!!

இயற்கை... நம்மை வாழவைக்கும் தெய்வம்..., நாம் அதை சாகடித்து கொண்டிருக்கிறோம்....!!!

அணிலின் முதுகு...,
குயிலின் குரல்...,
மயிலின் நடனம்...,
மாலை சூரியன்...,
மண் வாசனை....,
புல்லில் பனித்துளி...,
இவற்றை விடவா வேண்டும்..., ஒரு அழகிய ஹைக்கூ...???

மனிதர்களே...., கேளுங்கள் பாரதியின் பேச்சை...!!!!

தேடி சோறு நிதம் தின்று - பல
சின்னஞ்சிறு கதைகள் பேசி - மனம்
வாடி துன்பமிக உழன்று - பிறர்
வாட பல செயல்கள் செய்து - நரை
கூடிக் கிழபருவம் எய்தி - கொடுங்
கூற்றுக் கிரையெனப்பின் மாயும் - பல
வேடிக்கை மனிதரைப் போல - நான்
விழ்வே னென்று நினைத்தாயோ...!!!
- - - மகாகவி பாரதியார்...!!!