Lesson from a flying bird-a story

The bird in the sky moved its wings repeatedly and went to a height. And from that height it glided slowly and slowly with its apparently motionless but fully spread wings. The movement was like that of a still mind exploring the different layers of consciousness one by one with each circle.


Vima was laying on a grassy land with his face skyward. He looked at the bird, which was pleasantly gliding making circles in the yonder sky. The bird was enjoying a meditative rest and the earth was acting its force on its movement. The bird rested in the lap of nature while the flying body was slowly descending down. The bird enjoyed the gentle wind as the wind buoyed its feathers up. The evening sky splashed all its golden touches on the bird. And the circling bird seemed to represent the joy of the creation.

Vima, got up. The skyward gaze and his oneness with bird filled his life with enough inspiration. Mr. Vimshankar Birla alias Vima was a millionaire but he had no peace of mind. He was only moving his wings frantically to rise higher and higher. In the mad upward ascend he had forgotten to commune with nature. He had forgotten to fall freely under the motherly pull of nature. He had forgotten to rest in the lap of his creator. The bird taught him the lesson of little rest to enjoy the world.

The bird’s fall is a state of inactivity filling the gap in between two cycles of intense activities, where the soul finds harmony with the forces of nature.

A baby at play.

I was travelling in a chair car compartment of a train. I was comfortably seated and by my side a small family was seating with a small attractive baby-girl. The baby in the lap of his father intently looked into different things around the world. She looked with the seriousness of an adult to explore the world that was so new to her. Her hands slowly played over the zip of a gentle man’s bag. She ran her little fingers on the knob of the zip and inspected with all attention. Saliva dripped from her mouth and wetted the collar of her warm cloth she had worn. She was like a tiny scientist.


Before the baby could complete her exploration, the station arrived and the couple in a hurry assembled their luggage and went away. The father held the baby tightly in the rush and distanced the baby from the bag and the zip. The baby was looking fixedly to feel the zip for some more time and the zip was missing the genuinely interested human touch of a clear conscience.

NEW YEAR MUSINGS : MAN and EARTH

The earth completed a revolution around the sun and the year 2010 left the world stage waving its hand and playing a fading farewell smile. During the allotted 365 days, the year unlocked many mysteries and at the same time it also put many fresh questions which miserably confirm the ignorance of man.


The enigmatic difference between man and earth is that the earth moves round the sun like a stoic. No rush, no imbalances, very streamlined, obeying the laws of nature. But man on earth hurries throughout his/her life till he falls flat on ground. Overburdened, incomplete, always antagonistic to the laws of nature, he finally meets a hollowed end.

It is true that the preceding years never appear before the fast galloping human race. But it is always educative and wise to feel the shadow of past years because they teach a lot about our follies. There should always be ‘a looking back’ in every forward progress. More or less, ‘LOOKING BACK’ is a human compulsion as it assures us that we are not disintegrating in a state of inevitable rootlessness.

The days turned over like the pages of a book. The year 2010 dawned and whizzed past swiftly. But man is handicapped and helpless because the swift movement of time is unidirectional. In memory he may pine for the moments that have passed by but he cannot relive them.

The best thing with a book is that you can go back to the previous pages of a book. But this freedom is not granted with time. Time is irreversible and the greatest pity of life is that you cannot sail back on the ocean of time. It is a bloody one-way traffic.

Each day his hopes went on growing till the harvest time

Human sweat and blood mixed with the untilled soil. The labour, the aching muscles and a little rain sprouted into slender green leaves. With each day, new hopes grew in the form of the green plants. The sweating farmer looked smilingly at the growing crops and inhaled the fresh breeze that came over the undulating field.

The pulls of the bullocks, the weight of the plough and the commitment of the ploughman to the soil had all gone into the field to produce the food for the millions. The farmer hoped to present new clothes to his wife and child this season. He hoped to clear his debts. He hoped to live a life with a little warmth.

Each day his hopes went on growing till the harvest time but one day the sky announced a heavy rain with dark clouds and thunder bolts. His leaking roof had wetted the floor. A stream of muddy rain water was flowing by his half demolished hut and another farmer was listening to the radio that reported,” The continuous rain has devastated 20% of the crop of the country. The P.M. has called for a high-level meeting in this regard.”

The next day the local dailies published that the shattered hopes and utter desperation of a starving peasant ends in a bottle of poison.

(India is shinning but China issued separate visas to Indian citizens of Jammu and Kashmir. Mr. Barrack Obama declared India a developed country but onion is sold at Rs 70 per kilo. The precarious conditions of India need immediate solution. The persons at the helm of power have to rise from their slumber. Life is too short. They should not involve themselves in corruptions like 2G-spectrum. They have miles to take India before they pass the reigns to next generation. I love my India and I love even its corrupt politicians. But at the same time I would repeat the catch line of Shiv Khera that says, “COUNTRY FIRST”)

A peep into the future

I closed my physical eyes but with my mental eyes peeped into the future….into the far… far future. I stretched my hands to feel the beauty of the future. I viewed the next generation and my influences on them. I imagined what elements of my existence will be carried to the next generation and how that will manifest in improving life on the planet. I thought of the future where I am supposed to be no more in physical form but my life’s impulses may get a room if they manifest constant enrichment to human life in the non-material level.  

Each step taken in the present will bear on the future. A life in the womb expectantly looks at me to give him a better future.

I woke up from the future travel and my eyes caught the sight of the troubled present. I felt “I have miles to go, before I sleep.”

As a guide to the next generation I shall extend my touch to the future through the coming generation.

By coincidence or by my fate I am a teacher. And I will love to remain a teacher because the teachers affect eternity. They cannot say when their influences stop.