Empty Your Cup

The Learned Professor came to the house
of the Zen Master to ask to learn Zen.

"You are most welcome, " said the Master,
inviting the Learned Professor in for tea.

They sat on cushions facing each other.

Preparing to make tea, the Master set a pot of water
on the charcoal brazier on the floor in front of him,
while the Learned Professor began to tell of
all of the books he had read about Zen.

The water having boiled, the Master made tea
while the Learned Professor told of all the insights about Zen
he had gleaned from talking to other great scholars.

The tea made, the Learned Professor held up
his cup and continued to talk about Zen.

The Master poured tea into the Learned Professor's cup.
And he and poured...and poured...and poured,
until tea was spilling over the top of the cup
and cascading onto the floor.

"What are you doing?" cried the Learned Professor.
"The cup is full. No more will go in!"

"Your mind is like the cup,"said the Master.
"How can you expect to learn unless you first empty your cup?"

Chak-De!

Watched the movie "Chak-de" on Sunday.
I was thinking why didn't I watch it earlier.. such a fool I am.

A very rich movie - full of learnings if you go with an empty cup !


My take back from first viewing;
-- Winning doesn't require strength, instead it requires intent i.e. vision.
-- To win, team must put all efforts towards the intent first, then for the team members and then if chance is there for him/her-self.

And many more.. but I don't want to put it now itself.

My action plan:
1. All the teachers in the school (Ankur Rishikul) watch the movie together, before school re-opens after summer vacation.
2. Set up a Vision for Ankur Rishikul.
3. Have action plan for next 3 months set
4. Get set gooooooooo

Holi - means colors !!!

Holi - The festival of colors.

We celebrated Holi at Ankur Rishikul today with children - children of age group 1.5 to 2.5 years. It was full of fun.

Preparation started few days back only. First, we needed to get the play pool. it got over in one store. Then I had to bug another store to order for me and arrange it fast. Fortunately, he did it and I could get it to Rishikul. Then, we went to get some "Pichkari". We got some, though we didn't like them much. well, not many options. Now the turn comes to colors. We though of making colors with house hold items.
Yellow - Turmeric
Red - turmeric with lemon juice
We also thought of using Beetroot, green leaves etc for other colors.

Yellow : this was fine.
Red: when I added lemon drops, no color change. I was surprised to see that color didn't change even after adding few full lemons juice. These manufacturers really package fake items. Turmeric is definitely not the pure one and it has huge "ghapla". I am going to write to the manufacturer.

I thought, let's use only yellow color and enjoy. We filled water into the play pool. It took a while to fill even half of it. We also put lots of plastic balls into it. Behind the scenes, children were practicing using the "Pichkari". Then, they were allowed to the pool area and to enter into water.
-- Some entered directly and started playing.
-- Some were seeing from a distance.
-- Some were touching the water from outside only.
-- Some took more courage and finally entered into it.
-- Some were crying also.

Water all over, children throwing the balls out and parents running to catch the, and slipping on the wet floor, some throwing water on others using Pichkari.. it went on like this for about 1.5 hrs. Then, finally, two children not wanting to come out of the pool. It took quite an effort to bring them out of the pool.


It was fun, fun and fun. Finally, I used to pool water to wash my car .. ohh my car also played holi !

I am looking forward to have Holi again next year in Ankur Rishikul with more children, a bigger pool and more colors. it would be really great fun.

Wish everyone a very happy and fun-filled Holi. Enjoy with colors - safe colors.

cheers.

Start again !!!

Time is passing by so fast and so many learnings in life.
I gotta to start again to post my learnings everyday now. I am excited and motivated too. I am gonna keep my promise now. Every day, however small, I would post here.

Prabhat
19-Mar-2008