Being truthful or Gandhiji was truthful ???

What is more important for children to learn: Bring truthful or knowing Gandhiji was truthful?

While reading some article this question struck and a storm of thoughts started streaming through my mind.

Our education system is teaching children,
Gandhiji used truthfulness and non-violence as weapons to fight for freedom. Along with this, the whole story is taught. And also the dates and events. At the end, exam paper will have a question like:
Explain any four points about Gandhiji's ideas of satyagraha.

What is the purpose of such an education? I used to hate history during school days and so do many children. We kill their interest to learn, potential to learn, purpose to learn. And blame conveniently, "today's generation doesn't have any values". As if these children have come from an alien world and haven't got anything from this world.

What I would like to do is, create value of being truthful. To substantiate that value, we may tell stories of Gandhiji along with  Netaji, Shivaji and whoever we feel can add a value, irrespective of  all boundaries in the world. Being truthful be such a liberating value that a child can start looking into life and world around through a totally new and empowered perspective. This can lead to development of strong leaders in the world and many more beautiful possibilities and creations.

Let's take a commitment to spread this awareness in all the parents around and let today's children learn the values and live them, instead if mugging and vomiting into answer papers in exams.

I am seeing a beautiful world with love and peace in the air !!!

Crop pricing - Govt vs farmers

I had been to a seminar by Subhash Palekar on Zero Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF). I will share more about it later. For now, I want to share something I am thinking about since last 12 hrs.

A builder sets the price of a house to sell.
A TV manufacturer sets price of the TV.
A car maker sets price of the car.
Fuel prices are decided by producers.
Air fare is decided by service provider.
Even land prices are decided by the current owner.

Why a farmer is not allowed to set price for the crop he/she produces?

Second question that pinched me hard:

We are ready to spend more and more money for movie tickets, food@restaurants, dresses@malls, cars, travel, doctors, teachers and everyone, except the farmer who takes lot of efforts to produce a healthy food risking the yield and going against so many hurdles by not using any of harmful pesticides/fertilizers/practices. If the farmer fails to sustain and quits farming, and worse, all farmers join the group and take up jobs that has better money, where will get our food from? I am really feeling scared to think about that day when no active farmers are there and farm lands are converted into commercial/residential ones.

I don't know what will be the solution at the end. But, I think it is definitely worth to think about it now and come up with suggestion/thoughts that may lead to some workable solution.

I have expressed by fear here. Hope I get some sleep now.

Is our stomach hungry ???

Mere pet me choohe daur rahe hain !!!

I am so hungry as my stomach seems to be empty !!!

etc etc

Many of these phrases we hear/use daily. But, suddenly I got a thought.

First, guess where?

Well, my favorite place - Yes, toilet !!!

The thought is about a question: where is hunger actually - in stomach or somewhere else?

If there is no food in the stomach, it should be happy that there is no work. Rest for sometime. why does it create noise? And further, it doesn't make noise all the time too !!!

So, we need food for energy and stomach is instrumental in this whole business. But, who arrives at a need for energy in the body? Stomach, naa..aah. It must be the brain !

The brain senses lack of energy and checks the stomach for supply of it. If it finds it resting and no work in pipeline, it asks to make noise and we feel hungry. Sounds pretty reasonable. I would need to talk to a medical practitioner to confirm.

So far, one thing is clear. Hunger is actually in the brain, not in the stomach. Then, why do we keep trying to satisfy the stomach with food? We should actually satisfy the brain. in satisfying the dumb stomach, we end up eating so much that stomach gets work more than it can take up and gets stressed. Anyone stressed will err like we often do at our work !!!

I was listening to Dr. Deepak Chopra and he was talking about Ayurved. He says that if we eat with experiencing the food with our five senses fully, brain gets satisfied. And surprisingly, with much lesser quantity of food. It also solves the problem of over-eating as well as our need for energy is served pretty well. And the most important, we enjoy the food completely.

Brain is more intelligent than the stomach. Let's have faith in the brain and wait for it's signals. So from today, let's eat for the brain and not for the stomach.

Happy eating.

Where do I live?

Where do I live?

Someone asked me yesterday. it is a very generic question, anyone asks. I also answered normally saying I live near........ But, then as I was walking towards parking lot, this question was hitting me. More than that, the answer I gave was hitting me. I live "only" at home?!? What do I do at other places - At work; At market; On the road etc etc? Am I dead at these places and again start living when I reach home? Very disturbing questions.

At home, I feel very comfortable as it is mine and I can keep it as I want. And that's why I feel living there. At work, as I am "working" and that's not as much fun as I get at home, I feel like working instead of "living". So, I start looking for ways to "live" in office too. And similarly, at other places.

So, when someone asks me "where do I live?"..I shall answer.. "wherever I am.. at home, at work, at market, at movie theater etc etc". What a funny answer it would be !!!!!

What is life for?

I read somewhere : Toh kyaa jindagi sirf khwab poore karna ka naam hai ???

I got some ideas and thought of putting it down before it evaporates.
Life is all about
-- Creating dreams
-- Making it happen
-- Creating new dreams

If there is no dream in life, today is left to chance. Only dreams yet to be fulfilled tell us what to do today. So..... Have a lots of dreams and spend every day taking at least one step forward to fulfill them.

Breakthru' vs Breakdown

Someone said this statement to me and struck my mind:
"When you take some action, only two possibilities are there: Either you have a breakthrough or a breakdown".

There are few things that I told myself:
1. Wisdom is to welcome both of them equally warm.
2. If nothing is happening in life, perhaps I am not doing anything.
3. When there is a breakdown, it is an opportunity to have multiple breakthroughs.

Old vs new things !

As we move on in life, we pick up things that we like and start carrying them along. There will be a time when there will be no capacity to pick up any more. That's when we trade with losing one by dropping it and picking a better and new one. If we love the old ones so much that we can't drop them, then no possibility of picking up new things.

These things could be objects, knowledge, ideas, opinions, habits etc etc. Many of us dream of doing great things in life and yet only a few actually goes ahead and does it. But, we never bother to face the inquiry "why we are not able to do those great thing?" Reason is very simple, we are scared that we will be asked to drop one of those old things that we picked up sometime in life. So, we "CHOOSE" not to drop an old thing to pick up a new one. On the contrary, if I want to do something new/different, I will have to create some space by dropping an old thing.

Moral: The more easily we drop an old thing, the easier it becomes to pick up new and better things.