Bihar Divas

विगत २२ से २४ मार्च २०१० तक बिहार दिवस का आयोजन अपने आप में अविस्मरनीय था. २२ मार्च १९१२ को बंगाल प्रेसिडेंसी से बिहार को अलग किया गया था. इस ऐतिहासिक घटना की याद में और बिहारियों में a sense of pride और belongingness विकसित करने के उद्देश्य से बिहार सरकार ने हर वर्ष २२ मार्च को बिहार दिवस समारोहपूर्वक मनाने का निर्णय लिया है. पिछले तीन दिनों तक इस सन्दर्भ में लोगो में जो उत्साह दिखा वो अदभुत था.मेरे ख्याल से हम बिहारी अपने आप को underestimate करते हैं और यह मानकर चलते हैं की हमारी अलग से कोई संस्कृति और पहचान नहीं है. साथ ही साथ कतिपय कारणों से बिहार के बारे में मिथ्या प्रचार भी बहुत हुआ है.
लेकिन अगर हम पिछले तीन दिनों में गाँधी मैदान में जो माहौल था उसपर अगर गौर करे तो यह स्पष्ट है की बहुत सारी भ्रांतियां अब दूर हो रही हैं . हजारों की संख्या में लोगो ने देर रात तक सांस्कृतिक कार्यक्रमों का आनंद उठाया , बिहार के इतिहास पर जो झांकी प्रदर्शित की गई थी वो कई मायनों में बेमिशाल थी. नई पीढ़ी कम से कम यह अच्छी तरह से समझ सकती है की बिहार का वर्तमान चाहे जैसा भी हो इसका अतीत गौरवशाली रहा है. क्या यह हमारे लिए गौरव की बात नहीं है की प्राचीन समय में पाटलिपुत्र दुनिया का सबसे समृद्ध राज्य था. नालंदा और विक्रमशिला जैसे विश्वविद्यालय थे , गौतम बुद्ध, भगवान महावीर, सम्राट अशोक , चन्द्रगुप्त, आर्यभट ऐसे नामों की लम्बी सूचि है जिनका जन्म और कर्म क्षेत्र बिहार रहा है.

इस अवसर पर आयोजित कार्यक्रमों में बिहार के दूरदराज़ से आये लोगो ,खासकर महिलाओं ,की भागीदारी भी महत्वपूर्ण थी. तलवारबाजी, धीमी साइकिल रेस जैसी प्रतियोगिताएं काफी लोकप्रिय रही.

बिहारी व्यंजन की बात अगर न हो तो शायद यह चर्चा अधूरी रह जायेगी. लाई, लिट्टी चोखा , चुरा दही, खाजा, जैसी बहुत चीजें हैं जो विशुद्ध रूप से बिहारी हैं. इन सबका आनंद भी लोगों ने खूब लिया.

इसमें कही कोई दो राय नहीं की बिहार और बिहारी की भी अपनी एक अलग positive पहचान है. यह भी सत्य है की बिहार की उपेक्षा भी अतीत में हुई है.

But there are enough reasons why we should feel proud of being bihari- The first republic of world, Gautam Buddha got enlightment, Chanakya, the great econmoist and political scientist, The Nalanda University, valmiki wrote ramayan here, Sushrut, the father of surgery, Bhagwan mahavir, Kamsutra of Vatsayana, Aryabhatt-the great astronomer----- the list is endless.

Frustrated ?

Recently I attended a meeting of Programme Officers in which our Senior most Officer of the zone also participated. Apart from normal official business, what I observed was that most of participants were frustrated from current state of affairs. The overall view was that we were not getting what we deserve and that we are being cheated by the organisation. The overall work atmosphere has deterioted too much and there is nothing left for us to work or get satisfaction from our work. Our officer gave all of us a patient hearing. (That is his biggest quality. He always gives a person complete chance to air his views openly and completely and he never out rightly reject his subordinate's opinion and even never question a person’s ability to do a work) He agreed with staffmembers views but asserted that we must think what is best for us in the current circumstances. If we become aloof and inert or if we react in an extraordinary manner then Department will justify its act of sidelining us.So we must introspect and try to develop positive attitude even in adverse situation. After all we are being paid handsomely in terms of pay. Many of us may not agree with his views and say that he is preaching because afterall he has already got post and place.


Later on I thought, thought and thought.(After all thinking is my passion). I try to understand what make us frustrated. Most of us are in our Forties and Fifties. This is a period where we are in a position to just look back in our life and evaluate what we have gained or lost in life. Secondly, during this period our Children are in an age where some crucial decisions may have to be taken regarding them. Our parents may be too old and sick. They also expect proper caring. So there is a lot of pressure.
So when we look back and see that we deserve more then what we have got from our life and again we find that our life in the organization has become stagnant, organisation has become a shelter place for jokers, hypocrites right from the top, then we feel being let down and finally frustrated. Sometime we call it Midlife crisis, when we start questioning the very purpose of our life. Midlife crisis involves wide range of feelings such as discontent with life and the lifestyle that may have provided happiness for many years, feeling cheated with people who have developed some kind of bond and have been really close to us, feeling adventurous and wanting to do something completely different and finally questioning the meaning of life. This led to evaluating the validity of decisions made years before. These feelings at mid-life can occur naturally, or they can be brought on by external factors.

So what is the way out? Should we only cry, cry and cry or should we try to chart out a course to live life happily even in an adverse situation? The answer is obviously second one. This is the only way.

A Funny Story

Sometime you have to find some unusual ways to get things done properly. I have just read a really funny story. I will like to share this:-

Online chat:-

One FRIEND WAS chatting with a female .
( both are software engineers by the way and both work for real big MNC’s )

Male : Hey…GM (Good Morning)… How’s u doing today?

Female : VGM…Day is going good and it got better having found u on chat
Male : wow…am honoured, u know what, my day starts only when I find you on Chat

Female : Yep…me too feel the same…Brb (be right back)’ll get some Coffee.

Male : OK

(Hero waits impatiently. Meanwhile, his manager comes to his seat.)

Manager : Hey, I need some help from you

Male : [**** This *** always comes at wrong time] Yeah tell me

Manager : Could u write a program for me which generates 'n'th prime number, Given value of n.Would you give this by today evening?

Male : I would do that, but I think it’s quite hard, is it ok with you, if I Give it by tomorrow evening.

Manager: Yeah, that would be fine. Thank you [Leaves the place]

(Our hero sighs and stares at his monitor waiting impatiently for Female to Arrive. All of a sudden smiles on his face. Over to chat window…)

Female : Hey, am back

Male : cool, you know what my manager does, She’s kinda….. keeps asking stupid Things,tries to give me stupid work
Female : Yeah, it’s the same everywhere. Real sick ppl these managers are!!
Male : Yep, u rite!!

Female : Hey, can u do me a favor?

Male : (smiles) sure, why not.

Female : Hey, I want you to write me a program to print 'n'th prime Number, given N. Would you give that to me by tomorrow evening? Plzzz. You know it’s real Urgent for me to work this out

Male : hey, that’s a one-hour’s work. Sure check Ur mail in an hour from now. ok?
Female: THIS IS WHAT I ASKED U WHEN I CAME TO YOUR WORK PLACE. NOW YOU KNOW WHO I AM!!
AND ONE MORE POINT…. YOUR 1 HOUR TIME STARTS NOW!!

REALLY FUNNY !

MORAL : There is nothing wrong in exploring bizzare ways to get the work done.

Valentine day for me

We might have missed the deeper meaning of Valentine's day by singling out romantinc love as focus of this day's ultimate meaning. Love is multifaceted.It is much more, ya, much more then simply emotion.love is a force that can motivate,create,heal and transform the lives of anyone it touches. Many of us have forgotten that this day was created to recognise a saint.

We can see that the story of St. valentine represents many aspects of love.It was his love for God and his commitment to his values that made him to disobey the law.His respect for romantic love is also included in his disobedience.
SO what we should do on this day? in my view - being our own valentine, sharing meaningful and heartful appreciation to all the important persons in our life will be the ideal thing i.e. it should not be limited to our lover only, and finally recommiting to our spiritual values.
We will feel the real joy of life as we release the force of love into our life.
This may seem too simplistic, but love works.

Money can't buy happiness

Many of us feel very happy when we get some xtra money in form of arrear payment, bonus, honrarium etc. It is generally believed that money can make you happy. How much this is true? For example- As a general rule, the higher the price of a hotel room the cleaner the room. If you pay more u will get more cleaner room, gud ambience and naturally it will make you happy. at the same time less money more problm in a hotel room which may even irritate you , what to talk about happiness.

However I will like to be more broad and say that this is not ultimate happiness. - Money can buy happiness, but only if you spend it on someone else.Spending as little as Rs 10 a day on someone else could significantly boost happiness. It will make you happy to your inner core and after sometime you will be able to see world in radically different way.

Even then this not all , to be happy is very complex thing. Sometime very little things can snatch your happiness, and sometimes even big achievements donot lead to happiness. Recently I read a beautiful piece on various aspects of happiness. Let me put some points from this.

Happiness begins with understanding that we are multi-dimensional creatures operating on four distinct levels: physical, intellectual, emotional and spiritual. When all four dimensions are working in harmony it is much easier to achieve a state of inner peace.

These 4 Dimensions are equal in importance but impact our lives in very different ways. Learning the purpose and qualities of each helps you understand yourself and others more clearly and gives you insight into how you can improve your happiness quotient.

 Physical Dimension
Health – Play – Pleasure

Tune in to how your body feels when you’re happy.

This dimension helps us experience life through our senses, body and the energy around us. When we nurture our physical being we are better able to deal with health issues, body image, stress and various stages of life like child-rearing, career building, midlife and retirement.

Intellectual Dimension
Reason- Logic-Performance
Practice quieting your mind each day, focusing on the moment
This dimension rules our minds and allows us to reason, apply logic, appreciate precision, quality and performance. It also allows us to learn, accumulate knowledge, make rational decisions and bring order to our lives. All of this is good, but many of us spend too much time in our intellectual being. Thinking about work, planning or thinking about the past and the future can overwhelm us. When this happens it’s hard to appreciate the moment and we miss many opportunities to experience happiness through our other dimensions.

Emotional Dimension
Relationships – Self Image
Notice how you feel when you focus on the positive.
Probably the most challenging of the dimensions, this heartland governs our relationship with ourselves and others. A healthy emotional dimension allows us to be self-assured, confident and understanding of others’ emotions. It also helps us establish and maintain fulfilling relationships. Too often we dwell on negative emotions and this causes us to block out all the good we can receive from the other dimensions.

Spiritual Dimension
Beliefs-Concepts-Creativity
Allow nature, beauty and creativity to be an everyday part of your life.

While most people think of spiritual as meaning religious, in dimensional terms it refers to our conceptual selves. It governs our belief systems and inspires creativity and passion. When our spiritual dimension is given its due, we see the world outside ourselves more clearly, open up to creative expression and access the positive characteristics of the other dimensions more easily.

life is truly priceless. One should take care of all the above dimensions and happiness will be at your doors.

INTERNATIONAL WOMENS DAY

International Women’s Day is marked on the 8th of March every year. It is a major day of global celebration of women. The focus of the celebrations ranges from general celebration of respect, appreciation and love towards women to a celebration for women’s economic, political and social achievements.




There is no doubt women have strongest influence on us. However, the "battle" of the sexes is as old as the hills. In patriarchal societies, women are conditioned to accept men as the superior sex. But awareness, education, and life's struggles have led women to shed their inhibitions. Great women leaders, artists, scientists, and other professional women have inspired other women to overcome social obstacles. However, the course of womens empowerment is not smooth and hassle free. Our society still remains heavley in favour of males. Look, what happened yesterday? A historic bill on womens reservation could not be passed in Rajyasabha. Reason? Was it due to resistence from some opposition members? NO, The fact is that ruling party failed to show the courage at crucial moment. There is undercurrent that large number of MPs from ruling party are against this. So I strongly feel that now only a miracle can save this bill.

A society based on equal opportunity for both sexes is what we deserve. Unfortunately, even empowered and liberated girls and women are subjected to various kinds of injustice on the ground of gender. Many people still prefer a beautiful face over a beautiful brain. It will not be too much if I say that for large number of men a beautiful woman's face is like chocolate, cash or cocaine . they feel happy to be in company of a beautiful face and never try to recognise that many times an ugly face may have beautiful brain. This kind of behaviour has led to a system wher a girl or woman try to display her beauty in order to get recognision. And that is real discrimination. We need a society where beauty of physcical body should become meaningless and merit should be only criteria for judging a girl or woman.

Until women and girls are liberated from exploitation and injustice, all our dream of peace, security and sustainable development stand in jeopardy.

But we are living in 21st century. A lot has changed and I hope that sooner or later a society based truly on equal opportunity for both sexes will emerge. Happy womens day to all.