BYBS: Those Who Took a Stand!

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All of us, at some point of time or another, have been discriminated against by others or, like it or not, have held a prejudiced opinion about other people based on caste, colour, sex, creed, money etc. Often, these biases get so well ingrained in a person that they become like second nature.

Today, in spite of what the dooms day prophets might say, the world is a much better place than it was fifty years ago. Most countries of the world now have democratic systems which allow the principle of equality to thrive. These systems allow people to raise their voices if they perceive injustice being meted out to anyone.

It is, however, a fact - and a sad one - that a majority of us will still choose to ignore an act of discrimination, sometimes even when we ourselves are at the receiving end. We simply hope that in time this will go away too.

But, it won’t…unless someone acts.

We simply cannot imagine today what persecution people who stood up against any discrimination suffered, when society thought of the discrimination as the most natural thing. For example, when caste system was socially accepted in the Indian society, it would be suicide for any one from any caste to try and fight against the system. Similarly, I think, in the US when the discrimination based on colour was widely accepted, anyone- regardless of his colour- who raised his voice against the system, would be ruthlessly crushed.

Yet, people stood up for what they thought was right. These people did not care for what the society – their friends, relatives, peers – thought of them and their ideas. They knew that their cause was just and they were prepared to go to any length to fight for the cause. We remember many of these men and women as our heroes today, but many, I am sure, must have perished without anyone knowing of their sacrifice.

With today’s post I would like to thank everyone who has stood up for what is right, without worrying about what the others said. It is because of these people that we live in a world that has more respect for life, ideals, and values. I hope that more of us have the courage to stand up against anything wrong so that we can gift an even better world to our children.

Wishing you all a great week ahead!

BYBS : Weather!

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Somethings are all around us, and yet we miss them. In fact, the reason we miss them is that they have always been there and we can't imagine a life without them.

One such thing is the weather.

Shimla, the town where I live at, has always had great weather. Its climate, I am sure, was one of the reasons that the British chose it for their Summer Capital of India. Living here for most of my life, I never stopped to appreciate the good weather we have almost all year around. For, the last one year, however, I lived at Delhi, and suffered the extreme temperatures there.

So, naturally, coming back this year I was more appreciative of the weather. For the last four days, especially, the weather has been simply out of the world. Clear blue skies, sunlight bathing the world with it's golden rays, a chill in the air...you get the picture. The picture seems perfect, but there is something wrong with it, something dreadfully wrong.

This is not the time for the weather to be like this.

The climate changes and global warming have silently taken charge of our environment over all these years. For a long time we, being so short sighted, failed to observe what we were doing to our environment. Now, Mother Nature seems to have decided that enough is enough, and we need to be given a warning in a more palpable form. The signs are now there for all of us to see. I am sure you must have also observed the change in weather wherever you live. Haven't you?

I think it is time for each one of us, as individuals, to take actions to save our planet. Not only for our children, but for ourselves too, because at the rate we are going it won't take long before things get really bad.

Let's all join hands, and make the change that we hope to see in the world!

BYBS : Smile

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I read something interesting the other day, and I have been trying to implement it in my life ever since to test it for authenticity.

What I was reading was a book on destructive emotions, and how to deal with them. By choice, or not, all of us are affected by destructive emotions - like anger, craving, and delusion - at some point of time or another. More often than not we also regret our decisions made under the influence of any one of these destructive emotions. The answer lies in waiting before acting; we have been gifted with enough powers to ensure that we make the right choices, but for some reason we choose to act in haste, and repent in leisure.

The chapter that caught my attention, however, talked about how we feel any emotion only after the chemical reaction for it has been initiated in the brain, mostly involuntarily. We never realise what emotion we are feeling, until it has already begun. Then, the book went on to take the example of a smile.

When we sense something pleasant, we smile. That's a natural involuntary reaction. Most of the times we smile without actually making an effort to do so. This much is common knowledge. The chapter, further, went on to say that the reverse is also possible i.e. if we fake a smile, it can cause a chemical reaction in our brain that is the same as when there is something good happening around us. In short, even if we fake a smile, we will feel like smiling in a few minutes.

I thought, isn't that a good way to feel better when we are felling...not so good. Have you ever felt something like this happen to you? If not, try it, and you just might agree with what that book said. I know I do.

BYBS: Formalities

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Last week, we celebrated Raksha Bandhan, popularly known as Rakhi, in India. It is a festival that celebrates the strong ties between brothers and sisters.

Usually, it is a day where people visit their families, spend time together, eat dinner, etc. I am sure you get the picture, because this is what people do all over the world on major holidays.

We had gone to my maternal uncle's place, where a few other friends and relatives had gathered for dinner. During the course of conversation One of the guests made a remark. She said, "These days everything has become a mere formality. Relations, festivals, ties, everything. We do them because we have got used to doing them, and they must be done. They actually don't mean anything."

As you can imagine, this line of thought made everyone a little uncomfortable, and no one wanted to continue this discussion over the dinner table. However, I found it hard - and I am sure there must have been others like me - to push the thought out of my head.

Was what we did on all major festivals a mere formality without any meaning whatsoever? If one person felt that way, I am sure there must be others who feel the same way. And what if it is a mere formality? Should such practices be abandoned entirely?

These questions bothered me for a while, but, then, I think I found an answer.

Whether such occasions become a formality, or not, depends, to a great extent, on the state of mind we are in. If we are happy we look forward to such occasions where we can share our happiness with others. At such times, the question of these days being a mere formality doesn't even arise in our minds. If, however, we are under a cloud, we tend to think that these occasions don't mean a thing and we just have to suffer them as something that must be done. But, even under such circumstances, without our realising, being with friends and relatives helps lift our spirits to a great extent.

So, formality or not, these days that come in our lives at regular intervals are a great blessing and, like most blessings, we tend to underrate them, what say you?

BYBS : Friendship Day!

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Anyone who knows me, or reads this blog, knows that I am not a big fan of the trend of naming days after relationships. I believe that every day should be a day when we nurture our relationships, and remember our friend and relatives. My first reaction, therefore, on receiving the various friendship day messages and emails in the morning was one of irritation, and annoyance.

As the day progressed, I received some messages from friends who, I must admit, I had all but forgotten about. I couldn't help but wonder: How did that happen?

Sometimes, we think we believe in something, when we actually don't. We convince ourselves that we believe in it, and we have ourselves completely fooled. While going about the funny business of living our lives, we hardly get a chance to put ourselves, and our theories, to the test. Maybe a part of us doesn't want to take these tests, in case we fail. But, every once in a while, life will provide us with an opportunity to test our theories and, sometimes, the result may surprise us.

This happened to me today. I thought I was paying enough attention to all the friends in my life, but now I think I don't. In fact, I now think that our lives today have become so fast paced, that it is simply not possible to pay attention to all the aspects of our lives. We need to get our priorities straight, and try to do the best we can in the time that is given to us. The "best we can" is a relative phrase, and once again it provides us with an excuse. Wen we fail. we quickly say, " I tried to do the best I can, and yet..."

You can, perhaps, fool the whole world with that, but you can never fool yourself. When you haven't given it your best, you know it. Whatever you might tell others, you know you could have done more. However, I digress. We were talking about friendship day.

Whatever the reasons for the origin of this day might be, I am glad that today is friendship day. It made me think about all the friends in my life - from my early days to today. I am thankful to all of you for having helped me through all these years. I am sure I would not be what I am today, if it was not for you guys.

Wishing everyone a very happy friendship day.

I am posting a couple of videos from Bollywood movies that celebrate the spirit of friendship. Also, these are songs that I have always liked (especially the sad version of Yeh Dosti).

This is the sad version of the same song: