Adeiu Blogspot

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Its been a great journey on blogspot.

Complete the jigsaw puzzle

A friend of mine, sometimes back, sent a message to me. It said he felt as a person who is there just to fill the blanks in others life. A person who has no life of his own. That small message really struck some chords in my heart. I kept thinking about how hurt he felt. It was really a sad thing to think of. Later, a thought came to my mind. Sometimes, people perceive things quite differently. To put the same thing in a very different way, a way in which it will be more acceptable and less depressing is, we can say that life is like a jigsaw puzzle.

 Ever tried to put together those small pieces of a picture? I loved doing that. A picture of a beautiful flower broken into a number of pieces and a small kid trying hard to put them together! But, to make things easier for the kid, he always have a actual picture of the puzzle on the box. But, this is life. Isn't it? It ain't fair. This life is a puzzle where every single person is trying to fit in. And the hard part is, you don't get the picture to refer to!

Every person is like a piece of a jigsaw puzzle. Each one with his/her own unique curves and bends. And he/she may think that they don't have anybody to complete their puzzle. But, I think, this is not the case. For every curve or mistake in you, there will definitely be someone else to fit in it, to understand it, to correct it.

This life is full. The pieces of jigsaw puzzle are all there. They are just scattered. The thing is to collect the pieces. More importantly, the right pieces, that can and will adjust your bends and curves.

I always say HAPPYTHANKYOUMOREPLEASE to people around me. That's for the same reason. Do this, be happy and keep looking for the pieces of your jigsaw. Just keep your eyes open. Life surprises us in the strangest way possible. Be ready to be surprised because the weirdest of the pieces will complete you!!!

Mahabharat 1: Status Anxiety

There is a very interesting study in management called Howthorne Effect. In the study, a group of employees were allowed to work under various light intensities. An interesting  result was obtained. Howthorne Effect has shown that the productivity of a particular set of people will increase if they are given proper attention irrespective of the fact that whether the facilities are being improved or reduced.

The same is the case with the character of Karna in the epic of Mahabharat. He was a low borne son of a charioteer. His whole life was about trying to be someone! He became one of the greatest warrior of his time (even better than Arjuna, son of Indra, god's king). He learnt from the great sage Parashuram, Guru (teacher) of Arjuna's Guru. He even lied that he was a Brahmin, just to be Parashuram's disciple. He became so benevolent that he won't return anybody empty handed if confronted during his morning prayers. This also became the reason for his death.

image courtsy: hinduhumanrights.info

So, what is it that forces people to be someone, to do something worthwhile? Why is there a status anxiety among people? Why do we have to prove ourselves in the eyes of others? Pavan Verma in his book 'Being Indian' calls it the strong tendency of upward mobility that is also being cited as one of the reason for India's unprecedented growth in last 20 years.

Karna's status anxiety forced him to look away from the real Dharma, the reality, the righteous path. He allowed Draupadi, the queen of Pandava's to be humiliated in the open court of Kuru. His whole life, he tried to be someone who is worthy of respect. Duryodhan, prince of Kuru Dynasty, anointed Karna the king of Anga. And by doing so, he earned the most loyal friendship of Karna. Karna refused to look at the faults of Duryodhan. He vowed to be with Duryodhan, no matter what. And this is what made him cynical.

As for what I think, it is not always important to be of matter. One don't need to be better than others. He just need to be better than what he was yesterday. If a sweeper does his work perfectly and without feeling disregarded, then he will give best outputs. The problem of this world is that everybody is pretending to be somebody else. How beautiful this world would become if we just try to do what we do best. It may be cleaning, or washing, or studying, or may be, just trying to put a smile on others face!

The epic chose to prove its point of reducing status anxiety by creating and demeaning the character of Karna. The irony is, in the course of epic, people came to know that Karna was actually a high borne- the true heir of Kuru dynasty!!!

Mahabharat : My take

The epic battle of Mahabharat (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahabharata) took place more than five thousand years in the Indian sub-continent. The best thing about Mahabharat is its treatment of the characters. Nobody is perfect in the complete course of epic. At certain points of time, one can see a Brahmin killing people, a Kshatriya claiming the honor of a royal queen, a brother killing own brother, a student killing his own teacher, a God asking a devotee to kill. One has to wonder what this story wants to convey! People call it a book that teaches the subtleties of Dharma, the way of living a perfect life. And look at the irony! It teaches so by showing the harsh imperfections in every single individual that comes to pass. But I think, it is what makes this epic a 'Book of Life'.

 Through these posts, I will try to look at what can be learnt from this great epic. Why is it important to go through the great history of Indian sub-continent! I will take references from Gurcharan Das's "The Difficulty of Being Good- on the Subtle Art of Dharma". This book gives a stark comparison between the epic and our present day to day life.

Lets relive and re-examine the Book of Life...