Freedom ! How far !

That reminds me of the famous saying  "I freed a thousand slaves. I could have freed a thousand more if only they knew they were slaves”.

There is a famous story that goes like this. A man, a great man, a fighter for freedom was traveling in the mountains. He stayed in a caravanserai for the night. He was amazed that in the caravanserai there was a beautiful parrot in a golden cage, continually repeating "Freedom! Freedom!" And it was such a place that when the parrot repeated the word "Freedom!" it would go on echoing in the valleys, in the mountains.

The man thought: "I have seen many parrots, and I have thought they must want to be free from those cages... but I have never seen such a parrot whose whole day, from the morning to the evening when he goes to sleep, is spent in calling out for freedom." He had an idea. In the middle of the night, when the owner was fast asleep, he got up and opened the door of the cage. He whispered to the parrot, "Now get out."

But he was very surprised that the parrot was clinging to the bars of the cage. He said to him again and again, "Have you forgotten about freedom? Just get out! The door is open and the owner is fast asleep; nobody will ever know. You just fly into the sky; the whole sky is yours."

But the parrot was clinging so deeply, so hard, that the man said, "What is the matter? Are you mad?" He tried to take the parrot out with his own hands, but the parrot started pecking at him, and at the same time he was shouting "Freedom! Freedom!" The valleys in the night echoed and re-echoed, but the man was also stubborn; he was a freedom fighter.

He pulled the parrot out and threw him into the sky; and he was very satisfied, although his hand was hurt. The parrot had attacked him as forcefully as he could, but the man was immensely satisfied that he had made a soul free. He went to sleep. In the morning, as the man was waking up, he heard the parrot shouting, "Freedom! Freedom!" He thought perhaps the parrot must be sitting on a tree or on a rock. But when he came out, the parrot was sitting in the cage. The door was open.

We often speak and debate about freedom. However, when the freedom is ensured, how often do we use that! Freedom may mean different to different people based on the circumstances. Since in the modern times, absolute freedom is negated, freedom often is accompanied by responsibility.

Most of the times freedom scares us due to the accountability that imposes on us. We are not free to do whatever we want in a civil society. We have freedom of thought. However, we don’t have freedom of action, expression, in its absolute sense. So, within the gamut of the freedom that we have we have to be accountable and responsible.

This could represent our journeys to being saved/trying to save others. We say we want to be saved ("free") but when opportunities are presenting themselves, we turn away. Also, it shows we cannot force people to be "free" (saved) or they will cling to their cages. They have to want it.

Irrespective of our social, financial, economic, political and religious status, everyone needs freedom. It’s said man is born free but surrounded by shackles. Even if we can come out of those shackles, one may prefer not to. One may get into the comfort of that shackles. That’s why freedom differs from one another. Freedom is precious. Though we say, everyone likes to be free, that’s questionable again. Free to what extent? For each that extent may free.

Modern days have made us pledge our freedom in bargain to security. We have let go our privacy too sometimes to the general security of the masses or to our own security. In a civil society that’s essential to lead a peaceful society. Indeed today, we have a large set of people raising their concerns against curbing of freedom and privacy in the name of national interest, since this has been used as a weapon to monitor citizens at large.

We have to be conscious of what we are bargaining to let go off our freedom. If the bargain is in our favor or to accomplish someone’s ulterior motive is the biggest determination in the negotiation of freedom. 

Angles fly because they take themselves lightly

Let’s talk about the well-known – five principle. This is not our regular – 5 questions to analyze the root cause. This is a different question 5 principle. Whenever you face a difficult problem, the tough times are making it harder, you are in emotional conundrum, ask the famous 5 question – Does this matter in 5 years? Simple, that would resolve your issue to a certain extent.

We are overburdened with emotional stress. Everyone goes through that phase. When you are living with people or living away from people, emotions tend to burst out, there would be emotional overload. We don’t have to figure out everything in life. At times, it’s ok to take a step back or go away.

Most of the times, our problems can be attributed to our imagination of those problems. Overthinking makes it stressful and painful. The real problem in front of us may be really being that severe. However, due to overthinking about the same, may cause more pain. Problems are often faced by humans. But, we need to question ourselves, ‘if we are going to make that as a hindrance’ to take a step forward.

Life is not perfect. However, none of us are getting out of it alive too. So, let’s not be so hard and harsh on our own selves. That’s why we have to take ourselves lightly to move further and forward in life. If it doesn’t matter it in five years, don’t waste your precious time on budging on the same issue. Rather invest in your time in what you can change from what you cannot move.

Things change, people change, and time too changes. Whenever you are amidst difficulty, just quote that famous Shakespearean line- ‘this too shall pass’! Well, I often remind myself of this line, whenever I have to tread through traffic. 5 minutes, 5 hours or 5 years, it too shall pass. We say time heals. Time won’t heal in itself. It’s your memories that would heal. Replace bad memories with good ones. Negatives to positives. Make changes in your own self. That would change.

If you keep on dwelling the same problem or instance, incident, you may miss the present. So, live in present with the learning of the past making your time for the future. We should stop taking everything so seriously. Make time to laugh every once in a while, enjoy life and not worry all the time. Avoid worries that would weigh you down unnecessarily. Once we tend to be this way we may tread a path that’s beyond our expectations. If we act as if the entire world problem is burdened upon us, we may not have the time to appreciate life’s beauty, good things, and love around us.

If it doesn’t matter in the long run, then better not waste your time on the same. We should often make time to stand and stare while busy being the spectators of an ongoing life. Memories fade, things pass by, and circumstances disappear. It’s just the happiness that you have enjoyed and experienced, that’s the only things that are going to stay with you. Take yourself lightly and fly high in the sky! 

Roast !

Roast

Let’s start this with a guess the movie! Guess the movie. Well, and this is how Mr. Shah enacts Titanic. Ladies and gentlemen, that’s Mr. Shah for you. He is someone who thinks dumb charades is playing dumb. Friends come and go but Mr. Shah doesn’t.  Mr. Shah is a keeper that way!

 Mr. Shah  is a popular Two and Half man in his friends circle. No, I am not going to talk about sex religion and politics, but Mr. Shah’s attention span. He can’t and won’t and doesn’t pay attention to any topic for more than 2 and half minutes. He is a typical Table Topic Material, you speak beyond 2.30 minutes, you’re disqualified and out of his league. The only person who’s capable of holding his attention for more than two minutes is the neighborhood fish vendor.  When the world was behind Pokémon and searching for him, Mr. Shah was in search of the Salmon, the fish!  Mr. Shah, he is like Bermuda triangle, the information goes in and it’s never found again. One every weekend, he tries to visit new places to check his WhatsApp messages He is so addicted to his WhatsApp messages; he may unplug your life-support to charge his phone. He can irritate to the extent you get irritated and suddenly he can change the topic. He has this ability of inviting people to meet up and check WhatsApp in front of them.

If Mr. Shah  was in the time of kings and emperors I’m sure kings would have hired him to write pick lines for their queens! He hasn’t left any women (either married or single), well wait, and let me complete this sentence. He hasn’t spared anyone from his praising. He can make you great, famous, wonderful, amazing all at once.

He is an amazing self-marketer. He has used all his MBA marketing skills to self-market himself. If you see his WhatsApp forwards, Facebook posts, twitter handles, mails and messages it’s all about one thing.  Mr. Shah himself. It’s like of the Mr. Shah , by the  Mr. Shah  and for the  Mr. Shah . We dearly call it as Shahcracy. Indeed, he can buy a precooked MTR food and just re heat it and serve it has ‘Mr. Shah’s signatory delicacies’!

When the dietician told Mr. Shah that – obesity runs in your circle because no one runs in your circle,  Mr. Shah  started running. Nowadays he doesn’t stop. Once he became Mr. Shah lean from Mr. Shah bean, he changed his WhatsApp status from – ‘I am not fat, my weight is just cute’ to – ‘I am too sexy and I know it’. Once he shed few kgs, he started uploading his full frame pictures. He called it as Mr. Shah Empowerment from the background to foreground. Indeed, Kellogg’s should have Mr. Shah as their model for weigh loss than to have Deepika. He just transformed from Motorola to iPhone slim and sleek version.

He has a unique talent of making his friends – glad, mad, sad, bad all at once. Never laugh at your spouse’s choices because you’re one of them. Well, I would say the same thing about friends! Never laugh at your friends, because you are one of their choices. Nevertheless, he is a great friend, who you can count anytime. His determination, dedication and wisdom is praiseworthy, especially the determination he has showed in executing his fitness regime.  One of the proud friends I have who was aspiring to be roasted by me!