Flying without chains

Everything in the universe fills me with awe. The way so many things were created to solve the requirements of other things living or non-living as if someone or something has done it intentionally goes well beyond all possible ways of admiration. Let's take the birth of a human being as an example. Why does the union of a cell of a man and a cell of a woman lead to the creation of another human being? Why can't the combination of those two cells be expelled out of a woman's body as if it's some human waste? Something in the universe, some power probably, something that is beyond human understanding is transforming the union of those two cells into a complex human being. But why are we talking about all this now? It's because we often don't realize that our very existence is a miracle in itself. We often overlook the fact that every human being is a miraculous creation of the universe. So is every kid. They are miracles wrapped in packages of pure love, joy, and laughter.

Even before a child is born, he or she has to pass the test of expectations; The expectations of the parents, relatives, or some random unrelated person regarding the gender of the child based on their unreasonable priorities. Even before he or she can feel their first breath of life, they have to feel a heavy chain called comparison. The comparison of their external appearances and features like height and weight and it's just the beginning. The worst is yet to come. As a kid begins learning to walk or talk, he or she is compared to another kid on how quick or slow they are in learning how to do the basic things. Most of the people don't even care to understand that such abilities can vary based on certain factors like natural intelligence or genes.

Then comes the phase of schooling. The little ones go past the gates of schools carrying heavy books and even heavier expectations. As if that's not enough, we have this emerging concept of international schools and international syllabus which try to feed enormous amount of information into these little developing brains. Expecting kids to memorise poems at an age when they don't even know many basic words of a language and assigning creative tasks that require even the parents to break a sweat are some of the most commonly observed ridiculous tasks that these so called international schools come up with. It's turning out more like a test to the parent's skills rather than an attempt to inspire creativity in the tiny tots. But almost no one says 'No' because these schools need to showcase something differently from what was done in the yesteryears to extort a lot of money and the parents remain mum as they think of the status quo of having their kids studying in international schools. I am not against modernizing schools and education. I am only against unreasonable expectations and unjustified burden on the young minds.

No one needs to remind another person about the most hated comparison of marks and skills. It's a devil that's been haunting children for many generations now. We need to remember that marks don't necessarily reflect knowledge levels always. People might argue that they boost a spirit of competition among kids but let truth be spoken on how much all of us hated it when our marks were compared to those of others and how that comparison even bullied and bruised our self confidence. Parents can encourage their kids by reflecting on their kids performances. For example, if a kid scores 65% of marks in some exams, the parents can tell their kids that if they can score 65%, they have the abilities and can push themselves a little more to reach 70%. Parents have to set reasonable, achievable targets based on their kids abilities and not based on someone else's abilities.

It's not just about the academics. Performances in sports or extra curricular activities should be encouraged based on the skills and the interests of the young buds. Let's not force the future Sachin Tendulkar to dance to the tunes of Rihanna or force the future Shreya Ghoshal to smash the badminton shuttlecock. Like they say, let's not compare apples to oranges and oranges to grapes. Everyone is uniquely awesome in their own way. Let's identify and groom them in the right path when they are young and roaring to go.

Childhood is a defining phase of kids which will either make or break them. We all talk about letting the kid in the adults stay alive. Let the kid in the kids bloom naturally to make the world a beautiful place. Let them eat, play, pray, learn and grow at their own pace. They come with the wings of imagination painted with the colours of life. Let's not tie their wings with the burdening chains of comparison and bullying.

Let them fly without the chains!

The love that I wish

 As you come walking down the aisle,
I can't stop staring at you.

Doesn't matter who's around.
Doesn't matter what's happening around.
Nothing matters.
All that matters is that
you keep walking 
right in front of me and
I keep looking at you
till the sun shines
and till the moon radiates.

When you get tired
and want to take a seat,
sit right beside me
with your head on my shoulders
and my hand around your waist.
Let's gaze at the stars
and thank them for uniting us.

Let the moon drop a tear
that it's not as beautiful as you are.
Let the love birds sing,
let the happy bells ring
as we keep talking out
as the breeze draws us near.

Tell me that you love me.
The same old way? So, let it be.
I will still feel as excited,
I will still feel as happy,
I will still feel as light
as I felt the day
when you first told me
that your heart is mine
and that it's all filled 
with thoughts of me.

When we run out of words
but our love still strikes the chords,
let silence take over
and let love still hover
in every cell of yours 
that I feel,
in every strand of your hair
that caresses me,
in every breath of yours
that kisses mine,
in every thought of you
that makes me blush,
in every possible way
that keeps us closer.

Let darkness set in,
let the earth go silent,
let the world go asleep,
but let our love go deep
beyond a point of measure,
with memories to treasure,
with more happiness all the way,
with more love every day.

                        -    Satya Srinivas J

I would wait...

A beautiful silence
hummed songs of happiness
as I looked at you.
The stars and the moon
in the shining night sky
were testing my patience.
They laughed at my desperation
to see you outshine the glow of the sun.

I would wait,
even for years together,
as I always will,
to see every bit of you.
As I was busy
in admiring the sleeping you,
the stars and the moon wondered
what is so special about you.
Their rays sneaked in
through the windows
to have a glimpse of you.
No wonder, they couldn't move a muscle.
They lied intact
in the heavens up there
singing songs of praise
all through the night.

As the sun's rays dashed
through the darkness of the dawn, 
I saw you again.
Those hair strands
falling smoothly on your face
like the tender touch of a baby's hand
and you pulling them
behind your ears
like beautiful retreating waves
is something I can watch all day.
Let those hair strands fall again.
I would wait.

Caressed by the sun's rays,
your sleepy eyes
go through the little struggle
of opening up and
they do so slowly
like the beautiful sunrise on a beach.
Let those beauties
take a lifetime to open up.
I would wait.

As you look through the windows,
as your lips broaden
to give life to a heavenly smile,
the world around you disappears.
I can't see anything else.
Let that heavenly smile
last till eternity.
I would wait.

Every word that you say
stays stuck in my mind
and I don't understand
why I always hear you
even when I can't see you.
Let another syllable
from you reach my ears.
I would wait.

With every step you put forward,
my feet stop bothering
to care about what I think.
I find myself right behind you
no matter how many miles
you go ahead.
Let your feet
kiss the earth yet again.
I would wait.

No matter where you are,
no matter what you are doing,
I can always see you
'cause you never leave my mind.
Let yet another thought of you
cross my mind yet again
in the next nano second.
I would wait.

As you call it a day,
as, slowly, you close your eyes,
I open mine.
I find myself smiling
and blushing for no reason.
I know that I have to wait
for the earth to complete another rotation,
for another night's sleep
before I see you again
in another beautiful dream.
Let the earth do what it does.
I would wait.

I long for that beautiful dream
when you step out of that dream
and walk right into my life
then and there.
Let time bring
that beautiful dream to me.
I would wait.

                            - Satya Srinivas J

Living without chinese - A life without chinese products

Living without Chinese

 - A life without Chinese products

Live and let live. This should be the policy for a peaceful co-existence. But when anyone of the neighbors don't believe in this policy, that's when disturbances occur and peace is jeopardized. From India's context, there are two neighboring countries, Pakistan and China who don't believe in the policy of 'live and let live'. Let's take China into consideration. China has always been an aggressive and a troublesome neighbor to India.There have been many instances of disputes and aggressive approaches of China to invade our land and hold it under its control. It has even occupied a part of our country called 'Aksai Chin' which lies in the north east of Jammu and Kashmir. Even very recently, China tried to advance into our territory illegally which led to a stand off between both the countries. Numerous instances like these happen very frequently and our armed forces sweat it out and do their best, even putting their lives at risk, to counter the aggressive approaches of this troublesome neighbor called China. While our armed forces personnel put their lives at risk to protect our country from these aggressive approaches of China, many of us comfortably forget all their sacrifices and buy Chinese products and use their services as if nothing concerns us. Let's look at why we should reduce the usage of Chinese products to the highest extent possible. Let me answer most of the questions that people have based on my  knowledge,understanding and analysis.

What happens if I buy Chinese products and services? How does it affect our country?

When we buy products and services of companies that are China based, their revenues get increased and since they are based in China, a certain percentage of their revenues is paid as taxes to their country China. This means that the more revenues these companies make, the more taxes they pay to their government and the richer their country(China) gets. China is a country that spends more on its defence and they use that power to try and conquer our territory as we have border disputes with them and they are more ambitious. So, now do you understand that as we buy Chinese products and services, we are indirectly boosting their country's revenues and helping them indirectly in their aggressive approaches against us?

But they have branches in our country and they pay taxes to our country as well. Even some Indians work in their companies. So, if we reduce the usage of their products, they might discontinue their branches and our Indian employees will lose their jobs and our government will also lose the taxes paid by them. Isn't that a loss to us?

The taxes that we collect from them will be far lesser than the taxes that they pay to China. So, even though we lose a certain amount of taxes, we also need to remember that our indirect contribution to their economy also reduces. We can find other sources of income.There will always be a way. Can we not afford to make a few sacrifices in our fight against our aggressive neighbor?

With respect to loss of employment of Indian employees, they can find jobs based on their skills in other companies and organizations. Chinese companies are not the only ones where they can work, right? Add to that, all this won't happen instantly, so they will have sufficient time to switch to non Chinese companies or organizations.

Then, shouldn't we stop using products of all non Indian companies because we will be indirectly contributing to those respective countries economies?

That is not practically possible as customers want high quality products and some non Indian companies could be offering high quality products for which there could be no Indian products of equivalent quality and standards. So, till Indian products of equivalent quality and standards are developed, our Indian customers will obviously continue to use non Indian products and it's not so justified to ask them not to use those products until Indian products of equivalent quality and standards are developed. Add to that, most of the countries other than China are not as aggressive as China and we don't have serious disputes with them. So, using those countries' products won't be as damaging as usage of Chinese products.

If we have to stop using Chinese products, should we also stop using all the products made in China even if the manufacturing company is not actually China based?

Ideally, that would be good but it's not practically possible again because most of the companies manufacture their goods in China because of cheap labor costs and other factors that reduce the cost of manufacturing. So, as long as the manufacturing company is not Chinese, we can use them as the manufacturing companies pay lion share of their taxes to their origin country and pay less to China. But if we reduce using products made in China, because of the reduction in the usage of their products,  the manufacturing companies will also think of moving their production units to countries other than China.

If the usage of Chinese products is causing so much of damage to our country, why can't the Indian government ban all the imports from China?

Unfortunately, the government can't take such extreme steps as doing so will directly affect the diplomatic relations between both the countries and make things even worse. It will make them even more hostile towards us. So, while the government can't take such extreme steps, we, as customers, can do it as no one can question us on why we are not using their products.

Why can't the government take measures to encourage Indian companies that can develop alternatives to Chinese products?

Enough! Let's stop crying foul over the government for every little issue in the country. Yes, the government has to take such steps and we have to make the government take such steps but it will take time. But till then, can't we do something from our end? Let's do our bit in our fight against Chinese products by not buying and using them. 

So, should we show off patriotism by not buying Chinese products?

Some Chinese products come with very good features at cheaper prices, then why should I not buy them?

Let's get this clearly. We are not doing this to show off patriotism. We are doing this because China is being very aggressive towards us and they caused us damage on many occasions. Let's imagine that a businessman has occupied a part of your house by using force and refuses to give it back to you. In addition to that, he is attempting to occupy another part of your house but your family is fighting with him to safeguard it. Will you shamelessly buy products from that businessman even if those products come at cheaper prices? Same is the situation between India and China. China occupied a part of our territory called 'Aksai Chin' and refuses to give it back to us. It is also trying to get Arunachal Pradesh under its control claiming that it's China's land. Our armed forces are fighting against such aggressive moves like our family. So, when we stop using Chinese products, it will also boost their morale as they know that their countrymen are also with them in the fight against Chinese aggression.

Some Chinese products might come with better features at cheaper prices but remember that you can get those features from non Chinese brands as well though you might have to shed off a few bucks. Either buy non Chinese products with in your budget compromising a bit on some features or pay a little extra to get those features from non Chinese brands. Either way, you will be doing a great help to your country. You serve the country directly or indirectly in many ways. Can't you make these little sacrifices for your country?

What if I am already using Chinese products?

It's ok. You can always start from the scratch. Avoid buying any new Chinese products from now on at least. Encourage everyone you know to stop buying Chinese products. 

How long should I not use Chinese products?

For a lifetime. Once you understand the seriousness of the issues with China, your conscience won't allow you to buy their products any time. So, do your best to not use Chinese products or reduce their usage to the highest extent possible.   

Everyone won't stop using Chinese products, then how much will my actions impact or how much will they change the present scenario?

Remember that even the journey of a thousand miles has to start with a single step. Drops make ocean. So, your one little step towards this direction will drive India to a great journey ahead in the longer run. No matter how much we urge, some people will not care about our intentions. I understand that the poor and illiterate people might not do this. So, you might wonder how much impact your actions will have. Let me answer this. Let's assume 10 people stop buying the Chinese products.Then, another 20 stop doing it. Gradually, 100s, 1000s, tens of  thousands, hundreds of thousands, then crores of people start doing it. Then the impact will be enormous and considerable. I know that sounds very idealistic and might look impractical. But gradually, if at least the educated people like you and me understand the seriousness of the issue, change their mindset and start doing it, then the scenario will change gradually.

Let's assume that 10 crore out of approximately 131 crore people stop buying Chinese products and if we assume that each of that individual used to spend 5000 rupees on an average on buying Chinese products earlier, then all those 10 crore people combined would prevent 50000 crores of rupees from going into the hands of Chinese by not buying their products! That's massive, isn't it? That's how much all our individual actions can make an impact when combined together. Every step counts. So, do your bit by not buying Chinese products even if others are buying them.

As Mr.Sonam Wangchuk, an Indian reformer, said, our fight is not against the Chinese people. It's only against the Chinese government's aggressive policies.So, let's respect the Chinese people but stop buying their products. China's aggression always poses a threat to our country. Let me remind you again that our brothers in uniform, our armed forces and other security forces, are risking their lives to protect our sovereignty and safeguard our territories from the aggression of China. Can't we offer them our moral support by this act of not buying Chinese products? Think about it. Ask everyone you know to stop buying Chinese products and services or at least reduce their usage to the highest extent possible. Remember, every step counts. Every drop is crucial to form an ocean. The choice is yours now.

Jai Hind!

Signing off,

Satya Srinivas J

The run towards sunshine

           The run towards sunshine

Running on the path,
not knowing which step will be the last,
I was thinking if I need a break.
Is it already late?
Should I have paused earlier?
Doesn't matter my dear,
it's never too late.
Don't be in haste.
Take it easy.
Take a break.
My heart said.
Slowing down,
not bothering about the restless world,
I told myself
"No one is more important than you.
Take a break, darling."

My restless feet heard my heart.
The last of the sweat drops
moved past the frozen, lifeless tears.
Cool breeze caressed my skin.
Cheerful yet peaceful
sounds of nature
sang songs of comfort
to my tired mind.
As I sat down, with my eyes closed,
the soothing cool breeze
formed an invisible shield
over my overthinking mind.
No doubts, no fears.
No pain, no tears.
I am all by myself,
lonely and peaceful.

I look back
on the path that I have come by.
I am not on the path
I wanted to be on.
I started with so many dreams,
so many aspirations.
Belief pumped my heart with hope.
Will the obstacles stop me?
My heart said nope.
One by one,
I crossed many a milestone.
I kept growing strong
as I continued on the journey so long.

It took just one fatal blow
to make my life seem hollow.
It knocked me over
and said "It's over!"
I picked myself up,
dusted off all the pain and guilt,
and continued running
with my eyes still on my dreams.

I kept on running
and kept on hoping
that one day I will make it.
I came through places
where there was no room for hope
but I dragged and pulled it along.
I kept falling time and again.
Hope and belief prevented me
from slipping down the terrain.
On the way,
when I could hold them no longer,
I let a few tears roll down
along with the sweat drops
all the way down.
But never let my hope and belief
put their guards down.
I kept running
till one day I learnt
that I will never reach there.

One journey ended.
But then I remembered
that the horizon is not the end of the world,
that the sun rises
in other parts of the world as well.
It's not all dark.
There's light out there.
Places, unexplored and not thought of,
can be beautiful as well.
For, if every traveller
reaches the same place,
the world would be boring
and monotonous,
life can take you to places
enchanting and magnanimous.

Remembering all this,
I feel some new form of energy
and I continue my run
towards my unknown destination
because I know that
the sun rises in all parts of the world
and my destination could be beaming
with sunshine and happiness.

                               - Satya Srinivas J

A 'Rosy' Tale

A 'Rosy' Tale

Chik....chik...chik...chik...

Silence of the empty road was broken by the life less steps of the tired cat Tom as each of his steps took eternity to go forward. He didn't find any food even after his hunt for three hours that seemed like three decades in the scorching sun. As he was about to take another step forward, a very bright twinkle  stole his attention.

He looked up slowly only to find a shining object atop the tree. He couldn't take a step forward and it's not because he was tired. He experienced situations worse than that. It was something that he never saw before. All of a sudden, his gloomy eyes were filled with excitement and anxiety. "What on earth is that?" he thought as his anxiety kept soaring like global warming.

He couldn't hold onto the anxiety anymore. He had to see what it was. He slowly began to climb the tree. After he took a couple of steps, he remembered that he never climbed a tree. How's he going to do this? Fear started gripping in his mind. 'I AM GOING TO DO THIS.' he told himself with grit. He continued on his journey. A couple of thorns did pierce through his flesh. But the pain bowed down to his determination. 

Slowly but steadily, he reached the top to find a Christmas star hanging on the tree's top most branch. It seemed so beautiful. The view from the top was breath taking and it melted him in happiness. He couldn't believe that he was experiencing all that. He never even had dreams that were even half close to that blissful feeling. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. It felt like heaven. He wanted to spend the rest of his life there. 

Wait. He could hear something. Sound of footsteps. Footsteps of a cat. What? He never saw anything related to a cat in that area let alone finding company. His shadow is the only thing he could talk to. He lowered his head to find a beautiful lady cat. "This can't be real!!!" he thought and even without his knowledge, he shouted "Heeeyyyyy!!!!". He jumped down from branch to branch not caring about his safety. "Heeeyyyy....heeeyy..." he ran towards her as if a dog was chasing him. She stopped and looked back in surprise.

There was our Tom just a couple of feet away from the beautiful lady cat. He tried to catch his breath but he realised that his heart started to pump more rigorously. He tried his best to not show that on his face. "Hiiiii!!!" he said "Who are you? I never saw you here." he continued. "I am Rosy." the angel replied. "Shall we go for a casual stroll?" asked Tom very hopefully. "I would love to." Rosy replied blushing. 

Conversations grew sweeter as they walked to a destination unknown. Light faded off and the ever glowing moon appeared bright in the night sky. They both walked past the horizon. Happiness seemed to have found a new couple. It stayed with them for very long. Tom thanked his stars. Happiness was the only thing that occupied the nano metres between them. They lived the rest of their lives in a way people would call a dream.

Dear never mine you...

Dear never mine you,

There are certain things that we wish for and then there are certain things that we don't even think of but experience.How we feel because of those experiences is something that is out of our control.Well, unexpected experiences like these can either leave memories along with their footprints or teach us lessons that we never expect.

The journey with you was something that I neither wished for nor even dreamt of. I don't even know why it happened. Probably, like they say, it was meant or destined to happen. As life unfolded, you stopped being 'just another person' in my life. You stole my attention,my thoughts and my time without your knowledge.I never felt sorry for that but rather felt an unprecedented happiness and excitement. You made me realise again that little things do matter.

I knew where this path will lead to and I also knew that I won't be able to travel down that path all through my life because of the society that we live in. I knew that I will have to see you walk away from me one day.I didn't want to walk on the thorns that I will encounter at a later stage in that path but neither did I want to miss the blissful memories that were inviting me on that enticing path.

But the heart does not listen to the mind, does it? My heart guided my steps on that path telling me that it will cease to travel on that path when the time comes.It dragged along the confused mind all the way.I enjoyed and savoured every step that I took on that path.
The memories that followed fed the emotions well and they grew strong.Those emotions refused to hear my warnings about the thorns ahead.

As moments began to bid farewell and memories began to embrace me, I felt a strong blow that brought me back to reality.Thorns on that path began to pierce through my flesh and the bloody path showed me the expected blockade and reminded me that it's time to leave the path.It didn't feel good to know that you won't be mine, that I can't travel further with you.

But reality doesn't always come with a sugar coating.Sometimes it can come up with something that could be too bitter to digest.It brought pain along with it.The pain refused to leave till I accepted the reality,learned the lessons and moved on.When I gave it a thought, accepting the reality and moving on seemed a lot better than living with my cold blooded friend, the pain.

I understood that there is 'someone' else with whom I would be a lot happier than I would be if I would be with you.I understood that that 'someone' would come into my life when the right time comes and not a moment earlier or a moment later.So, there's no point in hurrying up and messing with other people or pressing the panic button just yet. Probably, that 'someone' has the fortune of travelling along with me and vice versa. Probably, that 'someone' is a lot special than I can even think of.

When all these thoughts floated along my mind, probably pain felt that there is no need to stay with me any more.It faded away. I felt so light. It felt a lot better. There is peace in every breath that I took thereafter.

Thank god, you are not mine. Had you been mine, I would miss that special 'someone'. Thanks for the memories, though.

From,

Could have been yours,

Satya Srinivas J