Colors of life

In a routine life while maintaining our daily chores we hardly ever feel how our life is dependent on others. When everything goes well, we ignore, may be in oblivion, the basic element of life – the inter-dependency. We simply enjoy the very existence, being in a state of ego, without realizing the fact that it is because of the support of the people around, who we take for granted, the life flows down conveniently giving all the comforts we wish for. It was only recently when I learnt this very important lesson of life. Last week, we ran out of cooking gas since the refill we booked could not be delivered on scheduled date owing to some strike. I called back the Gas Agency to complain about non delivery of the cylinder, only to hear that it would further take seven to eight days to get the refill delivered. I spoke to the customer care executive and explained him about the terrible situation we were in to which he responded, very politely, that he understands the in...

Is it not true that in the wake of improving our standards of living we have altogether forgotten to take care of the standards of life?  Had we been a little considerate about the wasteful manner in which we consume our available natural resources, we would have saved our planet may be to some extent, from the biggest ever threat –  “Global Warming”. Glaciers have begun to melt; sea level is on the rise to gobble down coastal cities, natural calamities like cyclone, earthquake, tsunami or floods – have become a regular occurrence and most important of all, the irregular weather pattern we witness today is definitely a warning bell. To undo the harm already done, scientists are working day and night to develop sources of alternative energy. Developed countries are left with no other way but to contain their carbon emissions. All in all, it demands each of us to contribute to the great cause of saving our planet by adopting ways of living in harmony with ...

My parents had a love marriage and initially lived separately from their family. The reason could be my mother's Punjabi origin, which made it difficult for the family to adjust. The family was a bit orthodox, but that doesn't mean they didn't want to accept the marriage. Since both of my parents were working and settled in a different town from our ancestral home, we gradually drifted away from our caste. We rarely attended social functions organized by our caste. Consequently, my parents often faced criticism from elder caste members, who warned that such an attitude would make it difficult to get their children married. My parents had a love marriage and in their initial days of married life they had separated out from their family. The reason could only be the Punjabi origin of my mother making difficult for most of the members of the family to adjust with. Of course, the family was a bit of orthodox, but it still does not suggest they didn’t want to accept the marri...

Very recently, my brother-in-law, after getting engaged, came to visit us for the first time along with his fiancée. He introduced his fiancée and after having a short formal chat; he took out his engagement album and handed it to my wife. The album was then circulated among all the family members and it finally came to me. While going through it, I found it a bit awkward since the photographs were arranged in such a manner that after viewing the left hand side photograph, to view the right hand side photograph, I had to rotate the album by 180 0 and, to my surprise, the fashion went on right up to the end. Somewhere in the middle, I very casually, asked my brother-in-law, ‘Who has arranged the album?’ Without having any idea about what could have bothered me, expressing his concern, predicting that I might have not found the photographs in correct order, he answered – the photographer himself. I called him to sit beside me and made him aware of the problem. Then, we rearranged a...

It has been buzzing around for quite some time now that India is shining and it is one of the fastest growing economies of the world. I had never been able to relate the story of emerging India in a true sense, until the day, way back in the year 2003, when I started trading online. Although, in those days, I used to have a dial-up internet connection, it gave me a sense of elation being able to buy and sell shares sitting at home. At the backdrop of the exposure I had to the stock market, it made me feel a bit hopeful that soon all the luxuries of the world would be at our feet. It was during the period 2003-2007 when the stock market bloomed to the unprecedented 21K mark. It was truly a boom time, since Indian companies across sectors demonstrated robust performance. It seemed to be as if everything was on a roll. I saw people flourishing around me. I saw small provision stores transforming into a mini super market or super market. It was only during this period when our en...

After completing my graduation I got an opportunity to work with IFFCO, a fertilizer company. Along with me there were many other boys who had also joined IFFCO to work as an apprentice under various trades. As an apprentice, we used to have hands-on training so that we can have the required expertise in our respective trades after completion of the training. As a part of training, on every Saturday, all the boys were required to come to the training centre where managers from different units of the plant used to take lectures explaining the theoretical concepts essential for running a fertilizer plant. After attending several sessions at the training centre, it was very strange to notice a man, who must be in a managerial category, sitting idle in a room for the whole day long. We used to wonder how IFFCO could afford to have a manager whose output is zero. We never saw him interacting with anybody. We never even saw any of his colleagues visiting his room. One day, when ...