Work... Like there was no yesterday...

M S Dhoni has won numerous matches with his 'out of the box' thinking. Whether its a genius stroke or sheer dumb luck, nobody knows. But I have seen one thing for sure... Everytime he wins a match for his team, he's hailed as the next generation captain. And everytime his decision backfires, the entire media starts talking about his retirement from captaincy. Then, he comes back with a win and he's a legend again.

Long before I stopped wearing shorts, Sachin has been playing, and in so many years, I've heard the media talking about his retirement almost every year. Yet, he plays a winning inning and is hailed as a legend again. Let him go duckout the next time and I promise to you all will be forgotten in a moment.

I have gone through this myself. I was one of the best of the lot in my batch. As a result, I used to keep getting more opportunities. Somewhere over the years I found myself struggling to keep up. I wasn't sure whether it was overwork or whether it was complacence.
Now I understand what it was. Everytime I was successful, I became relaxed.
"I've done this"
"I've acheived this"
etc...
and then, life will throw in a test and a rude wake up call.

Over years, I have realised that no matter what I have achieved in my past, it does not matter. I have to continue achieving in the present.

Just because I was the best student in my school doesn't mean I have to work less in my office. I still have to go to office every morning and give in my best.

Whatever I did till yesterday, is exactly there... in the yesterday. It carries no value today. I still have to carry my bums to the office and work today...

Of course, what I did till yesterday has brought me where I am today, but that's where its role ends.
Of course, what I did till yesterday has added value in me in different ways.
What I did till yesterday has already added value to my today.
If I continue to sit on past laurels, past successes... I would be sitting on outdated successses while everyone continues to achieve more.

So the next realisation turns out to be... "Work like there was no yesterday..."

Infact, this very same realisation holds true even in relationships. One has to keep on working on his relationships... No matter how much loving I have been in the past. Just one quarrel with my loved one can wipe the slate clean and I have to begin again....

Infact, what an amazing life we could have if we could put these two realisations together...

"Love like there's no tomorrow... Work like there was no yesterday"

Love... like there's no tomorrow...

Do you remember when was the last time you hugged your loved one?
Do you remember how it felt?
When was the last time you looked at someone with pure love in your eyes... Do you remember how it felt?

People very close to me know how crazy I'm about hugs. I believe that a hug is the purest form of expression one could express.
As a kid, I would always be found hugging my grandma. I would hug her at every possible opportunity. Infact, she used to tease me - "Itna chipakta hai..."
Then, I grew up and somehow the number of hugs per day went down.
Then, one day, she was gone.
Today, I remember so many hugs and the loving experiences my grandma gave me, but I don't remember how my last hug with her felt. I don't even remember when I had hugged her before she left.
Somehow, in my immaturity I thought that she will always be around to hug me and did not value every moment which I had with her.
But, somewhere in the whole process, life gave me one message - "Love like there's no tomorrow"

Love like there's no tomorrow, cherish each moment you have with your dear ones and let it go in the deepest corner of your heart and your very being.
My communication is not yet good enough to explain it... But I think the message itself says it all... "Love like there's no tomorrow"

Whether it is your little one, whether it is that pet, whether it is your parents, grand parents, your beloved... whoever it is... Love like there's no tomorrow...
The TV serial can wait... That T20 can wait... That game of Sudoku can wait... Food can wait... Your newspaper can wait... work can wait... The WORLD can wait... Don't make love wait...

Please take this sharing in its right sense. I know that we are all blessed with beautiful long lives, I'm not saying that anyone is leaving the world tomorrow morning. What I'm only asking you to do is to cherish the beautiful loving moments our life gives us. Lets not let them pass away as shallow experiences to be forgotten with time, but lets take these beautiful moments and relish till the next ones come and then beyond.


Love Like there's no Tomorrow...

Extra Home Work...

I remember when I was a kid, my mother used to help me with my studies.
Every day I would come back from school, have lunch and sleep for an hour. After that I would sit on my homework. Generally my homework lasted from an hour to hour and a half. It was routine stuff like math problems,tables, history answers, science diagrams etc.
Everyday, after I had finished my homework, my mom would ask me to do extra home work. So many times I used to ask her why do I have to do the Extra Homework.
Everytime, she would nicely make me sit in her lap and tell - "What you did till now is what the teacher told you to do. Everyone will do that and come. Everyone will do the same studies. But, you want to be first rank, right? How will you get first rank if you also do what everyone is doing? You have to do something extra right?? That's why you should do Extra Homework. We'll do what others are not doing, then you will know what others don't know and you can get extra marks and first rank."

Now, which 8 year old wouldn't want to get the first rank?

So I happily used to sit and do the Extra Homework. The extra homework would generally include extra practice as Dictation, some oral maths, text book math problems twisted in some way, mom pulling out questions from middle of the chapters instead of those given at the end, sometimes a quiz and other tricks like that.

I went with my family for a dinner today, to our favourite restaurant, we ordered the food of our choice. As we were having the starters, the steward came and served a dish which we had not ordered. The manager was right there, and seeing the confused look on my face, he smiled and said - "Sir, we want you to experience this dish as well. It's on the house" (that means, its free)
It was a pretty nice dish and we liked it a lot, but what I liked more is the gesture from that person. It obviously tasted good, but more importantly, we all felt good - we felt special.

The manager could have served us exactly what we ordered and we would have come back completely satisfied, but he did that little bit extra and we came back more than satisfied. (why he did? I still don't know, but for some reason he chose to do it)

Today I realise what my Mom was actually giving to me. She was not just giving me the Extra Homework, she was giving me an attitude. She was giving me a message - "If you do exactly what is expected from you, then it is not good enough. Everyone does that. You have to do something extra"

In homework, spend those 10 minutes extra.
If the office is 9-6, then sitting till 6.15 won't hurt that much.
If you have waited at the signal for so long, waiting a few more seconds and allowing that old lady to cross won't hurt.
If you have made a mistake, apologising the 101st time won't kill.
If you already hugged your loved one in the morning, another quick hug while leaving for office won't hurt.

I know what you are thinking... If I have already downed 4 for today, 1 more won't hurt... Take the knowledge in its right meaning...

I repeat... If I do exactly what is expected from me, it's not good enough... I have to do something extra...

Are you still wondering why you didn't get that promotion???

Start something good...

It was 12.40 midnight on a Friday and I was riding home from the train station after dropping my friend. I saw a signal go red and stopped my bike on the side. It was a 2 minute signal. As I was waiting at the red light, a Honda Civic full of drunk dudes passed by at full speed... hooting at me... shouting stuff like "Uncle Jee"... "Wakey wakey"... (and a few other things which I can't share on this blog)

Another guy with his family passed by me in his Nissan... He too blasted through the channel, of course he was looking at me as if something was wrong with me.

Another dude, with blasting music in his car passed me, looked at me and stopped. Yep, unexpectedly, the dude stopped at the white line. Seeing 2 vehicles waiting, another Auto rickshaw stopped.
Within another 30 seconds a few more vehicles stopped at the red light and by the time the signal went green, there was a respectable line of vehicles waiting at the line.
All this happened within those 2 minutes waiting time of the signal.

I felt pretty good that night. I made a choice to follow the rules. A few mocked my choice and just one got inspired. 1 became 2, 2 became 3 and 3 became many.

All of us keep complaining that nobody follows the rules. Have we started?

All of us keep complaining about corruption... You have every right to complain... just one tiny little question... Have you never done a single rupee adjustment in you tax returns? Have you never gotten away by paying 50 bucks when you were supposed to pay 500 in traffic violation?

I don't have a problem when you complain about the cleanliness in the city... By the way... Can I ask where you threw your last chocolate wrapper / cigarette butt?

You have all the right in the world to complain about the pollution... Do you turn off the engine when its a 2 minute signal??

You cannot catch me jumping a signal or getting away by bribing or trashing around...
I have started something good by changing myself... I know that by looking at me, a few more will... The important thing is to make a choice... A choice to change...

Like we have so many times heard... "You can either be a part of the problem or you can be a part of the solution..."

You cannot be in front of a problem and stay neutral. You are either a part of the problem adding on to it, or you are a part of the solution and eliminating the problem. There is no room for fence sitters?
Pick a side... Be a part of a problem or be a part of a solution... but be something...
Make a choice...
Start something good...