I've been blessed to have a safe and secured life. What I love about being a human being is that we love contradictions. If I am in a difficult situation, I crave for an easy one. But, the same is true for the other way round. Being in an easy way of life, I want to take enough risks to make things difficult or challenging. We love challenges. If everything is going okay, we challenge ourselves to land into trouble. I believe that's how we learn. If we don't take enough risks, we become stagnant.

But, sometimes, we come across situations, where we are left on our own to take decisions which can affect our entire life! And, I realize that, sometimes, its so difficult to take such decisions. People who take the right decision, have nothing to explain to anyone. But, for those who make a decision and things go wrong, have to face terrifying consequences.

I happened to be in a situation where, my decision would tear apart a series of relationships. And, here I am unable to take the decision of life and death.

For the right decision calls for an easy life. But, the other decision calls for a disaster for many. It would also mean ruining years full of emotions and trust. But, then I am a human being. If, I believe that the other decision is right, I want to challenge myself for the disaster. But, then there's another decision pending: Is all this worth it? And more decisions need to be taken based on what I decide. It's exciting, challenging, fearful, disastrous, wonderful, and its a mix of all kind of emotions - to take this decision of life and death.

And, I was taught to be the decision maker. The choice is mine. The consequences would follow. Again the choice on that consequence is mine. Again a new consequence would follow. But the only thing is that if I am satisfied by the consequence, I increase my expectation from the next choice. And if I am unhappy with the consequence, I make an improved choice by learning through the past mistakes.

But, sometimes, I really wonder. Why we humans are like this. And also, why not?

I've lived in India since childhood. Thats 29 years of my life. Being born in a Gujarati family, I've been pampered with so much love and care from the family. To the extent that I was not allowed to do anything wrong. Each decision of mine was modified by the elders so that I don't go wrong. Now that I've begun to understand life on my own, I've started asking myself what is Wrong and Right? Who decides it? It may be Right according to me and Wrong according to my parents, it can be contradictory. And it happened to me too. There were times when I felt things should be done in a particular way and my parents took objections. But, then, I felt it was Right. Why is it that I can't decide what's right for me?

Coming to think of it, I realised that everything is just neutral. There's nothing right or wrong. Its each person's perspective - how they see it. Like so many times, inspite of taking a so called right decision, we land up in deep trouble and sometimes a wrong decision really changes our life for the better.

I've come to a stage in life, where I see everything as everything. I don't label anything as Wrong or Right. If I feel like doing something, I just do it. If I feel I should not, I don't. It doesn't mean it was wrong or right, it just means that I didn't want to do that or I wanted to do that.

As I am facing each day with this attitude, I've started living happily. I learn from my mistakes, I grow, I make mistakes, I learn from them and I grow. Its just amazing. I just see to it that I don't make the same mistake again, rather make a new mistake each time. And I've realised that if I stop making mistakes, thats when I've stopped growing, because I am not learning anything new.

I just do what I feel I want to do with the freedom from Wrong or Right. And its an amazing thing to do.

All this what I feel, may sound wrong to you or may be right.

If I am lucky today,

I'll be able to give a lift to someone in need.

I'll be able to help someone cross the road.

I'll be able to carry a few bags for someone who can't.

I'll be able to see beauty in everything around me.

If I am lucky today,

Seeing a dead person will remind me, that I too shall pass away leaving everything behind.

Seeing someone unhappy, will give me a chance to make them smile.

Seeing poor people will remind me, that I am blessed with so much, that, I actually don't need.

Seeing someone angry will make me realize, how terrifying anger can be.

If I am lucky today,

I'll face challenges, that will teach me a few lessons.

I'll be a student and learn something in everything.

I'll make a difference in the life of at least one living being on earth.

I'll feel gratitude towards the creator for giving me much more than what I deserve.

Since the past 1 month, I have been getting a strong urge. An urge for acquiring knowledge. My phone has a feature which allows me to put a message to be displayed when the alarm rings. So this is my message: "Wake up, You have so much to learn". I have started to get into a habit to learn something in everything.

When I learn something, my mind feels so fresh, I feel happy, feel a sense of accomplishment, feel more matured, feel satisfied, when I learn something new, relevant and positive.

We all read books, surf the net, drive on the road, do all the things what everybody does. We go through so much of information everyday. But, when we start asking ourselves this question "What is it that I've learnt in this?", we realise that most of the lessons learnt, are not implemented in our life. We can sincerely find out some knowledge in everything we come across, but we rarely implement it in life.

We sometimes become frustrated, when we repeat our mistakes. Everybody make mistakes. The important thing is to learn and not repeat them in future. But, we tend to forget the lessons and end up in the same mess again.

Implementation of what we learn is more important than actually learning it. As the saying goes: "Unimplemented knowledge is a burden".

I've learn that change is now or never. If I've decided to change something in me, why wait for another moment? It has to be from now on. If I decide to change a bad habit, it has to be from now. It's in my control to do what I have decided to do and it has to be done now.

Change happens the moment you decide to change. But, if you just decide and not implement it, it is a waste of learning.

"7 out of 10 birds decide to fly. How many are left? Still 10. They only decided to fly."

I read an article on the web today. I was in tears reading it.
It was about a family in South India who have to work really hard to earn enough, so that they can have 2 meals a day. It was an eye opener for me to understand the importance of money. I mean, ofcourse, we all understand the importance of money, but we take it for granted.
We, the city dwellers, usually earn enough to splurge the excess money on expensive restaurants, gadgets and lot of things which we don't really need. But when I read about poor people living in the small villages and towns of India, I really paused a while to understand, how they must be living? With no money to buy food for the next day, they cannot afford to get ill. They too want their children to go to school, they too want to gift a saree to their wives, their wives too want to cook a sumptuous meal and their children too want to play with toys. But they cannot even dream of all this.
From morning till evening they are just working, so hard, just to earn themselves 2 meals a day. Their only prayer to God is that the rains should be good this year, so that they can earn some more money and send their children to school.
I must have splurged lakhs of Rupees to buy things which I really didn't need. I have been splurging money on so many things. Things like new mobile handsets, mp3 players, branded clothes, new cars, all kind of electronics for the house, the list seems endless.
It's not possible for me to live without any desires of buying the unwanted things. Today's consumer industry is too tempting to resist.
But, if I can splurge money for myself, then, as a human being, I would also like to take the responsibility to help the really needy people who need so much help from us. I can feel their pain. I am in tears. And these are tears of guilt.
Knowingly or unknowingly, I have never before worked so hard to help the needy, the way I work hard to buy the unnecessary things for myself. Even at an individual level, we can make a difference.

Life is incomplete without a dream. I am what I am today, because of my dream.
Most people don't dream big. Few don't have a dream at all. Very few make it big in life and these are the people who dream big.

Most of us continue to do what we are doing everyday without any focus. Even if we want to succeed, we need a direction. This direction is always towards a dream.

Dream big. Dare to Dream big. Dare - because, only dreaming won't help. There will be difficulties, challenges, setbacks. But in spite of all this, if we continue to work towards our dream, we will achieve it one day.

It was a dream of Mahatma Gandhi to achieve freedom for India with Non Violence. It was a dream of Walt Disney to have such a huge entertainment land for children. It was a dream of Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Norgay to climb the Mount Everest. Without a dream, we will continue to do what we are doing, without any scope of new challenges and achievements.

We should dream of becoming No. 1 in whatever we are dreaming. If your dream is to be a successful designer. The dream should be "I want to be the No. 1 designer in my city, in the country and then in the whole world." Ask yourself. What is it that you will need to become No. 1. What is it that you feel, you will not become No. 1. Overcome the challenges by working hard towards your dream. But only hard work is not enough. What you really need is Self-Belief.

"Self-Belief is my belief in the ability to achieve my dreams."

Mahatma Gandhi, Walt Disney, Hillary everyone was full of Self-Belief. They were ready to face and overcome all challenges that came their way.

Self-Belief has to be nurtured. You can increase your Self-belief by setting and achieving small small targets. Mini targets like waking up early today. Jogging an extra 100 meters today. Not use abusive language for a week. Go on a diet plan for a month. Anything and everything which is not destructive and will take you towards a positive goal. Mini targets of things which you usually won't do. By setting such targets and achieving them, you will start increasing your self-belief. You will feel so much great that you've achieved something which was not easy. You will be glowing with Self-Belief.

With this self-belief, you can work towards your dreams.

I had visited a school today for our subject + program. We are a team of people who are part of this huge program, where we are going to schools and conducting a few sessions on values of life for 'X' std students.

I had gone as a partner with another speaker who took the session. For those of you who are like me, who haven't been to a school since long time, I would like to tell you - you should visit a school once. It's an amazing experience.

At 7.30 am as we entered the school, I saw hundreds of students emerging from the buses and walking in a queue toward their classes. There was the school band, which started playing the marching drums, and suddenly everything which was still appeared moving. The music became faster and louder. And within 5 minutes, all students were settled in their respective classes. The sound of the drum beats tantalized my senses. I felt super charged up. All my laziness disappeared. As we moved to see how many of them are playing the drums, the loudspeaker turned on and there was a prayer, and then a few sanskrit slokas, and then every student in the school, recited the pledge "India is my country, all Indians are my brothers & sisters……" and then the National Anthem. The whole atmosphere was filled with tremendous patriotism. Everything seemed so full of life. I remembered the good old days back at school. How uncomplicated life was then.

We went on to take the session. It was an interactive session, where we asked the students lot of questions about what they dream to become and how to make their dreams into reality… etc.

I was so amazed listening to their answers. Some silly, some so intelligent, some funny, some so serious.. With each answer, I could understand, what the child is going through and what he/she wants to achieve in life. We taught them to improve their Self-Belief, and to dream big. We made them take the courage to stand and share what they felt. And everybody clapped for the child who shared.

When we finally summarized the entire session, each one of the students shared with us what they learnt from the session. And I had never visualized any of the answers which they gave. What I've learnt from this experience is that "A child's mind is so pure and free from prejudices and negativities. If good thoughts, practices and lessons of life are taught to them throughout their childhood, they can become Great people in future.

A quick peek into your mind will reveal whether you trust someone or not. You don't have to strain yourself for that. You can immediately decide whether you want to trust someone or not, when it comes to leaving your luggage with that person. Whether the person is a stranger or a relative or a distant relative or a family member, will help you decide what decision to take. But, if I ask you to visualize the person as an absolute stranger. Would you leave your belongings with him/her. Now you are thinking!!

Life's become so unpredictable. And we have lost trust in humanity. Because, we have been conditioned this way since childhood. When I was a child, my parents always warned me to stay away from strangers, never open the door when I'm alone, etc.

If I would have been living in a village, I don't think things would have been same. My opinion about strangers would have been totally different. I would love to share this incident which shook me completely. It's an incident which taught me how simple - simplicity can be.

"I am into a business related to Computer Education, in Pune. We usually get lot of students from small towns and villages in and around Pune and Maharashtra. We had a few visitors who wanted their daughters to join our courses. So the entire family had come. After finalizing the courses, they went out in search of Hostels near our institute. After an hour, I happened to be in the room, where they were seated. I was amazed to find 3 bags which belonged to them. They had just left those there. Trusting that nothing could ever happen to the bags. And then, they came back after an hour. Talked to us, went to that room, took the bags and left. They didn't even bother to check the bags to see if everything is okay."

Moral:

Seeing all this made me write this diary page. I am still digesting the fact about how simple the villagers can be. They might not have experienced any dishonesty, frauds, robbery etc. in their life. Or even if they had, they still have not lost the Trust from humanity. They are simple people having tremendous respect for human values. Their simplicity is their biggest strength. And they are so simple, that they don't realize that they have this strength. I've learnt a lesson from them, which I'll never forget.

I would love to be one of them and amongst them.

I sometimes wonder, with terrified visions, about where the humanity is headed? We - Human Beings, as we are called.

We all are trapped in the so called basics of life. I can explain this statement with some examples. I was sitting on a bench, waiting for my turn, at the eye clinic and there was a couple sitting opposite to me. They looked very happy. They were discussing a few things and the girl had a mobile in her hand. The nurse came and called her name. In the hush-hush of getting up, she dropped the mobile phone. Her happy face turned gloomy, as she saw the boy red in anger staring at her. She had to go inside. Sad, scarred and shattered, she went on.

I know for the fact, that she didn't throw the mobile. She dropped it by mistake, unintentionally. Most people would have reacted the way the boy did.

Why are we always ready to fight, to get angry, to become frustrated, to loose our composure on material things? Why doesn't Human Value have any value?

Someone would beat up a Human Being to death, just because he scratched an expensive car. How can we be so insensitive toward Humans.

We would fight with the neighbour because he parked his car in our place. We would fight with the tele-caller, as if he or she is just a machine and don't have any feelings. We would just keep looking for an excuse, to find faults and to fight. Isn't it true with most of us?

We want to teach someone a lesson, when he breaks the law. We want to kill most of the politicians because they are unjust, corrupted and useless. Politicians want to create panic among people by exploiting illiterate humans and using them as mass medium of destructions by glorifying different castes and cultures. We want to kill each other in the name of religion, states and colour.

Is this Human behaviour? Humans killing Humans. Behaving like animals. What is the difference between animals and humans. We can think. But do we?

My wife always says, that, if God exists and he is watching the show and not doing anything about it. Then I don't want to believe in God. He can't be so cruel to see such cruelty and still not do anything about it.

I just want to say to the world - "Love. Love Humans. Love God. Love Yourself". Do things which will make you Love yourself. Next time you get angry, frustrated, evil - Pause for a moment to think. Ask yourself "Are your negative thoughts going to solve the problem or worsen it?" Learn to forgive. Have gratitude towards the creator, for giving you things which others might dream of having. There is always someone out there in the world, who has less than what you have.

Learn to Love. Save our world. Save Humanity.

A few months back, there was a law passed for banning plastic bags. I don't know what happened to that, but the municipal corporation fined so many people for giving away plastic bags of certain microns... and then one day, while I was waiting at a signal in my car, I was shocked to see so many plastic flags of some political party hanging on a rope passing through the lamp poles through out the road. There muse be hundreds of such flags on that road and maybe thousands to fill up the whole city. And then after a few days, I see some people removing them and throwing them in the river. I wanted to photograph it and send it to the press, but wasn't having my camera with me.

All big talks on saving the earth. The government should first start educating their own departments and then put rules for the common man.

Whatever it is. I stopped using plastic bags. I carry my own cloth bag and keep one in the car too in case of emergency. Whenever a shopkeeper puts the items in a plastic bag, I return the bag to him and use my own. I also spread the awareness. That's how I plan to save the earth. What about you?