PUSH PULL

Chennai Speakers Forum

Project # 6

Pull-Push

Toastmasters – We all know the story of the hare and the tortoise, don’t we? How many of you think that the moral of the story is “Slow and steady wins the race”? But what If I told you that is not the only moral of the story?Do you  know what happened after the race? Do you want to know that?[Expecting a response]

IMAGINE - you were at the finish line of that race. The hare came whooshing past, smiling  and sweating, staggering and swaggering at having surely won the race , can you imagine what would have been the look on his face when he saw the tortoise sitting there chewing green cabbage?

He was baffled, confused and thought he was having hallucinations. But after having a carrot and still seeing the tortoise patiently chewing away decided he indeed had lost.

He went up to the tortoise and with great sportsmanship said “So you have won, fair and square. Congratulations. I should not have been overconfident and should not have taken the nap. What do you think?”

The tortoise, weary after the long race, smiled feebly and said “Thank you. Yes you were over confident and should not have taken the nap. But I think there was a way we both could have won.”

The hare astonished remarked “We, both, win. Then who loses?”

By this time a small crowd had gathered around.

The cow exclaimed “Ooooooooooo... how is that possible?”

The goat said “meeeeehhhhh, Impossible”.

The donkey started laughing “ heeeee haw heee haw, The tortoise has gone mad”.

Amid this entire din, the tortoise smiled and said “We all believe a race is to be won by a single person. All the others lose. That basically is what you define as a race. You ‘PUSH’ yourself forward to be the first. But think what would have happened if the hare had taken me on his back and we both had crossed the line together, or if I had woken up the hare on seeing him sleeping? “

The crowd murmured...”Oh what a brilliant idea ... why didn’t we think of it.... the tortoise makes no sense...told you.. he is as dumb as a dormouse.” The hare was intently looking at the tortoise and trying to figure out the meaning of the words. 

He slowly nodded his head in agreement and said “Oh wise tortoise, what you say makes sense and I now see how foolish I was to ‘race’ against you. Life is a race only because people are PUSHing themselves. We never stop and see who is lagging behind and never ever try to PULL them up so that we together can enjoy the benefits.” 

The crowd was stunned; silence was reigning supreme as each one tried to figure out the implications and impact of these words. The cow stopped chewing cuds, the goat stopped braiding his “goatee” and the donkey as usual was “dumb”struck.

The tortoise with a contented smile on his face said. “In life we all have a choice, that of Push vs Pull. Performance vs Progress... Activities vs. Accomplishments. Many of us always chose the former. We always push for performing better which is why we enter into a race. All we hear is that Life is a Rat Race. No offence to you dear rat. But for how long do you run? Forever?  How many of us have ever stopped , looked back, saw people lagging behind , went back, pulled them up and progressed together towards the goal.  One complements the other , each pulls the other along . The progress may be slow, but it is a progress nonetheless. This way we all benefit and we all share our progress.

Life then would not be a race but a GRACE

With that ... the tortoise entered his shell and went to sleep.

Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning.

 - Benjamin Franklin

Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success.

Henry Ford

Progress lies not in enhancing what is, but in advancing toward what will be.

Khalil Gibran

And that Toastmasters is the moral of the story.

Oh ! I still have a few minutes time... Do you know what happened after the all the rats had jumped into the sea by the song of the pied piper? [No....?]   They all died....

Thank you.

Ti Amo

Ti Amo

This is a poem

Written out by me

At a time I was feeling blue

And also without a clue

As to what went wrong

Between candy and chocy

I would give a lot to know

Why everything became so rocky

You and I were different

I cannot deny you that

But the point was to make it work

Even after that.

If you were confused

Then why did not you tell

I poured my heart out to you

And now it feels like hell.

Your sorry will not help me

To forgive about those things

Those times are the ones I cherish

And the feelings that it brings

For you are the one I love

Without a tense attached

Without you I feel so lonely

Miserable and detached

You are the one and always will be

The person to whom I gave my heart

And although you may not feel the same for me

Whenever you call I will come to thee

For love need not be a 2 way street

Love doesn’t require a return

Even though we may not meet

It is a feeling that eternally burns

Within my heart.

I still don’t know what went through your mind

But you have stolen my peace of mind

Everything I see or hear reminds me

You and everything that could be

I may never know why it didn’t work out

There will always be in my mind a doubt

As to why did you do what you did

Why did you keep your confusion hid

That one mistake of yours

Had ruined my heart and mind

But at least I lived a life in which I loved

And experienced ….briefly

The Divine.

First Love

FIRST LOVE

BEFORE I GO TELLING THIS TALE

HEARKEN ME

I AM NOT ONE WHO HAD THE BLESSING OF LUCK

MY LIFE WAS ONE SORROW AND IT SUCKED

LONG HAVE I LIVED

WITHOUT HOPE OR JOY

SEEING WORLD THROUGH TEAR STAINED EYES

HIDING MY HEART FROM EVERY EYE

BUT ONE DAY CAME AS SUCH

WHEN MY HEART CHANGED SO MUCH

THE WALL OF LONELINESS WAS KNOCKED DOWN

BY A SINGLE PERSON WITH EYES BIG AND ROUND

I FELT THE WALL CRUMBLE

ALL AT ONCE

I WASN’T ABLE TO UNDERSTAND

WHAT TURNED STEEL TO SAND

MAYBE IT WAS HER EYES

BIG AND ROUND

ONE LOOK FROM IT

AND I FUMBLED

MAYBE IT WAS HER LAUGHTER

SO CLEAR AND LOUD

THAT I STOOD

RIVETTED TO THE GROUND

MAYBE IT WAS HER HEART

SO KIND AND PURE

THAT I FELT INSTANTLY

I WAS IN LOVE FOR SURE

SHE DIDN’T KNO ABT MY FEELINGS

FOR A VERY LONG TIME

AND I LOVED HER EVER MORE

AND MORE AND MORE

WE WERE GOOD FRNDS ALL THE WHILE

AT EACH OTHERS THROATS ONCE IN A WHILE

I DO NOT KNOW ABT HER

BUT I ALWAYS MELTED SEEING HER SMILE

I FOUND OUT THAT MY HEART COULD FEEL

THAT IN REAL IT WASN’T MADE OF STONE AND STEEL

BUT IT HAD SUFFERED A VERY GREAT DEAL

WHICH ONLY LOVE AND CARE COULD HEAL

AND THEN CAME THE DAY

SOME CALL IT MOLE DAY

FOR SOME ITS JUST 23^RD DAY

BUT FOR ME IT WAS AND ALWAYS WILL BE THE D-DAY

EITHER SHE GOT IT OUT OF ME

OR WHETHER I WANTED HER TO KNOW AT LAST

AT LAST, THE TRUTH WAS OUT

SHE SAID SHE LIKED ME

AND NEEDED TIME TO THINK

TO LET HER LIKENESS TURN TO LOVE

AND THUS LEFT IT AT THE BRINK

WE HAD SOME UNFORGETABLE TIMES

MOMENTS OF HAPPINESS NOW LOST IN TIME

I YEARN FOR THEM

SEEING HOW IT IS NOW

ITS BEEN A MONTH SINCE D-DAY

WE HAVE SHARED JOY AND SORROW

AND KNOW EACH OTHER WELL

AS BEST AS WE MAY

WE FIGHT AND WE CLAW

WE LAUGH AND WE SMILE

WE HUM AND WE HAW

 WE CHERISH AND WE DELIGHT

WE FREEZE AND WE THAW

FOR WE KNOW

AT END

WE LOVE AND WE LIKE

EACH OTHER

SO I STILL LOVE HER

AND ALWAYS WILL

ALWAYS

LIVING APART FROM HER IS NOW MY BIGGEST FEAR

AS I HOLD HER TOO CLOSE , TOO DEAR

My Love

Chennai Speakers Forum

CC # 5

My Love

Her blazing eyes, the stylish looks, her well toned curves, the graceful walk, I was so much in love with her. She was all that I had ever wanted. Her dark colour, set off her brilliant eyes seemed to entice me towards herself.

”Come here darling!” she seemed to be saying. I was so spellbound; my feet took decisions on their own. They moved towards her, my eyes glued on her every aspect. I admired her from top to bottom, front to back. I couldn’t see any problems. She was P E R F E C T.

As I was admiring her, I was also thinking within me “Dude, this lady is gonna cost you a lot of maintenance. “ Petrol prices being what they are, I had to agree with my inner voice.

Yes fellow Toastmasters, I was looking at my first car, my very own Skoda Fabia. A better car didn’t exist in my smitten mind. I was so elated; I didn’t catch the glimpse of pride and love in my parents’ eyes.

My parents gifted her to me for my 21^st Bday and as a graduation gift. I christened her Chocolate. Why I did so is worth a story of its own J

It was but another milestone in a journey that began long ago....

I still remember, when I was a kid, i was sick quite often and due to that my mom and I had to travel to a lot of doctors, from Kolkata to Mumbai, Chennai to Delhi, who used to prescribe a lot of tests. For each of the tests, I used to throw a tantrum and demand a toy. My mom would always get it for me, and I would have to go through that horrible test with tears and terror , my mind only upon the toy I would play with when I returned home.

That went on for quite a while and I had with me a large collection of GI Joe vehicles, Shape changing aliens, awesome looking cars with imaginary superpowers and lots of missiles and nuclear bombs.

Today when I look back at them, I realise how much trouble I would have caused my parents. I did not know if they had enough resources to buy me the toy I wanted, I did not see the tears in their eyes when I was being tested. I was suffering from a very rare genetic disease, the cure for which was not yet discovered. I didn’t not care for that... I was happy with my own toys.

As i grew up, my demands also kept growing, from toys, to books, to video games, to mobile phones, to watches , to computers, to laptops and finally to Chocolate!

Where I should have been using the toys and loving my parents, I was doing it the other way round.

People were being used and objects were being loved.

Slowly, over the years I came to realise the seriousness of my conditions and the troubles my mom had to go through with me.. for me. Sometimes I can see a hint of sadness, the fleeting glimpse of pain, trial and tribulations that lay just beneath the surface recollecting the times gone by. For me that was what constituted my childhood, for me, it was normal, for her, it was a punishment .

The love my parents had and have for me cannot be measured. The toys, the education, the cars are just the tip of the iceberg, what lies beneath is truly priceless.

Toastmasters, we live in an era where everything has a price tag attached to it. Ironically, the smaller the object, the bigger the price tag!!

How many of us can put a price on our happiness ? How many of us can measure our love for a loved one?

Jewellery, cars, homes, mobiles , vacations  everything is being sold in shops. But does anyone of you know about a shop selling happiness? Love? 

None.

Yet we measure our success, our achievements and our wealth not by what we have here in our hearts but what we have in our pockets

This piece of paper can get you friends, spouses and kids, but can it get you their heart?

This piece of paper, however crushed, still finds another hand. But a heart once crushed can never be whole again.

There are some things money can buy, but  for everything else there is our Mastercard.

Use that card, not to buy yourself a Chocolate, but for bringing a smile on the lips of ur Loved Ones.

Thank you.

Long Lost Love

I loved her so much
So much I love her now
Time has been standing still
I love her very much still

We never were very close
It was an illusion I chose
above the reality of truth
it made my heart to soothe

So enamoured I am with her
So much in love
She has no idea about it though
about my feeling or my hearts throes

I call myself a fool
to love her so
And a bigger fool
To not let her go

Its hard to hear of her
as a stranger once more
Happiness and sadness exist together
I have experienced it so.

Her disarming smile,
her frowning face,
her childish tantrums,
her innocent ways
I remember them as if it was yesterday
I remember her as it if was yesterday
She is my
long lost love

U-n-Earthly Delight

CSF Competent Communications

Project #4

U-n-Earthly Delight

The mirrored windows were keeping off the intense rays of the Arabic sun, giving the vast expanse of desert a magical look, the wind whooshing past carrying with it the fragrance of the sea, the heat of the sun, the dust of the desert. There was turquoise sea at one end clashing brightly with the deep brown and yellow of the smouldering sands.

And there I was, standing right there...in the middle of the wonders of Mother Nature ...surrounded by man-made wonders. More than half a mile above the ground, at the highest observation deck on 125^th floor of the tallest building in the world. I was truly at the top taking in the exotic mix of sand, steel, stone, surf and sea.

Suddenly, as if my eyes had switched to another gear, I saw sea floors being raised to create towering building, oil being pumped uninterrupted 24x7, rivers being diverted to supply the cities, garbage being dumped in the ocean making it toxic. Man was causing havoc on Mother Nature. But then I thought, shrugged and said “It must have been necessary” and did NOTHING.

Some months later I was on a vacation in Coorg.

Nestled in the lush green embrace of the forests, the aroma of half ripe fruits littering the slopes of the forests, the crunch of the dry leaves, the cackling of the birds, the shade of the trees and the smell of fresh , crisp air laced with the suggestion of rain transports the person into another realm altogether. Mother Nature had provided everything I could desire.

Far off, I saw a truck chugging up the mountain, thick black fumes billowing out of its engine. It was carrying a load of timber. My eyes, as if just opened, started taking in the presence of plastic bottles, food wrappers, soda cans and papers thrown carelessly about the forest grounds, the air being polluted by the passing trucks and buses and the river being turned into a private dumping ground, and again, I did nothing.

Back home, driving through the roads, I recollected the “neglect” shown towards nature. If that was neglect, then my city seemed like a dumping ground. If oil was being pumped 24x7, it was only because we were consuming it in a frenzied way. It was at that moment, when I put my head down in shame, because I realised, I was equally to be blamed for this state of Nature.

Fellow toastmasters, we all have a responsibility towards Mother Nature. Forest land, an area equivalent of 4 football fields is been chopped down every hour, the hides of majestic animals are used to decorate our walls, embellish our ornaments or put beneath our feet.

The much awaited rainfalls, under which we used to play, float boats and which always formed a backdrop for a romantic song in the movies, is now raining acids and harms our skins. The mountains whose majestic peaks covered in snow formed a glittering crown, are now crownless. The mighty rivers and sprawling lakes with their crystal clear water, reflecting the sun’s ray, mirroring the sky, which were a source of livelihood for thousands of fishermen and a symbol of worship are now tainted with the poisonous waste from the factories. Fishes and reptiles floating on the surface, dead, and washing ashore the banks, a grim reminder of the “man-handling” of nature.

Friends, it is high time we took responsibility for our actions. I know that many of us feel “What can I do alone? It would hardly make a difference.” Or “I am actively involved in environment. I sign a lot of petitions of environmental organisations” But does that really help us? Does it bring us one step closer to a harmonious life with Mother Nature? NO, IT DOES NOT.

We need to learn the 3R’s. No, they are not read, write and arithmetic[J], but
Reduce, Reuse and
Recycle.

We leave our fans and light switched on when we go out, we ask the waiter to fill our glasses when all we need is just a sip. We have to stop wasting resources or at least reduce it. I make it a point to switch off the lights when leaving a room. I ask the waiter to fill only the glass as much as I require. It has now become a habit.

If we cannot reduce, we should reuse the item or donate them to those in need. Donate appliances and books to the community centres. Newspapers and cardboard covers can be reused for packing and storage. Old clothes make good cushion covers. My mom uses plastic bags as dustbin covers around the house.

Finally, we should always recycle items. Electronic items, glass products ,batteries and  printer cartridges are easily recyclable products. We have to make an effort and deposit those items to recycling centres. This in the end would benefit us in the long run.

Imagine, it is year 2200 ... people are standing in endless queues to get a cup of water, people suffering from skin diseases and heart/lung diseases due to excessive pollution... world without any trees... Do you want to leave a world like this to your great grand children? Improve your future...no...let us improve our future...by

Re
ducingour expectation

Reus
ingour time

Re
cycling our attitude

Thank you.

Another Day

The sun shining high and bright,
warmth filtering from the sunlight,
birds chirping from the trees,
soothing noises of the seas,

Laughter of the frolicking child,
Music from the wind chimes,
The smiles of your loved ones,
Aroma of the baking buns,

You rise from the bed,
plan for the day ahead,
A spring in your walk,
A whistle in your talk,

Gathering the courage
You feel happy and gay,
to have lived another day.