Power of smile: Being 45 at 65

"Hi,” he extended his hand and I could feel an iron grip. He looked a man of 45 but was a full 65 years of age.
“It’s amazing you have maintained so well. What’s the secret?” I asked spontaneously.
“I do not miss my gym and refuse to allow anyone to take away my smile. Hey, congratulate me, I just got married,” said the Canadian. I did.

For those who want to live life full, age is no bar, whether it is a teen like me, or the elderly like him.

I also met another friend. She has a beautiful face and an enviable hip. She’s rich and works in a neighbouring country. But there’s something missing. That smile of the Canadian. In fact, she suffered from optimism deficiency.

“How’s life?” I asked and she replied: “Oh, don’t ask me. I am so depressed.”

Toxic company is hazardous. I wanted to run. Yet, she’s my dear friend. So, I told her: “When you feel down, remember people like Steve Jobs. Given away in adoption by Syrian dad, this hero fights cancer. See where he has taken the Apple company.”

She smiled. I think I won, at least for that moment.
Talking about age, here’s a joke I heard:

“Doctor, I have pain in my right (leg) knee.”

“Oh, blame it on age.”
“But I have no pain in my left knee!”

No problem at all-2

I picked up some more inspiring points from Tamil thinker Sivam’s speech.
Inferiority complex is a dirty disease. If we have a particular weakness, there’s no shame in accepting it. For example, even great leaders like Vivekananda and Gandhi made errors while speaking in English.
There was a chief minister of Tamil Nadu called OPR. He had to send a reply to the central government. While writing, he spelt “opinion” wrong. His assistant, worried about boss’s image, corrected it and brought a new draft. OPR told him, “They asked my opinion, not yours. Let them know the truth that I don’t know proper English.”
Lack of confidence can kill. A man was being punished. His eyes were shut, his hand was pricked with a pin and he was told that his blood will spill drop by drop until he dies. The sound of drops scared the man so much that he died in just 45 minutes. Actually, it was water from a vessel that was allowed to drip and not blood.
Confidence is a wonderful gift. In Paris a competition was held for clapping longest time. While many gave up in a short while, one pair of hands went on clapping for four hours. When called to the stage, two people stood up. Both had single hands.

No problem at all-1

I was hearing a speech by famous Tamil thinker Su.Ki. Sivam and it was full of wisdom.
“Shun inferiority complex,” was the message.
There are people who keep cribbing “If only I had a bigger house..,” “If only I had a car..,” and so on. One guy cried, “If only I were two inches taller, I would have joined the police force.” Sivam questions this attitude. “There is no height constraint in becoming a Collector. He could have aimed at becoming that.”
Napoleon, former Indian PM Shastri, Al Pacino were short people, but look at their tall achievements.
There’s an interesting story. One revolutionary youth was arrested by the police and put in prison. His 72-year-old dad wrote a letter lambasting the youth. “In our neighbourhood, everyone is farming potatoes. Instead of working here, you have foolishly gone to prison. What use your being my son?” He went on criticizing the son, closing the letter with, “I will now go and do the farming myself.” The youth shot back a letter, “You stupid old man. Don’t dig our land. I have hidden arms and ammunition there.” The next day, a military squad surrounded the home, pulled up the old man and ripped apart the entire land. Nothing was found. The son wrote to dad again, “On my behalf, I have made the government help you out.”

Happiness for sale

Bobby McFerrin’s carol echoes, “Don’t worry, be happy.”
“Every man has the right to liberty and pursuit of happiness,” insists the US constitution.
“Think positive,” all great guys say.
But there is also an opposite version that says too much stress on positive thinking can be toxic.
JS Mill said it well: “Ask yourself if you are happy, and you cease to be so.”
The Journal of Clinicial Psychology mentions, “Could it be that the pressure itself to be happy contributes to some form of unhappiness?”
Reality bites.
The only people who make money are authors who tell others how to make money, says my boss.
As for me, I draw strength from the words: “Collaborate with the inevitable.”
We all react differently in different situations. I was in the car with a close friend. I started cribbing how I miss my family. Believe me buddies, this friend literally cried: “You want your family back; you are apart. I want to part from my partner; I have been forced to hang on.”
What a cruel reality! Destiny, if only I could catch you physically, I will hang you upside down and force feed raw bitter gourd for breakfast along with green chillies. Sorry no water.

Doctor with guts

Wandering around a mall on Diwali day, I picked up the book “Think before it is too late.”
The one para I read touched me so much I wanted to share with you. It was about Dr Barry James Marshall, an Australian physician who won the Nobel for Medicine in 2005. This doctor and his research partner Dr Robin Warren made the startling discovery that stomach ulcers are not caused by stress, spicy foods or too much acid. They felt that bacteria Helicobacter pylori was the cause of most stomach ulcers.
When they declared this, their theory was ridiculed by scientists and doctors, who did not believe that any bacteria could live in the acidic stomach. In order to prove his point, Dr Marshall undertook some daring action. He drank a petri-dish of the bacteria and soon developed gastritis. He then fought the condition with antibiotics. The bacteria disappeared after two weeks.
Marshall has been quoted as saying "Everyone was against me, but I knew I was right".
Great guts boss. Hats off to you, doctor.

Never give up

Another Saturday. Tuckkk.. early morning knock. Neighbour John smiles. “Al Vidha. We are shifting to a new place. Bye.” Yesterday, the only other neighbour I know, Parag, had shifted to Dubai where rents are falling. That leaves me alone again. The Parags had been very supportive.
Zip my lip for one hour and I may be dead. Solitary confinement is the last punishment I ever expected in life. Today happened to be one such day when loneliness struck like a thunderbolt. The couple of friends I know have gone on vacation. I should never have put on the cassette player. The “500 miles away from home” song was too touching. I don’t want to tell you the truth, well, what secret with you, my dear ones. I did cry for a second.
That much enough for the negative sentiment. You know me well now. The challenge is to bring back the smile. By night when I am writing this post, I had succeeded.
How?
Simple. Remember MT, the Canadian college student I had mentioned once? Yesterday, when I went online I caught her on chat. Hey, I want a short piece for our newspaper, I told her. She said it’s 4.30am in Canada. She had just got up after going to bed late studying, but within 20 minutes I had the piece on my email. Salaam dear. Like my blog friend Deepak Acharya says, look at Mickey Rourke. I kept recollecting such hardworking people. Back on roll. Kept myself busy.
And evening I went to City Centre mall bookshop as usual to grab something nosy for you. Once in the book stall, my eyes reach for psychiatry and body, spirit, mind, motivation section. Grabbed a few lines for you. Have to keep it for the next post, lest this becomes too long. Take care. Even if you are forced to cry, never say die. No giving up. I am with you just like you are with me.

Life’s short, make it sweet

Saturday yesterday and as usual I was glimpsing through some books at a mall. A question in a book was: “One of five humans suffers from depression. Does it mean it is part of human nature and not a disease?” Answer: The same number of people (or more) has cavities. Does it mean they should not get treated? I am just presenting what I read. Not my view.
Some people make others’ lives miserable. One guy I know suffered humiliation for years under a boss. But he tolerated. One day, the boss met with an accident and lost a leg. He changed dramatically. Does one need a punishment to start loving others?
An Emirates Humour Club official sent me this inspiring piece and I wanted to share with you.
Randy Pausch was 47 years old when he died from pancreatic cancer. His book, The Last Lecture, is an international best-seller and it offers many wonderful lessons about life.
Randy Pausch's "last lecture" was delivered in September 2007, at Carnegie Mellon University, where he taught computer science. The lecture began with him standing before a screen beaming down chilling CT images of tumours in his liver, under the title...The Elephant in the Room. He then said to a stunned audience, "I have about 6 months to live." He said, "I'm really in good shape, probably better shape than most of you," ... dropping to the floor to do push-ups.
He went on to say, "I'm dying and I'm having fun, and I'm going to keep having fun every day I have left." He talked about his childhood dreams and what they had taught him about life. He said, "If you live your life the right way, the karma will take care of itself...your dreams will come to you."

Bury the worry

I was watching a CD containing a lecture on human excellence by Prof KR Rao. Some interesting points I thought should share with you.
* Dream is not something that you get in sleep; it’s one that does not let you sleep and makes you work hard towards a goal.
* Einstein was planning to give a speech when he saw a shoeshine boy. He noticed that the boy had not washed his face. He asked the boy to polish his shoes, and then offered an extra dollar if he washed his face. The boy vanished in a second and returned after doing so. What will you do with your extra dollar? asked Einstein. “Well, I will give it back to you if you comb your hair,” replied the boy. “I realized then that all of us need to learn everyday,” declared Einstein in his speech.
* Learning is not just for earning.
* He lives who lives for others: Vivekananda
* Keep your mind open, nothing enters a closed mind
* Let not worries bury you, you bury the worries.

Yes we can

I have realised that every other person we meet in our daily life has some inspiring message. This attractive Canadian college student was with us as part of a training scheme for a month. We had not met for months and I did not realise she was trailing my blog. And we got in touch again. I was so damn proud when she said she had been tied down with her studies, slept hardly four hours a day, read 100 authors this year and wrote a 1,000 papers. Proud of you, MT.
There are others too. LP is a young SAP consultant, lost his job and his dad is in debt, but says will never let negative thoughts sap his zeal. BB does martial arts exercises around midnight as that’s when he gets time.
And our great blog friends. Each one of them is a great inspiration. How much strength I have gained by chatting with a few of my blog friends, oof.. you will not believe me. BTW, don’t forget that there are 200 million blogs floating around on the Net.
Finally, your own buddy, RR. Hey, you forgot damn it, that’s me. Down with a knee injury for a week, RR decided to wake up early, go for regular walks, work really hard, write brilliant stories, cook sumptuous food and improve skills overall. That he failed miserably on all fronts this week is another matter.
Hey, don’t laugh, I am serious.

Stay on Job, Steve

He is an amazing guy, this Chief Executive Officer of Apple Inc. Steve Jobs. What an inspiration, his words. Jobs, who had successful surgery for a rare form of pancreatic cancer in 2004, had said he would remain CEO while seeking a "simple" treatment for a hormone imbalance.
He then said recently he would take medical leave in June, after learning that his health problems were "more complex" than he originally thought.
Here are just four quotations of his I am sure you will enjoy reading. They are inspiration tonic.
* The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it."
* Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."
* There's a phrase in Buddhism, 'Beginner's mind.' It's wonderful to have a beginner's mind."
* I would trade all of my technology for an afternoon with Socrates.

Thank you, Gulf News

The prestigious Gulf News in its Blogosphere: Dec. 9 (By Adam Flinter, Web Editor) column has quoted Global-Madrasi.blogspot.com
“But it seems not everyone is happy to see the rain. Apart from people driving through the puddles, the global Madrasi blog (global-madrasi.blogspot.com) complained he could not sleep during the rain. "Through my glass window not protected by curtains, lightning flashed on my eyes around midnight. The rumbling thunder made me uneasy. Winter has returned to Sharjah. But what made me roll around restlessly on the bed was the growling in my stomach. I had been trying out a new restaurant for the past two days, and it proved a costly experiment."
Ah! So it was food and not the rain that kept him awake!
As you were then. Everyone loves the rain (just as long as it isn't in Bush visit proportions).

Motivation

My colleague Naheed Zafar has sent this motivating piece by Kipling for Global-Madrasi wellwishers.
****

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too:
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim,
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same:.
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build'em up with worn-out tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings,
And never breathe a word about your loss:
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much:
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!

Rudyard Kipling