A story’

WE CAN OVERCOME THIS
TOGETHER
The snow started melting and the sun is normally out till 6 A.M. It seems that summer is
about to begin. HONK…HONK” the time is quarter to eight now, the school bus has arrived. I
peeped out of the window. Yes, I’m not going to school and I’m absolutely fine, this is not a sick
leave. It’s been two months since my expulsion from school.
Pitter-Patter…’Otis darling! Breakfast is on the table’…door opens. In a sleepy voice replied
‘okay mom, bye’ without facing towards her. She put her fingers in my hair and leaves. My mom
is a woman of steel not less any superhero, working hard to earn meals for the family. She is a
receptionist in a nearby public hospital.
I got out of the bed and stepped down towards the kitchen. Suddenly the door-bell rang, running
towards the front door and peeping through the key-hole. Oh! It’s my dad. I opened the door,
‘good morning dad’ I greeted him. He smiled and planted a soft kiss on my head. My dad was
back from his morning meditation & therapy session. He was fighting a battle with his druggie
reputation. It has been more than a year that he left that black world but he is still not accepted
without the adjective of an addict’.
After a lot of hard work my mother was not able to pay the last six month fee of my school. This
breaks her heart because she blames herself for my expulsion from school but my smile gives
her hope that soon I’ll rejoin the school. My smile was not the only source of hope for my mom
but for the gentleman coming adjusting his tie, my dad. Otis!’ is I looking fine’ he asks coming
towards me. I already knew where he was going. Smiling towards him’ you looks handsome’.
Adjusting his shirt and a thin file in his hand, he waved at me. While he was opening the front
door, I ran towards him to see off him and put a lucky four leaf clover, which I freshly picked
from the garden on his right palm. With a cheerful smile said ‘All the best dad, hope you make
the job interview’ but he was so nervous that he just nodded and left.
He was very nervous because this wasn’t his first job interview but an interview but an
interview after fifteen rejections only that month. He was rejected the moment the interviewer
gets to know about his history.
Now I’ was all alone, when you are alone the day seems longer and the same was happening
with me. Solving the cube for multiple times, reading recipe book and looking towards the wall
clock. These were the only time pass exercises available. Then the door-bell rang, out of
boredom I fell asleep on the couch. Then I looked at the wall clock, the time was three of
afternoon. The time at which my friend Josh come to my place every day. We both were best
friends from school. We studied in same section of grade five. Every day he directly come to my
house after school and teach me everything taught at the school and we together do homework
for him. If know him from the day I was in this city and he the only friend of mine.

I opened the door, he seemed annoyed. ‘What happened to you Josh?’ I asked. ‘Why don’t you
open the door sooner, I was standing out from the last five minutes’, he said in an elevated voice.
But I knew this could not be the reason of he being mad, something else happened at the school
was the reason of his sullenness.
‘Come on Josh; let’s have cream rolls’ I insisted him because cream rolls were his favorite and
can’t say no to them. This will also help him to cool down. He took a cream roll from the jar but
the daily spark of him was missing. ‘Josh was the day exhausted you…you seems low today, are
you okay my friend’ hesitatingly I asked him. Josh steamrolling, I ‘m not fine, my head is aching
and heart is missing beats’ Josh started starts rattling off, says that he was in a big trouble
because the English literature teacher Miss Rose loved the memoir assignment of Josh given by
her last week. He got an ‘A’ grade for that and was highly appreciated in the class. Stopping him
in between, I said great this should be celebrated and expressed tenderness. He started staring
at me out of anger and seems to be mad, ‘let me complete’ he insist. Yes, I smiled.’ Miss Rose is
so impressed that she decided me to appoint the new school editor for Oak Primary school
weekly newspaper and if you forgetting that, that was never me who wrote those memoir, that
was you ; you know me well that even I could not say few good lines on my grandmother’s
funeral’, he stops with a dejected face. I could not stop laughing my lungs out, remembering the
funeral day, when he was the one with the longest farewell speech of three words “I’ll miss you “
Josh gain screaming at me .Okay don’t you worry, I console him. Very confidently I promised
him to take care of his responsibilities as an editor. Then he seemed bit relaxed but still afraid to
be coughed lying in the school. Then like the usual days, we studied the classwork and did the
homework together. Time fly so fast that it was already five thirty two. BEAP..PE, it’s my dad,
Josh said. His dad came to pick him lie the usual day. Josh putting his things in his bag says’ I
should rather say the truth to Miss Rose tomorrow’. I said ‘no, you don’t worry things will be
smooth’. He pretends to give a normal smile and said good bye.
It becomes colder till the end of the day, its late dad should be back till then, and I started
wondering. Otis! Where are you?’ mom is home soon today. I run towards her. ‘Welcome home
mom’ She soon fresh in up and went to the kitchen & started preparing for dinner. Soon dad also
returned home. We all sitting for the dinner never talk about the bad parts of our life, only good
things are appreciated & the beauty of living together. The reason behind my father’s successful
recovery is my mother’s love & support. We three share a very strong bond of love and respect
we continuously nurture in our relation. Every day brings new hope & kindness to live.
Day seems same, same morning seeing both my parents going out to fight their battles, same
afternoons Josh coming to teach me school work & we both work for his editorial work and
night with good family time.
Everything was going fine till one afternoon Josh came very stressed and mad. The reason was
justifying his stress, Miss Rose, call him to register him for the state level primary interschool
writing completion. He was afraid that his secret with be disclosed then, everyone will find out
about his lie and may lead the board to through out of the school for his lie. That day we both
got so stressed that we only thought about getting out of the situation. Everything planed was
having a higher probability of failure. The only solution in front of us was to say the truth.

But it required a lot of strength which Josh could not alone gather, so we decided the plan has a
lot of danger but this was the only solution so we both will tomorrow go & meet Miss. Rose after
the school.
The time passed in thinking & haunt of the consequences of saying truth. It’s the exact time; I &
Josh stand near Miss. Rose’s car, waiting for her. She came towards us, seeing me in surprise
with Josh. The moment she was close to us, Josh spoke her complete story without a breath in
between. Her surprised face turned into an angry face, she said then who will represent the
school in the competition now in an angry voice. After she was done with her anger & regret on
trusting Josh for the position as the editor of the school. I added in a very sorry voice that, Miss
Rose there is no fault of Josh in this; it was all my selfishness of doing his homework with the
aim of learning and I’m sorry of that. She was silent for a moment, breaking the silence Josh says
don’t worry ma’am, I don’t think there is any problem if Otis participate in the completion, he is
still the part of the school. There is no body who can compare talent like him & if he participates
then the probability are high of our school winning, you already judged his talent from the last
one month all articles you appreciated me for , were belonged to him’. Miss Rose without saying
a word moved inside her car. We could not understand what was cooking in her mind.
I could not stop thinking about her decision what was coming from her till tomorrow, till the
time Josh came back from the school to my place the next afternoon. The moment the door was
opened by me. The decision could be read on his face, it was a yes. Yes Miss Rose got agree on
me participating in the competition. She was impressed of my determination for learning & my
work.
So exactly after two days, it was the day. I was in my school uniform, what I was waiting from
the last three months four days. My mom can’t stop her tears out of happiness; she puts her
head on my father’s shoulder seeing me walking down the stairs in my school uniform. This
moment got printed with all beautiful colors in my heart. Soon they see-off me & Josh walking to
the school. My school was the host for this year’s state competitions, all chef gusts arrived. The
day has an emotional importance for me, Josh and my parents. Soon the writing competition
begins, my brain was out of every fear, haunt and bad feelings of failure, and my pen started
writing out my soul.
Now the time was close to result, the judges stated announcing the results for other events.
Soon I saw my parents coming towards me very happy & beautiful. My parents shouting my
name, soon I realize everyone shouting my name. I could not understand is there something
wrong with everyone or I’m very happy that my soul is dancing of please after seeing my
parents. Then I see Josh coming towards me, stretching my hand and shouting on me that am I
duff. Everyone was shouting my name. He shouted ‘you are first, come on the stage’, take your
toffee. I could not feel my foot, walking towards the stage, I feel like flying to the stage.
The celebration doesn’t end with this. Other day there were two letters in the post box. One for
dad & one for me saying my father is been hired for the job he interviewed that day & the letter
for me say that the school appreciate my caliber and want me to continue the school.
Soon I see the postman with other letter for my mom from the hospital that she is promoted for her hard work & regular high efforts.

God was great throughout the journey and he blessed us great strength. Other morning, it was a
Sunday morning high volume classic music in the kitchen, my mother muttering the lyrics and
dad enjoying his strong black coffee in the garden. I feel highly grateful watching them.

~Stay close to your family and loved ones. Love them, appreciate them & respect them ♡

Take out time from your busy life to hug them.

Are you kind enough?

I want to talk about some acts of kindness today. Recently, I have been observing some small things that make people happy and this made me think that being kind may not be hard after all. The acts of kindness that I want to talk about today all involve reminding them that you remember them.

Say, you have a friend that you hung out a lot years ago but your communication has been minimal in the last few years. Send them a text asking them who you are and they will be happy.

Say, you have a close friend now and she is going through hard times. Make her think that you are by her. Maybe check on her regularly to let her know that. Or when she feels overwhelmed, talk to her or meet her up if you have the right conditions.

Say, someone is not that close but you know they are going hard times, ask them at times how they are doing. It may not be as frequent as a close friend, but still do it.

People do not have to be going through hard times for you to check on them. Just go through your list at times and ask people how they are doing. If you don’t have the time or energy to talk or meet, texting takes little time. Do that. These little 10 seconds of text brings in a lot of joy in other people’s lives.

If you are finding it hard to convince yourself that you can do it, ask yourself how you would feel if someone did this to you. I know I would feel happy. Maybe that will encourage you.

So, go ahead and check on some people today. There is no point in postponing good things.

Do you check in with people regularly? How do you feel when others do it? What other small acts of kindness did you notice make people happy?
‘God love those who love their fellow man’
~K

Saatvik daan & corporate social Dharma in India

The practice of saatvik daan is since the civilization journey of the country and is a prominent part of Indian cultural practices. दान करना [daan karna] to alienate, to bestow, to dispose or to donate. Daan include all the philanthropic practices. Daan could be broadly classified into saatvik daan, rajsik daan and tamsik Daan [these terms are from Bhagwat Geeta]. Saatvik daan is the daan without expectation of return (name, fame or money)

According to Purushartha(object of human pursuit)- the basic aim of human life are: dharma(righteousness, moral values), Artha(prosperity, economic values), Kama(pleasure, love, psychological values) & Moksha(liberation from rebirth). Dharma is the base of life. In Indian mythology humans are taught to live their life like trees, that is taking less from the surroundings with comparison which is given out. Basically taking from the environment & giving it back. The saatvik daan is been practiced since satyug (the golden age), few examples and mention in the Indian mythologies Ramayana and Mahabharata. People like raja Bali in satyug and danveer Karn & Rantideva in dwapara yug(the third out of four yugas or ages, described in the scriptures of Hinduism). There are many such examples from every time-period, even till now people are practicing the same.

The introduction of modern C.S.R.(corporate social responsibility) is the part of corporate social dharma. India became the first country to make it mandatory and the corporates in the state are working for it & doing social daan. C.S.R. is legally mandatory, in section 135 of India’s company act. There are few criteria for an organization to mandatory do C.S.R. activities. The teaching of saatvik daan from the Vedas • Rig Veda, the ancient Hindu scripture have a part in which it tell the need of wealthy people to plant trees and build tanks for the community as it would bring them glory in life and beyond continuous flow of money to people who need is more important than it’s accumulation & creating wealth for the welfare of society is one of the important responsibility of business enterprise. The discussion of strategic C.S.R. is given in it. •Athara Veda also says that one should procure wealth one hundred hands & distribute it with one thousand hands. That directly talks about c.s.r, that it distributing the share of wealth of corporate among the people of the society. Treating common people as shareholders of the profit made my the organization. • The Upanishads also talk about philanthropy, there are lines like”when you give something to someone, give them with respect, if you cannot give with respect, then don’t give at all, give gracefully, give with modestly, give with fear(least you offer)” ,Which also teaches the way to satvik daan and philanthropy. This teaches the path of share of wealth & no one belongs it, wealth is for the one who needs it.

Kautilya’s Arthasastra also give the idea of social welfare by the powerful ones (Kings in past, presently big organizations). In the subject of good governance, he said in his book arthasastra-” in the happiness of his subjects (society- general public) lies the king’s happiness, in their welfare his welfare, he shall not consider as good only that which please him but treat as beneficial to him whatever pleases his subjects”. In this line, he said to full-fill the needs & requirements of the society, the development is parallel.

In the period of kings & kingdoms, king’s donated for building temples which meant the development of employment and shelter for homeless in the vicinity. They even gift hoard of cows along with other gifts to the people in need as well as Santa. The practices are learning for the corporate, to do social daan which is considered as Dharma or duty of wealthy corporates to do corporate social responsibility. •In Bhagavat Gita the three types of daan & the importance of saatvik daan is given. The Adi Parva of Mahabharata stated “A person must first aquire wealth by honest means, then embark on charity, be hospitable to those who come to him, never inflict pain on any living being and share a portion with others whatever he consumer”. This is well self- explanatory to adopt good ways to obtain wealth, that is corporates should not do any wrong practices, i.e. harming the environment, exploiting people, misguiding consumers, produce course products or any other way of making profit by wrong ways. After the organization earn that profit , the part of that shubh labh (profit from good) should be put in for social good. •In Mahabharata’s chapter of Anushasana Parva, it recommends public projects as a form of daan, it discusses the building of drinking water tanks for people and cattles as a noble form of giving, as well as giving of lamps for lighting dark public spaces.

Daan has been a consistent part of India cultural & teachings. This show the cultural richness and values. So corporate should be socially responsible. Environment, common people and government, all are shareholders of an organization. So the concept of saatvik daan, which is the part of corporate social Dharma should be in practiced.

Thank you,

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