Why are we here?

Life’s a balance..

To experience and evolve, and to experience we take what we need to experience.

Give back what you take?

Isn’t that why we are here?

The core values, I just read on the Oberoi International School Bus this morning, got me thinking.

So beautifully imprinted were Knowledge, Social Responsibility, Respect, Creativity and Celebration.

Indeed wonderful!

Pondering over our duties as citizens over quite sometime now, the 2nd value ” Social Responsibility” just struck me with such an alarming bang, that I skipped my aqua class to pen the following down.

Accept it or not,do we even know the S of Social Responsibility, or do we think we have all the time in the world to know it?

Well the minute one enters the world, one lands in a society, a specific one which one is designated to.

This society forms our world for years to come.

We grow, we learn from it and guys what do we give back?

Not a penny nor a dime.

Well ok, a rupee, then.

“No, Fend for yourself,  Didn’t I just do it to get what it takes to be successful.”

Did we just say this and forget the people, and the things which were instrumental to getting us where we are.

As we shut ourselves in our cosy shelters, oblivious of the world outside, a voice within tells us to be aware of our surroundings and the people who are associated with us.

“Do not go far away, the ones to whom you have a social responsibility for are well within your reach.

It could be your help, or a poor person at your door step, or the gardener’s son, or the watchman who serves you.

It could also be your immediate surrounding, which needs your care and attention.”

says the voice within

So as we open our door again to throw  garbage out, are we aware that the garbage thrown by us, needs to be done with care and thought, so that it helps preserve the atmosphere, and not create pollution.

Or are we the who cares type?

Chuck it and shut the door, to enter our cosy space within.

Without a bat of the lid, do we grow immune to commotion  outside.

Yes we may be the cause, but how do we care.

We’ve made space for ourselves  by encroaching another’s.

We are world wise ain’t we?

We beautify our homes, empty it of all the filth, by using our society as a dump yard.

Well after all it  is our right, had we not bought a home in this society, and do we not share it with the rest?

So what if we are cleanliness personified, we boast of a beautiful home, with plush interiors, and put up that straight face look, and expressions of ” Oh seriously what to do?” and even shrug our shoulder in dismay, at the state of affairs outside our homes.

Our space is our home, right.

Then as we open our doors and step out,

“Stop, go back in”, a buzzer sounds,

“You are treading on alien land, this is not your space”

“Go in Go in”, the buzzer sounds.

“Oh no” says a voice within, what have I reduced my plight to?

Well, then go out, and accept with an open mind and heart,

The responsibility of the outer world, which is responsible for our existence, of which we are surrounded by, and on which we tread, and are a part of.

Yes guys,  our interior worldly space, is akin to our exterior self, and the exterior space we live in is our inner self.

Now guys, can we see how mucky is our interior, as is the space outside our homes.

How much time will it take us to rise above, and be like the lotus who unaware of the muck, beautifully glows with the message” Rise to the clarion call, and never will you fall in the melee of the glamour of the false, wherein beneath the muck, quick sand prevails never to let you free.

Friends its just as simple as can be.

Walk when you can run, as the energy you save from the run will be the energy you need to give back in your own special way to the society you take from.

You will be able to see the things you need to as each one of us has something special, within, and you will see with your special eyes.

The fact that you are here is  that you are special.

Then your  pure intent and your aptitude will surge you ahead, to do a little thing, which will benefit your society at large.

You could be good at creativity or administration, or organisation.

Believe me, all you have to do is to put your aptitude with the right intent to work.

All of us need a purpose to live for, your right intentions will lead you on the right track to the purpose intended, and not to the superficial rat race we run in and make it our purpose.

Please friends, do not run, but walk your path, and pick up on your way stubble, which can cause one to stumble.

That is all it takes to make one’s life meaningful.

You do not need to run an organisation, or join one.

An aerial view of Mumbai, from an aeroplane at night, all lit up, and glamourous can want one to land in here, but one who has lived in here, knows for sure, that beneath the glamour is the muck too.  Take it or leave it, and if you have to live here, live like the lotus unaffected by both.

Now as we land into our homes, where our roots are,  here’s to you and you and you, let’s do our bit, to keep the balance of give and take.