We live in a world where everything is resplendent and unique. From a petite caterpillar to the breathtaking rainbows we see during monsoon. God has made each one of us with great exertion and love. We all are born with different talents and capabilities which differentiate us from each other and therefore make us one of a kind. There can never be someone who thinks and feels exactly the same way you do. The sparks in your eyes, tears, and the sound of your heartbeat makes you stand out from others. 

Sometimes people feel extremely diffident because they don’t have a talent/ability that others posses. It can be beauty, flourishing business or something else. They create an inferiority complex and start detaching themselves from the rest of the society. They become intrigued with the personalities of others & start imitating them but they don’t realize that by becoming someone they aren’t will only sabotage their own talents and make things much more byzantine. Why do we fail to acknowledge that beauty lies beneath the skin? We may apply loads of makeup & endure big-ticket surgeries to make ourselves look bewitching but it all will be worthless if we don’t have a magnanimous heart big enough to hold no grudges. We can always try to become successful at any point of time in our lives as it is never too late to try. We weren’t born to accept failure and become no-hopers but to triumph over miseries. How can we expect others to love & respect us when we ourselves don’t? We often complaint about lurking for our Mr. /Ms Perfect and intricacies of facing solitude. Why do you want someone else’s love when the person who can love you the most in this world is “YOU”? “YOU” are the only person who will be with you every moment on the path of life. "YOU" are the only person who will be there for you when no one else is. I’m not saying that one should be self-centered and behave like a selfish brat. There is a vast difference between being self-centered and loving and appreciating yourself.

Praise and think positive about yourself every morning and to your surprise you will find yourself doing the same for others. Start your day by saying, “I’m happy, confident and blessed “and enjoy experiencing the spirits of a gleeful life for the rest of your day!!!!

So, we live in a democratic country that says, “For the people, by the people”. We also have a right to freedom of expression & speech in our country which says that freedom of Speech and expression means the right to express one's own convictions and opinions freely by words of mouth, writing, printing, pictures or any other mode. But do we enjoy this kind of a right in our country?

There are numerous examples where the Indian government has tried to curb free speech. For instance, the screening of the movie Dam 999 was banned as it was set against the backdrop of the Mullaperiyar Dam Controversy on the ground that it might lead to public order problems in the state. We were the first country to ban Salman Rushdie's book The Satanic Verses. The Indian-born British writer had to cancel his visit to the Jaipur Lit fest due to life threats and protests made by people. Although he then came up with an idea of attending the fest via video link, but unfortunately it was later proved to be abortive as well. Rohinton Mistry's Such A Long Journey was dropped by the Mumbai University from its syllabus as it contained abusive and derogatory statements from the perspective of a character in the book against Bal Thackeray; Delhi University did the same with A.K. Ramanujan's essay Three Hundred Ramayanas; makers of the movie Rockstar were forced to blur the Tibetan flag in the “Sadda Haq” song; and movies like Deshdrohi, Bandit Queen, Da Vinci Code, Fire and many others have been banned by State governments. And now we have a new fresh case of the Kolkata Book Fair cancelling Taslima Nasrin’s book launch. Arundhati Roy’s expression of support for the independence of Kashmir was excoriated by the BJP and INC. Prashant Bhushan was thrashed by two activists for his view that the Indian army should be withdrawn from Jammu and Kashmir and if the Kashmiri people did not want to live in India, they should be permitted to vote for separation.

We belong to a country where people think it is possible to burn ideas by burning books. This has created mentalities that by making ideas invisible, we can kill them. All these things engender a question: Are we becoming too touchy over religion and region? Whether it is Salman Rushdie’s book or Jay leno’s satirical comments on the Golden Temple, we Indians always take up the role of a grievant. Our Cinema displays a parade of self-sacrificing mothers, virtuous wives, garrulous sisters and chivalrous men. Why can’t they come up with films that discuss such issues and change the mindset of fanatics present in our nation? Perhaps, they too are apprehensive that such acts might prove to be detrimental to them. Our government also fears taking an austere action against such people to avoid losing vote banks. Many fail to express outrageous opinions as they fear isolation. We live in a society where predominant ideas always prevail. Is thrashing and not allowing people to attend prominent fests justified? Have we become so intolerable to exorbitant ideas that we are willing to slay people? On one hand we say that books should be worshipped as it is Saraswati and on the other hand we burn books just because we disapprove of certain ideas? Is humanity evanescing amidst such insensate actions? It’s HIGH TIME we stop THINKING and start DOING something.

Today I'm sharing one of my favorite short stories. This one was told by my teacher when I was in grade 5. I hope you enjoy reading it :)

Once Buddha was en route to some place with a few of his disciples. On their journey, they happened to pass a lake. Buddha stopped and asked one of his disciples to fetch water for him as he was feeling thirsty.

 The disciple walked up to the lake. When he reached it, he noticed that some people were washing clothes in the water and a bullock cart was crossing through the lake. Hence, the water was muddy and very turbid. The disciple thought, “How can I give this muddy water to my Lord!” So he came back and told Buddha that the water was unfit for him to drink it.

After about half an hour, Buddha asked the same disciple to go back to the lake and get him some water to drink. The disciple yieldingly went back to the lake. This time to his surprise, he found that the lake had absolutely clear water in it. The mud had settled down and the water above it looked crystal clear. So he collected some water in a pot and brought it to Buddha.

Buddha looked at the water, and then he looked up at the disciple and said, “See what you did to make the water clean? You let it be and the mud settled down on its own and so you could get some clear water for me. Your mind is also like that. When it is disturbed, just let it be. Refrain yourself from giving any advices or suggestions to it. Give it a little time. It will settle down on its own. You don’t have to put in any effort to calm it down. It will happen. It is effortless.”

What did Buddha emphasize here? He said, “It is effortless.” Having 'peace of mind' is not an arduous task; it is a facile process. When there is peace inside you, that peace permeates to the outside. It spreads around you and in the environment, such that people around start feeling that peace and grace.