Father to a Son - II

Challenging is the journey of life
You may often face troubles and strife
It may sadden you and even make you cry
But the never failing solution is to try

Giving up may seem the easiest option
But in standing up and fighting lies the solution
For gaining an insight on ways to overcome
The failures are always welcome

You must realize and upon your mind impress
That the measure of what we call "success"
It is not in never falling, for in life you’ll surely stumble
It lies in quickly rising, each time you fumble

For a failure is but a barrier momentary
It can not the journey stop
Achieving set goals is the objective primary
Without ever letting your head drop

Learn from the tale of this spider
Who would time & again slid and slither
While trying to scale a tree to spin a web
Never once did he lose heart, or let his drive ebb

At last he could prevail in his endeavor to mount
Facing all odds bravely and surmount
Never say never is the moral of the story
As only you have the power to rewrite the history!

Father to a Son

My precious son,

"Success is not in never falling, for in life you’ll surely stumble and fall ...
Success is in rising quickly - Each time you fall .."

Yesterday you asked what was meant by “Life is a game”. This led me to think on this and come up with following thoughts. Remember, understanding life is not easy, but everyone should listen to their inner voices before they make choices, to become successful in life.

Life is a game. We are the players. The self is your biggest and toughest friend, as well as the worst enemy. Our other opponents are the life’s choices and temptations that are given to us.

The game develops as per the choices we make. If we choose to go in a certain direction, the game develops in a particular way.

If we choose to take a simple option, the rewards will also be simple, but if we take the hard option and play tough, the rewards will be higher.

It is not easy to make choices. Some choices are tricky ones and need careful thinking. Every choice has its results that can be good or bad, so when we make choices, we have to be prepared to face the results.

Like in a game, we can watch the experts play and learn from them; in life too we can learn from other’s mistakes or from the way they live their life.

Sometimes an expert game player will tell you the tricks to make the game easier, you need to trust him and if you listen to his advice, you will be able to play the game better.

Similarly, in life too, you must respect your parents and elders who have already played this game; and therefore know better ways of playing it.

The main purpose of playing any game is to win at all costs, but in life it does not work that way every time. You do not need to be a winner in all fields to be successful. In games you win some, you lose some. Also in life, most of the time, the record is equally divided between wins and losses.

In life, sometimes even the second place is the winner as the rewards for that result are sweeter than the first place. That is called sacrifice. Sacrifice is when you give something up for your loved ones or for any good cause. Like your mother; who sacrifices her sleep to feed you when you are a baby, also when you are young, to get you ready for school. She also sacrifices her own time to help you with your homework, she plays with you, attends to your needs when you fall sick. She sacrifices her career to be with you when you are growing up, so that you can become a good human being. In life, a mother is always a winner.

In life too, like in a game, from every loss, there is something to gain. What you gain is “knowledge” and “experience”. Knowledge of how “not” to do certain things. The knowledge of how not to repeat your mistakes.

Learn to respect your teachers, parents; and even those who are your opponents, because you can also learn valuable lessons from your opponents.

Never underestimate your opponent. Respect their ability but never be afraid of them. Also never be afraid of making tough choices. Never think too much of what others will say if you do what you feel is right.

I will always be there to help you.

Keep this in mind - Live your life like a game, but never live for the game as if your life depends on it! Good luck.

Yours lovingly,
Baba

Bitter Truth

Here I was feeling sorry for a woman...
Thinking she’d be alone all said and done...
Little did I know she had claws and spewed venom ...
And she inflicted pain on me with gay abandon...

Here I was thinking how sad she'd be...
To have had to leave everything and go away suddenly..
How naive I was to assume that she'd have mellowed...
A great shock to me was everything that followed...

Here I was feeling for her when I used to enter home ..
When I used to come across her stuff and then some ..
When A look at my son’s face would reveal ..
His helplessness, which I would also feel ..

Does she not understand the daily troubles we face ..
Does she not know her son’s smile is fake ..
After all that repeatedly took place ..
Why did I even think she deserved a break ..

She remains the same bitter woman...
Who still harbors hate about someone...
Someone who cared for her even while she was sour...
Who loved her once.. come to think of it..What for?

Seventeen years

Seventeen years it has been ..
During which quite a bit I have seen ..

Met a lot of people .. some nice, some mean ..
Who would be friends only for selfish mean..

I had come to this desert today minus seventeen with a dream ..
Of some day serving my kin for dessert - peaches and cream..

But most of the years have been rather lean..
For meals, I could provide them only rice and bean..

Only satisfaction I can derive is a dwelling ..
On which my mother and father were so keen ..

All these years led life with head held high ..
Never compromised on my ethics.. In being direct I wasn’t ever shy..

Never cared for freebees .. never licked boss’s ass..
I stuck to honesty and hardwork .. for me the rest was crass ..

Eminently possible that such things denied me progress ..
I was always cast aside.. but then I wasn’t interested in such rat race ..

Looking back .. was it my inability to break-through ..
Or was it a matter of pure chance .. that still remains to be seen ...

Seventeen years .. Built so little ... Razed quite a lot ..
What a life.. and what a waste it has been!

Today I am abandoned, left all alone with my kid ..
Fending for myself and providing everything that he’d need ..

Have just a lone friend to lean back on ..
When I feel exhausted and unsure of carrying on ..

Even those small pleasures people seem to us deny ..
They take sadistic delight in two friends' pain..
Could someone tell me why? ..

Life's Struggle

aajkaalchya jagaat ..
satya nehamich harta .. ani dweshala milta sundar gharta ..

lok tumhala paahtaat .. pan kaahi kanadola kartaat ..
te tumhala jaantaat ... pan kashala olakh vadhvaychi mhantaat ..
tumhi dhakke khaat jagat jaata .. dhunyatlya eka chirkuta saarkha
othavar hasya gheun .. ani dolyaatla paani utu jaau devun ..
moog gilun ... gappa basun .. hya hridayat ghusalela baan gheun .. pan rasta kaapat raahila pahije ..


paay thakale ... man hi thakala...
suklela ghasa maage ek themb premacha ..
dhoka aahe hridayatil jyot vizun jaanyacha ..
tarihi garaj aahe ha pravas karatach rahnyachi ..
Karan tuzyawar madaar aahe tya chhotya pillachi ..

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English version

These days in this world ..
where truth invariably sinks .. and hate always wins ..

Some see you .. but some pretend they can't ..
Some know you .. but most of them don't want ..

You struggle through the day .. a rag in a washer ..
These days in this world .. Lips bear a smile .. yet eyes well up .. Tongue is tied .. sound chokes up .. You carry pain in the heart .. yet you must go on .. Face the world .. you must move on ..For, this is your destiny .. you must carry on ..

Legs might tire .. Your morale might drop..
Parched throat might cry for a drink.. maybe even the heart might stop ..
but forward you must march on ..
For your cub you must live on ..

A Salute To A Woman, A Mother

Just as from Ashes to Ashes and
from Dust to Dust
A man knows right from his conception
Keep visiting he must the place of his inception

Onset of adulthood sets the efforts into motion
A man embarks on a mission
Of re-entering the place of origin
And to go back and newly begin

A mother’s womb is where it all began
The creation of the race of the man
All his efforts, all his energy
Is put into creating this synergy

As if he were paying off a debt indeed
A man must provide woman with a seed
Setting off once again this life-cycle of procreation
Never- ending is this miracle of creation

He may resist and deny, or he might pull out all stops
But he can’t hide what’s in heart of the hearts
That he must return one day where it all began,
And must concede, from a woman’s womb came a man