Colors of Gujarat

An organisation called SAHAJ, Founded by Mr. Ranvir Sisodia and Ms. Jabeen Jambugodawala, based at Dahod, Gujarat, is doing an excellent job of organising village artisans, almost all of whom are women,

and promoting their products through retail outlets branded as DHAROHAR, and through exhibitions in different parts of the country.

One such exhibition is going on in Baroda right now and will be open till 30th of Sept'12. Here are some of the moments from that exhibitions.

Please notice the riot of colors and more importantly, the enthusiasm and support of people in for such an effort in Gujarat, especially as SAHAJ and Dharohar are part of the Fair Trade movement.

When they are not doing exhibition, SAHAJ has got their branded shop DHAROHAR at

Dharohar Fair Trade Shop
3 & 4 Padmavati Complex,
Shrenik Park Char Rasta
Akota, Vadodara
Mobile (Vijay Jani): +91-97277-74452
email: dharoharcrafts@gmail.com

Friendship...

The other day, I was listening to a song. 'Pace Maker'. Yes, that was the title of the song, sung by a very renowned Bengali song writer and singer Nochiketa (Chalrabarty). He claimed that although the song's title was 'Pace Maker', it was a love song. The song was about a 36 year old married man with children, being in love with a 19 year old girl, who was a medical student and who was also in love with the 36 year old man. The song eventually ended with the man getting old and  walking with a pace maker fitted by the same girl, who was by then a heart surgeon. While putting the pace maker in him, she said that she still loved him and that she had just fitted her own heart in him. Clap clap clap...very dramatic. Romantic and very pathetic. But with a never ending BOND.

The song was a sob sob song. That didnt interest me much. But what alerted me was what Nochiketa said before he started singing the song. He said two things. He said that 'love', 'relationship' and all kinds of connections, once made, can never be broken and 'closed'. 

I liked what he said. Because I also believe this.

But in this, some relationships might get forgotten, but never forfeited. A dead television can be repaired and brought to life. Similarly, a dead relationship actually does not die, but just goes to sleep. One can wake it up, just like one can bring a fire alive, by fanning the sparks.
  

In contrast to what Nochiketa said and I liked,  I have friends, who are obsessed with 'beginning' and 'end'. Start and finish. As if they are in a race. "This is the start line...on your mark...ready...steady...Goooooooooooooooo! Boom!" off goes the pistol! And they start a relationship. They race with it. When they start a relationship, friendship, or a connection with anyone, they start a deal. A deal to win. Since both try to win, eventually both lose. And then one fine morning, one would tell the other, "Mate, it didnt work out. Lets move on". The race, thus finishes and the relationship ends. This happens when we treat everything with a start and finish. The new very popular expression of 'moving on', is a breaker. Jodi breaker.

But no one is at fault. Our modern life styles will not allow us to continue with anything. Take the example of a computer, tablet, and especially the operating system. There is an upgrade almost every month and your latest lap top that you have been using, suddenly becomes old and useless and in need of new life in the form of an upgrade. Normally a new one is bought. Start and finish. 

When God, or whoever Einstein He was, created this earth, he also created a rule. The rule of 'never ending', that the journalists called 'renewable' at a later time. He put several things on this earth and said that these things would only change form, but would not die. They would not finish. That's how we get fuel from the very old relationship between the vegetation and the earth and the warmth of their relationship.

I have been fortunate that I have always understood the difference between 'knowing' someone and continuing to know the person, and forgetting someone. We are humans and not toothpaste that we finish one and buy another. Whoever is practicing such start and finish game, will miss out on being happier than he is today.

Lets carry on. Friendship.

Being selfish is alright...

Its only now, after living most of my life, that I have suddenly woken up to the presence the 'I'. It now gives me alarms everyday 'Hey! what about me'. I hear it when I wake up, I hear it while having tea, bathing, walking, eating, working and I hear it even when I do not hear anything else. It comes from deep inside. 'What about me boss! what have you got for me today?'. When I look at my days program, starting from morning till the time to go to bed, I find these slots : (1) alone in the bathroom for 10 minutes, (2) two slots of 10 minutes each, when I entertain myself to two cups of tea at a road side tea stall, and (3) about 30 minutes of yoga session. Total= 1 hour. Out of 16 hours of waking hours.

That's only 6.25% of a day for my 'I'.

So if I live for another 20 years (at least), then I will give only 1.25 years to my 'I'. That's so 'un-selfish' and very unfair. And every day of these 20 years, someone from deep inside me will keep asking me 'What about me boss? You have time to love the whole world and keep lecturing people about love, love and love, but what about me? You have to have time to talk to me.  मेरे लिए आप  क्या किया बॉस  । पुरे  दुनियाको बोलते फिरते हो की सबको प्यार करो . खुदके लिए क्या?  আমার জন্য কি করলেন গুরু ? বড় বড় কথা কি সব অন্যের জন্য? আমাকে একটু সময় দিন!!

Why am I writing this?
Simple. To propagate 'selfishness' to love oneself.

Let a whole new generation grow, very selfishly loving themselves, so that they develop this tremendous power to love others and do good to others.

Let this reign of terror of the unloving kind be replaced by this 'selfish' new generation, who, by being in love with themselves, will be able to do good for others. All other efforts and talks and claims of doing good to others, without doing any good to one's own self, are false, lie and a blatant misunderstanding of the word 'selfishness.'

If someone wants to say that, since politicians are doing good to themselves and are being selfish, then why are they not doing good to others too.

Because, friends, they are not doing any good to themselves. They are just acquiring and possessing materials. That's all. They are not being selfishly loving themselves. They are just loving the things that they have bought with our money.

Lately I noticed that some of my young friends, are feeling sad at being called 'selfish'. They don't want to be called 'selfish' and self centered. They only want to be seen as 'very nice guy/girl' by doing what they think as 'doing good' to others, so that they become known as 'good people'. But most of them (from now, I will say 'us', not to target the young ones only), probably are failing to do any good to any one, as they are not doing any good to themselves first, so that they become capable of doing good to others. This is because they are forgetting to be 'selfish'.

Because they have been taught that 'selfish' is a bad word. That my only job is to 'Love thy neighbours'.

Arey? What about me? I will love my neighbours only when I am sufficiently in love with myself.

No. Its not. Being selfish is not bad and its alright.
Being selfish is empowering one self.
Being selfish is appreciating one's own power.
Being selfish is telling oneself that 'Yes, I can do it'
Being selfish is knowing exactly what others dont have, that I already have.
Being selfish first, is preparing myself to be useful to the others.

If you are not selfish, then you will be useless to the others.

Being selfish is the way to become 'selfless'.

So being selfish is alright. Go ahead, treat yourself to those things that you have kept yourself away from. Buy beyond your means. You will know next what not to do. Eat beyond your stomach. You will know next what not to eat. Make friends beyond your choice. You will next find many surprises. Sleep beyond the time. You will next know what discipline is.

And all these lessons will make you very useful for others. But to get all these lessons, you will have to be selfish FIRST. Give yourself a chance. Give yourself a chance. Give yourself a chance, so that you  can be useful to others.

And if you are not useful for others, go take a walk. Or better still, become a politician. Because you may be the perfect material for a future Prime Minister.

Living....!

The Header photo was taken on the streets of Baroda. It was the of Patang Festival, or, Kite flying festival. This is a big day in Gujarat.

While people were buying kites and having a lot of fun, a father accompanied his child trying to pacify him why he was not supposed to fly kites...or, probably why he didn't have a kite.

The man told me later that he was taking care of his son as his wife had died sometime back...

As the  child fumed and became sad, the father looked around and saw a tea stall....

Want some tea? There was no response from the child...

The child did not not touch the tea. He wanted a kite.....

But all ended well. The child was taken by a group of boys to enjoy 'kite flying' in new clothes. The photo in the Header of this blog is that of his father, who sat looking at his child enjoying 'kite flying'. 

Till this day, I have not understood the look on his face. But I find it very 'Living...'. He is a teacher. of Life...