A Flight Of Independence............

Few days back we warmly welcome a new guest in the house...A baby parrot. This parrot- I call "Mitthu", fall from its nest from a roof. When he came, he was hardly few days old. He was under tremendous fear as he parted from his family. He was very much surprised too. For some time neither we nor he could understand how he was saved though falling from almost 100 ft height. But as it is said..."God is the supreme power."

After really trying hard, we were accepted as his friends. Only thought in our mind was to give our best and do whatever to save his life. Slowly we gave him some food & he didn't eat then we realized that he is so small & he can't eat on his own. His mother must be feeding him through its beak. So, what we should do to feed him? Then we tried to feed him with our hands. We continue doing this. The very next day to our surprise his parents found him and came. After seeing him alive they were so happy that they started chirping and singing. Now they know where their little baby is...but the baby has not learned how to fly....!!!

They started to move around the baby....They come to him...They feed him and they are waiting eagerly for the day their baby will learn to fly....

We are happy to see "Mitthu" with his family. Mitthu is now friend with us. He is growing day by day. Today he learned to eat on his own. And we know he will soon learn how to fly. We don't know whether he will stay with us or will fly away with his parents. But we are happy that "Mitthu"'s life is saved. He was saved after falling from the height but we had to protect him from cat & dog. We are doing our best.....His sweet chirping makes the atmosphere lively. He doesn't bite us as he knows we are his friends....

He knows recognizes my whistle and my way of calling him “Mitthu”. Everyone is asking me whether we want to keep him in a cage or let him fly when he learns.... I always reply “Let him fly...” I understand the meaning of independence or freedom. I don't want to keep him behind the bars though I love birds....!!!

It’s been more than a month now, Mitthu is with us. Giving him food, water and taking care of him is part of our daily routine. His parents visit him every day and they are around him. We want Mitthu to be independent and we are eagerly waiting to see him flying. He is trying but cannot go on height. He will need some more time.

Now, Mitthu has learned to fly and now he can fly up to 20- 30 ft. He is learning to believe in his strengths and now he feels confident. Deep within my heart I know that Mitthu is with us for only few days. As soon as he developes confidence on himself, he will take his flight for a new journey.

And that day also came....There was a big gathering of Mitthu and his family. So many had come to welcome him again and take him back with them. We all knew that he will go back. They all were very happy and demonstrating their happiness through chirping and singing. And Mitthu took a flight....A flight of independence...A flight of freedom.....A flight to a new journey....!!!

Now Mitthu is happy with his family and again we are back with the same routine. Now we don’t have to worry whether Mitthu will stay with us or not....we don’t have to worry for his food. We don’t have to worry whether a dog or a cat will attack him or not. Because He is now capable and can find food and eat on its own. He can protect himself from a dog or a cat as he can fly high. He is aware about his strengths and knows how to utilize them to survive and be independent. We all are very happy for Mitthu as he learned to fly and is back with his family.

This small incident taught me many things.

1) We don't put trust on strangers but when we realize that they will not harm us we become friends. When we become friends we build a bridge in between and slowly we start putting trust on them hoping that they will not break our trust.

2) Parents always care for their children and they want their children to be always safe. It really doesn't matter whether they are humans, birds or animals.

3) Everybody needs freedom.

4) Everybody has challenges in their life. We have two options- face it or escape...

5) God helps those who help themselves.

6) People are there to guide and support...but alone only we have to face all the situations.

7) Everybody has to follow theory of survival....

8) Every one of us wants freedom. We love to fly. We don’t like restrictions. We want freedom. Freedom of expression, freedom of thoughts, freedom of choice, freedom to speak, freedom to hate, freedom to love and care & freedom in everything. Then why do we don’t give it to others???

Being Human is simply just not enough....????

Sometimes I think that why we give tags to people? The tags show their post or their profession or their education. It always amazes me when I see the tags in the bracket of some wedding cards. The question immediately comes to my mind that are they getting married to each other's tags or the person....??? Why some people always like to introduce themselves with these tags? Do they need these tags for their identity?

It seems that people are competing with each other and there is a big race on who will get maximum tags....!!!!

I have seen many people who like to give tags to others. Why don't they realize that the person doesn't actually need it? They are beyond those tags....These tags will not make any difference to their lives. They will continue the work they are doing and enjoying. They are not craving for these tags. They are not in this rat race. They are above all...It really doesn't matter to them....Then why some people forced them to add these tags with their names????

To me, these tags are nothing but the labels. I am this....I am that.... And people start living with these labels. These labels are so much adhere to their personality that eventually they start living within these brackets. They restrict themselves to certain things. They create an imaginary boundary. They cover themselves within the shells of their tags and LABELS. They don't realize that their personality now revolves only around these labels and they are loosing their real identity.

In long term effect, these labels actually don't allow people to do certain things. And it is because of their "LEVEL". I am this...I am that... is their "LABEL" and because of these labels what they think of themselves is their "LEVEL". We should understand this very clearly. Label and level actually stops our progress. They are the biggest hurdle in the journey of our growth and development. These Labels and Levels are nothing but EGO. This spoils our relations and they play vital role in shaping our personality. 24*7 we live with this. Even while sleep we don't want to let it go. All our actions are the result of this most dangerous three letter word- EGO....

I don't understand with this where are we heading to???

Do we actually need these tags? Don't we restrict people by giving or adding these tags? If we always need tags then where is our true identity? Don't we start living into the brackets? Don't we restrict ourselves to certain things? Then why do we need this.....??????

Being Human is simply just not enough......?????

I think in this competition and race of adding tags to our life, we always become somebody but we forget that we are HUMAN first. Let's just remember that we are HUMAN and we don't need any tags in our identity.

Let's just come out of those brackets...Let's just not restrict ourselves...Let's realize that life has much more to offer us if we come out of LABELS & LEVELS....Life brings happiness in small small things....Life has its own way to bring joy in little and tiny moments... Let's break those so called shells and boundaries of LABELS & LEVELS and enjoy the life to the fullest.........

We Indians can do it....

India celebrated wonderful and most memorable victory of Cricket World Cup. Indeed it is a matter of pride and honor to win the World Cup and that too after 28 long years. Cricket is the game closed to the heart of every Indian and so the cricketers are treated as Celebrities. They are part of everyday life of almost all Indians. I am sure all the Indians must have prayed a lot to win the World Cup. The cricket fever was really high in the country. How can I forget the final match? There was a curfew like situation everywhere. Everybody watching it was on the edge of their seats, keeping fingers crossed and praying. And when that magical moment of winning the World Cup came the real celebration started all over. The sky was covered with the fire crackers. People were on the streets. They were shouting, cheering, dancing and were moving from here & there. The celebration was much bigger than any festivals of India. Their joy & happiness were overwhelming. They didn't know what to do & how to celebrate. What came to their minds they did. And why not??? It was a victory of the game which is closest to their hearts. being an Indian an a cricket fan, I was very happy to see India winning the World Cup. These were the most memorable moments.

Every Indian deep in their heart wanted to win this World Cup just for one person- the God of cricket who holds many records on his name but was never part of the winning team of the World Cup. Yes...Sachin Tendulkar was one of the main reasons why every Indian wanted India to win the World Cup. He is an Icon. He is passionate, down to earth, focused, persistent, a very good teammate and a good human being. Have we ever thought of his qualities? have we ever tried to learn so many things from him and applied it to our life? If not...we should.

I would give the credit of winning the World Cup to the coach- Gery Kirsten. What an incredible change he has brought in Indian team!! He is the best coach till date Indian Team has ever got. We should salute him for his coaching skills and the transformation which he has brought to the Indian Team. We will surely miss him. I hope Indian Team gets the new coach of his standards....!!!

Well, this is what about the victory of Cricket World Cup for which I am also very happy and proud.

But when I saw people coming on one platform and celebrating the victorious moments, a thought came to my mind.

If in celebrating the World Cup victory all the Indians gather on one platform and indulge themselves in the spirit of Cricket why they don't give same importance to many issues we are facing as a country and find the solution for them?

Why the love for India is only demonstrated in celebration of winning Cricket World Cup?Why do we consider this patriotism? Is this the real Patriotism???

Have we understood the real meaning of Patriotism or have we changed the definition?

Let's try and understand...Let's also celebrate the victory of other sports...Let's come to one platform to offer tribute to our martyrs...Let's spread awareness of social issues like AIDS, Stop Killing Girl Child, Illiteracy, Global warming and many other...Let's forget the boundaries of religion and only remember one religion- being human.......

If we Indians can celebrate with everyone on one platform we can surely bring change........

And I know we Indians can do it.....Let's start thinking in that direction.