Hazrat's Sandals - Delhi Karavan Chronicles

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I heard somewhere that there are three thumb rules to good storytelling... unfortunately, no one knows them.

I'm an anti-format person since childhood. Be it a coloring book or my monthly budget, I've always missed the boundaries. There is no harm in coloring an elephant's eyes little grey, in case you miss that little boundary of its oval-shaped eyes.

I may not know the thumb rules of storytelling, but I can tell you the kind of stories I enjoy. 

Firstly, they should be long enough to be in that zone for a while.

They should carry expressions.

And yes, they should not carry a particular format - A storyteller should not stick to the beginning, middle, or end, or anything hard and fast. He or she must feel free to tell a story, a story within a story, or a story within a story within a story... or maybe crossovers. Ahh! I'm listening to all of that.

Asif Sahab told this story to us on many walks - Sometimes individually - Sometimes as a story within a story (or within within, you got that)

And this story is too close to my heart.

So take a bellyful of breath, hold it to the count of five, and release it.

Shall we begin?

It was a foggy winter morning when a middle-aged man came to the khanqah of Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia. Just like many other fariyadi and devotees, he was expecting something from Hazrat. The khanqah was filled with too many people that day. He was worried as the days were approaching and a lot of arrangements need to be made. His only daughter is about to get married. And like every responsible father, he had to take care of everything. His family was going through a major financial crisis at that time. He heard a lot about Hazrat and that he never send anyone empty-handed. 

He waited calmly in the queue, trying hard to control his shivering, partly from the spine-chilling weather, and partly from worries on his head.

When he entered the room, Hazrat smiled at him. The man offered him his respectful salam and sat near him. Hazrat's aura was such that he couldn't utter a word. He kept staring at his feet for a while. He had faith that Hazrat will understand his situation without him saying anything.

As other people were waiting outside, he stood up and went out of the room. He planned to stay at the khanqah that night, expecting that Hazrat may call him and offer some help for his daughter's marriage.

The night passed. Without any such luck, he decided to leave for his village early so that he could reach there before dusk. He went to Hazrat to ask for his permission. Hazrat gave his blessings, looking directly into his eyes as if he is reading something. The man tried to look somewhere else but couldn't. When he turned to leave Hazrat told him to stop.

"There is pair of sandals kept right next to the door. Keep them with yourself. May the Almighty be with you."

The man obeyed, though doubted his decision of coming to the Khanqah in the first place. 

Heavy rainfall greeted him in the afternoon and he couldn't cross even the city when the Sun started to set. He decided to spend the night in a Sarai (motel kind of structure).

He changed his clothes, made his bed, and kept Hazrat's sandals near his head. 

It was around midnight when he felt someone's presence near his head. It was too dark. He woke up with a thud. A man in his mid-forties was squatting near his head and weeping. He was wearing an embroidered angarakha, just like someone from the royal family wears.

'What happened sir, have I committed some horrifying mistake?' He asked.

'From where have you got these sandals, my dear friend?' The man who was weeping countered his question.

'I got this from Khanqah of Mehboob -E - Ilahi, Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia. He gifted this to me himself.

'

'Can you give me these? I'm ready to pay any amount you want.' He stood up in a hurry and took out two moderate size cloth bags filled with gold coins. He handed over both bags to him, spilling a few coins on the ground. 

The man was numb. He felt like he is still in his deep slumber. That coins were enough even if he had to make arrangements for the marriage of ten more daughters. He watched that man keeping his head on the sandals, wiping them with his sleeves, keeping them on his head, and marching out of the Sarai.

He was still in a state of shock when he heard two young men talking.

"Wasn't he Amir Khusrow, The court poet in the darbar of the Sultan?"

"Call him Tooti -e-Hind Amir Khusrow."

The next morning when Hazrat woke up, he felt like a celebrated baarat, a musical procession heading towards his Khanqah. He saw that Khusrow is walking towards the Khanqah with Hazrat's sandals on his head. Hundreds of people were following him, singing praises of the Almighty. Some were dancing in all trance, some were weeping, and some were just filled with joy.

Khusrow bowed slowly towards Hazrat, one by one he slipped both his sandals on his holy feet and stood back up.

'Oh Turk, how much gold coins you bartered for my sandals?' Hazrat used to call Khusrow Turk lovingly.

'I just gave what all I had. If he asked for my life, I would have gladly given that too' He said with moist eyes, still looking at Hazrat's feet.

'Ahh! you got them at an extremely cheap price.'

Whenever this story ends, I try to notice other people's smiles. It's like a universal way of responding to that story - Reason? I'm not sure but the story might give the listeners a sense of bliss and contentment.

See, I just catch you smiling too. What a lovely smile you have.

Love, Laughter, and Peace

HRN

ps - I tried to recite this story a couple of months back. Though It's nothing like Asif Sahab tells us this story. He is just mind-blowing. If you still wish to listen you can click here. Thank You.

'i came upon a lighthouse' - Not a Book Review

 

When I was in college, my ultimate goal was to become an entrepreneur. My friends and I used to sit together on the age-old staircase behind the extended area of our college and used to talk about new ideas, changes, the economy and whatnot. We all had that sparkly eyes when we used to share our dreams, our desires, and our goals. And that phase helped me a lot in phasing the different situations in my life. 

Being an entrepreneur has its pros and cons. I've grown up watching traditional entrepreneurs, who were so damn greedy and think about accumulating money as much as they can, without thinking anything else in their life. They used to exploit their employees by not giving them the perks they deserve. They used to exploit their customers by quoting the high price of the products which aren't easily available in the market. Not everyone was like that, but some of them around me were doing that. Black marketing, scams, and all that dark stuff was so common (and is still common) in my growing years that I have doubted my decision to become an entrepreneur, not once but millions of time. 

All the books I've read anyhow convinced me to become an entrepreneur and keep searching and discovering new ideas in the field of business I'm in. Honestly, no man whom I've personally met has ever succeeded to convince me to see the bright side of entrepreneurship. And about the successful entrepreneurs, I've read about always ends up disappointing me. Their idea of entrepreneurship is somewhat changing the track and after some point in time, I stop following them. 

Let me share my idea of entrepreneurship.

For me, entrepreneurship is not a win-lose game. It's a medium through which you finds a win-win situation for you, as well as your client. It's a medium through which you actively pay back to society, no matter how small your business is. Paying back to society not always mean charity. It's about creating a smart module thorough which everyone moves upwards. It's about creating opportunities for everyone your business touches - without exploiting or pressurising a single party. It's about investing in your dream and investing in someone else's dream, provided it is also for the betterment of everyone. 

So after reading innumerable biographies and autobiographies in my late teens and early twenties, I recently got this book which opened a different realm for me.

This lovely book which I'm holding in my hands in the picture is called 'i came upon a lighthouse'.

The book is a memoir written by Mr Shantanu Naidu, in which he not only writes about his journey down the years, but he beautifully writes that how his life overlaps the life of none other than Mr Ratan Naval Tata.

Naidu worked as a Design Engineer in Tata Elxsi, when he co-founded Motopaws' which is an initiative to reduce animal deaths and injuries (specifically dogs) caused by vehicles hitting them. In Motopaws, they brought forward a unique idea of radiant dog collars. This simple idea brought down these accidents by 31 per cent. 

My dear readers, this one was the first reason I picked up this book. As a person who gets along with dogs, more than with humans, I was excited reading about that unique idea. 

When Ratan Tata came across this simple idea, he called them in his office and with that a unique bond between Mr Tata and the author formed.

Mr Tata became his guardian angel and stood by him as a teacher, as a parent, and as a friend in every situation. 

The author decided to go on with his higher education and went to Cornell University, Ithaca for that. Before leaving he decided to come back to India after his education and work for Tata Trust, which is actively involved in Social Services. And yes, he does come back and become an integral part of the institution. 

But this book is not only about the author's journey. This book is written about the simplicity, vision, and humility of Mr Tata. His way of handling things, his way of looking at things, are minutely described in the book. 

This is one of those books which not only motivates you like those so-called self-help books you see on every bookstall. But this book is a warm hug for those people who love to help others and understand this by heart that Money is a by-product of being an entrepreneur. 

So I picked up the book for some of the reasons which I'm mentioning below:-

1) Motopaws 

I love the mission behind the initiative of Motopaws. Personally, I've lost count of the dogs I've lost in accidents. I have cried and spent sleepless nights thinking about their sufferings. I have spent countless nights cursing myself on my insufficiency to save them. I'll share a story in my upcoming blog.

2) Simplicity of Mr Tata

You can search for books on Mr Tata on Amazon and Flipkart, believe me, you won't find anything authenticated. As a person, he always thought about doing something rather than blabbering much. He has invested in the technology and modernization of every field. Reading about his life is a treat in itself.

3) The Idea of Entrepreneurship

The initial paragraphs of this post cover what I have always thought about Entrepreneurship. Now you might have been thinking that My idea is nothing but Mr Tata personified. In every industry, in every field, you can see Tatas. He is that 'Win-Win' situation personified who talks less but has a genuine hand in nation-building. 

4) Illustrations 

The book is beautifully illustrated by Sanjana Desai, which enhances the reading experience. Reading and imagining go hand in hand. You make a picture of what you read in your mind. And when you see a similar picture on the pages you are reading, it's an indescribable experience. You must try it.

So that's all for my side. I would highly recommend this book to each one of you and you can grab your copies from HERE.

Thank you for reading

Love, Laughter, and Peace

HRN

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Lord Rama and the Little Squirrel – Stories from India #1

What my name is or from where I belong to, that’s really not important. Some People call me Hanuman because of the shape of my jaw. But that’s another story and this is not the right time to discuss that. Right now, I have just returned from Lanka, where, that cruel Raavan rules, who has abducted our queen and motherly figure for us all – Maa Seeta.

With the various boons provided by many gods and saints, I have the capability to fly and cross the mountains and the sea. I have discovered all that also quite recently. But the question arises here that how Lord Rama’s army, our army, will be able to cross this ever-expanding sea. We are thousands Of Vanaras, the soldiers of the monkey tribe. It is completely impossible for our whole army to swim across the sea. Then one of us gave an idea that the only possible way to cross the sea is to make a bridge by rocks and stones so that the whole army can cross the sea easily. Easily said, than done. One of the soldiers threw a large rock in the sea, and as expected, it sunk somewhere deep.

Lord Rama is not an ordinary Mortal and no one knows why he has incarnated in this world. But he is my Lord and I have a deep faith in his name. Reciting his name, again and again, give me a sense of peace, no matter how turbulent the situation is. So, I closed my eyes, took his name, and wrote his name on a large piece of rock with a little stone. I threw that rock in the sea with all the faith I have. The Rock starts floating near the shore. Everyone clapped and reciting my Lord’s name.  Jai Shree Rama (All hail to Lord Rama).

So that was it, In no time everyone started writing Lord’s name on the rocks and the process of building the bridge had begun. But the thing which was worrying me was, that all the Rocks were scattered and it was hard to march on that bridge and taking the whole army to the other side.

I sat for a while on the ground near the shore. I was lost in thought when I saw some little squirrels writing Lord’s name on little pebbles and throwing them in the sea. I was smiling, watching their dedication towards Lord’s work. But some of my co-soldiers were laughing and teasing them. They were calling their work worthless. Honestly, I feel bad about the whole situation, but I chose to sit quietly.

I was lost in thoughts when I saw Lord Rama coming towards us with his brother Lakshman. He analyzed the whole situation and bend down towards those little squirrels and started patting them lovingly. One little squirrel closed its eyes like it was in some kind of meditative state. After a couple of minutes, I saw some kind of impression on its back.  It looked like that all the impressions of his five fingers were imprinted on that little creature’s back.

“Hanuman” Lord looked lovingly at me and said “ No effort is worthless when we are into this war against the evil. The Little pebbles these great beings are throwing in the sea will bring all the large rocks together and will form a concrete structure.”

My eyes were welling up with tears as I saw all the Large rocks coming up together as those little squirrels were throwing more and more pebbles. Those little pebbles were filling up the spaces between those large rocks, giving our bridge a concrete structure.

When we won the war against the mighty demon, King Raavan, we were celebrating Lord’s Victory, Our Victory, when I saw some little squirrels were jumping around us. I was happy to see that. But what astonished me was the grey finger imprints on each of the Squirrel’s back.

That was nothing but the symbol of compassion Lord has imprinted permanently on the whole clan of those little squirrels for their unforgettable service towards the war against the evil.

But that was a different Yuga.

In Kali Yuga, Whenever I see Squirrels around me, I still see those imprints on their back, which reminds me of that day.

And me, don’t worry, I will not going to leave this world till there will be no one to remember my Lord’s name. I'm still a servant of Lord Rama and always will be.

Jai Shree Rama

Om Shanti