Thoughts To Tread Lord Rama's Path; Secrets Revealed, Insights on Industrial Revolution, Financial Inclusion

                   In the last few years, a lot of statues are constructed and erected for eminent personalities in the country. I would ask if they are more important than building a grand Ram mandir in Ayodhya. India got independence 70 years ago and still did not construct a Ram temple in his birth place. If it is a funds issue, that does not seem like the case in the recent past. With the advent of NDA government, thousands of crores are being spent on statues of Sardar Patel and Shivaji Maharaj. They are renowned personalities but are they important than Lord Shri Ram. This huge money should first be spent on constructing an iconic Ram mandir and then focused on remaining personalities. Lord Ram is revered by people of all faiths all over the world but one finds it hard to understand the priorities of the Indian government in constructing a temple in his birthplace. The disputes should have been resolved long back giving it top most priority and all the energies should have been spent on building a sacred public monument which binds people to Lord Ram’s principles. Listening to Ramayana is a solution to all the modern day problems. This mythical character who is silently present in every Indian has the power to set the tone of the nation just by the belief system. The more you worship a God, the more you become like one. It is extremely difficult to be like Lord Ram in this day and age but there are individuals out there who embody Lord Ram. The personality who restored dharma in the ancient times and who has been a major driving force to follow is still yet to find a proper place of worship. A huge Rama statue which has been planned and a temple to symbolize the belief of the billion is to be immediately taken up for construction to further inspire the younger generation to tread his path. The most difficult personality to follow in modern day is that of Lord Ram. The difficulty lies in catching up with mainstream modern day life without compromising on the ancient values. Because it is always a tradeoff between these two, people often put aside the ancient culture and the value system. But it should be the other way around. You should not lose your dharma, ethos and values come what may and build everything else on top of that. This is the basic essence of Ramayana which has to be taken deep into the public that solves the myriad problems of the modern day. The people lives with peace and happiness when there is the rule of Rama prevailing upon the kingdom of Bharat.

                    There has been heightened activity in the recent past. I have been working without a day off since the past 9 months and the activity has only been increasing as the days progress. To work for 180 days straight without letting the guard down is out of the world. There is no Sunday in my life leave alone vacations and summer holidays. It is not just 9 months but I had been like this for the past 20 months or more except the period when I am briefly unemployed. By nature, I am lazy and loves my bed. To shed it and keep on working has become a new reality which I am living in. There is no leeway for getting away from this reality and I had to abide by it. The work ethic and the work culture are dangerously raising the bar by each passing day. I feel like there is some unseen force which is pushing me to do all this and I am never acting only on my own behest. Nonetheless, I am staring at the wonder, awe-struck that has been in the making ever since I had started to work like this. The air has to be cleared and to put everyone on the same page, I had to put forward some of the reasons behind my present situation. The secret behind the push is I applied for a U.S. work visa and awaiting the decision on my application. I don’t know if it works but to give myself a best possible chance I am leaving no stone unturned. You can ask my bike how relentlessly I am travelling and how far I travelled. This kind of work-ethic is never required for the job I am doing and the money I am making. For better gains and to fulfill my financial obligations, I thought of moving back to U.S. once again in the hope of turning around my fortunes after multiple failures. You make money when there is momentum with you and not when there is a period of lull and breaks. People may say that I can continue to work like this in India and remain in India but for how long can I sustain this activity. I had to work like this for the next 5 to 10 years in India which is impractical. I can sustain this for few months to few years and not forever. I will be benefitted if I can come out of my financial woes as quickly as possible. Thinking in similar lines, I invested some capital for the application for better returns and try my luck once again. I may be a misfit for U.S but this path is the only logical option left for me after burning out myself for over on year. I earnestly hope that my efforts do not go in vain and my regular prayers to God are answered. This is honestly the reason behind all the ‘robotic’ work I am going through. Even robots have mechanical wear and tear and I am not supposed to have. When everyone understands the reason behind, they know I am not mad after all but only going through difficulty for a shelter to live and some food to eat.

                    Talking about the increasing heights of activity, my employment made me give so much and work so hard. By virtue of the work ethic and the pain I am going through over the past many years, if there is any respect to that, there must be a renaissance and an industrial revolution in the country. You need to showcase to the world that we work seven days a week and exemplify excellence in work standards. The demography of India which has a working population of 65% below the age of 35 years needs to start an industrial revolution for its own benefit and to the benefit of the world. Imagine the scenario of a 70 crore young people steadfastly working with motivation for the greater good. The young personnel need to take a leaf out of the industrious people and direct their energies towards meaningful goals. It need not be young or old but anyone who has the motivation to become industrious. For a bigger example, the PM of the country has not taken any leave since coming to power 5 years back or for that matter since nearly last two decades after he became CM. It is this steadfast ‘tapasya’ which makes the man a rishi or a maharshi. The great ancient Indian rishi system need to be followed in modern India in a different form catering to modern times. Like the ‘tapasya’ of the rishis which is your resolve and the constant working towards that aim, without giving up even for a moment; you need to follow it in your own modern lifestyles. It is not one or two individuals that practice this and the remaining can watch it and leave. You need to imitate and still better emulate. From my own personal capacity, I try to emulate a PM. My life is an open book and everyone watches me but it is of any use only when your inner calling gets the stimulus of watching and directs you to be a better person if not great. If you are not getting inspired by this, then nothing else will inspire you. If there is any merit in our struggles, an industrial revolution soon sweeps the nation.

                    Looking at the financial side, I went to the foreign nation with my pockets full of money, spent everything and return empty handed. It is only India which has come to my aide time and again by providing me with some job and bank balance. Providing both work and money to failing candidates like me has always been the greatness of this nation. There are few great companies which are responsible for making me lead a life with dignity and respect. I am gainfully employed as a fresher after my graduation. As most of you are aware, I come from a humble background and I had been pulled into the corporate world, affluent surroundings by a good company which worked with purpose. It is a mission to pull the people like me from lower middle class to middle class or upper middle class. Companies stay relevant as long as they pursue these meaningful obligations towards the society. Wealth has been created and distributed and a lot of employees has been in a better financial standing. This is definitely not the rich becoming richer but the poor becoming richer. There might be business value in it and a win-win situation for both employee, employer but nonetheless it has been a tremendous business of serving the Indian poor. Just for instance, I had been offered a helping hand in my second innings just when I needed it and the transition has been smooth from my previous company. I am looking at another transition and still waiting for one from the big brother aka kiddo nation. Things will get complicated if I am stuck at one place for long.  Coming back to the main track, all my life I received support from financially well-off people and I rub shoulders with them quite often. They did not look down upon me as someone who does not belong to their social status. I am enriched by this companionship experience and over a period of time got elevated in social stature. At an individual level, everyone needs to practice living with those lying below on the economic ladder and help them in stepping up the ladder. I practice it whenever there is an opportunity to mingle with the poorer sections of the society because I am a beneficiary of this practice by those lying above me. To conclude, people should stop being compartmental in their outlook and should also look at the lower end of the spectrum for achieving a real financial inclusion.

                   The long-winding elections finally came to the last and final seventh phase. Another state where a keen contest is on cards is the great eastern state of West Bengal. Even though it is not the all-important state elections, violent clashes broke out in the state raising the election fever a notch higher in the bid to claim maximum seats in Loksabha. The CM rose up to the occasion to challenge the formidable duo of B.J.P. It is her reluctance to accept that a PM exist in the country and disregard for all the centrally sponsored schemes by renaming them to state level schemes which has culminated the bitter animosity between the centre and state to a high fever contest. Though power at state level is not at stake, egos are and the leaders went full throttle to satisfy their respective egos. So much so that EC enforced an article to suspend campaigning by a day and the EC observers seriously considered delaying the last phase of polling in state by six months because of law and order situation saying the TMC is a threat to democracy. On the whole everything is going to a halt by 19^th and the nail-biting results await next week.