The Cracked Pot

June 24^th, 2011

My Dear Rishi, 

I enjoyed talking to you today. This is the first time since March our conversation was completely uninterrupted and you shared about your Australia trip and you also asked about your cousins in India. Today I am in New York and I saw a boy of maybe 3 years old was sitting on his dad’s  shoulder. I missed you a lot and I wish you were with me Rishi so that I could carry you on my shoulders the way I used to carry you in Singapore (see the picture below) and have wonderful conversations and sometimes you would sing on top of your voice. I don’t know when I can carry you again and if I can carry you again, trust me Rishi I will :).  I miss you and love you very much. At least we both have some memories together, however short but they are our memories no one take that away from us for that I am grateful. Rishi, it is easy to feel sad and cry for what we don’t have in life. Then we need to look at what we have in our lives and be grateful, because there are many people in our situation who do not even have this opportunity.  

When I was about 10 years old my grandmother told me story of Cracked Pot. It is interesting, even today this story is circulating on the web with slight modification but the essence of the story is same.

The Cracked Pot

A water bearer in India had two large pots, each hung on each end of a pole which he carried across his neck. One of the pots had a crack in it, and while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water at the end of the long walk from the stream to the master's house, the cracked pot arrived only half full.

For a full two years this went on daily, with the bearer delivering only one and a half pots full of water to his master's house. Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments, perfect to the end for which it was made.   But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it was able to accomplish only half of what it had been made to do.

 

After two years of what it perceived to be a bitter failure, it spoke to the water bearer one day by the stream."I am ashamed of myself, and I want to apologize to you."

"Why?" asked the bearer. "What are you ashamed of?"

"I have been able, for these past two years,  to deliver only half my load because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your master's house. Because of my flaws, you have to do all of this work, and you don't get full value for your efforts," the pot said.

The water bearer felt sorry for the old cracked pot, and in his compassion he said, "As we return to the master's house, I want you to notice the beautiful flowers along the path."

Indeed, as they went up the hill, the old cracked pot took notice of the sun warming the  beautiful wild flowers on the side of the path, and this cheered it some. But at the end of the trail, it still felt bad because it had leaked out half its load, and so again it apologized to the bearer for its failure.

The bearer said to the pot, "Did you notice that there were flowers only on your side of your path, but not on the other pot's side? That's because I have always known about your flaw, and I took advantage of it. I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back from the stream, you've watered them. For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate my master's table. Without you being just the way you are, he would not have this beauty to grace his house."

Rishi it is very easy for us to criticize, judge other but always remember the cracks and flaws we each have that make our lives together very interesting and rewarding. You've just got to take each person for what they are, and look for the good in them. There is lot of good out there. Trust me love, there is lot of good in us!

Just remember to appreciate and be grateful for all the different people in your life!

Daddy loves you and misses you a lot,

With lots of hugs, kisses and love,

Daddy

Hope and Faith

June 19^th

My Dear Rishi,

This is the third year on Father’s day I am not with you physically. However, you are always in my thoughts and prayers. Since past few days I have been pondering over the difference between Hope and Faith. I was wondering how I could explain to you in a very simple way so that you can understand despite the difference you need both “Hope” and “Faith” to live in this world.

I was sitting in one of my favourite spots in Toronto, Ashbridges Bay Park. There is a special spot where I always go to contemplate, collect my thoughts  and be close to the lake and majestic Oak trees. Honey and I had spent an hour on this spot and I needed a simple way to explain the importance of “Hope” and “Faith”.


There is a wise Buddhist saying, “When student is ready, master appears”.  In my case the master was in the form of two birds. Based on what I saw it appeared to me that the mother bird was trying to teach the young one to fly. The young bird was sitting on a branch and mother kept on nudging the young one closer and closer to the edge of the branch. Right in front of my eyes as it happened the young bird was dropping from the tree. It was a free fall and I thought the young bird was going to get hurt. I ran to catch the young bird and I had not taken my eyes off the falling bird. Suddenly, mid-way through the fall the young bird started flapping its wings and before I knew the bird started flying up. It  went up to a boat's mast rope and perched itself there and the young bird was chirping away to glory as though saying look mama, “I can fly, I can fly”. It was an amazing site to watch.

Right then and there I realized Hope for humans, is akin to what wings are for a bird. Faith is, if god has given the wings to the bird, bird will fly when it is ready. God has put us on earth and gave humanity the Hope. Trusting, Acceptance and Surrender to a higher power is Faith. I believe, it is with the same faith mother bird nudged the bird from top of a tree with a Hope, with the wings the young one can fly and with Faith the young bird will not fall to the ground and get hurt. “Faith is bigger than Hope and you need to have Faith first to have Hope work for you”.

Rishi, I hope in near future we both will be together and I have faith we will be together when time is right. I hope one day you will read this blog and I have faith you will.  We need both hope and faith to carry us in times of trials and tribulations of this life. Hope and Faith are the twins which will guide us, sustain us, nourish us and we need these twins in our lives.  I believe with hope and faith, this physical separation between us shall also pass. Hope and Faith are the two angels watching over us. When you invite Hope, Faith will inevitably follow.


Rishi, we both are in each other’s hearts always remember that. I miss being with you , playing with you and getting those great hugs. I love you.

With lots of love, hugs and kisses,

Daddy

P.S: This is Honey.

Random Acts of Kindness- A Village on the Road

June 12^th, 2011

My Dear Rishi,

I enjoyed talking with you for three minutes on the phone yesterday.  I asked you if you remembered your mommy’s birthday you said yes.  You said you are going to buy camera for mommy.  Your mommy is the best mommy in the world and she loves you very much Rishi.  Always remember your mommy’s birthday and as well as mother’s day.  We all owe so much to our mother’s without them there would be no us. 

This week’s story is about kindness.  What is kindness?  Kindness in very simple terms is reaching out to someone who is sad or hungry or lonely sitting with them and making them feel better either by listening to them or giving them food or sometimes just talking to them.  Kindness, according to dictionary is, “the quality of being friendly, generous and considerate”.   I love the definition of Albert Einstein, he defines to be Kind as the act of being helpfulness towards someone in need expecting nothing in return.      Today's story is called, “A Village on the Road” By Pedro Pablo Sacristán.  

In a land far away, once upon a time there was great poverty: only the rich could manage without great problems. Three of those rich men, and their servants, were traveling on the same road, in a convoy, when they came to a very poor village. Seeing this poverty provoked different reactions in all three rich men. The first couldn't stand to see it, so he took all the gold and jewels from his wagons and shared them out among the villagers. He wished them all the best of luck, and he left.

The second rich man, seeing the desperate situation, stopped for a short time, and gave the villagers all his food and drink, since he could see that money would be of little use to them. He made sure that each villager received their fair share and would have enough food to last for some time. Then, he left.

The third rich man, on seeing such poverty, speeded up and traveled straight through the village without stopping. The two other rich men saw this from a distance, and commented with each other how the third rich man lacked decency and compassion. It was good that they had been there to help the poor villagers.

However, three days later, they met the third rich man who was traveling in the opposite direction. He was still traveling quickly, but his wagons, instead of the gold and valuables they had been carrying, were now full of farming implements, tools, and sacks of seeds and grain. He was heading to the poor village to help them out of poverty.

This happened a long, long time ago, but we can see the very same thing happening today too. There are some generous people who give only so that people can see how much they are giving. They don't want to know anything about the people they are giving to. Other generous people really try to help others, but only so that they can feel better about themselves.

But there are other generous people: the best kind. To them it doesn't matter what the other kinds of generous people think of them. Nor do they give in a showy way. Instead, they truly worry about how best to improve the lives of those they are helping. They give greatly of something much more valuable than money. They give their time, their vision and their lives.


We still have time to change to this third, and best, group!

Moral of the story

The best kindness is to give our time and sincere best wishes to people, regardless of whether they can give us anything in return.

Daddy’s wish for you Rishi is “May you be kind and compassionate to all living beings around you. May you always see good in others. May you have compassion in your heart.”

Kindness can transform both the giver as well as the receiver. Kindness is the unspoken word which can be understood irrespective of what language you speak, where you are from. Kindness is the universal language which unites humanity. 

Remember when you were in India this year we used to always say, "Sharing is Caring". This is one of the important ways of showing kindness to each other.

Hands that serve are holier than the lips that pray-  By Sai Baba

Daddy loves you and misses you very much. Here is something for you  to listen, read and watch

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvG1iVw8IjQ

With lots of love, hugs and kisses,

Daddy

P.S: Kindness in action



Listening



Lending a hand

   

Caring  



Story of Evans Wadongo

My Dear Rishi,

I was hoping to talk to you more this weekend but at least I heard your voice for a second before the phone was disconnected. But I was delighted to hear your voice sweet heart.

The children can lead Africa from a dark continent to a light continent.  These are very powerful words of a young a boy name Evans Wadongo.  Who is Evans Wadongo? Why is he talking about light? What is so powerful about the words you just read? Rishi, this is a story of a boy from Kenya who brought light to his village and is an inspiration to many more around the world.

Evans was born on March 11, 1986 in West of Kenya. His home and school had no electricity.   Evans, when he was young used to study using kerosene lamp. The  smoke and fumes from the kerosene lamp hurt his eyes. This affected not only his eyes but also sometimes it affected his concentration as he could not study for longer time.  In spite of all the obstacles, he went to graduate from his high school with top marks and was recognized top 100 students in Kenya.  Subsequently he graduated with Electronic and Computer engineering .

 He was determined to come up with an idea to reduce the harmful effects of kerosene lamp but also to help his friends and other children to study more so that they all can do well in school.  In 2004, he designed a solar lamp. He called this lamp ‘MwangaBora (Swahili for good light)”. This lamp he believed  as a way to address poor education, climate change, health and poverty in rural Kenya.  Evans mission for this project was: “Use Solar, Save lives” he aimed to use solar technology as a way to save lives in poor communities.  In 2010, Evans was voted one of CNN’s top ten heroes.  On March 30^th, 2011 he was named one of the three recipients  of  the inaugural Mikhail Gorbachev  Awards for “people who changed the world” . Here is a small clip for you to watch, hope you learn and understand the message http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nupV53P8IXU

Rishi, the only way to fight Darkness of mind, heart and as well as physical darkness is through Light.  You cannot find negativity with negativity but counter negativity with positivity.  The only way you can stop darkness of negativity is through the light of positivity. May your life be the light to this universe and humanity.  Did you know one of the meanings of your name, is ray of the first light.  Rishi may you live up to your name and always bring light into the darkest corners of this world as well as light in everyone’s heart.

I love you Rishi and miss you. God bless you son..

With lots of love, hugs and kisses,

Daddy