Start Again

At times  in your life  all you can do is sit back or may hop on the bed , switch of your lights, crawl under the blankets and introspect. For some failing to achieve their ends is hard to accept , and for them there's greatness in that . They might find a sense of greatness in fighting to the very end . But in those moments, in bed, while you introspect, while you think what have you have gone wrong, you reach a state of rapture . The very gesture of going back becomes a starting point for you . You clear your head. You steady your primal (fundamental) senses. You navigate your 'littoral zone' , taking the steps again , may be in a tremulous manner , unsure of what is to come . You can call it your defeat or capitulation, it doesn't matter , because in the end whether you succeed or fail the act(of giving it another try) itself will give you fortitude and you will have have the audacity to do even more . There is no weakness or difficulty in giving up. Sometimes it is brave to concede defeat and face the consequences and at the same time clever to save your strength for the "next" time.

 It can be hard to rebuild yourself from the beginning from the very pieces. But The old skin has to be shed before the new one can come. You just have to put your distress on a shelf & tell it to be quiet. It is humane to mess up in the way you have decided to move. But it can be reinvigorating to correct the wrong and give your way another shot. If we devote the very soul to our cause even the divine power will answer to our bravery. There will be a moment which will be yours and you will rise . It's never too late to start over!

"Maybe we're meant to do things that scare us so we can build greatness in ourselves."
(From Internet)

Attachement

We often attach ourselves to things, to people, to places: it’s not like we can't resist but it is a human tendency. But an attachment is an odd companion. It treats this something as though it is a part of your body; inseparable, despite the fact that it is not a part of yourself.

We become so hurt by losing it. What we don't realize is that possession is merely a comfortable illusion we create for ourselves because we want a thing to exist as if it were a part of us when it can physically never exist that way. They are just the manifestation of materialistic desire.

Only an idea of them we believed in exist and ideas are as much a part of us as our own voice or the words we utter. They are a interpretation of the world around created by our mind. We not only have them, we become  them. They as much possess us as we do them and ideas themselves are extremely delicate, inherently incomprehensible wandering through our senses and actions.

Our minds are constantly outside, never fully attached to the present moment, always moving to the past, and building Utopian plans for the future . Creating fantasies within the mind, and using those fantasies to interpret the external world. It wonder if there is any existence of the present moment

Can we free ourselves from attachments? Can we free ourselves from our pasts and fantastic futures to find the present moment? Can we will something like that to happen?

Essentially where there is a will there is a way. We will something and it occurs. But what is will?

Cause and effect. Will is the cause and the effect is whatever we will to happen. But we often consider will to be the end cause;But it too had causes to bring about the act of willing. We often forget this.

Our will is created by forces outside our conscious experience. The real perception of willing is of an illusion. We are not the ultimate cause in our act of willing. If we understand this, then what do we become?

 How does a person define himself? Are we merely what we perceive as ourselves? Certainly not. We have already shown that will is an illusionary outlook of something more. So we too are something more than we think we are.

Are we then a collection of cells to form a body and a collection of experiences and understandings to form a mind? What is it that wills? Is it our cells? Is it reality bent into an interpretaion by our minds? A thought is merely a way we take things, an experience (often personal one). It is not we who does the thinking, we are merely experiencing an aspect on the thought; a thought being a collection of actions outside our understanding.

We are not merely what we think to be ourselves. In fact what we perceive to be ourselves is but a small view of something much more, it is illusionary and masks the true nature of existence. We must therefore redefine our understanding of ourselves. 

The Story of a Legend- Sochiro Honda

Sometimes some people are born who are not ordinary. They change other people or the whole world thinks. They never follow a predetermined path but rather create their own.We call them legends. Sochiro Honda was such a person. Sochiro Honda was the founder of the famous Japanese automobile company Honda  . He was a great Engineer and Industrialist who oversaw the expansion of a company manufacturing bicycle parts to one of the greatest multinational company.

His life is an inspiration as to how fight against various adversities in life and rise to the peak.

Early Life

Born on 17th November 1906 most of Honda's childhood was spent helping his blacksmith father Gihei with bicycle repair business. Even as a child Honda was greatly thrilled by the first car he saw in his village. He had a deep love for machinery and even once went to see a demonstration of airplane on his father's bicycle.

He left for Tokyo to look for work when he was 15 without any formal education. He disliked the traditional way of  education from the beginning and never tried to complete it. After staying at Tokyo for more than six years he went back to home to start his own auto shop business.

Rise of Honda Motor Co.

Like most other countries, Japan was also hit badly by the Great Depression of the 1930s. In 1938, Soichiro Honda was still in school, when he started a little workshop, developing the concept of the piston ring.

He planned to sell these rings to Toyota but his first designs were rejected as it didn't meet the industrial standards. He was severely criticized and ridiculed by the Toyota engineers. But he never gave up hope.

He went back to his school and started working on the ring. He worked day and night , design and redesigned it till he has perfected it. At last after two years of continuous handwork he was able to get a contract from Toyota

These were war times .Japan was a party to the Axis powers. Japan was gearing up for war. Materials were scarce and he needed an assembly line to fulfill his contract with Toyota. But this was not enough to deter him. After working for days he created a new concrete making process which helped to him to put together his factory. But it seemed god had other plans for him. His first factory was shattered by a US bomb raid and the second plant collapsed in the infamous Mikawa Earthquake.

This was the year 1945 and times were tough Japan had just surrendered. There was a severe dearth of gasoline. People were forced to walk or use bicycle. It seemed the end of road for Honda. But again Honda was unwilling to give up.

He put together a small engine and attached it to the bicycle. This model became famous overnight among his village people and everybody demanded one. To keep up the demand and counter the shortage of materials he applied a innovative way he wrote to 18,000 bicycles shop owners and, in an inspiring letter, asked them to help him revitalize Japan. 5,000 responded and advanced him what little money they could to build his tiny bicycle engines. Unfortunately, the first models were too bulky to work well ( type A ), so he continued to develop and adapt, until finally, the small engine 'The Super Cub' became a reality and was a success ( type D ), which gave way for his " DREAM " series motorcycles

...

His hard work paid off and The Society of Automotive Engineers of Japan listed both the Type A and the Type D models as two of their 240 Landmarks of Japanese Automotive Technology. 

With this huge success and rising popularity he began exporting the engines to Europe and USA.

His brilliant technical and marketing innovation skills made his Honda Motor Company into a multi-billion dollar conglomerate. As the president of company he gave renowned names of motorbike world like Triumph and Harley-Davidson a run for their money. Under his leadership Honda Motor Company became the seller of best motorcycles in the world.

In the 1970s there was another gas shortage, this time in America and automotive fashion turned to small cars. But this was not yet the end of the story for Honda. Honda was quick to pick up on the trend. Experts now in small engine design, the company started making tiny cars, smaller than anyone had seen before, and rode another wave of success.

He had became so famous  People magazine placed him on their "25 Most Intriguing People of the Year" list for 1980, dubbing him "the Japanese Henry Ford."

ASME established the Soichiro Honda Medal in recognition of Mr. Honda's achievements in 1982.

In 1989 he was inducted to " Automotive Hall of Fame" of Detroit.

The Legacy

...

Sochiro Honda died on August 5, 1991 of terminal liver failure.  He was posthumously appointed to the senior third rank in the order of precedence and appointed a Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun

Today, Honda Corporation employs over 100,000 people in the USA and Japan and around 180,000 people worldwide, and is one of the world's largest automobile companies. Honda started from scratch. He worked hard till his  death and left behind a legacy of a company worth US  $105 Billion which serves across the world. Honda Motor co. has produced 4,110,000 vehicles as of now and has expanded its business to other sectors like aviation, solar power, racing cars, power equipment, luxury vehicles, robotics and the list goes on.

The Message

A wise man once said, " When you feel like giving up remember remember why you held on for so long ". 

Honda succeeded because one man made a truly committed decision, acted upon it, and made adjustments on a continuous basis. Whenever odds were not in his favor. He showed incredible patience bided his time. Adapted and tried to survive. Failure was simply not considered a possibility. His lifetime  taught us that hard work really is the key to success.

                                     Many People dream about Success for me Success is to overcome permanent failures

The way things work out in India ( THE ANT-GRASSHOPPER STORY RETOLD )

Despite of being the largest democracy in the world, we are far behind in nearly every respect from the rest of the world. It is a thing to ponder that who is responsible for this state of affairs even after 67 years of Independence.

You all might have heard of the original Ant and Grasshopper story . Well I am here with a new latest version of the story according to present state of affairs of India. It is a kind of parody or the corrupted version of the original story.  Although the parody was not written by me but I have suitably abridged and modified it according to the need while trying to retain the central theme as much as possible. So here we go :

THE ANT AND GRASSHOPPER STORY- ORIGINAL VERSION

The Ant Works hard in the withering heat all summer building its house and laying supplies for the winter. The Grasshopper thinks the Ant is a fool and laughs, dances and plays all the summer. With the onset of winter the Ant's hard work pays off and it and its family are warm and well fed. While the Grasshopper has no food or shelter so it dies in the cold.

THE ANT AND GRASSHOPPER STORY- INDIAN VERSION

The Ant works hard in the withering heat all summer building its house and laying up supplies for the winter. The Grasshopper thinks the Ant is a fool and laughs, dances and plays all the summer. When the winter comes the Ant and its family are well fed and are warm.

The Grasshopper as usual has no food or shelter. But here the shivering Grasshopper calls for a PRESS CONFERENCE and demands to know, “why the Ant be allowed to be warm and warm and well fed while others are cold and starving?".

NDTV, BBC, CNN, ABPnews, AAJTAK show up to provide pictures of the shivering Grasshopper next to a video of the Ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food.

 The whole world is stunned by the sharp contrast. Everybody wonders, " How can the poor Grasshopper be allowed to suffer so?".

Soon numerous online petitions are launched seeking justice for the Grasshopper. Many of them even promised heaven or ever-lasting peace for prompt support as against the wrath of god for non-compliance.( Can you Believe it?)

A Booker prize novelist turned self proclaimed activist ( She has been supportive of cause of many  secessionist organisations working against the country in the past ) called Mrs. RA stages a demonstration in front of the Ant's house.

Another well known lady activist ( She has a habit of going to fast whenever a developmental project is carried out in the country so as to protect the environment.) called Mrs. M goes on to fast ( as expected! )

demanding that Grasshoppers be relocated to warmer climates during winter.

Another leader ( she is also a woman, yo! GIRL POWER! and the so-called camaraderie of backward communities) states the situation as ' injustice ' on depressed community of Grasshopper.

Opposition members of parliament stage a walk out. so-called Socialist parties' leaders call for bandh in the states where they have strong foothold.

The government of a southern state passes a law to ban the Ants from working hard in the heat so as to bring about equality of poverty among Ants and Grasshoppers. 

The bollywood organizes a grand charity function to show solidarity with the Grasshopper. The king of the bollywood hosts the show which is held in Venetian Macau and is aired all over the world. The star attraction of the show is not the Grasshopper but the glam-dolls of the bollywood ( Who don't know anything apart from belly-dancing, not even acting). From this show the whole world realizes the real pain and suffering of the Grasshopper. ( you can guess better! ). 

Amnesty international decides to intervene in to the contentious issue and the UN criticizes the Indian Government for not upholding the rights of Grasshopper. 

Meanwhile the Indian Space Research Organisation places a satellite in to the orbit to ensure 24-hour high speed broadband access to the people. But it is severely criticized by a new wave of self critics in numerous TV interviews calling the mission a wastage of money which could have been better spent on Grasshoppers.

The railway minister ( he has a dubious distinction of siphoning  of cattle fodder  for his personal use, I still wonder what kind of personal use he means?) allocates a free coach to Grasshopper on all Indian trains.

Finally the judicial committee drafts the ' Prevention of Discrimination against the Grasshoppers act ' [PODAGA] effective immediately with the onset of winter.

The government raises the tax bracket of the Ants.

The Ant is fined heavily failing to comply with PODAGA. Having nothing left to pay its retroactive taxes, the  Ant's property is confiscated by Government and is handed over to Grasshopper in a ceremony covered by NDTV, AAJTAK, CNN, ZEE news, ABP news.

Mrs. RA calls it ' A TRIUMPH OF JUSTICE '. 

The railway minister calls it ' Socialist Justice '.

The leaders of socialist parties term it as the ' Revolutionary Upsurge of the Downtrodden Grasshoppers '   .

The head of the organisation which plans the developmental activities for the entire nation ( The person thinks that Rs.32/- a day is enough to make a poor man’s living worthwhile )  calls it a ‘ Equitable Redistribution of National Wealth ’.

The Grasshopper gets a UN invitation to address the UN general assembly.

Meanwhile having nothing left the Ant immigrates to the USA.

Many Years Later: 

The Ant has migrated to US and setup a multi-billion dollar Fortune 500 company in Silicon Valley. In spite of the preferential treatment being given by the government to the Grasshopper it dies due to cold and starvation (The reader knows why? ). The system senses a conspiracy and the investigation is handed over to the elite CBI. CBI uses its innovative investigative methodology (  You know how they do it!  ) and finds the involvement of Ants. Soon the Ant is implicated in the case. After dragging the case for more than 10 years the Ant is extradited from the US and put to jail in India. 

Meanwhile the original home of Ant which was handed over to the Grasshoppers few years back is illegally taken over by the spiders that now terrorize the once peaceful neighbourhood.

MORAL OF THE STORY

As the story unfolds the normal Indian public becomes more and more confused. The country loses its hard-working Ants apart from misguided innocent Grasshoppers who could have proven to be docile workforce while benefiting the anti-social Spiders. The whole world watches us carefully and laughs at us and we still remain a developing country.