We hear birds chirping everyday, but have you heard them in their natural habitat? Each type of bird has its own sound that will amaze you as well as their beauty.
Just play these videos one by one and enjoy their beauty and sound .
I have often seen spoiled children who create a scene in public by making faces if someone looks at them or stick out their tongue to show their rude behavior. Their parents just look but do not scold them or castigate them. Often such action leads to more bad behavior that disturbs everybody.</p>
Now imagine such a child who starts throwing tantrums and misbehaves towards passengers in a plane. Once I was flying from Australia when a kid just made terrible tantrums, while his mother just ignored him. The other passengers silently looked but could do nothing. So, I asked the stewardess to approach the woman to ask her to control her kids. The kid finally stopped when his mother told to stop. The passengers thanked me for making this effort.
Here, I often see kids rolling on the ground in some Malls and crying with high decibel sounds because he wanted something his parents could not afford while everybody looked or ignored. Children behave badly at home, in schools, outdoors or in public places, in buses, planes or trains. Of course, the bad behavior is not limited to children because often you will see adults doing the same but that is another story. to ask here is Why children behave badly and why the parents do not teach them how to behave properly anywhere. If you really want to see really well-behaved children, just go to the Lancaster County in Pennsylvania where the Amish raise their children well and teach them good manners, so the Amish children are very well behaved. They are polite, live simple but honest life and rarely you hear anything negative about them. The Amish people are religious people who raise their children with religious teachings.
Often the bad kids come from families that have their own problems like frequent quarrels among the parents or other siblings that affects the younger kids who imitate the crude language they hear. The TV programs that highlight vulgar and crude language also has its effect of small children. They learn aggression from TV shows that show violent scenes, crying, beatings or worse although some parents try to turn off the TV but that leads to more tantrums.
I have lived in many African countries where I watched the old people in their villages keep an eye on the kids while sitting under a tree and do not hesitate to spank the kids if they step out of line. Try this in other countries and see what happens. The parents will come running to confront the old man and may even call the police. It gives the bad kids the assurance that their parents will always back them up no matter how much nuisance the kid creates.
In many countries, the corporal punishment of misbehaving kids is normal. They do not run to the school where the teacher punishes the kids who bully others, show disrespect and break the school rules intentionally just to test the limits of their teacher or Principal. When such kids are expelled from the school, the parents confront the teacher or the School Board but do not or cannot control their children. Such children once expelled go down the wrong road and become the social deviants meaning they start keeping the company of similar students who get into drugs and sex early. Often such children come from broken homes.
Once I was in Messina in Italy where I wandered into a campsite where I saw many children playing while their mothers and grandmas looked and smiled. They were naturally curious because rarely they got to meet an Indian, so they all surrounded me and started to ask questions like who was I and where I came from etc. So, I thought that I could teach them a simple game they could learn easily and play. They did and got very excited to learn a new play which was so much fun for them. They simply needed attention that I gave them. In return they showed so much love that I was surprised. When I got tired and sat down, they started to bring food for me and started to stuff grapes, pasta etc. into my mouth. They cried when it was my time to go. Why these Italian kids were so sweet and so well behaved? You have to understand how their parents and grandparents raise them with love and attention. That is the key.
When kids do not get the attention and love they demand, they look for mischief to attract attention. Often, they grow up with siblings, that can create jealousy among them. So, it really comes down to the atmosphere the family creates where often the kids are left to their own devices that can mean more trouble.
The effect of watching cartoon shows on the TV can be tragic where the kids watch the bandits shooting people with a toy gun and say bang bang so the kid picks up a loaded gun his father had left carelessly, pointed at his 2-year sister and pulled the trigger saying bang bang. He was just imitating what he watched on TV and did not know the difference between toy gun and a real gun, so he just watched while his baby sister was bleeding to death.
This is an extreme example of neglect that had serious consequences. The parents are responsible to raise their kids properly and teach them all the good manners and right conduct. When they grow up, they become even worse in High School where they learn how to be mean from other bad girls. The humility, respect for others, develop a helping others nature, honesty, being religious, having apathy, good conscience etc. are all good traits. The schools do not teach them, so the parents are responsible. Dropping out of high school, getting pregnant because of promiscuity and into drugs and alcohol are all due to lack of restraint and bad behavior that starts at home.
Perhaps they should visit the Amish people and learn something good.
What she will be like when she grows up? Good question.
If you visit the city of Aurangabad in the Maharashtra state of India, you will easily reach the World famous Ellora caves that is just a few kilometers away. The UN has designated Ellora caves as the World Heritage site that has 34 caves dug out of rocks centuries ago.
The most famous of the entire complex is the Kailash temple that was carved out of the mountain over a very long period of time by thousands of workers from top to bottom. It means that the entire complex was carved out of solid rock starting at the top and gradually giving its final shape as it is now maintaining its symmetry and very precise architectural and engineering aspect using just primitive tools of hammer and chisel.
What will surprise you is the fact that you will not find any trace of the millions of tons of rock waste that came out of the mountain after the completion of the temple. Where did the workers throw it is a mystery that baffles everybody. I was very impressed by the carved temple and the various figurines under the massive awning although the Muslim invaders damaged some of the intricate carved statues of Hindu Gods. Still, what remains will take your breath away.
There is an underground complex below the temple ground that has been sealed shut by the government after the archeologists found traces of alien technology and some artifacts that remain a great mystery so no one will know what is hidden there and what it all means.
So, watch the video and visit all the caves that an expert guide will explain to you in great details and understand why the Ellora caves are a World heritage site. There exists nothing like it anywhere in the world. To make a temple from ground up using blocks of stone can make sense because it was the normal practice since antiquity but to carve an entire complex from the top and give shape to an imaginary complex structure is great detail and keeping the form and sheer engineering used in the temple is mind boggling.
Link : https://youtu.be/6jgbM6i67dU?si=ifsKORJK7wMT_1Vg
Ajanta caves near Aurangabad in India is a World heritage site that was accidentally discovered by a British hunter who came upon it centuries ago. It was found in an area covered with grass, vines and other vegetation that the British hunter partially removed to find many caves on the side of a hill. He had discovered a World Heritage site not knowing what he had stumbled upon purely by chance.
Today, Ajanta caves are easily accessible by bus from Aurangabad. With a guide, anyone can visit the caves the guide will show you and tell you the history of the caves in detail. He will tell you that it took hundreds of years by the Buddhists monks and workers to carve out of solid rocks all the caves.
The majesty of the carved statues inside the caves will take your breath away. It is a world heritage site that attracts millions of tourists to see what a wonderful site it is.
The video will explain to you in detail all about the Ajanta caves. If you wish to visit Ellora and Ajanta caves, then start from the city of Aurangabad in the Maharashtra state in India.
There are some people whose lives cannot be measured simply by wealth, position, or material success. Anil is one of them. Highly educated and widely experienced, he spent much of his life serving others. He worked in six countries, took on challenging assignments, and received international recognition and awards for his contributions. Yet, despite all that he achieved, perhaps his greatest quality was not his education, career, or awards—it was his generosity.
Anil believed that whatever he had was meant to be shared. He was generous to his siblings and friends, often helping them without expecting anything in return. When someone needed money, advice, encouragement, or practical assistance, he tried to help. He gave away much of what he had accumulated through a lifetime of hard work. He performed numerous favors for people simply because he believed it was the right thing to do.
But life taught him a painful lesson: generosity does not always produce gratitude.
Some of the very people Anil helped eventually disappointed him. Some siblings did not treat him with the affection and respect he deserved. Friends for whom he had sacrificed time, money, and energy sometimes disappeared when he needed understanding or support. There were occasions when he was treated poorly by people who had benefited from his kindness.
That raises a difficult question: Why does a good person sometimes receive such poor treatment from others?
Perhaps because goodness can be mistaken for weakness. A person who is always willing to help may be taken for granted. Someone who rarely says “no” can become the person everyone expects to rescue them. And when generosity is repeatedly available, people may forget that behind it is a human being with feelings, disappointments, and needs of his own.
There is another painful truth. We often expect the people closest to us to understand our worth. But closeness does not always produce appreciation. Sometimes strangers recognize our value more clearly than relatives or old friends.
Anil’s story therefore is not simply a story of disappointment. It is also a story of character. He remained honest. He continued helping those who genuinely needed help. He did not become cruel simply because others had been unkind to him. His generosity was a choice, and his goodness was part of who he was.
But being a good person does not mean accepting endless disrespect. Perhaps one of life’s final lessons is that generosity needs wisdom. Helping others is noble, but a person must also protect his dignity, set boundaries, and recognize who truly values him.
Anil deserved better—not because he was highly educated, internationally recognized, or financially generous, but because he treated people with humanity.
If some people failed to appreciate him, that does not diminish his worth. Sometimes the tragedy of a good heart is that it gives too much to people who understand its value only after it is gone.
I wanted to write this blog based on my own personal experience that opened up doors for me in a very unexpected way.
A long time ago when I was young and applied for a passport so that I could go to Vietnam as a volunteer agronomist, the passport office kept telling me that it was under process, so I patiently waited. Many months passed but no passport came. So finally, I decided to go to the passport office to ask why my passport was being delayed. The officer was a gentleman who explained to me that I was going to Vietnam where there was a war going on so the government wanted to discourage me by the delaying tactics. India did not support the American war there and did not want any Indian to go there.
So, I asked what I should do to convince that I am going to Vietnam for a noble cause to help and work with the farmers there as an agronomist. He said that my file has been sent to Delhi where the big boss will decide what to do with my case and gave me a name and the address of someone who may be of some help in this matter.
I then took the train the same day and arrived in Delhi the next day and went straight to the address I was given. There I met the big boss who received me right away and asked me the reason why I was risking my life to go to Vietnam where a fierce war was going on and that too for 80 dollars a month stipend. I said that many young people like me from other countries were working in Vietnam for a stipend of only 80 dollars a month so why couldn’t I? I did not believe that anything bad will happen to me there.
He smiled and said my cause in noble so I should return home and promised to do what needed to be done. My passport came just after 7 days. If I had not asked him to help me, I would have never received my passport, and my life would have been very different.
My second experience was more interesting that had a profound effect on my life and my career. It so happened that once I was in Los Banos in the Philippines where the International Rice Research Institute is located where I went to see a friend who worked there. While we were talking, the Deputy Director General walked in, and I was introduced to him as an agronomist who worked in Vietnam. He was curious and asked me a few questions and was about to go back to his office. I asked him very boldly if IRRI will consider me as an applicant for a fellowship so that I could come to IRRI to learn about modern technology in rice research that I could then use to help the farmers better.
He was a real gentleman and asked me to fill up a form that he got from his office and attach my credentials and certificates of my degrees and send it all to him. IRRI will then evaluate my eligibility and make a decision. I then went to California where I was to get my MS degree from a good college. Imagine my surprise when one day I received a letter from IRRI that said that it had found my education and experience of working with the farmers in Vietnam was impressive that helped them to decide that I was to be given a one-year fellowship.
I was at that time enrolled at Cal Poly for a graduate degree in soil conservation, so I informed IRRI that I was not free to go to the Philippines at that time. They replied that their offer will be reevaluated when I was ready after my studies at Cal Poly. I was then sent to work in Algeria for two years so I wrote to IRRI if they will still accept me as a fellow. Four years had passed since that day when I met with the Deputy Director General of IRRI. They said that their offer was still valid. This life changing opportunity came my way just because I asked.
There are many good people who will give you their time and ask you what you need. You just have to be bold, answer truthfully and just ask their help. Chances are good that they will help you if you are qualified and can convince them that your motive is noble. I have written about it all in my Biography called Story of Anil, Chapter three -Philippines that appears in anilthebard.com website.
Another way you can ask your mentor who may be your professor in college who will be happy to give you a recommendation letter that you can submit for a scholarship somewhere for your bright future. There are many fellowships and full scholarships available in many noted Universities or research centers that will accept your application and evaluate your education and experience of working in many countries. You just have to be bold and apply. If you have the right qualification, then there is the possibility that your application will be positively evaluated. If you do not succeed the first time, then try again somewhere else.
Life can be hard if you do not make the effort of asking. I do not mean that you will ask for money or other favors from people. Most people will not help you but there are good people who will guide you in the proper direction in your life. My professor in college who signed my application for a passport without the slightest hesitation because I just asked. Another mentor gave me a job in the college library so that I could earn to pay for my tuition. So, do not be shy and do not hesitate to approach the good people boldly. You will be surprised to know that there are many good people who will see something in you that will impress them.
Some people think that asking for help from others like a recommendation letter is shameful, so they do not approach. They also feel that they should not accept charity because it hurts their pride. A letter to introduce you to someone important is not a charity. They can become your mentor who can give you a helping hand and guide you toward the right direction. You may not know all the opportunities that are available so ask Chat Gpt to make a list for you based on what you want or ask Google.
Lastly, I will give you an example of what persistence means in achieving your goal. Have you ever seen a Woodpecker knocking on the hard bark of a tree to make a hole? It is hard work, but the bird does not quit. It keeps pecking until a small hole appears that it meticulously enlarges and makes a nest for the female to lay the eggs. So be like a woodpecker and keep trying. Thus, you will be able to overcome all your challenges this way.
Women in many countries sang soul touching songs they wrote to honor and welcome the Indian Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi. The welcome songs sung in many countries went viral and spread the hope for peace in the world. Mr. Modi was very impressed and blessed the beautiful singers.
I present some 5 videos here that you will want to see and listen and appreciate. The songs sung in many languages but have English subtitles in some videos for you to follow the lyrics.
There are five videos for you to watch. Just click on the link ,that will send you to another link. Click that to listen to the video and watch.
A bully boy beats up a boy who does not fight back.
Many young boys and girls are faced with bullies in the school years that traumatize them to the extent that they decide to find another school but bullying in schools is more widespread than you can imagine. In American schools, bullying is done by boys who enjoy tormenting new students just because they are of different skin color or of another ethnic background who may be very smart and consistently get high grades from their teachers.
Bullying is a curse that does not spare even a new teacher until the teacher fights back and expels the bully from his or her class. This sort of behavior is often the subject of many movies or U tube that really makes me think why it happens and why the school authorities do not take strict actions against such people. Do they offer counseling to such boys and girls or try to reform them by other means.
In the movie Forrest Gump, the boys tormented the young Forrest who had polio and could not walk or run so the young boy started to run away from the bad boys and strengthened his legs.
There was a bully in our college in India who thought that he could bully anyone anytime without any consequence so one day he got a big dead insect and tried to put it in my shirt pocket. He was very surprised when I put the big insect back in his pocket in return. He said that he did not know that I was in the second year so underestimated me. He never bothered me again. It made me think that most bullies are cowards and back off if someone challenges them.
I also think that a bully does not act alone because he is always seen in the company other bad boys who enjoy his bullying because to them it is just entertainment. They often drop out of high school or expelled by the principal, so they are seen selling hot dogs or cleaning tables in some eateries while the bullied boy or the girl graduates with honor, goes to college and excels there as well to become a doctor or engineer or a scientist in the future.
Students who do not show respect to their teachers in the classrooms or on campus may come from broken families where the parents fail to teach them good values and moral lessons, so the kid starts to keep the company of bad boys of similar background. In Asia, the teacher is highly respected by his students and in the community where he or she lives but there are also cases of bullying by other students in some colleges.
It is also known that some girls bully new female students out of jealousy because the new student is very smart, dresses well, is polite to the teachers and always respectful. She does her homework well and spends her time in the library instead of gossiping with other girls. She soaks up knowledge from books and in her classroom like a sponge and is a wide reader on all subjects. She also excels in learning musical instruments and participates in many games like volleyball or badminton where she wins trophies and medals in competition with other schools.
Such students are remembered by their teachers long after they have graduated and moved on to some prestigious colleges on scholarship while the bad bully boys and girls make no progress in their life.
I often see young kids throwing tantrum in a restaurant disturbing everybody while the mother smiles but does not control the kid. I had to call a stewardess in a flight to ask the woman to control her kid who was making a lot of noise and throwing tantrum. Finally, the indifferent mother told the kid to behave and not disturb other passengers. Several people on that flight thanked me for confronting the situation. Such a kid who is not taught good manners and never reprimanded becomes a bully later on in his school and reaps its consequences when he is expelled. Some schools have strict rules and implement them.
There were a Muslim boy and a girl in our college who teamed up to make trouble on campus by calling a strike on some issues that very few understood including myself, so the classes stopped and some kids threw stones on the majestic glass window of the library. After some time, the classes started again but the two miscreants were summarily expelled from the college who could never get a clean transfer certificate, so their studies came to an end. I do not know what happened to them.
The anger, the jealousy and the sense of entitlement in them helps create in them the aggressive attitude they show toward anyone that leads to bullying. I was told by a friend that in his college, there was a bully who tormented others so tired of his bad behavior, some students lured him into a forested area just off campus, where they all beat the devil out of him, so he never bullied anyone again. Perhaps such measures were drastic, but some kids need to learn their lessons in a hard way while other efforts failed. Physical punishment often has desired results. In African villages, the punishment of a kid who is misbehaving becomes a communal responsibility so by and large the rural kids are well behaved.
In some countries where the physical punishment is not allowed, the kids tend to be more aggressive towards others as adult and behave that way to any newcomer later on. You will see it repeated in the cowboy movies that leads to violence and even death. These movies are based on real events played out in hundreds of saloons everywhere.
A man killed a pregnant woman over a parking slot dispute here in the Philippines that led to his arrest and long jail time while the woman and her unborn child died so needlessly over a parking slot dispute. Where does such dangerous aggressiveness come from? Was he a bully growing up and had behaved badly over silly matters in the past?
In some countries the inherent suspicion shown when they meet a stranger in a public place like a bar or a shopping area often leads to unpleasant situations that can quickly escalate to something no one wants. This suspicion comes from their isolationist attitude because they do not meet new people and their poor knowledge of the outside world where people grow up practicing different faiths, culture, food and social manners. Their poor education, isolation and lack of knowledge about the world makes them aggressive and suspicious. If you want to learn how such people grew up under what situations, you will find the answer. Their behavior is a learned behavior from their parents and other people who live in their communities.
When the time comes for a boy or girl to go to a college, they find out that the bad boys and girls form their fraternities and sororities and constantly seek new recruits. They put pressure on new students to join them, but it ends badly if then join. There are fights between different fraternities over silly issues that have resulted in physical harms and other consequences. The bad girls also gang up on other sororities to prove their dominance over them because it makes them feel good.
We all know a basic fact of life. We know that once we are born, we live for a certain length of time and then die one day. This is also true of all living beings be they insects, animals or even plants. Each one is born with the fact that one day they will perish and they will be replaced by the next generation. This fact is eternal because we see and find the remains of those perished but left their bones or history written on walls, in caves or in written documents for the generations coming after them to know about them.
Some have perished due to wars and the famines or the epidemic of diseases while others died due to other causes from time to time but most people today die of old age or diseases caused by eating unhealthy food or introduced virus like COVID that caused a worldwide epidemic .There are those who have died due to accidents or during terrorist attacks on innocent people and those who decided that their life was not worth anything anymore, so they ended it.
So, we ask the question what life is and how it sustains us and why one day it decides to leave our body. The answer to this question is not so simple because there are numerous reasons why the life leaves our body as I have enumerated in the previous paragraphs.
If you consider our physical body is nothing but a composition of organs that continue to function to keep our body in good shape and healthy but a time comes when these organs start to wear down due to food we eat or what we think as food that are detrimental to the functions of the various organs so they start showing signs of wear and loss of functions . The heart slows down so the blood is not pumped efficiently. The kidneys malfunction, the liver no longer works efficiently, the immune system deteriorates so various germs and infections start making problems. The overall effect of all these difficulties makes the body, and its various functions deteriorate and eventually your life comes to an end.
But those who are healthy, also die one day because of old age although they may live a bit longer than those who are malnourished or have bad habits of not eating proper and nourishing food and hurt their organs with alcohol, smoking and drugs.
So, what is this life we talk about and why and when it leaves our body? In Sanskrit it is called Prana that is explained as energy that is found in every living being that keeps our body alive up-to a certain time. Then one day it leaves our body when the body deteriorates to the point when its organs cannot support it any longer.
Prana leaving the body after death
So, what happens to this bundle of energy or Prana after it leaves the body? Where does it go? Does it seek a new body somewhere? Does it reincarnate itself by giving new life to a baby that is under the process of developing in the womb somewhere?
There are numerous reports of children who remember who they were in the past and give detailed description of where they lived in the past, what was their name and how they died so some people go to verify and find the truth. It verifies the ancient belief that the life or the Prana is eternal and often comes back with a new body, so this cycle of birth and death continues to some extent.
Hindus believe that the Prana often becomes free and does not return with a new body so they pray and do penance to reach the state of Nirvana for the soul or Prana so that their soul will be free from the cycle of life and death forever. They go to bathe in Holy rivers and make pilgrimage to pray at numerous temples for the freedom of their soul. No one really knows if it works.
The science says that the energy that floats around us in the Universe is eternal and cannot be destroyed. It can take a new shape for a while, but it cannot be destroyed. This idea that the Prana is eternal gives sustenance to numerous theological beliefs that encourages people to live a healthy and honest life and avoid the sinful life so that their soul or Prana will become free and will not return in another body. It returns when you deserve to be punished for all your sins. It is like a sinful person is given a second chance in his new life to atone for all the bad things he or she had done in their past life.
I have some strange ideas about the soul or Prana that I want to write about here.
At a certain age we all start to think about the end of our life and how it will end. We all wish that we go to sleep one night and do not wake up again, while the Prana leaves a smile on our lips. Mind you, this does not happen to everyone but a few lucky ones. I think it happens to those who have remained honest until their last day and have contributed somehow to make the world a better place for others using their talent, their knowledge gained through education and sacrifice. Such a person dedicates his life to the service for others and is incorruptible. In short, they live their life on their own terms and never compromise their ethics and their helpful nature. Such people are never forgotten so they are revered so their sacrifice and their lifelong struggle for justice and humanity is mentioned in golden letters in the history books. However, history books are often written by biased people or under pressure. Just imagine what would happen to you if you wrote that Genghis Khan was a very bad person?
So, you have to ask yourself this question.
Why I came to this world? Why I was born in a certain family and what was the purpose of my life? If I came with a purpose, then what was it? Did I complete my mission then how many people I was able to help? In what way I was able to help them? These are very valid questions most people do not ask because they did not have a mission or a purpose in their life so they achieved nothing and died leaving nothing behind in the form of a legacy except a faded photograph on the wall that the next generation does not care about so takes it down after some time to stow away in the attic.
I do not like to write about bad people who leave a legacy of crime, sins and dishonesty that leaves a permanent stain on their epitaph to remind how bad the person was.
I write about the common people who may be honest and religious, but who did not help others and opted for a boring life they led. They too left no legacy, so people soon forgot them. They did not teach their offspring good values, decency, honesty, good manners and right conduct so in their adulthood, such children grew up to be monsters earning them disdain and social disapproval.
So, your prana or soul leaves you and your body becomes dust or ashes according to your religion or wishes. Your relatives mourn you or do not mourn you depending on what you have left for them in terms of material wealth. Some will show their greed or disappointment even when the workers lower your remains to a hole 6 feet deep and leave only to forget you after some time. The Hindus do not believe in preserving the body, so they burn it to ashes and throw the ashes in the rivers to pollute its waters. Those who bury the body, do it for rituals and leave, never to return to pay their respect. I have seen plenty of gravestones broken and shattered that no one visits so the weeds take over to hide the sad relics of a person who may have been a good person but now forgotten.
Now your soul is free and starts to wander aimlessly but some people say that it lingers around for a few days near his wife and children but just for a few days. Some souls never become free to wander because they lived a life of sin, so they appear in haunted house as ghosts where they lived before. They wait eternally for redemption and freedom until a priest releases them through exorcism or a Hindu priest using religious rituals forgives them and offers them freedom. Hindus go to Gaya where they perform some religious rituals and offer prayers to their ancestors so that their souls or Prana become free from the cycle of life and death.
The souls or Prana that become free from life and death are those who have spent their life as good people who helped those who needed their help. They earned this reward as freedom.
I often think of whether or not my soul or prana will become free because another life somewhere does not appeal to me. I have seen the world, its evil nature, its corruption, its racism and prejudices. There is no country that is ideal, where there are no corrupt and evil-minded people. If I have to come back again to be born somewhere, then I will have to search for a beautiful country where I will look for a wonderful couple who will raise me to be a wholesome worthwhile being and instill in me a purpose for my life but that is just a wishful thinking. The ideal solution will be if my prana decides not to come back to be born again somewhere then it just becomes a part of the energy that permeates the Universe and twinkles as a star in the galaxy forever. I cannot think of a better way to go out in style.
But I will not know what my Prana decides and I will never be able to share its decision with anyone unless I tattoo the words Amal.wordpress.com on its arm so that my new parents in a distant country will be curious about the blue tattoo on their newborn child and type the link on their computer. Lo and behold, it will open up my entire biography in 6 languages instantly to their surprise, but I am not sure if it will work so I think the easiest way would be to get a tattoo on my arm that my prana or soul will copy and take it to the next level.
However, if someone can tell me how to put a tattoo on the arm of my soul, I will greatly appreciate it because it will save me from getting a painful tattoo on my arm.
I have brought to you the following links that will enable you to read the books that are waiting to be published as e- books. My pen name is Anil the bard. You may share these links with anyone anytime.
As I sit to write what will likely be my final letter, I find myself overwhelmed-not by sorrow, but by the immense gratitude I feel for each one of you.
For years, your words have been a source of comfort and strength to me. You’ve read my stories, shared my thoughts, and carried my voice to corners of the world I never dreamed I could reach. With every kind message, every thoughtful comment, and every moment you spent reading my work, you gave me purpose. You made an old writer feel seen, heard, and profoundly loved.
I am no longer writing now. My hands are slower, my mind quieter. But my heart is full.
I want to thank you-for believing in my words, for carrying them with you into your lives, and for giving me the honor of being part of your days. Some of you wrote to me about how my words helped you through pain, brought you comfort, or simply gave you something to smile about. But what you may not know is how deeply you helped me, too.
You gave an old soul a reason to keep creating, long after the world began to grow quieter around me. Your love, your encouragement, your thousands of kind messages-they have been my light in aging years.
So, Today I thought of saying farewell to you all no matter where in the World you live and read my blogs. I thank you all for those comments you have sent me over the years that encouraged me to continue writing on new issues. I was energized to receive your support that came from all over the world.
All I have written as blogs will stay in all the WordPress sites in 5 languages and in other sites like Blogger.com, Medium. com, Wixsite.com and Tumblr.com to reach new readers until the sites are removed.
Now my blogs have been published in a new website called anilthebard.com where you may read most of blogs and my biography in English. Just click on the reflections that will show you all the five books and the biography.
I was never a professional writer, so often did not follow protocol of writing because what I wrote was directly from my heart. It is real and not fiction. I change the names to protect the privacy of people.
My soul will be pleased and filled with eternal gratitude to you, my readers. Please continue to share my blogs with your friends and relatives.
Here are the 5 e-books of my writings that are available in Amazon now. My biography is titled Story of Anil by Anil the bard published on Amazon and available online.
If there’s one final wish, I can leave you with, it’s this: keep sharing kindness, keep reading, keep writing, keep feeling deeply. The world needs more souls like yours.
With all the love I have left to give, Forever yours,
Anil the bard
Story of Anil by Anil the bard
If there’s one final wish, I can leave you with, it’s this: keep sharing kindness, keep reading, keep writing, keep feeling deeply. The world needs more souls like yours.
With all the love I have left to give, Forever yours,
Source: Google photo of Shri Lal Bahadur Shashtri , the 2nd Prime Minister of India
Politicians tend to be arrogant and often treat people like dirt because they want to show that they are important, so everyone must kowtow to them. In a democracy, they are to serve the people who elected them, but after the election such politicians get drunk with power and expect everyone to serve them no matter how corrupt they are. A simple person who is a patriot, honest and dedicates his life to serve the nation and ready to die for it if need be is called great. Such a person shows his greatness through his simplicityand strength of character.
Today I will tell you a story that will show you what the greatness in a person shows in his simplicity even if he is the Prime Minister of a great nation called Bharat or India as the world knows it.
Once there was an incident in my hometown where it was announced that a VIP was coming to town, so the entire platform of the Railway station was scrubbed clean, and the trains were diverted to other platforms because the VIP was arriving by train on platform number one. The station master and his staff were in their best uniform and were anxiously waiting for the special train to arrive from Delhi.
The welcoming committee was waiting with flower garlands and there was high security everywhere so the public who were also curious were kept out by the security people keeping them wondering who could this VIP be.
The policemen spotted an old woman in a simple sari who stood in one corner waiting for someone, so they asked the old woman to leave because a great man was coming. She said in a meek voice that she heard that her Lal is coming today, so she had come to receive him. The Station Master was annoyed and asked who is your Lal, and where is he coming from? She again answered meekly that she heard that her Lal is coming from Delhi. She did not know what her son did for a living. It did not convince the security people, so they tried to gently move her to the waiting room, but she stood her ground and insisted on receiving her beloved son herself.
In the meantime, a shiny train slowly entered and stopped in front of the welcome committee and a great man stepped off the special train that had brought him from Delhi to my hometown train station.
When he saw the old woman, he briskly walked to her and bent down to touch her feet, which is a sign of respect in the Hindu culture. The old woman was in tears, but they were her tears of joy because she had not seen her son since a long time.
People were in shock. This simple old woman in a plain sari was the mother of the Minister of Railways in India ? He was no other than Shri Lal Bahadur Shashtri who hugged his mother and apologized to her that his heavy work load left him with little time to come to see his mother.
The reporters realized who the old lady was and took many photos that appeared in the news papers the next day, so the story went viral.
Mr. Lal Bahadur Shashtri came from a poor family that lived very simply, so he grew up in poverty, but his mother tried her best to raise him and sent him to school in spite of her poverty. Later he joined the independence movement of Gandhi and became his loyal follower in the Congress Party. After Independence, he was given the portfolio of the Railway Ministry that was and still is the largest ministry that has a huge budget, so to become the Indian Railways Minister was a very big and important job.
Lal Bahadur Shashtri was small who dressed very simply in his khadi Kurta and Dhoti and a plain jacket just like any common man on the street, but today I will tell you how extraordinarily uncommon he was. Khadi is homespun cotton cloth. Dhoti is also cotton cloth of several yards in length men wear to wrap around the legs.
He was chosen to become the Prime Minister of India after the death of Nehru that bought him the enmity of Nehru's daughter Indira Gandhi who aspired to be the Prime Minister, but the Congress Party chose Shashtri because they believed in his character, his honesty and integrity who could lead India toward a great future. This he did in a splendid manner and stood up to bullies of the Western world that always tried to treat India as a poor and undeveloped country that they could easily subjugate.
They saw the meek new Prime Minister of small height who did not look impressive, so they underestimated Mr. Shashtri. It was their biggest mistake. They would know later that under his simple Kurta and Dhoti he was a man of steel who never hesitated in taking the toughest decisions. He was a true patriot who loved India and always put country first.
When Richard Nixon tried to intimidate Mr. Shashtri by suggesting that the food aid to India could be in jeopardy because India was not giving in to their demands in return, Mr. Shashtri answered that India did not need the US food aid which was of poor quality and unfit for human consumption. India had always managed its sporadic food shortages and will manage it again without any outside help. Nixon, like many others, had seriously underestimated this diminutive small man and was shocked at his strong personality.
Shashtri returned to India and asked the whole nation to switch to other food like corn, millets and rice while the country tried to overcome the wheat shortage that was temporary. The Indians took up the challenge and supported their beloved Prime Minister. India became self-sufficient in all types of food because the government gave the farmers a lot of help in subsidies in seed, fertilizer and irrigation. Mr. Shashtri was the person behind this massive transformation in agriculture.
I was in college in 1963 when Mr. Shashtri came to our campus one day and sat with all the students, answering their questions on many subjects with a sweet smile. We were very impressed by his simplicity and down to earth manners. He was so sweet and easy to approach. I saw him from a distance of less than 6 feet and knew instinctively how great a Prime Minister he really was.
Politician like Nehru also visited our college one day and I saw him when his car came to a stop in front of us. He was arrogant and very opposite in nature of Mr. Shashtri. He did not sit with us like Shashtri and I doubt if the students were eager to talk to him knowing his arrogance and scandalous nature.
The war with Pakistan started in 1965 when the Indian army reached Lahore in Pakistan. India won the war like all the other wars with Pakistan, but the whole nation stood in awe of the Prime Minister Shashtri and his strong leadership during the crisis.
Mr. Shashtri and his Pakistani counterpart met in Tashkent to sort out their differences and signed a Peace Treaty that Russian PM Kosygin mediated. The peace accord was signed, and the Indian army pulled back from Lahore to give away for free the land they had won with their blood, sweat and sacrifices.
But it did not turn out well for Mr. Shashtri because someone poisoned his milk and the doctors said that he had a heart attack. There was no autopsy which was required in such cases, but his body was flown to India and cremated hastily in Delhi, suggesting foul play. The assassin was never found.
Thus ended the life of a great man who had won everyone's heart. I still remember him sitting only 6 feet from me and smiling so sweetly at us. He was simple but great. I miss him. The whole nation misses him.
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