All Fused Bulbs are the Same ! A senior executive retired and shifted from his palatial official quarters to the housing society, where he owned a flat. He considered himself big and never talked to anyone. Even while walking in the society park every evening, he ignored others, looking at them with contempt. One day, it somehow transpired that an elderly person sitting beside him started a conversation, and they continued to meet. Every conversation was mostly a monologue with the retired executive harping on his pet topic, Nobody can imagine the big post and high position I held before retirement; I came here due to compulsions”; and so on, and the other elderly person used to listen to him quietly. After many days, when the retired executive was inquisitive about others, the elderly listener opened his mouth and said, After retirement, we are all like fused bulbs. It does not matter what a bulb’s wattage was, how much light or glitter it gave, after it gets fused. He continued, “I have been living in this society for the last 5 years and have not told anyone that I was a Member of the Parliament for two terms. On your right, over there is Vermaji, who retired as General Manager in Indian Railways. Over there is Singh Saheb, who was a Major General in the Army. That person sitting on the bench in spotless white dress is Mehraji, who was the chief of ISRO before retirement. He hasn’t revealed it to anyone, not even to me, but I know.” All fused bulbs are now the same – whatever its wattage was – 0, 10, 40, 60, 100 watts – it doesn’t matter now. Neither does it matter what type of bulb it was before it got fused – LED, CFL, Halogen, Incandescent, fluorescent, or decorative. And that, my friend, applies to you too. The day you understand this, you will find peace and tranquillity even in this housing society. The rising sun as well as the setting sun are both beautiful and adorable. But, in reality, the rising sun gets more importance and adoration, and is even worshipped , whereas the setting sun is not given the same reverence. It is better to understand this sooner than later. Our current designation, title and power are not permanent. Keeping lot of emotions with these things only complicate our life when we lose this one day. Remember that when the game is over, the king and the pawn go back in the same box. Enjoy what you have today . Have a fabulous time ahead…. 🙏🙏
Life reflects itself through the things you do, the people you meet as well as in your passions and perseverances, in so many intriguing yet enthralling ways.
One such beautiful reflection I experienced in my travels earlier in France.
A sense of deja vu, a throwback to the fond memories of teaching dances to people in the different places, all thanks to the Dance & the magic of movements.
While visiting France I met my colleague from the world of dance, Celine Maheo who resides in Rennes Celine is a practicing clinical psychologist and an Argentine tango dancer. What’s beautiful is that she is a dedicated professional who uses the dance therapy for helping Parkinson’s patients with their movements through Tango dance sessions.
My interest was piqued, as earlier I had been conducting very similar dance sessions as well, especially remembered our Seniors Dance for Wellness workshops back in India.
So over a beautiful meet and greet sipping cups of hot herbal tea at the Les Grands Gamin at the heart of Rennes, ensued a free flowing conversation where we exchanged notes on each others life. Our passion for dancing was the visible to see as we hardly knew how moments passed by.
To dance is to sense connections beyond the dancing bodies.
To dance is to honour life and its unique expressions in the movements.
Savvy Raj
And when Celine invited me to her next Tango Therapy Workshop, it was an offer I could not refuse. I was actually keen to understand whether and how the cultural differences change the way of conducting and experiencing workshops here.
Dancing can improve the mobility and balance in senior adults. Adapting the dance to suit the requirements of the group, like simplifying the steps, the placement of the feet, improves their coordination, mobility and balance.
The dance session was deeply engrossing & truly inspiring to witness and participate as well. The music played that day stayed with me well after the session.
So the next step turned out to be me conducting a Chacha session for them. The challenges of language barriers were surrmounted easily as Celine offered to translate my teaching from English to French.
Everything fell in place beautifully and voila time flew again.We danced a bit of Chacha that day and also some more in the next few sessions as well. I was told later by the learners how much they enjoyed it!
It was an amazing experience sharing the joys of movements and I thank Celine for her inclusivity in requesting me to conduct the dance sessions as well. And I deeply appreciate all her beautiful learners that I met,connected and danced with. It was a truly warm and wonderful time spent with them all.
After the sessions we would gather together and discuss opening many facets of the learning and imbibing. It was a beautiful way of empathising and understanding each other.
Some of the beautiful souls I got to interact with in the few months I was there.
Dance has a way of soothing your entire being and bringing forth and connecting you with the depth of who you are. That is when dance begins to feel meaningful and transforms life. The dance connects established, in those sessions is a beautiful memory etched in my heart, that I will cherish forever.
I chanced on these beautiful moments again as I found the photos I clicked back then and I decided to give them a little artistic effect.
All across the world April 29th every year is celebrated as International Dance Day, although every day is a great day to dance!
I dedicate this post to all my dance friends and colleagues and all the dance educators in the world who are making the world a better place, with every step in time.
This is heartfelt share of a beautiful story forward .
Sometimes while performing some duties, does such a thought come to mind that why should I do this work, what’s in it for me?
Contact Lenses
A true story!
Brenda was about halfway to the top of the huge granite cliff. During her first mountaineering attempt, she was breathing while standing on a ledge. While she was resting there, the safety rope hit her eye and the contact lens fell out from her eye.
“What now?” She thought, “Here I am on the edge of a cliff, hundreds of feet above the ground, and now everything has gone blurry.”
She looked around again and again in the hope that somehow she might reach the top of the mountain. But she couldn’t see any way.
She felt panic growing inside herself, so she started praying. She prayed for inner peace and she prayed that she could find her contact lenses.
When she somehow reached the top, a friend thoroughly checked her eyes and clothes for the lens, but could not find it. Although she was calm now as she had reached the top, but she was sad too, because she could not see clearly across the mountains.
She prayed to God that, “Oh Lord, you can see all these mountains. You know every stone and leaf, and you know very well where my contact lenses are. Please help me.”
After a while, another group of climbers reached the top peak. A member of the crew shouted, “Hey, have any of you lost contact lenses?”
It was quite shocking, but do you know where the climber saw it? An ant was walking slowly on a twig on top of a rock, and that contact lens was on it!
The story does not end here. Brenda’s father was a cartoonist. When he heard the incredible story of the ant, prayer and contact lenses, he drew a cartoon picture of an ant with the title, “God I don’t know why you want me to carry this thing. I can’t eat it and it’s too heavy as well. But if that’s what you want from me, I will carry it for you.”
I think we should all happily say, “God, I don’t know why you want me to carry this load, I don’t see anything good in it and it’s too heavy as well… but if this is what you want of me, I will definitely carry it and that too with full enthusiasm.”
Nature doesn’t invoke the worthy, it makes whoever it invokes worthy. ♾️
“We remain conscious of God in everything we feel, think and do in constant connection with God. The easiest way to do this is through acceptance and surrender.”
Universal Oneness is an awareness In reflections of the truth of the being Interweaved and interconnected in every life . Strength shines through the vulnerabilities. As a power in the very fragility Touched by divine grace Enmeshed in the senses Fired in the cauldron of life and living Comes a consciousness of the flow In and around us Beyond the illusion of separation. Is the dance of connection.
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