A Slice of Life: A Collection of Essays by Dr Ram Lakhan Prasad - HTML preview

DEDICATION

MY FATHER

375

My father was a truly amazing man full of wise

words

He was kind, considerate and rich with right

rewards

Being a son of a farmer he was a vegetarian of

a kind

His thoughts were full of wisdom, a man of

right mind

My Dad was a very simple man and was

always kind

Often he would know what was going in my

little mind

I admired him because of his suggests and

defends

He listened and cared for me as did my best

friends

He was proud of my triumphs but when I got

wrong

He was patient, helpful and above all very

strong

All that I say and do my father’s words play a

big part

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There is always a big place for him deep in my

heart

Years go by and times do pass I am even more

glad

I am grateful and proud to honour him as my

Dad

He was in the sun, the wind, the rain and the

land

He is still in the air I breath that makes me

stand

He always sang the those songs of hope and

cheer

That often took all my pain and I never had

any fear

I keep seeing him in the sky and the clouds

above

He keeps whispering his words of wisdom and

love

He was a real gift from God Almighty for a

child like me

No matter what good or bad I did, he was

always with me

He taught me how to walk, talk and lead my

way

His patience and understanding were so good I

say

His unconditional love would never see any

end

As I get older he becomes like my good old

friend

He was sensitive to my needs, had a special

touch

377

No wonder why I honour and love my Dad so

much

God took the strength of a mountain, the

majesty of a tree

He took the warmth of the summer sun and

the calm of the sea

Then He mixed the generous soul of nature

and comforting arm of night

Then the wisdom of the ages and the power of

the eagle’s flight

The joy of the morning of spring and the faith

of the mustard seed

The patience of eternity and the depth of the

family need

It was the combination of all these qualities

and nothing more to add

God knew that His masterpiece was complete

so He called him my Dad

As his eldest son I was privileged to be part of

this great man

I have always been proud to share my life with

this unique man.

378

MY MOTHER

379

म ाँ की यही कह नी थी

Maa Ki Yahi Kahani Thi

स्वगग था मेरा नन्हा सा बचपन वो मााँ क गोद सुहात थ

Swarg tha mera nanha sa bachpan wo maa ki god suhati

thi

देख देख अपने नौ बच्ोीं को वो फूल नह ीं समात थ

Dekh dekh apne nau bachhon ko wo fooli nahi samaati

thi

ज़रा स भ ठोकर लग जात तो मााँ दौड दौड आत थ

Jara si bhi thokar lag jaati to maa daudi daudi aati

thi

ज़ख्ोीं पर जब दवा लगात तो वो आींसू अपन छुपात थ

Jakhmon par jab dawa lagati to wo aansoo apni

chhupati thi

जब भ हम कोई जज़द करते तो प्यार से हमें समझात थ

Jab bhi hum koi jidd karte to pyar se hame samjhati

thi

जब जब बच्े रूठे उससे, मेर मााँ उन्हें प्यार से मनात थ

Jab jab bachhe roothe usse meri maa unhen pyar se

manaati thi

खेल खेलते हम जब भ कोई तो वो भ बच्ा बन जात थ

Khen khelte hum jab bhi koi to wo bachha bann jaati

thi

सवाल अगर कोई न आता हम को ट चर बन के पढात थ

Sawaal agar koi na aataa hum ko to teacher ban ke

padhati thi

क्लास में सब से आगे रहें हमेशा यह ह आस लगात थ

Class mein sub se aage rahen hamesha yahi hi aas lagati

thi

380

हमार तार फ़ अगर कोई भ करता गवग से वो इतरात थ

Hamaari taarif jo agar koi bhi karta to garv se wo itarati

thi

होते अगर ज़रा भ उदास हम, दोस्त तुरन्त बन जात थ

Hoten agar jara bhi udhas hum wo dost turant ban jaati

thi

हाँसते रोते ब ता जो बचपन उसमे मााँ ह तो बस साथ थ

Hanste rote beeta jo bachpan us mein maa hi to bas ek

saathi thi

मााँ के मन को हम समझ न पाये यह हमार नादान थ

Maa ke mann ko hum samajh na paaye yeh hamaari

naadaani thi

वो ज त थ हम बच्ोीं के खाजतर मााँ क यह कहान थ

Wo jeeti thi hum bachhon ke khatir hamare maa ki yahi

kahaani thi

राम लखन आज जो भ है वो सब उस के मााँ क दुवा है

Ramlakhan aaj job hi hai wo sab uske maa ki duwa

hai

मााँ के सभ सेवाओीं के ऋण हैं हम ज वन सफल हुवा है

Maa ke sabhi sewaawon ke rhini hain hum yeh jeevan

safal huwa hai

The words for my mother are in her language

because there is no other way I can express my

true and loving feelings for my dear mother.

381

382

MY LOVE TO MY PARENTS

I wish I had known and fully realized

How sweet and kind my parents were

How gentle and how wise they were

Their tender loving care I’ve now realized.

I simply took for granted from day to passing day

Each sacrifice they made for me in the loving way

But then I grew and finally learnt as all children do

Their love meant a lot and they were thoughtful too

So I look back to my parents with all the thanks

They deserve my love and affection with thanks

There aren’t two dearer parents than the ones I had

Let me send my love to my beloved mum and Dad.

I have built my home on a hill to be nearer them

Fruit trees, flowers and shrubs plenty to please them

When I dwell in the yard, I feel I am with them

They keep giving me the blessing and I thank them.

Ram Kumari & Bhagoati Prasad

383

384

385

386

My grandmother was a great lady; stone-

hearted but kind and considerate. She knew

what family life was about because I saw that

no one left her home

 With an empty belly

 Without getting a bear hug

 Without her saying “I love you”

 Without her saying “come again”

 Without her blessings.

She touched my heart and soul and gave her

richest love from my birth to her passing

away. She did the same to all the family

members, relatives and friends.

My grandmother was unique and I miss her

very much.

387

AFTER THOUGHTS

OPTIMISM

Opimism is a magnet of joy and continuous

pleasure and if we stayed positive only half of

our life and living then a lot of good things,

better ideas and wise people would be drawn

to us as we move on. I am optimistic that all

my essays will be read and some of the points

I have raised maybe of use to the readers.

MY IDEAS

I had discovered and kept a few firm ideas to

abide by ever since my first day at work and

those assisted me to steer the wheels of my life

and living.

 To keep learning new things everyday

 To make enough money to get by

 To keep my body and soul in shape

 To be creative

 To go forth and serve those in need

 To have a worthy family life

 To live and think freely

 To love God and His creations.

If these and the other ideas in the collection

can assist my people to manage their life and

living a little better than the present then I will

be the happiest person.

388

Words of Wisdom (WOW)

When it comes to judging our broken clocks,

We can always tell exactly when they stopped

ticking.

When it come to judging people it isn’t so easy,

Often we cannot even notice that they are

broken.

Procrastination is definitely the greatest thief

of our time,

Those of us who have learnt to do it now we

beat the time.

If we can find the correct answers to these two

questions early in life,

We will get the strength to identify exactly

what we would want out of life.

Who are you? is the first question that will

bring change in your life,

What do you want to achieve? is the next

question that will give you new life.

389

GOD’S MOST INTELLIGENT CREATION-

HUMAN BEINGS

We humans are born to conduct and relate

ourselves with truth, goodness, beauty, love,

friendliness, togetherness and kindness

therefore we are expected to perform all the

duties and responsibilities of humanity with

honour and dignity. We are made to tell the

world that everyone is equal despite our

different looks; beliefs and status, there are no

outsiders. God Almighty created us as the

most enlightened beings to exist on this planet

or elsewhere as one God’s human family.

However, the more civilized and educated we

have became we have created divisions among

us by making us different religiously, socially,

economically and politically. We no longer are

able to enjoy that peaceful living of a global

human family. We hate and fight with each

other like animals at homes, in the

communities and with different nations. I

only wish that everyone of this universe could

co-exist as human beings and follow the

principles of humanity rather than dividing

ourselves into fragments despite being God’s

most intelligent creation.

WHITHER GOEST THOU !

390

I AM

RESPONSIBLE

FOR ALL MY

CREATIONS

These essays have been written to present my

points of views that are valid for me and they

all try to persuade the readers but it is not

necessary that the readers agree with my

contentions.

These essays have everything that needed to

be said by me on a particular topic and the

readers can evaluate and make comments in

their own essays and contributions if they so

wish.

Dr Ram Lakhan Prasad

1940 to 2020

391

My Reflections

I thank my parents and the Almighty God for allowing me

to come in this world some seventy two years ago. I have

persisted to continue on and breathe for as long as I can

safely do so. I have continued to learn much grace and

intelligence each and everyday from everyone around me.

I thank everyone for making me a person that I represent

today. These are my reflections and no one needs to

agree or disagree with these. Take whatever you can to

assess your own living.

We human beings are subject to a lot of things and one of

those aspects is the realization of being right and wrong.

This aspect makes us somewhat different from all the

other species of animals. We are supposed to be the most

intelligent of all living creatures on earth. When anyone

deviates from this norm one is not worth living a full and

honest life.

Even if I got it wrong at times I kept trying to make my

wrongs to teach me the rights and my rights to show me

my wrongs. I have always tried to be the ‘I’ in LIFE so

that I could see the difference between the right and the

wrong. Thus I was always able to appreciate each moment

of my life that I was given to enjoy. I needed to be loyal

with my people, fair in my words deeds and thoughts and

efficient in my daily activities.

392

I have always tried my best to sincerely understand

everything and everyone and I know that I am an

intellectual person about most matters in life yet deep

down I fully know that there is much more to living a

healthy, peaceful and enjoyable family life than just

intellectually understanding everything and everyone.

Everyone is ignorant in some field and I am no exception.

Whenever and wherever I notice my ignorance I

immediately accept it as my downfall but I do not stop

there but I endeavour to improve my fault. I only hope

that the rest of the world begins to think like this.

I have come to realize that I do not understand a lot of

things that affect us in life. In fact I have come to accept

uncertainty. Part of my problem remains that I want to be

certain of my uncertainty. This has been the hardest

episode of my living.

I know fully well that I am just passing ‘this way’ this one

time and therefore I am certain that any good that I may

do or any kindness that I may show to anyone has to be

done now and here. So I cannot defer nor neglect this

important aim or mission of my living because I may not

pass ‘this way’ again. There may not be a second chance

so I am determined to make the best of this coming. I

would love when I am certain that the rest of the society

begins

to

understand

this

simple

philosophy.

Consequently, I have decided to preach a gospel that I

393

should try to be compassionate and kind to others and to

myself. The question is “How”?

I have often asked myself a very pertinent question- What

are the most sincere and persistent efforts that I would

like to make in my own life? I have been searching for a

suitable answer to this important question – Who am I

and What is my life’s purpose?

I have put my most persistent effort to this project but

have failed many times and felt discouraged. However,

the drive within me has been so strong internally that I

learnt to get up again and continue to seek and find

alternatives. I have come quite far from where I first

started this difficult journey but I have a long way to go.

The greatest good will come to all of us if we began to

fully understand the Who, What, Where, Why and How

of our living.

One lesson that I have learnt along the way is that I must

love my own self properly first before I can give my love

to anyone else. Love is a feeling that is self-generative and

if one can generate it for oneself than it become very easy

to give it to others. I wish to love all but I must first start

by loving me. Sounds selfish but it has value for human

living. If we learnt to love ourselves we will be able to pass

that compassion to everyone around us.

I also learnt that whenever I am doing something that is

coming from within, it does not feel like work or task but

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feels like ‘vacation’. Instead of draining me and making

me tired, it simply energizes me. I also found out that it

really helped me to be on this path and peaceful journey

because I have had support from my great family, faithful

friends and my brilliant teachers that have been constantly

enriching my life. No man is an island and I do not

profess to be one either.

I know that it has been hard to make sincere effort

throughout my life to be a servant to everyone and be

selfless in my services to my family, friends and the society

but while I was trying to achieve this goal it made me feel

good. I must confess that this selfless interest has not

come to the top of my deeds and I have been selfishly

trying to do things for myself over the last seventy years

but I have made several efforts to change my route

sometimes with success but many times I have failed. But

I have not given up. I know I can do it. I will do it. The

very day we all come to realize this mission of ours on

earth we would definitely blessed.

Now I realize that one of the ways I can gain those things

is to give to others what I really want. I must find ways to

make others feel good around me, help people to find

their self-confidence and self-worth and above all to help

people discover their own genius. I feel this is a good path

to follow in this world. I will make every effort to go along

this road. It is better to be late than never begin on such a

worthy destination.

395

My greatest struggle has been to live in this shifted

consciousness and not to go back to my old deeds, needs

and way of life. This is the journey that I have been trying

to conduct when I wrote “Motivation Towards 2000’ and

other articles of interest for people. My short stories and

poems speak very loudly for the readers to give them time

to tarry a little in their own busy lives and start thinking for

themselves. My novel Khamoshi speaks for itself to warn

people to be righteous and helpful.

I realize that being ‘other cantered’ might never happen

but if I can remember to touch people, move them to

discover who they are and inspire them to go after their

dreams and believe that they are bigger than who they

think they are, even once a week consistently, then I

would consider myself sincere and purposeful. I am

happy that I am doing the things right for a change. I

know we all can take these simple steps in our life time.

Earlier in life I was doing things for gaining self-

appreciation, success, prestige and fame etc but the day

when I had a shift of focus I have begun doing things

differently. It is about giving in many cases. Giving love,

compassion, happiness, ideas, advice and ease of doing

things to others is now making me happier. I have seen

that this shift of paradigm has enabled me to work