Think of a contribution that you can provide to the society!

            We should ask ourselves what is going on around us or what are concerning issues being faced by people around us. There are a lot of social problems around us and in the world, we live in. Some are born with privileges and others without, which we can call by different names. Let us pause for a moment and ask ourselves what we can do for the society we live in and for the people in need. Regardless of where we live in the world, we are part of society. As members of society, we all have a responsibility to help others and improve the state of the community and the world in which we live. Pay attention to the people around us and try to find ways to address their needs. We can also do things that will benefit society in the long run, such as supporting the education of underprivileged children, supporting charities, donating blood, protecting the environment, and more.

Before I share what, I wish to contribute or how. Allow me to relate two heart-touching or should I say heart-wrenching events that have changed my life for the better. I have been part of Social Community Day since I was in high school, national camps, and in my daily life for almost 16 years, but nothing has changed my life like these two stories that touched my heart. One fine day, I happened to be going through social media and came across a (sensitive) video made by an NGO organization in the country.

Video 1: An old woman, maybe 50-60 years old, was standing on the side of the road selling rats for a living. When this group of people approached her to find out more. She told the sad story of her life. To make a long story short: Since they had no income and had been starving for days, they had no choice but to catch rats to eat and sold them to earn money.

Video 2: An old man was left on the side of the road next to a bench for weeks. His condition was extremely pathetic. When the NGO team arrived on the scene, they found him in a terrible condition. Ants were eating him alive and he had wounds all over his body, and he had not had food or water for days. It looked more like he would fight for his life until the end of his days.

I would love to share the video here, but due to extreme sensitivities, it has been removed by YOUTUBE itself. And I leave it to you all to imagine how heart-wrenching that would be. After watching both videos, I found myself in a depressing situation thinking about how lucky or grateful I am to have this life with a home and people around me, a roof over my head, and a decent job. I called the NGO to find out more about the people in the video and their problems and backgrounds. What saddened me was video 1 - all they need to survive for a month is RM30 (500 INR) for their monthly food and that's it. This hit me hard because the RM30 we would spend at the Mac Donald or any food stall just for one meal and if we could not finish it, we would throw it away or waste it where somewhere out there people are fighting for it. And Video 2 - as a living human being, no one should not suffer the same fate where hundreds or thousands of people pass by without doing anything or extending a helping hand. Here we have failed as a human without humanity. 

That's when I decided that whether in a small way or a big way, I should do something for society or people, especially the underprivileged. There are three things I have been doing for years, and I would like to continue that and expand my opportunities to contribute. 

 1st - Save the cost of my one meal and donate it to the family I adopted to help them with monthly grocery shopping. Give them a reason or motivation to fight for a better life or future for the children.

2nd - Donate your books to underprivileged students and share your knowledge or give them a basic education so that they can do the same for others when the time comes.

3rd – Blood Donation. I was inspired by one of the greatest footballers of all time, Cristiano Ronaldo (CR7), who refuses to get a tattoo so he can donate blood more often. We can make a difference by donating blood and each donation can benefit up to three people in emergencies for medical treatments. And I am proud to say I am a blood donor.

There are so many ways to contribute to our society and help the underprivileged. The contribution can be on a smaller or larger scale, but most importantly in a way that you feel comfortable with. The awareness should come from ourselves, our neighbors, and our society. Eventually, it will lead to a great group and create a peaceful environment and a beautiful country. The day when each one of us starts contributing our share to our society would be the biggest gain for humanity.

This was one of the events where we celebrated with God's children by cooking food and spending some time with them
-2016-

A water pump on the side of the road. That was trying to help someone pump water. Believe me, this is one of the hardest things to do on any morning.
-2019-

HOPE!

Remember that no one can do everything, but a united community can do something because humanity and kindness are virtues of the human kind. 

Let us be someone’s HOPE!

-J.R-

Superstitions

        For a long time, people have believed in obtaining supernatural powers or unorthodox and unconventional rituals and they believe in bad omen. Although they are not sure, present concrete evidence to prove the existence of such supernatural powers, they believe they can perform some ritual and it works for them. No matter how much science has developed, people have developed and can provide numerous rational and evidence to share the actuals, the believers of superstition never get convinced. For these kinds of people or believers, even the natural occurrences seem to have happened due to their beliefs and rituals. That is what gives rise to superstition. A superstition is a belief or practice that is considered irrational or supernatural by practitioners, attributed to fate or magic where supernatural influence is suspected or with the fear of the unknown. The term is often applied to beliefs and practices related to luck, amulets, astrology, spirits, and certain paranormal entities especially the belief that future events can be predicted by unrelated past events or unorthodox activities.

 There are a certain number of unreasonable beliefs among people living in a community, sometimes arising out of fear, helplessness, and due to social influence or by chance. Although they have nothing to do with wisdom and reason, they could not be removed and eliminated from the heart, brain, and conscience of man. Superstition has had a great influence throughout history. Even in the so-called modern age, in a time when objective evidence is highly valued, few people would not admit to secretly harboring one or two irrational beliefs or superstitions. Even though faith varies from person to person, it also has some common aspects. The term is ambiguous and can probably only be used subjectively. With this limitation, superstition can be broadly classified into religious, cultural, and personal beliefs. Every religious system tends to accumulate superstitions as fringe beliefs and they are part of a cultural tradition and are enormous in their variety.  Many people at almost all times have shown direct beliefs or with a mask off non-believer in irrational beliefs relating to methods of warding off disease or predicting the future, and curing or preventing disease or accidents. Some specific folk traditions believe in the evil eye or the efficacy of amulets. Others may be limited to a country, region, or village, a family, or a social or professional group.

         Most of us would have grown up hearing superstition around the black cat crossing our path which is considered as bad luck. This superstition goes back to an ancient belief or has been passed down from generation to generation. I used to believe this myself, but one day when I was out for lunch with my friend and I saw a black cat crossing our path which triggered the superstition in me and I told my friend that it is a bad sign and we should not take the same path. This is when my friend took a paused and questioned my belief, she wanted to know what did that cat ever do to make me think that way. She went on to ask me if I ever thought in reverse phycology, what if the cat thought that it is unlucky for, I have crossed the cat’s path. Guess what, it worked and since then I do not think that way anymore but pray for a better day for everyone including every cat I meet along the way.

 Have you ever thought about why we believe in God? Although we have never met, seen, heard, or felt GOD, and yet we believe in the existence of God, no matter what form or formless he is. Well, I would say it is because of the good things we heard or are told by our ancestors. I ain’t concluding that there is or there isn’t anything supernatural, magic, or a heavenly existence but I would like to conclude that belief in good will always triumph over evil and the righteous will always triumph over the cruel.

The mind alone is one’s friend as well as one’s enemy – Bhagavad Gita

Meet Srikanth Bolla – inspirational entrepreneur of 50 Crore Bollant Industry

  He is Srikanth Bolla, a 24-year-old blind entrepreneur from Hyderabad.

        When he was born, his parents, who were earning Rs 20,000 in a year, were advised to get rid of him, but somehow, he survived.

        Despite getting 90% in class 10th, he was not allowed to choose Science stream for 12th; he sued the State Govt., fought for 6 months, and won the case. He scored 98% with science in 12th.

        When llTs and NITS didn't give him a hall ticket for writing competitive exams, he applied overseas and got selected in 4 of the best colleges ever created on Earth: MIT, Stanford, Berkeley, and Carnegie Mellon. He chose Massachusetts Institute of Technology, received a scholarship and was MIT's first International blind student.

       After returning from the US in 2012, he launched BoIIant Industries, where 60% of employees are poor, physically challenged. This 450 employees’ company is now worth Rs 50 crore, and recently, Ratan Tata invested in his venture.

        As per him, "l was made blind by the perception of people." When the world said to him that you can't do anything, Bolla said, "But I look up at the world and say I can do anything."

Srikanth Bolla Hats off to you!

Quotes for life

 Let me tell you the story of my journey over the past 10 years. 

           The last 10 years of my life have been a drastic life change. I had been juggling between Singapore and Malaysia for work and traveling can be very draining, especially when you only get 3-4 hours of sleep a day. Eventually, I quit the job I was doing in Singapore and moved to Johor where I found a better office job from 7am to 3pm. 

        Sounds pretty cool, but it's not, because you have to answer at least 100 calls a day and deal with customers with different backgrounds or behaviors and that's where I learned to be patient and act according to the situation you face every day, especially in tricky situations. A few years later, one fine day, I stopped by MPH after work, and it was just window shopping, as I just love being around books, even though I have many books at home. While I was walking around, an autobiography of Mahatma Gandhi (the father of Nation) caught my eye and I just grabbed it. Ha-ha…It was not a fancy book, just a regular book, but something about the book made me want to buy it, so I grabbed it and then... the new me, the new -person- began.

  I finished reading the book and the one thing I can conclude from the book is the quote from Mahatma Gandhi: "Find purpose. The means will follow". This is the moment I realize what am I doing with my life without a purpose or goal. What will I want to do or be in the next 5 or 10 years?

        First and foremost, I need a purpose and a why. So, I asked myself what I wanted to become and how. The only thing I wanted was to be heard and recognized. The reason I say this is because without a background or platform, no one will look to you, or worse, you will be left alone to fight your own battle. And that's perfectly fine, you have to learn to fight your own battle alone and once you do that, you will be unstoppable in anything that comes your way. So, I had my purpose and my goals and I worked towards them and 10 years later I am where I wanted to be in every way today and my next goal is to have a double degree in 5 years.

        So have a goal and a vision for your goal and do not limit yourself for anything, break the unbreakable, set a new boundary, spread your wings and fly high in the sky. Be the Phoenix Bird.

        Also, I would like to recommend that you watch or read the book "Me Before You". It's just another series of love diaries, but the moral of the movie/book is no matter what is going on in your life, ups and downs, depression, anything negative thoughts. Just remember, "Just Live Well. Push Yourself. Do not Settle. Just Live

These two quotes mean more to me  in my life:

1. Find purpose. The means will follow- Mahatma Gandhi 

2. Push Yourself. Do not Settle. Just Live - Me Before You

What goes up a mountain with three legs and comes down with four legs?

A lawyer and a Chinese sit side by side on a long flight. The lawyer thinks that all Chinese are so stupid that he could easily outsmart them. So, the lawyer asks the Chinese man if he'd like to play a fun game. The Chinese guy is tired and just wants to take a nap, so he politely declines and tries to catch a few winks. The lawyer persists and says the game is a lot of fun. I'll ask you a question, and if you don't know the answer, you only pay me $5; ask me once, and if I don't know the answer, I'll pay you $500, he says. This gets the Chinese man's attention, and to shut the lawyer up, he agrees to play the game. The lawyer asks the first question.

The Chinese doesn't say a word, reaches into his pocket, pulls out a five-dollar bill and hands it to the lawyer. Now it's the Chinese man's turn. He asks the lawyer, "What goes up a mountain with three legs and comes down with four?" The lawyer takes his laptop and searches the internet for all the references he can find. He emails all the smart friends he knows, but all to no avail. After an hour of searching, he finally gives up. He wakes up the Chinese man and gives him $500. The Chinese guy pockets the $500 and goes right back to sleep. The lawyer goes insane because he doesn't know the answer. He wakes the Chinese man up and asks, "What goes up a mountain with three legs and comes down with four legs?

The Chinese man reaches into his pocket, gives the lawyer $5, and goes back to sleep......

Hey you, yes you!

Hey you, yes you!

To the wonderful person who is reading this post now, welcome to my page and I wish you all the happiness in the world.

This page is only for positivities and for the people I know.
It seems like life is always getting in the way in the sense that restrictions lurk everywhere; life is not enjoyable. We get hurt easily; we get disappointed easily. Life gets harder every day. Even when we try to get up, we tend to fall back because we think we are weak, hurt, and incapable of standing tall again. These feelings are indescribable, our hearts are literally ripped and torn; scars are engraved within seconds of our petty existence.

Time seems to pass faster than it fades; we are left in present looking back at the past wishing for something impossible. We wish for the past to be erased, to be changed; but the more you wish for it, the more you get hurt. It seems like there is too much wrong with all of our flaws, imperfections, and mistakes. They only add to the mess we already are. Our thoughts of endless despair and pain. Life is a mess, nothing good happens in it, and yin and yang do not exist for us, there is only bad, nothing good. That is when we tend to wonder if life is real, but in all honesty, only our broken hearts can answer such questions. 

People will tell you that you are not good enough and try to put you down. When that happens, remember this: not only are you good enough, but more than enough for yourself and the world ahead of you, as nothing else matters.

Just remember to live the life you want, bold, happy, and content. Just live well 💓.