My wanderings - 9

'Penny wise pound foolish'.  It is an old saying which was haunting my mind from early childhood,  but I could never under stand its  significance  until I visualized   the importance of thrift and curse of extravagance. However, occasional extravagance to bring some joy in life can not be ruled out. But small savings in steady manner sometimes amass big fortunes. I am not trying to inculcate habit of thrift in the minds of readers here,  but to plead the importance of small things  in life,  which are usually neglected or given last priority. Small things are very important in life which can be completed with little effort,  but they can pave the way for bigger accomplishments.  Small leaps with steady impetus always help in attainment of greater heights and big leaps are sometimes fraught with the risk of tumbling down from there.
Mahatma Gandhi could realize the value of small things in life at the early stage of his career as a leader. He always volunteered for keeping the sanitary system neat and clean around him and also taught his followers accordingly.  While discussing the crucial matters of Nation  with other leaders he would not miss the small chores he was in habit of doing. While discussing the important issues, he would stand up suddenly and give feed to animals or attend to some other small chores  to the amazement of his guests.
We make bigger resolutions on the eve of every New year, but if we honestly admit, we are  hardly able to accomplish them. Why not to start with smaller resolutions which can be realized with little effort. If we make a resolution to brush our teeth daily before going to bed or exercise daily in the morning, we may be able to  to perform them with ease. These small actions of ours can  give us better results in respect of our health  in the long run  and save us from visiting Dentists and Doctors often. There can be a large list of small things which can be completed  side by side with the important and bigger ones  with out disturbing the latter and not at the cost of waisting ones  time. Time management is very important in life and those persons who know how to manage their time sagaciously never complain about the shortage of time. Neglecting small things at the time when they need our attention cost us dearly later in  life. It is well said  that ' Stitch in time saves  nine'.  Small nose or small hands and feet are considered as the signs of beauty in women.
Excess of everything is bad. Even excess of good qualities in a person are not sometimes much appreciated and even few bad qualities in a person are sometimes ignored.
In case of managing stress small or big stress does not count much but it is the time period  i.e. how long one carries stress with himself  matters. If  one carries stress with himself for short period it does not matter  much. But if one carries stress with himself for all the twenty four hours, it will really ache and finally help in landing the person in trouble.

My Wanderings - 8

Politics as the word implies in dictionary is the business or science  of wrangling etc. and pleads  moves and maneuvers  concerned with the acquisition of power or getting ones way e.g. in business. It is actually a game of winning sympathies by brainwashing people and sacrificing  principles in the name of  compromise at the alter of democracy, which signifies Govt. of  the people, by the people and for the people. It is well said that politics is the last refuge for scoundrels. Therefore, no man with conscience can survive in it. Politicians or leaders are the creation of time which survive under the  aura of public image wielded around them. No sooner their public image is tarnished  than they loose the magic of influence they may have created on  the general masses. As no person is hero to his wife or valet, because being in close proximity with them they are fully aware of their weaknesses. It is only their public image that makes them hero's in the eyes of public. Therefore it is  necessary for them to maintain their public image for survival  and foremost duty of opposition party to tarnish it in order to ditch them  and consequently replace them  by their own candidates. Now it depends upon the logic of arguments cleverly  substituted by both the parties  to justify their point of view which can influence the masses to great extent. Tongue is a double edged knife which  can cut both the ways. If a person is convicted  on some clues by prosecution, the defence can prove him innocent on  the same clues, if pleaded properly. Ethics in politics  is always  sacrificed  for the sake of so called logic in it.  Ethics is an abstract term and non existent in politics and  logic is so called because it is only a  clever bid of presenting the argument in better way to influence the masses like hypnotism.  Therefore, any argument made in the right direction can make the Careers  of politicians and vice versa.
This reminds me of a book entitled 'Animal  Farm' written by George Orwell, which is a political satire. All the characters in this book are different  animals representing diverse classes in society. They free their farm  from the domain of Man and form their own administration. But in due course of time the animals   who worked hard for the independence and development of Farm and once regarded as hero's are turned in to villains by brainwashing the common masses  on the behest of some other animals.  It is a smart tale of how old hero's can be converted in to villains for the benefit of others.
Moreover some body has aptly said it that ' There are no permanent   friends and foes in politics but pertinent adjustments.
We have usually seen politicians  of different parties in order to grab power compromise their contradictory ideologies to  form coalition Governments. Yesterdays enemies become friends today because of the mutual interest in formation of government. They forget the earlier  rivalries , the dirt they  hurled on  each other and the accusations they made on each other. The greed of power persuades them to forget everything and they come closer, sometimes even to the surprise of their voters.
In a recent election, a politician defined politics as the art of managing contradictions. The quotations and definitions can be tailored to suit the convenience of a politician to achieve political ambitions, but stark reality is that compromising ideals and contradiction with the main objective of grabbing power defines the essence of politics. Therefore, politics is also art of compromising ideals for gaining power.
I had also a little experience of politics in my earlier period of service.   It was relatively on marginal level. I was elected Assistant Secretary of the Staff Association , zonal office unit with a huge margin of votes. After sometime members of our association were not satisfied with our work , particularly of our secretary. They started signature campaigning   against us. I thought it my moral duty to resign from the post. But our Secretary and big leaders of the association were not interested in breaking the unit and persuaded me not to resign. As my conscience could not tolerate it any more, I resigned from the post to the much resentment of higher leaders. Then new elections were held and a new secretary of the same party was elected by  manipulations and rigging of  the elections despite of the fact that no member had voted in his favour. 

My wanderings - 7

Once in my childhood I laid my hands on an old piece of paper depicting my family tree which started with the name of our ancestor Pt. Raja Kaul. There were many other names  of our ancestors  in descending order and lastly my grandfathers name ended the sequence. I could not understand the importance of preserving the piece of paper at that age and lost it in due course of time. Then I had a chance of reading an article in a magazine on Pt Jawahar Lal Nehru  showing family tree of Nehru family  which also started with the name of  pt. Raja Kaul as their first ancestor .  But I could not confirm whether it was a matter of coincidence that both family trees started with the same name or Pt. Raja Kaul was one and the same person in both the family trees. As I had lost my family tree document I could not compare other generations of both family trees which I deeply regret. However, list in  descending order of generations was so long in both the family trees that it was not a matter of surprise that Pt. Raja Kaul would have been one and same person to head the Kaul dynasty in Kashmir.
As far as I have heard from my elders I could recollect my  dynasty from Pt. Nand Kaul who had no child and adopted  male child from his cousin and named him Ram Kaul. Then wife of pt. Nand Kaul gave birth to her own  male child and named him pt. Amar Kaul who formed another clan of our dynasty.  Pt. Ram Kaul worked in police Dept. as a clerk and was married to Smt. Sampkuji from Labru family. Pt. Ram Kaul was a quick witted person  with a  bit  of hot  temperament  and his wife a pious and kind lady. He had two sons and two daughters. His elder son pt. Laxman Kaul, my grand father was a very  religious  and intelligent man and worked in State Excise Deptt. He was married to smt.Radhamali from Rainas  family. My Grandmother was also very beautiful and intelligent woman. They gave birth to two sons Pt. Gopi Nath Kaul and  my father Pt. Sham Lal kaul. My grandfather Pt. Laxman Kaul died very young   at  the age of  29 years only.  My father was only two years old at that time. Pt. Laxman Kaul was very religious man. On every  'shuklpaksh Ashtami' he used to visit Mata Kheer bhawani shrine  at Tulamula , which was approximately 25 kms away from his residence at Srinagar. Like most of the people ,those days,  he used to visit the shrine on foot as there was no  availability of public transport. Once he applied  for  a days leave with the same purpose, but his senior  rejected his leave application. He was left with no other alternative but to start his journey in the evening on foot and travel to and fro through out the night. After his brief  sojourn  and paying his oblations at the shrine , he reached the office on time next day. After few days the right hand of the officer who had rejected  his leave application was paralyzed. But it is not known whether the officer  realized his mistake or at least connected his sickness with the above mentioned  incident or not. Due to the death of my Grandfather at an early age, my father and my uncle were brought up by their grandfather Pt.Ram Kaul and  uncle Pt.Samsar Chand Kaul, a dedicated and hard working man who was married to  smt.Tarawati from  chakoo family of Rainawari. They  had five daughters and a Son. The name of their son is Sh.Girdhari Lal Kaul who is settled at pathankot.
My uncle Pt. Gopi nath Kaul was a sharp witted and intelligent person who was first Dentist in the valley. His Son Dr. A.K.Kaul was a renowned and first graduate dental surgeon in the valley.
My father a devout Hindu got interested  in spirituality right from his childhood. After completing his education he joined medical department. Once on duty at Badgam Kashmir,  he was preying on the river bank early in the morning, a great saint  Swami Nand Lal ji of Badgam, who was lovingly called Mahatma ji  noticed him and advised him to join his teaching classes in the evening. My father most readily accepted his offer and started joining his classes and never looked back. Then my father became his most devoted desiple  and learned the delicacies of spirituality under his feet. My father lived a full satisfied life of a family man taking full responsibility of a family but remained aloof from the  worldly affairs. He was living example of spiritual virtues and embodiment of values envisaged by Gita.
My mother was a devoted  housewife and  a resourceful lady who used to manage all the affairs of our family. She was daughter of Sh.Sham Lal KaK, who was  one among first graduates in the valley  and  one of the pioneers of theater in Kashmir. His two sons  Sh.Amar Nath KaK and Sh. Som Nath KaK were  founders of optician business in Kashmir.
My parents gave birth to five daughters and two sons. I am the youngest in family and my elder brother Dr.V.K.Kaul is a renowned chemical engineer and first doctorate in chemical engineering from our family.