Astray

My mentor, Frederick Tucker’s favourite anecdote was of a traveller who had wandered off his route. He had no clue as to where he had reached and how to get back to his original road. After going around in circles, he a wise sage.

He told the sage, ‘I am lost. Please help me.’ The sage queried, ‘do you know where you have come from?’ On receiving a reply in the affirmative, the wise one prodded on, ‘Do you know where you want to go?’ The traveller nodded again.

The wise man calmly uttered a great truth, ‘if you know where you have come from and where you want to go, then you are not astray. You just need the connection to your way!’

Whenever astray, we can reconnect to our destination by recognizing the co-relation of the present location and the desired destination. We must discover potentials of a newer and different approach rather than just trying to get back to the old path.

If we cannot get back to the old path that we deviated from, we must find a newer way. And that is difficult, if we are mired in the belief that we are astray. The search for newer ways will get us back on track of our destination or lead us to a new terminus.

Whenever you feel lost and astray

Just find a newer and better way!

- Pravin K. Sabnis

Appreciation

The tenth edition of Orchid Awards recognised excellence of Women Achievers in Goa. The founder and driving force, Asha Arondekar is constantly on the lookout for women, who like her, have taken a detour from the beaten path to carve their own niche.

 A self-made, first generation entrepreneur, she started working at the age of nineteen and over the years, she has been part of different ventures. She began in the pharmaceutical industry and later switched to wellness and started ‘Global to Local’ a store for rural and other women to stock their creations of eats and handcrafted stuff.

 She instituted the Awards in 2011 and focussed on recognising those whose efforts have gone unrecognised. Supported by husband Amol, daughter Niharika and a well-oiled team, she wants to pass on similar backing and inspiration to a larger audience.

 Achievers, seized by their passion and drive, often focus on only their personal dreams and aspirations. Along the way, they seek for appreciation and support. A few like Asha, appreciate others to acknowledge and encourage them. 

 Appreciation is a wonderful action for the receiver as well as the initiator. By appreciation we make excellence in others, our own property! Asha and her tribe use it to make the excellence of the achievers into the collective property of society.

 The symbolism in the title of the Awards is apt. Gathering orchids is a pleasant task but they have to be selected with diligence and presented appropriately for others to see and appreciate. That excellence of others will be of your ownership by appreciation.

Everyone craves appreciation, so do you,

Choose to recognise the good others do!

- Pravin K. Sabnis

 

childlike

A song by Jagjit Singh, ‘Kagaz ki kashti (paper boat) refers to the lament of a person who has earned wealth but craves for his child-like innocence. The first verse is a plea to ‘take away my riches, my fame, even my youth... but in return give me the monsoon from my childhood, the paper boat and the drops of rain.’

In childhood, the simplest of things are triggers for great happiness. We are happy with things around rather than the futile pursuit of happiness as a commodity. We crave for simple pleasures of childhood but choose to run the dash for complex materialism.

As children, we could play with an empty box or a stone or a paper boat... But as adults we tire easily and become dissatisfied with what we have. We are in hot pursuit of newer and further acquisitions.

The choice is simple. Stop lamenting and choose childhood attitudes... we must reclaim our childlike innocence and fascination for life’s simple pleasures found in contentment and connect with relationships and playfulness... we must step back to be childlike...

Make the paper boat, ride the dyke
Reclaim the attitude to be childlike!

- Pravin K. Sabnis

Hope

During the Covid-19 pandemic, team Eco-Treks Goa was seized by the predicament of their trekkers who could not step out. To create a positive distraction, they asked members to send photographs and accounts of their experiences. The result is a well curated book: Hills to Himalayas.

It recounts the journey over 14 years and 148 wanderings. The Eco trekkers have stepped out of the comfort box to reclaim their responsibility to the world that they will leave behind for the next generation. Their narrative is of discovery, transformations and above all, Hope!

Hope is an individual emotion but when aligned with a collective, it creates greater positive change. The trekkers choose to be conscious and respectful to Nature and the communities they visit. They choose to adapt and adopt a sustainable lifestyle. They end up being grateful to lives and livelihoods of tribals and other rural communities.

Hope is about humility that comes from realisation that we take more from and give little to our planet. Hope is about the learning that comes from real knowledge on the ground. Hope is about changing our habits by taking ownership of our obligations to our environment. Hope is of desirable aspirations and aligned actions.

Trekkers discover this when they wander visiting interesting places and people. Some miss out as they focus on the pleasures of a day-out. But, those with deeper commitment and dedicated time will discover the treasure of Hope and a happier life beyond immediate pleasures… like Goa’s EcoTrekkers have!

Avoid the furious rush, linger on while you wander…

Pick up ‘hope’ on the way, move beyond the wonder!

- Pravin K. Sabnis