What is the story of this site – Life is Beautiful ?

Hi Jayesh,
This site has several interesting posts by you that were worth reading. In addition, I saw that a lot of the blog entries were dated 2009. What is the story of this site ?

Kailash Khandelwal – Business Owner, Astrology Expert, based in Atlanta, USA.

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I took up to serious writing around 2009. It’s then that I created a blog where I shared some personal experiences and learnings. I kept adding up articles whenever I could, but then there was long break from around early 2020 until 2023.

In January 2024, I decided to bring back this blog to life. It’s no longer limited to my experiences, it’s now about sharing the good things that I come across every day – typically books, articles, quotes – learnings that come in all forms.

When I started, the sole objective of writing this blog was to share with my children, Maahir who is turning 18 on 14th February, and Shourya, 14, what I learnt and experienced. It’s also my personal journal, notes to myself and allows me to look back, and at times relearn what may have been forgotten, the greatest beleif being that no matter what, Life is Beautiful.

Family — Mom, Dad, Me, Purvi, Shourya, Maahir

Jayesh Tekchandaney

tekchandaney@gmail.com

12th February, 2024

PS – The colorful and vibrant Life is Beautiful that’s right on top of the page was created by Maahir in 2009, when he was 3 years old and Shourya was just born. It’s been 15 years since the blog was born.

My Hero – Papa

Papa has been a caring father, an uncompromising mentor, a tough boss, and above all my strongest shield. My greatest learnings of life have been by observing him and his actions. If I had to describe Papa in three words, they would be perfectionist, hardworking, and intelligent.

Papa is a simple man, with little needs and no wants. He has a penchant for good things in life. A complete family person – with love for the parents, respect for elders, and affection the younger ones; super tough on the outside – very emotional from within.

A university gold medalist, Papa is amongst of the best mechanical design engineers, that one would ever come across. With his never-never-never give up attitude, a passion for excellence, patience, perseverance and an extremely creative engineering mindset, he earned the honor of working with the great scientist and former President of India, Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam for developments on the Indian missile technology. Papa has been at the forefront of our many prestigious executions for the Indian space program.

Well read, well informed, he carefully chooses words at all times, speaking with an aura, charisma, energy and passion. He has the remarkable ability to convince others with his calm and composed demeanour. It’s hard to win over him in a debate. At the same time, he is a keen observer, a good listener, a quick thinker, accepting the others point of view, whenever communicated with reason and logic. It’s very often that I have received compliments from our customers, professional associates, and friends about his pleasant and unforgettable personality.

Papa is a tough boss and an uncompromising mentor. It’s hard to get praise from him. It took a while for me to realize, that one has done good, when he does not ask questions, and, extra ordinarily well, if he says good. At work, the father-son relationship is limited to lunch time (though I do take some liberties every now and then).

To this day, Papa puts in more hours at work than I do. Inspite of the everyday long hours, and many a times working seven days a week, it’s rare to catch him with an expression of tiredness – you cannot make the difference if he is headed to work or returning back. And when he is back home each day, (by which the half of Mumbai is already preparing to sleep) he still has enough energy and patience in him to listen to the everyday experiences of Shourya and Maahir, and share with them many events and stories from his life.

That’s my father. That’s my Hero.

Happy Birthday Papa

Vasuki

It’s been 30 years, but seems just like yesterday, when Mom, Dad and me moved to Vasuki, on the fourth floor, flat no. A-10. A nice and cosy one bedroom apartment, in Ghatkopar’s one of the only three multi-storey buildings at that time. I was younger than Maahir is today. Debu, Manish and Sameer were my first friends. I can feel the goose bumps already, as I begin the walk down the memory lane.

Vasuki was a much more happening place then. The all night navratri celebrations were amongst the best in Ghatkopar. I fondly remember the annual sports day celebrations – boys and girls, uncles and aunties, all of whom were pumped up for the event. Back then in the 80’s, when buildings did not have a club house, our Vasuki boasted of a concrete tennis court, a volley ball arena, a table tennis facility and, a playground that all of Mumbai would envy about, and still does. In the days when the only TV channel was Doordarshan, and there was no IPL, we had our own table tennis tournaments and volley ball matches. Night games of volleyball and box cricket often ended only after the local police came over, with a compliant from some residents – Yes, we had our share of them too!!!

We moved into the B wing, in 1992. Back then, we enjoyed an uninterrupted view of the Mumbai airport runway – we could watch the airplane right from the moment it entered Mumbai air space, the touch down, right until the time that the aircraft came to a stop. The landscape around, has completely changed – though we are still fortunate to have plenty of greens, gardens and open spaces all over. It used to be very airy – the moment one entered into Vasuki. The atmosphere around still remains electric and vibrant, with students bee-ing all around the building, and kiddos playing all types of games inside the building, all day.

The Holi and Sharad Poonam celebrations, and the gathering of Republic Day and Independence Day have always been special, bringing together our one big Vasuki family.The Ganesha festival, Govinda handi and Sankrantri kite flying events have added to the spice of life.

As we move in to our new home today with lots of joy and excitement; it’s also with a heavy heart. It’s hard to move away from the family that’s been with you all your life. Vasuki has been our home for three generations, and has blessed us with a happy, peaceful and prosperous life. We are fortunate that Maahir and Shourya have spent their childhood in this wonderful neighborhood, in a culture of simplicity, oneness, and sharing.

Purvi and I will miss the Sunday morning walks, trips to Siddhi Vinayak with Raju Bhai, Hiren and Seema Bhabhi, Manoj, Rajesh; Mom will miss her morning meditation. I will miss seeing my morning walk inspiration – Vipul Bhai and Sonal Bhabhi.We will miss Ajit uncle’s enthusiasm and positivity, from his morning visits to our home; I will miss greeting Venugopal aunty good morning while opening the door to the milkman.We will miss Jayashree, who would be always happy to baby sit the kids when the family was not around. We will miss being with Annu and Geetu during their trips to India. I will miss the energy of Himanshu, the many conversations with Amar, Abhay, Chetan, Jignesh, Rohit, Bharat Bhai And Reena Bhabhi, Shashi, Tejas. We will miss the Bulani family, the Navani family, the Kothari family, the Gala family, the Parekh family, Gulab Uncle’s and Navin Uncle’s families, the Kutty and Venugopal family, the Monani family, the Joshi family, the Dawda family, the Sheshadari and Subrahmaniyam family, the Gogate family, the Acharya family, the Ved family, the Thakker family, the Hurbada family, the Athnekar family, the Betai family, the Agrawals, the Modi family, and our new next door neighbours, Mayur and Priya. Maahir will miss Smit, Saahil, Priyansh, Raj and Shourya will miss Krishna, Veesmay, Dharmik. We will miss our sweet little darlings, Arham, Jianshi and Krupa. We will miss Vasuki, and the little pleasures that came along each day that we have lived here; but for sure, will cherish these memories through our lives.

Thank You All. God Bless Vasuki.

Set Goals…

“If I have seen far, it is because I have stood on the shoulders of Giants”. God has been kind. I feel blessed to have been born in a wonderful and loving family; to have the best of education, and teachers who have touched moved and inspired; friends who have always stood by my side and encouraged; and colleagues who are supportive.

The one thing that has made a difference to my life, it is the habit of setting goals and an unwavering faith is Paul Meyer’s quote, “Whatever you vividly imagine, ardently desire sincerely believe and enthusiastically act up on must inevitably come to pass.”

“Whatever you vividly imagine, ardently desire sincerely believe and enthusiastically act up on must inevitably come to pass.”

Life was pretty much usual and routine, until one evening in the year 2006, when I met up with my childhood buddy, Vivek Savla. Vivek attended a program on Leadership and Management, and shared with me his learning. He asked me what my goals were. The first thing that came to my mind was about our manufacturing business, and I told him that my goal was to achieve a certain number in business, work hard, to be the best in the field. What else? he asked. I said I wanted to be happy, have a great life, have lots of money, take care of the family. He looked up to me and said, who doesn’t want that? That’s not a goal. That’s wishful thinking.

Honestly, I was lost, I really didn’t know nor did I understand what my goals were. Like me, many of us don’t realize the importance of goals. We don’t have goals because we don’t know how to set them. Often, it is the fear of failure that stops us from setting our goals.

Imagine watching a football game, with 2 teams and 22 players on the field playing the game – a football game with no goal posts. Imagine leading a life, where each day all that we do is get up in the morning, have breakfast, go to work, come home, watch television and go to sleep; wishing and hoping that tomorrow things will get better for us. But that seldom happens, and will not until we take control of our lives and our goals. It was that evening with Vivek, that I learned the greatest lesson of my life – “Set Goals”.

Goals give a sense of meaning and purpose to our life. Goal setting, along with careful planning provides a sense of direction to keep us focused on what we want and to work towards its achievement.

Our life has many facets – all of these can be classified in 6 major areas; personal, professional, spiritual, physical and mental, family and social, financial. For a meaningful and successful life, we should set goals in all of these areas.

For example, my personal goal is be a bestselling author, a motivational speaker, and coach. My professional goal is to take our company to a leadership position in the field of mixing equipment in India and across the world. My spiritual goal is to remain calm and

at all times; my physical goal to maintain health and fitness levels so that I can run the marathon at any given time;, my social goal is to touch, move and inspire all those who look up to me and to make a positive difference to their lives by sharing my blessings. To be honest, my reason for me sharing this with you today is to work towards achieving my personal and social goals.

Written goals are the seedbeds of accomplishment. The important thing while setting goals is that you need to write them, because writing your goals forces you to crystallize and clarify your thinking. It is said that the human mind has more than 60,000 thoughts each days. Writing down the thoughts which matter, helps you focus on what is necessary and keeps you on course. Written goals form the basis of measuring progress. Written goals produce motivation. Written goals form the basis of an action plan. Above all, written goals stimulate visualization.

Goals to me are SMART dreams. By SMART, we me Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time Bound. A goal has be specific, it has to be clearly defined. A goal has to be quantifiable – something that can be measured, it has to be achievable and attainable within a lifetime, it has to be realistic – something that can be experienced in reality. Above all, the goal is a dream with a deadline for achievement. It is time bound.

How then do you set goals and write them? When you begin to set goals, write down your dream list. A dream list will have everything that you wanted to have – a loving family, a big house, promotion at work, more money; a dream list will have everything you would like to do – grow you business to the next level, enjoy a vacation at your favorite destination. Just write down everything that you would like to have and do, as if there are no limitations at all.

Once you have written your dream list, you need to write them down as your SMART goals.
For example, my dream is to have a BMW car. But my SMART goal is “To drive my own BMW, 5 Series, White Color, by December 22, 2017”. Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time Bound.
I am often asked, “If it was so easy, why don’t most people achieve their goals?”
The answer to this question is explained in my favorite quote, by Paul Meyer, “Whatever you vividly imagine, ardently desire, sincerely believe and enthusiastically act up on must inevitably come to pass.”

The starting point of attainment of all goals is having an ardent desire. Your desire for the goal must be so intense that it will energize you to take action. It will give you the inner strength and drive to overcome any obstacle that lies between you and your goal.

The greatest obstacle that lies between you and your goals, is your lack of self belief. For achieving your goals, you need to believe in yourself and in your abilities. To overcome the negative thoughts and emotions that may crop in, you need to take complete responsibility for your situation. Once you accept total responsibility for your life, there are no limits on what you can be, do or have. Every step that your take with responsibility towards your goals builds your belief that you can set and achieve even bigger goals in the future.

Often people set goals, but don’t achieve them. This is because they don’t take the action required to achieve to goals. The most important aspect of achieving your goals is taking action, with enthusiasm. Having set your goals, you need to create an action plan for their achievement. You need to prioritize your goals, make a list of all tasks that have to be completed for accomplishing the goal, schedule time and set deadlines, create measures and standards to track progress, build the competency and skills required for achieving the goals, exercise self-discipline, identify obstacles and their possible solutions, identify people, groups and organizations who can help you in achieving your goals. Work hard to achieve your goals. There is no substitute to hard work. Action with Passion, Patience and Persistence is the key to achieving your goals.

My personal experience is that when you are absolutely clear about your goal, you do not even need to know where and how to achieve it. By simply deciding what you want, you will begin to get attracted towards your goal and your goal begins to move towards you.

Set Goals and take charge of your life. I’ll be happy to have achieved my goal through your’s.
God Bless

God has been kind. If not ….

As I woke up this morning, the first thing I learned was about my friend Parvinder Singh, meeting with an accident yesterday, on his birthday, 18th July. We are all so happy for Parvinder that he was unhurt and is doing fine.

God has been kind. If not …

One would recall the true life story, I shared about my dear friend, Dr. Mitesh Shah. Mitesh missed out on our “Fab Four – Sachin, Amit, Mitesh , Jayesh” trip to Tirupati in 2009, to seek blessings from the Lord for our new borns. His father-in-law was diagnosed with a cardiac problem and Mitesh dropped out from the trip just an hour before our departure from Mumbai. A day later, exactly at the time when the three of us were at the Tirupati temple, Mitesh was admitted to a cardiac hospital – just in time to be taken care of.

God has been kind. If not …

Not many of my friends know, that at the age of 9 when I was in Class IV, I was diagnosed with a brain tuberculosis. The prayers, support and good wishes from family, friends, well wishers and doctors helped me recover in quick time. Dr. Ashok Hazari, our close relative and family doctor has been supporting the family right throughout the difficult times.

God has been kind. If not ….

I would like to conclude by sharing what could have possibly been life’s greatest regret. On 23rd May, 2015, Maahir and Shourya were playing in the building complex till well past 11 in the night. As always, either we would get them or someone would drop them home. It was not to happen that night. At around 11:30, I had a vision that Shourya has badly hurt himself . Seconds later, Maahir rushed into the house with Shourya’s bleeding and roughed up right hand. Shourya’s hand was trapped in the collapsible door of the moving lift causing a severe crushing injury – pulled off just in time.

It’s been a difficult two months for our six year old, with the many visits to Amit’s hospital – the first one within minutes of the incident, well past mid-night. Every time Amit opened the bandaged right hand for the painful medical processes, we would pray for things being fine.

Under the watchful eyes of my buddy,

Shourya’s right hand is recovering. He hasn’t missed his school for a single day – and has been writing with his left hand ever since the accident. Soon, he will be able to write with his right hand again. Our little, delicate darling Shourya has lived up to his name which means Braveheart.

God has been kind. If not ….

PS – Our close family friends, two brothers, owned a popular fast food restaurant. Life presented them with many challenges, but with their ever positive and “never say die approach”, they did well for their families, inspite of critical heath issues. While the elder one (50) was on dialysis for the last 7 years, the younger one (47) too had to undergo the procedure on alternate days for the last 2 years. Both brothers had come to terms with life – going about their work, family and social responsibilities like all of us do. In January, the younger brother passed away within a month of a brief spout of ill-health. The elder brother had just begun to plan for the two families, only to be gone – 21 days later, after he developed some complications during the dialysis process.

Count your blessings.

God Bless

Dangal – Being A Parent Coach

“We are here to play, not to bully,” called out the soccer club team owner, as he pulled out Maahir from the Somaiya Soccer Championship game, just minutes after the kick-off. Maahir and one of his team mates, made some disparaging statements to an opposition team player, during play. This was the second game for the afternoon. The first game was comprehensively won, 3-0, by Maahir’s team, Soccer Cubs. An hour later, they lost the second, 0-10.

Maahir’s Team – The Soccer Cubs, after winning the first game 3-0

Maahir was amongst the best player in his team. In the winning game, he fired the ball like a bullet, from the mid-field, right into the nets. There was little that the goal keeper could do, as he watched the ball sail over his head. An outstanding goal, orchestrated by the coach instructing from the side lines, superbly executed by the player. This proud moment for the parents was soon to be overshadowed by the act of indiscipline. Maahir had to sit out through the second game, even as his team players requested the team owner to get him back on the field.

That afternoon we played the role of parent-coach, Purvi and I had a serious conversation with our 10 year old. It was good to see him quickly understand what he had done wrong. He realized the price his team had to pay for losing one of their best players. One mistake – and he was out of the team.

Sports can be a great teacher, for those who are willing to learn. Exactly a week later, we re-lived and added to the lessons learned on the field, as we watched the Aamir Khan starrer, Dangal. It was easy for the children to pick on the lessons of discipline and hard work (daily 5 a.m. training regime for Geeta and Babita), giving up on what you like (food cravings), being prepared to do whatever it takes (short hair-cut for the girls, non-vegetarian diet), serious and hard preparations (school girls competing against the big boys), fighting back from failure, perseverance, and more. The hard part was for us, the parents, to realize that there was plenty in it for us to learn as well. Every parent needs to play the role of a parent-coach like Mahavir Singh Phogat for his Geeta and Babita,

It is imperative for parents to share with children the importance of setting goals at an early age – so long as children understand their importance and are willing to work towards their realization. Maahir wrote his first goal when he was 5, and Shourya drew it up when he was 2.

A loving parent will always face the dilemma of being a taskmaster coach. That said, it is absolutely, necessary for the parent-coach to enforce strict discipline while maintaining an extremely nurturing atmosphere for the children. As a coach, always demand the best preparation and the maximum effort. But when your child experiences failure, teach him that it is not the end of the world. If he loses, tell him that he was just outscored on the day. Hold him by his hand, talk to him and prepare him for his next challenge. Personally, I have been fortunate and blessed to have parents who’ve always maintained the balance.

A parent-coach should instill the importance of hard work, and repeated practice, in pursuit of excellence. He has to raise the bar every time they enter into the arena. “You have to apply yourself each day to becoming a little better. By applying yourself to the task of becoming a little better each and every day over a period of time, you will become a lot better,” said the famous basket ball coach, John Wooden. In the game that he was pulled out, Maahir had lost his opportunity to become better that day. It is important to teach children to love challenges, be intrigued by mistakes, enjoy effort, and keep on learning

A parent-coach needs to be on the sidelines during the game – to guide, correct, cheer and inspire. It makes a big difference. I recall Maahir telling me after a drawn game that I missed out on, “Papa, if you would had been around, I would have definitely scored a goal and our team would have won.” Likewise, I am happy to have Dad around at the workplace – it has made the difference to my life and career.

And finally, a parent coach should share honest and constructive feedback. As Carlos Dweck writes in her book, Mindset, “Praise should deal, not with the child’s personality attributes, but for their efforts and achievements. Children should be appreciated not for their intelligence and talents, but for the efforts, hard work, practice, persistence, and other growth oriented processes.” Words of encouragement and praise should to be carefully timed and chosen. In the film, the father holds on to golden words “Shabash”, in praise of his daughter until she has won an International Gold Medal.

A parent-coach needs to commit undivided time and attention to the children, because, it’s not about coaching them for a game or a sport, or making them good players. It’s about preparing them for life and making them good human beings.

The Master(’s) Plan

The timing was perfect. Four children in five months. The planning couldn’t have been better. Amit, Sachin, Mitesh and I have been together since twenty years. Now, our kids would grow up together.

On 20th March, 2009, Amit and Trishla were blessed with their first baby, Dhruti

A month later, on mom’s birthday, 21st April, Shourya entered our family. Maahir is a Valentine day baby, year 2006.

Sachin and Prachi were blessed with their second princess, Sucheta, on 18th June. Vedika is six years elder to her younger sibling.

Mitesh and Rashmi’s family was complete, when the youngest amongst the four kids, Prisha, was born on 27th July; Aditya had a sister to play with.

Amongst close friends, Vivek and Nisha lead the pack with two super kids – Yash, nine and Naman, six.

“For our next vacation, we will need a twenty seater bus,” said Mitesh. He’s our chief co-coordinator for the vacations – binding all of us together. His planning is perfect – we’ve enjoyed each time we’ve been on an outing. He along with Sachin do all the work. Amit and I generally like to laze around.

And while there was enough time before a vacation could be planned, we didn’t want to wait for long to thank the Lord for blessing us with normal, healthy children. The trip to Tirupati was on the priority list. Mitesh wished that the four of us should make this trip together. Soon, he made all the plans for the trip.

We were to leave Mumbai on 7th September, by the afternoon train. We would reach Tirumala the next day, and head to Tirupati. Sachin made arrangements for our stay at a matth (residential facility for traveling pilgrims) in Tirupati. Amit, with his “contacts” (he has them in all places) planned for special darshan at the temple; the first one on 8th evening, and the second on 9th morning. After the darshan of the Lord, Amit and Mitesh would fly back to Mumbai. Sachin would travel to Chennai for business. I planned a visit to the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC), the rocket launch site for the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO).

SDSC also known as SHAR is located in Sriharikota, a spindle shaped island on the east coast of Andhra Pradesh, about 80 km north of Chennai. I was scheduled to stay there for three days and return to Mumbai on 12th September after completing the commissioning of the plant and equipment supplied by our company ‘Unique Mixers’. Our mixers are in operation at ISRO for manufacturing solid propellants used in rocket propulsion systems. This would be my third visit to this high security zone.

All seemed to be going as per “our master plan” until the morning of 5th September, when Rashmi’s dad complained of chest pain and uneasiness. He had to be scheduled for an angiography on 7th September, the day of our departure. The procedure was to start at 8 am. Mitesh, being a doctor himself, was responsible for coordinating with the doctors treating uncle. The course of further treatment would be decided only after the angiography.

As uncle’s health was stable, the family advised Mitesh to proceed with the Tirupati trip after the angiography. Prayers to the Lord are always answered. Mitesh packed his bags for the trip a night before the procedure and carried them to the hospital the next morning. Since the hospital was on our route to the railway station, we would pick him. The train was scheduled to depart at 2 pm. In all probability the angiography would be over by then. We were confident that Mitesh would be with us on the trip. It was after all his plan – he had to be there.

At 2 pm that afternoon, only three of us boarded the train. Mitesh couldn’t make it. Not because of uncle’s health, but because the doctor was late for the angiography. When we reached the hospital at forty five minutes past noon, the angiography had just started. Mitesh had to be in the ‘Cath lab’ during the procedure.

Mitesh is amongst those who do not give up easily. He is a fighter to the core. Our master planner had already thought of a back-up plan. “I shall be with the Lord”, he promised. He knew he could take the evening flight to Chennai and meet us at Tirupati the next day. On the train, we missed him and his enthusiasm.

Uncle’s angiography revealed complications. A by-pass surgery was the only fix. In difficult times, the one friend that we can count on is Mitesh. He has always stood by us. This time his family was counting on him. Mitesh couldn’t make it to Tirupati.

When we reached the holy town, we were informed by Amit’s local contact that because of the rush it would be difficult for him to arrange for the VIP darshan. The matth where we planned to stay had no vacant rooms. Our plans for the trip had fallen through – we hated it. I was upset and so were Amit and Sachin.

Things were somehow managed and later that evening we by-passed a five hour queue and a few thousand devotes, for a back door entry into the temple. Amit’s contact guided us through all the “no entries”, right upto the point of darshan in less than ten minutes. At that moment, we didn’t think of using the short-cut as “not right”. It’s strange how we tend to look at things differently when we are on the benefited side.

As we stood besides the ‘contact’, with the Lord in sight for more than three minutes, I could not stop looking at those in front of me. These men, women and children may have traveled thousand of miles, would have spent many hours in the queue, only for a glimpse of the Lord. But just as they reached the point of darshan, they were being pushed ahead by the temple guards. The treatment handed out to them was unkind, if not inhuman. We were fortunate only because of the ‘contact’ and the Rs. 5,000/- that we paid him. After the evening darshan, we settled in a room at the Pushpagiri matth and were looking forward to the 9th morning darshan. It was on the same evening that I set the goal of writing a book. My first book “My Notes”, published in November 2009 was a fruition of the goal – another blessing of the Lord.

With Sachin and Amit at Pushpagiri Matth

The average number of devotees that visit the Tirupati Devasthanam each day is about 50,000 to 1,00,000. Our morning darshan would be the VIP darshan, where for a period of one hour the entry inside the temple is restricted to 500 devotees only. You can get onto this list of “Fortune 500” only if you have a recommendation from a top politician or a bureaucrat or if you plan months in advance.

In the VIP corridors, Sachin lead the group of 500 with chants, “Govinda….Go….Vinda”. We slowly walked through the temple doors that lead to the Lord. There was no pushing by the guards this time. We had a darshan of the Lord from the fifth door out of the seven doors. It was like a one on one meeting with Lord Venkateswara. The experience of those few moments would be etched in our memories, for life. We once again missed our friend – may be wasn’t destined to meet the Lord.

As I walked backwards out of the temple but with the Lord in sight (you never turn your back to the Lord), I sensed a strong pinch on my arm. It was a temple guard. He hinted that he could put me back in the queue for one more darshan if I paid him. I guess the guards and the priests at the temple would be as rich as the Lord himself. I kept walking backwards, and out of the temple complex. I prayed to the Lord and wished that the next time all four of us shall visit with our families and hoped to have a similar darshan.

After a quick lunch, we were on our way back. We took the taxi from Tirupati, and while Sachin and Amit headed to Chennai, I got dropped at a state transport bus terminal. It took me three buses, an auto-rickshaw and about four hours to reach the ISRO guest house. I don’t remember much of this travel, but there is one thing I can never forget; the face of the man who boarded the bus and the expressions of the hen that he held in his hands.

By the time I reached SHAR it was 5:00 pm, and there was not much work that I could complete that evening. I settled into the room, thinking about being blessed with a once in a lifetime like darshan of the Lord and the other events that unfolded during this short, yet memorable trip. The only regret was that Mitesh was not with us. I wondered why?

At about 6:40 pm, Sachin called. He had the answer. Back in Mumbai, there had been another medical emergency that afternoon, another chest pain, an admission to the cardiac hospital and a life-saving injection. It was good that Mitesh was not with us on the trip. If he had been, we don’t know what would have happened.

The three of us were blessed to be on the “Fortune 500” list which met the Lord that morning, but Mitesh was the chosen one – whom the Lord visited himself. The Lord was with Mitesh that afternoon, taking care of him when he had the chest pain. Mitesh kept his promise. The Master’s plan was much bigger than our master plan.

Govinda…Go…Vinda……..

P.S. – We often regret when things don’t happen as we plan them, only to realize later that it all happens for a reason. There is a popular Malayalam quote, “Njan pathi, daivam pathi” – it means, I need to do my half, the rest shall be done by the Lord.

World, My Son Starts School Today – By Abraham Lincoln

World, take my child by the hand – he starts school today!

Maahir’s First Day to Ryan International School, 18^th June, 2009

It is all going to be strange and new to him for a while and I wish you would sort-of treat him gently. You see, up to now, he has been king of the roost. He has been the boss of the backyard. I’ve always been around to repair his wounds and I’ve always been handy to soothe his feelings.

But now things are going to be different. This morning he is going to walk down the front steps, wave his hand, and start on a great adventure that probably will include wars and tragedy and sorrow.

To live in this world will require faith and love and courage.

So world, I wish you would sort-of take him by his young hand and teach him the things he will have to know. Teach him, but gently if you can.

He will have to learn, I know that all people are not just, that all man and women are not true.

Teach him that for every scoundrel, there is a hero; that for every enemy, there is a friend. Let him learn early that the bullies are the easiest people to lick.

Teach him the wonder of books.

Give him quiet time to ponder the eternal mystery of birds in the sky, bees in the sun and flowers on a green hill.

Teach him that it is far more honorable to fail than to cheat.

Teach him to have faith in his own ideas, even if everyone tells he is wrong.

Try to give my son the strength not to follow the crowd when everyone else is getting on the bandwagon.

Teach him to listen to others, but to filter all he hears on a screen of truth and to take only the good that comes through.

Teach him never to put a price tag on his heart and soul.

Teach him to close his ears on the howling mob – and to stand and fight if he thinks he is right.

Teach him gently, World, but do not coddle him because only the test of fire makes fine steel.

This is a big order, World, but see what you can do. He is such a nice son.

World, My Son(s) Starts School Today

By Abraham Lincoln

World, take my child by the hand – he starts school today!

Maahir’s first day to Hiranandani school, Grade I – 11th June,2012

Shourya’s first day to school, Nursery – 12th June,2012

But now things are going to be different. This morning he is going to walk down the front steps, wave his hand, and start on a great adventure that probably will include wars and tragedy and sorrow.

To live in this world will require faith and love and courage.

So world, I wish you would sort-of take him by his young hand and teach him the things he will have to know. Teach him, but gently if you can.

He will have to learn, I know that all people are not just, that all man and women are not true.

Teach him that for every scoundrel, there is a hero; that for every enemy, there is a friend. Let him learn early that the bullies are the easiest people to lick.

Teach him the wonder of books.

Give him quiet time to ponder the eternal mystery of birds in the sky, bees in the sun and flowers on a green hill.

Teach him that it is far more honorable to fail than to cheat.

Teach him to have faith in his own ideas, even if everyone tells he is wrong.

Try to give my son the strength not to follow the crowd when everyone else is getting on the bandwagon.

Teach him to listen to others, but to filter all he hears on a screen of truth and to take only the good that comes through.

Teach him never to put a price tag on his heart and soul.

Teach him to close his ears on the howling mob – and to stand and fight if he thinks he is right.

Teach him gently, World, but do not coddle him because only the test of fire makes fine steel.

This is a big order, World, but see what you can do.

He is such a nice son.