MERA KUCHH SAMAAN

The incident attached to this song has become more famous than the song itself by now. When I read this song to Pancham, he thought it was a scene, and appreciated the poetic dialogue. Itr's not a scene, I said, it's a song.

Hah! he reacted, 'you will bring a column from the Times of India tomorrow, and ask me to tune it. You are the "limit" yaar And he pushed the piece of paper away. 

Ashaji smiled. She was present in the music room. A few minutes later, she hummed something under her breath. They were lovely notes and Pancham asked, What is that?' She hummed the last phrase of the line.. mujhe lauta do'. Pancham picked up the piece of paper again, added a few notes and completed the line: 'mera who saaman mujhe lauta do'.

Soon he got engrossed in the song and, believe me, he went on to complete the song in that very sitting. The song is a part of history now. Ashaji says she can never finish a concert now without singing this song. The listeners insist.

PEACE AND JUSTICE

It is generally held that peace and justice are interrelated, that is, peace is dependent on justice. According to this assumption, where there is peace there is justice, and where there is justice there is peace. This oft-repeated formula has never been realized in society. This negative result proves that this formula, although grammatically and theoretically correct, is practically not possible. Peace and justice are not interconnected. In fact, both are quite different subjects.  

According to the law of nature, one must try to establish peace at any cost, even at the cost of justice. Peace is a desirable goal in itself. Peace will then open the doors of opportunities. And, by availing these opportunities, one should work towards achieving justice or one's rights. Everything is possible in this world. The only condition is that a person should discover the law of nature and plan his goal accordingly. 

If you put the horse before the cart, you will certainly reach the destination. But, if you put the cart before the horse, you will never be able to reach your destination. Our world is controlled by the law of nature, not by our wishes and desires. Don't simply follow your desires. Discover the law of nature and set your plans accordingly. You will certainly achieve success this way. 

The fact is that the world we live in was not created by us. It was created by the Creator. 

We can achieve what we want to achieve only by following the laws set by the Creator. Going against this fact will only lead to disaster.

RESET YOUR PRIORITIES

We are living in a world of profession. In the present world, it is one’s profession that defines one’s identity.The profession oriented life is the generally accepted lifestyle of every person.

Having a profession means living according to the dictates of the ‘money market’. And everyone tries to develop a professional skill that enables them to be a sharing partner in the flow of money in the market.

This culture has resulted in a new phenomenon that was absent in former times, i.e., living in accordance with external requirements and setting aside internal requirements, that is, what is required by one’s inner nature. The result is that while everyone is a developed personality in terms of his profession, in terms of his own nature, everyone is an underdeveloped personality.

Talk to anyone at random and ask him about his profession he will readily give you specific answers. If you speak to him about his professional subject, he will give you a detailed answer for every question. But, if you ask him about those issues, which pertain to human life that is, non-professional issues, you will find that he is not mentally prepared to discuss this subject.

Upon enquiry with a lady from Europe in a meeting about her profession it unraveled that she was well-disposed in sharing information about her professional field. But, in her personal life she was unhappy with her spouse and said that she had decided to separate from him. The main reason she cited was that her husband was an adamant person and she did not like this. She knew the science of her profession but was quite ignorant of the science of life.

This is true of every person. Each one is living in a culture of duality. When it comes to their profession, everyone is well-equipped. But, as far as the science of life is concerned, everyone is ill-equipped. This is so common that finding an exception is very difficult.

It is not a question of balance, it is a question of priority. Everyone should set or reset their priorities right. The problem with this is when you try to reset your priorities, you fear that you are going to damage your commercial interests, because when your mind is engaged in intellectual issues, it will not be able to engage in money-related issues. You gain one thing, but at the same time you lose another. But, this is not a genuine excuse. You should think in terms of intellectual development and not just in terms of material development.

Intellectual development is so important that no excuse for neglecting it is acceptable. Adopt a simple formula: make intellectual development your first priority and then try to manage all other aspects of your life.

A lack of intellectual development is not a simple matter. It is the lack of intellectual development which has resulted in all those problems that are common in our present age, for example, tension, unnecessary lifestyle diseases, lack of peace of mind and losing that very thing that man so desperately wants—happiness.

We are living in a culture of duality. When it comes to their profession, everyone is well equipped. But, as far as the science of life is concerned, everyone is ill equipped.

THE BEGINNING OF REFORMATION

Gustave Le Bon (1841–1931), a French social psychologist, best known for his 1895 work The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind, observes that:

“Civilisations as yet have only been created and directed by a small intellectual aristocracy, never by crowds. Crowds are only powerful for destruction. Their rule is always tantamount to a barbarian pha se.” 

The right way to bring about a revolution is through individual effort, not crowd-based effort. A true reformer must adopt a low-profile approach; a microscopic way of thinking. He should first train individuals and form a team of selected people before trying to bring about change in society or the system. 

This method was successfully adopted by the Fabian Society of England, founded in 1884. The society laid the foundations of the Labour Party and subsequently affected the policies of states emerging from the decolonization of the British Empire. 

Several great minds such as George Bernard Shaw were involved with the Fabian Society. They trained the British people on lines that were rather unpopular during the post-war period. Although the British had emerged victorious from World War II, the Fabian Society recommended decolonization. This was against the grain of popular thinking. 

However, a literary campaign by the Fabian Society proved successful in the post-war elections when the British people rejected Winston Churchill and elected Lord Clement Attlee who was never in favour of colonization while Churchill was known to be strongly against the policy of decolonization. This decision at that critical juncture saved the British nation and helped maintain their dignity in the post-colonial era. 

We can understand from the above examples that whatever one wants to accomplish at a mass level, one has to adopt the method of addressing individual minds. Even if one feels there is dearth of time to do this type of work, one should not be tempted in trying to reach out to multitudes, for in terms of results one person who is sincere and serious and understands the importance of the mission is better than a thousand half-hearted volunteers.

IT’S OK TO GIVE UP

You know how you sometimes hear stories about people who have failed their driving test 35 times? Much as you admire their persistence, don’t you sometimes wonder why they don’t just give up? These are clearly people who just aren’t cut out to drive big, heavy, dangerous lumps of machinery around streets full of children and old people and dogs and lamp posts. Even if they do finally pass, there’s a feeling that it’s probably a fluke, and you probably still wouldn’t want to be a passenger on their next trip. 

Actually, if these people held their hands up (as some do) and said, “You know what? This isn’t me. I’m going to get a bicycle and a bus season ticket,” I would applaud their ability to see what was staring them in the face. I wouldn’t call them quitters or criticize their lack of determination or drive. They’d simply be getting the message loud and clear and having the good sense not to ignore it. Sometimes we head off down the wrong path in life, often with the best motives. Maybe there’s no knowing it’s the wrong path until we try it.

There’s no shame in admitting it once we realize it’s not getting us where we want to be. When you realize this college course isn’t right for you, or that you don’t have what it takes to do this job well, or that your move to a new city isn’t working out, or that the hours you put into being on the local council put too much strain on your family, it takes guts to say so. That’s not quitting. That’s courage. Quitting is when you give up because you don’t want to put in the effort, you can’t be bothered, you don’t like hard work, you’re scared of failure. We Rules players don’t quit. We harden our resolve, and we get on with the job without complaint.

However, good Rules players know when they’re beat. If the world is telling you that you took a wrong turn, you can admit it honestly and put yourself on a different track. No one can be brilliant at everything, and sometimes you have to try things to find out whether you can do them. And maybe you can’t. A few years ago, a leading UK government official resigned from her post, famously saying that she was simply “not up to the job.” Now, I’d never really rated her up to that point, but she rose hugely in my estimation—and that of many others—for that admission. That took guts. Maybe she wasn’t great at leading a government department, but she was certainly in a different league from most politicians when it came to honesty, courage, and self-knowledge. She’s an outstanding example of the fact that if you give up in the right way at the right time, you’re showing strength of character, not weakness.
 

THE IDEOLOGY OF INDIAN ROMANTICISM

The trend of Indian romanticism ushered in by three great forces influenced the destiny of modern Indian literature. These forces were Sri Aurobindo’s (1872-1950) search for the divine in man, Tagore’s quest for the beautiful in nature and man, and Mahatma Gandhi’s experiments with truth and nonviolence.

Sri Aurobindo, through his poetry and philosophical treatise, ‘The Life Divine’, presents the prospect of the ultimate revelation of divinity in everything. He wrote mostly in English.

Tagore’s quest for beauty was a spiritual quest, which attained fruition in the final realisation that service to humanity was the best form of contact with God. Tagore was aware of a supreme principle pervading nature and the entire universe. This supreme principle, or the unknown mystique, is beautiful, because it shines through the known; and it is only in the unknown that we have perpetual freedom. Tagore, a many-splendoured genius, wrote novels, short stories, essays and dramas, and never ceased to try out new experiments. His collection of poetry in Bengali, Gitanjali (song offerings), received the Novel Prize in 1913. Tagores’ poetry, after the award, inspired writers of different Indian languages to popularize the age of romantic poetry. 

The age of romantic poetry in Hindi is known as Chhayavad, the age of romantic mystery, in Kannada, is Navodaya, the rising sun, and in Oriya, it is known as Sabuj, the age of green. Jaishankar Prasad, Nirala, Sumitra Nandan Pant and Mahadevi (Hindi); Vallathol, Kumaran Asan (Malayalam); Kalindi Charan Panigrahi (Oriya); B.M. Srikantayya, Puttappa, Bendre (Kannada); Viswanath Satyanarayana (Telugu); Uma Shankar Joshi (Gujarati), and poets of other languages highlighted mysticism and romantic subjectivity in their poetry. The poets of Ravikiran Mandal (a group of six poets of Marathi) searched for the hidden reality in nature.

Indian romanticism is fraught with mysticism – not like English romanticism, which wants to break puritanic  shackles, seeking joy in Hellenism. In fact, the romantic trend of the modern times follows the tradition of Indian poetry, where romanticism indicates the Vedantic (the philosophy of one Reality) oneness between Nature and man, more along the lines of Vedic symbolism and not Paganism.

Dr. Sir Muhammad Iqbal (1877-198), the greatest poet that Urdu had produced, second only to Ghalib, went through initially a romantic-cum-nationalistic phase in his poetry. His best collection of Urdu poems is Bang-i-Dara (1924). His quest for Pan-Islamism did not deter him in his concern for humanity at large.

NO FEAR, NO SURPRISE,NO HESITATION, NO DOUBT

Where does this come from? It’s from a seventeenth-century samurai warrior. This was his four-point key to successful living—and swordsmanship.

No Fear

There should be nothing in this life that you are afraid of. If there is, you might need to do some work on overcoming that fear. Here I have to confess to a certain fear of heights. I avoid high places if I can. Recently, owing to leaky gutters, I had to crawl out on our roof—three floors up with a very long drop on one side. I gritted my teeth and kept repeating, “No fear, no fear, no fear,” until the job was done. Oh yes, and of course I didn’t look down. Whatever your fear, face it head on and defeat it. 

No Surprise

Life seems to be full of surprises, doesn’t it? You’re going along swimmingly and suddenly something huge rears up ahead of you. But if you look carefully, there were clues all along the
way that it was going to happen. No surprise there then. Whatever your situation now, it is going to change. No surprises there. So why does life seem to surprise us then? Because we are asleep half the time. Wake up, and nothing can sneak up on you.

No Hesitation

Weigh the odds and then just get on with it. If you hang back, the opportunity will have passed. If you spend too long thinking, you’ll never make a move. Once we have looked at the options, we make a choice and then go for it. That’s the secret.No hesitation means not waiting around for other people to help out or make up our minds for us. No hesitation means if there is a certain inevitability about a situation, then just throw yourself in head first and enjoy the ride. If there is nothing to be done, then waiting doesn’t help.

No Doubt

Once you have made your mind up about something, don’t go over it again and again. Stop thinking and enjoy—relax and let go. Stop worrying. Tomorrow will come along as certainly as it can. There is no doubt about life. It just is. Be confident. Be committed. Be sure of yourself. Once you have committed yourself to a set course, a path, a plan, then follow it through. Have no doubt it was the right thing to do and no doubt that you will succeed. Get on with it and trust your judgment completely.

YOU’LL GET OLDER BUT NOT NECESSARILY WISER

There is an assumption that as we get older we will get wiser; not true, I’m afraid. But we can carry on being just as foolish,still making plenty of mistakes. It’s just that we make new ones, different ones. We do learn from experience and may not make the same mistakes again, but there is a whole new pickle jar of fresh ones just lying in wait for us to trip up and fall into. The secret is to accept this and not to beat yourself up when you do make new ones. The Rule really is: Be kind to yourself when you do muck things up. Be forgiving,and accept that it’s all part of that growing older but no wiser routine. 

Looking back, we can always see the mistakes we made, but we fail to see the ones looming up. Wisdom isn’t about not making mistakes, but about learning to escape afterward with our dignity and sanity intact. 

When we are young, aging seems to be something that happens to, well, old people. But it does happen to us all, and we have no choice but to embrace it and roll with it. Whatever we do and however we are, the fact is we are going to get older. And this aging process does seem to speed up as we get older. 

You can look at it this way—the older you get, the more areas you’ve covered to make mistakes in. There will always be new areas of experience where we have no guidelines and where we’ll handle things badly, overreact, get it wrong. And the more flexible we are, the more adventurous, the more lifeembracing, then the more new avenues there will be to explore—and make mistakes in, of course. 

As long as we look back and see where we went wrong and resolve not to repeat such mistakes, there is little else we need to do. Remember that any Rules that apply to you also apply to everyone else around you. Others are all getting older, too.And not any wiser particularly. Once you accept this, you’ll be more forgiving and kinder toward yourself and others. 

Finally, yes, time does heal, and things do get better as you get older. After all, the more mistakes you’ve made, the less likely that you’ll come up with new ones. The best thing is that ifyou get a lot of your mistakes over and done with early on in life, there will be less to learn the hard way later on. And that’s what youth is all about: a chance to make all the mistakes you can and get them out of the way. 

WISDOM ISN’T ABOUT NOT MAKING MISTAKES BUT ABOUT LEARNING TO ESCAPE AFTERWARD WITH OUR DIGNITY AND SANITY INTACT. 
 

MORA GORA ANG LAI LE

'Mora Gora Ang Lai Le' The birth pangs of the my first film song 'Mora Gora Ang Lai Le' started when Bimalda (Bimal Roy) and Sachinda(S.D. Burman) explained the 'song situation' to me, Kalyani (Nutan) secretly admires Vikas (Ashok Kumar), and one night after winding up the kitchen work, she comes out humming this song.

Bimalda put a stop to it right there: this 'character’ cannot step outside the house, singing, he said. Sachinda raised his eyebrows: If she doesn't go out then how is she is going to sing in front of the father?

Bimalda argued: If she can listen to her father's Vaishnav poetry, why can't she sing it?This isn't a poem Dada.. this is a song.
Then write a poem. She will sing the poem. The song will be stifled inside the house. Then bring her out in the courtyard. But she will not step outside the house.'
Fine, if she will not step out then I am not going to compose this song, Sachinda warned.
That was how my first 'song situation' was explained to me. 

 

 

LEARNING FROM FAILURE

One common instance of the dichotomy in people’s thinking is their placing of success and failure at opposite poles. Generally speaking, people think that they have either won or they have lost out in life. They do not consider any other alternative.

But if life’s eventualities were looked at through the eyes of wisdom, wewould find that the dichotomy of success versus failure is not realistic. The more realistic and wiser categorization of meaningful events in human life is mentioned in the title of this article, that is, ‘success versus experience’. From the viewpoint of the common man, success means achieving his target, while failure means, having lacked the ability or the drive to do so. But this is not the whole story. What should happen—and very often does happen—is when a man fails to achieve his target, his failure should trigger a very powerful thinking process which examines the whole situation afresh and then his own nature should thrust him into making every effort to turn his failure into success. Once this train of thought has been set in motion, consciously or unconsciously, he should accept the possibility of having a second chance. Once he begins to see the matter in a new light, he will come to the conclusion that if he has failed to capitalize on the first chance, it just doesn’t matter, a second chance still awaits him. He will realize that, by careful re-planning, he can avail of that second chance. One notable example of this is the course adopted by the sixteenth US president, Abraham Lincoln. When he entered politics, he took part in the presidential elections. Then, for a variety of reasons, he lost in the different elections no less than eight times. Yet he didn’t lose hope and finally won the elections at the ninth attempt, becoming America’s sixteenth president.The fact is that you should not take defeat as something final.

You should take defeat as experience. By doing so, you will be stimulated to reappraise the situation and come up with fresh solutions. In the lightof past experiences, you will be able to do better planning and will seekopportunities to avail of a second chance. Finally, by better planning, you will be able to convert your defeat into success.

Never take defeat as an ultimate disaster. Take defeat as experienceand then you will never become the victim of frustration

THE KING AND THE PEASANT

As the sun was getting low in the sky, old Matthias straightened his back andlooked toward his cottage. It was time to go home and end his day of hardwork in the fields. As he glanced toward the road, he saw a cloud of dust thatgradually took the form of a troop of men riding toward the city. At their head,rode the king, leading his lords and knights home after a day of hunting in thenearby woods. The fading sun glittered off of the crown that circled the king’shead. Suddenly, much to the old man’s surprise, the company came to a halt. Theking and three other men turned their horses toward Matthias, coming to a stopright in front of the old man, who now knelt, head bowed in front of his ruler.“Arise, old friend,” said the king, “and tell me, why did you not rise earlyenough to finish your work?”Matthias replied, “I did, my gracious and beloved king, but God did notallow me.”The king nodded, and then asked, “How long has that snowy orchard beenblooming on that sage mountain top?”Matthias smiled, “Going on forty years, my good lord.”The king nodded his head, as if he understood every word the old manspoke. “Tell me, how many years have the streams been flowing from under themountain?”“The streams, my lord, have been flowing and flowing for fifteen yearsnow.”“So far, so good, my friend.” The king looked pleased. “Now one morething, when the three geese come from the east, will you be able to fleece them?”The old peasant looked up at the king and smiled, “They will be wellfleeced, my king.”The king smiled back at the old man, then he undid a golden belt that ringedhis own waist and handed to the Matthias. He thanked him for his words andhoped that God would see fit to bless them both. The king and his three counselors turned and rode back to the waiting company, continuing theirjourney to the palace.Later that evening, the king called the three advisors who had witnessed hisconversation with Matthias to his chambers. He asked the men to explain themeaning of his questions and the old man’s answersThe three men thought for a long time, trying to explain the riddles, butnone even came close to their true meaning. Finally, the king told them that theyhad thirty days to figure out the meaning of the conversation. If they failed, hewarned, he would replace them with new counselors.Day after day, night after night, the three men debated the meaning of thewords spoken by the king and the peasant. They repeated the words over andover again, trying to find a clue, but to no avail. Finally, they decided that onlyone person could help them, so they visited old Matthias.The old man welcomed the king’s counselors into his home, but he refusedto enlighten them upon the meaning of his conversation with the king. The threemen pleaded and threatened, but it was useless. He would not be moved. Finally,each man put a bag of one hundred gold coins on the table. Matthias smiled,gathered the bags into his arms, and disappeared with them into his back room.He then came back and told the three counselors what the conversation was allabout.“The king asked, with his first question, why I did not marry young andhave sons and daughters to work my fields. I replied that I did, but that God hadtaken them and that all my children had died before me. Next the king asked howlong ago my hair had turned white. I told him forty years. The third question washow long had I grieved for my beloved wife and I answered that I had criedfifteen years now, in her remembrance.” Matthias stopped and smiled at thelooks of profound amazement that had come across the faces of the three men.“Lastly, the king asked if I would fleece the three foolish geese that camefrom the east. Those geese are the three of you, gentlemen, and by taking yourgold to explain my conversation with the king, I have fleeced you well indeed.”The three men left the cottage, poorer in coin but richer in wisdom forhaving met the truly wise old Matthias.   

GANDHI EXORCISES SUPERSTITION

In 1924 severe communal riots broke out in Delhi. Gandhi went on a 21-day fast to appeal to the consciences of both the communities and to persuade them to put an end to fratricidal strife. Thousands of people from the town and the neighbouring areas used to throng to the house where Gandhi was staying, to share the ordeal and the agony, and if possible to have a darshan (glimpse) of the fasting Mahatma. On some days his health caused grave anxiety. Doctors did not want him to bear the strain of meeting visitors. So (Deenbandu) C. F. Andrews, an English associate of Gandhi, took upon himself the responsibility to prevent visitors from going up to the room in which Gandhi was lying.

One day, a couple from a nearby village managed to jostle their way up to the foot of the stair-case that led to the room in which Gandhi was fasting. There they encountered Andrews who was all politeness, but was firm in refusing them entry. They were distraught. They had with them a brass pitcher with water, with the mouth well covered and fastened. They implored Andrews to let them in, they were sure that if he heard their story he would not stand in the way of their going to the presence of Gandhi. Their only son was seriously ill in their village home. They had tried all medicines. There was no improvement. He was sinking. They believed that his life could be saved if the Mahatma's feet could be washed with the water they had brought, and their sinking son could have a sip of the water. Andrews was shocked to hear this explanation for their insistence. He was firm in refusing them entry. Moreover, he was sure Gandhi would never permit or countenance such superstitious conduct. While Andrews was still arguing with them, someone standing by suggested a solution, why not take the matter to Gandhi. After hearing everything, if he did not want the couple to go up to him, they would go. They squatted at the foot of the stair-case as Andrews went up the stairs and placed the matter before Gandhi. Gandhi was very weak. But after listening to Andrews, he signaled to him to let them come in. Andrews could not understand how Gandhi could encourage the superstitions of the couple and let himself be treated in this fashion.

However, when the couple came in, Gandhi asked them to sit near his bed, and gave them his thoughts in his weak, sad voice. Did they believe in God? If they did, how could they insult God by transferring their faith to a frail human being? Did they not know that it was degrading to him and to them to get his feet washed in the superstitious belief that the water would turn into medicine? How could they be so ignorant of the laws of God, the laws of nature, and the laws of health and hygiene? He talked to them gently and sadly, but with great affection and compassion. He talked to them for nearly fifteen minutes even in his poor state of health. They saw the truth of what Gandhi said. They emptied their pot, and left for their village, happy at what they had learnt from the saint himself.

Source: G. Ramachandran, A Sheaf of Gandhi 

GIVE & TAKE

To be able to lead a respectable life in society there is a necessary condition. And that is you must become someone who is beneficial to others, a ‘giver’, or at least a ‘no-problem person’ as far as others are concerned. Other than these two options, there is no other way for you to lead a respectable life in society. Those who think that there is a third way only go on to create trouble in society and for

themselves, too.

Social life is always based on the principle of give-and-take. If you are contributing positively to society, society will regard you with respect. And if you think you are not in a position to contribute anything to society, at least you can become a ‘no-problem’ person for others.

If you become a giver as far as others are concerned, you are helping society progress. Even if you simply become a ‘no-problem’ person, youare still playing a social role—by not placing any obstacle in the progress of society. In the former case you are directly helping society to progress. In the latter case, you are doing this indirectly.

But those who are neither givers nor ‘no problem’ people only become a burden

on society. Although, according to the conventional law these people may not be

criminals, but in terms of the etiquette of human life they are. Although the courts of this world will not sentence them to punishment, in the court of nature, they will be considered guilty of an enormous moral crime.

 

Uncut Diamonds, A Lesson

In a small town in South Africa, a man spotted a boy in a field playing with a strange-looking stone. He took the stone from the boy, and when he showed it to a lapidary—an expert in gems—he discovered that it was actually a very large diamond!

You need to have the requisite expertise to examine precious stones and estimate their value. You need the same sort of ability when it comes to human beings too. Innumerable people are born into this world, but they do not have the same abilities. Some of them are born with a potential for special skills and abilities. But these skills and abilities are hidden. They don’t loudly announce themselves. They need a 'lapidary' to recognize them and to give them the opportunity to express themselves.

There are two ways in which a person’s hidden jewels can be recognized.

One way is that the person becomes so aware of himself that he can discover his hidden potentials. The other way is for someone who truly cares for him to come into his life and to recognize his jewels and to help him recognize them too.

Both these options aren’t easily available, though. To realize the jewels hidden inside you, you need to be extremely realistic. And

to be able to recognize the jewels hidden inside someone else and to help him realize them, you need to be genuinely concerned

about his well-being.

Experience tells us that these two qualities are exceedingly rare among people. And so, it very often happens that people who are born with hidden special capacities and abilities never go on to develop and express them in their lives. Sometimes, it is because they fail to discover these themselves. In other cases, it is because they do not find a sincere well-wisher who can help them draw out their latent potential.

 

 

 

 

ENTHUSIASM AND PERSEVERANCE

 

In 1782, an Englishman arrived in Glasgow with a wooden printing press. With paltry resources he began to publish a newspaper entitled the Glasgow Advertiser. The newspaper was later renamed the Glasgow Herald. Two centuries later its daily circulation had risen to 200,000 copies.

 

What saved John Mennons, the founder of this newspaper, from succumbing to unfavourable and adverse circumstances was his limitless enthusiasm. His enthusiasm compensated for his lack of resources. The newspaper is still going strong after two centuries, in spite of serious differences between partners which arose from time to time. It was fortunate that these could always be settled amicably without the work being disrupted.

 

The newspaper, which was started on a wooden press, is now being printed entirely on automatic machines. The letters are neither composed nor do they undergo the process of metal infusion: They are projected on the plates by laser beam. It is printed and folded automatically. Then it is wrapped in polythene and taken to the despatch department. The whole process is computerized.

 

It was only because of its continued publication that it could benefit from all the new improved techniques which were developed at different stages. If it had ceased publication after a period of time, all the techniques would have existed, but it would have failed to utilize them.

 

It shows how the accomplishment of any great work requires two things in particular: Limitless enthusiasm and perseverance. Obviously, great work can be brought to fruition only with the help of boundless energy, enthusiasm and perseverance. Without the long and arduous labour which is essential in any such enterprise, the survival of this paper would have been impossible.

 

Make the most of your experience: Don't impose suffering on yourself but when it comes, make the most of it. A thought provoking remark of another achiever sums the above points beautifully.

 

“What about suffering?” Someone asked Bernard Malamud, the award winning American author. “I’m against it,” he replied, “But when it occurs why waste the experience?