Day 116

 

Living and Leaving Gracefully is a book which I  enjoyed writing. The theme affects us through out in life. The foreword for the book by Dr. T C Nair, contains some real gems . Mere reading of  that  will open up many avenues of thinking , hence it is reproduced.

Dr. Bala  Chandran ("Bala", as I affectionately call him), in all his writings in general and in his book, "Living/Leaving Gracefully, in particular, seemed to have been one with Norman Mailer who believed, "Being a man is the continuing battle of one's life, and one loses a bit of manhood with every stale compromise to the authority of any power in which one does not believe" May be, it is this thought that made him continue with his pursuit of teaching and learning, for long and keep away from the eccentric world where people who indulge in idiosyncrasies continue to reign.

 I have been following the world of Bals closely, for about three decades now. I have seen him as a young colleague in Reserve Bank of India. I have also seen him as a Member of Faculty of an educational institution continuously engaged in the pursuit of learning himself and imparting knowledge to others. His commitment to pedagogy took him to the job as Director of Academic Affairs of the Indian Institute of Banking & Finance, which he thoroughly enjoys today.

 Bala's journey has been continuous, long, tough but yet productive and rewarding. He never seemed to have unreasonable demands on life. He has been a soul invariably satisfied with what he got, not allowing himself to fall a prey to the world around him-the world of fierce competition, animosity and passion for power. He preferred to be one among the crowd and a detached spectator of life and its experiences and an advocate of philosophical contemplations rather than just a human being with a materialistic outlook on life and a middle class background.

 I never knew that my friend, Bala nurtured thoughts of unfathomable wisdom which could put many of his contemporaries to shame. I am sure the fire within him should have been burning for long, before it could shape into writings which have taken wings to spread light into the dark contours of the minds of those who lived with the mundane world of ambitions coupled with hallucinations and unfulfilled desires which often ended up with frustrations. Truly, Bala starts his new book with Tolstoy's statement that “Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself”.

"Living/Leaving Gracefully, is an artistic piece of literature which contains Bala's own prologue wherein he deals in detail on exit strategy, graceful and ungraceful actions, living and leaving gracefully to finally sum up to say that "Everything on earth is positive and at that even a stopped watch is right twice a day". He has, in fact pleaded for the need to be "Gentle, Reasonable, Amiable, Compassionate and Empathetic” to have a better tomorrow which could help Indians lead the world. The book is also blended with articles by well known personalities comprising Dr.N.K.Thingalaya, Prof. R.D.Pandya, Dr.K.M. Bhattacharya, Shri DPSarda, Dr.K.B.L.Mathur, Dr.N.A.Mujumdar, Dr. Yerram Raju and Shri Subramanian Swamy. These articles go well with Bala's thoughts as they all reflect an urge not only to live and leave gracefully but also spread the message, thus making the world a better place to live in, for generations to come.

 Bala's book is the story of people who tread the sands of desert seeking oasis and forget to set forth once reaching there. They have no compassion for the others who are yet on their way fighting the desert storms as they don't yet know that to deny yourself is "godly" and make way for others is "heavenly". The beauty and the strength of the book lies in its narrative simplicity while it still detonates an explosive force towards unfolding the intricacies of human relationships and restoring their balance.

Every few decades a book is published that changes the lives of the readers forever. This book is one such addition which a reader would like to experience and live with. Sharing it with others would be the best service one could ever indulge in, as the author here is a person who thinks, lives and acts differently and who practices truthfully the tenets enunciated in his book.

(Dr. T.C. Nair),Whole Time Member, Securities and Exchange Board of India, Mumbai

29.11.2007

Some subjects and writings have no time limit. One such is the above one. Reader will be benefited by such thoughts any time, any where.  

Be happy. Be safe.

ॐ

7AM