Endless Memories

Dear Friends,

Please pardon this old man for not keying in a few words about himself…..It was just a painful ordeal that I kept postponing for months…But now, dear friends it seems from the stats on the blog that many of you have visited my –About Me- page……and found it empty. If I were you I would have felt cheated. As Daarji I love all my friends, so I intend to correct this oversight as of now.

To begin with, I absolutely agree with the scores of people that retirement is the starting point of the golden second phase of life……It is, in fact, true, that here life gives us another chance with fewer compulsions attached. Like many of us I am enjoying my ‘sunset years’ perusing my passions and doing the things that I have been wanting to, but just never had the time to do.

And there is so much to be done……and I will come to that later.

At this point in time, I am known more and more as Bebe’s husband…

Now, Bebe, my wife is the powerhouse of energy, she is the mover and placer in the family and the comptroller of accounts as well. We now live on our farm in Punjab …it is just outside our village on the Link road to the town nearby.

To be honest I kind of enjoy this laid back life here …Hmmm, after all, Bebe thinks that now after the rough and tough years of soldiering, I need to put up my feet up and take my afternoon siesta ’s basking in the sun…..Do you think I am a fool to dispute that? For now, I can happily say that it’s great to let ‘the little woman’ be in command.

Oh!  Forgive my indiscretion and appalling manners for I have not introduced myself to you as yet…

I’m Brig Ajeet Singh…Sometimes…., good heavens!!! Even I forget that I have a name.

 Everybody…just about everybody calls me Daarji, - even Bebe calls me Daarji.

Would you like to call me Daarji as well?

Now if I look back on my years in service of the nation, I fondly reminisce on my life in ‘olive fatigues’….There are so many stories to tell on valour, courage, camaraderie and sometimes plain simple humour in uniform. I would love to share these with you…someday.

Sure….. Mine was an adventurous life……mountaineering expeditions and white water rafting, Para drops and paragliding, riding and polo …we did all. Come to think of it, Bebe and I have spent a number of exciting and eventful years in the army and have travelled far and wide seeing places….making new friends for life.

The army is a life of war and peace….In peace, we prepare for war and in war, we look for peace.A strange paradox of life. However, it teaches you a lot on interpersonal relationships and its intrinsic bonds.

But then those were the days and it was a different world we grew up in….Values were ever so different. And we as a generation are responsible for the devaluation of moral standards in the way of life from the time we inherited the earth to what we leave, for the Gen Next. The 24X7 television channels chasing ‘Breaking News ‘ stories on terror cells to hard-line religious fundamentalists espousing hateful divides is all that children hear of the world around them. This sent me thinking about what is happening in the land of Baba Nanak, Buddha, Ram, Sai Baba and their lost legacy.

So …..My dear friends, it is up to us the ‘Grandparents and parents to stem the rot in little ways we can and make amends.

Storytelling is an age-old tradition in Punjab, large extended families had the comfort of having a grandparent or a grand uncle or a grand aunt who was a great storyteller. These stories for a generation had been passed down, word of mouth by these storytellers in the family, each one made it a unique experience in their own way. But with the breakup of the joint family system and young people moving across continents have created a Diaspora of displaced Punjabis who has perforce been alienated from roots.

Thus as you can see, that we have lost the traditional storytellers to winds of changing times.

As Daarji…..I am going to be the new Story teller….and fill the gap in the life of a child today by creating a fusion of e-Learning with e-Entertainment.

For the first time, I hope I will have a format which will nurture character strengths in our little children that focuses on EQ (Emotional Quotient) and the S Q (Spiritual Quotient) of young minds.

Our e-Book story is in my words as the storyteller enhanced by the magic of technology  ....visuals...animation ...sound effects.

They will be colourful and dynamic visual presentations of true stories from the historical past of Punjab depicting the vibrant character and courage of the land and its people through the ages…  All told as a fun story.

Somehow we have to it make it possible for young people to have some choices on their own spiritual journey. The aim of Spiritual Education is not to turn the minds of little ones towards any specific form of adherence, be it Christians, Jews, Hindus, Sikhs etc, but to give them a chance to see the world of multifaith religious belief …They all say the same thing and is, in fact, common to all.

I am about seventy-eight years old… now 78 is a lot of years so you could say at this point I am a retired old man who has the time to play granddad to the children world over.

I promise you that there is a good thing about getting older.

You don’t believe me?...... Okay, allow me to list a few.

•       For one….Bebe does not expect me to run -- anywhere.
•       Now, people call at 9:00 p.m. and don't think it's strange to ask, "Did      I wake    you?"
•       I do not have to try to hold my stomach in the anymore….no matter who walks into the room.
•      My investment in health insurance is finally beginning to pay off.
•       If supposing there is a hijack situation and we are taken hostage we are likely to be released first.
•     And finally, I can live without a lot of things …all I need, is my glasses… of both kind…Ha! Ha!

Good Day to all and God Bless.

If you agree with me .....drop a comment and I will be in touch with you... your inputs would be welcome.

sagesynergy@gmail.com