Damn !

Got to read this story of my old friend Rahul and i am moved to my old days.

I remember reading every line of this story sitting alone going to my office very early in the morning in my previous organisation 3 years back and still feeling the same way reading it once again.

One of the most bestest of all the most bestest stories that touched me.

Check it out HERE.

QUOTES OF RAHUL :

1. Well I am a complicated person. Till now even I am not able to understand myself. I am a person who lives on some basic terms and principles

2. Though I belong to a very modest background yet my ambitions are high and my instincts strong

3. I want to bring a positive change in the outlook of this world by taking up a work which can bring smiles to many faces.’

4. ‘Well, I want to be my own master.

5. Frankly speaking, joining IT was a big mistake.

6. IT was not my cup of tea. I don’t say it is a problem in IT. There are people who enjoy that work too. But I didn’t fit there

7. Dreams are rarely seen. I found out that there isn’t greatness in being a buffalo-with-a-dream in a large buffalo herd.

8. Time had come to revisit his foundations and realize his forsaken dreams. Time had come to ask himself the inevitable questions – “What do I want? How will I achieve it?” for which only he could find the answers.

9.  A person who has nothing to lose cannot be lost. A person who knows where he is heading cannot be lost. Well, it is possible that he can get out of his original track for a while but that doesn’t mean he is lost. Maximum a man can lose is his will to try again, to try one more time.

10. “I don’t know where I am going, but I know where I have been;
I don’t know what my vision is, but I know what I have seen…”

I have received the mail below years before and as a fresher I had enjoyed reading this one.

But after completing 4 years in IT industry and having seen the management around me , I can now realize how meaningful is the mail below.

No doubt, exactly the same thing is going on…

The concept of – Master of Knowledge – plays no role in professional world after one point

All that which speaks in the professional world is NOT your knowledge but you’re SKILL and fortunately I understand it better nowadays unlike my past.

I remember reading somewhere years before..

Knowledge is – knowing something special and you finish a job with it.

Skill is – you don`t know anything special and still you finish the job.

In professional world SKILL is power supreme. Not the Knowledge.

How you play around with the data you have to ‘PROJECT’ things. Thats it. If we master it then we are the THE manager.

‘Projection’ is the key word. The more you play with it , more interesting it becomes.

Anyways presenting the mail here..

***************************************

“My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions, loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next”

Dont mind. Just posting this after watching GLADIATOR an another time after almost an year..and yes it`s the dialogue of maximus’ and the favorite of everyone..

The air was muggy and fetid in the Long Beach Sports Arena on that summer day in 1964. The air conditioning was malfunctioning and the crowd at the international Karate Tournament was getting restless after watching hours of matches. Then Ed Parker, sponsor of the annual event, took the microphone and introduced Bruce Lee, who was to put on a demonstration of jeet-kune-do. There was an instant hush and all heads craned forward. Before his movie career began Bruce Lee was already a legend among martial arts.

Bruce walked onto the elevated boxing ring wearing a simple, black, tailor-made kung-fu uniform. He spoke quietly for a few moments about his art and then began the demonstration. It is always impressive to watch a large muscular man perform karate, overwhelming the observer with a display of sheer; vibrant power. But to me, it is even more impressive to see a slightly built man executing techniques with blinding speed, his motions as quick and elegant as those of a bird in flight.

Some weeks later a friend arranged for me to meet Bruce, from whom I hoped to take private lessons. Bruce was highly selective about the students he chose to teach, and this meeting was to be kind of audition for me.

Since he gave only private lessons and had no formal studio, the meeting was at my home. He arrived promptly and I went out into the front yard to meet him. At first glance he appeared even smaller than he looked on stage. He was wearing snug fitting, full-length athletic pants and a green tank top shirt that revealed rippling muscles. He was smiling when we shook hands, but he quickly got to the point.

‘Why do you want to study with me?’, He asked.

“Because I was impressed with your demonstration and because I’ve heard you are the best.”

“You have studied other martial arts ?” he asked.

“For a long time,” I answered, “but I stopped some time ago and now I want to start over again”

Bruce nodded and asked me to demonstrate some of the techniques I already knew. We went out to my drive way and he watched intently as I went through the various katas, or exercises, from other disciplines. Then he asked me to execute some basic kicks, blocks, and punches on a bag hanging from a rafter of the garage.

“Do you realize you will have to unlearn all you have learned and start over again?”, he asked.

”No”, I said.

Bruce smiled and placed his hand lightly on my shoulders. “Let me tell you a story my Sifu taught me,”, he said.

“It is about the Japanese Zen master who received a university professor who came to inquire about Zen.

“It was obvious to the master from the start of the conversation that the professor was not so much interested in learning about Zen as he was in impressing the master with his opinions and knowledge. The master listened patiently and finally suggested they have Tea. The master poured his visitor’s cup full and then kept on pouring.

“The professor watched the cup overflowing until he could no longer restrain himself.

‘The cup is overfull, no more will go in’

“ ‘Like this cup’, the master said, ‘You are full of your own opinions and speculations. How can I show you Zen unless you first empty your cup?’ “

Bruce studied my face. “You understand the point?”

“Yes” I said. “You want me to empty my mind of past knowledge and old habits so that I will be open to new learning.”

“Precisely,” said Bruce. “And now we are ready to begin your first lesson.”

This does not mean that Bruce prevented me from applying a critical mind to his teaching. In fact, he welcomed discussion, even argument. But when challenged too long on a point his reply was always, “At least empty your cup and try.”

It has been more than a decade since my first lesson with Bruce, and I am now in my mid-fifties. With half a century of life experience behind me, I sometimes get impatient with a new idea or technique. But when I feel impatient or act dogmatically self-assured, I remind my-self of the lesson Bruce taught me, and I try to empty my cup to make room for new methods and ideas.

- an excerpt from JOE HYAMS`s writing collections on martial arts.