Life's Greatest Lessons............... (1)

Hi,
*     Most folks learn their life's greatest lessons from the great men of the past and the present. I, though, learn my lessons from unknown and illiterate people, who I come across in my daily life. 

*     Until 1990 I  prided myself as a book lover. During a study tour to Mumbai the same year, while walking on the pathway at the Churchgate I saw a bookseller selling English fiction. In an hour at that shop I chose about half a dozen titles, mostly the bestsellers. Each one cost me about ten to twenty bucks. 

*    The man, in mid-forties, whose face I still remember rather well, placed the books on a stool and then took out some ready made transparent plastic covers of different sizes and diligently placed covers on the books chosen by me.

*    To my stupid question why was he wasting money on those covers, his simple reply was, "Sahib, I could never go to a school but these books are my source of livelihood. The transparent covers will protect them from water and dust, and moreover the book's cover is also visible. 

*    His answer left me dumbfounded, his love for books made me ponder if I was actually a better book lover than him. That man that day taught me life's one of the greatest lessons........

        "One doesn't have to literate to be a great book lover."

José Mujica.......the World's Poorest President.

Hi Guys,

*     While surfing through news channels, I saw a programme on this GREAT MAN, who is unknown outside Latin America. I thought of sharing this with you all and request you to share it further with your friends and loved ones. What a shame that presidents of the third world live like kings when millions in those countries live below poverty line.    

*      José Mujica,  is the President of Uruguay since 2010. A former guerrilla fighter and as the candidate of the Broad Front, he won the 2009 presidential election and took office as President in  March 2010.

*    Mujica was born on 20 May 1935, to Demetrio Mujica, of Spanish Basque ancestry, and Lucy Cordano, a daughter of Italian immigrants. Mujica's father was a small farmer who went bankrupt shortly before his death in 1940, when his son was five. His mother's parents were  poor immigrants from Linguria. Lucy Cordano was born in Carmelo, where her parents had bought five acres in Colonia Estrella to cultivate vineyards. Between the ages of 13 and 17, Mujica cycled for several clubs in different categories.

* In the early 1960s, he joined the newly formed Tupamaros movement, an armed political group inspired by the Cuban revolution. He participated in the 1969 brief takeover of Pando, a town close to Montevideo, and was later convicted by a military tribunal. Mujica was captured by the authorities on four occasions, and he was among those political prisoners who escaped Punta Carretas Prison in 1971. He was eventually re-apprehended in 1972, and was shot by the police six times. After the military coup in 1973, he was transferred to a military prison. In all, he served 14 years. During the 1970s, this included being confined to the bottom of a well for more than two years.

*     During his time in prison, he remained in contact with other leaders of the Tupamaros, including Frente Amplio Senator Eleuterio Fernandez Huidobro and the founder and leader of the Tupamaros, Raul Sendic. In 1985, when constitutional democracy was restored, Mujica was freed under an amnesty law that covered political and related military crimes committed since 1962.

*  In 2005, Mujica married Lucia, a fellow Tupamaro member, after many years of co-habitation. The couple has no children. Having declined to live in the opulent presidential palace, they live on an austere farm on the outskirts of Montevideo, where they cultivate chrysanthemums for sale. His humble lifestyle is reflected by his choice of an aging Beet as transport. His wife owns the farm they live on. 

*   He is "the world's 'poorest' president", due to his austere lifestyle and his donation of around 90 percent of his $12,000 (£7,500) monthly salary to charities that benefit poor people and small entrepreneurs. 

Holy Kailash- The Mount of Faith

*   Holy Kailash, located in Tibet, is the Mount of Faith 
     for billions of the Hindus the world over. Blessed 
     are those who have undertaken journey to it and 
     the Lake Man Sarovar. I, unfortunately, belong to the 

     other category.

*   So, I decide to take the easier route of visiting Kailash,
     i.e., painting it. I know it would take several efforts on
     my part to be able to pay my respect to Lord Shiva. 
     And I seek his blessings for that.

     

*   Though, my life's greatest desire remains to make a 
     visit to it............