Six lessons to learn from Bhagat Singh's life

First things first: Bhagat Singh DID NOT die on Valentine's Day.

Much as your Twitter friends would like you to believe that the revolutionary along with Sukhdev and Rajguru was hanged on February 14, the truth is that the three were executed on March 23, 1931 -- exactly 80 years ago from today.

Bhagat Singh was all of 23 when he was sentenced to the gallows. That's about the age when many of us start our lives. So what is it that we can learn from the revolutionary's life?

Without sounding preachy, here are a few things we can actually learn from his life.

1. Be your own person

There are larger lessons to learn from what happened on Twitter last month. Some genius decided that Bhagat Singh and co were hung on Valentine's Day and what followed was complete mayhem, with people singing praises of the men without so much as checking their facts first.

Sure, it's always easy to follow the mob. But it's also easy to get lost in the crowd, isn't it?

Be your own person. Don't follow the crowd just because they believe they're going in the right direction. Bhagat Singh could've well taken the beaten path. He didn't. That's one of the reasons why we're even talking about him 80 years after his death!

2. Find a purpose in life

Yes, we can see you cringe in your seat. No, we're not asking you to join the army or become a social servant.

Remember the time you were asked in that job interview about where you see yourself in the next five years?

That's the interviewer wanting to know if you have a purpose in your life. So ask yourself this question too.

For his age, Bhagat Singh knew precisely what he wanted out of life and got it. Not too much to ask of oneself either no?

3. Follow that purpose with passion

To what extent can you go to achieve your goal?

Can you go hungry for days or stay sleep deprived for hours to meet your aim?

How persistent are you following up on the targets you've set for yourself -- they could be as simple as losing weight or getting to a certain point in your career.

All successful people will tell you that they didn't get to where they are without struggle. And we are also speaking about people like Ratan Tata who are born with a silver spoon in their mouth.

Learn to go the whole hog, struggle and fight because there is pretty much no other way to be successful.

4. Procreation isn't the only thing you're born to do

Bhagat Singh never got married. He never had children either.

As difficult as it might be to believe, there is much more in life than to getting married and birthing children.

And again we don't mean you should take a broom and sweep the streets. Put the time and money you conserve to better use.

Adopt a child rather than have one of your own. We are a country of a heck of a lot of children. Adding another one to the population isn't helping anyone!

5. Read

If some estimates are to be believed, Bhagat Singh is said to have read about 300 books while he was imprisoned from April 8, 1929, to March 23, 1931.

Popular accounts also tell us that up until moments before he was to be executed, he was reading Lenin and asked the executioners to wait till he finished the book.

As cliched as it may sound, books open far more doors than you can imagine. So go beyond 140 characters and read.
Be aware -- politically and socially

Who is the governor of your state? Who is the vice president of India? If you find yourself answering these two simple questions without hitting a Google search, pat yourself on your back.

If not, maybe it's time you take a good hard look at yourself. Simply being good at your job isn't enough. Be aware of the world around you. It's the least you can do.

6. Take up a social cause

Giving back is the new black!

So jump on the bandwagon and do something for the country that has done so much for you.

Little things matter much -- adopt a stray, visit children’s home, visit your ageing neighbours. Really, it isn't very difficult.

Fundamental Rights

In our day to day busy life, we tend to forget our basic fundamental rights. Hence, just a recap.

The Constitution offers all citizens, individually and collectively, some basic freedoms. These are guaranteed in the Constitution in the form of six broad categories of Fundamental Rights, which are justiciable. Article 12 to 35 contained in Part III of the Constitution deal with Fundamental Rights. These are:

1. Right to equality, including equality before law, prohibition of discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth, and equality of opportunity in matters of employment;
2. Right to freedom of speech and expression, assembly, association or union, movement, residence, and right to practice any profession or occupation (some of these rights are subject to security of the State, friendly relations with foreign countries, public order, decency or morality);
3. Right against exploitation, prohibiting all forms of forced labour, child labour and traffic in human beings;
4. Right to freedom of conscience and free profession, practice, and propagation of religion;
5. Right of any section of citizens to conserve their culture, language or script, and right of minorities to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice; and
6. Right to constitutional remedies for enforcement of Fundamental Rights.

KASHMIR

A Kashmiri, a reporter and a tough old soldier were captured by terrorists in Kashmir. The leader of the terrorists told them he'd grant each of them one last request before they were beheaded and dragged naked through the streets.

The Kashmiri said, 'Well, I'm a foodie, so I'd like one last plate of tandoori chicken.'

The leader nodded to an underling who left and returned with the Chicken.

The tourist ate it all and said, 'Now I can die content.'

The reporter said, 'I'm a reporter to the end. I want to take out my tape recorder and describe the scene here and what's about to happen. Maybe, someday, someone will hear it and know that I was on the job till the end.'
The leader directed an aide to hand over the tape recorder and the reporter dictated his comments.

He then said, 'Now I can die happy.'

The leader turned to the soldier and asked, 'And now, Havaldarji, what is your final wish?

'Kick me in the ass,' said the soldier.


'What?' asked the leader, 'Will you mock us in your last hour?'

'No, I'm NOT kidding. I want you to kick me in the ass,' insisted the soldier.

So the leader shoved him into the yard and kicked him in the ass.

The soldier went sprawling, but rolled to his knees, pulled a 9 mm pistol from inside his cammies and shot the leader dead. In the resulting confusion, he emptied his sidearm on six terrorists, then with his knife he slashed the throat of one, and with an AK-47, which he took from one of the already dead terrorists, sprayed the rest of the terrorists killing another 11. In a flash, all of them were either dead or fleeing for their lives.


As the soldier was untying the Kashmiri and the reporter, they asked him,

'Why didn't you just shoot them all in the first place? Why did you ask him to kick you in the ass?'

'Because' replied the soldier, 'if I had shot first, you two assholes would have reported that I was the aggressor and the root cause of all the blood shedding in Kashmir?'

... Such is the irony of Indian Democracy!!!!!!!