This was a speech delivered by Justice Nagarjuna Reddy, High Court of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, on April 12th 2015, at waltair auditorium, Vizag. I was inspired by his speech and want toad and put in my version to the speech.

He while delivering his speech mentioned that he was very deeply moved and inspired by a speech of swami Vivekananda. The speech goes as follows,

“God has not given me anything I asked for.

When I asked him for strength, he gave me difficulties.

When I asked him for happiness, he showed me people who were not happy.

When I asked him for peace and love, he gave me situations to find them.

When I asked him for job, he showed me a path to work hard.

When I asked him for help, he gave me people to help for.

He has not given me anything I wanted, but he has given me everything I needed to get what I wanted!”

He concluded his speech saying thus that faith is so powerful that it can even move mountains!

These words are true because you become strong only when you face difficulties,

You become what you are today based on your past experiences, that is the reason why people ask us to pray when we are in problems not that they will be solved but we will get the courage and solution to solve them.

So don’t be sad that god gave you troubles and troubles n your life just be happy that he wants you to excel and become more than what you are today and that god is taking personal care in shaping you up by his own hands.

It Happened to me.

When I was studying degree I used to stay in a hostel. It has been 4 years since I have stayed here. Made many friends, had bitter experiences, hated some people. I even felt wrong trusting few friends hated the place for backstabbing natured people. But I had to change my perception one day. In the month of December 2014, when the virus called swine-flu was rampantly spreading in India, I was in my native place; my cousin who lived in the same hostel with me was suffering from cold and severe throat pain. He was very weak and needed someone to take him to hospital. He knows nobody there except for me. He rang me up and asked me to help him out. I made a few calls and 2 of my friends agreed to take him to the hospital. It was late in the night that day and my friend sharath took him to a hospital where the doctors after seeing the condition of my cousin said, “I think it is a case of swine-flu it is better you take him to government hospital”. It was a time where many people died of swine-flu. It was mid-night and my cousin was at his wits end, me and my family were very tensed and afraid of the news. We didn’t know what to do. This is the point where my perception about this city changed and made me relish the memories and good days I had in this city with my friends. My friend then took my cousin to the government hospital that night not caring about what will happen to him if he accompanies my cousin. He just told me “as long as I am there I won’t leave him. Whatever it is I will take him, get him treated and look after his well being until you return” these words gave me that joy, happiness, courage and hope that there is still good and people are good, it is just that they didn’t get the opportunity to choose their side. At that moment I realized the true essence of the quote “a friend in need is a friend indeed”. And if “you do good, say good, you will listen good”

Once upon a time there lived a wealthy merchant in the village Vettipan. He was the richest person in the village. All the people revered him for his talent and wealth which made the merchant prouder day by day. Finally this madness reached to such a level that he started looking down on people who were not well off. His behavior became nasty day by day. He would not listen to anyone. When anyone objected to his behavior he would say that he is the undisputed monarch in the village and he can do anything because he is a wealthy man and he doesn’t care what others think. He felt that he only is fit to be respected and there is no need for him to respect others who are working under him or who are not well off.

Though the merchant was proud, he was very good at heart, but his wealth made him blind. The merchant’s wife was not at all like him. She was very gentle and people loved her for her hospitality towards everyone.

The Merchant’s wife was very afraid and worried that one day the whole village will soon boycott them because of the merchant’s attitude towards the people. She pleaded the merchant many a times to change his ways and also questioned him many times that why he has become such a selfish nasty creature. He would just say that if money is there nothing else is required and what happens if these people go. There are many people to come and work for money. It doesn’t change anything. We have money and we can hire people to get our work done.

The merchant’s wife prayed a lot to gods to change him and her prayers were answered soon enough.

One day when the merchant was sleeping in his farmhouse. He had a very strange dream that night.

A goddess came into his dream and asked “what will happen if you remove a few workers who are under your employment?”

The merchant replied “Nothing will happen. They will find a new job and I can replace them with some other people.”

The goddess asked another question “what happens if I remove your fingers one by one without any reason? Will you find new fingers? Or replace yours with some other’s fingers?”

The merchantin a fit of rage answered “Are you mad? If I lose my fingers how will I work? Every finger is needed for me to work. And what is the relation between fingers and people? There is no relation between the both of them.”

“So be it” saying thus the goddess vanished from his dream and the merchant woke up thinking that it was such a weird dream.

In the morning one of the workers came to the merchant requesting for a hike in his pay to which the merchant said “I already pay you so much. You don’t even work properly. This is what you will get. You can continue to work or you can leave. But as you have raised your voice against me I have changed my mind and decided to fire you. Now you can leave and search for another job.”

How much ever the worker requested the merchant didn’t relent on his decision. The worker left in tears. The whole day passed on uneventful.

In the evening all the workers left home and the merchant also left for his home. On his way back in palanquin, the palanquin bearers after going some distance requested the merchant to give them some time to relax because they were tired and the weight is also too heavy. The merchant denied them any rest and asked them to walk faster so that he can reach home earlier and they can take rest once they reach.

The palanquin bearers speeded up their movement fearing their master’s wrath. After sometime one of the palanquin bearers stumbled upon a rock and fell down. As a result the other three lost balance and fell down throwing the master down.

In his fit of rage he fired all of them and asked them to not show their faces again in his life.

The merchant reached home very late in the night injured by the fall. He was very tired and went to sleep immediately.

He was in a deep sleep when he felt he heard something. He felt someone was calling him. He was disturbed from his slumber and very angrily got up to see who it was disturbing his slumber. He woke up to find his wife weeping calling his name. He didn’t understand what was going on. He was about to wake up but he was unable to move his hands. He tried again but failed. He wondered what happened to him and brought his hands forward and to his horror he found out that all his fingers on one hand had been chopped off. He started shouting out in pain and sorrow. He couldn’t understand what was going on and how did all this happen.

Nobody had any idea or reason to tell him.

Word spread in the village that the merchant was cursed for his deeds by some witch and that whoever will work for him will have the same fate. Slowly people stopped working at the merchants business. People stopped buying things from him. Life started to become tough and difficult to him as he had to do things by one hand.

Days passed by, months passed by and slowly all but merchant and his wife were left out. All their wealth disappeared. They both struggled to make ends meet.

A day came when they had nothing left except for the clothes which they were wearing.

The merchant decided to go out to the next village and look out for a new job so they can sustain themselves.

He was on his search for a job and while walking through the jungle he felt very tired. His feet demanded rest. So he settled down under a big banyan tree and decided to take a small nap.

While sleeping the only thing which he got in his mind was only if he had a chance to change things back as they were. Only if he had listened to the goddess that day things would have been much better and different today.

After sometime he woke up and was on his way to look out for a job.

He reached a small village called Vishwanamak.

There he thought that he would try his luck. He strolled in the streets and found a sign board in front of a shop saying they are in need of workers.

He immediately entered the shop to offer his services and try his luck.

As soon as he entered the shop to offer his services he stopped in his steps. He couldn’t believe his eyes. He saw there at the counter the same servant who used to work under him and the very same person who was fired by him just because he asked him to increase his wages. He was bitten hard by what he saw. The servant seeing the merchant recognized him immediately and came running to offer his greetings to him. He said “Welcome to my humble home master. What brings you here? Please be seated. All this which you are seeing is all your blessing. That day if it was not for you, I would never have left the village in search of a new job and would never have been in the position in which I am today.”

The merchant was dumbstruck. He couldn’t find words to talk. He could only muster courage to spit out the words. “I came here looking for a job”.  He later explained all that has happened to him.

The servant humbly bowed to the merchant and said. “Sire all this is yours. It is your wealth and is at your command. You don’t need to work at all. This is your shop. You can take my place. I am very willing to offer my services to you.”

The merchant was moved. He had tears in his eyes. He didn’t know what to say. Here was a man offering his life to an unworthy lousy person, who never cared for him.

The merchant couldn’t accept this offer and said he had to leave. The servant pleaded a lot to take his place but “I not the right and worthy person to sit on it. It is all your hard work that you are here today and it is not because of me. It is you who worked hard to come to this position. It is too much for me. I cannot accept it.” Said the merchant.

After a while the merchant decided to leave. He took leave from the servant and was about to leave when the servant handed him a few gold coins saying “please accept this humble gift from your loyal servant.”

The merchant was all set to leave and was passing through the jungle. It was night time and vey dark. The merchant was not able to see properly. On his way back a few dacoits robbed him of the gold coins along with other belongings.

The merchant feeling doomed slowly walked home crying desperately.

As he was walking home four horsemen came galloping fast in his direction. He was afraid that they might have come to rob him too. To his surprise the horses came to a halt and the merchant was greeted by their leader. He was surprised to hear a familiar voice.  It was one of his palanquin bearers’ whom the merchant has fired. When he looked up he was shocked to find them all in royal uniforms. They asked him what’s the matter and the merchant narrated his whole story to them. The riders were very happy to see their old master but very sad to see him in such a bad condition. They told him that on that day when they were fired. They were walking back home through this jungle when they heard someone shouting for help. The king’s daughter was being kidnapped by a few dacoits so that they can get huge ransom; they fought the dacoits fearlessly and saved the princess. As a result the king being very happy made them the royal guards of the princess and also the made them in charge to look after dacoits.

They promised the merchant that those thugs will be caught and brought to justice and that his belongings will be returned very soon.

The merchant returned home and narrated the whole set of events to his wife. She just hoped that they will get back the money so that they can live a few more weeks till they can find a new job.

The merchant went to sleep thinking how well these men’s lives have been transformed into because of his arrogance but yes he lost very honest men too. He thought that if only he had a chance to apologize to them and make things right.

The next day in the morning he was aroused from his sleep by the voice of his wife. He could see a few people in front of his house. When he went there he saw the palanquin bearers standing there with his belongings and the dacoits.

They arrested the thugs and brought back his belongings. He thanked them profusely and also asked them to forgive him for his arrogant behavior in the past and the injustice he did to them.

They said that they are the persons who have to thank him because if it was not for him they wouldn’t have been in such a great position.

The merchant was very happy as he got his belongings back and with that money he can start his business afresh. He made preparations to leave in the morning the next day so that he might know which place is the best place to start working.

That night again he dreamt of the goddess. She came to him and said “I am happy that you have learnt your lesson. Hope now you understand that just as every finger is important for you to work, every person in your life is important.”

“Thank you very much goddess for making me realize the truth. From now on I promise that I will never ever ill treat any person and value each of them irrespective of their position in the society”

“I can give you back your fingers since you have learnt your lesson” said the goddess to which the merchant replied “No I am happy with my hand being like that because from now on whenever I see them I will be reminded of the things that happened and will not alter my course to the past.”

The goddess was pleased with the merchant’s reply and granted him that till his death he will prosper in life and will be revered as a great man wherever he goes.”

Moral: “What work you do is not important. Whether you are a professional, rich person or you are a very poor person sweeping the roads. Every person and every profession is equally important to sustain in life just like the five fingers on our hand. Each has its own significance yet you cannot do any work properly if any one finger is missing.”

Once upon a time there lived a pesky little fellow named Rohan. He was always a mess and created trouble to his family, being the only child to his parents his father loved him a lot and gave him the maximum freedom to enjoy, which was the only sorrow to his mother because he was being spoilt brat day by day.

Rohan loved to play and enjoy the life to the fullest extent because he thought it is only one life and life doesn’t always gives you the opportunity to live it. He loved his family a lot and they do love him but they always ended up in quarreling because of Rohan’s acts. He felt his family never loved him. It would have been better if he was an orphan or it’s a waste to live and there is no use of him to live any longer because the people whom he loved the most don’t care at all. He always had people around him but he felt lonely and alone. To hurt him more when his relatives loved his sisters more and taunted him saying “see your sisters how well disciplined and educated they are why can’t you be like them”. This was when he felt that he has had enough of it and one fine day when he can he will leave this family forever because he is unwanted and not loved her. But he didn’t know that he will be proved wrong one day and that one day come soon enough.  Read the Story to know what changed Rohan’s Life.

“Rohan are you done with your homework or still playing around with your friends?!!!!!!” shouted Rohan’s mother. “Mom I am going out to play and yes I have completed my homework. I will come back in the evening. Byeeee!!!!”

In the evening,

“Rohan enough of playing now come back upstairs immediately and complete your homework” shouted his mother in a stern voice.

“I already told you mom that I have completed the homework”, protested Rohan.

“Then who will do the math & science homework and English assignment?” replied his mother.

Rohan hated math to the core because he never was able to understand the formulas nor was he able to understand the addition and substractions, he also hated his math teacher because they* used to hate him and was always the most punished student in that period. And coming to science and English Rohan was afraid of his science teacher because she was a terror tsunami herself and punished brutally whoever doesn’t listen to her. He also hated the subject because it was boring and not practical at all but that is not the case with English, Rohan was the teacher’s pet. He loves to read stories and novels and because of this habit his English was good compared to his classmates which made him proud to show off his superiority.

“Oh mom, please I just came home after playing for so many hours, I am very tired please will do the homework tomorrow in the morning, pleaassssseeeeeeeeeeeeee…………….”

“Ok then come and have dinner then go to bed immediately, there is no point in making you study when you don’t want to, but mind you I will wake you up at 6 in the morning.”

That night after all of them slept Rohan sneaked into the kitchen took an onion and cut it into small slices. He took the slices with him to bed and shoved them under his sleeve. The night went on. It was time to wake up in the morning, Rohan’s mother came to wake him up and was surprised to find Rohan with high fever, she shook him up calling “Rohan, Rohan wake up don’t you want to do your homework?”

“Mom please am not feeling well am having a headache and feeling feverish please let me sleep for sometime”

“Ok sleep for some time you really seem to have a high fever I will give you a tablet have it and sleep. Your temperature must get down in a few hours then you can go to school.”

Rohan was shocked. His plan was foiled now he has to do something so that he can skip school today because he had not done his homework at all!

He thought of a plan.

It was 8:30 in the morning; mom came to wake him up. Rohan slowly got up and went to the bathroom to fresh up. He was very careful that there were no traces of onions in his bed or else his mom might get suspicious.

After he entered the bathroom he immediately got rid of the onions. He started brushing his teeth, and then suddenly an idea struck his brain!!!! He took the tongue cleaner and began cleaning his tongue rapidly until”quaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaackkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk awaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaacccccccccccccckkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk uhhuhhh awaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaakkkkk”

“Rohan what happened are you okay son?”

“No mom, aaaaaackkkkkk, am feeling dizzy and drowsy. I vomited the whole food I had last night. And am feeling very weak”

“Ok then fine. Now as it is done take bath quick and come out eat something and go to sleep, you need rest”

This was what Rohan was waiting for the whole time from the morning a legal permission to bunk the school!

The day passed Rohan enjoyed the whole day as he missed the school and no need to think about his homework’s.

Next day when he went to school he had a shock of his life all his efforts were in vain! He got to know that the whole school went to a picnic yesterday and his teachers have told them that they will check the homework’s today!!!!!!

He had to act fast!

Math’s period: Rohan show me your homework.

“Madam I am sorry to say but I did do the homework but forgot the book in my home. Please give me the time today will show you the homework tomorrow please.”

Teacher: get out of the class and kneel down and bring the book tomorrow.

“Phew! Done with one period 2 more to go think fast Rohan……..” thought Rohan to himself.

English period

Teacher: Rohan where is your notes have you done the assignment?

“Ma’am am sorry ma’am I did the homework the day before yesterday only but Kalyan* has took my book and he forgot to bring it today, if you don’t believe me ask him “replied Rohan

Teacher: “why do you always lie Rohan? I know that you have not done your homework and kalyan is just bluffing. I don’t believe you. Now show me the book or I will have to punish you”

“Ma’am if you don’t believe me I will tell you all the answers for your questions” and true to his word he did tell all correct answers to the questions.

“Sit down but I want the answers in your book tomorrow and don’t forget to bring it tomorrow and don’t be absent as usual understood?”

“Ok ma’am”

It was lunch time after English period and his opportunity to escape school so that he can miss the science class! Rohan rushed to the gate and within no time he was out of school and on roads exploring mother India, at least that is what Rohan tells when his friends ask what you do after you bunk the school.

After that slowly he went home and when he was about to enter the house he found his mom in front of the door  holding the same shirt which he was wearing yesterday morning before bath. He started feeling the heat in the air just then his mom asked “what’s this in your shirt Rohan?” pointing out to pieces of onions left out in his shirt under his sleeve.

Rohan was now in a fix his mischief has been caught red handed. He had no other option now but to tell the truth. He narrated the whole story to his mom and was given a sound thrashing. Rohan left home in tears and stormed off in anger. He felt his family hated him.

He cried for a long time.

He thought “why don’t my mom and dad don’t understand that I hate studies and studying why don’t they let me do things which I like and love to do? Why do they always have a problem with whatever I do? I guess because they don’t love me. They always want me to study and study like any other kid.  They are fond of neighbor kids than me. Why?”

All his doubts and agonies came to an end. That was when……………

Rohan was now in the end of his 10^th class his parents were worried about his results and performance they kept telling him that if he is going to fail this time they will stop allowing him to play outside and throw him in a hostel.

Results were out and he passed with 60% for which his parents were satisfied but not happy. He was expecting them to be happy and that he won’t be taken to hostel but his fears turned out to come true.

There was a serious family discussion going on and it was concluded clearly and strictly that Rohan has to study in hostel the rest of his higher education and no matter what and whatever the reasons he gave they didn’t concede to his pleas and requests.

This made Rohan mad and his doubts clear that his family hates him. He started avoiding talking to his sisters and parents. He stopped eating food properly, stopped staying at home and started being outside playing with friends more. When asked why he was doing like this he just says that as he no longer is needed at home, he no longer has the obligation to answer their questions.

Finally after 2 months the day has come when he was to be dropped off at hostel. Then something happened which changed Rohan’s perception about his family. This made him change a lot and his life.

The night before he was to go to the hostel Rohan was not able to sleep. He woke up to drink some water. He felt that someone was calling him. He slowly went in the direction of the sound and was moved by what he saw. He saw his mother and sisters sitting on the floor crying and praying god to forgive them and Rohan for all the sins they have done and to show him a path to life. He was moved by these words the most:

“Oh GOD please I love my son and cannot bear to be parted from him, but I am not left with an option because I want him to be happy not just now but in future. I cannot bear to see him in pain please lighten his sorrow and protect him. I cannot live without him and cannot live without seeing the smile on his face.”

“Please GODS do take care of our dear brother, he is small and innocent he doesn’t know anything nor does he have anyone other than us. Please protect our dear brother and bring him back home soon as a strong loving person.”

This scene in front of his eyes left him astounded. He never realized that he meant so much for his family. He cried and cried till he had no idea when he stopped crying and slept.

The next day when he was about to go, he promised his parents that he will try to become at least the least of what they expect him to become and try to make them proud. And that is what he did he lived up to his word studied hard and became a responsible person. He understood that life can be much happier doing things which the people whom you love ask you to do. His perception changed and he lived happily doing the same mischief but the only difference is his family no longer hates him or his mischief.

Rohan realized that people don’t hate you because you are doing something wrong but you are doing things which they don’t like, they scold you not because they hate you but because they care for you. And if you do things according to them then you can have your way with them.

* Rohan changed a lot of schools just because he hated mathematics and bunked their classes.

* Kalyan was Rohan’s best friend in school and a partner in crime o his!