Leadership, Committment and Passion!

“We are the hero of our own story. ”
— Mary McCarthy

---------------------------------------------
The Local Committee President
AIESEC Chandigarh

15 December 2007

Dear Apurav

With this letter, I wish to inform you of my intent to apply for the position of Local Committee President 2008-09 for AIESEC in Chandigarh.

This decision takes me back to the day that I joined AIESEC back in August 2005. The image of the person addressing us and trying to make us believe what an amazing world we had just entered, that image is stuck in mind, it was Piyush Suri, LCP 2005-06. At that point of time, he symbolized what I wanted to be, not who I wanted to be, but what I wanted to do and how. He represented the hope, that all of us have something bigger than ourselves that we are capable of doing.

Having completed almost two and a half years in AIESEC, and experienced two VP terms, I have lived a lifetime in itself with its ups and downs, learnings and failures, successes and disappointments, friendships and misunderstandings. I look back at 2005 for the amazement of having found a treasure, 2006 for having learnt so much more about my city, my country, and the whole world - the economy, the culture and the role I am to play, 2007 for unlearning a lot of things that I learnt in 2006, for becoming a lot more expressive and confident of my opinions, accepting varied perceptions and that same time drawing my own conclusions of everything, of the future.

Today, I find myself at a point where I need to make a decision about not only next year, but possibly about my life's direction, conventionally speaking. It is clear to me that I wish to continue in AIESEC, that is something that I realized at IC this year, and it remains. Before I could answer at what level I should be at, I chose and internalized the way I would want to be as an AIESECer, and it is clear to me that if there is a time and a place to make the change, and to do the things that I stand for, it is here and it is now, its in AIESEC Chandigarh - what I have known as a second family and which is the foundation level of AIESEC internationally, its an LC and this one.

Kindly accept my candidature.

Regards
--
Manveer S. Grewal
Vice President ICX (Development Sector)
AIESEC Chandigarh
-------------------------------------------------
The decision has been made, and it feels like this is how it was to happen. I don't feel happy or excited or good, I feel like one feels about breathing, about sleeping and waking up, about laughing and crying, I feel so alive and ready!

I don't believe in destiny, and I don't believe too much in carving your own future either, there is something bigger than both that drives us, and its provides the strength and the courage one needs to walk on; sometimes for things you deserve, sometimes for things you desire, and sometimes for things which you both deserve and desire but find it hard to leap for. That force comes in many forms; in form of people (what they express and what they do) and most importantly it comes from you - from the depths of the eternity that exists inside, and makes challenges seem smaller, because nothing is bigger than who you are. As long as I know that the outer purpose I define for myself is only a manifestation of the awareness that I am, I will be able to drive down action and change that would be efficient, ethical, sustainable and purposeful!

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
— Marianne Williamson

Time don't exist!

This could be the after-math of having finished reading Siddhartha (by Herman Hesse), but its an insight into a new dimension of thinking so I might as well embrace it, like I say - at-least its something to do.

Recently on a news channel, saw a news story about a 82-year-old Sikh gentleman and his wife who has been fighting the judicial system, pushing for investigation regarding the death of their son who died 22 years ago. He was found dead in an apartment in Chandigarh, and the case was labeled as a suicide by the police. His father has been able to get CBI to re-open the case, there is no conclusion yet, but he is fighting on. Made me wonder whether he cares that its been 22 years, whether he ever even thinks about giving up. In his own words, he feels lucky to have been able to pursue it.

Another story took us to a small village in Uttar Pradesh, where the residents are roasting rats for food because there is none.

No, lets not get all sentimental here, thats what I do, I put this up here to generate other emotions and possibly action - do something, get out of your comfort zones, morons!

I am always asking Harveen how she manages these very superficially exciting things to happen to her all the time (yes, I remember the title, it shall be justified). The past few days however, I was on a roll myself, being in the 'decision' mode could be one of reasons I was looking at things from, well, a point of humour!

Lets start with my favourite:
"Sometimes, it doesn't matter what you think" - I (sans sarcasm) declare this the best piece of advice I have ever received. And even better, it was followed by "Nothing matters (pause) And everything matters". Indeed Sir.

Then, I found myself yesterday at a shop where I often went as a kid, the owner's kids studied in the same school as I, and we engaged in conversation around the school, the future (he as a parent, and I as someone in the middle of the life his kids would once be in), and which chocolate I should buy. I wasn't even sure if he would recognize me, but he asked,

" So, what happening these days?".
And I said , "Completing graduation next year."
"Preparing for MBA then?" he was being predictable.
"No, I am not sure, one should never be at this age" I smiled.
"Ah! You've always been an honest one."
Right. I like him for saying it, and for reminding me that I am after-all the same as I was as a kid, and for the hope that when it comes to his sons, he will be able to accept their decisions as coolly.

Another thing, I noticed, is someone losing an inhibition within a few minutes. And then he was just himself, as if he was always like that, I thought myself foolish for even remembering that he has a certain hesitancy before, for he certainly did not care to know!

I conclude that time is a dimension in the mind, and the possibility that it doesn't exist at all is as much as the Weapons of Mass Destruction.

PS A Tibetan Monk (considered somewhat the Leonardo Da Vinci of Tibet) invented the clock, a helicopter, etc and then destroyed it, saying it will only cause further distraction.

PSS Decisions must be made, but for once one must think without keeping time in mind, it can be the x factor.

Past lives

" Sail forth, steer for the deep waters only,
Reckless O soul, exploring,
I with thee, and thou with me."

In another life-time I could have been a sailor. Perhaps, I was.
Its said that water existed before time, before history began. Perhaps, so did we.

The image is incomplete and perfect, it appeared on paper through my hands, not my mind, something that managed to flow and not be thought of. And I super-imposed what I could not make.
I will miss being a parent. Perhaps, I should be one; again.

Prophecy of purpose

"One fine day, a purely predatory world shall consume itself. Yes, the devil shall take the hindmost until the foremost is the hindmost. In an individual, selfishness uglifies the soul; for human species, selfishness is extinction.
...
If we believe that humanity may transcend tooth & claw, if we believe divers races & creeds can share this world as peaceably as the orphans share their candlenut tree, if we believe leaders must be just, violence muzzled, power accountable & the riches of the Earth & its Oceans shared equitably, such a world will come to pass. I am not deceived. It is the hardest of worlds to make real.
..
A life spent shaping the world I want Jackson [his son] to inherit, not one I fear Jackson shall inherit, this strikes me as a life worth the living.
...
He who would do battle with the many-headed hydra of human nature must pay a world of pain & his family must pay it along with him! & only as you gasp your dying breath shall you understand, your life amounted to no more than one drop in a limitless ocean!
...
Yet what is any ocean but a multitude of drops?"

- From: The Pacific Journal of Adam Ewing (Cloud Atlas by David Michell)