YOGA- INDIA'S GIFT TO THE WORLD

It was a lazy evening of 27th in the month of september 2014 , when the recently democratically elected prime minister of india , shri narendra modi was addressing the United nations General Assembly at New York. he had just won a historic election with thumping majority and a popular mandate. He had taken the world by storm in that short period of 4 months since he had assumed with his exemplary governance and tough economic and social measures which garnered attention from top leaders of the world and he started getting identified among them . the speech at the UNGA was expected to be just like any other speech at the world stage wherein you only reverberate with general consensus and do not make any major statements. after addressing on many world issues , he stated :

'' Yoga is an invaluable gift of India's ancient tradition. It embodies unity of mind and body; thought and action; restraint and fulfillment; harmony between man and nature; a holistic approach to health and well-being. It is not about exercise but to discover the sense of oneness with yourself, the world and the nature. By changing our lifestyle and creating consciousness, it can help in well being. Let us work towards adopting an International Yoga Day.''

it was monumental to say the least to propose on a world forum , an ancient practice of exercise for wellness-''YOGA''.

International day of yoga was proposed to be observed on 21st of june , as it is the longest day of the year in the northern hemisphere . today is the 3rd edition and is only become more popular from the earlier years and has reached epic proportions with over 150 countries participating and observing it. a really proud moment for an average indian like me.

AFTERLOGUE: last month , my wife and me had been to hanoi, vietnam for a short holiday. after a long transit in bangkok , and a sleepless flight , we landed at hanoi and just wanted to get done with the immigration clearance , find our guide and get to the hotel and hit the sack BUT , the immigration in hanoi had a looooong queue thanks to 3 flights landing within minutes of each other.
behind me there was a fellow indian totally lost like alice in wonderland and trying to understand what needs to be done to clear immigration. out of curiosity , i asked him if he needed help and help he needed.

He spoke in hindi and asked me 'ab kya karna hai?' meaning what to do now?

I helped him with filling of forms , etc and in the wait for our turn , i asked him 'what brought him to vietnam?'.

He definitely did not appear to have come on a leisure trip.

His name was Rajpal and was from a small village/town in Uttar Pradesh called Amethi ( famous for its local politicians ) and had come here on work.

I asked him 'what work ?'.

he said "yoga instructor" . i was surprised !!!

' yoga , really??'

' yes' , he said and showed me his appointment order from military of vietnam .

They had employed a indian graduate in yoga for training their military personnel!!! and here we are trying to add a a religious color and demean a pure science called YOGA for political reasons.

YOGA- TRULY , INDIA'S GIFT TO THE WORLD!!

pictures credit courtesy : anjali kamath rao