Setu's Blog

Just then...

2012-02-08T02:09:00.000+05:30

When you know it's the end of something,
When the heart cries for it to stay,
Just then is when all hope is lost,
For things to ever be back that way...

When the moment fades and dark engulfs you,
When the uncertainty isn't far stretched but rare,
Just then is when I want to talk to you,
Not for a moment, but a lifetime to bear...

When the eyes shudder and scream in pain,
When the tears don't talk a happy talk,
Just then is when you want to give up,
Get on your knees and pull a sad face up to walk...

When the reality is just crystal clear,
When there's none to dare and lots to fear,
Just the distant star speaks to me,
That's may be the last time, you'll ever see the tear...

When the world is collapsing to a coin,
When significance of things is a bitter lie,
Just then is a wounded heart healed,
Caressed and kissed, bitter is the last goodbye...

And when the curtains come down on the stage,
When the characters of the act come back to life,
Just then you wake up to reality,
The dream had to end, and you had to see your strife...!

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Wrote the rough copy of this poem as a draft while I was on a bus from Pune to Mumbai, 4 months ago. Made a few changes and posted it today...

The next post is coming soon...

Adios!

To Freedom, To Life.

2012-01-04T03:08:00.000+05:30

Cross-posted from Not Just The Talks.

It’s been a while since my inaugural and only post for Not Just The Talks, ‘It’s Time To Not Just Keep Talking.‘ came by. Well, to be real, a long time. All this while, I have been wanting to push forth this effort that was born in my and my friends’ minds, sometime back in March last year, but couldn’t, for some reason or the other. Regardless of that, any apologies I make today, for promising to initiate change, and then not committing to it, cannot be justified for.

Having said that, I do add that today, as I write this post, I am deeply motivated to make my efforts count, anew. This time, I won’t stop. No one can stop me. And if you join in, I know for once that you will make sure no one can stop you. Because, at the end of the day, we know that this is about not just talking, it’s about living. So, to the post for today...

Freedom. A word with a million meanings and interpretations. Never has a struggle for a better humanity, a better civilization, a better country, or a better person, even, begun without the desire of freedom, in its fundamental sense. Here, I talk about these very fundamentals, of our very century, and of our very mindset, which we seek.

To freedom from ineducation.

One of the most prevailing, and according to me, the root of all the problems we face today. Ineducation. In fact, I think that even the education that is imparted to us today, is a form of ineducation. There’s no denying that the education system we are a part of today, is terribly and incredibly flawed. And even though the law-makers and educators deny that, deep inside, even they know that it’s so.

Some may argue that Indian professionals reach the top jobs world over and have reputations like none other. About professionals, let’s get it straight, MNCs recruit Indians not because they are more knowledgeable, but because they’re easy preys to their not-so-lucrative offers, cheaper salaries, and dreams of working abroad in an MNC and making everyone in their extended families proud and jealous, over those professionals who graduate from ivy league institutions the world over. That’s a fact, everyone knows.

At the same time, I don’t doubt the intellect or the ability of Indians. I’m just pointing out the dubious situation our education system, puts us in. Also, the uneducated lot among us, the ones who are not lucky enough to experience the very basics of education, are affected worse. And that, in my opinion, is the freedom we desire and need, first.

To freedom from corruption.

Much has been said, seen, done and talked about the ‘India Against Corruption’ movement in the last 8 months. And there’s enough evidence that there’s no lacking the utter desire of change of the people of this nation. But, what are we fighting? I believe, we are fighting we are fighting our own psyche, the Indian psyche, which we have born and bred upon, which is filled with a fact we don’t think we can challenge, corruption.

Let’s face it, corruption, in its nascent and most innocent forms, is instigated into our mindsets, right from the day we understood material and monetary portions of life. It begins at toys, clothes and shoes, goes to watches and gadgets, and ends up in a funny juxtaposed monetary reality which we blame on the Governments that govern us, the bureaucrats that work for us, the judiciary that gives us justice, the police that protect our rights, and the people who try to ease our lives, everyday.

They are the sons and daughters of the same motherland. They have learnt it the way we did. And they became the masters of greed because we trained them on how to receive more, to get our work done easiest and fastest. And to the count of this day, even in the wrong-est possible ways. The freedom, the fight for corruption isn’t about one bill or one Government or a couple of Ministers, it’s about a deeply rooted comprehension of the reality forth us. That freedom, is ours to take or leave.

To freedom from social evils and social bondage.

For me, the society is any group of individuals which aims at strengthening and helping each one of them, in their own special ways. But, living in India, changes the definition to the very opposite of it, completely. We live in a society which is headed by illiterate goons who shred it into pieces on the basis of caste, creed, language, religion, sex and what not! Then, there are the religious, caste, gender implications which you ‘must’ abide by to be a part of the society that you are a part of. Otherwise, you and your family, will be thrown out of it. How fair!!

I thought secularism something we Indians were proud of. I really did. But, when I see TV commercials about websites promoting only inter-caste marriages, read about reports of dowry, Sati among other malpractices, I laugh at my own self for thinking that today morning, I woke up in a better India. In fact, even watching censored scenes from Hollywood movies, in an Adult-only movie, makes me feel about how constrained the way we Indians think, is! Freedom from this orthodox life, we sure need.

As far as I know, ‘Right to Freedom’, is a fundamental right given to us by the Honourable Constitution of India. But, we are afraid, feared. To change and to be free, from even all that we think is wrong. Because we think the system will change us, instead. I speak today, for the generations to come by, because I know that if not us, they will stand for freedom, and I would rather gift it to them than see them fight for it. I would rather fall fighting for the freedom that I deserve, than sit back and watch the world in the current avatar. I would rather have my last breath knowing that I tried, than feeling pity on my country, my motherland.

In the coming posts, I will be writing about my take on each one of these, with the solutions that I think are the steps we take to begin with, in detail, stay tuned. As for this list, it’s not a comprehensive one, but well, these are those issues which I feel are the most important.

Till then, fight for your freedom, in your own little ways. I will, too. And after a few years, if not tomorrow, we will wake up in an India we would be more proud to call ours.

For a better India, for freedom, to the death!

Acceptance.

2011-12-27T01:48:00.000+05:30

No beating around the bush tonight and saying how long it has been since my last blogpost, etc. Straight talk, no nonsense.

Let's face it. Acceptance is a tough nut to crack.

In the course of these 18 years of my life, and especially the last few months and years, I have come to realize this. Strangely, it's a fact that everyone of us knows about. Just that, very few of us can accept it. Acceptance of the acceptance? Sounds a bit weird, isn't it? Let me get clearer in saying what I'm trying to, here.

When we're children, we are used to having things our way. Our wishes, our endless rants, our innocent tears, seemed to get us whatever we want, from our parents and practically whoever was concerned! As time went by, our methods change, but, we still are keen enough to just have things our way, and no other way. We learn to hear, but not to listen and comply. The toughest thing to do, is to let go of what we 'want' and how we picture things to be, to accept something for the way it is.

Sounds like eating an ice-cream, right? But it's much more difficult. True thing.

When was the last time you fought or argued with someone? Anyone? I believe, not so long ago? The reason? The difference of opinion, their actions which hurt your feelings, their words which punched through your heart. Really?

Whom are we kidding? The fact that hurts us is not that their opinion is different, but, that they can't accept and comply by our opinions instead. The fact that hurts us is not their actions, but our desire that they wouldn't and shouldn't do that. The fact that hurts us is not that their words were hurtful, but that they were different from what you wanted and expected from them.

Long ago, I wrote a post titled 'Need, Want or Expect', this one begins from just there, where I left that one. We may understand what we need, want or expect, but, do we understand, and over that, do we respect what someone else needs, wants or expects? In this daily tryst of life, don't we stop at being who we are to accomplish all that we need, want and expect?

Face the facts. You do that. I do that. All of us, surely, at some point, every bloody day, do that.

But, we fail in 'accepting' the same. We justify ourselves to someone who gets hurt from our opinions, actions or words. But, we don't want to be justified to! We do believe that someone is wrong, but not accept that we can go wrong. We do believe that we were fair in doing what we did, but, they were wrong in doing what they did.

We have all our excuses, loaded with reasons and unending explanations, but not a ear to listen to someone else's story.

And more than it all, how far do we and would we go to accept that someone didn't do something as we expected them to, and yet, be happy and completely fine about it without adding any bitterness to the relationship we share with that person?

I know I don't. I'm a very rigid person myself. I have my own set of rules and values, which I can't and don't give up on. And I do expect those close to me, to abide by them and respect them, regardless. You answer for yourself, I won't judge.

Are we taking away from someone their individuality by forcing our feelings and beliefs on them? Are we trying to make them someone that suits us, over someone they are? Are we actually making someone a replica of our own selves?

I don't mean to say that compromises and adjustments we make, for being happy in our relationships and ultimately, life, are wrong. They are necessary, no second thought. But, what about the ideology of an individual and his/her own set of values? Should we change them too?

I do understand that after one point of a relationship, the best thing would be to have a common ground on the most fluctuating issues, but, only with complete acceptance of the fact that it's for the best of the people involved. I do know that it's necessary to know and feel the way the person you are sharing the relationship with, does.

Still, maintaining our individual traits. Still, knowing who we are. But still, accepting that even though we are giving up what we wanted, it's great. Still, being happy and content. Still, not just being fine, but being 'happy' about doing things the way someone who matters to us, wants. Still, knowing that what the person wants us to do, is for our best interest.

I have understood that this acceptance breaks the back. I have been trying to accept a variety of things, since when I learnt the very meaning of this word, and yet, I can't bring myself to accept them. There are somethings that I just can't help but get angry or upset about! But, there's where the acceptance has to stem from. That's where the acceptance begins from, US.

The acceptance that things won't always be the way we want them to, and they can still be perfect. The acceptance that our lives, though ours, won't be just ours and is about a lot many other people, too. The acceptance that our actions might hurt someone, but, at times that hurt is something you can't avoid. The acceptance that just the way your heart is pricked, someone else's is tormented, too. The acceptance that living is about not being selfish. The acceptance... Yes, the acceptance of life.

I do believe, that, acceptance is noble. To accept, is to respect...

Happy New Year 2012, my dear readers! May 2012 teach us how to accept!

Vodafone is NOT 'Happy to Help'.

2011-11-12T23:33:00.000+05:30

Been a while since my last post, hasn't it? And well, I have felt it too. It has been really long since my last post, and this post, was well overdue. So much so that I had crossed a whole lot of tweets posted, that led to even me losing a record of what all I had tweeted to Vodafone and vice versa. So, let's get on with it..

When the big decision of me moving to Pune for my further studies came by, around mid-August, I had to choose from a range of internet providers which would be good enough for me to run on my laptop. With my admissions and accomodation having finalized around 10th August, and the rest of shopping, packing stuff beginning, I was looking around. Then, I did a lot of research! It was a Tata Photon v/s Reliance NetConnect v/s AirTel USB v/s Vodafone mobile broadband! I compared all the plans and rentals for all of them, and decided to go ahead with Vodafone.

People who know me, have spent some time with me, know how much I talk against Vodafone because I'm an AirTel mobile user (What?! Everyone believes what they use is the best, right?). And thus, the common question from all of them was, "why" Vodafone? Now, I seem to know why. Though, their reasons, though, were different. It was widely because Tata and Reliance have been the pioneers and leaders in this world, and AirTel has heavily marketted itself. Vodafone, has been in the dark, and is even now.

But then why did I choose it? As I said, it offered me a cheaper solution (not considerably cheaper, though) than its competitors, and I went by the image it holds of being an MNC, which made me drop the ball in its court.

Fine till now, right?

I thought so, too.

I needed more information about it, and so, I resorted to my favourite medium to get information instantly, Twitter, with my first tweet about them, ever, on 11th August,

Vodafone Connect 3G USB Stick? Anyone knows anything :S? Help!

And that also, was my first disappointment in them.

Their reply came to me on 12th August,

Please refer to
http://www.vodafone.in/internet/pages/3gusbstick_mum.aspx?cid=mum or DM us ur no. for further assistance.

My replies to them for that tweet, the same day,

I wanted info about the Vodafone Connect 3G USB Stick. Where can I get it online? I checked the website but I have some doubts.

And...

I had already checked this. Just DMed you my number. In case you're calling, after 12 please!

For those who aren't well-versed with Twitter, DM (direct message) is a way to share things with someone in a way that no one else would know. There were quiet a few DMs after that, and the following image is self-explanatory, I assume. The date of every message is at the bottom of each. (Click on it to view a enlarge it.)


DMs between @VodafoneIN and me (@setu4993)

Even after that, I didn't receive any call from them. And that's when I got pissed with them, but, held my calm because I still had some hope and trust in them. My bad.

I just went to a Vodafone Store on 17th August, and got myself a Vodafone USB stick, as a measure to end my shopping before I left for Pune on 21st. Checked it at home and it seemed to work fine for the 2-3 minutes that I checked. Packed it in my bagpack, and off to Pune on 21st.

The first evening in Pune, 21st August. A Sunday. The first thing that I wanted to do, when mom left after helping me unpack and settle down, was to go online and check my mails and tweet (things I did everytime I reached home, and all the time I was at home, too, nothing new). To my disappointment, I couldn't connect. There was some error and I tried disconnecting and reconnecting a few times. Reboot. Still nothing. Called customer care on 121. They talked to me for some 10-12 minutes and then told me they couldn't help me (!) because my registration was of Mumbai and by dialling 121, the Pune service center had been contacted. They asked me to note down the number 9820098200 (or something similar) and told me I would be charged Re.1/minute for talking to them.

Now comes the big deal. I was on a prepaid Vodafone connection. So, I couldn't make any calls from that number, even to the customer care! Good thing, isn't it heavy pun?!

I kept switching my SIM between Vodafone and AirTel.

The Mumbai guy didn't help me much either. He said that I would have to visit a Vodafone gallery, the closest one, so that I could get some help. I asked him what would be the closest one to me, according to a few places around my room, that I knew about. He said he can't help me with the closest, but, told me he would keep listing the places and then I should select which would be closest to me. Well, if it was Mumbai, it would be simpler. But, imagine the state of a customer who goes to a city for some reason, and on the first day, within 7 hours of reaching a new city, he is given a whole list of places where there are their 'Galleries'. Duh! That's customer service? That's serving the customer some trouble, instead!

After that, I asked him the timings of 2-3 Galleries (whose locations I recognized, from the some research I had done in Mumbai, with Google Maps, about the localities). He said he couldn't help me with that, either. And that left me stunned, like never before. Forget the location, not even the timings?!

It was almost 5:45 when I left my room and took local bus transport, in an unknown city, to reach the Vodafone Gallery. I got down at a bus stop, asked at a mobile shop, and was told that it would be closed today, it being a Sunday.

Fine.

Next day, just after my college orientation, I left again. In search of the Gallery that would get me my internet activated. I went to a Gallery, only to be told that I would have to go to the Vodafone HQ of Pune to get it working or to even get any information about it. I had to take a rickshaw, spend Rs.80 to take me to the Gallery, in the outskirts of the city, for something that should've been done there itself, and face the frustration. More than everything, why did the call center executive then specifically tell me that it'd be done at any Gallery?

Leave my case. Suppose instead of me, there was a business executive travelling to a city for 2 days of business, and he faced the case of internet not working. He would be told to travel the same just to be able to check an important e-mail he was going to receive? REALLY? Sick!

Even there, there were just 2 executives dealing with around 10 people, sequentially. (The Mumbai Gallery I bought it from, had 5 people at a given moment!) I waited there for 45 minutes and was finally told that my SIM card hadn't been activated itself. Wow. For knowing that I had to wait more than 24 hours, call them multiple times, travel to random places in a completely new city... For that?

Even after that, things didn't change. It was already a week and nothing changed. Tried connecting it, many a times, nothing. Dad went to the Gallery I had bought it from, they said they couldn't do anything till I came back to Mumbai.

Luckily, I happened to come back to Mumbai that weekend. And it was majorly to get this Vodafone USB working.

I went to the Gallery from where I had bought it. Talked to 3 levels of Vodafone 'Care' guys there. And then came back being promised that it'd work fine now. I spent around 90 minutes there. They took 20 minutes to get me a new SIM card. Why? Because the guy who was sitting at the counter was lazy and stood up, after I explained him the issue and went ahead with just roaming around the Gallery. The next guy, told me that I'd be charged for those lost 10 days of internet too, which was the result of a fault in the SIM card they had given me! I requested to be able to talk to the manager of the gallery. I waited for 15 minutes. When he still didn't come down (they have a first floor in the Malad, Mumbai Gallery which is I don't know what), I freaked out and asked the guy how much more time would it take. He came down within the next 5 minutes, luckily. Even then, there was this executive named Premal (name changed), who was busy flirting with another colleague, in front of the branch manager, who was just watching them both and smiling and giggling, which delayed me by other 10 minutes. Even after that, I was told that there was no way I could get a 10-day extension for a fault on their side. Though, they said they'll 'try' to add 10 days to my next month. All-in-all, great service!

I came back to Pune, and then tried to connect. I got connected in 1 in 100 attempts, disconnected again within seconds, and no page loaded correctly until I refreshed it like a zillion times! I was pissed at their services, terribly. And whenever I was online, I used to tweet about their poor service, even if that meant a dozen of retries before a tweet got posted (in laymen terms, equivalent to an email got sent).

I received a few replies from them too, asking me to tell them their problems and give them my contact details. I had given them the contact details the first time I tweet to them on 12th August! And my problems, well, they were very well-evident from my tweets.

There's this tweet sequence, in particular that I want you all to have a look at:

1st tweet of the sequence, their reply, 7th September.

2nd tweet of the sequence, my reply, 7th September.

3rd tweet of the sequence, their reply, 10th September.

What should I say more? Even after telling them not to call me at any random time, even after sharing the specific time and requesting them to confirm before calling, they have the same complain? That's customer service?

I called them up again after a day or two. Got transferred to the 'Technical Department' with whom I was on phone for 95 minutes (getting charged at Re.1/minute) and even that did no good.

This was when I had decided that I would be switching from Vodafone to Reliance for my internet requirements. And that's the very reason I can write this blog right now!

I got calls from them, multiple times (even after telling them not to call me), after I made this public announcement on Twitter. I lashed out at everyone of them for poor service and bad customer satisfaction.

Yes, I was set back by Rs. 1699, the cost of the USB stick and one month's rental as Rs. 700, unamounted stress, trouble and disappointment, bad customer service, and what not! But, I learnt a whole lot of things too...

And this is not just Vodafone. I have gone through similar with Idea Cellular Ltd. I know friends who have gone through similar troubles with AirTel, Loop Mobile, Tata Docomo, and Reliance too.

Someone always told me,

When you open a company, make it so big that there has to be a call center and people who call you for service, end up talking to them, only.

I always took it as a joke, but, realized that it's real in this scenario.That does mean that the customer, a consumer is taken for granted and is made to go around a 'ringa rose garden' more number of times than a kindergarten student would, just to get his work done. That does mean that the private sector companies are no better than the public sector companies. I think, they're worse.

You hope that they'd be better and they land you at the same level. Whereas, you know the public sector, Government owned will be such and thus you don't have high expectations which would shatter!

If customer service really meant that much, we wouldn't be running behind services companies to help us sort our problems and port out of their services. If it really meant that much, I would be compensated for my USB device which I'm ready to return even now, and with some better plan and offer, free of cost. If it really did, the Blackberry users who were affected by the Asian outage of RIM services, for 3 days, would be compensated by a 3-day extension at no additional charge. If it really did, no company would start unwanted services for users and then ask them to cough up the amount. If it really did, no service provider would charge an old user the same amount for every call and text that he/she was 3 years ago, and would inform them of better, similar, cheaper plans. But, it's all 'IF' it really did...

And it's evident through just all these last few examples that it doesn't. Not one bit.

I know what I don't want to do to 'my' customers, when later in life I own a company... Till then, here's a lesson learnt...

I know I didn't have to add all the screenshots that I did. I know that those who read me reguarly, trust me blindly about what I would post. But, this is for all those who are not regular readers, and to prove the authenticity. I'm an 18-year-old student, not a forger involved in spoiling the reputation of an MNC bribed to do so by its competitor. I'm a citizen, a customer who expects good service, who thinks getting a decent service is something he deserves. I'm someone.

Until the next post, remember, it's true, Vodafone, is NOT 'Happy to Help'.

P. S.: Here's an Excel file of the 41 tweets I had sent to them and only the 11-odd replies I received, for reference or cross checking, in different Excel sheets.

Attachments...

2011-09-23T02:28:00.001+05:30

It's been over a month in Pune as I begin to write this post. Didn't expect it to be so long till I would write any post since my last, but well, life's like that... You can't predict what happens with you, what will happen and things keep happening... They do, always.

So, coming to the point, 'attachments'... I don't know if it's just me or everyone, but, this very word reminds me of a simple thing, e-mail attachments. Just as the purpose of sending an e-mail which is supposed to have an attachment, is not justified if it is not attached, is it the same with life if we are not around those people, things and places that we are attached to? It's a complicated thought. Also, not something you can talk about just like that without actually knowing what it all stands for. Relationships are attachments. Addictions are attachments. People are attachments. Hangout places are attachments. Homes are attachments. In short, we are surrounded by our attachments. Everything around us is something we are attached to, for some reason or purpose, or in the end, convenience or comfort. That's life. A string of attachments.

While some say that getting rid of these attachments is impossible, I choose to defer.

Let's face it. Staying in Pune alone for the last one month, no friend, no family, no one known, a completely new place, nothing familiar and all else, makes me say this. No kidding. It is not amusing to me how I've adjusted to this new way of life, because I know that there are many others like me in different parts of the country, and also the world, of my same age who have and are doing the same. Reason? Studies, goals and aims of life. Nothing seems to go past them.

Life's a beautiful journey, they say. I agree. And when it decides to keep you away from everything that you're attached to, it is, for your own good. Why wouldn't it be? Staying out of the comfort zone of our house, getting into the wild, leading yourself into a completely new environment, knowing that you've got to survive there no matter, makes you oblivious of how things were back then, when we were attached.

Everytime I'm reminded of Mumbai, I think about the attachments, all of them. But, then I'm glad I'm here in Pune. It's giving me an opportunity to get past my attachments, feel the world even more closely, the way I want to, without restrictions and boundaries, without having to do things for someone or the other, without having to run errands for friends or turn up as helping hands... Not that I regret any of those, not at all. But, when I see my life this way, it's just as good. It's a whole new way to learn and find myself beyond those attachments.

Then again, there are those whom I know who are afraid to get past their attachments, even when they're away from them. Those who assume that things can just not be the same if they change, and that some attachments are absolutely necessary, at the same intensity and degree. Probably they're right in their way... It'd be a shame then that I couldn't see it that way. But for now, I just feel that every attachment, no matter with which person of our lives it is, how much ever important he/she is, with which thing or addiction it is, with which place it is, is healthy if maintained to the point and differentiated with the circumstance. That's the way I see it.

By that, if anyone feels that I'm implying a complete distance to the attachments, you've surely got me wrong there. All I mean to say is, that with change in the circumstances, we need to change. We do miss the old things, but, letting that hamper our present by letting our emotions about our emotions bog us down, is surely, not a healthy approach to life and the situations facing us.

Fear. The very reason we are so unsure of letting any and every attachment go by... Fear of who we'd be without them, it's scary, sure. But, if you don't jump in the pool, you won't learn how to swim! You may drown once, but someone will save your life then. You'll be more prepared to jump in with precautions the next time. Or if you're a coward, you won't try again. Either ways, it's about you and your life...

Who will we even be without someone or something we care about and need? May be incomplete for a while, but eventually, we learn to live without it. We learn, we grow. That's the beauty of life.

How fair are we to this world if we don't let ourselves meet new people and get attached to them just because we want to stay attached to the ones that were? There are almost 7 billion people in this world, and if I begin counting things, I would have to count straight for days and nights. What I mean to say is, let's give ourselves a chance to get past the attachments that are, tread into the unknown, find ourselves and then the person, things, places, we will be attached to forever...!

The gist of the post? Attachments are many. Life is not an e-mail. Let them be in the fray of living a healthy life without many dependencies, I would say, rarely any dependencies.

Till my next post... Align your 'Attachments...'!

The Wannabe's Social Network!

2011-08-20T05:06:00.001+05:30

Staying away from Facebook for 2 months had its own positive effects on me. It was when I actually got to observe and finally conclude what it meant for people to be on Facebook, the best, ultimate and the easiest accessible hub of gossiping and being virtual peeping toms into someone's life.

Also, the other Social Network, that seemed to appear a completely wannabe-dominated one, was the one created by Research In Motion's BlackBerry Messenger, popularly known as, BBM, closely followed by the recent spur of Android phones and the use of WhatsApp.

It's funny how everyone just wants to be a part of the popular circles on Facebook, more so, those who haven't been of the popular ones in their schools and colleges, and are desperately seeking attention. I sometimes wonder what the need for it is. But then, it is justified.

Within the first week of dumping Facebook (due to personal reasons), I had at least 40 friends enquiring me about why I wasn't on there and when I would be returning. Not just that, by the end of a month, at least a 150 of them had asked me in some or the other way possible about it. The point I'm making here, is how interested people are in other's lives over their own. It amuses me how much our lives are supposedly attached to Facebook that for every small information we may require about someone, we would prefer to go to their profile and find it out rather than asking them by themselves (the time when I gave up on it, was just a few days before the MHT-CET result followeb by the whole admissions period)!

And that, when Facebook wasn't ever my primary social network. That, had always been and will be Twitter. But, there were barely any questions from anyone about Twitter mainly because, it's not as used as Facebook is. The portion of the population that uses Twitter is people with a completely different virtue.

All said and done, the first time I felt Facebook was the wannabe hub of the internet, was when I saw people using only their mobile phones for managing their whole online presence, precisely, Facebook. People posting status updates as popular and re-forwarded text messages and even popular tweets. People starting Facebook as the first site when they get on the computers at their friend's places and don't get off it till they are completely done with it. People who use the internet on someone else's phone, who has it free, just to check their Facebook.

I have friends who are still not on Facebook (yes, you read that right!), and they often tell me about how everyone keeps annoying them, as to why they are not, and keeps pushing them to come onto it. I then say to myself, "People have stopped being themselves, finally."

Let's face it. When your social status is associated with how many likes or comments your new photograph got; with how many people appreciated your status which was quiet really a cut-copy-paste; with who you chat with online, but behave as strangers when you actually meet; with how many video links you post when you're online; with how many people post on your 'wall', with your display picture depicting what you're ... Well, Facebook, I'm pretty sure, helps such people to boast about their own bubbles.

It's funny how at every hangout, everyone wants to just click pictures so that they can upload it the next time they are online and tell everyone else about how awesome their time was, when all they did was gossip about people based on their Facebook profiles, and make fun of those who weren't still on it.

Then comes the second part. BBM. With the whole big BlackBerry controversy making news mid-2010, and it being the headlines of news almost everywhere, BlackBerry found its much needed publicity, and thus, by the word of mouth, BBM, the service which has been of the USP of BlackBerry since the beginning, was marketed to the lower levels of the society too. Now, I don't know whether BlackBerry had planned to release the low-cost handsets earlier or took an advantage of the prevailing situation to make the benifit, but, either ways, it worked to their benefit and now, there's a sudden upsurge in the sale of BlackBerry Curve models and the BlackBerry Messenger users, in the last 3 financial quarters.

Let's roll back. How did it all begin? I suppose, a person A got a BlackBerry. Began using it and found out that he didn't have anyone much he could talk to on BBM. A friend B asked him which phone he should get, in general. A began bragging about his BlackBerry and how amazing it would be if they could talk and chat for free (after paying heavy for the BlackBerry plan)! Amused, and wanting to be following the footsteps of A, B gets one. Slowly, leading to a point where getting a BlackBerry was all about getting to talk to all your friens and because most of them had one. So much so that a person having BlackBerry in his/her hand, might hate QWERTY phones, but still uses one just because he/she gets to talk to everyone for supposedly 'free'.

There was a time when owning a BlackBerry was synonymous with that person being some big biz guy/girl having to deal a lot with internet, chat and e-mails on-the-go. The time when I dreamt of owning a BlackBerry myself when I would be 25 and probably in my first job.

But, that dream is now somewhere down the drain. Reason? More than 70% of the BlackBerry users today, don't use their BBs for anything except BBM and posting updates to their social networks while they are away from their desktop. Some, also being those who have their whole online presence managed from their BlackBerrys. The real purpose of a BlackBerry, e-mails and push functions, have found its way in the dungeons for all these.

Also, the Android phones that came by recently led people to get themselves internet on their phones to activate and use their WhatsApp which was supposedly a BBM-killer, only till they knew that WhatsApp worked on BB too!!

I had always said and maintained, the day social networking websites and their notifications turn more important than e-mails, for a person, the person is an addict to that network. Here, we witness that for almost everything that I have mentioned.

Leaving aside all the fuss about the internet, getting a bit more close to reality. By how much has the use of 'ma' instead of 'my' increased around you? How many people who can barely speak fluent english talk in accents that make them sound sophisticated? How many people try to be a part of the group by talking about things that they don't even know about? And for right now, I really want to know and wonder, how many people support the Jan Lokpal Bill and Anna Hazare without even having a clue of the Legislature, Constitution, Parliament, Law making processes of the country, (leave alone the two drafts, that'd be even more rare!)?

For me, and in my opinion ALL of these, are wannabes. Now, I don't want to get into the psychology of this and what it means because that's something we all know. Being a part of the crowd, to follow a herd, blindly.

Wow. Such an evolved world we live in. You choose who you really are now. You can deny by reading this, that even if you do all this, you are not a wannabe, but, I hope sometime later in your life, you do understand that who you are is much more than who the world wants you to be. Being who we are, is the greatest and the best thing that can happen to us. That's how we can be unique.

Till then... Spread the word about this blog on, 'The Wannabe's Social Network!' (I don't mind both!) *winks*

Bruises And Scars...

2011-07-30T04:39:00.001+05:30

Every now and then, I face a situation myself, or am told one by some of my friend, about the words, sentences, events, happenings which hurt us as people, in general. Rude behaviour, anger, misunderstandings, obstinence, being few of the reasons why it happens. Well, all I say to myself in the end is, 'This is life...'

Truly. Beautifully.

You'd ask what's so beautiful about being hurt, I assume. I say, that's just as the half-full half-empty glass theory. Simply said, perception changes a thing from positive to negative and vice versa.

We learn from everything, and sometimes we fail to realize that. Everytime we pass through some such moment when we felt hurt, it, for every reason, gets registered in our sub-concious that we shouldn't do that again or be the one to hurt someone else in the same way, again, depending on what shoes we wear in that situation.

As humans, it is natural to be hurt, bruised, scarred, and then, healed. It's healing that's necessary. It's healing that is long and takes patience. It's the healing process that's full of emotions... Anger, despair, pain, hurt, sadness, glum, to begin with...

Let's face it. We can't forgive 'anyone' easily for when they hurt us. What they did to us shadows who they are, what they mean to us, how they feel for us and everything else in question, at least for an accounted period of time. Tears flow, the heart aches, eyes swell... Tired eyes and a pained heart remains... Waiting to be healed... Waiting to have another go at life... Waiting to give someone another chance... And, to try again...

Really? How many times? Every time this happens, I know how it gets to. The saturation point of being the acceptor, the limits of patience, the tiredness of the bleeding heart (metaphorical)... Frankly, the reality is that we just want to stop trying. And most of the times, we even do.

We stop trusting people over what some other has done to us... We stop believing in people's words over loss of integrity of someone close to us... We close our eyes to the reality and begin living in an oblivious world... We look at the world from behind a translucent curtain and get judgemental... We shut the doors to our heart... Yes, we do all of this.

Yes, we are hurt so bad that the pain won't stop... Yes, we have been stabbed so brutally that the body aches... Yes, we are bruised so deeply that even medicine spilled over it seems to just deepen the wound... But, then is when it begins to heal... The hurt begins to turn to acceptance... We collect the broken pieces of our hearts and begin to stitch them together... The deep bruises heal to scars on the skin...

Yes, we heal.

Sometimes soon enough to give the person a second chance. Most others, too late.

It's this strange beauty of life and nature that amuses me... Just as a leaf springs out soon after we break one from the branch of a tree, and fruits and flowers reappear according to their lifecycles, human beings too, learn, grow, heal and conquer the pain...

The only part of it that scares me, bewilders me is about the tree being brought down from the bottom of its stem. It being uprooted. Leaving no hope of it growing back again...

Co-incicentally, this is also that part of the situation that we consider for ourselves everytime someone cuts down one of our fruits or at the greatest, breaks a branch. We get tired. Tired of trying. Tired of facing the situation. Tired of living with that pain and supressing more agony. We do get tired...

And that's what we gotta change... That's what I have been trying to change within myself and those who would let me in their lives. That belief, that nothing will change from the way it was, that it was best the way it was and can never get better... Well, never say never.

Been there, done that. Going through that, and still do give up sometimes.

I don't say I am perfect or that I'm the most hopeful, most optimistic person. I don't because I know I am not. But, at the same time, I know that I have the courage to stand up. I have the courage to set foot from every disparity, again. I know that no situation can be so binding on me that it would take away my happiness completely. I know that no hurt can be so deep that it would make me want to kiss goodbye to this earth. I know that no pain can be so excruciating that it would be beyond my ability to soak it in.

And I know that it is the same for everyone... Everyone...

May be I'll stand up soon enough. Or may be I won't. But, I know that sometime it is ought to happen. It will happen.

And till it doesn't, the bruises and scars, will keep reminding me that I still got work to do...

Cheerio!

P.S.: Began a co-blog earlier this month for I (and my fellow bloggers) couldn't sit back and complain anymore. The realization that things had to change, dawned upon us and that we need to be the change we want to see, seemed more plausible than anything else. For this much-desired change and to get more and more people to join in with us, those who share the same ideology, 'Not Just The Talks.' has been started. If you haven't already, do read my inaugural post on it 'It's Time To Not Just Keep Talking.'

Shaitan - The Devil Within...

2011-06-26T04:27:00.004+05:30

It's been around 28 and a half hours, as I begin writing this, since I left the movie theatre after watching Shaitan. A last-minute plan which I, in the end, turned out to be really happy about. It was one hell of a movie, in a good way! And those who follow my blog must be knowing that I don't linger on to write a post from when I am in the moment of action (a usual blogpost would set me back by 40-60 minutes, within 24 hours of the event or thought in my mind that I want to write about). This time, is an exception.

Shaitan, like many other Bollywood movies that have come by recently and made a mark, is another off-beat movie which doesn't stick to the formula to make a movie 'hit' that many actors, production houses and directors follow, to earn and make business. Pretty much also the reason I wasn't interested to watch in in the beginning (more about my Bollywood and movie interests in some other blog, later). Caught my interest later during the first week and then even more as the week ended. Turned out, I caught it the first movie in this week.

The gist of the movie is pretty simple. It's the story of 5 friends in the backdrop of Mumbai and their life which revolved around money, booze, smoke, drugs and their definition of fun. On one such nights, they commit an accident and the story kicks off thereafter. Their trials to save themselves from the punishment of the mistake, things they plan, things they do and things that eventually happen... That's what it's all about. I know many of those who read this wouldn't have watched it yet, and thus, I am not revealing more of the story, because boy, if you haven't watched it yet, you need to watch it soon!! And for those who have seen it, need I say more, anyway?

As I left the cinema hall, I was faced with a wide range of emotions and thoughts. Took a ride to a restaurant at quiet a distance thereafter and was pretty lost in my thoughts all that time. Reason? There were just so many possibilities and incidences that plainly were justified by this movie, subtly.

I still remember watching cartoons on Cartoon Network and other kids' channels when I was younger... It was a funny thing to watch the argument between the evil and angel side of a particular character as he fumbled over what he should be doing... Frankly, it had never crossed my mind since I last watched these that there possibly could be two sides to every person. The good and the bad. Seems awkward to believe. More so because we tend to generalize people's behaviour over certain events and disapprove of otherwise. Somehow, it's kinda true too.

Always wondered what's it that makes some people act differently, in a more negative way, than the rest. Figured that it's somehow related to what your thoughts that shape you, make you. The incidents that you face with as a child, the people who surround you while the thoughts in your mind begin forming and gaining a stance. A child of a terrorist would end up being a Jihadi more often than not, and the kid born to a clergy, would for obvious reasons be religious and/or spiritual. Pretty much, undisputably.

But, when I saw this movie, all of these seemed to go on the a back-foot. Though, these were the secondary reasons and will always be, how you think in the brink of the situation is what determines your action. It's more about who from within the angel and the evil inside your head wins that will talk about what action you took. Basically, what I'm saying, and what I believe in is, it's more a knee-jerk reaction than a thought process. May be the thought process induces that reaction, but, sometimes it may be otherwise, too! Surely possible. May be the evil would harm himself or the world. Or may be the angel would be a saviour to itself or the many others or some stranger... Possibilities thus, are endless.

This whole thing kept pondering in my mind for around hours after the movie got over and then I kept trying to relate it to everyday life and the examples that I have known, seen and have been a part of. Just to justify the way in which I was thinking... I came down to 2 incidents which simply proved a point to the above stated theories I had concluded at. You may call me a negative person because of what these examples are, but well, I'm rather lazy. When I saw that these 2 were just the examples I needed, I didn't look out for more. Just didn't!

1) There's this guy I know. He made a very stupid mistake, got carried away once and hurt people whom he cared for, a lot. Without any indication, without any hint to anyone, out of guilt he punished himself over something that was forgiven very soon from the time of confession. This guy is someone very calm and thoughtful. Never has he done any other stupid thing. Pretty mature, too. And it was just that victory of the in-his-mind Shaitan that has left him in the pitiable condition he is in right now. (Don't try to guess who.)

2) The second example is about another guy whose blog I read regularly. Anonymity has to be respected and thus I'm pasting the blog's excerpt containing the incident, here. A very sincere, silent, jovial person by nature, hurt his mom over something very silly. May be it was his age that kept him immature then that he did something so distressing that he still regrets it 12-13 years after it happening...
Here's his story in his own words (the excerpt from his blog):
"There was a boy in his -teens. Like every teenager he wished to enjoy his life like all his friends did. Like going for dinner, watching movies, getting stylish stationary and loads of other things. One particular day, a few guests had arrived at his house and he was getting bored of them. So he asked his mother if he could go out with his friends to watch the movie. Mother denied it because it was quite late to go for a movie. But the boy never really took her words seriously. He just had anger buring from within that his parents never gave him freedom. So as his mother went to sit on a chair, he pulled it. His mother did not react anything till the guests were gone and the boy too left the house. He cried and kept on complaining about his parents. But God had great ways of punishing his children. As the boy walked, a piece of glass stuck into his foot. He bleeded profusely. He went back home and cried harder only to find out that his mother was crying. The boy mistook that she was crying for him. So the boy never paid heed to the care of his mother. Irrespective of the boy's cold attitude, his mother took good care of his foot. Next day, mother had gone to the doctor and took out the x-ray of her back. The reports were quite bad. She had broken her tail-bone. The doctor asked how did it happen and she replied that she slipped while climbing stairs. The boy's father too asked her the same question and her reply was the same. The boy realised his mistake and cried harder and harder. It was because of his crime that she had to suffer so much."

Pretty much justifies and wraps up what I meant to say...

It's the moment, just that moment which usually makes all the difference. Not the one before that, not the one after it. The prior usually filled with confusion, the latter usually of guilt and regret or happiness and glee. It's, as I always say, the result of the choice that we make. It's just not about how you think, because you react from how you feel rather...

I guess it's time we got into controlling our emotions better. I guess it's time we got to seeing what we do as a spur or unconscious reaction too. It's time to get a hold of ourselves.

But, regardless, you must accept, there's always a Shaitan, a devil within us waiting for the first chance he gets to escape from the cages in your head... And then, then it would be difficult stopping him, just as depicted in Indian mythology...

You choose your driver... The evil or the angel...

Adios!

P.S.: Don't try to guess who are the examples I gave. And don't ask me either. I hope this request of mine will be catered to.

A Drive Against Corruption... Not Anymore!

2011-06-10T05:00:00.003+05:30

Two months of headlines, and 5 days later. Here India is. In what began as a drive against corruption, not much of it remains anymore. Reasons? Varied. Most of them, known to everyone. Some of them, hidden.

It all began with Anna Hazare's fast unto death or till his demands were met, on 5th April, 2011 which took India by a stir! The thought that problem of corruption, is not here to remain as many (including me) say, that there could be a possible end to this corrupt phase! Wow. So exciting does it sound! And that got so many millions of Indians to support it. Yes, every one of us, every Indian (minus the politicians, bureaucrats and others who live on their black earnings) was on with him, against it.

Now, today, this fight seems all-the-more unimportant. Yes, you read that right. Unimportant. It seems to have lost its reason while everyone in the powerful circles tries to gain some clout from it. Religious and spiritual leaders, political parties, news channels, lawyers, websites, and what not!! "India's changing people! Be a part of it! It's now or never!" I would simply call it, BULLSHIT!

Let me begin with the one I have been seeing most recently and in the eye of the people and news channels. Baba Ramdev and his antics! I wonder how I should worship him! No, seriously. He's such an amazing fellow that he didn't feel ashamed to give this amazing movement the political and spiritual turn by poking his nose in it! He must be revered for the same, I demand. He actually thought that all those who gathered in Ramlila Maidan for his fast, were supposedly there supporting his hunger strike (I could use a tongue-smiley, :P, here)! News channels and newspapers broke stories reading what I said, that the people were there instead to show him their respects because his Yoga remedies seemed to have work for them. His demands were completely irrational, stupid and nonsensical. His methodology to achieve it, unethical. When Kapil Sibal made public a tape of their phone call, he went on to say he won't talk to Kapil Sibal! Someone remind this so-called Guru, that he agreed he would end the fast within hours of beginning it because of the pact he made with the Government. Get yourself some integrity, Mr. Ramdev! He sure deserved some real punitive action, which he aptly got.

Next up, the Bharatiya Janata Party. Supposedly, 'The Party with a Difference' (as read on their website). Oh, yeah? Getting political mileage by taking a dig at the Congress for acting against Baba Ramdev (who I'm pretty sure acted as a bate on their request) and their inability against corruption doesn't seem like anything different from what anyone else would have done. To me, at least! Making statements, getting prime-time news coverage, etc. is a good but, sad thing. The elections are still 3 years away, BJPians (or whatever they call themselves, I don't really care).

You know what would matter to me, an (almost) adult-Indian? Or how you could actually gain a heads-up for the next elections and earn yourselves some respect? Get into the legislature, make a Lokpal Bill, just as the people want it, house it in the Parliament, get it passed with the help of the Left and other parties, and there you are, the real star! You surely will be the next governing party! Trust me on that, you will be.

But you know what, readers? They wouldn't do that either. Even though they know that it assures them of power. Reasoning it as "It would be remembered as a victory of the Congress as it would be passed while they were in power! BJP can't let that happen, right?" among other immature excuses. The real reason? They can't see the good of the people, either. If you really cared about the people, the name of which political party got it passed, wouldn't really matter. If you really cared about the people, you would have stepped up before Anna Hazare hit it himself. And over it all, you can't afford corruption driven out of India, either. The same reasons and answers go to all the other political establishments who have at least one member in the Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha. Because, according to the Honourable Constitution of India, any Member of Parliament has the right to present a bill in either of the houses. Enough said.

Anna Hazare, Part 2. He went on a day long fast again day before yesterday (on 8th of June, 2011) just because the Government representatives of the Lokpal Bill drafting committee and the people's representatives didn't come to a consensus on a certain clause (inclusion of PM and Judiciary of India, to be specific). You mean, really? Is this the law-making process we are looking for? Not me!! I'm looking for a discussion, a debate. Someone who can convince the prior, not compel. This demand of yours, I'm sorry, Mr. Hazare, is just too unrealistic for me to be supportive of. And seriously, right now, I feel like saying, 'The Anna Way? No Way!!' like I said 'The Gandhi Way? No Way!!' 7 weeks ago. If the support you got the first time makes you want to compulsate the Bill making issues like this, instead of talking it out at the discussion table, I am up against your action.

Last up, every Indian who thinks Lokpal Bill will be a reality and that corruption will be driven out of India. Let me just burst your bubble, brutally.

I read a crazy SMS saying, "Government of India has put a condition stating that the support of 25 crore people is needed to implement the 'Lokpal Bill'. For this we just have to give a missed call to the number +912261550789. After giving a missed call to this number you'll receive a 'Thanks' message. Forward this to as many to make India corruption free. Please call."

To begin with, what's the Lokpal Bill? Darn you, irresponsible people! The clauses of the Lokpal Bill have still to be finalized and debated upon by the Parliamentary Committee drafting it! We don't even know where and how it'll shape up in the end! Neither do we have a clue if it will be the Jan Lokpal Bill for which the protest 2 months back was held or will it be minor modifications to the Lokpal Bill which has been doing the Law Ministry rounds since 1979! And you want to petition for that already? Wow.

Hypothetically, let's consider it's an exact replica of the Jan Lokpal Bill and that's what we want to see in action. How many of us really, like 'really' know how the Bill making process works? How laws are made? What is the process of it? I am sure most of us have read it somewhere, and those of the age like mine, you have read it in your Civics textbooks, sometime. Now, where does it say that "if 25 crore people give missed calls" the Bill will be passed? If it was so easy, the law-making process was so people friendly, why would we ever have elections and elect Members of Parliament to be a part of our Legislature, and represent us? Wouldn't we be a part of it ourselves by giving missed calls or sending out SMSes for every Bill? Ask yourself. What part of the above quoted SMS make sense now?

I was sent this message by my parents too. And yes, I did lash out on them explaining why this wasn't legit even though an SMS was sent to you when you give a missed call.

Either it's that you don't know the law-making process (I mentioned above that it needs to pass the Parliament), or that you're just being too ignorant of it. Let's face it. The Government promised Anna Hazare during his previous fast of 'drafting' a Bill, not making sure it gets 'passed'. If you think that the elected MPs of India, those elected by you, those whose lives thrive upon black money, will let this Indian dream come true, you're mistaken. I may be seen as some cynic or a complete pessimist, but it doesn't bother me because I have my feet stuck the ground while I see everyone else hoping something so simply, impossible! If you think those who promote corruption the most, will pass a Bill that would put them under the scanner for every monetary transaction of their life, boy, you're highly mistaken! Time to wake up, dear fellas.

Also, if you think that Anna Hazare's promise that he would go on a fast again if the Bill doesn't get passed will do anything to change the failure of the Bill in the Parliament, again, I don't think the merciless people in those chairs will mind him dying, either. Even those of you, who think you won't vote for the same candidate in the next elections if he doesn't give an 'Aye' to the Lokpal Bill, you're mistaken, again. The voting process in the parliaments is anonymous. Dismay spreads?

I'm not someone who opposes this 'Let's-kick-corruption-out-of-India' movement. But, at the same time, when I see such wrong-doings (wrong in my eyes) happening, sorry, I can't support them either. Trust me when I say, I would be of the happiest people if I am proven wrong and corruption actually loses its stance in India. Hands down.

That's much about it about what I want to say... Let the comments and opinions in...

Until the next post...

P.S.: I haven't been paid by the Government of India or any of its dominant, behind the curtains powerful members (read: the Gandhi family) to write this. This is how I feel. This is how I perceive the truth to be. I know it's a lot more bold text, sarcasm and believe-it-or-not in this post, but I deemed it was necessary. Every word signifies how I actually feel about it.

The Magic Called Mumbai Monsoons!

2011-06-04T05:28:00.000+05:30

I know that's too many 'M's in the title, but, all of them stand out very beautifully and separately from the others.

Each, a marvel in its own way. And what amuses me is how the 3 of these combine together to create a wonderful aura!

Mumbai. The financial capital of India, among others, and the city I have been born and brought up in. The city that I love so much and the city which never fails to amuse me. It's one of the world's biggest metropolitans. And reasons it's famous are many. Though, from all of these, one of which stands apart from the rest is its Monsoon and rains... Mumbai's monsoon!

Often suggested, the best time to be in Mumbai is during its monsoon. The whole demographic and life of Mumbai is in a different place then... Leaves most speechless. Even me.

The first monsoon showers for Mumbai happened the evening before last. And I had the chance to witness the marvel in itself. The first rains of Mumbai!! Here's to that amazing one hour...

I was standing at the window, watching across it to the opposite building and the cloudy sky above it. I knew it was gonna rain. I could feel it. Began working on my laptop. Read tweets from celebs in the southern part of Mumbai talking about the advent of rains there. Almost 15 minutes later, I could hear the thunders to the far west... It had begun to drizzle! I could see children running to the terraces of their respective buildings, housemakers scrambling to get the clothes drying on the window clothline inside, and could feel the smile on my face... It was time. Mumbai monsoon was back.

And within no time, it began raining... Heavily... I texted a few close friends with whom I was interacting then that I would talk to them later... And ran straight to the terrace... The feeling when the first drops of rain trickled down my face, played maze through my hair, and wet my clothes, was... Amazing. It was ecstatic, euphoric, happy, joyous and what not! Still, these words can't completely describe that feeling. You have to feel it, to know it.

Couldn't stop gazing at the orange sky... Wondering how it rained from within the sunny sky! Mist surrounded the far-ends of the city... The railway headlight was visible dizzying away... Almost every door and window of the trains were shut. I couldn't help but laugh at those people who didn't want to enjoy the first rain...

Through the water, memories, moments, people, situations and events seemed to have a flash back in my mind... The gushing winds hitting the face... The striking of the raindrops with force against the eye-lids... Blissful. Sometimes, the pain you get when the raindrops hit your face with amazing force seems like a punishment that you don't want to get through. At others, it's sheer pleasure.

Suddenly, the sun set and I could see the colours of the sky change swiftly from orange to silver to dark gray... And that's when I returned back home...

Had hot dosas and sandwiches with friends... Followed by onion bhajias (in Mumbai's lingo, better known as kanda bhajji) back at home to relish the beautiful combination of hot, spicy food in the cozy, rainy weather...

And sometime in between all this, a few tears did escape my eye too. While I was enjoying the pouring rain... I still don't know why I did. I had numerous smiles, but when and why these few tears came by, I don't know.

Nothing special about it, it may seem. Just an experience as anyone would enjoy the rain, right? Well, it wasn't. It wasn't just about the rains. It was about the millions of memories associated with it. It was about the people with whom you've talked about monsoon. It was about the dreams I had to spend time in the monsoon. It was about the minutes and hours spent waiting for it since the last time it came by... It was about everything else, too. It always is. It's about happiness. It's about love. It's about washing away the sadness. It's about a celebration.

It's something much more than just a rain... It's a way of life...

You may even think that just because it was the first rain, it was so. False. Every time it rains, it's the same for me. The same feeling of gaiety. The same moments that I want to relive. The same places I want to be. The same people... Yes, I do curse the rain at times, too. But, that's just a one moment thing. It's more about the magic monsoon leaves me with.

It never ends with the rain... It's a feeling that you take with yourself, for the rest of your life... It's the magic of it which surrounds your life...

It's magical how this season can spell-bound anyone. That too, beyond limits. Beyond many limits...

It's the realms and dreams of a beautiful day, the way hope refills in us, the way we feel happy that's so magical about it... Yes, most of us love the monsoon. Beyond the wet clothes, wrong timed rains, wet footwear, puddles of water, cold, cough and fever that usually follows, we all love it...

Happy monsoon, everyone! Hope you enjoy it in the ways that may make it a perfect and memorable season for you!!

P.S.: Those who network from Twitter, don't forget to tag your Mumbai Monsoon tweets with #MumbaiMonsoon!

Tough Transition...

2011-05-22T04:52:00.002+05:30

It was the last year in school. My grade 10. And I remember my class teacher telling me once how different life after school was going to be like... How different it will be when you have to face the outside world, all by yourself... When you will be on your own, with no one to hold you... Then, it just seemed like something that won't happen with me. That was the same thought with every of my classmates' mind too, I am sure. And even everyone who has been in that situation, that time in their lives...

It's difficult to think 'how' life would be different when you are in the complete cove of school life. Protected, nurtured, chiselled to your be who you are. But, two years after getting out of school, here I am. Standing at another crossroads, wondering where I'll be in 3 months from now. Which city of India, which college, what institution, what degree? Yes. It has been a tough transit.

It's a different thing for everyone. For some, it's crazy to imagine that they're not in school anymore and college is not as serious as school. Or at times, is even more serious. For some, it's difficult to bear the distance from friends and to get out of contact from them just because they don't study the same subjects and the lives they've chosen for themselves are different... For some, getting in tune with the fact that they face not just themselves and their fellow classmates, but, the whole city, state or nation, in the next important exam, is scary... For some, it's not being a part of the 'happening' and 'popular' group, brings them down... Pretty much sums up on the dilemma of everyone. And believe it or not, everyone has experienced it. There's no way you can get through to living a life without being in a state of transition, sometime in life...

Some go through it easily... Placidly... Like a river flowing down the plains... For others, it's the rocky terrain that they're forced to fight...

I have seen it all happening right in front of my eyes. I have seen friends being insecure about their friendship, high-scoring students under-estimating their abilities because of their fears, pain of separated relationships, those ready to lose themselves to become wannabes without realizing it and what not! And I can tell you, that while most of us can't get through these easily, it takes courage to go up to someone you trust and ask them to help you through it. More of an emotional challenge, than anything else.

And that's when I realize, it's no easy job to bring someone back, to accept someone has changed, to accept the fears and to face them...

But, again, that's a part of the story. A few years down the line, there's gonna be transition again. When we graduate from our colleges with a Bachelors or Masters degree and step into the competitive world of jobs and opportunities. And there'll be change again... Our mates from school and college will be lost again and we'd rather spend time with colleagues and business associates.

How difficult will that be? Easier for the one who can acknowledge the change now. Even harder for the one who cannot.

And finally, most of the times, it comes down to keeping in tune our ego, choosing to disbelieve that we have changed, that we are still the same, even when deep inside we do know that we aren't...

Why is it so difficult to accept the change within ourselves? Why is it so tough to accept that we have changed? May be that's because we have been of the opinion that no matter what we won't change... May be because we thought we won't give up our values... Our opinions won't be influenced... Our habits, will pertain...

Similarly, why is it so difficult to accept that some of our friends have gone far away from us? May be our paths were meant to be separated... May be our paths crossed once and then they were gonna be all separated, again... May be their priorities now on, didn't match ours...

Why is it so difficult to accept that we're not the star-kid of our school anymore and that we're just another normal college-goer? May be because the attention it brought is not so easy to forgo...

Why is it so tough not to be a part of the 'it' crowd? May be because you want to be talked about... You want to be seen, talked about, and felt jealous of...

The time to realization, comes by just then for some. Either you live it from then. Or sit back, cry foul and sit in there repenting and troubling your own self, believing things will never go back to how they were again...

Yes, they surely won't ever. That's what life is all about. That's the rule of time. You can't be in the same moment twice. The moment once gone, is gone forever. After that, it's just memories. After that, it's just being happy about it happening. After that, it's just about the lessons learnt... And also, the lust for having the same moments again, which won't ever be realized...

Pretty much the same, for everyone. And I can't imagine what it'll be like when life takes me to the next crossroads, the job and post-education, making-my-own-living life... I don't know what situations will face me and my fellowmates. I don't know how we'll come to terms with them, then... I can be so sure about these situations I talked about, given that I have seen, faced and helped many get over... And I'm sure, when it comes by again, everyone will be through the same phase, in a different way, all over again...

Till then, all I can say is, the transition is tough. Accepting the change is tough. And being fine with it is even more. But, in the end I can conclude pretty easily...

It boils down to a simple point. Change, the process of transition, like none other, is an ever-going process... No one of us is the same person that we were a day ago. Either we have learnt something, cultivated a good habit, or let go of a bad one, or forgone our values and felt miserable. In either of all the ways, we are not the same person. We are someone else.

Change is permanent. Sure it is. But, no ascertained changed is permanent. Only the process of change is permanent. Nothing else, ever is.

Adios!

A Bit Too Grown-Up... A Bit Too Early?

2011-05-17T04:03:00.004+05:30

Note from the blogger: Please, please, please try not being judgemental about me and anything about me from what you read here. It's purely a result of my numerous thoughts.

It's always been something I have wondered about... When's the time when you can finally call someone a grown up? When you can finally say that someone is mature enough to take care of himself and how his life is lead? When's that independence, that freedom conferred to him? When can he realize for himself that he can? That he will?

Sometimes... The whole concept of English education too, bewilders me. More so because, it uproots the so-called hard-core Indian culture, its tradition and values from the minds of students like me who give themselves the freedom to have contrary views or be cynics to it. May be that's how we are or the way the double-standard of education has left us with... Either ways, it's the way it is...

I know most of our parents haven't studied in English medium schools, but, they wanted all of us to. Why? Some kinda competition, was it? Or the desire to give us the high level of education? The latter, they would suggest. The prior, that seems apparent to me. And, thus, I don't think I'm to be blamed if I consider a formal handshake and respect in my behaviour is more expressive of the respect I have for someone than me bowing down and touching their feet. The concept of education of the Westerners, has brought their way of life to us. Something that's probably not easy to accept for our parents and that causes the rift between us. The pub culture, the late night parties, the inter-caste marriages, the "in a relationship" tag, the reaction when you see a boy and a girl alone together, the food we eat, the way we hang out, the way we make friends, the kind of friends, the late night phone calls, these seem completely wrong in their opinion. Pretty much, most of them. Is it them to blame, I wonder...

We feel it is the close-mindedness of theirs, or just stuff that they don't understand... They think it's too much independence and freedom that we assume for ourselves... Reality? I think it's the whole concept of education that has changed, which is to blame.

Predominantly, and basically, English is a language of England. The country where getting divorced has never been a bane, where a guy kissing a girl in public is no offense, where children move out of their parents' soon after they are in their later teens to set themselves up on their own, where who you are matters more than whose son or daughter you are and the connections you have, where whom you idolize isn't of as much importance as what you do... Is any of this a part of the so-called close-minded and narrow ideology of our country? Yes, I use those two words on purpose. I, in the process of being educated, have been inculcated with more western values. Not because my parents didn't want me to learn about India. But, because they, like most others wanted me to get 'good' education in an English mediumed school. And then if you expect my views to be different, that means you expect me to be someone I am not. That's just the way I see it.

Basic difference. Contrary to the points I talked about above, in India, you are in big trouble if you even think about a divorce, and you're in for a jail term ranging from 1-3 years if you're seen kissing someone in public, for crying out loud!! It matters more about who your parents are and where you come from than who you are and can and will be... If you want to move out at a decent age, all everyone is concerned about is how will you live over them trusting you with your abilities... All this in a country which is many more times than safe than those which we idolize! USA, UK among other western countries fall high above India in criminal and crime related cases. And even then, their teenagers can lead their life on their terms so much sooner. Here, if you move out of your 'family home' even after you marry, you're bound to have raised eyebrows... If you end up an atheist or agnostic and deny going the religuous establishments and talking against their wrong-doings, you're not faithful.

It's confusing and compelling what is asked of me... Is it what I have learnt in the formative years of my life, from the kind of education I have got, or the tradition that holds me shackled? Pretty big a thing to ask for, eh? Doesn't seem so to me. It's simple. You want me to be what you wanted me to learn or you want me to be what you want me to be, because both are contradictory. Both are just saying against each other. That they, you wish, wouldn't or didn't think it would.

I turn 18 in a few months from now. And like every teenager (I hope!) I do have discords with my parents regarding stuff. Many things, in fact. Many of my friends share with me their experiences with their parents, too. And all such times lead me to thinking and assessing myself and the situations... I ended up writing a previous post, 'G For Generation, G For Gap.' in such a thought, and here I am back to it...

While being a teen, expecting some freedom over what I do, to make my choices of where I hang out, with whom I hang out, the friends I make (even if they are not of the same score or in the same study group as mine) doesn't bother me, it seems to be a concern for most parents. Mostly dominated by the feeling that friendships, cell phones, relationships, friends who are not pursuing same or similar courses, all deter their children. Some of which may also be a result of the education system that promotes competition. Sometimes I feel it gets too compulsive. Some others, it seems just too much of a concern. Either they think we're unable to form decisions for ourselves, or it is that they think we're immature and they need to control our lives.

Let's face it. I don't think I'm wrong when I want to have friends who are not from my educational field. I don't think I'm wrong when I talk to someone late in the night when I want to talk and both of us are awake, and we don't have to wake up early the next morning. I don't think I'm wrong to be in a relationship and spend time with alone my girlfriend/boyfriend, even if it's in a public place. I don't think it's wrong to want to want to talk to someone I like for endless hours. I don't think it's wrong when I want to go over to a friend's place when we have a fight, to sort it out, even if she's a girl or vice versa. I don't think it's wrong to spend a lot of time on the internet doing mindless stuff that may not make any sense to my parents. I don't think it's wrong for someone to do something they want to, from their heart, even if that won't fetch them a very high income. I don't think it's wrong if a person finds his soulmate in someone who is of a different caste or religion or follows a certain different food habit, if they want to marry each other and spend the rest of their lives together, even if they're of the same gender. I don't think it's wrong to date. I don't think it's wrong to want freedom to be out of home late in the night. I don't think it's wrong to skip or delay a meal just because you are in a bad mood because of a fight or a misunderstanding you've had with someone who matters. I don't think it's wrong when I spend more time with my friends who understand me, than my family which would raise questions about every act of mine. I don't think it's wrong to... And I can go on and on and on...

There's a hell of a list! Because, it's the choices I make for myself that count, in the end.

In the end, it's about me. My life. And how responsible I can be, for myself. I can have emotional breakdowns, relationship break-ups, fights, misunderstandings. But, I want to sort them, move on and learn from them myself. I don't want to be told to do something or be advised. That, just stops me from growing as a person, as an individual. That doesn't teach me from my mistakes, that makes me dependent on you every time I am in trouble. That's not what I want to be. And I'm sure, that's not what you meant to be, either... You want to help, but, you don't realize you're restricting my growth, you're not letting me think of the possibilities I can put forth for myself... I'm not saying you don't advise me or 'suggest' me. I'm just saying I hope it doesn't get compelling on me of the fact that it's my 'parents' who have suggested me a way out. And the fact of the matter, the whole, Parents-have-more-experience-and-have-seen-more-life discussion doesn't apply here. For reasons I mentioned above. The ideology, the chaning environment and the education which has shaped us is much different than what was for them.

As a teen, right now, I just want to be able to do what I think is right... Contrary to what anyone else thinks... And, yes. I am sure this is the voice of every teen out there. Everyone who has crossed 16 and is nearing adulthood at 18. I know many who won't speak up even though they think what they're doing for someone else, probably their parents, is wrong. Fear, anxiety and the anger of their parents that holds them back from doing what they wish to do... But, I just want to tell them now, why not stand up for how you feel and regret later in life about having kept quiet? Though, I won't say anything else. I don't want to be blamed for provoking anti-parents actions!!

So, it may seem pretty weird as to how the whole post flows... From educational drawbacks to the restrictions to what I want as a teen growing up in a changing India... Give it a thought and I guess the dots will connect...

Still the same question hovering in my mind... Have we grown-up a bit too much... A bit too soon?

Feel free to comment or e-mail me or tell me, in any form what you feel...

Until the next post...

Adios!

The Gandhi Way? No Way!!

2011-04-17T06:44:00.002+05:30

Disclaimer: This post is purely a substance of my personal opinion. By this, I don't mean to hurt the sentiments of the republic of India or the person regarded as the Father of The Nation, Mr. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. If anyone would be offended by reading anything that goes against the nation and its principles, even if it's pointing the flaws so that we, the next generation could live in a better India, you would rather not read it hereon, that would be my sincere request to you, as the blogger. Peace. No hard feelings.

Sitting on the stage, looking out at the crowd and people gathered around him, he rises and speaks. "I'm on a fast unto death, from now on, till my demands are met."

Around 79 years ago, M. K. Gandhi, a political prisoner, changed the way protests were held in this country, India, chiefly dominated by politics and the so-called people's movements... He then rose in this battle, while serving a jail term on political grounds for the equal status of untouchables. Looking at how this protest did wonders and got the support of the masses, he went on and launched it with almost every of his movement, including parts of the Quit India Movement and to gain the post-partition peace back in the country. Touted as a major reason for India's freedom, M. K. Gandhi and his fasts were something the country today looks up to as a symbol of his resistance and immense desire to get the much-desired independence of the nation.

Exactly 12 days ago, Anna Hazare, a social activist from Maharashtra, stood there at Jantar Mantar, demanding the greatest evil of the country, its corruption be driven out by the procurement of the Jan Lokpal Bill, which would help the citizens get their rights to drive out corruption from the country. The fire spread to NRIs too. The internet was taken over with #AnnaHazare on Twitter, events for candle-lights being set-up in most cities via Facebook, e-mails, SMSes and what not! The country rose, together, in sync...

Little do we remember, that what is proposed to be the brain-child of Gandhi, the "fast unto deaths", were rather begun by Bhagat Singh and his companions when the British prisoners were given better food, books, newspapers, etc. in the jail while they weren't. That was the year 1929. And that got them what they had demanded from the British government, then ruling over India.

So, enough of blabbering the facts, eh? Right. Time to get to the real purpose why I am writing this? I read and saw about Anna Hazare and his protest, before it began... Frankly, I just disregarded it without much attention. 5th April, afternoon, around 2 p.m., while having lunch, ET Now was the channel that was running on my TV set. The headlines running below about Anna Hazare and the Lokpal Bill. His protest at Jantar Mantar. I was stunned! A prime business news channel was showing him on a trading day!! I switched over to TimesNow (the only news channel I trust for 'genuine' news), listen to what the anchor has to say about it, as she explains what it's all about. And then I say to myself, "This Anna guy is surely going to have the last laugh out here!" I turn to mom, tell her, "The government's caught in their own game right now... Hahaha!" Mom looks at me back, perplexed... I tell her, she'll know what I meant, really soon... A wide smile spreads on my face...

Somehow, for some reason, I always felt that what Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi did to India, was unfair and ungoing with the mindset we Indians are born as. We are peaceful people, true, but, that's till you don't lift your finger against us. If you do, boy, you're in for big trouble! And Mr. Gandhi, in his ways, put down this respect we Indians had, showed us down by telling the world about how compassionate we could be, that we wouldn't slap back even if you slapped us twice, and it was then, that the world stopped fearing India. It was from then that we lost the dignity in the world where our military strength is concerned. Rumours even go on to say, that had Gandhi not been shot by Nathuram Godse, he was out to give in to the demands of Jinnah and hand over the administration of India in his hands too, just to get the peace. Fair enough? May not seem to you... Read on to know more about my opinion.

To me, Gandhi was just a political pawn, played by the Indian National Congress to get the attention he was gathering to their own political party. Yes, a pawn. Right now, I may seem to you as the most un-patriotic Indian because here I am, calling the father of the nation, a mere 'pawn' of politics. A plan of a major game...

Gandhi arrived from South Africa as a winner after he got the Indian workers in South Africa their desired civil rights. He was given a 2-minute speech slot at the end of the next meeting of the INC, where top-notch leaders of the INC were supposed to hold the center stage. To the amusement of everyone, this slender, short man ended up moving the people more than what Jinnah, Gopal Krishna Gokhale, etc. could.

Wow. How did he do this!? Every big leader there was startled, they saw it as a the beginning of the end of the two-century long British rule in India... Through Gandhi's tacts and opinions of ahimsa, simplicity, faith, swaraj and of course, satyagraha, INC saw its opportunity to get back in the political game and gain the momentum it sought, which was diluted by the likes of Bhagat Singh, etc. in the last 5-7 years... He was roped in, and one by one, allowed to take on the whole of working of Congress. Change the INC's principles to go in alignment with his. And that was when the President of INC then, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose resigned from the post because he couldn't comply with Gandhi's policies anymore.

Dominant, doesn't Gandhi seem?

Trick by trick, INC played its cards right. The people's backing for Gandhi, and his association with the INC, got INC back on top, as the top party negotiating freedom with the Britishers.

Enough said. Coming back to right now.

When Anna Hazare applied the same principle of Gandhi, to drive out corruption, of the most prevailing and rooted problem of the country, his actions were seen as a blackmail by most politicians who preach themselves as Gandhians (here's the link to the TOI article in today's paper where he says he doesn't care even if they say he is a blackmailer). Even so, they forget that this was that principle that they talk about so often in their election speeches as the reason India won its independence 64 years back.

Wasn't what Gandhi did political extremism too, then? Wasn't that blackmail? Or wait, that was justified just because it was for the good of the nation? And so is Anna Hazare?

Well, our respectable, people's chosen, loved and always-for-people's-welfare (pun intended) politicians don't really think so. I read and heard their comments of top politicians from the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha tagging Hazare as a 'Gandhi wannabe' among other tags which I already used above (I'm sorry I can't provide with the links, I don't remember the dates for their publications and shows. If and when I come across them, I'll make sure I add an update below the post).

Compulsive politics. Such a simple way to get things done! Make an old man, a social activist, a people's figure stand up for something, make him fast unto death for the demands of the people, and there you are! You are in! The government has to bow down to you! Do they have a choice? No! Because, that's how they gained their political mileage in the just pre-independence era. And rather than being announced as hypocrites, the media would even possibly end up creating a roar over them being anti-Gandhi as that would be an insult to the Father of the nation! How can they bloody do that? No, they 'just' can't!!

Yes, I agree that Anna Hazare didn't probably have any other way. And, I'm not against him at all. Rather, I'm supportive of his movement. Why? Because, we, ourselves let Gandhi take this means to do so when we wanted freedom while there were other means. I don't find a single fault with Bose or Bhagat Singh's plans.

Now, I may sound a bit two-sided. Let me clear it out... What Gandhi began with, ended up as his ideology being imposed on the nation. If you resort to violence today, you're not a true Indian because Gandhi said that wasn't the way to be! If you don't use Indian goods, you're again not because he used Swadeshi (little did he realize then how important world commerce is for the growth of the economy of a country)! If keeping shut is what you expect from us even if a country attacks us, just because Gandhi said don't hit back, I'm surely not ready for it. Well, is that how we define Indians? Equivalence to Gandhi? I disagree, even if it is disrespectful. I'm not patriotic even if the definition of patriotism in India is being a Gandhian.

Imagine these hypothetical, but, plausible situations now, and my responses to it, the 'Gandhian' way!

1) A country attacks us, we attack back. We respond to them. Answer their brick with a stone. UN interferes, ends the war. And in the post-war discussion in the UN, the representative of the opponent asks us, "By the way, isn't yours a nation who believes in Gandhi's principle of non-violence? Then?" We have no answer, because that's the picture of India we have sent out. A weak, incapable, easily dominated over nation. I'm sorry to say that, but that's the truth (for any doubts, watch this clip from Namastey London where that Britisher points out what he thinks about India.) We know what India is, but, we portray a different image out. And that's the reason India won't ever penetrate into Pakistan to get through to the perpetrators of Mumbai 26/11, among others, while USA won't regret bringing down the whole country of Afghanistan, and north Pakistan just to get their hands on Osama Bin Laden, the mastermind behind 9/11.

2) A few years down the line, another of India's premier social activists, takes up the same kind of a way of protest, to introduce monetary equality, through may be even communism, in the nation. More than 60% of the country that is in the poor lot will support it. Then, are we in for a communist economy? Yeah, we have to be. We are Gandhians after all! Equality is what he preached!!

3) Students from the general category, stand out in protest, hold a mass hunger strike to remove the discriminate quotas for different castes. We got more than 65% people who are not entitled to any of these reservations, they would be in for this movement. Every new day, a parent awakes wondering if their child will secure admission in a good college even when s/he just clears the exam, or will he have to go to some other college just because someone from the 'reserved' castes secured it? Then, would our lovely (sarcasm, again) politicos be ready to give up on their beloved, ineducated vote-bank?

4) A 10-year-old child sees that Anna Hazare got what he was striving for, not even knowing what he stood for, just because he was on a hunger strike. He hears from parents and school about Gandhi and his hunger strikes. He goes out to the market with either of his parents, loves a toy or something else. The parent denies it because of some reason. And he turns back and says, "I won't eat anything till you give me this!!" What choice are parents left with? Could they see their son/daughter starving over something so materialistic?

These are striving questions in my mind. I come again on this, I'm not an anti-Gandhi. But yes, I'm against the fact that he's been regarded as the Father of the Nation and his principles are the measure of my patriotism. Yes, I'm against the fact that satyagraha is not the answer for everything you want your way. That's dominance, compulsating someone to give in. Not convincing or making them choose.

I'm just saying, I see this as a major reason India can be held back in the chains, over gaining the freedom it deserves. I'm not sorry to say this. Yes, I think so.

And, I proudly, happily, without any regret say this, 'The Gandhi Way? No Way!!'

Adios!

P. S.: Don't doubt the facts. I cross-checked them with Wikipedia before posting them here.

The Simple Connection

2011-03-04T07:53:00.003+05:30

Ever wondered why everything that you have done, chosen or decided in the past ends up casting its shadow somewhere in the present? Long after it's been done with? Long after you've moved on from it?

Well, I tend to notice it pretty often in whatever that happens with me... As they say, wounds heal, scars remain. The scars are always visible... Sometimes, they fade... But, some part of them, prevails, no matter what.

It makes me wonder as to why is it that long after we make our choices, take our decisions, are done with the actions concerned, why do they reappear? Why do they ricochet into our lives? How? And for what reason? Most of the times, we tend to see the wrong decisions and choices more prominently, may be because that's something we regret.

But, the underlying question remains the same. Static. What's the connection? What's the reason for these ricochets? Why does the past rebound? Mostly when you've completely forgotten about them. Is it never-ending?

We are always told to learn from the past, and move on into the present for a better future. Makes sense, doesn't it? But, looking into it deeper, makes me realize that this is quite an impossible request! How can you completely ignore something that's responsible for shaping your present the way it is? How can you completely let go of a mistake when that affects the people you love? How can you just let go off someone just because of a stupid decision you made? How can things change so fast and quickly in such times? Our behaviour, mood, attitude, all swings into the past, in the feel of the event and... Voila! Just when you thought you were through, you're sucked back into the whirlwind of the past!!

A never-ending story, is it?

It's amusing to me how the human tendency is so attractive. It kind of attracts just what you want to repel. That's even what The Secret told me about. But what about the past? What's its connection with the present except that it was the present at one time?

It's pretty simple, but vivid.

Imagine the best player of a sport, and how he would want to bask in the days of his glory long even after he has completely retired from the sport... Imagine someone jailed on a life-term, in view of his first crime ever... And imagine yourselves in the best and worst moments of your life...

All of these have one thing in common. The extreme feeling. For the sports star, it's glory, pride. For the prisoner, it's guilt, regret. And for you and me, it's happiness, sadness.

And here comes another question. Why do we lose ourselves to so many moments and things of the past then? We couldn't have felt the extreme string of emotions every time... Or we could've?

Now, I'm no psychologist or psychiatrist to tell you the exact reason. This is stuff I feel is real...

I believe that every emotion, every feeling is extreme in the moment and that's the best you can have it as, for that particular moment. I believe, it's like, the intensity of these are plotted against a graph of time, and the most prominent ones among these, for every particular time span, tend to be a moment of our present... Of the reality we face...

We don't remember every single moment of our childhood with our parents, neither do they remember every moment with us. But, we remember those when the feelings were far more extreme... Every emotion, for that matter. Love, care, amusement, happiness, sadness, fear, anxiety... Each and every feeling. And I'm sure, each one of us does distinctly remember one such event from the early childhood of 10 the first years, if not more... The simple reason being the strange, sudden spur of emotions at that very moment... That wasn't a part of the rest...

The last part of the question, that bothers me... What if a decision, choice didn't make me feel very weirdly huge about the moment, but, it did to someone else who was a part of it? Will it still turn back and find its way back in my life? Somehow, for some reason, I find this happening more frequently that the rest. We have a control over the events we remember. But, being reminded of the events more concerned with someone else, we don't! It's their memory, their thoughts that would bring it back, if it ever does.

I have read and heard that there's some sort of an energy network between people, which even transmits feelings... When such things happen, when the past suddenly pops out into the present, it just highlights and strengthens this theory...

It's troubling to end up realizing that the mistake you made, has hurt someone terribly, and being reminded of it again, does no good. Similarly, being reminded through someone's thoughts that you've done something really good to them may just end up making you complacent! Either ways, it can't be avoided. Either ways, it can't be accepted completely. Because, staying in the past, we can't bring about a change in the present.

And let's face it. No matter how hard or strong you are, portray to be, there are those moments which when return from deep within memories, make you smile between tears... Which make you feel completely worthless, guilty... Which make you feel extremely scared, lost... Which make you feel the sudden calm...

There's something very peculiar about this simple connection... Peculiar, but, real.

Feel the simple connection, it's bound to teach, tell you a lot many things that you may once have ignored...

Adios!

P.S.: I know many of you must be wondering the timing of this blog as it comes less than 200 minutes before my 5th HSC Board paper... But, this one had been on my mind since quite some time now, and I just had to write it down today after the events that occured through it...

The 128th Hour...

2011-01-28T05:32:00.004+05:30

I went to watch the movie '127 Hours' day before yesterday. Reason? Simple. It was a winning story. It was made by the Academy Award Winning director Danny Boyle and the trailer was far more than just impressive. I must confess, that when I decided to go for the movie, I hadn't expected it to be so amazing.

For those who don't know about the story that the movie's about, it's the story of an Aron Ralston, a climber and canyoneer, by hobby. It's a story about one such expedition of his. Being the kind of person he was, he went out to the Grand Canyon, that fateful weekend, alone. Besides, he didn't even inform anyone about where he was going. That's the kind of person he was!

Suddenly, one of the smaller rocks slipped from below his leg and he fell into a gorge. To add to his problem, his right hand got stuck below the rock, which didn't move. He stays in the same position, while his hand pains, stays under the rock for 127 Hours, before he cuts his arm and moves on. That's a triumphant, courageous, hopeful story. And much as everyone of us would want to believe it's fiction, it simply wasn't! This is a true account of Aron Ralston who went on to memoir those 127 Hours in his book 'Between a Rock and a Hard Place' on which the movie is based.

You must be wondering am I talking about his 127 hours when the post title is the 128th hour, right? That's exactly is the point I'm making.

Hope, is all I'm going to talk about.

How easy is it for us to get into the negative phase of our thoughts? Not dare to beat them or fight against them? Life is a gift and how many times do we forget that we are disrespecting the giver if we don't make optimum use of this gift?

The argument I am possibly facing, situations, circumstances, etc. Completely agreed. But the fact that you're reading this right now is enough to say that you've beaten those negative thoughts that would have probably led you to disastrous consequences and traumatic results! That's what life is about. Standing taller than what you ever thought you could.

Now there's this guy from the movie, Aron Ralston, a hero, undoubtedly. He even recorded a video for everyone who meant something to him on the 3rd day of being stuck. He had lost hope. Mind you, he was stuck in the same place for 5 days and 7 hours without food or water, accompanied with the pain and inability.

Simply, he did lose hope of surviving. But, he kept living, trying his best to stay, to live. He didn't give up. He decided to let life take a toll on him itself. That's hope.

How justified are we to lose hope in situations we face? Is it so easy to lose hope when building and believing in it takes eons? There can be nothing as beautiful as a hope to have a happy life. But, there can't be anything as worse as a lost hope, either.

Feeling helpless, insecure, lonely, broken, lost, depressed or anything else, is completely justified. Only if we can come through it soon. Only if we can come out stronger... There's a hairline difference between losing hope and giving up. And if either of them occur, it's barely possible to figure out that difference before losing both. That's how dominant such feelings are on us. And common, it has to be accepted that it's we who let our negative feelings rule us over, over the positive ones. That no matter how hard we try to overcome every feeling that may tear us down, we do have that one feeling which says to us that it will dare to break us apart.

And it's standing up against that feeling, with hope, in the 128th hour (read: the toughest of times) that makes the difference, that keeps us alive, that keeps life hopeful. If not for that decision of Aron Ralston, today we probably wouldn't have had even the slightest of clues that a person with that name did exist!

It may sound that this is true in the case you want fame, success, want to make it big... But, imagine yourself in place of Aron. Would you have ever thought you would be the subject of a whole movie which the world would praise? All we can think of, in that moment of pain is a feeling that's called hope. That hope which takes birth from the slightest of changes and stays alive till our death. He didn't even think he would make it through alive, at first!

Hope's crucial. The 128th Hour is when it all matters... But, these define the difference between victory and defeat, of life on the whole... That's what's the game-changer of the real world...

Adios!

2010: Learning From What's Happened...

2010-12-31T07:10:00.006+05:30

Well... This isn't your usual look-back to the year that you usually read in the newspaper columns... This one's different, pretty different, because here, I want to emphasize on those 12 events of the year, which left an effect on me. Drastic one too, probably. Those events from which I learned, from which I changed, from which, the world learned, from which, the world changed.

On to it then...

January, 2010

Haiti, 2010

It was a usual evening in Haiti, and one of the worst earthquakes of human history hit this small nation of the Caribbean Islands. Most of us out here in India, don't even know where it is (confession: even I didn't till it began making the headlines)... Probably not a big thing. Probably just your usual earthquake which Indonesia and Japan face every once in a while. But for me, this has one specific importance.

The whole of America came together to support this neighbour of theirs. In a world where people of neighbouring countries are more justified if they hate one another, a pre-dominantly white country, stood up for this country with a major black population and helped them just when they (people of Haiti) needed them... Love, people! Learn love! We are fighting here. We hate Pakistan, Israelis hate Palastenians, South Koreans hate North Koreans, Iraq hates America, Germany hates England... Where have we lost the love? Where has the essence of love which The Beatles' lead vocalist, John Lennon, describes in his song 'All We Need Is Love' fade? Can a world live with hatred? Ask yourself...

February, 2010

A My Name Is Khan poster being vandalised.

Here, I want to refer to a previous post of mine, Beyond The 'Khan'... A post about the face-off of the political party Shiv Sena and Shah Rukh Khan... An event which was broadly highlighted throughout Mumbai. Where the screening of the latter's film, My Name Is Khan, was stalled in parts of the state just because of his comment about allowing Pakistani players play the commercial Indian Premier Leage. Despite the attempts to stall the release of his movie, the determination with which SRK stood on his word, and that he didn't think he had done anything wrong by voicing his opinion to include the excluded players, is indeed remarkable, brave.

When will we get rid of this? Again about love. We always point out to people as from being of a particular caste, origin, state, religion and judge them to be a kind of someone else had been, some other time... Within a metropolitan like Mumbai, why does it even matter who is a person and where he is from till he can earn his own daily bread and butter, on his own legs? I find this discrimination plainly, stupid, idiotic and an attempt to break down the unity this country resides upon. Moving on.

March, 2010

Sachin Tendulkar, in action!

The big buck Indian Premier League begins! A billion viewers watch eight teams, of India's most prominent eight cities battle it out on the field of Twenty-20 cricket... One of the biggest sporting events of the year in India (may be the biggest, too), it had its share controversies, happy moments and sad ones as it proceeded for the next 76 days. The moment where I fell for this event, when I knew this had to make it to the top news list, was whenever Sachin Tendulkar came onto the ground. He silenced the critics who criticized him blaming his age with his 200 not out knock in February, and proved his mettle as a captain, as a batsman, and as a support as he steered Mumbai Indians' way to glory to the finals. The best finish the Mumbai team has had in the three seasons. Hail the Lord of Cricket!

It's this determination, this action, this way of his that leaves people awe-struck. He silences every voice that raises against him with every run he scores on the field, with the brilliance and experience that only he has. As they say, 'Let your work do the talking...'

April, 2010

Eyjafjallajokull after the eruption.

The mountain glacier volcano Eyjafjallajokull erupts in Iceland. The ash-cloud it creates disrupts air traffic from Europe and Asia to America, affecting and leaving tourists, travellers, and businesses stranded through the globe for almost a fortnight.

What does it mean? Nature stands tall, above human beings, and everytime humans try to say that it doesn't, it's easy for nature to showcase it's real capabilities. Enough said, ain't it?

May, 2010

Kasab, 26th November, 2009, CST.

Finally!! Ajmal Kasab trial convicts him guilty of the 26/11 Mumbai carnage... About 18 months later, the lone surviving terrorist responsible for killing over 50 people in cold blood is convicted guilty. Many delays, changes of his lawyers, pressure from the media, etc. etc. and the day when India cheered in harmony, had arrived. That was what it meant for every Indian, or at least, every Mumbaikar.

It resembles hope to me. In a country with over crores of cases, delayed or no justice, and corrupt officials and bureaucracy, the delivery of a verdict in such an important case, in such a short period, surely is very significant! (Not forgetting that it took 15 years for the verdict of the 1993 Mumbai riots case.) Isn't that victorious?

June, 2010

South Africa 2010!

The much-awaited FIFA World Cup, 2010, South Africa! Viva Africa! While the world tuned into K'naan's Wavin' Flag and Shakira's Waka Waka, 32 teams from the globe battled it out at 10 state-of-the-art stadiums of this country which has risen to glory under one man and it's Father, Nelson Mandela, it was a joy to watch. Though the big teams like Argentina, Portugal, England had a dismal exit, the Spaniards took the World Cup home, just as they were expected to. Not to forget the astounding performances by Netherlands (runner-ups) and Uruguay (fourth place), especially Diego Forlan. These were the dark horses of the World Cup.

Again signifying hope and change, this world-class event turned tables for South Africa, and put it on the top of sports through the globe. All thanks to one man, Nelson Mandela, for his never ending efforts to lift the country from where imperialism had left it, in the dungeons.

July, 2010


An Inception poster.

The month of Inception. The most-awaited movie of the year, which went on to top all the all-time best movies charts just as it released, there's no denying that this was one masterpiece from Christopher Nolan. The way Leonardo Di'Caprio acts, the way it has been directed, the story it has, everything is sure to leave a movie-buff in awe as he leaves the movie theatre!

Lots to say about it, little space. In short, it explores the capability of the human mind, more so when it's asleep, and how it can be used to destruct someone by stealing or creating an idea there. A gem of a movie, without a doubt!

August, 2010

Hiroshima, 6th August, 1945.

The 65th anniversary of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic attacks. The two days which the world mourns. The result of which is still seen in every new generation that takes birth in these cities. The small Asian country, situated in one extreme of the world, suffered because of. It was as if Japan had lost everything at that moment in 1945. But they denied to accept loss. And stood up again, as The Land Of The Rising Sun, to grow as the quality suppliers of technology and innovation, as also went on to be only the biggest economy in the world, second to only, the United States Of America.

Their motto, it seems, was to prove to America that they won't bow in front of it. They won't shudder. That they will rise on their own legs, and voila! They did! Shine like the sun, Japan, forever!

September, 2010

Logo and mascot, Shera, of 2010 Common Wealth Games, Delhi

The month of scams. The month when India's poor face was smacked in the global media first because of poorly developed stadia for the Common Wealth Games with less than 30 days to go, and later, with the stories of corruption and its magnitude (as if anyone in India didn't know it had occurred!) rocked, India's face bent down in shame. Though reports had begun coming through since late July, their scale was escalated only now. It was followed by numerous other scams being revealed which led to the Chief Minister of Maharshtra, Minister of Telecom, among other biggies to step-down of their posts.

A perfect time to put down my proposal of a desi-version of WikiLeaks. What else do you need in a country with thousands (or even lakhs) of crores of currency lost in the hands of corrupt officials. This was even my status on one of the social networking website, recently, and one of my friends jovially commented, 'That's surely not possible, truly speaking, there's not enough space for such a huge website on the world wide web!!' Well, that explains the amount of Leaks there would be, and how aware we citizens are! The number of hackers in India aren't few, right? Hit it!

October, 2010


Sania Nehwal with her Common Wealth Games Gold.

Sania Nehwal, India's very own badminton ace, won a gold for India at the Common Wealth Games, 2010, and moved a step upwards towards the top rank in the world rankings. Her winning streak continued with the Guangzhou Asian Games and she became a name of every household through the country for winning the laurels she did, and making India proud.

This is one such event that is an exemplary example of breaking-the-barriers, to-walk-on-the-road-less-taken. Not many people in India would go on to pursue their ambition of being a sportsperson, and even lesser would it be for women. But she, did it. And there she is today, among the top three of the world, waving the Indian flag proudly at almost every Badminton competition of the world...

November, 2010

WikiLeaks, homepage.

WikiLeaks! They simply rock! As I mentioned in September about the need for a WikiLeaks for India, what they have done to America, is unpardonable for the government, and their government is unpardonable for the citizens there, after they came to know about the facts which WikiLeaks revealed. For those who don't know, WikiLeaks is a website dedicated to leaking secret documents of the world. As their motto reads, 'We help you safely get the truth out.' It's one website where people can post whatever they know about the different confidential documents affecting the people, anonymously. It's thus hated by the government United States of America (which is worst hit because of this) and many went on to call its founder Julian Assange, as the cyber Osama Bin Laden!

For someone like me, he's an inspiration to be fearless, to be free, to exercise the right to freedom and information, and help the people and world together, too. That's what Julian Assange has done, he has begun a revolution and proved that people don't want such documents to be a secret, they want to know the truth that affects them! So be it.

December, 2010

Foggy New Delhi airport.

While the world got ready to celebrate Christmas, bid adieu to 2010, and welcome the new year, nature, again, decided to show why it can't be ignored. Temperatures dipped through the globe, with blizzards hitting cities and Mumbai, Delhi, New York experiencing their coldest winters in a long time. The fog at Delhi disrupted air traffic, while blizzard and 20 inches deep snow in New York, froze the city. Effects of global warming, eh?

That leaves me wondering... Where are we heading? The temperature scale reaches new extremes upwards and downwards every year... We won't change our habits, efforts to reduce pollution, global warming, go down the drains... Where are we heading? Surely we aren't heading anywhere in this world. The world won't be a place to live in for much longer if this goes on... Serious amendments are required on our part... Time to open our eyes... Mine are stunned open, no doubt.

So, that's wrapping the year, 2010. Wishing everyone who reads this a very Happy New Year, may it fill your life with happiness, prosperity, and realization of all your dreams and wishes... And for those who don't read this, I don't wish anything different for you all either...

Greetings of the season!

Adios!

G For Generation, G For Gap.

2010-12-20T05:26:00.001+05:30

Oh well, well. When you probably begin reading this, you would be of the idea, 'What the hell does he think he is writing on? That too on the world wide web?' Brave!

Let me tell you, the first thing, I don't know (I know that's usual that I don't know why I write what I write, even regular readers of my blog may know that) why. It was just something I was thinking about the other night, and I realized, it would be better to just write it down, put it up on the blog, and have everyone to decide what their stand is... So, here it goes...

Generation gap. One of the most disputed, and legit topics. Who doesn't know about it or hasn't seen it? Everyone of us can surely point out the difference... Can see why somethings are done differently... So that's that. But, I always, always (not a typo) fail to understand the reason why people would have difference of opinions just because of the difference in the age group...

I am just going to point out a few reasons that I thought were for this much talked about Generation Gap...

Generations pass, ways of thinking, perceiving, believing change. They indeed do. And as I had written somewhere earlier, it is the state of transition, change, that is the only thing that's permanent... Whatever may be wrong as of today, may not even be close to wrong in the next generation! For example, being out of home, beyond 9 would probably be considered a big deal in the previous generations. But, where we live today, teenagers, like me, would stay out of home, till 12 in the midnight, and still, it wouldn't be a problem as such. Similarly, many more things can be pointed out.

But, what about those where both the generations (namely, parent and child) don't match about their opinions? Whom can it be blamed upon? The fast progress of the child because of what he sees, happens around him? Or the inability of the parents to accept the change in their children? Or something else? What?!?!

I guess none... It is just inter-twined with all of this together and comprising into a result... It may be that over time, they can sort out whatever it is that separates them, but expecting it to be calm within no time, as it pops out for either of them, it's just not being real. It's just imposing our choices on the others. And I guess that probably isn't a sign of a healthy relationship...

Today, stuff like friends, mobile phones, texting, social networking, e-mailing, etc. is in news. Every second teen wants to have more friends on social websites than most of his counterparts, whereas every parent is concerned about online security, reading about cyber-crime every day and getting more worried about their children... Whose fault is it? We would say parents', and if you're a parent, you would probably say ours. Agreed! Blame it on generation gap, best way out *winks*.

But, frankly. It's that kind of a world. To have a big, always expanding friend group, is what that child wants to brag about, he/she wants to be seen, talked about, just like any other sophomore. He doesn't want to go to school and say to his friends that he isn't on a social network just because his parents don't want him too... Either he would be ashamed, or just feel bondaged. Either ways, he won't feel good about it.

(Implications from here on, you = parents, other adults. We, us = your children!)

That's one thing that parents probably need to know... Their child is responsible, that they have grown them up, with the values you imbibed in them, they can take care of themselves and you need to trust them. We read what you read, we see what you see, and in many cases, we have more insight into the real world than you do. We can and do take care of ourselves.

From what I have noticed, the other major reason that is, is comparison. You don't compare what happens today to me, to what used to happen to you 2-3 decades ago! This reminds me of dialogue delivered by Mr. Bhide in Taarak Mehta Ka Oolta Chashma in which he says, "Arre, hamare zamaane mein to hum (Oh, in our times, we used to)..." relating what he used to do as a kid and then, everyone in the frame in that scene, is just finding a way to escape from whatever he wishes to say. It's just that way for us too. Simply put, you can't talk about Graham Bell's first phone when every pocket around you has a mobile phone in it!

Again, you can't even compare a child to another. Every child is special, different (sorry, to just steal the tag-line from Taare Zameen Par)! In his/her own ways... And it's that difference you need to understand... There can't always be a fixed path that a child should follow just because you dreamt about him going that way. If some parents wouldn't have understood that, we wouldn't have had a Sachin Tendulkar, Bill Gates, etc. today! If their parents hadn't let them chase their dreams, they would be just another face in the crowd today, someone you would never even know exists...

The third, and most important point that I wish to make here. Studies isn't the only thing that's important. It may be that it's the only thing you you want from us, but it surely isn't the same for us. There are other things that are important too. And if you can figure out what that is, just understand them, believe in them, that's all you need to do! It's not like reminding us of our dreams 10 times day you can change anything that we do through the day... We may even change it for a day, out of frustration, but then what? We know our dreams, we know where we want to go, we know how, and we even know it's our life and that if someone has to make it, it's us... And that's what you need to know...

You can't talk to me every once in a fortnight, about one sensitive topic, and even say that you understand me... How do you want us to believe it if that's not what we see through your actions? How do we believe that you understand what we feel, go through if your actions suggest the contrary?

Well, here I want to make one thing clear before anyone begins speculating. I haven't had any arguments with either of my parents in the recent past (thankfully!), about anything. It's just that I was thinking about all this the other night, and it made me write this...

Many adults reading this must be up in arms with their replies for everything that I pointed out, ready to say about how biased I have been... And I wouldn't mind that. Probably, being a child, a teenager, it blinds me to look at it from the other perspective, because we're too firm on whatever we think and believe. Just too much. And there's nothing you can actually do about it.

Right now, it's probably the largest generation gap, between two consecutive generations, history has ever seen. Or may be, wider gaps will come by as next generations become real. May be it's the technological advance, openness to ideas, influence of school, friends, etc. that exists now on us, that induces this. But, that's real right? You can't go back in time, educate me then, make me learn the way you want me to live and then bring me back to the present and see me live that way. That's a serious LOL (lots of laugh). And I guess I have made my point here...

It's frightening to wonder about how changed the next generations will be, than measuring the current difference, for me... Well, it just is so...

Until I come up with something else to write about...

Someone...

2010-12-07T03:55:00.001+05:30

There are moments when from within the crowd,
Stands up a person who was once a no-one,
And then he sets out to touch the skies,
Just to come to know as 'Someone'...

I have been there once when I was little,
Stood up and fell down as everyone,
Tried and succeeded, fought and lost,
Never cheated, and in the end, I was 'Someone'...

Until when I had a choice to make,
From wanting to be someone to everyone,
A cynosure, a public figure, may be, even a celebrity,
To being something for the one, everything to 'Someone'...

I chose what pleased my heart,
While the head kept saying number one,
Today the world doesn't remember who I was,
Just because I chose the love of 'Someone'...!

------------------------------------------------------------------

Just another poem... Just a few lines which were destined to be...

Ethanasia - To Live, Or, Not To Live?

2010-11-22T05:02:00.003+05:30

I happened to watch a brilliantly crafted movie today (urgh, yesterday now), Guzaarish, directed by one of the finest directors of Bollywood, Sanjay Leela Bhansali. All I had to say even when the movie was just half-way through was, "This is one bloody awesome movie!" And well, it's the finest movie I have myself ever seen in Bollywood... Stupendous performance from Hrithik Roshan, his best role by far; a simple and sober but momentous role played by Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, as his elegant nurse; a really strong storyline; great supporting roles from Suhel Seth, Shernaz Patel and Aditya Roy Kapoor, among others; brilliantly written dialogues, each conveying something exceptional, each which says something between the lines; mild but joyful chemistry between the leads; all-in-all make this movie a really great one. I even go on to say that I personally think, this movie is better than '3 Idiots' which is considered to be the best as of right now... This is one such movie which makes me believe that there 'are' a few Indians who can make such fantabulous movies which can compete with of the best Hollywood flicks... This one's of that caliber! Undoubtedly.

Won't scratch the outline of the movie here, as I know many of my regular readers (well, those who I know read my blog) haven't seen it yet. Don't want to spoil their fun when they watch it... But yeah, there's one point of the movie, the part from where its title comes that I want to talk about...

Ethan Mascarenhas (Hrithik Roshan) has a desire to let go off his life, after suffering from paralysis and being a quadriplegic for 12 long years, legally, by filing a petition in the court for euthanasia, or in simpler terms, mercy killing. Somehow, suicide, as it is called informally, is one such sensitive topic which has people considering it as a taboo. Probably, in most cases, it is, too. But this isn't about all those cases... This is about those few special ones...!

Running back into time, I had my first acquaintance with this phrase 'mercy killing' way back when I was 13 or 14. I remember one of my history teachers telling me about it and what it meant in one of her lectures. At that very time, and since that very time, I did end up thinking about what relevance it had, about how correct it is as a concept, and stuff... Though, the real catalyst for today's post was this movie where this ideology, desire is bravely displayed and talked about, I can't deny that my past score with this cognizant affair...

The first time we hear about it, I can bet anyone of us has this idea, opinion about it as a completely, blankly ridiculous urge occurring out of a moment of insanity. But (there's always a 'but')...

Imagine this for yourself... Facing a deadly painful disease, disorder and being practically unable to do anything... Living everyday on the basis of someone else... Right from the basic daily-care chores to the complex stuff... Everything! And over it, going through massive amounts of pain and sadness... Feeling uneasy, worthless...

The first reaction that comes by if we actually imagine ourselves in such a situation and then return to sanity is 'Shit!'

There. Just there. It somehow makes sense to me, that death by choice, if the person is mentally stable and sane, should probably be allowed in a few cases. Undoubtedly.

What kind of death would we prefer for our loved ones, passing through such physical or mental trauma? Those for whom we care about?
Option 1: Natural, painful, stretched death. The extrapolated death. Sadness in the eyes of the person who is going to another world, helpless feeling you face, unending distress.
Option 2: Silent death when the person is happy about being around every person who cares about him/her. No pain, no distress.

I know it's not very difficult to decide here. But, when it comes to pragmatically living it, we all, would surely not agree to the second option. Why would we even agree to it? We would lose someone who matters to us, earlier than we would lose otherwise... We would want to believe that some miracle would take place... Something that would change everything, again to normalcy... Even after knowing that miracles occur once in a million and we want to believe that this case is that one in the million...

Human tendency of hope and belief. No denying it at all... But, for one moment, if we selflessly think about what the other person is going through and how legitemate would we be if we forced them to live, despite their will, going through all the pain they do... Barely justified, that we would be...

I don't say that there needs a serious amendment in the Constitution Of India, or the basic humanitarian principles. Neither do I say that death by desire is justified... I just say that there have to be those exceptions, exclusions we need to make and let go... Hoping that our dear one, would be free of the immense misery they are going through... Pretty fair, too, I guess.

There's this one dialogue in the movie which is delivered by Ethan's on-screen mother (Nafisa Ali) which struck the chord of my heart the most (edited), "Whose life is it anyway? This isn't my life, or your life, Mr. Prosecutor, or anyone who is sitting here, neither is it yours, Your Honour, that we can feel the pain Ethan feels. It's his life and no one other than him can feel that pain and thus it's rather 'just' his right to decide."

Simply tells us how our life that exists is just ours, above and before anyone else. That's it. Our life. And so, it's our right to decide, To Live, Or, Not To Live, euthanasia or living, provided, the pre-requisite of the subject being emotionally stable, is satisfied...

Well, that's just my view...

To Live, Or, Not To Live?

Adios!

P.S.: The title isn't a spelling mistake. Those who have watched the movie will know why it isn't so.

Lost. II

2010-11-05T04:27:00.002+05:30

Life takes us to different places. Some seen, some unseen. Some new, some old. Some happy, some sad. Some adventurous, some pleasant. Some lively, some silent. Some pretentious, some real. Some different, while rest seem just the same...

And through all this, we can't deny the fact, that we all, every once in a while, feel lost. Not knowing where we are, not knowing where to go, not knowing from where we began, not knowing where we will end up, not knowing what will supposedly happen with us, not knowing anything. For that one moment, we feel the darkness completely surround us, take us down, break us apart, tear us to pieces. It may be in the next street, a new town/city, a new locality, an unknown crowd, sometimes, even within yourself.

Whenever anyone says 'Get lost' to me, jovially, I can't help having a smile to myself. Remembering how I felt the last time I actually felt lost. The last time when I felt utterly helpless, for those few milliseconds, the chill through my spine, the agony in my thoughts, the pain in my eyes, the desire to be around someone who is just called ours, who can take us out of there easily, safely.

Even in life, just as in travels and expeditions, we feel lost. Lost within our thoughts, within our own selves. And we are desperate to turn to light, wherever, however we may find it. Stream out of the darkness, move out of the pain, strike through life, get going to our destination. To live the dream, to feel victorious, to feel satiated. But once there, we do, always think about that feeling of lost again, once. And then, just when we want to know how we felt lost, within a moment, our thoughts get diversified, even before we know. We can't make that out. We can't feel the difference of, neither where we have been, nor from where we stemmed up. We may feel this feeling for those minuscule time period, but, that leaves on us a lasting impression that most of the times, which even we fail to realize.

I have indeed been fascinated by this power of the dark, to hold us victimized, slaves, even. Pretty much one of the most powerful things I have ever witnessed. Invariably. It can create wonders, work marvels, turn tables, break barriers, give someone life and what not! But again, it can also create a ruckus. The despair, change the way of life, turn someone evil, contemplate suicide, succumb, tear apart. All of it.

The most compelling kind of darkness is the one within ourselves, that we fail to rise from, incidentally, because we can't ever defeat oneself. It's a one-on-one battle, which never ends, the battle between the good side and bad side of ourselves. The way we are, through what life has made us. Either we find our way through the maze, or we shudder to it's complexities.

Throughout this phase of transition, we feel covered by a layer of uncertainty surrounding us. Somehow feared, afraid of losing. It's that moment when we know what defeat would mean to us and we know we can't afford to lose, for our own good. But some other times, we do lose. To ourselves, and bring in a negative change. Adjust, adapt. Accept it.

While this turns out, we don't really lose hope of standing up once again, do we? The hope and belief to be loved and trusted again. To be able to stand up, soar into the sky, from the hallows, like a phoenix would... Somehow, still, life. It's just the same person who once got wilted in front of defeat. The same person who gave-in to the dark.

Life, existence, living isn't always a sore ride. It pretty much turns better once we tear apart and rise from every thing that holds us behind. Be it the past, relationships, guilt, events, everything. Just when we feel we are ready enough to ditch the dark loss and turn to the bright again. Just then...

We may have to take a few harsh decisions, a few tough steps, take a step backward, halt, ask for help, leave out a few things that we feel are important, just because we want to be where it would mean. In light, where the joy-ride commences. Just there...

Until then, we are all just, lost...

(Reader's note: Less than 24 hours ago, I wrote a poem with the title 'Lost.' and it may surprise you why it comes up as an article here. Well, indeed, as someone pointed it out to me, the poem, didn't make much sense to the reader. It didn't flow well. So, that someone, subtly told me that poetry wasn't my forte, which I indeed agree upon. It was just a few lines that came to my mind which made me write it then. I guess I will stick to paraphrases from next time. But just in case, after reading this, if my poem makes 'some' sense, I would like to be informed. Regards.)

Until next post...

Lost.

2010-11-04T06:54:00.000+05:30

Through darkness, into the light,

That's where I long to go,

Within myself, away from the world,

Somewhere beneath, to really know.

Mist surrounds, wherever belief dies,

Heart shatters to feel you cry,

Every moment when you're not around,

Somewhere lost, in each try.

Never been so famished to win before,

Or to look at your eyes so pure,

Thoughts vivid, restless sleep,

Somewhere to find, a sweet encore.

For bringing in life, for feeling the love,

To steal the pain, whatever it cost,

Faith to brighten, all gray specks,

Somewhere in heaven, just to be lost.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Poem number 4. Why, how and every question that may pop into your head is a question for me too. But, still, the show must go on...

Ciao!

When I First Saw You...

2010-11-02T00:00:00.004+05:30

When I first saw you,
I never even gave it a thought,
That I could fall for you,
But, to me, happiness was something you brought.

Every moment spent with you,
Brought nothing but satisfaction to me,
Every word spoken by you,
Felt like a new world altogether.

Lonely nights faded into bliss,
Love took over hate and envy,
Ecstasy draped all around the mist,
And I came to terms with joy.

When I first saw you...
-----------------------------------------------------------
The first poem I penned down... Wrote it more than a year back... And the reason it comes up today... Well... Let's just say...

When I First Saw You :)...

The Tenet.

2010-10-20T03:55:00.004+05:30

There's always this moment, in everyone's lives, which defines everything. Which puts everything we have always wondered about, thought about, pondered about, felt confused about, tormented because of, at ease and in perspective... Everything appears crystal clear from that view point, from that very moment.

That moment, is everything.

The awakening, the revival, the rebirth, the arousing. Different ways in which different people define such a moment. And whenever I see someone who has a 'been-there-done-that' emotion for such a moment, it feels as if they have found their way through every problem that life may ever face them with. It fills in them the strength that they will cross through every predicament, no matter now tough, complicated, compelling it may be. Seems as if they have found an answer for everything they had ever felt confused about. That feeling of satisfaction, the quenched thirst of knowledge and knowing, the moment when the reality of our life turns perfect every moment from then on, I wonder how it actually feels... But what I have end up wondering more, is what gives that moment to someone? How does one end up on that moment which elucidates the real meaning life has for him/her?

Pondering deeper into it, I realized that each one of us has a set of negative emotions inside us. And it's these emotions which shape us into what we are today. They shape our behaviour, actions, beliefs, and even character. Few of these are feeling neglected, lonely, ignored, guilty, lost, worthless, harmed, envious, greedy. A person who has been constantly feeling lonely, might not want to mix up with people, would prefer staying from commitments, would want to venture more into himself rather than the world outside. Whereas, the ones ridden by guilt (like I discussed in my earlier blog Demeanor Of Guilt), might just end up hurting themselves unknowingly by their own actions, and abusing their own self and body as a punishment by taking blame for everything. Those ignored, would be in constant need of being told that you're there for them, that you're not going to abandon them. And I guess, we can relate what every other feeling can drive us to...

But the point I am making here is, the reason such emotions and feelings make things different. What's it really? All of it lies in a single word. Something that eventuates from accumulated feelings, misjudgements, misunderstandings, breached trust, and a million words spoken in anger bringing about the strong belief deep in our sub-concious, a tenet.

Yes. It's one goddamned hypothesis. Stupid, to others, but the most appealing axiom, to the one who has it. And it's never many. It's just one... May be that one has stemmed out into many other feelings, a feeling after the another, and just clogged into the brain. But it all begins and ends at one.

Somehow, each one of us knows that there are these set of emotions making us what we are today. Completely, in some form. May be not in words, or knowing how to describe it, but on the inside, all of us are enlightened enough to justify why we act the way we do. Even if someone points it out to us, we won't accept it, or for that matter get ready to change. Why? We are so firm on what we believe that we wish the reality would blur out itself from around us. Unluckily, it ain't so, ever...

Often defined as arrogance, this is also what stems from a tenet. The inability to accept that someone else too can be correct in those matters where you have a stronghold within your own head. That's just one example of what a tenet can do.

Coming back to the point I made earlier about the moment which kindles the life, and how it comes by... We can and do change things for ourselves. Sometimes knowingly, sometimes unknowingly.

Somewhere, another truth is, that we all wait. Wait for that someone or something which can prove to us that what we think, believe in, accept to be true, is false. It can be a moment, the moment of reckoning; an event, the blurring of the ideology; an opinion, the instigation of a change; a thought, the small flame of a candle in a dark room; a conversation, the shattering of disbeliefs... It can be anything.

And the day we find our real selves, through these, break the shackles we are held in because of emotions, is the day we escape the bondage of The Tenets...!

Until next time...

Sorry, Thank You, Please!

2010-10-02T05:28:00.002+05:30

Pretty often have I met new people. And even more often do I hear words that are supposedly 'Golden'. Sorry, Thank You, and Please. And I, without a doubt, fail to understand what's so golden about these so-called Golden words?!

When we meet people, we get to know them. We share, we care, we learn, and within all this, we barely realize when we begin a new relationship. Peculiarly, every relationship we make, is based on different values and has its own importance. Some on trust, some on love, some on knowledge, some on sharing, some on caring, some on kindness... And the list, is endless! But every relationship, and (almost) everyone of us, considers that saying these golden words, is necessary, whenever the need be.

It just doesn't get my head on it as to why should anyone use these words? What really is the significance behind it? And how many times do we really mean them?

Simply said, when we make a mistake, we say 'Sorry' to the people who show that we have hurt them. We don't really apologize to those who hide their hurt just to see us happy. And that's just where we falter!

In the world around us, there are people who want to be 'Thanked', who want to feel gratified, proud too, may be, and most of them, even ask for it. If not in their words, in their actions, behaviour, show, and we are lured to thanking them for whatever little or great deal they do to us, for us. Seems real and even justified, ain't it? Not to me.

And there comes the most useful (sarcasm) word of English language. 'Please'. Even after knowing and using English for 15 years, through school and junior college, I am still not sure what this word really means. A request? An order? A desire? A lie? Or the easiest way to dupe someone? Apparently, all. That makes me wonder about everywhere we use this word. It's so varied and irrelevant, even.

Okay right, I am talking about ideal relationships where I wouldn't have to use these words. But, in my opinion, every relationship is ideal. In its own simple ways.

Why should one be 'Sorry' for a mistake he/she makes in a relationship? Why should the other person apologize? You look into the eyes and you see that the person regrets doing what's done, you talk to the person and you hear the guilt in the voice, you read their words and you feel that the pain has struck their heart. Through all this, you know what the other person means. That's simple to see. In every way, they are just saying, 'I know I made a mistake. But, I won't repeat it. And I will take care and make sure it doesn't. Trust me.' And that's what makes the difference.

Why say 'Thank You' when whatever we do in a relationship is to see the other person happy without expecting of rewards or returns? Why would there be a need to say it if the gesture came straight from the heart, and that's how it normally does? Why not just let it slip by with a sweet smile, and joy in the eyes which express how truly happy you are? Why not just hug them and tell them how lucky you feel to have them in your lives? Why not just hold the moment as if it's cherished? Why spoil the serenity of the beautiful relationship by making the feeling of gratitude a usual and expect-able reaction to whatever they do out of desire to see us happy?

Why to say 'Please' when whatever the person does for us is from the heart? Why to request when we have the right to make them do it? Why to lie when we can should rather be telling them the truth? Why to order or dupe when we can convince? In short, why to just say it to make someone feel better and not worthless? Why be the need to beg? Eyes and words can truly express if it is a real need of the time, moment or not. Isn't that enough for the person to decide whether task's to be done?

We always talk about the relationships being felt, experienced and being informal. But here, by making someone say, or feel the need to say these words, aren't we making them bondaged into saying or doing that we already know, just to satisfy our hearts and egos? Isn't that it? Why to make someone feel superior when relationships can only be shared among equals? Isn't that what we do by giving someone the presents of the golden words? Giving them gold, and raising their worth... Does that even remain a relationship, then?

Again, what I mean by relationship isn't a very successful, long-lasting, one-in-a-million kind of a relationship... Any and every simple relationship beginning from acquaintances to years of friendship, from parent-son to between siblings, from teacher-student to colleagues, doesn't finally have to end there... There can always be the smiles, simple gestures and known truths that can replace the gifts of gold-studded jewellery (read: golden words)! Wouldn't that remove the real burden of relationships from our shoulders? Wouldn't that, in turn, make life easier? I believe, affirmative.

Au revoir!

You've Got The Power!

2010-09-12T03:13:00.000+05:30

Power. That's a big word when you say it to anyone in India. When you say that, you simply mean, you've got enough connections, enough known people, enough people who would be there to save you, if you fell in any sort of trouble.

And the people who can say they are 'powerful' are barely few in India. Courtesy: The ineffective and delayed results from Indian Judicial system, the corrupt Bureaucrats and the extra-irresponsible politicians elected by us to the legislature. And everyone who isn't either of these, sure has a lust for power. To secure himself, to stay away from any sort of problems, issues, hassles.

Frankly, I am of those very few in this country called India who would still not give up their values while fighting for what is right against someone who is powerful. I wouldn't. And I did prove my point, my stand, sometime back when I got into a tiff with someone who had the power to not only spoil my entire academic year but which would also mean my career and life. Still, what I did was what seemed right to me. To stand up against what was wrong, unfair.

And I won't highlight that incident here. That wasn't heroic in any way. It just was what proved to me that I ain't a hypocrite like many others.

I have seen and heard many people say, talk about changing the system (besides the politicians). Very few have actually stood up and made the difference. Have shown the world what they really are and believe in.

You sure do meet people every where who boast about what level of penetration they have in the system. Traffic cops leave people just by the name, their every official work gets done in a few minutes, they can easily skip queues, be treated like VIPs and what not! The list is endless... And who are such people? They surely are not VIPs... They just are individuals who know VIPs. And well, they get the stars studded onto themselves wherever they go...!

Every elder to me, I repeat, every elder whom I have ever talked to about these things, has told me, blatantly, not to dare to mess with those in power. And somehow, it never seemed to impress or convince me. I always was a staunch supporter of my ideals. Was, am and will be.

To live in India is a fight every day, as we all know. We all have had to bow our heads at some time or another and just let the so-called 'system' run in its full might. And every time I do that, see someone doing it, or know that it's happening, I am forced to ask myself... How long?

Dammit, we won our Independence 63 years back... Was it only to be handcuffed into fear and inability? I don't think so...

India has changed, from what it was a decade ago... The acceptance to the wrong has reduced... As far as I know and have met people, there are those who are ready to contribute, make a difference, lead the change, and to give power in the right hands.

Let's face it. Each one of us has the power. The power to act, to raise voice against the wrong, to make the change (in our small ways), to move the blocks in place, and to set things right. But, the question still is, do we?

The simple answer is... We are an afraid, feared, coward lot of people. Yes, I mean these words. Why so? Simply because we all won't stop criticizing what's happening or saying how it should be done, but we won't get in there and go for the change.

Everyone of us knows Barack Obama, the current President of the States. But what's his story? Why did his election campaign have the tag-line 'Change, we need.' The simple reason comes from what he was. Barack Hussein Obama, a graduate from Harvard Law School was a Civil Rights Attorney in Chicago. He saw things were going wrong. He couldn't accept them the way they were going. He thought the things were against humanity, the basic principle which defines us humans, and he lead his own change. The change he wished to see in his country, the United States of America. He went on to be the Senator, and then the first Black President of the country which didn't allow Afro-Americans to vote until 1965. And each and every point of his, about his ideology, has effectively been written down by him in his book, The Audacity Of Hope.

Let me now emphasize on the desi version of the above story. If Barack Obama was an Indian, what would he do? Instead, what do we all do?

He gets a degree from a renowned Law School in of the country (sorry, I don't know law schools). He gets into a Civil Rights attorney. Sets up an office in Mumbai or Delhi. And then he sees, that the cases keep going and going, like forever. He understands minting money from those who need help is easy. Sure he is disappointed with the system, but he lacks enough motivation from within, and from others, to just go around, and take the first step towards the change he desires. He continues his job. Realizes that he can make enough money to live a healthy and sophisticated enough lifestyle. Realizes that he has gotten into knowing the Commissioners of Police, the high-posted politicians, bureaucrats, and has enough of the contacts he needs to build to stay out of trouble. And there he is... Spending his life, accepting that change can never be made in this country! Wouldn't you agree it would be that?

And we all know there can be numerous such examples, not just Barack Obama, for that matter...

It was this man called Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi who when thrown out of the first class compartment in South Africa, despite having a valid ticket, was aroused to bring in freedom for our nation; it was Subhash Chandra Bose's desire to see his motherland free from the might of foreign rulers; it was Bhagat Singh's vision to live in a country where people wouldn't be punished for being who they were, that brought India the independence it had long desired. Only to be given away to another kind of invasion... The invasion that being 'in power' caused.

Yes, this upsets me. Upsets me big time that people who can and should be doing stuff to take the nation to another level while away their lives just to keep earning their bread and butter in the simplest and most satisfying possible ways... Yes, it does upset me.

You've got the power... The power to change... The power to lead the change... The power to be the change...!

You use it or not, that's what you gotta answer to your own conscience. Not me...

Ciao!

Happy Birthday, My Blog!

2010-09-04T03:52:00.002+05:30

I still remember that day... I was reading Blogs by Bugs, the blog of one of my dearest friends, Bhavin Shah, that fateful afternoon... And suddenly, a thought, a wish, a desire ran through me... I wanted to have my own blog!

And so here I am... With my own blog, and almost 50-odd regular followers... That's Setu's Blog today!

When I wrote my first blog, way back on 3rd September, 2009, I wasn't sure what blogging was all about. The only thing I knew was, I wanted to have a medium through which I could take my thoughts, opinions and ideology, to the world. I was (and still am) an amateur writer. A teenager who just had gotten out of school, and all he wrote there was 300-word essays on imposed topics! That was a time I couldn't be creative... Whatever I write, even today, is raw, unpolished stuff in my opinion... But, that's just me...

I didn't know much about how to write, what to write etc. I just knew, I wanted to write... Whatever I felt... Whatever I believed in... Whatever I thought... Whatever I knew... And with every new blog, I kept learning. To write, to express, to speak, to accept, and to try and get better...

When I began this blog, I had hoped I would reach some 100 blogposts until the first year... (I had a crazy frequency of 8 posts a month for the first month!) Later on, time and resource restrained me and the numbers went down... I compromised to 50... And today, I stand at this being my blogpost number 39... Couldn't even complete 40! But that doesn't deter me... Because whenever I sit down to write a new post, I know what I have to write... I know what I feel about the topic... And I know how to express myself the best to my abilities... And so, beyond a point, these numbers don't matter to me... Because I know whatever little I write, however infrequent I am, I will try my best to do justice to that topic...

Every time I decide to write about a subject, thoughts begin to form in my mind about what to write, the whole post, etc. until I actually begin writing... And what amuses me is the fact that no post turns out the way think about it... I don't ever write it the way I have thought before... It just turns out completely new, different... And I just seem to like it even more...

With every blogpost I wrote, I had comments pouring in, on the blog, on Facebook, on tweets, on e-mails, etc. And all of them just made me feel better about what I wrote... They all encouraged me to keep writing... And the most encouraging moment was when one of my posts was published in a magazine! Well, that can actually boost you like anything... I actually began believing that I did write some what good after that day...

If you follow other blogs, you may know that blogging is a wide arena. Some people blog about their opinions about the headlines of the day, some are dedicated to specific categories, some are just photo-blogs, and some even say about the schedule of the day and the few things they learnt that day... I still am trying to figure out what I write about... Because I have always written anything and everything... Ranging from the reviews of books and movies, my interest in muzik (it isn't a typo, I prefer it that way), astronomy, literature, festivals, my opinions during some major contorversy of the time, my idea about some confused facts, etc., etc.... The list is unending. Quiet frankly, all of the topics actually popped out to me out of the blue... I never went searching for a topic, in the true sense... It always was like when I saw, felt or heard about something and I went, "Hey! I want to write a post on that!" And I just did it...

There are these two important people in my life whom I have to mention here... Because of their support, trust, faith, guidance and help, I am what I am today... And they are Divya Desai, my best friend, and Bhavin Shah, my mentor... This blog is theirs as much as it is mine... Because if not for either of them, my writing dream would have been incomplete today...

Some people ask me how has blogging changed me, my life? It's simple... I found a hobby, a mouth-piece... It's something that has shaped me into myself, carved my personality... Today people know me as Setu, even though I don't have a big fan-following. It has helped me know my forte... And it's something I can proudly call my own...!

And the success with my blog was the main reason I actually began writing my maiden novel, The Girl. Well, as of now, it is in a nascent stage, but still, that's the plant I want to nourish...

It has been a long way in the last one year... And will be a longer way henceforth... But I am sure I will make it through... Because my thoughts will never stop... And hopefully neither my writing...!

Ciao!

The Dream Called 'India'...

2010-08-15T03:27:00.001+05:30

"At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom...!"

This line in particular, from the speech of the first Prime Minister of independent India, better known to me as Chacha Nehru, on the eve of the Independence Day, rings in my ears every time I think about my mother-land India's Independence Day...

We take on the 64th year... A million challenges ahead of us... A million goals... A million benchmarks to be set... A millions paths to be paved... A million years of tradition to be preserved... A million traditions to uphold... And a billion voices to be heard... That's India...!

When the fight for independence first began in the year 1857 with Mangal Pandey and his supporters, who would have thought that the India would be like it is today? Even those who were a part of the 1947 victory wouldn't have, I believe.

I wonder at times what really was the dream called 'India'? What 'India' did those who helped us get freedom and independence wish for? How did they look at India one decade into the 21st Century? Where did it stand according to their vision? Where was it heading from there?

They would have dreamt of an India devoid of the political instability that it has faced for centuries... And yes, we achieved it... But not the maturity or will among most politicians to do something for the nation that they would be proud about themselves...

They would have dreamt of an India where life would be simpler, easier... Where the problems of yester-years like slavery, casteism, racial discrimination wouldn't stand a ground... Yes it is easier, simpler... And has even lost much of the casteism that once prevailed... But only to be replaced by territorial breakdown of the country... Where people would be criticized just because of the region their ancestors settled in, during their early days... That there would be communal disharmony, throughout the nation, just because of the formation of states, which were made to make governance easy...

They would have dreamt of an India where education would be the back-bone... And there is work going on in that direction, thankfully! There are bills passed, acts being made... But the standard of education, the burden of education, the way education is seen, the condition in which schools throughout the country are, the equipment, staff, knowledge they can provide... All of them seem far from satisfactory. And sometimes I feel, that it wouldn't really matter if they had made only a few schools, but at least made them in complete, without these flaws...

They would have dreamt of an India that which would be of the leading developing nations... The one that would constantly strive onto making progress, earning from high exports, high on foreign trade, that would give the world a hope of a super-power in the making... And yes we are there... Only the fourth nation in the world to surpass the Gross Domestic Product (G.D.P.) of a trillion U.S. dollars. But, are we actually rich? With more than 40% of population under the poverty line, can we call ourselves as a nation close to becoming a super-power? Is the money being actually being used for the nation? With European Banks claiming to have deposits of over a billion crores with them, from India, aren't we fraudulent?

They would have dreamt of an India where justice would be the foremost... We have so many courts... So many lawyers, judges... A complete Constitution... Justice too, in a few cases, even if it is delayed... But what about those 20 million and more cases pending? Where is the justice? Why aren't people at fault afraid of committing crimes? Why are they just not bothered about being convicted under the court of law? And those with power, misuse it to their benefit because no one can ask them anything, no one can object them... Inefficient judiciary... Need I say more?

They would have dreamt of an India where media would be responsible, vigilant, diligent... And yes it is... There are numerous news channels in India... All running high on TRPs... But what do most news channels give us except adding to the 'masala'? Where's the real news? And those who get us the real news, are soon attracted to the newer issues, and the issues of the past just keep deepening...

They would have dreamt of an India which would be well advanced in communication, where telephones and tars available at almost every household (that was the only thing then!)... Wouldn't have even thought about fax or mobile phones, leave alone the internet! And yes, we have come a long way... As of now, India has the largest mobile phone access in the world, almost 5% of the country with broadband service, telephones in almost every house... But the development of ours compared to the rest of the world is actually very poor... The average internet speed of India is a mere 772 kb/s which is less than half of the world's average internet speed (1.5 mb/s)... India ranks 115th in the world when it comes to this aspect. Also, while the world gets ready to face 4G technology for mobile phones, India still struggles to get 3G implemented.

They would have dreamt of an India where transport and infrastructure would be something every Indian can boast about... Lots of connectivity, rail and road networks, major projects, etc... Yes we have the deepest connectivity when it comes to roads and railways... We also have engineering and infrastructural marvels... But still, we don't have the best technology to run them... We still are running trains that would operate on electricity, while the world operates Mag-Lev (magnetically elevated) trains to reduce travel time. Our infrastructure is completely in shambles... And as a joke on it goes, we sometimes fail to understand if the hole is in the road or the road is in the hole...! Just because, none of these projects are completed on time and the whole region is affected by traffic, congestion and other issues.

They would have dreamt of an India which would be competing with the best in the world when it comes to science, space and sports... Indian space discoveries make us proud... When Indian Cricket Team, Saina Nehwal (badminton), Narain Karthikeyan (international circuit racing), Mahesh Bhupati (tennis), Leander Paes (tennis), Baichung Bhutia (football) do well, we get happy... While I believe no substantial discovery from India has been made in the field of science in the last 6 decades (correct me if I am wrong), India's space mission is far from that of the rest of the world... While the United States plans to colonize the lunar surface, India dreams of stepping foot on it... While the Americans and Chinese take minimum a medal in each field of sports, India struggles to get a total of 3 in the Olympics!

They would have dreamt of an India free from evils of corruption... And well this is something where we have probably not achieved anything substantial... Rather, I wonder how wrong would I be if I said we have achieved 'nothing'! Most of us ourselves pay bribes to get our work done, to get loose, to bend the system in our way... And end up saying 'Sab karte hain... Hum kyun nahi? (Everyone does it... Then why not me?)' And most of these are people who comment on the credibility of officials and politicians... Do we really have a right to say a word about them when we ourselves support and entertain corruption?

They would have dreamt of an India where every new generation would be proud to live... To call it their own... Their mother-land... And yes, we have that... We have each and every small child shouting 'Jai Hind! (Hail India!)'. We have them pinning a small flag of India on their clothes on days like today and insisting to get themselves an Indian flag... But the older generations are far from proud... They even pity themselves to be here and not to have flee the country if they have had their opportunities in the past...

There are problems which have been suppressed over time... And that has led to their deepening like that of a cavity... But along with them, the newer ones come to life... And the pile just keeps increasing to touch new heights... And no one even would try to shake the strong base so that all the problems end in the shortest possible time... No one would even try to remove the problems one at a time... And yes, it is so... We have to face it. Bitterly, sadly, but that's the plain reality.

Freedom... Independence... Responsibilities... All these three words are so synonymous and together going... And probably, we haven't been able to fulfill any of them...

We, as a nation, have proven to the world that we have surpassed every dream that we were faced with... Better than expected, in most cases, even. But, along with that, we have forgotten what really was ours... Our tradition, values, and virtues. We have lost our individuality. We have given up on quality while vying for quantity... We have over-looked what seemed like minor problems only to see them widen their reach, with time... That's what we have done... Already...

The world sees us as a nation that has lost it's might... That lives on hyped hopes... That has core problems which are barely even talked about... That is afraid of facing the reality...

There are those I know, who say 'Aisa hota hai... Aur aisa hi hota rahega... (It has been happening like this... And it will go on...)' And probably, that's the voice of the masses... The disappointment of the people... But I think these are just cynics who are afraid that they will have a tough time adapting to the new systems as and when they change... And as the popular dialogue from the movie Rang De Basanti goes 'Koi desh perfect nahi hota... Use perfect banana padta hai... (No country is perfect... It has to be carved to perfection...)', it keeps me in hope that things can change, will change... Because finally, at the end of the day, change is what we need...

All said and done, I myself don't see anything the way it prevails... I see it better than the best... The dreams of India are still redeemed in my eyes... Because every time in history when India was pitied upon, India proved it to the world what it really is... And what India can do... It just needs that one jolt, one awakening and then we have our tryst with The Dream Called 'India'...!

Dreams - The Reality...

2010-07-27T05:09:00.003+05:30

Two of the most antithetic, contradictory words... Dreams and reality. And when I use them together in the title, that's sure to attract a few raised eyebrows...

One of them talks about the reality we want, and the other is a picture of the reality that exists... Both, paradoxical to each other.

But yes, I am still talking sane. The reality of the dreams, or, the dreams of the reality... The way you put it, is how you would perceive it.

One of the most fascinating topics for me, has always been the occurrence of dreams, the reasons behind them, the connections they have to reality... And may be that's the reason, dreams are the real game-benders in my to-be-maiden-novel 'The Girl'.

Even so, I have been on a constant look-out for reasoning as to where, how, which and when do dreams affect us. It's really a very faint and vivid memory that we have most of the times, but, the effects are drastic. That's disturbing, at times.

I have always been someone who looks out for information... And when I realized that Inception was one such movie which would offer me help on this subject, I couldn't hold myself to watch it at the earliest! The presence of Leonardo DiCaprio, Christopher Nolan's direction and the hype created around this big budget flick were other stimulants which made me watch the movie at the first opportunity I got.

I won't review the movie here. The reviews are available from various people in the international film fraternity in every nook and corner of the web... But, here I wish to talk about what I felt, how I can relate to it and what I think about it...

The first and foremost that comes to my mind, is a simple fact that has been highlighted even in the movie. The beginning of any dream is something you never remember... A fact, observed. We may still remember the middle parts and the end of the dream, but, how we landed there, how it all began, is the craziest mystery...

Again, where the story actually begins. Extraction. It's just like stealing... An idea, a thought, a memory process. That's all about just stealing. And still, not knowing that it's already lost! And to my knowledge, that happens in real life too. May be not through forceful dream sharing and sedatives, but, by the simple wish and desire to let someone know something, but being reluctant to tell them ourselves... This does happen...

And then finally comes the art of Inception! Don't we sow the seeds and ideas in our own heads? Deep into our past, somewhere, some thought, some idea, some realization has lead us to what we are today... Every action, every part of the behaviour we demonstrate, every series of thoughts, everything just doesn't stem up from nowhere... It has a reason. And that reason is from our very own Inception to our own subconscious. Somewhere, someday... And this is not something that I am saying out of the blue... I can see that those thoughts which came to me when I was ten or twelve, those dreams, their effects. Those are what have made me 'me' today.

It's an addiction. Once you begin dreaming, thinking, convincing yourself, you end up doing it again and again, even without knowing that you are doing it! That's the Inception of out lives...!

Pretty much into the movie, all of us do doubt the existence of reality or being in a dream... I doubt the reality of this world that's so-called 'ours'. Our civilization (which is no more civilized, painfully). Is it possible that we are actually just sharing a dream of this world? That we really exist somewhere else and live here? That we are just the projections or we are sharing the dream of someone superior, who is the play-maker? That there is someone who has designed and planned it all? That these years that we spend here, would seem like minutes when we get back there? That when we die, we wouldn't end up really dying, but just waking up? That when we are dreaming (not day-dreaming), that's just a dream within a dream? Or even multiple layers of dreams? That this probably isn't the real world? That the real world is free from the pain, sadness and all negative emotions that are just 'projected' out here? That this is just to teach us how we should live like humans when we wake up in the world we can then make for ourselves? Is this for our enlightenment? To open our eyes to what would happen do if we spoilt our real world like this? Is it so?

This is something that I am desperately, inquisitively wanting to know...

Do tell me if you find the answer!

Sie sehen!

Demeanor Of Guilt

2010-07-17T03:43:00.001+05:30

Warning: I am not sure why I am writing this... But I am sure this one comes as a surprise to everyone, just as it does to me...

Guilt... Such a strange word... A broad meaning... Different applications... Wide usage... But, the underlying feature of all forms of them, is still just the same... Pain, regret, hurt... And after the guilt ride's over, things are never the same as they were before... Guess that's the reason each one of us, runs away from this word forgetting that it will collide with us, in some form or other, at some stage of our life...

This is the strange relation of guilt with our lives. Everyone of us does make that one mistake for which we consider ourselves unforgivable. How much ever we try to pacify ourselves, our loved ones try to convince us, all the efforts end up in vain as the guilt resurfaces sooner or later... But, in most cases, sooner than later.

That's how we are. And for those lucky ones, there are more than one such inexcusable parts of our lives...

For some, guilt is a part and parcel of life... For some, it is a way of living... And for the rest of us, it's something that 'was' a part of our life. Those who have learnt from their mistakes, and moved over their guilts. They appear to have. But somewhere deep inside, they still lament over what has happened. What it effect... What changes life made to them... Where they are today because of that one moment, second, minute or day... Where they would have been...

But it isn't as it may seem. Guilt is a feeling that's far more complex than just regretting and knowing it's wrong... Guilt is a feeling that is far more obscure... Guilt is something that can destroy, and does destroy relations... But it also builds new ones on the foundation of trust and understanding. Those which are built by walking on the glass guilt spreads on their way... Guilt is something that changes the way we are, we look at things. Sometimes, it works for our better... Sometimes it doesn't. And it's just these few people in our lives, our relationships with whom cross the challenge of guilt, who can make it all fine for us. Who can help us make believe that everything is fine... That life is better without that phase of guilt...

Acceptance of being wrong is rare. And even rare is the ability to cope with the fact that we were wrong. I guess that's the reason, that's the place where ego and guilt coincide to form this reality of their co-existence...

Pain, regret, loss, running away from reality... What all can guilt do to us! It's sometimes compelling for me (and probably many of us) to just let our heads drift into an unknown world... The world where we are free of our guilts... Our mistakes... Our pains... The so-called 'ideal world'... And strangely, it isn't as much a joy ride as it may seem. Because finally, we have accepted our lives to be such. Filled with guilt, pleasurable in the pain, and drowned within regrets... That's how we see ourselves...

Probably that's even how we wish we would die. We can't see ourselves as a burden to others. May be, their being compelled to being around us is something that even they don't wish to do... And when we realize this fact, life gets tougher...

Guilt, I believe is the prime reason for broken relationships, shattered dreams, torn families, for those rags-to-riches-to-rags stories, for suicides, for every tear that you shed when you see your loved ones in pain because of you, for every fake smile you put up so that someone would believe in it and smile for themselves, for those lost hopes, for those burnt memories, for those who lead a life searching for their reason and motive in life, for those who end up making a mess of their life just because they couldn't hold themselves in that one moment, for those who are left alone, for those who live alone and for those who die alone...

We aren't perfect... We make mistakes... We fall, we falter... And stand up, we do... At least, some of us do... While the rest remain, Deameanors Of Guilt...!

Broken Solitude...

2010-07-09T11:25:00.002+05:30

When I look at the moon,
In the glittering sky,
Between the twinkling stars,
I can hear its lonely cry.

When I look at the sun,
In full glow,
I can feel the heat,
But with it the tears flow.

That's how life is,
Slow and brute,
Awake but existing,
Through every feud.

Some trust lost,
A heart broken,
Within those few moments,
Our life was shaken.

Fear is no where,
Neither is life,
The reasons for dreaming,
Die with that cry.

Hands to hold,
People to talk,
That's what's gone,
And in came, the lone walk.

A short distance,
That now seems long,
Without you,
Everything seems wrong.

Fear kills the body,
Love heals the soul,
Asperous is life,
Not at all devoré.

I inhibit guilt,
Dare to live,
To face this loneliness,
I am still not brave.

Still not tired,
Will be waiting,
For your return,
My heart's beating.

Hope still survives,
Trust keeps alive,
But in the end,
This is my broken solitude...

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

My third poem... A clear expression of the state I'm in...

As I Wait For You...

2010-06-22T18:44:00.000+05:30

Under the scorching sun,
As I wait for you,
With a broken heart,
That still beats for you.

I look into the crowd,
For a known face.
And in the mirror,
To see my own disgrace.

And all I find wherever I go,
Is just you and your memories lost.
Every moment, every memory,
That's all that's left in me.

Tears have dried,
The laugh has faded.
In a monotone of black,
Life has evaded.

Never had I thought,
I would be so involved.
Never had I believed,
That even I could grieve.

And losing you has brought,
Nothing to me.
Pleasure in pain,
Is all that remains.

With you,
Without you,
I remember how it feels,
To be around you.

And still your face,
Captured in my closed eyes.
Every night,
That's just alone to be.

In the wake of every dawn,
I hope to see you.
At the break of every day,
I close my eyes to feel you.

Seasons change,
From autumn to rain.
But colours in my life,
Still remain the same.

Rain swept the colours of life,
In a jiffy, that we painted in smiles.
And there's no horizon or rainbow,
Neither a bed to cater to the wounded me.

Am tired of disguise,
Tired of this game.
Where all I have to do,
Is be in the frame.

I want to shout and fumble,
Be myself.
But even that I can't,
Because I was myself with just you.

I still don't repent,
Nor do I torment.
I won't cry if this is how,
Destiny is ought to be.

Pain seems unending,
Life seems a standstill.
And the distance seems killing,
As I Wait For You...

--------------------------------------------------------------------
This is my second attempt at poetry... Just something I wrote... Just something I felt...

Emotions...

2010-06-10T00:33:00.001+05:30

Everyday... Every hour... Every minute... Every second... We feel a long string of emotions. Like, a small incident, a little change, and the emotions we feel, turn out to be completely different from the ones a few moments back... They change by a major!

Sometimes I love to think... Was life simpler when we were younger? Like the pre-teens and when double digit ages had just begun? And, yes... Life was easier... The reason I can cite is simple. The emotions we feel, the reasons that change and affect our emotions were few. There were just two simple words to describe emotions... Happiness or sadness.

Simply said... Simply understood, even...

And today? Life changed within these almost four years after getting into the teens... May be even this is a process of growing up. And if it's so, those elder to me, must be facing even more a deal managing their emotions!

The simple happiness, the expressions of joy, just got so many names and expressions... Happiness, joy, gay, grin, smile, laughter, wink, curved-up smile, excitement... Sadness has changed to just being plain sad, pained, hurt, glum, tired, broken, troubled, tormented... And then there are those emotions which fall in neither and are very new to us... Indifferent, guilt, anger, pale face, straight face, confusion... And the list is endless...

Just so many different emotions and feelings!

And the reason we can feel so many things together, is surely our maturity. I still remember the time in my fourth and fifth grades... When I used to sit quietly when I was sad and was never able to figure out what was the reason for that mood... At least today I know what is the reason... Why I feel what I feel...

Most of the emotions are strange... Peculiar... Sometimes, even felt for the first time... But, we soon find a word to describe it perfectly (courtesy: the wide vocabulary of English language, my preferred medium)...

Again... Mood changes... Swings by... And mood-swings during teenage are a common affair according to my knowledge, my experience.

Things don't seem as easy as they are... Life seems difficult... Emotions seem unmanageable... In the end, all of it is taken care of by time...

Keeping a tab of these is the most tiring of it all. There are those friends of ours who help us when we need them, and just are with us otherwise, to share our happiness... These actually are those who 'feel' our emotions...

They say emotions travel in vibrations... According to what I have found, it's true... If you are really close to a person, you would know when the person is sad... Unhappy... In need... In pain... And even when the person is happy...

Miracle? Magic? Co-incidence? Guess? Fluke? I don't know... I believe it's all just... Emotions...

Ciao!

Just Another Ride...

2010-05-06T01:47:00.002+05:30

Hey reader!

I often happen to travel by a rickshaw (often known as a rick, in the suburbs of Mumbai) or a cab and then I begin thinking about a dozen different things... This is something, I believe, everyone who takes on such vehicles has gone through... Hope you can connect to it at some point...

And this one, is a tribute to all my such rides till date... Yes, a 'tribute'...

It's strange feeling when I get into the vehicle to take me to my next destination... It's peculiar as to how many things run through my mind... Will I reach on time? Would traffic delay me? What will it be like there? Have I forgotten something? What's it going to be like? Will it be memorable? Would I enjoy? Will I run into someone whom I know? Will I meet someone new and interesting? A million more questions pose in for me... You decide for yourself... Because, it's just another ride...

And then, as the vehicle begins... I look at the curious gaze of the on-lookers who stare at me with wide eyes... As if cursing me for getting a ride that could have been theirs... Many of them, even try their luck to get it even after I did... None of them know what it's like... What's going on in my mind... What I'm thinking... What I have been through... What is the feeling deep in my heart... What gives me happiness... What pain broods in my heart... What do I want to do really... Why and where am I destined to reach... What's my inner conscience telling me... What are my dreams, wants, needs, desires... And, it's just another ride...

As I pass buildings and bungalows, I wonder if I could have any of them some day... I wonder if my house will be looked upon with awe like I do for those few... As I see the cars speeding by with a whoosh-sound... I begin imagining myself driving the cars in the garage of the house of my dreams... Those beautifully crafted vintages... Those high performance SUVs... Those awesome-looking luxury cars... Those zooming sports cars... And, I wonder how many of them would find a place in my home... And, it continues as just another ride...

As I stop at a signal, I look at those unlucky children who beg in misery... Those handicapped adults who can do nothing but spend each day in pain... How I wish that education could turn the small kid on every corner of this vast country into a responsible citizen who can stand up on his own legs... How I wish free medication to the needy was available, in time... How I wish the corrupt officials were tamed and would work for the society's betterment... And, as the signal light goes green, these thoughts just fade till the next such vision... Because... It's just another ride...

As I pass by innumerable shops, I realize how many things do we need to buy or rather, want to buy on a daily basis... Those bare necessities to those luxuries... Those needs, wants... Those which give us a life and those which help us lead a better life... Yet, it's just another ride...

And within this time frame, through the process of these innumerable thoughts... I move close to my destination... The place where I had to be... And suddenly, a new set of questions stem in my head... Do I look good? Am I presentable? Do I look as someone to whom everyone would turn back and look at? What would everyone think of me? But, it's just another ride...

I pay the fare... Leave the vehicle... And then smile at myself, and say... 'Yes, that was just another ride...'

After all... It always is... Just Another Ride...

Right Or Wrong

2010-04-12T02:57:00.003+05:30

Bonjour Readers!

Pretty frequently I face this dilemma with my own self, 'Is what I just did right? Or should it have been the other way round?' And I am sure, everyone of us, faces any of the following questions every once in a while. 'Why did I do that?' 'Was that right?' 'What was in it that makes me feel terrible?' 'I just did what I felt. If that's not upto your expectations, so am I possibly wrong?' And the list goes on...

But the real question is... What's right? What's wrong? I believe that's one of the most controversial question we can ever face!

I believe the distinction between 'Right' and 'Wrong' is subjective, opined and personal. It all depends upon us as to what we think it is.

To be put in simple terms and language, some people believe that those who believe in the presence of God are correct, while the atheists have their own opinion about it. Killing someone is an offense for me. But for all those terrorists and bombers out there, it would be an achievement. Breaking a signal in case of a hurry would seem as an violation of traffic rules to any onlooker, but for the person driving, it may even be a matter of life-and-death and thus he may think it's correct. For some, winning may be all that matters, not the means. But for some others, the means and ethical winning would matter more. Thus, the events are same, but, they are 'Right' for some, 'Wrong' for some. And surely, right now, there are a million other examples in your head about contradictory situations of 'Right' and 'Wrong'.

And surely, this doesn't need much of a thought. I would just simply put it as, it's all in our head, our bringing up, our opinions, our wishes, our desires, our decisions, our priorities, our understanding, our culture that 'our' conclusion about these distinction stem from.

It's a strange fact that we do change our 'right's to 'wrong's pretty easily through the influence of someone who is very close to us or trusted by us even without using our own judgement for the same and balancing the new theory against the previous reasons which actually shaped our opinions, over a beam balance. We may not feel the gravity of it, but those around us, surely observe it knowingly or unknowingly.

And one of the most true evidences of we changing our previous conclusions are somethings we call 'apologies'. In some cases, there may be other reasons for apologies too. But, in most cases, it is the effect of this relative difference between 'right' and 'wrong'. We apologize to someone just because the person thinks it wasn't correct and we feel it necessary to change our thoughts and opinions to match theirs just to make them feel better. But, in this process, we fail to understand that we are really losing ourselves!

The things that were ours, like opinions, decisions, understanding, judgements lose their way into oblivion!

And the only thing we can do to preserve ourselves is by owning up! Simply saying that, "What I did was right in my opinion, in my feeling, in my situation. May be you don't know what it felt like then. And, if I felt then that it's correct, I possibly always will!"

It's strange how such things can influence us terribly and by leaps and bounds. A small act of ours, which is a mistake in someone else's idea, can take us through a journey through guilt for a long time, and at the same time, a re-affirmation from someone that what you did was perfectly fine and correct, when you think you made a mess of it, just lightens our mood up and makes us feel happy and cheerful.

So, this is it. There's this destination that I reach. I believe now I can put my understanding about 'Right' or 'Wrong' as what others around us feel, want and expect about us, which influences this simple fact and complicates it and entangles it more and more with time.

And it is this simple reason that we say there's a hairline difference between 'Right' and 'Wrong' which we need to realize for ourselves. Because, there are innumerable people on both the sides of the line! And it completely is our jurisdiction as to which side do we belong to... And so we do end up on one side and pull out our hand to drag others to our side but often end up pulled by them into theirs... This leaves us stranded again and we lose our knowledge about ourselves!

It's very confusing, yet simplified. It's 'We' who let others affect over thoughts about the well-being of a decision, not the others. It's our lack of trust in our own ability and self-confidence that doesn't let us reach to the next level. It blurs our vision and takes us through the world from someone else's eyes. It's like wearing someone else's clothes that you hate to cover up your wounds.

And the journey of 'Right' and 'Wrong' re-begins again...

That's right? Nahhhh... That's wrong? Nahhhh... That's what I feel it is like...!

Ciao!

It's All About The Eyes...

2010-04-01T13:02:00.001+05:30

Hello readers,

It's been quiet some time since I have been observing people and their eyes and trying to understand what they really mean to say behind those words. Here today, I just am trying to tell what 'eyes' of different people have told me without words...

I believe eyes are the most pure and expressive organs of the body. Any feeling that we feel, our heart feels, like happiness, sadness, love, hate, like, dislike, anger, fury, satisfaction, joy, fear, confusion, contrast, envy, loss, pain, greed, rage, grievance, confidence, etc. are just perfectly expressed by our eyes. Anything we do, what we feel when we do it, what we expect the reaction to be, everything, is just expressed through our eyes... We may control our words and actions to dupe someone, but our eyes, they just don't listen to our brain!

Sometimes, everything happens as we want it to. At other times, it may be contrary. And we end up being disappointed. Although we don't want to let the person know it's so, we control our tone, volume, speech so as to ensure that the person doesn't come to know, but, if the person knows you well, the person can surely see it in our eyes that we are disappointed. It's this feeling that I guess we all should live for! Someone who stares into our eyes and tells us what we feel even without we saying a word.

I believe eyes can also speak leaps and bounds about the character and nature of a person. What they really are, what they really want, need, feel, etc. A few eyes tell us that there's a joy in them, their life, others tell us about the pain and problems in their lives. They speak about the people we know, people we want to know, what we feel for them, how much we feel for them, what they mean to us... They talk to us about our inner self and how the events of the past have changed and influenced our present and might even do that for the future.

Sometimes, it feels like someone really wants us to be there, by their side, but won't ask us to be just because of the fear of rejection or ego. Some other times, it feels like someone asks us to be there but doesn't really feel so. It's asked just as another formality.

And let's face it. We have a thousand dreams, a thousand questions, a thousand expectations, a thousand wishes, a thousand problems. And every moment in the life, we have a thousand emotions running through us. The obvious question would be, do the eyes reflect every emotion? I say, yes, they do. We fail to realize that our eyes don't listen to us. They listen to our feelings. They are very allusive. Completely alien to the world we live in where a display of vulnerability means that you would well be taken advantage of. But still, our eyes reveal it all.

It's this expression and ability of eyes that leaves me dumbfounded. The eyes of different people, whoever they may be, friends, foes, strangers, speak a million unheard words. And not just to me, it's to everyone. May be because I have evolved myself to this ability that it feels strange. It is strange because sometimes you just know what the person might say to you, even to a stranger.

And I always end up wondering what my eyes say to everyone around me. Although, till today, no one has ever told me, I just keep thinking about it. Is it the happiness that they reflect, or the problems that I face, or the neutral facet. It's very compelling and yet an ignorable fact of life as to what we show ourselves as to the world through our eyes.

It is so peculiar yet an attribute the almighty has conferred us with. To just see someone and know what runs through them, through their heart. It is just too different and difficult to perceive. But, even more difficult is the task of trusting your competence to be correct at it. It's something that works with the heart and eyes.

Within the scope of whatever I have been exploring, I have understood one thing. There can be no two people with the same set of feelings, ideas, mindsets, thoughts, opinions and everything in between. It's always different for everyone. And that's what simply makes us into what we are. Our eyes tell others what we are.

And so, I am a firm believer of the phrase... It's all about the eyes...

N.E.W.S.

2010-03-01T01:18:00.004+05:30

Hello,

It's been quite some time since I actually wanted to write this post. After having heated debates with people over the Best TV News Channel (err... surely not the one which gets the awards always), and factually correct news, I just felt like writing it through in my post. And, by the way, this isn't the 'Rann' effect. In fact, I haven't seen that movie and nor do I plan to.

The basic definition of news, is to provide information regarding everything that's happening around the world. In short, providing the updates of events from North, East West and South, making the word, News.

Through the years, the increasing competition from all the sides, has brought us to face a world where News is bought and sold, over reported and covered. And yes, this is the bitter truth. Most of the time, we are unaware of the reality and the hype is all we give in to. And this is the case mostly with the audio visual media, the TV channels, which are indulged in a self-battle of TRPs.

The first time I really was enlightened of this fact was, when I went to Jammu a few years back. There was a news channel which I was loyal to, then. And, on the road, we were stuck up because of a check-post for around 2-3 hours. The reporter who came-in there, was asking people to give false reports that they have been stuck since 2-3 days (!!) and there is no arrangement from the government's side either.

I was like... Wow... This is how news is literally... 'MADE'!

Some of you might argue, that there are these sting operations and eye-opening revelations. But, have we ever thought about having such an operation for them in their own den (read: office)? Who knows what goes on in those headquarters? Shouldn't these ill practices take birth from such places only?

It's heartening when those who are supposed to be providing with valuable and precise information end up giving us rather lame and inappropriate details.

Past all this, what's even more hilarious, in my opinion, is having those 30 minute shows (out of which 15 minutes is just commercials) in which they repeat the same 45-second 'astounding' video clip around ten times, and then exaggerate about it the in the remaining time. This may contain the page-3 gossip, the masala from a daily sop, the promo of an upcoming movie, the drama at a reality show, among others... Don't we have access to these entertainment channels that you show us that? Or do you think that by showing it, the level of entertainment on your channel will increase? Wait a minute, are you sure yours is a news channel?

Media should be responsible and true, not arrogant and false. It should emphasize on the positives and report the negatives. It should promote people to do something than demotivate thinking nothing can happen, by emphasizing on the cons. Because, at the end, it is this form which has maximum influence on the people. I believe, it should showcase ideal behaviour over the sought-after one. It should exemplify the views of people, their opinions over various issues, over just the big-wigs of the field. Finally, it's 'us' who is affected by each and every thing!

Some profound thinking brings me to this conclusion that this negativity and lack of interest in hard-core facts, stems from the basic Indian psyche. We never emphasize on the proven facts, but the possibilities. We never look at where we can be, but, shout at where we aren't. We just can't look at prosperity. We can't form our own opinions, and even if we do, they are easily moulded by high-profile politicos, prestigious personalities, or these 'News' channels.

And, this is what we are taken advantage of!

I wonder if many of us have really thought over these things... But, they stand true!

Till the day we can't stand up to this injustice done to us on the part of news providers, how can we be expected to stand for the right, beat the evil or even have our say in a matter?

Some might say, that I have ignored the print media. Well, that's the most pure form of News I believe I have ever read. Reasons:
1. They don't repeat the same lines a hundred times.
2. They don't try to cover their abberations, but, accept it.
3. They provide you with data and statistics that is far more convincing.
4. They surely are away from the 'bling'.

To be frank, there's this news group that I depend on. They have multiple newspapers spread over different languages, and a couple of channels. And, these are the only channels that I trust to update my own self and my knowledge about current events!

In hope for a better media...

Sayonara!

Beyond The 'Khan'...

2010-02-15T13:15:00.001+05:30

Hello everyone,

To be frank, I was not sure if I should write on this topic. I talked about it to a friend who brought back the zeal in me and reminded me that blogging is all about speaking your heart out... So, here I go...

It's been pretty long now since this debate is going on, Shiv Sena or Shah Rukh Khan? And, Mumbai has already shown it's choice as I begin writing this blog. All the movie theatres are running to full houses and the sound of the people is crystal clear.

This spirit of Mumbai, to support the right, remains undaunted.

With a wish to spring in to the headlines of all the newspapers and news channels, the supremo of Shiv Sena (the orange brigade), Mr. Balasaheb Thackeray, commented about the so-called 'unpatriotic' behaviour of Shah Rukh Khan (SRK or Khan from now on). And, it goes simply to say that it was the simple goal. After all, the kid whom he nourished in politics (Raj Thackeray), has been making the top stories recently.

Seen as a publicity stunt, it was a 'drive' according to them to oppose Mr. Khan's opinion that Pakistani players should be included in the Indian Premier League, better known as IPL. And, what wrong did he say? An event of a kind, IPL is one of the most-watched cricket events worldwide because of the simple inclusion of players from all over the world.

Even then, belying the simple meaning of humanity, and associating every citizen of Pakistan with terrorism and ineffective steps taken by their government, is surely unacceptable. This act of the Sena led to a war of words between the supremo and his son Uddhav on one side, and SRK on the other. The whole Bollywood and India stood alongside him, but, no one had the courage to go and face the opponents directly.

And so it was, the battle for influence in Mumbai took its birth.

Could the Sena find a better time? I guess not. The King Khan had a movie release slated within a fortnight within the inception of this controversy. When someone won't bend down to us, we can hold on to their necks and make them do. This is what the Sena thought of doing. An old Indian political tactic, I must say.

Aaaah! Much to their disappointment, it was more a share with reality. It came along with people going ahead and booking their tickets refraining from the threat.

While the state government washed its hands off it, and was trying to know whodunnit, and Sena keeping its stand on, it all came back to SRK to either go down to the demand of apology for just another flick of his career. Well, as Sena would have thought, it was an SRK movie after 18 months. And, so, he and his fans would me more than eager to have it released.

Trust me, if it was to happen this way, SRK would lose all the respect he has earnt over the years. At least from me.

Much to Sena's disappointment, SRK stuck to his stand and didn't let go off his integrity. That's what I call bravery!

It became a very debated topic for everyone. And, then finally, it was released to fear and anticipation. Sainiks are known for causing destruction to property which was the reason, at one time, the release was called-off in Mumbai.

But, it finally went well. The movie's released, is running great, and the Shiv Sena has lost its name in the headlines everywhere!

As I await the movie and while it runs to the best, there's one thing that I am sure about. As I have said in my previous posts, we will be truly humane when we begin supporting the truth and right. And, I guess the revolution has begun. Thank you Mr. Balasaheb Thackeray for enlightening us on the topic of what truth is and whom we should support!

So, it teaches me that it's beyond who you are, what you are, what you do, that humanity springs from, that your values spring from. It's more about how core your values are and how much you can imbibe by them even in your trying times. This is a lesson we have always been told to learn. But, SRK proved it to us by walking on this path himself. Hail King Khan!

And it just goes Beyond The 'Khan'...

My Idea Of The Almighty

2010-02-06T21:08:00.002+05:30

Hey there,

Discaimer: This post is surely going to be another dose of an eye-opener or an attempt to understand a cynic's (like many people like to state me as) point of view. I'd rather I warn you before I am blamed for. And, these are purely my point of views which have undergone very minor changes since their birth in my brains. None of this is fiction. It's just the reality, in my opinion. No harm intended to anyone or any religion.

Right, then. To the post.

Almighty, God, Allah, Lord, Jesus, Bhagwan, Upparwala, Dev, Lama, Buddha... A thousand names for that one supreme being. Like I have said in my previous posts, there surely is a supreme power, but, as you might have noticed (if you follow) that I have refrained from naming him. And, the explanation to it lies herein.

For the starters, I am tired of listening to this story... God is one. All are his forms and ways to reach out to his mass. He loves all the people equally. He wants to make the world a better place to live in. And it goes on and on...

If it's so, why do we make different sculptures and pictures of him? It's his forms right? He's one, right? Then why are we fighting over his name, his background, his birth, his existence? If he was 'one', wouldn't he preach 'love'? And, if he did, where did the teaching of 'love' fade?

These questions had me hooked on to them ever since the first time I thought about them. Seems like I finally have the answer.

With time, the teachings from that prophet or incarnation of God and enlightened souls, went through the mouths of many monks and religious gurus. In the passage of time, there were additions and edits to these teachings.

And, the different religions got divided on the basis of their beliefs not knowing that all of these stem from just one message of the almighty, Love and Peace.

Names were given, partitions were made, beliefs were empowered over truth. The next goal: Superiority. Not of themselves, but, of the cause (read: religion) they ended up creating.

This gave birth to the various religious battles we have witnessed and the struggle for superiority.

That's where our love was torn apart. That's where our the battle for peace was fought with blood. That's where taking a life just to see your religion above it didn't seem faulty. That's where the religious structures faced the most severe threat from everything but a natural calamity.

Well, you might say, there are even those which preach non-violence. Yeah, they do.

If stimulating the angry thoughts and hate sentiments is non-violence, it's it. If encouraging silent protests and long glares at the one who practices a different religion is non-violence, it's it. If saying our religion is the most superior and repeating till you are forced to believe it is non-violence, it's it.

I never seemed to understand where all this comes from, where all this is rooted, where are these mysteries detangled and I end up at one answer... It's all in the brain. If you step out with an open mind, looking for the answers, you get these.

And, my idea of Almighty? It's simply two words. Love and Peace. That's what the supremo of this world would want. I believe it. May be even you do. But, not with a deep-rooted belief in your head that my religion, the religion I follow is superior, has better principles and values, is more ethical and devoted.

So, that's where I am. I follow the religion of 'humanity' which teaches me to be humane, to love, to care, to walk on the path of peace and happiness, of not just me, but, of the entire world. May be, it isn't easy to walk on this path knowing the whole world is divided on the basis of the 'good's and the 'bad's which indeed are relative to every person I meet. But, I don't seem to care enough about it.

It is rather a lone start. May be not many on my side. May be not any. But, I do firmly believe that some day the world will wake up, to the fact that we face, beyond these superficial boundaries that we have set and accept the simple truth and learning of 'Love and Peace'.

And I wait for that prophet who would do that to the world...

Ciao!

Trust

2010-02-05T01:57:00.005+05:30

Hello readers,

The essence of any relationship... The binding factor of the hearts... The most important ingredient in the life of an individual. That's trust.

Trust is the basis the whole world relies upon. All the so-called values are, in my opinion, derived from 'Trust'. If you can trust yourself, you can be a person with integrity. If you trust others, you can be honest to them. If you can trust someone, you can be dependant on them. If you can trust your abilities, you can be courageous.

When we first hear the word, the first visual that pops-in to our minds is the last time someone whom we trust, hurt us. And the glass thus always remains half empty.

And, I can go on saying that trust isn't easily done, you need to know someone before trusting them, you should be confident of a person, don't trust anyone blindly, etc. etc. How false! There's just one thing, I believe, that's a pre-requisite for placing trust in a person and that is, one conversation. You can't trust someone unless you have had a conversation with them. And, within that tete-a-tete, you know if you can or you can't.

I recently read a quote saying, 'Trusting someone is giving them the ability to destroy you completely, but, knowing they won't.' That's the truth. But, rather a bitter one. Why? Just because it just is an optimist's way of saying, 'If someone breaks my trust, I am destroyed.'

And when someone does break the trust, we are hurt, betrayed, lost, and it seems like you can't trust anyone ever again. It's only soon that you realize that trust can be broken unknowingly too and that you can't keep everything to yourself, nor can you punish the rest of the world for the mistake which was made by one of the six-billion odd population of the earth! You just soon get over it. May be you won't forget, but, you learn to forgive.

The fact of the matter is, that sometimes, how much ever pain the one who broke your trust goes through, it is never perceived. It just gets hidden behind the pain we feel because 'our' trust was breached. Our vision just gets blurred.

A bit into the routine life, you realize it wasn't that difficult to trust even that person again... The wounds heal over time because at one point of time, that person became a worthy part of you life, for the very fact that you trusted them.

When you trust someone, you just don't have to measure your words to know if the person in front of you should know this or not. And, if you feel so for someone, I bet you can trust that person blindly.

Even a blind guy can trust and be trusted. So, trust surely doesn't need vision. Hence, it's proved that trust can be placed blindly.

It's only after attaining maturity that we realize that our whole world runs on these five letters forming a word called 'Trust'. In school or college, you 'trust' a teacher to teach you the best. In an office, the boss 'trusts' his employees and colleagues. In a cab, you 'trust' the cab driver to take you to your destination safely. In the army airplane of another country, carrying the weapons and ammunition, we 'trust' it not to end up bombing us itself. In those summits that are held every year, the heads-of-states 'trust' their counterparts to arrive to a solution. The examples are endles... And so are the times when we end up trusting someone.

Okay, there surely is a difference between the trust you place on a cab driver and that a U. S. President would place on the Indian Prime Minister. But, still, the concerned information must be shared completely, without a glitch. Unless you tell the cab driver to take you to a destination, and 'trust' him with the route to take, you end up getting frustrated and feeling cheated. If the scientists over the world, stop working in synchronization, the world won't be so fast in discoveries, as everyone would have to end up at the same result over long periods of time.

Yes, I end it on the global level just because it's the whole globe which revolves around us, and not just the ones who are associated to us. Every action of trust and mistrust makes a difference to the society as a whole and not just our own selves. And that's where we end up developing or collapsing a society...

It's just the usual for a friend to say to another, 'I trust you.' Even we say that frequently. But, how many times do we really mean it? It's just when someone asks you an uncomfortable question that you tell them directly, 'I don't trust you enough for you to know this,' or we just sideline the question. Whenever next you do this, ask yourself, do you trust the person? Because I don't think trust can be measured. It's simply a 'Yes' or a 'No', without a 'Can't Say' category.

So, next time you tell someone, 'I trust you,' just give these thoughts a shot, and measure for yourself how true they are.

The truth prevails... The candle of trust remains lambent...

Lessons Learnt From '3 Idiots'

2010-01-11T16:47:00.006+05:30

Hello,

After watching this movie, I was awestruck. I must confess, I even shed a few tears during the course of the movie. Don't ask me why (many have, by now), because I really don't have an idea.

To be frank, I was going to skip this movie, but, someone then advised me saying that I 'must' watch it. And so it was, on the last day of the year that has just gone, I went to watch the movie with my friends.

As the movie gossips hit the headline way back in May-June, I thought his was a movie that would have much to do with silly people, like Krazzy 4 was. It was only later that I was informed that it was somewhat based on 'Five Point Someone' by Chetan Bhagat. And even later (actually after the movie), that I realized that it was about a life that 'could' probably be mine.

And so, here I am, jotting down the lessons I learnt from this amazingly exceptional movie.

1. Flourish Thy Friendship - The very first scene of the movie when Farhan (R. Madhavan) gets out of his flight with an excuse and then Raju (Sharman Joshi) forgets to wear his pants in a haste to meet their friend, Rancho (Aamir Khan) whom they hadn't met since their graduation five years back, is true reflection of what the importance of some friend's is in our lives. The friendship that flourishes once, will always...

2. Fearlessly Protest - When the ragging is going on, Rancho gives the one of the seniors a real electric shock and makes him realize that he won't succumb to ragging. Isn't that what we need to curb the evil of ragging? It just keeps passing from one batch to the next just because of a wish to revenge.

3. Speak Your Mind, Voice Your Opinion - When the director of the institute comes to address the students, Rancho asks a question which may seem silly, but, it's somehow, really sensible on further pondering. It means that we shouldn't worry about what the world will say, but, just get out there and say what we feel truly...

4. Greatness Lies Within - Teachers aren't Gods. You can't agree to any and every point of theirs. You need to learn from them, but, only what you think is to be learnt. If you think they are wrong, don't behave rudely while trying to prove them, but, defeat them at their own game.

5. Don't Rote Or You Will Rot - Do I need to explain this point? Everyone who has seen the movie surely had a laughter ride while watching this scene!

6. Give Free Helpful advices - If you see something about which you have a better perspective, don't be afraid to tell. You surely have an opinion, may be it's not the best, but, it's yours and unique.

7. Help, It's Helpful - Sometimes, you don't know what your help can do! Just do it. You may face tirades because of it, but, when your help is seen, it will surely be counted for.

8. If You Can't Convince, Confuse! - Well, if you get late while completing the paper, just mix the papers so that the supervisor can't make out which one is yours. Similarly, if no one is trying to understand you, just blurt out some nonsense and make them confused about their own opinion.

9. Don't Ever Drink! It Makes You Careless - As seen in the real world too, people don't really know what they do when they are in the hangover. They sometimes do the right things, but, complicate things even more the other times.

10. Respect Elders - Whoever they may be, whatever they may have done to you, they deserve respect by virtue of them being elder to you. So, give them what they deserve.

11. Selflessness - Be selfless. There is a world around you which expects somethings from you too. May be the expectations aren't sold, but, you need to buy them without being conveyed.

12. Chase - Chase excellence, not success... If you excel, success will automatically follow. I don't think this has to be elaborated more.

13. Fool Your Heart - The heart's a funny organ. It gets afraid with small things. Make it realize that nothing will ever be wrong even in the worst situations and you will be out of them soon...

14. Follow Your Heart - Do what you think you can do best. The world is just superficial. You are not answerable to them. You are answerable to yourself over what you create for yourself, the world you live in.

15. Innovate, Change - Think differently, out of the box. If you know a=b, don't end your answer there. Check if a=c. May be even that will help.

This is no review. There are many on the web. This is just a compilation of the things I think we need to learn from '3 Idiots'. Some aren't conveyed directly, but, need to be deduced upon. Hope you can connect to the scene the learning is from.

Kudos to this amazing movie!

2 States by Chetan Bhagat

2010-01-04T20:36:00.003+05:30

Well, well, well... I read my first Chetan Bhagat book. To be very honest, I was biased against him since the very beginning. But, while reading the book, even more. And, to add the spices, was the super credit controversy regarding 3 Idiots which blew my mind off. But, I can assure you that this review of the book is not at all biased. It is completely a fair one. To those who have read the book, it would make sense. To the others, may be not much.

Well, the name, '2 States' was a reason I picked up reading this book first (apart from the dominant reason that someone had recommended it to me) because, as known to many around me, I am a firm supporter of love marriages and even inter-caste marriages because I believe that everyone has a right to choose who they want to marry and choose their life partner, beyond the invisible boundaries set because of caste, religion, language, nationality, state, etc. So, I was rather optimistic to read the book as I had the opinions of someone who probably has the same ideology as mine.

2 States... The story of Ananya and Krish. The story of a couple who first met as classmates in IIM-A, the most-renowned B-school in India. So, they both were of the cream of India. Welcome to their world...

It isn't an easy thing to convince your parents about your choices and that's evident in every house. Any how, this story is much about the problems they faced and the way they tackled them together.

In the very beginning, the author describes the way they first met, the early feelings he had for her, heir study sessions, the lectures, the trauma Ananya, a university topper in Economics, faced when she realized that economics here had more to do with mathematics, and how she felt that it would be a blotch on her personality if she took help. And how she hated guys who proposed her every now and then, even those who weren't friends, and how she had developed a hatred against IITians for being such.

And, our hero's application of the old, simple strategy-avoid and obtain. I wonder how it works always. All I felt (till now) about the book was goody-goody.

The first setback I had with this book, the way Krish told her about his feelings for her, an explanation to why he had been avoiding her, "I have to avoid looking at your face as much as possible because when I look at your face, all I want to do is kiss you." Which guy says that to the girl he loves? If you say this to a girl, then what I can infer from this is, that you are just interested to make the girl yours, prove to the world that even you can have someone so beautiful (Ananya was the most beautiful girl of the batch, not just for Krish, but, for everyone) as your girlfriend. Right, just to shed the tag of 'just-friends' and become the 'happy-go-lucky couple'. If that's all he wants, wouldn't he dump her for the girl who was a Miss Universe.

And then, Krish proves me right. Because, all that he talks about in the whole Ahmedabad act is, the physical parts of a relationship like making love with her, having a live-in relationship in the hostel, kissing each other, staring at each other and passing chits in between lectures. Wow. Has love lost the emotional touch?

It isn't long and they are all set for their interviews via campus placements. They are placed in the jobs they wished to have. Krish in CitiBank, the company which paid for times than any other, and Ananya, in marketting of HLL. In the meanwhile, Ananya is proposed by Krish for marriage, and she says yes.

As the convocation comes close, they plan out how they want their parents' first meeting to be nice and expect them to like each other. However, it doesn't happen like that.

Then the real story begins. The time they were in their respective cities and wrote letters and talked on phone rarely. When both of them had to meet prospects from their community for marriage forcefully through emotional blackmail most of the time. All that was on Krish's mind in the meanwhile was lust and the physical interaction! Disgusting.

Then Krish moves to Chennai for his CitiBank job, convinces Ananya's family that he's the right guy through a series of events and functions, they agree to give Ananya's hand to her. Krish moves back as he's overdosed of Chennai (in six months) and arranges to get Ananya to Delhi for a week to convince his mother (he thinks convincing his father is unimportant). Operation Delhi succeeds. But, a greater task remains. Both the families have to love each other.

For this, a Goa vacation is planned where things go wrong and that's when the strings break. Even after colluding, the mission fails and they break-up.

The real drama unfolds. Krish gets over-involved in his work to avoid thoughts about Ananya. He calls, but, they go unanswered. He is disturbed. One night his father asks him for help and he agrees as he's tired to even fight with him. I don't think he would miss this opportunity to fight if he was well. And, his father goes to Chennai on a day trip and manages to convince Ananya's parents for the marriage.

They have a nice wedding in Chennai according to Tamil customs and the story has a cute ending.

Although, it wasn't very interesting, the language of the book purely suggests that a thesaurus was referred to again and again. Also, a few phrases are placed in the wrong place just to enhance the literary value of the novel. Anyday, I would prefer reading the Twilight Saga again over this book which portrays love without the emotions it is most famous for. It's sad that this book portrays Indians to the world as people who are divided on the basis of states. I don't think India is so ignorant of cultures imbibed within it. The children are shown to have stringent opinions about their elders. I believe, this book, breaches the Indian pledge of secularism.

Even then, for those who haven't read it and don't trust this review, go ahead and know for yourself.

Cheerio!

Inception!

2010-01-01T19:19:00.006+05:30

Yay! Finally I step into the third decade since I was born! The 1990s, the 2000s, and now, the 2010s... Lovely! And, the best part is, I am not even two decades old!

Jokes apart... The main reason the title of this blog is 'Inception' is because it marks a new beginning to many things... And, firstly, the new decade (that I have already spoken about).

The last decade was the most happening one, by far, in my life. I graduated from school, entered college, turned into a maestro of computing than just another novice, began getting tutored for guitar, began blogging, wrote 'shayari's and other eye-opening or romantic one liners and messages, began going out with friends a lot, learnt to read people's eyes (through experience, please don't ask me 'How?'), made friends in my own community (about which mom is real glad) and a lot lot more... But, wait a minute. Those who know me, must even be wondering that all of this happened just in the last year, 2009!

Yes, it wasn't the decade I was talking about. It was just my last year! To keep it real, I haven't gone through more ups and downs in any other year as the last one. I learnt many life lessons, I tore apart shores just to do some things, I gave everything I could to new aspirations, I broke the barriers, I formulated a simple funda for my life 'Live life because you are living it.', I understood the importance of friends in my life, that all people run behind is 'fame', 'name' and 'money', may be in different order of priorities and just so much!

I just don't know why I can't focus on the whole decade and am ending up on the last year... Downrightly, I know. Because, every year, I begin my life anew. And I believe, we all learn something or the other new. Forgetting the misdeeds, remembering the learnings. Leaving the pain, taking along the joy. Encouraging the hopeless, attributing the worthy. Learning at every step. And, every year, learning to love all those whom you meet... Spreading cheer, smile and removing that sadness from the eyes which we can.
We may curse myself for the mistakes we have made and never even forgive, but, we won't keep it in my mind for long, just because the learning matters more to me than a fault. It's what we want to become over what we are!

And, at the end of the day, I am a content individual. Optimism and cheer are the two feelings I have right now. Optimism for the best future I can make, and cheer because the small recap of the by gone year, brings that to me...

Needless to say, all that we remember about the 2000s decade is Earthquake in Gujarat (2000), World Trade Center attacks (2001), Godhra carnage (2002), India's loss in the ICC World Cup (2003), the great tsunami in the Bay Of Bengal (2004), the Iraq war began at full swing (2005), Iraq President Saddam Hussain is hanged to death (2006), Benazir Bhutto is killed (2007), 26/11 Mumbai blood bath (2008), the deadly H1N1 swine flu pandemic (2009). Aren't these the first things we remember once we think about the decade gone by. And, there are many more if we begin to jot them down.

The point I wish to make is, I don't write this to make everyone 'ideal' in my opinion. I write this so that the negativism we carry around will fade to look at the glass which is half full... May be very few will agree that it can be done, but, I have been taught, 'You can't lose if you don't play'... But, this is what I wish to say... This is my bit to make this world a better place to live in... For the next decade, and the ones to come...

So, will you make the new beginning and join in, in this effort?

Cheers!

Christmas Is Here!

2009-12-25T16:53:00.004+05:30

Merry Christmas!

Christmas... The word reminds me of a really grand festival which marks the birthday of Jesus Christ, the great prophet.

The first picture that comes to my mind (and most others) is obviously, the Christmas tree, with a star on the top! Gifts surrounding the tree and the small coloured balls hanging on it from every small branch. And, who can forget the beautiful scenery on the outside? Pure white snow everywhere... Houses illuminated by yellow lights...

The Christmas decorations and gifts are something everyone in the family takes efforts for.

The Christmas delicacies, especially the cake and the chocolates... The socks that are hung outside the window by kids in hope of the Santa Clause dropping gifts for them.

And, how can I forget the such holy people and animals associated with Christmas. The reindeer who pulls the Santa's flying sledge, the milk white rabbits, the red-outfitted, extremely fat, long-beard guy, with a big red bag, whom we popularly know as 'Santa Clause'!

The day which begins with the Church's mass and the collectively sung Christmas carols always have many reasons to make us smile. It always is nice to spend time on such a festive occasion with the family.

The Christmas evening, one of the most-awaited parts of the day... And also, the concept of the perfect meal that exists for that day... Buns and breads, cakes and pastries, chocolates and biscuits, puddings and pies... Everything in a variety of flavours... What a sumptuous supper that is! And, as the cherry on the top, a glass full of sherry...

Everything, of such a day would be just so perfect, memorable, different, unforgettable, enriching...

The Christmas, of this kind, spent with the one's own family members can't ever be forgotten as there are these small little things which do mean a lot.

I just hope that some day in future, I get to spend such a traditional Christmas with all my near-and-dear-ones... I want a Christmas to remember... At least one...

Merry Christmas!

The Return Of The 'Paisa'...

2009-12-22T18:02:00.007+05:30

Hey there,

"Grandma, may I take those coins lying there? I hope you don't mind that."

"Mom, can I take the coins of USA, UK, France, etc. that lie in the cupboard? I would like to have them for my coin album."

"Mom! Grandma just found a coin of the early Gujarat kings' times! And, the cherry on the cake is, that I can have it!"

These were my reactions and requests, few years back, to have the coins of various countries of the world and the antiques of India. I still remember the pains with which I filled my own coin album (yes, specially designed for fitting coins) in ascending order of their denominations. It was a different hobby which I took up out of astonishment.

Today, as I look back into my school years, it's one of the best things that happened to me. And, that's where this post actually begins!
So many coins! The medieval Indian coins when the 1/12 anna, 1/2 anna, etc. were the coins of maximum denomination.

As I look through business news channels, the minimum figures I hear from them are xyz millions of dollars turnover, profit, sales, etc.!

And, I wonder about how vast our monetary world is getting! To infinity and beyond, and infinitesimally small!

My frequent travels and hoardings all around the roads made me realize today, that, the return of the paise, the 1/100th of the lowest denomination in use today (a rupee), is inevitable! Telecom operators are cutting costs like never before and this tariff war has now come down to half a paise per second call rates and a paise a 160-character message! Heaven for those teens out there like me who love to forward nice messages to everyone, but, don't considering the amount that would reflect in their bill or their recharge getting drained!
Such tariff wars that these guys resort to, to gain more subscriber base and in fact are helpful to us, the mobile users, in the end.

I just hope that some day soon now, the 'Paisa' will make it's re-debut in our lives, and then, kids like me, who have the treasured coins of the past, will be those whom everyone will turn up to for change! And above it all, the coins will soon have a place of respect far above what they had, just because of this re-introduction!

It would so be out of the usual... Different...

Enjoy!

Doomsday...

2009-12-21T20:34:00.004+05:30

Hello readers,

I know it has been really long since my last post and I truly apologise for not being able to provide you with some reading stuff...

The world is such a place to live in that we just can't describe it. We are almost always finding faults with it, but, love living in it at the same time. It's just hypocrisy most of the times.

And, when it comes to the end of the world, there is no one whom I know who believes the world will come to an end... May be today, tomorrow, years later, or even centuries... But, all those whom I have come across till today are people with the attitude that 'I-don't-think-world's-ever-gonna-come-to-an-end!'

Doomsday may not just be real. Who cares if it is? I do.

It's not always that we switch off the lights and fans when not in use, not always that we turn off our cars at the signal, not always that we make sure we aren't just wasting resources, not always that we mend a leaking water tap as soon as possible... Why is it so? Just because of that attitude... May be we don't accept it completely, but, somewhere inside us, we surely are of that opinion, even if it is in traces.

Even I was such, until I saw a copy of a presentation (which was originally presented by the then President Of India, APJ Abdul Kalam). He's someone whom I respect and look up to, and the way he depicted the future that beholds, it just made me more anxious.

And, you must be wondering why am I saying all this now. Today is 21st December, 2009. There's a prediction of an apocalypse on 21st of December, 2012, predicted since the Mayan civilization and Nostradamus.

I really don't know if that will ever happen, but, what I know is, if our activities are just the way they are now, would living in a 'Happy World' ever be possible? Would we be able to live in a world where poverty and inability are the subtle ways to define life? Would we be able to breathe pure, fresh, rejuvenating air? Would we have enough green patches to support our existence? Would it be that the world will face the worst crisis ever? How about paying everyday for the air we breathe? Bald heads just to avoid wasting water by using them for washing, sounds great, doesn't it? And seeing your son, daughter, grand-son, grand-daughter born with inborn deformities which can't ever be corrected?

I would say, it would be better to have a doomsday, than to face such crises!

And, if we don't want us or our future generations to face such crises, I would say immediate steps are necessary. It's high time that the human civilization realized that it's 'Now or Never' in the true sense of the words...

Sayonara!

A Year On...

2009-11-26T00:00:00.003+05:30

Greetings,

It's 26th of November... A day which redefined the extent terror could penetrate in India... The desi version of 9/11 World Trade Center attack... The carnage which shook the whole world and not just the nation. The massacre which left everyone in Mumbai open-jawed in astonishment.

Those 62 hours... Glued to the television set... Watching TimesNow (the only news channel I trust) and updating myself about any developments in any of the three affected sites.

I still remember the heated debate we had in our classroom the day school re-opened after a mini-vacation. While everyone tried to prove their points, there was one thing that was constantly on my mind, that everyone was trying to find faults, rather than appreciate the effort. It was then that I realized, we as Indians, have a habit to see the glass half empty and wonder who drank it, rather than seeing it half full.

Some people said, it was humanity at its worst, some claimed it to be a result of India's ill fate, some said it was the outcome of the enmity it has developed with the Muslim terror groups.

I say it was negligence. Negligence on the part of Indian authorities. Negligence on the part of the Indian Navy, the Coastal Guard, the Indian Surveillance authorities, the Indian Railway, and the Indian Government. The only authorities which were safe from humiliation were the authorities related to air.

Nevertheless, I won't fail to commend the effort made by the policemen, soldiers and commandos who went into the attacked structures and rescued those people who live-on to tell their painful stories. The analysts over the world have endorsed the process the Indian men engaged in operation took. It has been acclaimed and the world believes the process couldn't have been faster than it was done.

Little has changed since then. It was like the ripples in the lake and then everything was calm again. Metal detectors and CCTVs employed at almost every place, but, as of today, most of the people don't walk through those detectors and no one monitors the CCTVs! And this is just one of the hundred examples.

I just hate it when I realize that India didn't wake up to even this event. And, I have a conjecture, does India need something even more blitz? Or will even that end up as political blame-games and pending cases with the Indian judiciary?

May be such a attack was mandatory to open our eyes wide open... But, it seems, it hasn't gotten us off our drowsiness.

We still blame the government and our bureaucracy for their inefficiency, but, never look within ourselves. We still bribe them to get our work done. We still break the signal at midnight with no policeman around. We still don't openly and fearlessly oppose anything wrong. We still don't tell those sons of the babus' that they are the sons in their homes, and in the public, they are just another citizens with no special privileges. We still don't find it wrong to burn the hay to find a needle. We still throw garbage on the streets when we know that it's meant to be in the bins. We still don't get time from our daily sops to watch what's making the news around the world. We still just stand for solidarity and appreciation, but, don't go out and hold the hands of those who need us in support. We still have a strong viewpoint that nothing can change. We still have the same answer when asked as to why we are doing the above, "Everyone does it!"

And this is where this cognition takes me... Disappointment. Because a human who doesn't learn from mistakes is nothing but a blockhead.

I know one thing... I am no dunce... And, I won't give in to this... If no one else will, I will lead the change... No change is easy, but, I won't leave a stone unturned to make this change happen. I have a choice, let it happen or be a part of the change... And, I am sure where I want to belong.

Sayonara.

Inspiration Or Enthusiasm

2009-11-24T19:50:00.002+05:30

In life, every moment is different. Every moment brings something new to us. Something to learn, something to cherish, something to smile about. Sometimes, we cry before we laugh, sometimes we mourn before celebrating, sometimes we fear before approaching. But, everything in the end has to end on a goody-goody note.

As we are social animals, we are nothing alone. We need some sort of frenzy to live and some reasons to hope. And, these reasons are usually provided to us, by, none other than our near-and-dear-ones. And, often there is more than one person responsible for it. Sometimes, they are our mentors, sometimes friends, sometimes, they are just there... By our side.

And, if you ask me, I would want to put all of them into categories. Categories which determine if we are inspired by them, or enthused. When I began blogging, there were two such people in my life too. And since then, I have been trying to decide which category either of them belongs. Seems like finally I am successful!

There are people who are our mentors, those who point out our mistakes and help us master our skills. They trust us, they let us know what our strengths are and what are our weaknesses. They are the real reason for us becoming better with every new day. They make us realize the need to look out for difficulties and then, help ourselves. They never provide us with solutions in our hand, but, tell us about the pros and cons of each and every choice we might make. They never let the talent inside us die. These are the people who provide us with the enthusiasm.

And, there are those whose mere presence in our lives, who incite various conversations, stir up thoughts, and instigate our thinking process. They silently tell us millions of things. They sometimes are themselves unaware of their contribution to our lives. They are the bank of ideas we have. They are silently supportive. They might not be the best critics or the most blunt admirers of our talents, but, they don't falter in helping us. The thinking process is initiated just because of them!

And, I hope I help you to realize who these people are in your life, in each activity, there can be different people. Sometimes, unknowingly, a single person occupies both these positions in our lives. And, sometimes, it's we ourselves who does these tasks.

Adios.

My Alma Mater

2009-11-18T16:05:00.005+05:30

Hello dear readers,

As the title suggests, this one's about all I feel for my school.

There are these happy places in everyone's lives about which even a thought makes us smile... Places which we dream about being in... Places which are next to heaven for us... Places where we have spent the most memorable times of our lives... And, the numero uno, in this category, for me, is undoubtedly, my school, Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan Vidyalaya, Malad.

Thirteen years... I have spent thirteen long years of my place in this institution. The early years of my life. The years, when you can mould either a marvel or a gangster of the kids, were spent there by me. The most primitive stages of my development and the process of evolving into a responsible individual took place in me here.

There I learnt there what are called the alphabets and then to speak and write sentences only to jump to essays and letters... The transition from time when we used to write our answers in just a word or two and wonder how the elder students wrote answers long as essays to the time when we just became one of them... The journey from being toddlers teenagers... Enroute the best destination in the world, my school...

The school building is so tall and vast that it actually gives shivers to the kids who enter the building for the first time. But, it doesn't take much time for them to realize that this building is there to protect and shelter them from the difficulties of the world...

In school, I have learnt many things... But, the most important of them all is, learning to be myself, that each individual has his own identity, and he/she should carry it with dignity and self-respect, that no one has ever been successful by imitation, but, by self-reliance and self-improvement.

I recently was felicitated at a school function for securing the highest marks in all the five branches of BCG in Sanskrit. Though, I shared the prize with eight other students, at that moment I felt proud of myself, and my school, which paved the way for this glory.

The best part of this function, in my opinion, was the lightning of the lamps, which was not done by a dignitary, or any of the teachers, principals or trustees, but, the School Captains of all the five schools. This was symbolic as it portrayed what BCG aims at saying, power to the students... It was a students' function, so, it would be unfair if anyone else performed such ceremonious rituals... This was when I truly believed, BCG will remain BCG forever...

I still remember my first walk into my school building with my mother. Though, I don't remember all the bits and pieces, I remember this part, that I didn't cry like many others around me. I was indeed happy to be in a place which eventually went on to become the sculptor of my personality.

In the passage of the thirteen years, numerous values got imbibed in me like, the core values of our Bombay Cambridge Gurukul (sensitivity, reasoning, courage, integrity), leadership, self-improvement, independence, the art of planning, responsibility, among many others.

My school has been the reason for me being what I am now. I completely owe myselven to my school. It's the reason for the existence of the guy, who writes such stuff whenever he wants to, 'Setu Shah'. The guy for whom his school is much more than just his second home, much more than just being with friends and learning with teachers, much more than the interactive sessions with teachers (and not lectures)...

Today, I have graduated from this institution, but, only my parents, friends and teachers can tell you as to in which regard I hold my school. Now, I am just another member of the alumni of this academy, but, I can be sure of one thing, that DSRV and BCG will always keep persevering for the progress of their students and contribute in that way to the betterment of the society on the whole...

I embarked the journey of learning, which will go on until I attain salvation, from my school and so, it will remain etched in my memory forever... Forever...

Hail DSRV, the creator of the winners!

So long...

Soothing... - Part II

2009-11-14T00:49:00.004+05:30

When I began with 'Soothing...', I planned to write in it all the kinds of music that I am very fond of, personally. But, the English music part was just so long that I thought, that the Hindi would probably find its place in 'Soothing... - Part II'. And, so here it is... This post was awaited by many people who are regular followers of my blog. So, this one is my ode to the music which I had been originally introduced to, and have been listening to since the last fifteen years (I began exploring English music by myself in the last two years), Indian Music.

India has had a vast musical history. From the discovery of the octaves, to the creation of the 'Sa Re Ga Ma'... It's endless. But, one whom we can't afford to forget here is, Tansen, one of the Navratnas of Akbar's court. He was the only laureate in the court who was specialised in music. This in itself explains that India has had a craving for music since its inception as a country.

Aaah! Where do I begin from? Simple. The most legendary music director of all times, R D Burman. What a person! It's said, music is in hands of some people. But, I believe music was a part of his soul! His compositions had melody, harmony, sense, and even reality.

The next one who comes to mind is none other than Jagjit Singh, the undisputed King of Ghazals (a genre of music known only to the Indian ears). His songs were simple, yet, profound. They always did carry a message. And, the message never went unheard too. It was always absorbed giving him the best of respects.

Mohammad Rafi, another singer, spread music to nook and corners of India in minutes just like a fairy wound her stick. Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle, the two sisters took female playback singing to new levels which were hitherto unknown to the people. Then, Pankaj Udhas and Manhar Udhas touched the chords of our lives by creating and spreading sensational music.
Kishore Kumar. Our Kishor Da! What a musician! He enthralled his personalities and that was just perfectly the way any singe should! Just, Wow! His music just seduces me to keep listening to it again and again.

Then came the era of music like never before, new upcoming singers. Reality television, foreign talent import, talent shows, brought India to face many new singing sensations who shook the audience with their voice, power, ability and mesmerizing personalities. Pakistani singers like Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, Adnan Sami, Atif Aslam, etc. found that their real place lies here, in the Indian music industry. They, were welcomed with open hands by their Indian counterparts and this led to a revolution in the world of music like no other had ever been.

Speaking of revolutions, how can we forget talent shows which gave birth to talents like Sonu Nigam, Shreya Ghoshal, Sunidhi Chauhan and brought them to the main course of popularly served music than just the stupid starters. Two of which, went on to become judges of reality television shows aiming to explore the singing potential in the nation. The discoveries like Abhijeet Sawant, Amit Sana, Debojit, Toshi, etc. are surely proving a boon, not just for the music industry, but also, for the lovers of music.

The others who proved their worth themselves and earnt a name for themselves in this sought-after industry include Kailash Kher, Mohit Chauhan, Benny Dayal, Atif Aslam, Adnan Sami, Shaan, etc.

How can I forget this man, Allah Rakha Rahman, or simply, our very own, A. R. Rahman, the maestro music director and composer, whom now the world recognizes as a person who ran to the Oscars with the torch, lit by thousands of musicians India has nurtured, and returned with a lady which was even more glittering than the torch. Because now, the world was ready to believe that India had finally arrived into the international musical circuit. But, this was after more than 18 years of music was composed by him and just recently in 2009. Before that, he was just another music director from Bollywood, for the world.

Anu Malik is yet another marvelous music director and composer. He is called as a cynic by some and complacent by the rest, as his behaviour in a relaity show was portrayed to be, but, in reality, he is one of the musical gems India has ever got, because his work speaks more than the words those spreading gossip do.

The emerging talents like Sourabhee, Anmol Malik, Aditya Narayan are those on whose shoulders, the responsibility to keep Indian music on a high forever, lies.

And here, the lyricists need to be given their worth of credit. Lyricists like Javed Akhtar, Gulzar, Prasoon Joshi, etc. play with words in a way that even a mere sentence sounds as melodious as the song of a cuckoo.

I believe that old Hindi Film music was a sparkling period and that's why the top two radio stations in Mumbai (not sure about the whole country) have specialised shows dedicated to this music in their evening prime times.

But, whatever may be the case, I just feel one simple, stupid thing. Indian music has had great talents. Agreed. Indian music has touched new heights. Agreed too. But, what's the problem then with the Indian bands? There are many bands through out the country like Om, Fuzon, Indian Ocean, etc. whose music is of a quality which can compete with the best bands of the world. If their music isn't the problem, then, what is it? According to the clouds my eyes can see through, the problem is that we Indians are so interested to see our superstars (Gods for most of their audience) in a particular song that we relate the song to the superstar and take away the credit from the singer, composer, lyricist who actually work harder in making the song! Who would like to work in a world where their work isn't credited with? This is the reason such bands might have a painful disbanding just because there aren't enough people listening to the music and the record labels aren't interested to experiment and (may be) reduce their profits, even by a margin.

Whatever be the case, I love the music I hear throughout my day. Either Hindi or English or numerous songs of both... Music's just the way to enjoy life...

If I had 'Nothing' To Do Or Speak...

2009-11-09T15:07:00.007+05:30

Every morning, every blogger, who updates his blogs frequently, is posed with one question. What do I write about in my next blog?

Should I write on what happens in the world, the news, the current affairs and my opinions about them, like most bloggers around the world do? Or should I blurt out what my heart says? Or should I measure what I am writing because people might even judge me on the basis of what I have written.

But, at times, the question doesn't come through or the answer is obtained in talks with someone unknowingly. The discovery of this topic too was obtained in the latter fashion.

How many times have we been asked "What else?" or "What's up?" and we end up answering the same old, "Nothing" in the most dull possible tone. And, most of the times, even after having this answer, the conversation kicks off. We mine through the topics and begin talking about various things which sometimes doesn't have an end. And, as it's said, the world's round, and we are back to the same question, "What else?" Everything's the same, except the end, when the topics which begin are truly new.

If we have nothing ever to say, how does our dear friend, the one around the corner - our pillar of support when we are down, the beholder of our most secret treasures, the person who actually reads us by our eyes and says if we happy, in pain, or are in a lighter mood - tell us in a split second, in a stark manner, to just blurt out our grievances because they are there to listen.

If we have nothing ever to say, how do our parents - those who have known us since the moment we came to life, those to whom our happiness means everything, who aim to give us a life of our dreams, those who have just one aim in their lives, the happiness of their children, those for whom the day neither begins nor ends without talking to their children, who come to know what we are going through even if it goes unspoken because they have known us even when we didn't know the art of speaking - just take the burden of our shoulders by saying, 'It's okay to falter, but, the learning is, not to repeat it again. Because, the habit of faltering will take us nowhere in life.'

And there are even those times, when we feel like doing 'Nothing'. Doing nothing but talking to a dear friend, doing nothing but listening to our favourite music, going for a drive, going to the beach, etc. This is our 'Nothing'!

If I had nothing to do, I would not be in this place. I would not be living! If I had nothing to do, I would have been in heaven (because in hell, you need to face the pain and torture, according to the mythologies told to me, and that won't be nothing).

Wouldn't it be great to actually not being bombarded with responsibilities to do various tasks? Wouldn't it be great to just sit or stand somewhere and worry about nothing? Wouldn't it be awesome enough to just 'be'? Wouldn't it be all to live for? Wouldn't there be anything I would have to do? Would we realize when time sped by? Wouldn't we enjoy a world without boundaries, limitations, restrictions, and snags? Wouldn't it be lovely to never feel the need to rejuvenate our own selves? Wouldn't it feel amazingly good to just know that you don't need to talk, chide, express, communicate,if we didn't have to cry over small tragedies, to laugh on stupid jokes? Wouldn't it be at par with the lives we end up day-dreaming about?

If someone asks me this, I would say, it wouldn't, not for me. Just because, these things don't make me realize what I am supposed to do, what people expect from me, they don't make me responsible, they don't let me interact with my loved ones, they don't make me feel complete, they don't have a sense of oneness in them and loneliness prevails, they violate the definition of human beings which defines them as 'social animals', they can't gift me the happiness and satisfaction which I get otherwise, they wouldn't be moments I would cherish. They would just 'be' a few moments.

And, if I end up in such a life, I pledge to you that I won't stop rummaging for the moments and things which mean more than life to me... Even if they are pigsty for some, they are the most palpable blooming flowers I can ever have... They touch the chords of my life...

Signing off...

Marvels Of Nature

2009-10-28T13:41:00.009+05:30

Hello dear readers,

There are people and situations in our life who instigate some profound thinking. The same spell was cast on me by the serene beauty of the place I visited two weeks ago. I was left awestruck by the series of thoughts that came to my mind when I began thinking on 'Marvels of Nature'... Am just trying to recreate the magic (that I succumbed to) here today.

The sparkle of the dew on the leaf, the slow fall of the snowflake on our face, the beautiful sky during the sunset, the star-cast sky, the everything... How did it all come to life?

Our world was probably created because of a destructive (or should I say constructive, because I owe the ability to write this blogpost to it) celestial event called the 'Big Bang'. Though, there aren't any solid proofs as to how and why it occurred, it seems that two huge stars moving at relatively high speeds collided into each other and in turn, gave birth to many other stars and solar systems... Of which, one is ours.

The gravitational pull of the sun not only shaped floating particles of dust into almost spherical bodies, but also brought them into their respective orbits. In the course of around another million years, the first life on earth took birth. From then, the being went on developing. There were various kinds of animals and plants which developed from that first alga. Then, a catastrophe shook the earth. All the life on earth was lost in a jiffy like it had never existed before...

But, life developed again and was lost for a second time. Hope seemed to have been lost like the presence of sunlight in the dark chambers. But, then, life began afresh. The first forms of the human being, the apes, appeared and since then, there hasn't been any stopping.

But, all that we use today and is given to us by Mother Nature, is something we owe to the previous two generations of the creatures that owned the earth at some time or the other. It is them whom we owe our existence to.

If not for them, we wouldn't have had the millions of litres of mineral oil which we dig out everyday. If not for them, we wouldn't have had any of the metals, which we use in various appliances everyday. If not for them, we would have not been able to know many of the mysteries of the universe. If not for them, the earth wouldn't have revived itself to make it more favourable for the existence of life on earth. If not for them, we would have probably never even existed, forget about living. If not for them, we would never know that we should be ready for natural calamities, even as devastating as the ones which can turn us into inanimates.

But, there's someone who is doing all this. And that's the 'Almighty'. There are various names give to him by everyone, Bhagwan, God, Allah, to name a few. He's planning up there and I surely need to admire His foresight for that. I believe He Himself has learnt His lessons when two fiascos brought the world of His loved ones to the ashes.

The learnings He has had, are the reasons we are leading a better life with every coming day.

The birds chirping and singing hymns, the small streams of waterfall on the ghat which trickle down its surface and provoke a rush of smile through it, the last time you could see an animal in the open, not caged, not strapped, in its natural form, the animals which dwell in the forest, the plants which equip us with food, the evening sun which colours the sky in different hues everyday, the stars which shine far in the night sky, the blue sky which we see early in the morning from the parapet, balcony or terrace, the first drops of rain which fall on our face, the jump into the sea gushing towards the shore without much thought, the soft breeze of the morning washing our face with a new hope and delight, the delicacies that leave us licking our fingers, the strength we get when we survive through difficult situations, the smile and tear which appear on our face together, the innocent smile on the face of a child seeing which we can't resist smiling ourselves, the moments which bring us joy, the times when we keep staring at the horizon for hours together, the last hug on the porch of our house from a dear friend, the moments when we stare into the eyes of the special people in our lives, speaking nothing, but yet, saying everything, I believe, these are the true Marvels of Nature, the irresistible gems, which are the gift to us from the second to none, God.

These, in my opinion, are the pearls of our life, from the oysters of nature... Enjoy them!

Cheerio!

Raj Politics

2009-10-23T19:51:00.003+05:30

I have been postponing this post since quiet some time now. But, after yesterday's assembly poll results, I couldn't think any other post would be more appropriate. Bagging 5.6% of total votes of Maharashtra and 23.8% of the total votes of Mumbai in its maiden elections, Raj Thackeray has proved to the world and the Marathi Manoos (whom he says he's fighting for) that he's got worth.

For those of you who aren't very well aware of politics in Maharashtra (with its epicenter in Mumbai), Raj Thackeray, is the nephew of the great Shiv Sainik Bal Thackeray. In 2006, he broke his alliance with the Shiv Sena and formed his own party named the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS). Since its inception, MNS has been drawing both attention and controversies. The newspapers have at least a report about MNS or its activities everyday and camps are being formed on the basis of pro-MNS or anti-MNS even in the newsrooms. While, Raj Thackeray tries to justify his policies and acts, and the media stands against him, this publicity which was a gift to him by the media, proved to boost his mettle in the assembly elections which led his party to fare amazingly well for a party contesting elections for the first time. He broke Shiv Sena's myth of invincibility and proved that Marathi Manoos has his self interests above the needs of the political parties.

I was first motivated to write about this on my blog when I saw an interview of Raj on TimesNow, the first national news channel to have the privilege of interviewing Raj Thackeray, the king of controversies. I really like this news channel because there it's more of viewer interest and less of nonsense. There is this host on prime time everyday, who also happens to be the Editor-in-Chief of the channel, Arnab Goswami, whose side in the Newshour Debate (the show he hosts) is ambiguous as the one of any mediator should be. He is someone who doesn't use a word in any other language except English and he was interviewing the one who hates anything that isn't created in Maharashtra, Raj Thackeray. Questions are posed in English and answers are in Marathi. What an interview that was! Who except Raj Thackeray has the guts to go on air on the national platform and not speak one complete sentence in either Hindi (considered to be the national language) or English (a language accepted universally across India).

To be frank, I also have been caught in the fray of the debate whether the policies and plans of MNS and its supremo Raj Thackeray are correct or is it just to attract media attention. But, since some time, I have really begun to think about his policies with an open mind and have found them appropriate in most cases. And, albeit the world isn't in favour of what he does, it's evident that he and his activities are taken seriously by the world because after there was his unwritten order of having Marathi boards outside every shop, there were boards of shops (even those in big malls) and even the name of the malls in Marathi.

The countries are broken down into states for better legislation. The legislators are elected by democratic processes in most of the places and they make the laws best suited for the region as they and their ancestors have lived there since centuries. They know the region, the terrain, the pros, the cons, the needs, the weather, the culture, the tradition and what not! They have been there since the beginning, seen it change and evolve. Raj Thackeray is also one such scion of Maharashtra. And, I guess that's the reason he is so pissed off over various issues those he propagates. Let me address each issue one by one or else I won't do justice to what is the heart-of-the-matter.

Use of boards and hoardings in the language everyone in the state understands is just something that isn't to be passed as a law. It's just another marketing tact. If you want to reach out to the maximum number of people, use the language they understand the best.

Marathi education a must in schools in Maharashtra. Isn't it so very necessary and essential? If you are staying in a particular state, shouldn't you know the culture and tradition well so that you can mingle well with the people who are actually the original inhabitants of the place?

Giving jobs to the Maharashtrians before those who have migrated from other states. This reminds me of the time when there was the Railway exam to be held in Mumbai. The newspapers in Maharashtra didn't have any advertisements of the exam which would appoint bureaucrats and officials of the railway who would work in Maharashtra. Rather, those newspapers in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar had advertisements and people came to Mumbai just to give that examination. How fair is that? Again, if you are going to work in Maharashtra (for whatever job it may be) don't you need to know the language the Marathi Manoos understands, don't you need to know the region in which you are going to work, don't you need to know everything about the place, why do MNCs appoint their country heads from within the staff of that country? In short, you need to know many things more than just the basic art of working.

These are the things I think have invited most of the havoc and controversies. The final decision to like his opinions and tactics lies onto you as I am nobody to force my choices on your shoulders. But, as far as I am concerned, I really admire this politician. I think, he is one of his own kind.

I may lose many followers (if I really have them) after this post, but, I guess, blogging is about writing what I feel and thus, I ain't ashamed to say that I admire Raj and his persona.

Sayonara!

Diwali Dhamaka (Festive Blast)

2009-10-17T04:00:00.002+05:30

The festival of lights... The day when evil was defeated by the righteous... The day when one of the Gods attained his ultimate journey, away from this negatively charged world into the castles of heaven... What do I say about this immensely important day of Indian mythology?

These things make very less difference to people in the lifestyle we live today. But, there are those faithfuls who still, on every single occasion, make sure to make everyone they meet realize the immense importance of the occassion.

What I feel is, the occasions to cherish such reasons are turning to mere festivals. Festivals which signify nothing less than bursting of crackers, spreading smiles by the means of irreversible changes which are a danger to the existence of the future generations, burning of the desi Indian candle, the 'Diwa' which have changed from the old and primitive but meaningful shape and sober design to fancy, expensive and meaningless designs which do nothing except appeal the eyes.

In the meanwhile, the days which a family should celebrate together, in perfect harmony, are celebrated individually and in ways which are neither good for human growth, nor, what is advised.

The changes in these things sometimes turn pretty depressing. It's like what you feel when you see a flower which has withered away completely and you keep thinking about the time when it was completely lively. Days change, times change, and people change. And I guess we will have to get acquainted to this kind of life... With the world, yet into our own world...

And what is ruling my thoughts currently as I write this is what will be the case of these occasions ten years down the line? Will they just end up like parties of the west? People throw parties, others attend and these bashes are on the Page 3 of the newspapers and tabloids. Is that all where we are headed to?

Simple logic... Revive or revamp... And we are currently on the path of the latter...

Aloha to the new year and Aloha to the Desi Indian Culture... You decide for yourself what meaning of 'Aloha' are you gonna give the latter for...

Wake Up Sid!?

2009-10-15T01:47:00.004+05:30

When was the last time you saw a movie because it was a big banner movie, had a promising title, an unusual pair, and a debutant director. If someone poses that question to me, I would say, "Yesterday!"

Yesterday (because it is 1:06 am as I begin writing), I went for 'Wake Up Sid'. A movie which should have been better than what it probably is now.

For starters, the movie has a great deal of promise but which all ends as a disappointment. As anyone would have thought, in the opening scenes, our spoilt-rich-brat Siddharth Mehra (Ranbir Kapoor) is seen as a dude who is lousing around and falls asleep when he's studying for his exams which are scheduled for the next day.

Jumping off directly to his results (before which the story is very slow and he is flaunting all the money that his father has earnt) and he comes to know that he has failed when all his friends made it through the examinations. Shit! How could I fail! Typical arrogance rules his mind and he has a tiff with his parents which further leads him to running out of his safe haven.

Flashback: In the farewell party of his college (after the exams, before the results) he meets a girl, Aisha Banerjee (Konkona Sen Sharma) who is not primarily from Mumbai and comes to this city to materialise her dreams. As usual, the hero goes around with her to the typical hangout place, Marine Drive. He helps her settling in Mumbai and they become good buddies.

So, when Sid leaves his house, he just drops into Aisha's house (who should have behaved conservative and tried to make him understand that hasty decisions land no one anywhere) and makes himself comfortable. Aisha's a bit (okay, a lot because it's 7 years) older than Sid and thinks he behaves immaturely and in ways which are childish than what should be.

Then, as expected, Sid tries to improve his image in the eyes of Aisha and the story goes on until she helps him get a job in the magazine she works. Courtesy: The photography skills he received in his blood from his dad whom he left hurt.

He receives his first pay-check... Gives it to his dad to show that he too can be responsible... They patch-up and he returns to his own house... She gets wild because he almost leaves without even informing her... In the meantime, she gets a chance to write a column and after much thought, she ends up writing a column which is dedicated to Sid... And, they both realize they love each other...

I didn't get a few things which should have been a part of the movie... Where were the surprises? Why was there nothing that could have made it more interseting rather than boring? Why did the story go on as anyone would have anticipated it to? Why did it seem pretty monotonous? Why did it seem like nothing really makes a difference to him? And, how did Sid so simply give up his dreams without even much of a thought?

I don't really think Sid wakes up even at the end of the movie because just when one of his dreams is bursted into reality, it seems as if he is all set to fantasize again the life that he would soon wish to live...

I think I will have to watch it again and try to see if I get the answers to these questions...

Till then,
Adiós...

Soothing...

2009-10-13T12:18:00.001+05:30

Every person has a list of varied things that provide them a peace of mind. Among them, if a survey was carried on, the result would surely be listening to music.

The word music has varied importance in each and everyone's life. For some, it is a passion, for some it is a way of living, for some it is a need, for some it is a mean to be a part of the crowd, for some it is a part of their soul, for the rest it is just some estranged being.

This one is a testimonial to music (or muzik, as I prefer to spell it). My focus in this post is mainly on the English music, which most of us back here in India, consider as a foreign territory much beyond our knowledge.

There have been great bands and artists in the past and probably in the future, they will be better, but, what holds my nerves to the past and the good old music of the '60s and '70s are bands like The Beatles, Queen etc. These people had magic and melody in what they composed. Singers like the legendary John Lennon and Elton John. It was The Beatles who actually made the pop genre of music popular. You can say it was the beginning of a new era.

In the coming decades, the band culture got its rightful importance with blooming of bands like U2, and singles like Michael Jackson (who eventually went on to be called the 'King of Pop').

But those were supposedly also the good old days and they were on the verge of an end. The days of the pop culture came to an end with the rise in popularity of the music that is called noise by legendary musicians, the hard-rock, metal, rock, jazz and dark metal age of music which emerged from the contemporary rock and roll. These genre of music seem to have taken over the minds of the youth since its inception in the early '60s, but have had the maximum influence in the last decade when the death of the Pop culture of music didn't seem to have any solace to reside on.

Even in this era of death, there were some faithfuls to the music which was created by various legends. This includes the some immensely popular bands like MLTR (Michael Learns To Rock, which even have a large following in countries like India), and Enrique Iglesias.

The advent of the 21st century saw a whole new genre of music that became popular with the youth, the mash-up of Country, Rock and Pop. The youth artists like Britney Spears, James Blunt, Pussy Cat Dolls, Jonas Brothers, Miley Cyrus, Taylor Swift, Hillary Duff, George Michael, Avril Lavigne, Lindsay Lohan, Fergie, Joe Nichols, Jimmy Wayne, Vitamin C, Akon etc spread magic with their music.

And in this whole journey were bands like The Beatles, Linkin Park, ABBA, Savage Garden, Eagles, System Of A Down, Metallica, Blue, Backstreet Boys, Boyzone, Guns n Roses etc who had great fan following and whose music was one of a kind, whose magic no one except they themselves can ever recreate. The artist whom I can't afford to forget at this juncture are Bryan Adams, Elton John, Celine Dion, Michael Jackson, Beyonce, Kylie Minogue, Michael Buble, Peter Gabriel...the list is endless. These were the people who actually redefined the widely used term 'Music', whose every song had something which made it special and different. These are the people whose music is soothing and a solace for their endless number of fans.

My own personal favourites among this endless list are as follows:
Designation of the song: Title (Artist-Album)

All-time favourite song: Summer Of '69 (Bryan Adams-Summer Of '69)
Romantic song: Love Story (Taylor Swift-Fearless); You Took My Heart Away (MLTR-Take Me To Your Heart)
Missing School Days: Friends Forever (Vitamin C-Graduation)
Best Guitar work: Hotel California (Eagles-Hell Freezes Over)
Rock: Wake Me Up When September Ends (Green Day-Bullet In A Bible)
When missing someone: Gotta Find You (Joe Jonas-Camp Rock)
Strong Resemblance: Right Now (Freedom-Akon)
Dream: If We Were A Movie (Miley Cyrus-Hannah Montana)
Truth: Somebody's Me (Enrique Iglesias-Insomniac)
Confessions: Confessions Of A Broken Heart (Lindsay Lohan-A Little More Personal)
In wait: Right Here Waiting (Richard Marx-Repeat Offender)
Found you: Bartender (TPain-The Midas Touch Man)
Look at yourself: Girl In The Mirror (Britney Spears-Oops!...I Did It Again)
Striving for you: If Only Tears Could Bring You Back (Soundtrack-Pokemon The Movie)
Romance at its best: My Heart Will Go On (Celine Dion-Titanic)
Limits to which I can go: When You Love Someone (Bryan Adams-Unplugged)
Just for you: You're Beautiful (James Blunt-You're Beautiful)
Adieu: Goodbye My Lover (James Blunt-Chasing Time: The Bedlam Sessions)
Friendship: True Friend (Hannah Montana-Hannah Montana 2: Meet Miley Cyrus)
Gloomy: Teardrops On My Guitar (Taylor Swift-Fearless)
Love is in the air: As Long As You Love Me (Backstreet Boys-Backstreet Boys)
Ask for dance: Can I Have This Dance (soundtrack-High School Musical 3)

The list doesn't seem to have an end and it never will just because I can't ever get tired when I begin talking music and when it is about the best I have ever heard, there is no end... And I even wish there isn't any ever...

Do tell me without hesitation anytime if you discover new bands or artists which you think are really good. I wouldn't mind exploring them as I am in no mood to miss any great music...

Sayonara!

Aloha!

2009-10-04T13:17:00.000+05:30

First of all, don't guess that I have just visited Hawai or something because am writing on something that has its origin in the Hawaiian islands of North America.

The first time I came across this word was a song, 'Aloha Barack Obama' and I had understood the meaning of the word as welcome. Recently, I had a friend telling me 'Aloha' as a matter of good-bye. I was left in a predicament of rare sorts. I just couldn't make my mind as to which one of the two was true. The prior was as a welcome to the honorary President and the latter was as a farewell.

I decided to unearth the meaning for myself so that I don't face the dilemma again.

We meet people in every walk of our life and then their presence in our lives provides us comfort. We welcome them in any and every phase of our life. 'Aloha dear!' is what our first reaction turns to.

Then, we spend some time with them. Know them better. And its time to bid them 'Sayonara'.

We really sometimes can face a question of sorts when someone says 'Aloha' to us. Was that to welcome me, or, was it to say good-bye?

I still will face this dilemma because of the courtesy of this beautiful and peculiar word 'Aloha'! And I guess that's the reason the song 'Aloha Barack Obama' was written so that a new song won't have to be written to bid him bye. Thoughtful on the part of the lyricist, I must say!

Aloha!

Friends...

2009-09-28T11:35:00.001+05:30

Hi there,

This topic first seemed pretty silly to me to write about, but then, I thought I would even then give it a try. And the only reason why I decided giving it a try is that my friends have been one of the major factors who have shaped me the way I am today. So, this was the payback time.

We meet many people in our everyday walk of life. It becomes pretty tedious to remember each one of those whom we meet. But, even then, there are these few (and many for some) people whose presence in our life is cherished, whose absence makes a difference to the way our life goes ahead. We call them friends.

I don't know who coined this word 'Friend' and neither do I know who defined it, but, I just know one thing, in everyone's life, there are people whom we confer the degree of being our friends, the valued people in our lives, and there's a specific image created in our minds once someone says the word 'Friend'.

We meet people, we are interested to know them better, we get acquainted with them, we wish to be a piece of their lives and we eventually become friends. These people eventually end up to be the most valued friends we have ever had. And, we are never ever the same after we have known someone like them who help us to become better individuals.

There are times when we need them, times when they need us, times when we clash, times when we love them, times when our opinion about friends on-the-whole changes due to specific events, and times when the meaning is revived in a totally new sense because of a few new people who enter our lives.

And slowly times change. The days when we used to hang out on daily basis changes to once a month and eventually once a year. The days when we used to talk on the phone for hours together changes to a call here or a message there, that too, just once a fortnight or so. But, even then, there is a certain kind of trust and belief in the relationships that we share with our friends which tells us that despite the distance, the friendship never dies... The degree of closeness doesn't decrease.

Someone has very rightly said, "Life isn't when you miss 'someone'. It is when you know that that 'someone' also misses you at the same time." And then we realize that there are a few reasons to smile when we wake up every new day. A few reasons to hope that tomorrow will be a better day than it was today. A few reasons to just cherish the memories that seem to be a part of the distant past. A few reasons to streamline the past into perspective and hope for the future that would perhaps be even more mesmerizing... And these reasons are nothing but those people of our lives whom we call 'Friends'.

I just want to dedicate this piece to all my friends out there who have been the constant pillars of support of my life, even when their lives were in a turmoil, without even giving it a thought what they were putting on stake... I just hope that this strong pillar of your support never breaks... Thank you guys...

Adios...

Need, Want or Expect

2009-09-23T11:35:00.003+05:30

Hello dear readers,

Before you continue reading this blog-post, I would like to tell you that this one might seem a bit blunt to you, but, it is what I think is the truth.

We live in a supposedly supernatural world. We all have certain needs, wants and we never miss a chance to expect. But, in reality, have we ever tried to understand the difference between what we 'want' and what we 'need', or, what we 'want' and what we 'expect', or what we 'need' and what we 'expect'? Have we been able to tell ourselves with all our self-confidence that we are pretty clear that it is either a want, need or an expectation?

I just wish to throw some more light on these words, by decoding these words to the extent I am able to, which have been bothering me since quite a lot many days.

When we are around people we 'expect' them to notice us, to think about us. But, what we really 'want' most of the times is that they just should be jealous about us, about what we are. And when our want is such, our 'need' doesn't stay far behind in defining that we really want to stand out from the crowd and be able to say 'I am the best'.

When we are with our near-and-dear-ones, we just be ourselves, we don't have to brag about ourselves or try to be what we aren't. But, then our expectations differ. We then 'expect' them to do various things. To help us in our tasks, to do things that would strengthen our relationship with them and loads of other stuff. But, do we 'want' them to do these things or 'expect' them to? And the 'need' remains that they give us all that we want, never even giving it a thought if it's something they wish to do.

When we are with our friends, we don't mind pulling their legs for every small bit of sun that we get when we do it. On the contrary, we 'expect' them to not do the same with us. We don't mind finally turning into hypocrites in our own eyes. We 'want' them to be themselves when they are with us, but, we might ourselves wear a mask difficult to unearth. We 'need' them to listen to everything that we have to say, leaving aside all that they 'need' to do. We 'need' them to be there with us during our thins, but, might just fail to realize that we also should be there when they face theirs...

And finally coming to our own selves. Do we really know what we 'want', 'need' and 'expect'? Are we really able to decode the mystery of these three words and apply it into our own lives? Or are we among those who never really have understood the meaning of these words and just use them like words which are supposedly just the synonyms of each other? Do we try to justify our words by saying that our wants are our needs and not just mere expectations?

These are the questions which can be best answered by us when they are put up for ourselves. If we really wish to lead a happy life, I guess (and I believe) the realization to the answers to these questions serve as a pre-requisite.

Leaving you with something that will help you realize your own self... Sayonara...

Mirage Of Life

2009-09-21T12:12:00.000+05:30

We all seem to be victims of a simple yet complicated problem. What is life exactly?

Some say it's a game, play it the way it should be played. Some say it's mystery, unlock the treasures when they are ought to be. Some say it's a story (or a novel), which will neccessarily have a happy-ending. Some say life is a gift, a gift from the almighty and we should make the best use of it. Some say, some say, we can go on and on about what we think life is!

But, one of the least comprehended fact is that life is just a sort of mirage...

We see something, we expect something, and finally things don't turn out that way, we compromise... That's life. We hope to be with our loved ones, in the protection of their unconditional love and support, but, sometimes, our hopes are belied... That's life. We feel something, we need something, we want something, we get something... That's life. We need to talk to someone, we need to share with someone, we need to cry in front of someone, we need to make someone laugh, and then the plan falters... That's life.

We always get so busy in our day-to-day earn-a-bread-for-living and minting-money-for-spending-again that we don't really realize when we have gone on to be people who we never had been. We meet new people everyday. We grow our contact list on a daily basis, but, we forget that in the contact list that exists, there are those who think about us in a particular way, a particular fashion. There's a photo of us in their minds that's ought to be created when they think about us. And what we gotta do is, live up to their hopes for us.

In this race to be what we aren't, to get that materialistic happiness, to build a safe haven, we just forget that there are people around us who really care for us, for whom we really are something to cherish about in life, who really wonder if we are doing fine. These also happen to be the people from whom we expect beyond bounds and those who do the same about us. And in this journey of creating the perfect-world we wish to live in, we just don't seem to get enough of anything.

And in this process we begin living in a mirage which we create for ourselves... This is when we reach the horizon where the mirage actually did exist and everything begins to come crashing down. Things don't seem to go green, situations make us tumble, and people make us weep.

We go through that phase. Quickly in and slowly out of it. And finally we are dragged into the quicksand and the same procedure seems to repeat itself until we finally attain peace from this world...

Until my next mirage...

The Approach Of The Youth Towards Politics

2009-09-14T21:44:00.005+05:30

Politics. The word makes a picture in our minds of those fat, corrupt politicians who are no good at anything except making false promises and tarnishing the name on the country globally, those who are interested in making money for themselves through their practices taking birth from bribery and greed. Those politicians who can’t forgo their lavish lifestyles and luxuries even in the midst of crises, those who are submerged in their images of themselves, in their own minds that they are better than the rest in every possible way, and, not to forget, those who are the biggest hypocrites of the world. These are also those who are the ones seen most by the public. These are the people who make it to the cover pages of the newspapers and our magazines for their ridiculous opinions and silly blame games. These are those who might not actually work, but, don’t wait to get into the matter at the end, to take the credit.

This is the condition of every country, and our India, the country which is considered as the spiritual capital of the world, is no different.

But, this is just one side of the coin. There are also those politicians in the world that, we as youth, look up to. Those who changed the belief of what people can do as a mass by electing responsible representatives and who took up the responsibility of national reconstruction in the right earnest whenever it was necessary, those who don’t work for popularity, but, for progress. And, this isn’t their individual progress, but, the progress of the nation. They don’t mind giving everything they have to the nation.

India attained its freedom sixty-two years ago and since then, the nature of politics and the attitude of politicians have changed considerably. From the great early politicians like Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (the first Prime Minister of the country), Dr. Rajendra Prasad (the first President of free India), Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel (the first Home Minister of India, and also the one who brought all the princely states under Indian territory by negotiations), and Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar (the head of the committee which framed the constitution of India). These are those who are the role models of the leaders of today. Or rather who should have been.

It’s not just India where the nature of politicians has changed over time. Let’s take the example of the most developed country in the world, the United States of America. The early politicians were the ones who framed the constitution and gave the world a new way of the existence of states and provinces, democracy. The people involved in this included George Washington (the first President of the U. S. of A.), Benjamin Franklin (who was one of the founding fathers of the U. S. of A.) and Thomas Jefferson (the architect of the famous ‘American Declaration of Independence’ and the third President of the U. S. of A.). But, even though American politics was not always on a high, there were politicians like Abraham Lincoln (the sixteenth President of U. S. of A. and the one who helped in ending one of the bloodiest battles in the history of the U. S. of A., which rose due to apartheid) and John Kennedy (the thirty fifth President of the U. S. of A.), who didn’t let the image of politicians in the minds of their own citizens deteriorate.

Today’s youth has a peculiar take on politics. “Politics is a gutter.” This is the most common quote we hear when adults talk about politics, and probably, even the one which is most true. But, this attitude of adults has led to the creation of a negative image of politicians in the minds of the youth of today, the future of tomorrow. More or less, the adults have an influence in the way the youth thinks and when the adults have such a line of thinking, youth can’t be any better and infer something on their own. They don’t want to check if the ground reality is the same as what it appears to be or is some different. They don’t want to see if their opinion is dominated by the thoughts and beliefs of others or their own ideology.

What the adults fail to understand is the impact their opinions have on the delicate and sensitive opinions of the youth. They fail to make the youth realize that there are great politicians in the world, even today, who wish to work just for the betterment of society. They fail to show that behind this ravaged image of the politicians of today, lies a hope of the protectors of tomorrow, in the youth of today. The politicians in India like Dr. Manmohan Singh (the current Prime Minister of India), Pranab Mukherjee (the current Finance Minister of India), Praful Patel (the current Civil Aviation Minister of India), P. Chidambaram (the current Home Minister of India), Shashi Tharoor (ex-UN Under-Secretary General and the current Minister of State for External Affairs of India), Sachin Pilot (the current Minister of State for Communications and Technology of India) and Rahul Gandhi (General Secretary of All India Congress Committee) are those who can, and will change the image of the politicians. On the global level, there is Barack Obama (the current President of the U. S. of A. and also the first Black President) who with his presidential campaign gave the hope of change to the world, and is materializing his dream of America just as he has portrayed in his book ‘The Audacity Of Hope’. The adults fail to explain to the youth that the politicians like these are giving this task all they possibly can.

The image of the youth about politics may be tarred, and might even worsen in the near future, but, until there are youth who can differentiate between the ‘evil’s and the ‘good’s of politics, even if they are in a minority, the hope to live in a better world stays alive...

A Tribute

2009-09-13T12:44:00.011+05:30

When I talk to people, various subjects come up and eventually the things we talk about change. And I guess, that must be the case with most of us.

A few days back, I had a talk to someone who is one of the most important people and also the one I look up to and admire. He's the one who has been there through my thick and thins and helped me whenever I needed help.

The day was the last day of the Ganesh fesitval and the joy of Ganesh immersion surrounded all around us. All but me. Behind the truth that festivals like this bind the people together lies a fact about what effects it has on the environment. But, what disappoints me the most is the fact that in the country of 1 billion people and 63 crore literates, why can't we stand up for what we feel. There are millions in the country and probably tens around us who know and have a strong opinion that things shouldn't be the way they are and yet, they do nothing about it. Why do we always try to be one of the crowd and not the one whom the crowd would follow? Why are our opinions and decisions so frail that they can be mould by anyone who wants to?

I asked him these question that day. And I got my answers to quench the thirst of the years I had been wondering about them.

He just said and everything began falling into perspective:

"Life will give us all the choices, but, what we choose will decide our destiny."

You can choose to be a either Bill Gates (Microsoft co-founder) or Steve Jobs (Apple Inc. co-founder) and wish to change the way people live, you can choose to be Barack Obama (President of U. S. of A.) or Nelson Mandela (the first black President of South Africa) and change the way people perceive politics and remove the age-old beliefs about it, you can be a terrorist or a gangster and create fear in the minds of people about the nature of humanity on the whole. But, in the end, whatever you choose will decide your destiny.

So true! We want to be one of the crowd and never initiate change. We want to sit back and cry foul at the system, but, we won't get into it and change it. We want all the happiness in the world, but, we don't mind spreading tears in the eyes of someone else in the making.

And here's the answer to my question. If we need change, if we want change, we should change! We should shed the belief of what I can do and rather believe with the fact that only I can do. We can't have everyone on our side in the battle of change. There will be cynics, critics and those who follow these blindly who will oppose us, but, if we lose the courage to fight for what we think is correct, it won't probably ever change.

So, in fact, the onus finally falls onto us. Are we going to lead the change or flow with the change. The choice is yours...

Signing off... Hoping to see you soon...

Complications Simplified: Is It Worth A Read?

2009-09-10T18:09:00.011+05:30

I am back... and this post is not like my previous two.

This blog-post is a review of a book I recently came across by the courtesy of a dear friend, who could grab an e-book copy of the book (even when the book hasn't been published), and I went ahead with it because I found the prologue of the book interesting. So, I was fortunate enough to read this book. The author of this not-so-famous book is Bhavin Shah.

The story is a fiction about the life of two best friends, Ron and Roy, living in south Bombay and the ways in which their lives get entangled and disentangled in the period after their graduation. The way they seem to get a hold of their life and lose it even before they could realize they did. Their love for the most essential people in their life and how those people somehow misunderstand them, and all the relationships come crashing down. And, at last, the 'All's well that ends well' finale.

A simple but profound story is very well presented here by the author. The vocabulary speaks that the person is well-read and has knowledge of use of words and phrases.

But, once you are with the book and think about the story again, you realize that the story is kind of a mash-up of various Shah Rukh Khan movies that I have seen - Devdas (the loss of love phases for both the friends), Kabhie Khushi Kabhie Gham (the way a family breaks down when a kid contemplates marrying a girl of his choice, and not his parents'), Kal Ho Na Ho (hero dies in the end and the cat of truth is let out of the bag), Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (ends up with his best friend finally). Somewhere after reading the gist, my expectations had increased and I thought this depiction could probably have been avoided by something that would be more close to life. I am a fan of SRK myself (may be not to a very great extent), but, even then, I feel that the immaturity of the Indian cinema on the entertainment-base and revenue generating movies is pointless (detailed movie talks in some of my later blog).

The things that I liked about the book include how the story was interwoven and the popular saying: "Destiny decides who comes into your life, and gets to stay in your life..." was depicted... It couldn't have been better.

The best part of this novel (or I should say mini-novel) were the poetry that pierce straight through the heart and the pain is felt when you read the book.

One more astounding part I would like to mention was how Roy decoded Ron's diary, even though he hadn't been in any kind of communication with Ron about his life since three years (when they had parted ways). This shows the extents to which friends know each other despite the boundaries of distance and time...

The quotes of the friends, which speak all about love. This one from Roy:

"It is simple to fall in love, yet the most difficult part is to find someone to catch you. That is why we say that Love is Simply Complicated."

This really made me think twice about it... And the next by Ron:

"One does not 'fall' in or out of love. One 'grows' in love."

How true are these! And their significance in our lives is so subtle yet so profound! the manner in which they have been put forth in the book is truly mind-boggling. It totally blew me off!

On the whole-Its a great book with a one-of-its-kind storyline. A must read for those who think their lives are define sorrows and their graveness.

Just hoping that someday I will be able to write books like this or probably even better...

Sayonara!

P. S. 1: The link of the complete book is attached herewith. If it doesn't work, the links for various chapters are below:
Cover page
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Epilogue

P. S. 2: I am no critic, just a well-wisher. I just wrote what I felt after going through the book. I don't wish to harm the feelings of any fans of the novel. And, I regret if I am hurting anyone by this, and I am sorry from the heart if I have.