Born Serious..!

Some people are born serious. Serious about everything they do and in the way they do. They are never satisfied. There is no end to their searh for the right thing to do and the right way to do it. They are so serious about what they want to do that they loose their senses when they actually are at task, which sometimes lead to failures.
Fortunately or not, I am one of them!
I really feel the need to consider various events just as oppurtunities and do them as they come. Being so bent on doing something is something I think I should part with.
I am not sure, though!
Any suggestions, dear friends?

Is it a tough decision for you?

If someone asks you to convert your religion, how long will you take to make your decision? For me, it takes less than a second. It is not very different with my friend too.
But, the reasons leading to both the decisions are quite contrasting. So are the results.
While my answer is a strong ‘No’, her’s is a quick ‘Yes’. Her decision, for a while, surprised me pushing me into thinking mode while my answer invited a shrug from her. A quick look into our beliefs and ways of life brought back my composure and I seemed to gain a little understanding on this. I, for one, have developed a strong relation with my conscious, to which I have given the name and form of God. Religion, to me, is what helped this bond grow stronger with time. I dervied from it my strength to move on in life and it has become a way of life to me. It is something, which I believe, can never be separated from me. And, any attempt to disturb that relation is something that I can never entertain. To disturb that bond, is to disturb my way of life and myself too. At the same time, I understand that it needn’t be the same with everyone. There are some who derive their strength from people close to them and religion to them is just an identity. It took a while for me to embrace this thought…what about you?

I love exams...I love prep. even more!!!

I pay for atleast 4 exams a year. I prepare for them too. I attend all of them. Everytime, I come out of the exam hall thinking about my next exam. Never about the result. I am one of those who believe that journey is more important than the destination. And true to it, I have always enjoyed my preparation and cherished it more than the result. You might think it is because the result was never good enough to be cherished. I do not think so. Even if the result was upto my expectation, what next? The journey has to begin at the next level and you have to face the next exam. A good result takes you to the next exam soon. A not-so-good result will help you learn better ways of tackling the same thing and when you begin your next journey a little later, you are better prepared. In this never-ending journey, which we call life, isn’t equipping yourself with the required skills more important than anything? Atleast, I feel so. My preparation has always helped me in equipping myself with all it takes for a comfortable travel. Result, to me, is just a transition from one part of the journey to the next. If the transition gets delayed, it only helps me to be better equipped. If not, I have to work harder in the next part of my journey to cope up with the task at hand. Ultimately, it’s all about me learning. Does it really matter when I do it, as long as I do it? On the spur of the moment, it seems as if it really matters, but in the long run, does it?

Back to Normal!!

How glad I am to let you all (assuming a virtual audience) know that I am back to my normal life style…going late to bed, getting up late in the morning, studying only when I want to, doing all the things that I longed to…I now feel that I spent the last one and half months in a different world, a world I am entirely new to, wherein illusions of excellency overpowered emotions of mine! (Refer to the post below). I remember ‘forcefully’ feeling glad then at the end of the day coz I spent the day as it ought to be! But then, I knew deep inside that I was not really happy. I felt tied up in some framework without the freedom to choose my actions. But now, I broke free and can do anything I want to and more importantly, be myself. I don’t mean to say that I support disorganized lifestyle but want to stress the fact that freedom enriches the soul. Success and Failures come and go but our soul will be with us as long as we live, or perhaps for even longer, and it is in our interest that we take care of it. As I pronounce this, I am really happy…Am I?

What I Lost…

In my pursuit of excellence, I decided not to spare a minute and distirbuted my time among those things that I consider most important for my growth. Yes, I am a staunch believer in Rudyard Kipling’s words’s, “If you can fill the unforgiving minutewith sixty seconds' worth of distance run … Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,And--which is more--you'll be a Man, my son!” I decided to stick to my schedule come what may, and indeed I was successful. I dedicated my mind solely to the task at hand and refrained from thinking about anything else. I felt I am all set and was excited for a while until one day I had to face the bitter truth. The truth that dawned on to me was that I lost touch with myself. My mind did a quick research and came up with some astonishing facts; facts I tended to ignore all the while. My instant reacting ability, of which I was always proud of, has slowed down. I am not able to respond to different things as I used to before, as it might interrupt my disciplined lifestyle, a lifestyle that I ought to be proud of. I have little time to laugh or think about things that make me happy or things I can do to make others happy. My energy levels dwindled; life has become mechanical, monotonous and sort of programmed. I was shaken to sense this truth, but I know I can no more escape from it. I might achieve excellence in all the areas I chose, but in the process I might end up losing touch with the most vital part of my life i.e my soul. I have always taken pride in my ability to do whatever my heart says at any point of time. But now my heart stopped whispering things to me or perhaps I have no time to listen to it. I forgot to allot time to it in my pursuit of excellence. With this very organized robotic lifestyle, I might become very successful, but the price to be paid rested too heavy on my heart. You may not agree with me but only I know how important to me what I lost in the process of organizing myself is.
Will let you know my next thoughts soon. They might not be the same…
Keep in touch to know more!

Few marked days!!?

What are we expected to do on days like Independence Day?
We normally pray, but what is expected of us on a festival day?
And if we take a look at our modern day calender, we find many days marked with different names. Why do you think people find it necessary to celebrate them specially?
Are they just another gimmick of greeting card sellers?
Or is there some reason behind these (un) necessary celebrations?
May be, there is…
As a child, I never understood why they telecast the same movie on every Independence Day. But today, I know in our busy life, how fastly we forget things. We have little time to receive the invaluable values that our forefathers wanted to pass onto us for a better society. Even if we managed to read them somewhere, they get lost in the noises of our busy life. Those movies serve as reminders of what is expected of us, but how many of us watch them?
Today, I could really appreciate the celebration of festivals as times where in elders cultivate good thoughts in the youngsters, who carry them along and build their character.
They are the times when they work in unison to perform many activites from cleaning to decorating and sharing to celebrating. How many of us bother to celebrate festivals together?
As kids, many might recollect kissing mom goodbye and walking along with dad to the school gate. But consider today's kids who get to spend time with their parents only in the weekends! We are familiar with times when people expressed their love for each other through eyes and little smiles. Times have changed drastically, thanks to the internet, now it is not even necessary to see each other to fall in love, let alone their eyes and smiles!
Yes, time has changed and brought with it, changed priorities. It also brought along fear that human values and expressions might be treated with less importance. With the movie on Independence Day attracting fewer audience and festivals gathering lesser crowd with each passing year, popularity of expressing one’s love on few marked days is growing. Not to say that today’s practises can replace emotions of the olden days. Never.
But may be the fact, that few days serve as reminders of those important acts, which we want to do, but rarely managed to, is making me appreciate them. If you are one among those who still manage to allocate time daily for all the activities you consider important, you are lucky. Else, you may want to make it a practice to do them on atleast few marked days!

Indifference Syndrome

When a natural calamity occurs, my grandmother used to say, ‘This is one way God punishes us for the mistakes that we have done in the past’. When the serial blasts occurred in local trains of Mumbai, I knew not what to think. Somebody wants to punish us, may be the devil this time. We are often subject to such punishments but little do we think about the cause or the actions that should follow to avoid further punishments. Just as God chooses some areas to show his anger on the entire mankind, these people have chosen the local trains of Mumbai for their anguish on perhaps, all or some people in India. Though I do not know their logic, if there is any, behind these insane acts, I think their assessment goes something like this. There may be hundred people getting affected by each bomb blast. Their families will suffer the loss and later get used to it. After all, there is a lot of suffering around and these insane acts probably arise out of such suffering by agitated few. Government authorities will be busy making reports to cover up their inefficiencies. Political parties will have meetings as to how to exploit the scenario and to decide what kind of riots can follow these blasts. All those people who have heard of the blasts will talk about it for some time and later forget it completely, our memories regarding issues concerning public at large, being very small. Not to mention the huge indifference syndrome we suffer from and the price we pay for it often. Our indifference is the devil’s encouragement. The opinion ‘Nothing can be done’ prevails. But I am not convinced. Nothing was done till now. The tide needs to be turned. It needs to be given more thought than the less-than-10-minutes time spent thinking about it. We might reach a point where we all get obsessed with the necessity of a solution and a solution might come. We might be able to fight the devil. I will try my best. Hope the same with you.

Dear Madam,

Did you get hurt in your workplace because of the treatment met by you as a woman? Did you face rejections because you are not physically fit? Did you get angry while all these things were happening to you? Were you disappointed? I am not.
I am quite sure what my capabilities are and I care not what others say. Have you ever seen a man getting hurt or growing angry when you point out his inability to conceive a baby. They laugh it off as though it is just a matter of biological difference. They know not what it actually requires. They can never understand the emotional turmoil a woman undergoes while and after delivery and they can’t match the emotional strength she acquires after all these even with all their experience at work life. In spite of all this, they seem so indifferent to their inability in this aspect. Then, why should we worry about our not being physically fit for all the activities of the world. If you think you are fit, just go ahead. Fight for your cause and do not get hurt. And I tell you, do not wait for nor expect the approval of the men around you because it may take ages for them to really understand what a woman can do! I know you will understand this and I wish you good luck in all your endeavours. I won’t offer you any support because I know you can manage it well.

-Cheers!
‘One’ among 'U'

Success Mantra!!

Whenever I go to a book exhibition, I always find myself staring at this particular section named ‘Self-Improvement’ books. Not out of excitement that ‘new’ books have been added to the collection but out of amusement to find that many of these ‘new’ books written on very well-known topics still happen to find their place on the best-seller list. All of us would have time and again heard from our parents, teachers, and friends about the possession of those virtues being important. And we know that, over the time with consistent effort and persistent practice we can build them if we want to. Then, what does these ‘How to…’ books preach in special? Not that I never read any. Out of curiosity, I did pick up one of them when I first started reading. After that, I never repeated that act again. But I have seen people collecting a bundle of them which makes me wonder. Whether you read a book on how a gun fires or how a rocket soars to find out the success mantra behind them, it still remains the same – ‘Newton’s 3rd law’. Similarly, behind all these so-called ‘Self-Improvement’ books, the success-mantra remains the same - ‘Observe, Learn, and Practice’. Then why read dozens of them? I can only attribute it to one’s poor memory. Let me know if you can think of any!
All said, ‘Nobody writes for the benefit of others’

Clothes… to… Computers

I was washing my clothes the other day, when this crazy idea came to my mind.
I never knew that this act of washing clothes has become such boredom. Or may be there is some other reason behind the thought or some logic which said, ‘Go ahead’. Whatever be the case, I couldn’t stop admiring the brains of the guy or the group, who made this possible. Who made us all believe that clothes are an essential part of our life. So much that the presence or lack of them makes half the news of the world today! I started wondering why clothing is so important to us while it is to none of the other millions of species living on earth. All of them go in search of food and most of them make homes to protect themselves from other species. But, why is it that only human beings have this concept of clothing? (I am not able to convince myself that it is for protection against climatic conditions that we use clothes!).How did we all come to believe that clothing is equally or sometimes more important than the other basic necessities and that we lose our dignity without them? Is this the result of any selfish motive of ‘few’ people behind it who made us all buy this idea without any protest and carry it across generations without a second thought? I know not. May be I am missing something. May be we are so different form the rest of the species that we can’t do without these things called ‘clothes’. Not that I don’t see any advantages of clothing. We do spend a lot on buying clothes while many make a living on making and selling them, not to mention the fashion shows and advertisements that follow. And, people say clothes add a lot to our personality while many die to watch people wearing little. But all of a sudden, I get this feeling that we all are so much pre-occupied with clothes that none of this seems too much or something that needs a ‘re-think’. At this point, I knew I had to put a stop because it is really tough to even imagine a world without clothes. Try once. Someone in future generation may get a similar crazy thought about using computers or mobiles. Think once! Are we really ‘over-using’ things or it is just a figment of my imagination?


*cross-posted at www.gather.com

Dear Friend...

You are the inspiration for many lines I write
You are the fascination for many dreams I hold

You make me speak when I want to be silent
You do not talk when I want you to
But I know you are always right
Though I have my doubts at that moment

You have always been beside me
Yet helped me stay independent
Being with you makes me feel complete
Feels as if nothing is left to compete

Let me share with you today
My Friend, this strong feeling that
I would have felt lost in this world
If you weren't there for me...

What happened when clouds went on strike?

Life can't go on without money in one's pocket, I once thought.
I later heard that bank employees went on strike and lakhs of people still led their lives. (Did somebody not?)
If half the public transportation stops in places like Mumbai, life gets stalled, I once thought.
I later heard that buses went on strike and life still went on. (Will you deny?)
But what happened when clouds went on strike?
Lots of farmers in various places committed suicide and if you ask me who is responsible,
I would say you and me have a fair share too.
Courts may not sue us but Conscience definitely does!
And for people who live by it, it is a trial everyday.
We allow people to cut trees, we allow our vehicles to pollute the air, we waste lot of water
and we expect the clouds never to go on strike!
And if they do, don’t we all share the blame?
In a way, doesn’t this make us responsible for the suicides of many an innocent farmer? (Innocent, I call them because they still make a living through productive activities like farming unlike many who loot other’s wealth. And if it is nature’s wealth, we know, few people complain)
Don’t we all agree that rain is one of the best gifts of Nature?
Isn’t it our responsibility to safeguard those gifts, without which we can hardly live?
Would you call me ‘an emotional fool’ if I make a promise today that I will never do anything which hurts nature and which might lead to the death of many brethren and shout aloud too, to people saying
‘Let’s preserve nature and save ourselves’.
If only my shouting helps…

P.S: The fact remains that, however hard we try, we can never replace what our Mother Nature provides us, with anything we create. At best, we can only protect them!

My First Poem

One is rich, one is poor
One is dark, one is fair
One is tall, one is short
And you may argue
Life is not
Same for all

Each one has
His fair share
Of smiles and sadness
I say
Irrespective of what they are
Whether you agree or not

Remember the smiles
Forget the sad hours
It's easy to say
You may say
But you have no choice
Dear friend!

Life takes its toll
on everyone around
Neither a saint nor a
criminal can escape from it
Accept it and move along
Lest you may have to suffer alone!

Silent Hour

When someone is silent, people tend to ask, 'Is something wrong?'
And that question always leaves me in surprise.
Is silence a symbol of sadness?
At least, I never thought so. To me it is the most precious time.
Let me tell you, i always thought we should have a class called 'Silent Hour' in our schools and colleges.
An hour when we remain silent in the midst of many people just to observe many things which we otherwise do not care to.
An hour when we can peep through the windows to catch a glimpse of the sunset or get the feel of the evening breeze
An hour when we can pay attention to the adroitness of a spider building its web in the corner of the room or to the ant meticulously working to gather food for its future, just to learn more from them than from any other lecture.
An hour when we can listen to our inner most feelings, acknowledge our passions and bring to life our almost dead emotions.
Most importantly, an hour when we can completely be ourselves without the necessity to act or impress others.
I have always loved my hour of silence as it has helped me in learning more about myself and my surroundings more than any amount of talking could have.
What about you?

I, Me, Myself...

I think of myself as a passenger in a bus, running on the roads of time towards a destination yet unidentified. Sitting comfortably in one corner near the window, I like my role of a composed observer, objectively looking at the events happening around me. Some of the events go unnoticed, some disturb me for a while, while some leave a lasting impression. Each event has its own impact on me, adding to the experiences of my journey. And I learn from every experience just to welcome a new one each time. The occupants of the seat beside me keep changing and I never place any restrictions on them.
I accepted the people already present in the seat even before I came and got comfortable with people who later occupied it. I did have problems while accepting people and did feel uncomfortable at times. But the window beside me bringing in the air of change gives me a better chance to reflect on the present, to stare back at my past, to peep into the future and adjust accordingly. I always keep the window open but respect the private life of others and expect no intrusion into mine.I love my silent tears as much as my times of laughter. I like to share my experiences with others and help make their journey more comfortable, though only on invitation, except in few cases where the situation or relation actually demands. The journey is made up of various moments of which some are beautiful, some anxious, some memorable, some unforgettable but I cherish each moment of my journey, as it never repeats itself.