A fresh start to a fresh year and a new decade. Wow!!! Everything seems great and the first thing I would do is make resolutions. "Get active on my blog again", "Try and hit the treadmill more", "Try that new hangout place" the list might take a complete blog entry in itself so i will leave that to sometime later. The point now is a fresh start represents taking back control. I will do this, i will do that and change everything around me. And suddenly things start to role around you and suddenly you find yourself in middle of a road trying to cross it. And getting so darn worked up that you would run either of the sides as soon as you get a chance. I always used to feel the movie shots, in which a person would be standing in the middle of the traffic and vehicles would be moving around in all directions in amazing speed and all one could see is flashing lights, is so breath-taking. If you stand too long in the middle of any crossroad in your life you can actually feel the same. It is amazing how easy it is to move from being worked up trying to cross the road, trying to clinch on to a safe side all the way to enjoying the chaos all around you.
There are many ways to achieve this, one of them was shown so meticulously in DevD by Abhay Deol and how much ever I would have liked the movie I am not a fan of that approach (although one might find thousands and thousands who would swear by that way). But I am more of a close your eyes long enough, relax and open them to a whole new world of flashing lights kinda guy. As much as you might think that it takes a lot of courage to close your eyes in middle of such a chaos only to open them to a even bigger chaos or blurred view, it is not. And before you say it is stupid, it is not that either. It is more of a way to handle your problem, it is just an attitude. See, loosing focus of the traffic around you might let you focus on the road side, and not just any road side but the one you wanted to reach from the start. When Dronacharya told Arjun to focus only on the eye of the bird, he indirectly told him to lose focus of everything around. It needs a "I don't care a damn" attitude, an ability to generate a laugh out of thin air and a want to close your eyes once in a while (it is the toughest of all to achieve, a lot tougher then it might seem cause closing your eyes also mean letting go of what safe stand you have).
Now we know what we want, we know what is required, but is it really so simple to have, so readily available on the road. Excuse me if i sounded like one of the spiritual gurus, neither am I one nor want to be. My point here is that it might seem to be so easy but it is not. See if it would have been easy, Arjun wouldn't have been one the greatest warrior with Bow and arrows, he would have been just one of the thousands or may be millions in today's world. I am sure you must have seen at least one of such people. I, personally, had a pleasure (or displeasure, however you want to put it) of seeing a lot more of such people. Beyond the achiever with tremendous focus, the genius with exceptional foresight is a huge crowd of us lowly mortals who only reach to this state of fulfillment in utter frustration and helplessness. At the point of no return, when we have nothing to lose, we do close our eyes and pull the miracle never expected of us. Since that is achieved from the point of no return, it has its own flavor of victory, rising from the depth of the valley always have a trademark smell. The smell of fear and frustration melting away. The smell of anguish making way for success. Excuse me for exaggerating but where is the challenge in a game if you know before playing that you will win. Fear of loss always have and always will, bring out the best in people.
But in the end I would wonder when would I get so frustrated to close my eyes and reopen them to a totally new world. Should I deliberately wait for the desperate time to come or should I try to close my eyes as soon as reach the crossroads? A question which has no fixed answer, Is is worth to actually stretch to the limit always, to always try to pull off a miracle or should I leave that for extreme situations. After all miracle is called miracle for a reason, the chances of it coming true are fairly dim. On the other hand if I will try with in my limits how would i know if I actually have more in me! Personally I prefer to close my eyes to open to a bigger mess because i have been on the safe side, crossed the road without traffic, even had my share of stopped traffic crossovers and it is seriously lame. Believe me, if you! Life has a different smell, different feel and of course a completely different, beautiful and marvelous view of both sides if you do so.
Do whatever suits you but I will make sure that I keep on trying to cross as many roads a possible. For finding the right path in life mostly is achieved through crossing endless number of roads.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Thursday, December 04, 2008
The blurring effect...
If you look up for blurring in a dictionary it will really point out to what you can relate as getting lost, getting foggy. In the world and age of today's youth we all encounter the blurring effect. To put if frankly, losing sight of what you started to achieve. The blurring effect is circumstantial effect of compromise. Unlike in any hike life works in exactly the opposite flow. In a hike (if you have gone on one, you would know) initially the final destination, the pinnacle, the point of "no more can be achieved" is often very blurry. All you can see is a dim sight of what you wanna achieve. In fact at some times it only is described but can't be seen. But as you approach farther and farther you get to see, feel or sense more and more. This not only encourages you but also fills you with a determination to go the lengths you never imagined you could achieve. Life on the other hand lets you look, feel sense, imagine, nuzzle your destination at the start. But as you progress the compromises, the circumstances, the elusive effect called "luck" forces you to lose sight of what you started for and look for more immediate issues in hand. You feel deceived by the sheer volume of the arguments making sure you compromise. The more you proceed, instead of getting motivated, the more it feels that it, the destination in question, is not that important to take such a pain. The difficulties that make you do more on a hike; the same difficulties make the destination of life lose its worth.
Is it the circumstances or is it us, I am forced to believe it is us. That could be a reason that all the success stories have a hidden tone of determination and so called "compromises” done on the way. I once read on a friend’s space that "The road to success is lined with many tempting parking spaces". It points it out so clearly, so affirmatively that as soon as you start a journey, you have the tiredness, the want of rest, the wish of the perfect spot to take a snap that you instead of enjoying the journey, focus on a place to rest. The ones in life who are most determined to achieve what they set out for are ones who actually enjoy that struggle, that grinding. This is not because they set out with determination, but because they are unfazed by the lucrative parking spots on the way and are the ones actually enjoying the journey.
Does it mean you should not compromise ever, does it mean you should keep beating a dead snake. I guess no and that it what highlights the difference between smart decisions to let go and the unnecessary compromises just because of our own insecurity. Knowing when to stop is not as important as knowing when not to, cause getting wasted in a brave but suicidal war is still far better than safe but cowardly surrender. Whatever we may become is a thing comprised of many attributes but whatever decision we take comprises of only our wisdom, only us if you get it right. And as very wisely said in one of the success stories of our age, "It is our choices far more than our abilities, which show what we truly are".
All said, all wept, all criticized, all appreciated, I always believe in those who keep themselves unfazed and focused to what they set out for. After all these are the ones who enjoy their success and their failure more then the comfort you can get in a compromise. If you ask me, manifestation of "want" is desire; sacrifice for "want" is commitment but seclusion from all but the "want" is called dedication... And know this, you can replace desire with opportunity, commitment with capability but there is no replacement for dedication... Whenever we feel the need for motivation we go look at the success stories around the world but sometimes it is your own small success story which can motivate us for a bigger Endeavor, far more than the best success story ever.
Is it the circumstances or is it us, I am forced to believe it is us. That could be a reason that all the success stories have a hidden tone of determination and so called "compromises” done on the way. I once read on a friend’s space that "The road to success is lined with many tempting parking spaces". It points it out so clearly, so affirmatively that as soon as you start a journey, you have the tiredness, the want of rest, the wish of the perfect spot to take a snap that you instead of enjoying the journey, focus on a place to rest. The ones in life who are most determined to achieve what they set out for are ones who actually enjoy that struggle, that grinding. This is not because they set out with determination, but because they are unfazed by the lucrative parking spots on the way and are the ones actually enjoying the journey.
Does it mean you should not compromise ever, does it mean you should keep beating a dead snake. I guess no and that it what highlights the difference between smart decisions to let go and the unnecessary compromises just because of our own insecurity. Knowing when to stop is not as important as knowing when not to, cause getting wasted in a brave but suicidal war is still far better than safe but cowardly surrender. Whatever we may become is a thing comprised of many attributes but whatever decision we take comprises of only our wisdom, only us if you get it right. And as very wisely said in one of the success stories of our age, "It is our choices far more than our abilities, which show what we truly are".
All said, all wept, all criticized, all appreciated, I always believe in those who keep themselves unfazed and focused to what they set out for. After all these are the ones who enjoy their success and their failure more then the comfort you can get in a compromise. If you ask me, manifestation of "want" is desire; sacrifice for "want" is commitment but seclusion from all but the "want" is called dedication... And know this, you can replace desire with opportunity, commitment with capability but there is no replacement for dedication... Whenever we feel the need for motivation we go look at the success stories around the world but sometimes it is your own small success story which can motivate us for a bigger Endeavor, far more than the best success story ever.
Wednesday, December 03, 2008
Finally, a blog of my own...
Closest I came to write a blog before this was when I took a terrible personal loss but that passed as there was too much personal things attached. The night I was watching the "not known then" last match between India and England and ended up watching news for 4 hours straight to really know when is the right time to call my friends to know if they are okay. During the 4 days that follow, like most of us, there was a rush of feelings in me. Most prominent of which was anger, anger for the terrorists, the extremist, those who, for some political, financial, mostly superficial reasons do all this, our very own politicians who practically lack political will power, the list is quite long. This followed by the helplessness inside me to know that people are dying in my own country but not being able to do anything. Well being a practical man the idea of getting in the Taj and fighting the terrorist never came to my mind. This is mostly because I am practical and also because I didn't want the death toll to go up by one.
Towards the end the feeling inside all of us really started to mix up. Pride in our National Security Group, the brave major and other young soldiers who sacrificed their lives to save some innocent people trapped in the dirty mind game of some inhuman people. But that is not all, of course the feeling of anger was still burning, of course the targets were further more now, including our "neighbor" since our freedom. How can I forget our dear chief of MNS who literally became first target of national anger and ridicule understandably due to the latest happenings in amchi Mumbai. Feeling of concern to know if me, my family, my friends are now safe or should I keep on ringing and warning each of them everytime, feeling sorrow for all the people that took this attack head on. The list had everybody, from CEOs, chairmen, editors, common man to friends, mothers, fathers and relatives. It is really tough to understand someone’s loss but I had very recently lost somebody, somebody very close and dear and that too very untimely. I can not accurately but still relate. There is no end to that sorrow, no book, no word of sympathy can replace what has gone away. Think about the parents who would have lost their 31 year old son. In Indian literature it is said that there is nothing heavier than the body of a young son on a father's shoulder. Or think about a young girl losing all her family. Feeling frustrated on our politician taking advantage of a national tragedy, and it includes all of the parties. Can you imagine Kerala CM's statement about the Late Major's house? It clearly points out how shallow and politics driven are our politicians and their actions.
In midst of all this I knew that this all will be followed by bundle of advices from opposition, leaders across the world (who might be fighting terror but have no idea of our country or our social structure). The suggestions not stop at this stage, there are endless "e-mails" and "online petitions" suggesting how we should encounter this in the future, or cursing the Government, or my favorite, quoting foreign leaders. To top this off, in panic, the Government will start making empty promises. This time also we have a variety, having NSG camp in Mumbai, firstly how can we call a city financial capital if we don't even have security group of its own, and the Military was called from Pune, NSG from Delhi. Doesn't Mumbai, which earns the most dough for our Government, deserve their own security arrangements, infra structures, crisis management teams, I guess for our politicians, Mumbai still needs to do more to deserve all the basic metro facilities. The other promises that followed were a federal agency, a better law to handle terrorism and my favorite, ISI chief in India to help our investigation (as if there is really a will for that in the ISI chief). And to top off the insult on this Government's face, they refused… As for the assaults, the promises are frequent and too many to really remember. How sad is the state, US has one 9/11 and the world remembers it, the terrorist remember it and I am sure anybody who plans to attack US again will have a flash of 9/11 and what happened afterwards in their mind. I am also among those who criticize United States for their "We can do whatever we want attitude" but isn't it really worked. Isn't Osama bin laden looking for a shelter for himself rather than planning an attack on US. It may be extreme what US did but we also really need to initiate something of our own.
This takes me to solutions which come to "our" mind, I use our mind because I know I am no genius and it is in front of all us. Basic starts like creating NSG/crisis management forces in all major cities of India like Mumbai, Bangalore, Ahmadabad, Jaipur... It is not like we want a metro network in all cities, security forces are basic need to growing economies. The loss we took in term of assets, financial market losses, tourism, sport events, day today business is huge. And to top it off there would be loss in terms of India's security rating, which will go crashing down for financial investment, for infra structure development, for off shore office development. This loss is way too much as compared to the cost of these security forces being created. Creating a federal agency shouldn't be debated, it should be executed. How much more body count would be reason good enough to create an agency and some laws to take care of it. If we always hear that we need better co-ordination between our various security forces, it has to be done and there should be a plan chalked out which should be made public. False promises wouldn't do anymore, there should be actual action for at least the big lapses found. And details should be made public for every small step. Before the world we need to reinstate the faith of our own citizens in our system and our security. Further details on some security requirements and lapses pointed out by Mr. Arun Shourie in an Indian Express article but since I am not in the opposition, I will leave the blame game to the politicians.
Finally all said and done, all feelings felt and forgotten, all criticism done and taken, is there anything we can do, other then thinking? This is the big question we have to answer. As for the "excellent non-biased" media that we have, newspapers and news channel should devote at least a weekly article/show to let the citizen know if there has been any progress. And more mature the tone of that analysis would be, the better it would be for all of us. I am guessing since our news channels can give analysis to saas bahu serial and the comedy shows of the country, they can as well devote some prime time to such important issue of national interest. Well, the suspense of this being done or not, is lying inside the top brains of the top news channels of the country and the mysterious concept called TRP. Another important task at hand is to take initiative and pursue this till last details, even if takes to file RTI on the progress of NSG, crisis management, federal agency, the anti terrorist laws and make the progress public, the medium could be anything. And it has to be someone from us, may be someone directly affected. Why I advocating the idea of the onus on somebody who is effected is because of the direct involvement, it ensure undying motivation. Believe it or not but it was the family of the victims in Uphaar cinema that got justice home and not the government. Of course following the civil duties like casting our vote and making sure we choose the right representative is the basic and needs no mention and yet is the most ignored fact.
Finally knowing that it almost will feel like a cliché, but still I admire the spirit of Mumbai. I am not using it in a sense that politicians do, I am not avoiding blame or questions. I am saying so to acknowledge the fact that the people of Mumbai even after all this, keep the financial capital running which no doubts fuels the economy which in turn helps us to prosper our lives. But on the same foot stand I say that this undying spirit of Mumbai should be taken forward in the fight towards terrorism. We have to frequently ask questions, demand explanations, acknowledge details and publicize results and not forget what has happened on our own 26/11. If not for us then at least for the people who lost their lives on this black day in the modern history of this country.
Towards the end the feeling inside all of us really started to mix up. Pride in our National Security Group, the brave major and other young soldiers who sacrificed their lives to save some innocent people trapped in the dirty mind game of some inhuman people. But that is not all, of course the feeling of anger was still burning, of course the targets were further more now, including our "neighbor" since our freedom. How can I forget our dear chief of MNS who literally became first target of national anger and ridicule understandably due to the latest happenings in amchi Mumbai. Feeling of concern to know if me, my family, my friends are now safe or should I keep on ringing and warning each of them everytime, feeling sorrow for all the people that took this attack head on. The list had everybody, from CEOs, chairmen, editors, common man to friends, mothers, fathers and relatives. It is really tough to understand someone’s loss but I had very recently lost somebody, somebody very close and dear and that too very untimely. I can not accurately but still relate. There is no end to that sorrow, no book, no word of sympathy can replace what has gone away. Think about the parents who would have lost their 31 year old son. In Indian literature it is said that there is nothing heavier than the body of a young son on a father's shoulder. Or think about a young girl losing all her family. Feeling frustrated on our politician taking advantage of a national tragedy, and it includes all of the parties. Can you imagine Kerala CM's statement about the Late Major's house? It clearly points out how shallow and politics driven are our politicians and their actions.
In midst of all this I knew that this all will be followed by bundle of advices from opposition, leaders across the world (who might be fighting terror but have no idea of our country or our social structure). The suggestions not stop at this stage, there are endless "e-mails" and "online petitions" suggesting how we should encounter this in the future, or cursing the Government, or my favorite, quoting foreign leaders. To top this off, in panic, the Government will start making empty promises. This time also we have a variety, having NSG camp in Mumbai, firstly how can we call a city financial capital if we don't even have security group of its own, and the Military was called from Pune, NSG from Delhi. Doesn't Mumbai, which earns the most dough for our Government, deserve their own security arrangements, infra structures, crisis management teams, I guess for our politicians, Mumbai still needs to do more to deserve all the basic metro facilities. The other promises that followed were a federal agency, a better law to handle terrorism and my favorite, ISI chief in India to help our investigation (as if there is really a will for that in the ISI chief). And to top off the insult on this Government's face, they refused… As for the assaults, the promises are frequent and too many to really remember. How sad is the state, US has one 9/11 and the world remembers it, the terrorist remember it and I am sure anybody who plans to attack US again will have a flash of 9/11 and what happened afterwards in their mind. I am also among those who criticize United States for their "We can do whatever we want attitude" but isn't it really worked. Isn't Osama bin laden looking for a shelter for himself rather than planning an attack on US. It may be extreme what US did but we also really need to initiate something of our own.
This takes me to solutions which come to "our" mind, I use our mind because I know I am no genius and it is in front of all us. Basic starts like creating NSG/crisis management forces in all major cities of India like Mumbai, Bangalore, Ahmadabad, Jaipur... It is not like we want a metro network in all cities, security forces are basic need to growing economies. The loss we took in term of assets, financial market losses, tourism, sport events, day today business is huge. And to top it off there would be loss in terms of India's security rating, which will go crashing down for financial investment, for infra structure development, for off shore office development. This loss is way too much as compared to the cost of these security forces being created. Creating a federal agency shouldn't be debated, it should be executed. How much more body count would be reason good enough to create an agency and some laws to take care of it. If we always hear that we need better co-ordination between our various security forces, it has to be done and there should be a plan chalked out which should be made public. False promises wouldn't do anymore, there should be actual action for at least the big lapses found. And details should be made public for every small step. Before the world we need to reinstate the faith of our own citizens in our system and our security. Further details on some security requirements and lapses pointed out by Mr. Arun Shourie in an Indian Express article but since I am not in the opposition, I will leave the blame game to the politicians.
Finally all said and done, all feelings felt and forgotten, all criticism done and taken, is there anything we can do, other then thinking? This is the big question we have to answer. As for the "excellent non-biased" media that we have, newspapers and news channel should devote at least a weekly article/show to let the citizen know if there has been any progress. And more mature the tone of that analysis would be, the better it would be for all of us. I am guessing since our news channels can give analysis to saas bahu serial and the comedy shows of the country, they can as well devote some prime time to such important issue of national interest. Well, the suspense of this being done or not, is lying inside the top brains of the top news channels of the country and the mysterious concept called TRP. Another important task at hand is to take initiative and pursue this till last details, even if takes to file RTI on the progress of NSG, crisis management, federal agency, the anti terrorist laws and make the progress public, the medium could be anything. And it has to be someone from us, may be someone directly affected. Why I advocating the idea of the onus on somebody who is effected is because of the direct involvement, it ensure undying motivation. Believe it or not but it was the family of the victims in Uphaar cinema that got justice home and not the government. Of course following the civil duties like casting our vote and making sure we choose the right representative is the basic and needs no mention and yet is the most ignored fact.
Finally knowing that it almost will feel like a cliché, but still I admire the spirit of Mumbai. I am not using it in a sense that politicians do, I am not avoiding blame or questions. I am saying so to acknowledge the fact that the people of Mumbai even after all this, keep the financial capital running which no doubts fuels the economy which in turn helps us to prosper our lives. But on the same foot stand I say that this undying spirit of Mumbai should be taken forward in the fight towards terrorism. We have to frequently ask questions, demand explanations, acknowledge details and publicize results and not forget what has happened on our own 26/11. If not for us then at least for the people who lost their lives on this black day in the modern history of this country.
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