Indian Home Minister P. Chidambaram's comments on the people of New Delhi being rude and ill mannered, comes a little late and certainly very mild in expression!
Utterly poor in manners and etiquettes, I have come to experience this malady in person during my stay there for an extended period of 3 years!
It is a shame, a national one at that, to be known for the manner in which a people collectively behave so offensively, particularly at a time when race, nationalities, international borders and such nuances matter very little!
So, where lies the problem? Lack of education and civility? Faulty upbringing? Boorishness equated to manliness, as a result of a deep rooted sense of inferiority?
Or is it as a result of what most Delhiites are best at being - a recalcitrant hoi polloi?
Showing posts with label Gurgaon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gurgaon. Show all posts
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Defining my Nemesis: A meeting with the Devil
They deem him their worst enemy who tells them the truth (Plato)
Every man constantly goes through some defining moments in his life. These acids tests are a means of high powered education, to constantly modify one's opinion of life and get better with each passing day. How and in what stride we take these entirely depends upon our intellect, adaptability and maturity.
Now there is no set way be prepared for eventualities and despite all our best preparations, there comes a time when we are rattled to face the ultimate reality during the course of time and it is better best to randomly shape oneself at every given instance and take the learnings of life well into our intellectual being.
The last couple of months have been acutely rough for me; having not kept well for an extensive period of time, I decided to call it quits at the harrowed organization that I worked for and headed home southwards. So rapid were the turn of events that I had little or no time to account for even my personal belongings. I headed for Ooty on the 28th of Dec 2007 with mixed feelings.
While I was homeward after a considerably long time, the worry of presenting myself with incredibly frail health to my Parents persisted all along. Much to my dismay, my coming home was shadowed greatly on account of my health and the initial joy of meeting with folks dwindled almost instantaneously!
However, home is where the heart is. I began recuperating the moment I stepped into home.
But my troubles were far from over. To begin with, my former management was ganged up against me in the fear that I might hold them accountable for my health and state of mind, considering that they had been extremely irresponsible in paying my dues.
Thus began a long and protracted battle to recover my dues and my relieving letter. I had to spend a great deal of effort and money calling an extremely shady HR department in my previous organization. They say misery is man's only company during bad times. Slowly and steadily so-called freinds started staying away and began circulating rumours which were in bad taste. These tough times saw me well supported by my parents and my elder cousin and his family. Perhaps, it was one of the most real lesson I had to come to terms with.
Idling away at home while shaping up health is not easy for someone who had accustomed himself to long work hours and sharp deadlines. It began taking an immense toll on me and I was riddled with the guilt that I could not provide for myself. It was one thing to fit myself into Dad;s business, quite another to achieve something on my own, and it was the latter that I was gunning for.
I spent an immense amount of time reading, reading everything that could lay my hands on , from philosphy to Tintin and attempted to ease out while time inched ever more slowly.
Comparisons and uncalled for counsel ricocheted often and it took great courage to abstain from them and not taking them personally.
The new year came unannounced and I spent time with folks, doing some reading and being absorbed in music. The Narayana Gurukula offered me great sanctuary to ease myself and collect my thoughts and re-analyse them from the perspective of what really is needed in life.
Swamy Tanmaya & Swami Vyasaprasad, with their immense knowledge of life itself, were a great source of comfort and inspiration.
As we progress, I was told, we always encounter the horizontal and the vertical depths of life.
While the horizontal side is our existence in the social and official apparatus, the vertical side (being the important of the two), teaches us the ways of life by experience and knowledge, and thereafter presents a more clear picture of reality as we go on.
Come the close of February, I began contacting people for suitable openings. Despite a great deal of opposition from some friends and associates, I decided that I needed to find a place in the Corporate world and perhaps much later assume the reigns of Dad's business.
All this while, I somehow recounted a gut-wrenching feeling that my personal belongings at Delhi (which included many original testimonials received while at work) were being pilfered.
Many a times, I shared this apprehension with Mom, who did her best to comfort me by saying that they were as a result my feeling unable to control the situation. It was only later that I would realize the sinister turn of events and how true indeed that 'gut-wrenching' feeling was.
I travelled to Coimbatore and Chennai for interviews and meetings but decided to keep off Bangalore owing to its excruciating cost factor. Meanwhile, I was also associated with the Earth Trust in Ooty which focused on organic farming, environmental conservation and climate change.
I was placed there in the Capacity of a Manager who had to liase with several agencies and governmental organizations for policy making and proliferating the mission of the trust.
It was one of those rare times when I got a first hand feel of how the changing environment had its adverse effects on the climate, people and their environment. We travelled to local schools to infuse in students the message of conservation and environmental upkeep. Often travelling to interior villages, with little or no transport facility at all, we chanced upon the crude scale of poverty that affected these children. It was hard to fathom their lives, burdened with problems more than you and me could ever imagine. My hardships immediately dwindled in comparison to their suffering. Strikingly though, they often were a committed bunch of students much unlike the city folk who were lapped in luxury. India is a sad nation, with an extensive bridge between the poor and the well-to-do. When I hear political honchos making tall claimed that this insidious gap will be closed, I scoff and think, years later, despite all the development jazz, there will still remain a huge population that cannot get themselves a decent meal to eat, basic medical facilities and a roof over their poor heads! God help them, for there is none truly born of this wonderful nation who can yet solve this predicament. Today, when the buzzwords of corporate social responsibility and government assisted are at large, it seems that they dont really perculate to the very bottom. Or perhaps as in many cases, they are merely etched out in paper for purposes of eyewash only!
Incidentally, I got an understanding of how schools in rural areas suffer due to lack of infrastructure and inadequate manpower combined with the burden of lack of financial resources. The government, mired in bureaucracy and red-tape shows no interest in augmenting these educational bodies and thus students who depend on such schools due to their economic troubles, are in the long run forced to compete with a bunch of skilled others against whom they find themselves unmatched and lopsidedly pitted.
I had never before witnessed face to face the hardships faced by rural folk in their day to day lives. Strangely, what was in store for me, in the next coming days would shock the living day lights out of me.
It was close to the end of March 2008 that I got an offer from an IT Organization as a Research Analyst. Having been a Business Analsyt before, I decided to enhance myself in the field of Market Research by accpeting the offer. My former Asst. Vice President Tony and his wife were largely responsible in squaring this opportunity for me and I was required to travel to Pune to operate out of there.
Shortly after I accepted the offer I decided to travel to Gurgaon, Haryana, where my baggage and documents remained over the last couple of months. Or so I thought!
After a harrowed start and having missed my flight, thanks to the all-curses-deserved traffic in Bangalore, I reached Delhi during the first week of April. I was told by the so-called friends that I entrusted my belongings with that my luggage was now split between two people who had custody of it in their respective places.
After having painstakingly aggregated most of it, I found, much to my utter horror & dismay, that many of my files & testimonials were missing. Apparently the 'safe-keepers' themselves had in fact plotted to destroy them for reasons I have no knowledge of. What had been a tremendously well accumulated repository for years was now missing. My wardrobe was broken into and many other personal belongings along with money had gone missing. Sadly, there was nothing that I could do. It is indeed strange and disgusting how certain people readily assume somebody else's belongings to be theirs. I thank my Parents for the wonderful upbringing that I had been taken through which has greatly help shape my character and moral values which I consider intact and non-negoatiable under any circumstances. However, when one steps out into the real world, one notices at length how easy it comes to people to pilfer and loot. Often jeolousy and the need for quick growth spurs an animal instinct in many people, with them often resorting to thieving. I had literally come to meet my worst enemies here.
People hailing from some Indian states where gun-running and criminal politics are the order of the day have spread themselves out in large across this once superb nation and are steadily corrupting every sphere of what remains a moral environment. I wouldnt be very suprised to see many well educated and sensible people leaving this country to seek a better and much more cultured living environment in the future (me included).
It will be very interesting to watch the upcoming generations of this nation!
In many ways, I had seen the devil itself on my trip to Gurgaon and attempted to come to terms with my tragic loss. Maybe this was God's way of telling me that misplaced trust can be nothing short of a disaster that one would regret for a lifetime.
For good reason, my stay in Gurgaon was very short and I returned to Ooty in the coming days after which I began to prepare myself for another relocation, this time to Pune.
I had not visited the central Indian region and was keen on doing so. Having heard a great deal about Pune, I looked forward to the assignment. Boarding a train from Coimbatore, Dad & I reached Pune on the eve of Vishu, the Malayalam New Year.
I do not remember a time when Mom & Deepu have been by themselves at home during this celebrated occasion. My faith in God was renewed with each passing day despite the hardships that I had faced in the past. Perhaps as is said in the scriptures, it is the virtuous who are repeatedly tested in order to gauge their faith.
So then I begin a very new chapter of my life in Pune while tremendously missing my family.
I must thank them for the wonderful pillars of support that they have always and unconditionally been, for without them I would have been terribly lost on life and devoid of any support and good conditioning.
Thank you GOD!
Every man constantly goes through some defining moments in his life. These acids tests are a means of high powered education, to constantly modify one's opinion of life and get better with each passing day. How and in what stride we take these entirely depends upon our intellect, adaptability and maturity.
Now there is no set way be prepared for eventualities and despite all our best preparations, there comes a time when we are rattled to face the ultimate reality during the course of time and it is better best to randomly shape oneself at every given instance and take the learnings of life well into our intellectual being.
The last couple of months have been acutely rough for me; having not kept well for an extensive period of time, I decided to call it quits at the harrowed organization that I worked for and headed home southwards. So rapid were the turn of events that I had little or no time to account for even my personal belongings. I headed for Ooty on the 28th of Dec 2007 with mixed feelings.
While I was homeward after a considerably long time, the worry of presenting myself with incredibly frail health to my Parents persisted all along. Much to my dismay, my coming home was shadowed greatly on account of my health and the initial joy of meeting with folks dwindled almost instantaneously!
However, home is where the heart is. I began recuperating the moment I stepped into home.
But my troubles were far from over. To begin with, my former management was ganged up against me in the fear that I might hold them accountable for my health and state of mind, considering that they had been extremely irresponsible in paying my dues.
Thus began a long and protracted battle to recover my dues and my relieving letter. I had to spend a great deal of effort and money calling an extremely shady HR department in my previous organization. They say misery is man's only company during bad times. Slowly and steadily so-called freinds started staying away and began circulating rumours which were in bad taste. These tough times saw me well supported by my parents and my elder cousin and his family. Perhaps, it was one of the most real lesson I had to come to terms with.
Idling away at home while shaping up health is not easy for someone who had accustomed himself to long work hours and sharp deadlines. It began taking an immense toll on me and I was riddled with the guilt that I could not provide for myself. It was one thing to fit myself into Dad;s business, quite another to achieve something on my own, and it was the latter that I was gunning for.
I spent an immense amount of time reading, reading everything that could lay my hands on , from philosphy to Tintin and attempted to ease out while time inched ever more slowly.
Comparisons and uncalled for counsel ricocheted often and it took great courage to abstain from them and not taking them personally.
The new year came unannounced and I spent time with folks, doing some reading and being absorbed in music. The Narayana Gurukula offered me great sanctuary to ease myself and collect my thoughts and re-analyse them from the perspective of what really is needed in life.
Swamy Tanmaya & Swami Vyasaprasad, with their immense knowledge of life itself, were a great source of comfort and inspiration.
As we progress, I was told, we always encounter the horizontal and the vertical depths of life.
While the horizontal side is our existence in the social and official apparatus, the vertical side (being the important of the two), teaches us the ways of life by experience and knowledge, and thereafter presents a more clear picture of reality as we go on.
Come the close of February, I began contacting people for suitable openings. Despite a great deal of opposition from some friends and associates, I decided that I needed to find a place in the Corporate world and perhaps much later assume the reigns of Dad's business.
All this while, I somehow recounted a gut-wrenching feeling that my personal belongings at Delhi (which included many original testimonials received while at work) were being pilfered.
Many a times, I shared this apprehension with Mom, who did her best to comfort me by saying that they were as a result my feeling unable to control the situation. It was only later that I would realize the sinister turn of events and how true indeed that 'gut-wrenching' feeling was.
I travelled to Coimbatore and Chennai for interviews and meetings but decided to keep off Bangalore owing to its excruciating cost factor. Meanwhile, I was also associated with the Earth Trust in Ooty which focused on organic farming, environmental conservation and climate change.
I was placed there in the Capacity of a Manager who had to liase with several agencies and governmental organizations for policy making and proliferating the mission of the trust.
It was one of those rare times when I got a first hand feel of how the changing environment had its adverse effects on the climate, people and their environment. We travelled to local schools to infuse in students the message of conservation and environmental upkeep. Often travelling to interior villages, with little or no transport facility at all, we chanced upon the crude scale of poverty that affected these children. It was hard to fathom their lives, burdened with problems more than you and me could ever imagine. My hardships immediately dwindled in comparison to their suffering. Strikingly though, they often were a committed bunch of students much unlike the city folk who were lapped in luxury. India is a sad nation, with an extensive bridge between the poor and the well-to-do. When I hear political honchos making tall claimed that this insidious gap will be closed, I scoff and think, years later, despite all the development jazz, there will still remain a huge population that cannot get themselves a decent meal to eat, basic medical facilities and a roof over their poor heads! God help them, for there is none truly born of this wonderful nation who can yet solve this predicament. Today, when the buzzwords of corporate social responsibility and government assisted are at large, it seems that they dont really perculate to the very bottom. Or perhaps as in many cases, they are merely etched out in paper for purposes of eyewash only!
Incidentally, I got an understanding of how schools in rural areas suffer due to lack of infrastructure and inadequate manpower combined with the burden of lack of financial resources. The government, mired in bureaucracy and red-tape shows no interest in augmenting these educational bodies and thus students who depend on such schools due to their economic troubles, are in the long run forced to compete with a bunch of skilled others against whom they find themselves unmatched and lopsidedly pitted.
I had never before witnessed face to face the hardships faced by rural folk in their day to day lives. Strangely, what was in store for me, in the next coming days would shock the living day lights out of me.
It was close to the end of March 2008 that I got an offer from an IT Organization as a Research Analyst. Having been a Business Analsyt before, I decided to enhance myself in the field of Market Research by accpeting the offer. My former Asst. Vice President Tony and his wife were largely responsible in squaring this opportunity for me and I was required to travel to Pune to operate out of there.
Shortly after I accepted the offer I decided to travel to Gurgaon, Haryana, where my baggage and documents remained over the last couple of months. Or so I thought!
After a harrowed start and having missed my flight, thanks to the all-curses-deserved traffic in Bangalore, I reached Delhi during the first week of April. I was told by the so-called friends that I entrusted my belongings with that my luggage was now split between two people who had custody of it in their respective places.
After having painstakingly aggregated most of it, I found, much to my utter horror & dismay, that many of my files & testimonials were missing. Apparently the 'safe-keepers' themselves had in fact plotted to destroy them for reasons I have no knowledge of. What had been a tremendously well accumulated repository for years was now missing. My wardrobe was broken into and many other personal belongings along with money had gone missing. Sadly, there was nothing that I could do. It is indeed strange and disgusting how certain people readily assume somebody else's belongings to be theirs. I thank my Parents for the wonderful upbringing that I had been taken through which has greatly help shape my character and moral values which I consider intact and non-negoatiable under any circumstances. However, when one steps out into the real world, one notices at length how easy it comes to people to pilfer and loot. Often jeolousy and the need for quick growth spurs an animal instinct in many people, with them often resorting to thieving. I had literally come to meet my worst enemies here.
People hailing from some Indian states where gun-running and criminal politics are the order of the day have spread themselves out in large across this once superb nation and are steadily corrupting every sphere of what remains a moral environment. I wouldnt be very suprised to see many well educated and sensible people leaving this country to seek a better and much more cultured living environment in the future (me included).
It will be very interesting to watch the upcoming generations of this nation!
In many ways, I had seen the devil itself on my trip to Gurgaon and attempted to come to terms with my tragic loss. Maybe this was God's way of telling me that misplaced trust can be nothing short of a disaster that one would regret for a lifetime.
For good reason, my stay in Gurgaon was very short and I returned to Ooty in the coming days after which I began to prepare myself for another relocation, this time to Pune.
I had not visited the central Indian region and was keen on doing so. Having heard a great deal about Pune, I looked forward to the assignment. Boarding a train from Coimbatore, Dad & I reached Pune on the eve of Vishu, the Malayalam New Year.
I do not remember a time when Mom & Deepu have been by themselves at home during this celebrated occasion. My faith in God was renewed with each passing day despite the hardships that I had faced in the past. Perhaps as is said in the scriptures, it is the virtuous who are repeatedly tested in order to gauge their faith.
So then I begin a very new chapter of my life in Pune while tremendously missing my family.
I must thank them for the wonderful pillars of support that they have always and unconditionally been, for without them I would have been terribly lost on life and devoid of any support and good conditioning.
Thank you GOD!
Friday, August 24, 2007
Ex - Post - Facto
Meaning; 'From that which is done afterwards,' 'by virtue of a thing done later,' (retrospective).
Perhaps it would be apt to explain the choice of title for this post at the end of the write...........but I must assure you that things are not what they are and appear to be, and therefore, as much as the title appears to convey a very sullen meaning to this post at the onset, it is not so and I regard this as a personal attempt to downplay the 'minor-misfortunes' that have been part of the extensive gap that saw me unavailable to update my blog........ all for the sake of illustrating that 'after the ship has been destroyed, everyone knows the reasonable measure of how it could have been saved.......'
My last post concluded with a wide-bright, blue-eyed illustration of events until mid April this year. Boy, that seems quite a long time bygone now! ☻ And I recall having loudly dreamt picture perfect of what I desired in the coming days, both on this Blog and in verbatim......... costly mistakes it seems people such as me love to repeat!
Albert Camus, the French author and philosopher, once wrote "In the depth of Winter, I finally learned that within me lay an invincible summer...." and with this as I write this post, I keep telling myself "Rakesh, Mr. Vanamali, welcome to the beginning, the very very beginning." Time indeed (read: overdue) to undo what was the past and shape an outlook good enough for the future!
My foolish and extremely rash decision to jump off the ledge of my house to fetch the keys of my door which I had inadvertently locked inside with me outside cost me an arm and a leg and one too many dear days on bed, not to mention the sympathies of near and dear which although did a great deal to move my spirits northwards, also tremendously dented my spirits and caused my self-esteem to plummet southwards.
It was the first time ever in life that I ended up with fractured bones, not one, not two but three and those in multiple places. Some experiences are a little too costly on the wallet and the person, I then realized. Among the other things that this ‘accident’ caused was a long lapse in my working schedule which in-absentia was blown beyond proportion. So finally when I returned to work after what seemed a long winter spell, I realized that my role was effectively trimmed and customized to accommodate the ‘weakling’ that I had been perceived on account of my physical condition. Negative and diminutive as this may sound to any person reading, this is the true reflection of how I felt and was treated by folks, colleagues and friends alike. They say freedom and acts of freedom have a price to pay. I had not yet realized the very sinister truth behind these so called assumptive statements. However, what is true here is true everywhere I once read and I slowly began to realize the life of a castaway who was fighting for very dear existence while being trampled over and over again.
Life itself can be very definite in its existence. Some folks quip that it is to be taken in a stride that befits positive spirit and action. True to the last word, I agree. However, it takes more than just courage and daring effort to stave off every single day that strikes into one’s spirit like an arrow tipped in the worst toxin designed solely to exterminate the will of free living.
Life had moved on in a much calmer pace and I sought solace in my true companions – books! While friends and folks rendered unending support, I being the overbearing demander, longed for more and took to books and chanced upon the bestseller – The Road not taken, which lay the founding steps to change my life.
Officially, things were taking a more serious turn. A windfall change was happening in the leadership of the organization that I was part of and I saw my bosses, one after the other quit for greener pastures. Being a reportee down the order in hierarchy is perhaps the most comforting according to many a management guru, however, it does have its own demerits since once is forced to be restricted in a silo role and the scheme of reporting that until now was built along the lines of familiarity and understanding was slowly seeping downward and I felt high and dry in unsheltered waters. New friends, bright ideas and increasing fluid-like situations came and passed by the day, bringing about experiences that were unknown and unseen until the time. Turbulence increased and I sought to ease the pain of loneliness by taking on volumes and volumes of books. Among the titles that I stuck to during those times were Russia’s War by Richard Overy, The Fountainhead & Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand, Dracula by Bram Stalker, Jonathan Livingstone Seagull by Richard Bach, The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig, 48 laws of power by Robert Greene, My Life by Bill Clinton and my most favorite of all – The Theory of Everything by Stephen Hawking (Whom I regard as the Father of Time).
Suddenly music and reading became heightened activities like never before and I locked myself into my own little space of the self plodding through time and books for answers of a mystery that I thought was brewing in every single day of my life.
And then there was Fester, a little baby squirrel which a friend of mine had stumbled upon close to his home, which we raised until it found time right to reclaim independence and move on in life, thankfully. I vividly remembered Neo, my first squirrel pet in Kannur, Kerala in the year 2001. Memories came flashing back and forth to me and I stood transfixed at the sheer number of coincidences that kept occurring in my life. I cannot of course state each and every one of them here for paucity of space and time and of course for the ‘fact of the matter’ that they will seem boorish and stupid to many a reader.
While I expected a bed of roses to come by with each passing day, it was exactly the opposite that I got – a bunch of hardbound and unbreakable thorns that sewed right into the mind and the spirit. I wondered aloud as to why calamities by the dozen occurred only to me and yet I was foolish not to know that these calamities could have been as a result of my actions and none whatsoever! So when I was diagnosed with Dengue fever and admitted to hospital (once again, not surprisingly), my friends shared the burden and insulated me from further damage especially since my folks were blissfully unaware of the ongoing chaos.
This had taken an immense toll on my person but strangely gave me enough gusto and confidence to move on. What more can a man lose? Life? Oh! I had more than once come to the point of no return (PONR as I fondly call it), and it no longer mattered to me to sulk and worry over the loss of life as much as it caused me concern to repair and remake a better life that I truly needed to life, if not for anything but for the sake of ‘folks and friends’ who cared so much for the living!
After what seemed a huge and uphill battle (which I had many a times lost, sitting just on a park bench ☻), on the 29th October 2007, I tendered my resignation to the organization that I was working for and decided to move ahead in life.
It was for the first time that I realized the world outside and what it felt to be jobless, penniless and aimless. Broken in spirit, body and mind, I lost no determination and continued to pursue opportunities with a renewed sense of realism which was neither built on the foundations of optimism or pessimism, but on the reality of pragmatism.
A visit to
It was more to do about mind over matter and I seemed to remember every single day of the past, useless and foolish as it may seem to many. However, the only intention of me traveling this long road was to seek a true measure of peace that I believed I needed.
Life suddenly changed and I know not for what, but I experienced a great deal of bitterness and distrust and aggressive retaliation from forces I had not known.
People had stopped seeing the real me (perhaps because I never presented an opportunity to them to see the real me). And then I questioned reality, which I soon realized was the worst thing any living being could do. It delved me deeper into the self and I assumed the role of an anomaly that was created for a right purpose.
On certain day I remember a trip to
A friend warned me of life not being the way we wanted it to be and told me that things could go gravely wrong. He pointed a very concerted yet cynical view of how things could change. And change life did, in its worst ever form that I had ever chanced to encounter. I assumed a stage of total and absolute lockdown and concentrated on strengthening the mind. Strangely, events around the world seemed out of place and exaggerated in one form or the other. It was as if some ominous truth was being concealed from me every single moment. In parallel, I realized that I was no significant person or being to whom the world would need to conceal the truth from and it did not matter to anyone what I did or not for I stood to benefit or detriment none whosoever. Days and nights faded in thought and people I knew stayed far and far away maintaining very little contact (for reasons they knew better).
For solace, I took to watching the sky and talking to birds and animals (strange it may seem) and no sooner had I begun to do so, I was labeled psychotic and deranged (neither of which was true in even its least measure.) I took a fervent liking for deciphering numbers and the way they interacted with our day to day lives and found it was easier to communicate to the unknown than the known. Sometimes I stood wondering what I had stumbled upon but gained composure immediately and understood that the ‘self’ was a source of great inspiration and despair alike.
I caught up with old friends and acquaintances with the same good gesture that I always did and still saw no reciprocity of good gesture. It was as if people were scared of an element in me. And then it suddenly dawned on me the burden of having been an open book.
I longed to break convention and become free. But freedom, it seems, has a heavy price to pay even for the one who has earned it reasonably hard enough.
I decided that the best course of action was to stand still and involve myself in my passion of music and meditation even though I was considered a lunatic for all the actions that I had not done.
Toward the end of the year, when the world was rejoicing the advent of a New Year and a season of joy and happiness, I found myself surrounded in doubt and seventh heaven at the same time. Suddenly I felt that everything was a possibility. I dreamt of the moon, stars and the wide open sky and was time and again grounded to the reality of being on Earth!
It slowly dawned on me that I had no right to even dream and that dreams are just about a manifestation of assumed reality or whatever that may seem to mean.
Days before the New Year struck, the murky and ongoing mystery deepened and I was hurriedly shipped homeward to my Parents.
I had expected a light of joy on meeting them, but found none whatsoever. It was homecoming two long years later. I was regarded panicky, selfish, depressive, antagonizing and highly negative and was dispatched to consult a physician who recommended that I be administered anti-depressants and relaxants, so for the first time ever, I found myself being controlled by forces apart from within myself and my will to be free.
I realized that I had a great burden upon myself to prove that I was normal, but I had in no true sense or measure become abnormal in the first place.
What then had changed? What was it that I was in pursuit of? What had I longed to do best in my life? What had I centralized life upon?
All of these questions had only one answer and that answer is Peace & Happiness! A true and lastingly absolute measure of it! Simplicity in life was what I had desired for along with a measure of comfort, security and peace couple with a grand measure of responsible freedom, to do what is right, to feel strong, confident and more importantly myself.
I know not how and when this supposed mystery (if any) would end………… but I knew one thing for sure; This New Year E did not equal to MC^2, gravity was not reversed and trust is something I lost for a lifetime!
Strange it may seem, isn’t it? Welcome to life!
PS: Through this post, I seek no vendetta or ill-will, but desire that people be united in their cause to do good and be themselves for times to come! Furthermore, it is requested that this not be viewed as a measure of settling scores
Friday, April 27, 2007
Dark side of the Moon
I know not the cause and effect of a well 'bred' life and perhaps will never know. In a place which matters not an inch more than the realm of contained atmosphere that acts in kind conduciveness to hold the element of life, where our relevance does not transcend more than the boundaries of a place that we call Earth, I still hunt for the very purpose behind the existence of us beings!
Life has not been kind in the recent past and I have nothing to associate the sway to.........
Looks like its gonna be one long wet, dreary, uneasy night to pass.......... survive well if I will, I should be back to blogging soon.........
(posted presently; 25th Aug 2007 10:59 pm, in retrospect)
Life has not been kind in the recent past and I have nothing to associate the sway to.........
Looks like its gonna be one long wet, dreary, uneasy night to pass.......... survive well if I will, I should be back to blogging soon.........
(posted presently; 25th Aug 2007 10:59 pm, in retrospect)
Tuesday, April 03, 2007
The Ramparts of 2007!
2007.......the year of the transition as I put it, one that I'm extremely hopeful of inciting a much needed change in the psyche and spirit.
Sitting here on my desk and penning random thoughts with Hans Zimmer's score for the movie the Broken Arrow playing deeply into my ears, obilivious of all the rummaging that is spewing out a constant mechanical human humm around, I am envisioning what it is to like being a few more years older, a lot more successful, a number of years under the belly and so on.
My obsession for achievement seems to be scaling at an all time high and I feel I need to realize that potential at the right moment, with the right kind of people bearing with them the right framework of mind. And yet, as Robert Frost famously put it "Theres miles to go before I sleep."
Summing up from the very beginning of 2007 until now, life has been a ride in the roller coaster!
The year started on a very good note, notes of progress professionally and personally with a number of promising opportunities in the offing (or atleast seemingly).
My new car, now 3 odd months of age, has been a source of immense pleasure and great tool for mobility, barring the oddly aching fact that I might be among those geeks who jumped on buying a car before knowing how to drive the machine! Evidently, practise leads to perfection they say, which in my case is at the threshold!
Marking completion of a 2 year period with my organization has been a very gratifying and landmark experience to start with. A change of name, change of reporting managers, tonnes of improvements, two scaled promotions and loads to add to a small profile has made life more meaningful and much more satisfactory. it is with a lot of careful pondering and consideration that I chose to reject a lucrative offer close to home, which I now believe, was better best rejected considering the huge learning that I need to do before embarking upon a journey leading to a different paradigm altogether.
Delhi's rather famous winter played kind by stretching over and beyond its call of duty by lasting well until the end of March which made staying in Delhi a pleasant experience during this season.
I dare not speculate on what might be in the offing a few days from now.
Deepu, my dear brother did good by visiting and spending a sizeable amount of time trying to understand my lifestyle and how to make the better of it. His departure after conclusion of what was an extended vacation was indeed tough on both of us especially considering that we hadn't seen each other over a year and my prospects of travelling to Ooty in the immediate future looks as bleak and hazy, much beyond any measure of comprehension. It was during these times that we introspected together, me calling to life a large part of my childhood memories and those bygone years when life was all about donning and remaining the child who knew nothing more than the taste of freedom and the pleasantries of being thrusted away from the madly rut and routine the world followed much akin to a religion!
Arif & Pratiksha were married sometime early this year and I continue to avoid bumping into them for having failed in my courtesy to wish either and pay a visit too!
Ahead of me is the Industrial Leadership Program (ILP) which acts as a tollgate between me and one of the first leadership positions in my career at Genpact. I hope to concentrate all my energy and focus to pass through this testing time immediately after which I would travel home to Ooty which I now eternally miss!
In all, this year has surely made a landmark change in my life even before it is far from being the past. I sense a feeling of relaxation, far less anxiety and certainly a lot more positive energy. Wishful thinking or whatever that can be labelled to this, I know that with time, a lot of things change, and change for the better. I guess all we need to do is believe that we can and continue to exert this belief to the back of our beyond, deep into our psyche and spirit and never let go of the ability to look into the eyes of fear and setbacks and conquer them! Life will always continue to spring some of the most uncommon experiences and times in our lives, however, it certainly does not take a whole lof of effort to quell these and master the art of good living.
Sitting here on my desk and penning random thoughts with Hans Zimmer's score for the movie the Broken Arrow playing deeply into my ears, obilivious of all the rummaging that is spewing out a constant mechanical human humm around, I am envisioning what it is to like being a few more years older, a lot more successful, a number of years under the belly and so on.
My obsession for achievement seems to be scaling at an all time high and I feel I need to realize that potential at the right moment, with the right kind of people bearing with them the right framework of mind. And yet, as Robert Frost famously put it "Theres miles to go before I sleep."
Summing up from the very beginning of 2007 until now, life has been a ride in the roller coaster!
The year started on a very good note, notes of progress professionally and personally with a number of promising opportunities in the offing (or atleast seemingly).
My new car, now 3 odd months of age, has been a source of immense pleasure and great tool for mobility, barring the oddly aching fact that I might be among those geeks who jumped on buying a car before knowing how to drive the machine! Evidently, practise leads to perfection they say, which in my case is at the threshold!
Marking completion of a 2 year period with my organization has been a very gratifying and landmark experience to start with. A change of name, change of reporting managers, tonnes of improvements, two scaled promotions and loads to add to a small profile has made life more meaningful and much more satisfactory. it is with a lot of careful pondering and consideration that I chose to reject a lucrative offer close to home, which I now believe, was better best rejected considering the huge learning that I need to do before embarking upon a journey leading to a different paradigm altogether.
Delhi's rather famous winter played kind by stretching over and beyond its call of duty by lasting well until the end of March which made staying in Delhi a pleasant experience during this season.
I dare not speculate on what might be in the offing a few days from now.
Deepu, my dear brother did good by visiting and spending a sizeable amount of time trying to understand my lifestyle and how to make the better of it. His departure after conclusion of what was an extended vacation was indeed tough on both of us especially considering that we hadn't seen each other over a year and my prospects of travelling to Ooty in the immediate future looks as bleak and hazy, much beyond any measure of comprehension. It was during these times that we introspected together, me calling to life a large part of my childhood memories and those bygone years when life was all about donning and remaining the child who knew nothing more than the taste of freedom and the pleasantries of being thrusted away from the madly rut and routine the world followed much akin to a religion!
The sad and tragic loss of Manish Jacob, Manu's brother, put us into a pall of gloom. Unimaginable as it seemed, the shock brought immense grief and created an irreplacable void. Our prayers for the well-being of the family during this time of tribulation will continue above all else and we will fondly revive the memories and times of Manish Jacob.
Vishal Bhargav a.k.a Capt. Val Ross & Shikha have moved to Bombay after several years in Gurgaon and Delhi. Over the time, I have had wonderful friends who have many a times helped me understand and enjoy the brighter side of life and appreciate its intricacies that we quite often disregard as worthless of any recognition.
Meeting Bodhi's mother was also a privilege especially having oft-heard of the wonderful person she is. A person with a strong will to excel while yet giving back to the society the best of her efforts partnered with good intent and a strong mental faculty, I must credit her for her zeal and will that would readily put a person half her age to shame!
Anuj Jetley is back from the UK with a Management degree added to his coat of arms. I have not the least bit of doubt of his measure of success although it is sometimes quite a loss to understand that the person himself disregards this to a very large extent. Anyhow, time should be a wonderful testimonial to how people realize what they need to.
Arif & Pratiksha were married sometime early this year and I continue to avoid bumping into them for having failed in my courtesy to wish either and pay a visit too!
Ahead of me is the Industrial Leadership Program (ILP) which acts as a tollgate between me and one of the first leadership positions in my career at Genpact. I hope to concentrate all my energy and focus to pass through this testing time immediately after which I would travel home to Ooty which I now eternally miss!
In all, this year has surely made a landmark change in my life even before it is far from being the past. I sense a feeling of relaxation, far less anxiety and certainly a lot more positive energy. Wishful thinking or whatever that can be labelled to this, I know that with time, a lot of things change, and change for the better. I guess all we need to do is believe that we can and continue to exert this belief to the back of our beyond, deep into our psyche and spirit and never let go of the ability to look into the eyes of fear and setbacks and conquer them! Life will always continue to spring some of the most uncommon experiences and times in our lives, however, it certainly does not take a whole lof of effort to quell these and master the art of good living.
Friday, February 16, 2007
The Jacob Prophecies - Commencement
Many a times, we chance upon people who are special! Special enough to make a mark in our lives in a surely positive manner. They are mere mortals like any of us who have in some strange manner learnt to evolve their senses into strong and decisive forces that aid them to be what they have become!
Meet Jacob!
Another passing day with a number of things slotted out for as contents to pass and complete, Feb 15th 2007 was a routine day in my life, much like many others that have passed by! Or atleast, so I thought, until I met Jacob! Sounds much like 'Meet Joe Black.' Anyhow, the context remains vividly different, thankfully!
People, I have long come to know are different for different reasons & abilities, and one needs no reasoning beyond that of a common ground squirrel to comprehend this plain simple truth!
After a few minutes into conversation with this eminent 'seer' of the past & future alike, I was reminded of my years in college (1996-1999) when I had met another very special person with remarkable abilities - Benny!
It does not take an instant for anyone of us to recognize the power of clairvoyance in any person, the ability to see, envision and comprehend in humanly form of something that is so much beyond the limited human ability of understanding! While some of us choose to dismiss this as fantasies of scientific (or popularly superstitious) embodiment, I must say that one needs to reconcile to the idea that such existences are true and the mysteries of the human mind are much beyond comprehension even to the billions of us who are yet so gifted to be in possession of this creation that is tuly so unique and vast!
And redifiningly reassuring with each passing moment, my faith in the unknown and beyond grows stronger and firmer with each passing day.
Instances such as these might seem too trivial to look at, however, they do have a somewhat significant impact on our lives provided we receive valuable inputs as important cues as to how to lead our lives forward in a more positive manner.
The instances Jacob provided me mirrored my image of the past and will continue to shape my actions in the future no matter how less decisive they become.
After all, not many of us mortals have the power to take a peek into what lies in the future.
Meet Jacob!
Another passing day with a number of things slotted out for as contents to pass and complete, Feb 15th 2007 was a routine day in my life, much like many others that have passed by! Or atleast, so I thought, until I met Jacob! Sounds much like 'Meet Joe Black.' Anyhow, the context remains vividly different, thankfully!
People, I have long come to know are different for different reasons & abilities, and one needs no reasoning beyond that of a common ground squirrel to comprehend this plain simple truth!
After a few minutes into conversation with this eminent 'seer' of the past & future alike, I was reminded of my years in college (1996-1999) when I had met another very special person with remarkable abilities - Benny!
It does not take an instant for anyone of us to recognize the power of clairvoyance in any person, the ability to see, envision and comprehend in humanly form of something that is so much beyond the limited human ability of understanding! While some of us choose to dismiss this as fantasies of scientific (or popularly superstitious) embodiment, I must say that one needs to reconcile to the idea that such existences are true and the mysteries of the human mind are much beyond comprehension even to the billions of us who are yet so gifted to be in possession of this creation that is tuly so unique and vast!
And redifiningly reassuring with each passing moment, my faith in the unknown and beyond grows stronger and firmer with each passing day.
Instances such as these might seem too trivial to look at, however, they do have a somewhat significant impact on our lives provided we receive valuable inputs as important cues as to how to lead our lives forward in a more positive manner.
The instances Jacob provided me mirrored my image of the past and will continue to shape my actions in the future no matter how less decisive they become.
After all, not many of us mortals have the power to take a peek into what lies in the future.
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
A Change of Seasons
Its the last month of what was indeed a very faced paced 365 days that many of us have come to know. 2006 is fast becoming history!
The cold winter grip is beginning to envelope Delhi as is the case with many winter facing terrains.
Barely a month to go for the new year to be ushered in, the mood of festivity and change is already beginning to set in fast.
For most of us, rather all of us, this is a time to reflect back upon how the passing year went by, during the course of which we faced challenging moments and postive moments with mixed fervour and unmatched enthusiasm. And yet once again, we stand with open minds to usher in a new beginning, one we hope would better the ones that have gone by and bring about a sense of well being and feel-good which all of us could most certainly use without second thoughts.
2006, the year of the Ockton (Eight, as I call it, due to the sum of the first and the last digits), was indeed one which brought about a huge change to my life as it would have with many others too.
I saw myself consolidating life in a distant city whose cultures and means still remain unknown to me. For starters, I rid myself of the nasty health concerns that had kept me worried for over a decade. I basked at the fortune of having travelled to places such as Manali, Rohtang, Shimla & so on. I thoroughy cursed the seemingly never ending Delhi summers and power failures like never before (yet). I fought many battles, big and small and coasted through the days with the objective of perhaps not just making it there as much as I wanted to survive the tsunami-propotioned tidal waves that rocked my life during the year. For all the changes that have slowly settled as standard part of accessories of my life, I welcomed the change in my role at work with open arms. To date, it remains to be one of the many significant acheievements that a simple living entity such as I can conjure up to add as a supposed accolade that can at one point of time, perhaps in the very distant future, be remembered and reaccounted to posterity if there come any!
Among all, the number of people that I now know in life has multiplied atleast two fold. The good Lord, it seems, has allowed me to venture out to meet fellow human beings in multitudinal proportions all instances which have been wonderful and truly memorable.
With time I have gained a very small essence of the much needed perspective that has helped me shape better thoughts, ideas and concepts that govern daily life. Via the exercise of making friends, good ones always and all ways, I know not who to thank for the wonderful gifts that friends have always been. My greatest asset till date and forever would remain people! for it is people who have helped me shape my attitude, personality, nomenclature, dna structure and a whole slew of other things (not that all of these traits have reflected the best of my packages at all times.)
With time, I now feel the confidence to assume any responsible role and address what is required of that role is expected to deliver. I have learned quality, patience, sensbility and a whole lot of other things that constitute to making a good human being. I have understood that life is best always in contrasts and not in uniformity and predicted suppositions! I have reconciled to the fact that despite however much superiority we think we wield, we yet form only an insignificant portion of creation itself! I have known and understood that not everything happens for a reason, somethings happen because they just happen. One should only focus on doing what one needs to do and stop bludgeoning the mind with expectations that are unreal! I have known that peace is a state of mind that has to be incucated from within rather than believing that it is an element that can be programmed into the system. I have also understood that people are different in their own rights and mannerisms and that rights and wrongs are quite relative indeed.
And, as time gives way to another New Year, I find myself lost.........lost in thought, not in anticipation, no longer seeking hope or comfort from any or all the sources that I have hitherto sought.......................for I know, no matter what, strength comes from within..............and no other source, no matter however strong or 'omnipresent' can give that to you..............
Folks...................Compliments of the Season
The cold winter grip is beginning to envelope Delhi as is the case with many winter facing terrains.
Barely a month to go for the new year to be ushered in, the mood of festivity and change is already beginning to set in fast.
For most of us, rather all of us, this is a time to reflect back upon how the passing year went by, during the course of which we faced challenging moments and postive moments with mixed fervour and unmatched enthusiasm. And yet once again, we stand with open minds to usher in a new beginning, one we hope would better the ones that have gone by and bring about a sense of well being and feel-good which all of us could most certainly use without second thoughts.
2006, the year of the Ockton (Eight, as I call it, due to the sum of the first and the last digits), was indeed one which brought about a huge change to my life as it would have with many others too.
I saw myself consolidating life in a distant city whose cultures and means still remain unknown to me. For starters, I rid myself of the nasty health concerns that had kept me worried for over a decade. I basked at the fortune of having travelled to places such as Manali, Rohtang, Shimla & so on. I thoroughy cursed the seemingly never ending Delhi summers and power failures like never before (yet). I fought many battles, big and small and coasted through the days with the objective of perhaps not just making it there as much as I wanted to survive the tsunami-propotioned tidal waves that rocked my life during the year. For all the changes that have slowly settled as standard part of accessories of my life, I welcomed the change in my role at work with open arms. To date, it remains to be one of the many significant acheievements that a simple living entity such as I can conjure up to add as a supposed accolade that can at one point of time, perhaps in the very distant future, be remembered and reaccounted to posterity if there come any!
Among all, the number of people that I now know in life has multiplied atleast two fold. The good Lord, it seems, has allowed me to venture out to meet fellow human beings in multitudinal proportions all instances which have been wonderful and truly memorable.
With time I have gained a very small essence of the much needed perspective that has helped me shape better thoughts, ideas and concepts that govern daily life. Via the exercise of making friends, good ones always and all ways, I know not who to thank for the wonderful gifts that friends have always been. My greatest asset till date and forever would remain people! for it is people who have helped me shape my attitude, personality, nomenclature, dna structure and a whole slew of other things (not that all of these traits have reflected the best of my packages at all times.)
With time, I now feel the confidence to assume any responsible role and address what is required of that role is expected to deliver. I have learned quality, patience, sensbility and a whole lot of other things that constitute to making a good human being. I have understood that life is best always in contrasts and not in uniformity and predicted suppositions! I have reconciled to the fact that despite however much superiority we think we wield, we yet form only an insignificant portion of creation itself! I have known and understood that not everything happens for a reason, somethings happen because they just happen. One should only focus on doing what one needs to do and stop bludgeoning the mind with expectations that are unreal! I have known that peace is a state of mind that has to be incucated from within rather than believing that it is an element that can be programmed into the system. I have also understood that people are different in their own rights and mannerisms and that rights and wrongs are quite relative indeed.
And, as time gives way to another New Year, I find myself lost.........lost in thought, not in anticipation, no longer seeking hope or comfort from any or all the sources that I have hitherto sought.......................for I know, no matter what, strength comes from within..............and no other source, no matter however strong or 'omnipresent' can give that to you..............
Folks...................Compliments of the Season
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Reasons & Rhymes!
Forget the age old adage that says "Everything happens for a reason." In truth, many a thing happens for no reason or rhyme at all. Not everything that happens, happens due to a reason, but merely are random incidents that happen in life. However, mostly, some such happenings can actually be grave and very saddening!
I charted most of my life wondering why certain things happen in the very first place and try to discern the reason(s) behind the incidents. To date I fail to subtantiate or rather identify the "reason." And then, life slips into a depression which seems to last forever!
By chance, a good friend of mine, Veer, once explained to me that it is pointless to try to reason out why things happen especially since we do not exercise any control over such happenings, save a few! And those few, we can actually control by our disposition, behaviour, reaction, attitude, frame of mind and so on. Therefore, when things happen, they need not necessarily have an associated reason or cause. Let me give you a few imposing instances;
I once received an email with quotes, one of which read "No matter how much I pray, I only get what I deserve." I loudly disagreed to this almost immediately after reading it, on which a friend responded that the statement was right and that I was wrong in not agreeing.
Now the reason behind by my not concurring to this statement was not as a reult of any notion suggesting disrespect to the almighty creator or attempting to propogate a disbelief in prayer. Neither of these are my intentions!
To my comrade, who disapproved of my dismissing the earlier statement, I subtantiated with the following instances; More than a few billion people die of hunger, disease, violence, terrorism, poverty and so on, another tens of thousands are vitimized due to rape, murder, extortion, crime, brutality, oppression, racism and so on, India alone is home to more than tens of thousands of people who do not own a place we call home! Tens of thouands of children below the age of eighteen are employed in the most harshest of work conditions and are also subjected to sexual, physical and mental abuse! All this is a mere speck of the whole truth which cannot be illustrated in words or numbers due to its immense magnitude and unquantifiable consequences!
My questions are two fold, one to my very good friend Vishal, to whom I ask, What is it that these people did, in order to deserve what they got? To believe that these millions have not prayed in any form or manner is a impossibility which squarely beats even the Law of Averages along with all known quantum mathematical odds!
And then, in general I ask, does any one really know the reason why such things happen in the first place? What I do know for sure, above all else is that the answers to either questions are an emphatic NO!
I am not attempting to elicit answers to questions which do not have any answers in the first place, but am merely illustrating that every incident that occurs does not necessarily have a reason or perhaps has one that is known only to the so-called creator alone!
My attempt via this post is to convey a message which I have learnt of late (in rather a hard manner though). It is that one should not attempt to look for a reason for everything that happens, for if one does so, then there stands every chance to lose one's peace and complicate the manner of thinking that drives a person! We have to understand and reconcile to the fact that we cannot determine reasons to happenings, perhaps not as yet!
Maybe a time is in the offing when we mortals will assume command of creation and defeat the oppressive monopoly who (if exists) has been ruling unchecked for a very long time now!
Patience my friend, at least technology is our making!
Until then, its no reason or rhyme, literally!
Epilogue -
I have written a few lines in this post that appear to convey a very derogatory opinion, however I wish to reiterate that the intention is not so.
I originally intended to delete those lines, however, after much thought deliberation with my own self, I left them to remain and rather explain their raison d'être.
I charted most of my life wondering why certain things happen in the very first place and try to discern the reason(s) behind the incidents. To date I fail to subtantiate or rather identify the "reason." And then, life slips into a depression which seems to last forever!
By chance, a good friend of mine, Veer, once explained to me that it is pointless to try to reason out why things happen especially since we do not exercise any control over such happenings, save a few! And those few, we can actually control by our disposition, behaviour, reaction, attitude, frame of mind and so on. Therefore, when things happen, they need not necessarily have an associated reason or cause. Let me give you a few imposing instances;
I once received an email with quotes, one of which read "No matter how much I pray, I only get what I deserve." I loudly disagreed to this almost immediately after reading it, on which a friend responded that the statement was right and that I was wrong in not agreeing.
Now the reason behind by my not concurring to this statement was not as a reult of any notion suggesting disrespect to the almighty creator or attempting to propogate a disbelief in prayer. Neither of these are my intentions!
To my comrade, who disapproved of my dismissing the earlier statement, I subtantiated with the following instances; More than a few billion people die of hunger, disease, violence, terrorism, poverty and so on, another tens of thousands are vitimized due to rape, murder, extortion, crime, brutality, oppression, racism and so on, India alone is home to more than tens of thousands of people who do not own a place we call home! Tens of thouands of children below the age of eighteen are employed in the most harshest of work conditions and are also subjected to sexual, physical and mental abuse! All this is a mere speck of the whole truth which cannot be illustrated in words or numbers due to its immense magnitude and unquantifiable consequences!
My questions are two fold, one to my very good friend Vishal, to whom I ask, What is it that these people did, in order to deserve what they got? To believe that these millions have not prayed in any form or manner is a impossibility which squarely beats even the Law of Averages along with all known quantum mathematical odds!
And then, in general I ask, does any one really know the reason why such things happen in the first place? What I do know for sure, above all else is that the answers to either questions are an emphatic NO!
I am not attempting to elicit answers to questions which do not have any answers in the first place, but am merely illustrating that every incident that occurs does not necessarily have a reason or perhaps has one that is known only to the so-called creator alone!
My attempt via this post is to convey a message which I have learnt of late (in rather a hard manner though). It is that one should not attempt to look for a reason for everything that happens, for if one does so, then there stands every chance to lose one's peace and complicate the manner of thinking that drives a person! We have to understand and reconcile to the fact that we cannot determine reasons to happenings, perhaps not as yet!
Maybe a time is in the offing when we mortals will assume command of creation and defeat the oppressive monopoly who (if exists) has been ruling unchecked for a very long time now!
Patience my friend, at least technology is our making!
Until then, its no reason or rhyme, literally!
Epilogue -
I have written a few lines in this post that appear to convey a very derogatory opinion, however I wish to reiterate that the intention is not so.
I originally intended to delete those lines, however, after much thought deliberation with my own self, I left them to remain and rather explain their raison d'être.
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
Why bad things happen to good people!
Life has a way unknown to any of us!
Situations unfold in a manner we have never really predicted or expected, both good and bad, largely the bad though!
Well then, why do bad things always seem to happen to good people. Good question isn't it. Unlike many of those 'good question' that usually do not elicit good answers, this one has a very good rationale! Something that I believe will convince you and more so help me come to terms with my own course of life and its more than occassional wayward happenings!
Foremost of all things, one needs to understand that life is a concoction, one that is an uneven mixture of many instances, both good and bad! And for all that happens, there is no pattern, sometimes no comprehensible reason and most certainly no definitive timestamp as to when they happen. While most things happen as a result of our own actions, many incidents happen at random without actually having to be a consequence of what we do. Therefore, we must understand that while we can actually influence the resulting impact of some of our actions, we cannot at all control certain incidents and their occurrences despite however miniscule or prominent they are. In short, some things happen because they just happen and there is nothing that you and I can do about it! What best we can indeed do is control our reactions in dealing with the aftermath of such incidents if they have a negative fallout. For, if we are not able to master the art of controlling our reactions, a bad incident can actually have a worse impact.
And it is extremely important for us to mask our emotions in the face of a bad incident since any public display of fear, anger or disconcertment would very lucidly convey a strong sense of weakness which can at any and all times be misused to manipulate you in the most unpleasant circumstances. So, if you do not know how to actually exercise control over your emotions during such testing times, then faking calm would also help you sail through!
I do not ask you to fake every and any emotion, but merely ask to mask your definitively 'perceivable' overtures which may (will) send signals to others so that 'they' do not construe any ill will or mistake your expression to be result of hatred or covetousness.
Now, the central theme of this premise is Why bad things happen to good people.
Why in the wildest world would life throw some of the worst surprises to you despite being a candidate of good gesture and will?
To answer my friend, I shall quote an old adage "Some of the worst things are intended to make you better not bitter." And such proverbial truths are not limited, I could quote another dozen for you in the very same breath. What else do you think is the answer?
While life is best described in the most practical terms as time spent on Earth (as in the case of us human beings), on a broader scale it is a mission, a purpose, a journey with constant learning and endless opportunity to be enriched by experiences of multitudinal proportions, forms and types.
Start thinking in retrospect, when you were a helpless child less than a few months of age, you did not know how to walk, you knew not how to read, write, speak, illustrate, comprehend, feel, express, think and most certainly knew not much more than what many toddlers already knew!
And then time assisted you to take steps, one by one, with the help of guides who were relevant to situations in the form of parents, teachers, friends, associates, colleagues, people, society........
You began walking yet clumsily, many a times falling, to hurt hard physically and mentally.
Such experiences are nothing but conditioning elements that help shape ones personality to ensue a more refined human being, one that is truly balanced from within and outside.
And as a rule, good experiences are not really meant to be good in the real sense of learning potential that they present. They are in truth supposed to be atleast moderately harsh largely depending upon the circusmstances and as a cause of why they happened in the very first place.
How else would one learn from them? Their very purpose being that of a wonderful teacher that is unmatched.
An experience is primarily an incident which is usually after the primary incident has come to pass. It is more so often a fall out of the primary incident itself through which one learns what to do and what not to do in the event of a similar primary incident repeating itself.
Quite often, a single resultant incident cannot be very helpful unless otherwise the person on the receiving end is sensitive enough to learn from the same, conversely an experience cannot also be a very good teacher unless it is slightly profound. I am not advocating that an experience needs to be always harsh in order to serve the purpose of being a good teacher, however, I am also not stating that experiences need to be always mild. My thought is that incidental-fallouts (in the literal sense) need to be appropriate to the situation that has come to pass. But then, we mortals cannot make make conform experiences in a manner or style of our choice. Therefore, the magnitude of fallouts can better best be left for time to decide.
I agree that in many a circumstance, an experience can indeed be painfully bitter and totally unjustified. What one can best do is to, (after having exhausted all options to contest if one can), come to believe that there is a purpose associated to what happened and try to sink it into the system without putting up a fight with one's own thought and circumstances in general.
This helps one balance onself and also come to terms with the incident at a faster pace in a more characteristically mature manner.
In the event of not having any further options to ponder upon (while having come to know that nothing can indeed be done), one must display a sense of grace and calm which can condition a level of maturity and magnanimity. This is the good sense of prevailing over time. One needs to treat both victory and defeat alike as if they mattered no more than each other. By all means, allow time to teach you what it needs to, for then you may not regret that you had little or no opportunity to learn what should have before it is too late in the day to do so.
All this 'straight-out-of-the-book-scripted-theory' may well sound impossible. (I must confess, that although I speak with a an air of authority, I fail to do any of the said. But then, I do try atleast.) However much impossible it may sound, one's own determination to acclimatize would ease the task by mammoth proportions.
And most imperative is to believe that the bad and the good go hand in hand. It is not always one or the other. While there are tough times in life, there are also impending times of good. A very meaningfully well defined circle of events is what time presents.
If you expect that a certain instance should happen and that does not, it probably means that you never were deserving for that in the very place. Contrarily, what you deserve may be much much more than what you actually expect (often without even knowing what you deserve)
Forgetting for a moment, logic and life and shifting focus to a more tangible approach of scientific nature; One has always witnessed progress after recession, growth after decline, birth after death. This universal truth holds good not merely in the theoritical and logical sense but also historically, scientifically and futuristically.
So, when things do not go the way they are expected to, when unfortunate incidents rule the roost and when days are clouded with untoward happenings, standby, take a deep breath and then reaffirm belief in yourself and understand that it is only life's way of preparing you for some of the best things that are yet to come.
As a footnote, today has been one among the many of those that has brought about failure and strangely success together! Contradictory as it may sound, I cannot myself comprehend the dichotomoy. What I did do is thank my creator for the twin significant milestones that I have come to pass although they have been extremely opposite to each other.
I have lived another day!
Situations unfold in a manner we have never really predicted or expected, both good and bad, largely the bad though!
Well then, why do bad things always seem to happen to good people. Good question isn't it. Unlike many of those 'good question' that usually do not elicit good answers, this one has a very good rationale! Something that I believe will convince you and more so help me come to terms with my own course of life and its more than occassional wayward happenings!
Foremost of all things, one needs to understand that life is a concoction, one that is an uneven mixture of many instances, both good and bad! And for all that happens, there is no pattern, sometimes no comprehensible reason and most certainly no definitive timestamp as to when they happen. While most things happen as a result of our own actions, many incidents happen at random without actually having to be a consequence of what we do. Therefore, we must understand that while we can actually influence the resulting impact of some of our actions, we cannot at all control certain incidents and their occurrences despite however miniscule or prominent they are. In short, some things happen because they just happen and there is nothing that you and I can do about it! What best we can indeed do is control our reactions in dealing with the aftermath of such incidents if they have a negative fallout. For, if we are not able to master the art of controlling our reactions, a bad incident can actually have a worse impact.
And it is extremely important for us to mask our emotions in the face of a bad incident since any public display of fear, anger or disconcertment would very lucidly convey a strong sense of weakness which can at any and all times be misused to manipulate you in the most unpleasant circumstances. So, if you do not know how to actually exercise control over your emotions during such testing times, then faking calm would also help you sail through!
I do not ask you to fake every and any emotion, but merely ask to mask your definitively 'perceivable' overtures which may (will) send signals to others so that 'they' do not construe any ill will or mistake your expression to be result of hatred or covetousness.
Now, the central theme of this premise is Why bad things happen to good people.
Why in the wildest world would life throw some of the worst surprises to you despite being a candidate of good gesture and will?
To answer my friend, I shall quote an old adage "Some of the worst things are intended to make you better not bitter." And such proverbial truths are not limited, I could quote another dozen for you in the very same breath. What else do you think is the answer?
While life is best described in the most practical terms as time spent on Earth (as in the case of us human beings), on a broader scale it is a mission, a purpose, a journey with constant learning and endless opportunity to be enriched by experiences of multitudinal proportions, forms and types.
Start thinking in retrospect, when you were a helpless child less than a few months of age, you did not know how to walk, you knew not how to read, write, speak, illustrate, comprehend, feel, express, think and most certainly knew not much more than what many toddlers already knew!
And then time assisted you to take steps, one by one, with the help of guides who were relevant to situations in the form of parents, teachers, friends, associates, colleagues, people, society........
You began walking yet clumsily, many a times falling, to hurt hard physically and mentally.
Such experiences are nothing but conditioning elements that help shape ones personality to ensue a more refined human being, one that is truly balanced from within and outside.
And as a rule, good experiences are not really meant to be good in the real sense of learning potential that they present. They are in truth supposed to be atleast moderately harsh largely depending upon the circusmstances and as a cause of why they happened in the very first place.
How else would one learn from them? Their very purpose being that of a wonderful teacher that is unmatched.
An experience is primarily an incident which is usually after the primary incident has come to pass. It is more so often a fall out of the primary incident itself through which one learns what to do and what not to do in the event of a similar primary incident repeating itself.
Quite often, a single resultant incident cannot be very helpful unless otherwise the person on the receiving end is sensitive enough to learn from the same, conversely an experience cannot also be a very good teacher unless it is slightly profound. I am not advocating that an experience needs to be always harsh in order to serve the purpose of being a good teacher, however, I am also not stating that experiences need to be always mild. My thought is that incidental-fallouts (in the literal sense) need to be appropriate to the situation that has come to pass. But then, we mortals cannot make make conform experiences in a manner or style of our choice. Therefore, the magnitude of fallouts can better best be left for time to decide.
I agree that in many a circumstance, an experience can indeed be painfully bitter and totally unjustified. What one can best do is to, (after having exhausted all options to contest if one can), come to believe that there is a purpose associated to what happened and try to sink it into the system without putting up a fight with one's own thought and circumstances in general.
This helps one balance onself and also come to terms with the incident at a faster pace in a more characteristically mature manner.
In the event of not having any further options to ponder upon (while having come to know that nothing can indeed be done), one must display a sense of grace and calm which can condition a level of maturity and magnanimity. This is the good sense of prevailing over time. One needs to treat both victory and defeat alike as if they mattered no more than each other. By all means, allow time to teach you what it needs to, for then you may not regret that you had little or no opportunity to learn what should have before it is too late in the day to do so.
All this 'straight-out-of-the-book-scripted-theory' may well sound impossible. (I must confess, that although I speak with a an air of authority, I fail to do any of the said. But then, I do try atleast.) However much impossible it may sound, one's own determination to acclimatize would ease the task by mammoth proportions.
And most imperative is to believe that the bad and the good go hand in hand. It is not always one or the other. While there are tough times in life, there are also impending times of good. A very meaningfully well defined circle of events is what time presents.
If you expect that a certain instance should happen and that does not, it probably means that you never were deserving for that in the very place. Contrarily, what you deserve may be much much more than what you actually expect (often without even knowing what you deserve)
Forgetting for a moment, logic and life and shifting focus to a more tangible approach of scientific nature; One has always witnessed progress after recession, growth after decline, birth after death. This universal truth holds good not merely in the theoritical and logical sense but also historically, scientifically and futuristically.
So, when things do not go the way they are expected to, when unfortunate incidents rule the roost and when days are clouded with untoward happenings, standby, take a deep breath and then reaffirm belief in yourself and understand that it is only life's way of preparing you for some of the best things that are yet to come.
As a footnote, today has been one among the many of those that has brought about failure and strangely success together! Contradictory as it may sound, I cannot myself comprehend the dichotomoy. What I did do is thank my creator for the twin significant milestones that I have come to pass although they have been extremely opposite to each other.
I have lived another day!
Friday, September 08, 2006
Reactivation confirmed! 27 years later!
September 8, 1979 - Saturday - 08:50 am IST
About 10 minutes to 09:00hrs that morning, another human life was added to the near billion strong Indian population.
Prime Minister Morarji Desai's government had crumbled and Charan Singh became the next occupant of the Prime Minister's Office.
Somewhere in Kannur, a town which is part of the Northern expanse of the south Indian state of Kerala, a family witnessed the coming of its newest entrant.
63 days later that little being was shipped off to Ooty, a hill-station amidst the pristine mountains of the Nilgiri Biosphere where he continued to live for nearly the next two and a half decades.
Since then to now, life has been source a multitude of experiences for me that have helped shape my actions, values, ideologue, attitude....................in short my entire person.
My parents decided to call me Rakesh which symbolized light that eradicated darkness and brought about peace and tranquility. Apt choice I must say, something which I have always been very proud of all along. (Except that there probably are more than 1 million Rakeshs across the globe today!)
As a child, I took immense pleasure in being addressed by my first name and responded with a firm and very definite manner pronouncing my name for those who queried.
Ooty has been a wonderful place to live, in the midst of high rise mountains studded with pine and eucalyptus plantations dotted with miles and miles of tea estates often touched by an ever lasting curtain of mist complemented with warm sunlight and chilling breeze which would make any person call it Heaven on Earth.
Kerala too played a huge role in shaping the person that I now am for it is there that I learnt the true essence and meaning of being part of a family that traced its roots back to 700 years.
The vast acres of plain land filled with coconut groves and mango trees are part of my earliest memories that I very vividly remember even to this very date.
And then all of that changed barely two years into being! I contracted a severe form of dysentry that endangered my very existence a great deal. Folks took me lengths and breadths seeking appropriate treatment to rid me of my affliction.
When all doors stood closed and it was apparent that nothing could be done, except let the 'little one' succumb to the malady, a good soul suggested the name of Fr. Muller's Hospital, Mangalore where I was promptly taken for what turned out to be a near four month long treatment following which I emerged cleansed and ready for a new beginning. It was the first of many many times that I would come close to being pulled back from the edge!
Raising me was an agonizing process as my folks recall for I was more or less the exacted yesteryear version of Calvin (Calvin & Hobbes). As a child, I was hyper-active which led me to do many a thing which was not considered normal, such as chucking live chicken into the well, metting out some attrocious treatment to cats, dogs and other known four legged creatures. My subjects of experiments were not limited to animals alone. Human beings of all sizes and shapes came as easy samples considering my schemingly cunning naughty experimental nature.
My folks were traumatized raising me during my early years and the amount of pain and embarrassment were a constant source of worry to all those near and dear. Extra measures of precaution had to be taken and enforced considering my volatile nature which meant keeping most potentially dangerous substances way beyond the area designated out of reach. It is with a great amount of regret and remorse that I sincerely apologize to all those who have been victimized my my acts of outrage. I am sorry to all you folks who have had buckets of water falling on them from the sky, those of you whose eyes were covered with turmeric powder while asleep, some of you who have lost half their moustaches while asleep, many of you who have been electrocuted in one way or the other...........................I'm extremely sorry!
I know the list goes on and on. And to the souls of the many tens and tens of animals that have been a mute testimony of my inhuman acts of savage brutality, God, please do not consign me to the vast expanses of hell. I was merely a kid who had no track of what he was doing and therefore lacked the understanding of comprehending the seriousness of the act that was being committed.
My folks were extremely concerned about one particular habit of mine which involved my piling of papers and burning them down for no apparent reason. Doubts were cast about the possibility of me turning into an Arsonist upon growing up. Thankfully with time, I shed all my unusual traits which can at best be described as the actions of a bored kid!
Schooling was a lot of fun although I was never a good student. My record of sleeping in classes dated upto days of college! Lazy as I always have been, folks at home invested a great deal of time, money and energy in stabilizing my career which failed to match the wishes of my folks for all reasons that were a cause of my actions. Later years in college past with lightning speed and no subtantial achivement. To date, I regard them as some of the darkest moments of my life. I have learnt that life is more of a circle which contains both good and bad. Actions that have shaped at one point of time do certainly have a long drawn set of consequences that extended to a deep future which in turn shapes the manner in which life develops.
"Take care of your thoughts and actions, for what you think and do, you become."
This has prehaps never been so true in any case other than mine. I say so with unflinching conviction because I have witnessed over the time how one's thoughts influences one's actions and therefore results in related consequences. It is therefore very important to think with a very positive frame of mind desiring positive results. However, due to being a critical Virgo whose elements have been related more to practicality and less of anticipation, I have forever been a little more pessimistic in my approach towards anything in life. Negative thoughts lead to negative actions, negative people, negative approach and finally negative consequences. Negativity is in itself a huge well whose depths are unfathomable and largely unknown and if trudged into one over a period of time, it becomes a latent impossibility to get out of the same.
Having lived some very dark years in Mangalore, Kannur and Ooty during the period 1996 - 2005, I set foot into Delhi and Gurgaon where life has taken a turn for the better.
I have learnt a great deal from the rich experience that I have had being part of the wonderful organization that I work at. People and inncidents have helped shape a better perspective of life and a certain focus that helps understand oneself better before embarking upon a journey of sorts.
Reactivation Confirmed! 27 years later, is my attempt to forget the past and look into a better future while more importantly, living in the present. Your greatest competition is your own view of the future and the future will be here sooner than later, so why bother?
As I step into another personal realm, having crossed a major milestone in life, I feel a sense of relief and joy for I have for the first time made an attempt to know my own person with a very genuine effort. I am extremely thankful to all those who have helped me and stood by me during my times of tribulation and testing. I have been fortunate in enjoying the company of good friends and folks who have helped me get better by the day staving off a great deal of negativity that was once a large part of my psyche.
Almighty God, thou art the creator of all matter - living and lifeless, far and beyond, small and big. I realize that you have created me with a definite purpose as you have created every other being. I realize that if I have had bad times, I will enjoy the good ones too and that life is in itself a journey of experience that comes with time and effort. I shall continue to strive to be better in what I do and will henceforth abandon my irrationality of pessimism.
As I close this post, I would like to highlight a small comment that my dear friend Adi left on my post a few days ago.
It reads "The best is yet to come.....just watch! Have gratitute towards the creator, live the moment to perfection. Have patience & perseverance. Never give up & never ever lose hope!!!"
Adi, as always, you have been a source of encouragement, goodwill, courage and vision like no one else. Today, you have redifined your role by being someone who has induced a change for the better of something that would ordinarily not matter in life. Words fail me a great deal as I thank you for your continued efforts and unflinching resolve.
Today is a new beginning, something very very new, I promise.
About 10 minutes to 09:00hrs that morning, another human life was added to the near billion strong Indian population.
Prime Minister Morarji Desai's government had crumbled and Charan Singh became the next occupant of the Prime Minister's Office.
Somewhere in Kannur, a town which is part of the Northern expanse of the south Indian state of Kerala, a family witnessed the coming of its newest entrant.
63 days later that little being was shipped off to Ooty, a hill-station amidst the pristine mountains of the Nilgiri Biosphere where he continued to live for nearly the next two and a half decades.
Since then to now, life has been source a multitude of experiences for me that have helped shape my actions, values, ideologue, attitude....................in short my entire person.
My parents decided to call me Rakesh which symbolized light that eradicated darkness and brought about peace and tranquility. Apt choice I must say, something which I have always been very proud of all along. (Except that there probably are more than 1 million Rakeshs across the globe today!)
As a child, I took immense pleasure in being addressed by my first name and responded with a firm and very definite manner pronouncing my name for those who queried.
Ooty has been a wonderful place to live, in the midst of high rise mountains studded with pine and eucalyptus plantations dotted with miles and miles of tea estates often touched by an ever lasting curtain of mist complemented with warm sunlight and chilling breeze which would make any person call it Heaven on Earth.
Kerala too played a huge role in shaping the person that I now am for it is there that I learnt the true essence and meaning of being part of a family that traced its roots back to 700 years.
The vast acres of plain land filled with coconut groves and mango trees are part of my earliest memories that I very vividly remember even to this very date.
And then all of that changed barely two years into being! I contracted a severe form of dysentry that endangered my very existence a great deal. Folks took me lengths and breadths seeking appropriate treatment to rid me of my affliction.
When all doors stood closed and it was apparent that nothing could be done, except let the 'little one' succumb to the malady, a good soul suggested the name of Fr. Muller's Hospital, Mangalore where I was promptly taken for what turned out to be a near four month long treatment following which I emerged cleansed and ready for a new beginning. It was the first of many many times that I would come close to being pulled back from the edge!
Raising me was an agonizing process as my folks recall for I was more or less the exacted yesteryear version of Calvin (Calvin & Hobbes). As a child, I was hyper-active which led me to do many a thing which was not considered normal, such as chucking live chicken into the well, metting out some attrocious treatment to cats, dogs and other known four legged creatures. My subjects of experiments were not limited to animals alone. Human beings of all sizes and shapes came as easy samples considering my schemingly cunning naughty experimental nature.
My folks were traumatized raising me during my early years and the amount of pain and embarrassment were a constant source of worry to all those near and dear. Extra measures of precaution had to be taken and enforced considering my volatile nature which meant keeping most potentially dangerous substances way beyond the area designated out of reach. It is with a great amount of regret and remorse that I sincerely apologize to all those who have been victimized my my acts of outrage. I am sorry to all you folks who have had buckets of water falling on them from the sky, those of you whose eyes were covered with turmeric powder while asleep, some of you who have lost half their moustaches while asleep, many of you who have been electrocuted in one way or the other...........................I'm extremely sorry!
I know the list goes on and on. And to the souls of the many tens and tens of animals that have been a mute testimony of my inhuman acts of savage brutality, God, please do not consign me to the vast expanses of hell. I was merely a kid who had no track of what he was doing and therefore lacked the understanding of comprehending the seriousness of the act that was being committed.
My folks were extremely concerned about one particular habit of mine which involved my piling of papers and burning them down for no apparent reason. Doubts were cast about the possibility of me turning into an Arsonist upon growing up. Thankfully with time, I shed all my unusual traits which can at best be described as the actions of a bored kid!
Schooling was a lot of fun although I was never a good student. My record of sleeping in classes dated upto days of college! Lazy as I always have been, folks at home invested a great deal of time, money and energy in stabilizing my career which failed to match the wishes of my folks for all reasons that were a cause of my actions. Later years in college past with lightning speed and no subtantial achivement. To date, I regard them as some of the darkest moments of my life. I have learnt that life is more of a circle which contains both good and bad. Actions that have shaped at one point of time do certainly have a long drawn set of consequences that extended to a deep future which in turn shapes the manner in which life develops.
"Take care of your thoughts and actions, for what you think and do, you become."
This has prehaps never been so true in any case other than mine. I say so with unflinching conviction because I have witnessed over the time how one's thoughts influences one's actions and therefore results in related consequences. It is therefore very important to think with a very positive frame of mind desiring positive results. However, due to being a critical Virgo whose elements have been related more to practicality and less of anticipation, I have forever been a little more pessimistic in my approach towards anything in life. Negative thoughts lead to negative actions, negative people, negative approach and finally negative consequences. Negativity is in itself a huge well whose depths are unfathomable and largely unknown and if trudged into one over a period of time, it becomes a latent impossibility to get out of the same.
Having lived some very dark years in Mangalore, Kannur and Ooty during the period 1996 - 2005, I set foot into Delhi and Gurgaon where life has taken a turn for the better.
I have learnt a great deal from the rich experience that I have had being part of the wonderful organization that I work at. People and inncidents have helped shape a better perspective of life and a certain focus that helps understand oneself better before embarking upon a journey of sorts.
Reactivation Confirmed! 27 years later, is my attempt to forget the past and look into a better future while more importantly, living in the present. Your greatest competition is your own view of the future and the future will be here sooner than later, so why bother?
As I step into another personal realm, having crossed a major milestone in life, I feel a sense of relief and joy for I have for the first time made an attempt to know my own person with a very genuine effort. I am extremely thankful to all those who have helped me and stood by me during my times of tribulation and testing. I have been fortunate in enjoying the company of good friends and folks who have helped me get better by the day staving off a great deal of negativity that was once a large part of my psyche.
Almighty God, thou art the creator of all matter - living and lifeless, far and beyond, small and big. I realize that you have created me with a definite purpose as you have created every other being. I realize that if I have had bad times, I will enjoy the good ones too and that life is in itself a journey of experience that comes with time and effort. I shall continue to strive to be better in what I do and will henceforth abandon my irrationality of pessimism.
As I close this post, I would like to highlight a small comment that my dear friend Adi left on my post a few days ago.
It reads "The best is yet to come.....just watch! Have gratitute towards the creator, live the moment to perfection. Have patience & perseverance. Never give up & never ever lose hope!!!"
Adi, as always, you have been a source of encouragement, goodwill, courage and vision like no one else. Today, you have redifined your role by being someone who has induced a change for the better of something that would ordinarily not matter in life. Words fail me a great deal as I thank you for your continued efforts and unflinching resolve.
Today is a new beginning, something very very new, I promise.
Wednesday, September 06, 2006
Quarantine Matters! A Steve Irwin, like none other, ever, forever!
These Hitlers use the camouflage of science to make money out of animals. So whenever they murder our animals and call it sustainable use, I'll fight it. Since when has killing a wild animal, eating it or wearing it, ever saved a species?
There are people who butt out their cigarettes in gorilla-paw ashtrays, with wastepaper baskets that were once elephant feet, who have ivory ornaments, who wear cheetah fur. Don't buy these things! Then there'll be no market and the animals won't be killed.
We have domesticated livestock raised for consumption and perfectly good fake leather and fur, so why must we kill wild animals to satisfy the macabre taste of some rich person?
Quarantine Matters!
- Stephen (Steve) Robert Irwin - 22 Feb 1962 - 04 Sep 2006
Strange are the ways that death visits some of us, equally shocking and appalling too!
The world famous Australian Naturalist, wildlife expert and television icon known across the globe for as the Crocodile Hunter is no more.
Swimming close to a stingray, he was stung in the chest by its barb (dagger shaped tail) which reportedly left a hole in his heart.
When I saw the news on Google at 6:43pm IST today, the news was already well past a day and a half old.
Like millions of fans across the globe, I was shocked beyond comprehension at this freak accident and took a few moments to regain myself! It seemed unbelievable and when I did realize how true this actually was, I frantically searched and read more and more news off the internet!
A wasted death, that has significantly weakened the championing of a genuine cause.
At a time when this legend was the face of television via the Discovery Channel & Animal Planet, his death seemed an incident that could not be imagined.
Australian Prime Minister John Howard in his condolence message exacted that "Australia has lost a wonderful and colourful son" while Prime Minister Peter Beattie of Queensland extended the offer of a state funeral.
The man as we know him (and will continue to) shot into fame in the year 1991 when he took over 'The Park', a family business which he renamed 'Australian Zoo' in 1992. During the same year he met Terri Raines whom he later married.
Crocodile Hunter first hit TV screens in 1996 in Australia before it gained publicity world over, and when it did, it was soon and electric. By the year 1999, Steve had gained immense popularity in the United States and made an appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.
Around the same time, the already famed series was being beamed in more than a 125 countries. His pronounced Austrlian accent combined with a wonderfully articulated presentation style and trademark khakis came to be recognized as iconic.
Perhaps to best describe Steve, behind his vibrant nature that attracted millions, there existed an iron-will to fight poaching, smuggling and endangering of any and all widlife, irrespective of species, geographical location and so-called importance.
He founded the Steve Irwin Conservation Foundation, which was later renamed Wildlife Warriors Worldwide, and became an independent charity. He also helped to found a number of other projects, such as the International Crocodile Rescue, as well as the Lyn Irwin Memorial Fund, in memory of his mother, with proceeds going to the Iron Bark Station Wildlife Rehabilitation Center.
With fame came a great deal of criticism and flak. Steve was accused of venturing too close to animals and disturbing their peace and was also rapped for a so called unsophisticated view of conservation in Australia which seemed more linked to tourism than the problems Australia faces as a continent.
In 2002, the Sydney Morning Herald reported lines from Steve's public statement which read "Here is my greatest gift to the world," he cries. "We need to stand proud of what is Australia … the greatest grazing nation on the face of the Earth! The whole joint is grazing land … and by crikey we're good at it! We should be … [eating] beef and lamb, not kangaroos and crocodiles.They're why tourists come to Australia. They are tourism icons!"
Most of us recall his brush with the media when on 02 January 2004, he was filmed feeding chicken to crocodiles while holding his then one-month old son Bob. Stark comparisons were made in the press to Michael Jackson, who dangled his son out of a hotel window in Germany many years ago. Several child welfare and animal rights groups attacked Steve for what was supposedly (labelled) as child abuse and an unprofessional act that could have been a big disaster. However, despite mounting pressure from far and wide, Steve refused to categorize his actions as uncharacteristic and refused also to apologize calling the media's outcry as uncalled for while saying that there was no danger to his son other than perceived danger!
While the entire episode quickly died down, it prompted the Queensland Government to change its crocodile handling laws, banning children and untrained adults from entering crocodile enclosures.
In November 2003, Steve was filming a documentary on Sea Lions off the coast of Mexico's Baja California Peninsula when he heard via his boat's radio that two scuba divers were reported missing in the area. Steve and his entire crew suspended operations to aid in the search. His team's divers searched with the rescue divers, and Irwin used his vessel to patrol the waters around the island where the incident occurred, as well as using his satellite communications system to call in a rescue plane. On the second day of the search, kayakers found one of the divers, Scott Jones, perched on a narrow ledge of rocks over waters with dangerous currents. Steve and a crewmember escorted him to Steve's boat. Jones reported not recognising his celebrity rescuer as he had never seen Steve on television.
The other lost diver, Katie Vrooman, was found dead the following day by a search plane not far from Jones's location.
In 2001 Steve was awarded the Centenary Medal for his "service to global conservation and to Australian tourism".
In 2004 he was recognised as Tourism Export of the Year. He was also nominated in 2004 for The Australian of the Year; an honour which was won by Steve Waugh. However, following the little Bob incident, his nomination did not materialize.
During the course of his life, he funded and presided many conservation efforts that have helped save many endangered species of reptiles, birds and other animals. It is very unfortunate that a person of such stature should have succumbed so tragically and most of all at a time when the world needed him the most.
Steve, whatever you have done to make the world a better place for all its creations has always been a magnificient effort, something that has been a result fueled due to superhuman effort and unparalleled commitment.
You have remarkably described how powerful the power of one is!
Your legacy will continue for ages to come.................................................
Australia, worry not, for the death of your beloved Son shall not once diminish his dream of a just and free planet where human beings understand and recognize their existence as co-creations and not the superior species!
There are people who butt out their cigarettes in gorilla-paw ashtrays, with wastepaper baskets that were once elephant feet, who have ivory ornaments, who wear cheetah fur. Don't buy these things! Then there'll be no market and the animals won't be killed.
We have domesticated livestock raised for consumption and perfectly good fake leather and fur, so why must we kill wild animals to satisfy the macabre taste of some rich person?
Quarantine Matters!
- Stephen (Steve) Robert Irwin - 22 Feb 1962 - 04 Sep 2006
Strange are the ways that death visits some of us, equally shocking and appalling too!
The world famous Australian Naturalist, wildlife expert and television icon known across the globe for as the Crocodile Hunter is no more.
Swimming close to a stingray, he was stung in the chest by its barb (dagger shaped tail) which reportedly left a hole in his heart.
When I saw the news on Google at 6:43pm IST today, the news was already well past a day and a half old.
Like millions of fans across the globe, I was shocked beyond comprehension at this freak accident and took a few moments to regain myself! It seemed unbelievable and when I did realize how true this actually was, I frantically searched and read more and more news off the internet!
A wasted death, that has significantly weakened the championing of a genuine cause.
At a time when this legend was the face of television via the Discovery Channel & Animal Planet, his death seemed an incident that could not be imagined.
Australian Prime Minister John Howard in his condolence message exacted that "Australia has lost a wonderful and colourful son" while Prime Minister Peter Beattie of Queensland extended the offer of a state funeral.
The man as we know him (and will continue to) shot into fame in the year 1991 when he took over 'The Park', a family business which he renamed 'Australian Zoo' in 1992. During the same year he met Terri Raines whom he later married.
Crocodile Hunter first hit TV screens in 1996 in Australia before it gained publicity world over, and when it did, it was soon and electric. By the year 1999, Steve had gained immense popularity in the United States and made an appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.
Around the same time, the already famed series was being beamed in more than a 125 countries. His pronounced Austrlian accent combined with a wonderfully articulated presentation style and trademark khakis came to be recognized as iconic.
Perhaps to best describe Steve, behind his vibrant nature that attracted millions, there existed an iron-will to fight poaching, smuggling and endangering of any and all widlife, irrespective of species, geographical location and so-called importance.
He founded the Steve Irwin Conservation Foundation, which was later renamed Wildlife Warriors Worldwide, and became an independent charity. He also helped to found a number of other projects, such as the International Crocodile Rescue, as well as the Lyn Irwin Memorial Fund, in memory of his mother, with proceeds going to the Iron Bark Station Wildlife Rehabilitation Center.
With fame came a great deal of criticism and flak. Steve was accused of venturing too close to animals and disturbing their peace and was also rapped for a so called unsophisticated view of conservation in Australia which seemed more linked to tourism than the problems Australia faces as a continent.
In 2002, the Sydney Morning Herald reported lines from Steve's public statement which read "Here is my greatest gift to the world," he cries. "We need to stand proud of what is Australia … the greatest grazing nation on the face of the Earth! The whole joint is grazing land … and by crikey we're good at it! We should be … [eating] beef and lamb, not kangaroos and crocodiles.They're why tourists come to Australia. They are tourism icons!"
Most of us recall his brush with the media when on 02 January 2004, he was filmed feeding chicken to crocodiles while holding his then one-month old son Bob. Stark comparisons were made in the press to Michael Jackson, who dangled his son out of a hotel window in Germany many years ago. Several child welfare and animal rights groups attacked Steve for what was supposedly (labelled) as child abuse and an unprofessional act that could have been a big disaster. However, despite mounting pressure from far and wide, Steve refused to categorize his actions as uncharacteristic and refused also to apologize calling the media's outcry as uncalled for while saying that there was no danger to his son other than perceived danger!
While the entire episode quickly died down, it prompted the Queensland Government to change its crocodile handling laws, banning children and untrained adults from entering crocodile enclosures.
In November 2003, Steve was filming a documentary on Sea Lions off the coast of Mexico's Baja California Peninsula when he heard via his boat's radio that two scuba divers were reported missing in the area. Steve and his entire crew suspended operations to aid in the search. His team's divers searched with the rescue divers, and Irwin used his vessel to patrol the waters around the island where the incident occurred, as well as using his satellite communications system to call in a rescue plane. On the second day of the search, kayakers found one of the divers, Scott Jones, perched on a narrow ledge of rocks over waters with dangerous currents. Steve and a crewmember escorted him to Steve's boat. Jones reported not recognising his celebrity rescuer as he had never seen Steve on television.
The other lost diver, Katie Vrooman, was found dead the following day by a search plane not far from Jones's location.
In 2001 Steve was awarded the Centenary Medal for his "service to global conservation and to Australian tourism".
In 2004 he was recognised as Tourism Export of the Year. He was also nominated in 2004 for The Australian of the Year; an honour which was won by Steve Waugh. However, following the little Bob incident, his nomination did not materialize.
During the course of his life, he funded and presided many conservation efforts that have helped save many endangered species of reptiles, birds and other animals. It is very unfortunate that a person of such stature should have succumbed so tragically and most of all at a time when the world needed him the most.
Steve, whatever you have done to make the world a better place for all its creations has always been a magnificient effort, something that has been a result fueled due to superhuman effort and unparalleled commitment.
You have remarkably described how powerful the power of one is!
Your legacy will continue for ages to come.................................................
Australia, worry not, for the death of your beloved Son shall not once diminish his dream of a just and free planet where human beings understand and recognize their existence as co-creations and not the superior species!
Friday, September 01, 2006
Windmills of time.
Some stories are legends and there are times when I live the life of a drifter.
Renewing commintment with newer words, actions and increased gusto,
I wait for another new day in the hope that life will change for the better,
and time slowly yet steadily moves forward, taking age along with it.
And memories echo in the distance of what wonderful times I lived in,
while hoping above all else for the best that is yet to come.
Life is indeed a stage where every act somehow matters in some way or form.
Travelling through the dust storms of fate, enjoying an unexpected oasis in the middle of the vast desert, bracing the bitterly cold rainy lonely nights and sometimes the excruciating heat of the Sun.
In an endless wait coupled with hope, I expect that someone and something to be a part of my life, blinded by all emotion and feeling that rule me.
Life always goes on, it's the living that stops!
Folks...............check out the following words that are the lyrics of the monumental "Soldier of Fortune" from the stables of Deep Purple.
Does it somewhere say that "Fortune favours the brave?"
I have often told you stories
About the way
I lived the life of a drifter
Waiting for the day
When I'd take your hand
And sing you songs
Then maybe you would say
Come lay with me love me
And I would surely stay
But I feel I'm growing older
And the songs that I have sung
Echo in the distance
Like the sound
Of a windmill goin round
I guess I'll always be
A soldier of fortune
Many times I've been a traveller
I looked for something new
In days of old
When nights were cold
I wandered without you
But those days I thought my eyes
Had seen you standing near
Though blindness is confusing
It shows that you're not here
Now I feel I'm growing older
And the songs that I have sung
Echo in the distance
Like the sound
Of a windmill goin round
I guess I'll always be
A soldier of fortune
Yes, I can hear the sound
Of a windmill goin round
I guess I'll always be
A soldier of fortune
Do listen to the track sometime...............It is a wonderful source of relaxation and a superb treat.
Brij, my friend, thanks a million for this masterpiece.
Renewing commintment with newer words, actions and increased gusto,
I wait for another new day in the hope that life will change for the better,
and time slowly yet steadily moves forward, taking age along with it.
And memories echo in the distance of what wonderful times I lived in,
while hoping above all else for the best that is yet to come.
Life is indeed a stage where every act somehow matters in some way or form.
Travelling through the dust storms of fate, enjoying an unexpected oasis in the middle of the vast desert, bracing the bitterly cold rainy lonely nights and sometimes the excruciating heat of the Sun.
In an endless wait coupled with hope, I expect that someone and something to be a part of my life, blinded by all emotion and feeling that rule me.
Life always goes on, it's the living that stops!
Folks...............check out the following words that are the lyrics of the monumental "Soldier of Fortune" from the stables of Deep Purple.
Does it somewhere say that "Fortune favours the brave?"
I have often told you stories
About the way
I lived the life of a drifter
Waiting for the day
When I'd take your hand
And sing you songs
Then maybe you would say
Come lay with me love me
And I would surely stay
But I feel I'm growing older
And the songs that I have sung
Echo in the distance
Like the sound
Of a windmill goin round
I guess I'll always be
A soldier of fortune
Many times I've been a traveller
I looked for something new
In days of old
When nights were cold
I wandered without you
But those days I thought my eyes
Had seen you standing near
Though blindness is confusing
It shows that you're not here
Now I feel I'm growing older
And the songs that I have sung
Echo in the distance
Like the sound
Of a windmill goin round
I guess I'll always be
A soldier of fortune
Yes, I can hear the sound
Of a windmill goin round
I guess I'll always be
A soldier of fortune
Do listen to the track sometime...............It is a wonderful source of relaxation and a superb treat.
Brij, my friend, thanks a million for this masterpiece.
Monday, August 28, 2006
Redefining Oblivion
There are three stages to a man's life,
The first is gaining vision - something that I have long passed.
Then there is opposition - something that I'm facing now!
And finally there comes recognition - I will gain it with time.
- Anonymous.
Nothingness has always been a very unsettling state for the body, mind and the spirit.
A state of nothingness is always a state of confusion despite the magnitude. And Oblivion has been part of time since time itself!
Usually we fail to comprehend the impact of a state of confusion until it has long gone, which is the very reason why we fail to deal with such a state in a very proactive or a prudent manner.
There is not steadfast solution to deal a confusing situation much as there is no by-the-book approach to solve a confusing problem. All problems create some amount of confusion which consumes valuable time and effort. A great deal of time is spent to ease confusion and strangely, despite all sound qualifications of superior judgement, only a limited few are able to handle such situations with professional ease.
An inability to handle or resolve confusing situations is not an indication that we are bad situation handlers, it simply is a sign that we have not devoted enough time to understand the essence of the situation by applying proper thought and thereafter action.
Why are confusing situations confusing in the first place? Because they are confusing!
Now, this is itself a confusing answer but then nobody said confusing situations are easy to handle, since such instances are expected largely to impede the speed of thought and thereby action. The one thing that needs to be understood the most is that confusing situations can only be resolved if the resolver is free from confusion. Therefore, the best action during turbulent times is to understand the importance of presence of mind and remain calm despite whatever the situation might throw up. Panic and disturbance add to the confusion that is already prevailing and in no manner do they help solve a situation.
Depending upon the reception of the mind, any and every situation can be confusing thereafter leading to faltering actions due to which arise a multitude of mistakes often referred to as Faux Pas or a blunder of sorts. A blunder does not usually happen all of a sudden, but is a result of a series of faltered actions. Time too plays a huge role in the manner of which a situation presents itself in reality leading to a full blown state of confusion. And then of course, there are the variable elements such as people, places, actions, connections and action-related inputs and outputs.
However, the simplest reason for a menacingly confusing situation is the result of an action having been done with the wrong intention, by the wrong person, at the wrong time, with a wrong frame of mind leading to wrong results.
While dealing with confusing situations can be a daunting task, the outcome and the manner in which the situation is dealt with is a huge indicator of the trait a person has.
After the incident even the fool is wise. But, the trick lies in neutralizing a sticky situation before it manifests beyond control, and for such an outcome to be expected, the handler of the situation needs to be absolutely calm and wary of pace depending upon what the outcome itself should be.
More often than not, all of us display a sense of urgency combined with uncalled for panic during testing times. This is largely due the fact that our conditioning guides us to display so.
While it is easy to blame a person for having displayed an action that was totally unnecessary during a confusing situation, it would not be wise to do so, for every single one of us reacts differently given handling problems at hand.
While disaster strikes, it is always wise to sit back and give it a few moments before pondering over a course of action at lightning speed. No action is always better than a hasty and even more confusing action that could in one way or the other compound the level of problems.
Every wise decision which assumes the form of action is a direct result of good thought, and good thought can only be manufactured at a time when the mind is free from pressure and devoid of the burden of urgency. Some of the best decisions are those that are taken and implemented with poise. Sometimes an action may be a direct solution to a problem, but one also needs to consider and understand the fact that despite having thought about and ready to implement what is a good action, that action could in the long term have certain repercussions related to people or problems. Therefore, such actions would be wrong to implement despite their immediate ability to calm nerves and liquidate a situation.
The purview of the human mind is in many ways limited despite its ability to focus and work upon a multitude of aspects all at the same time. Intelligent decisions are those that consider facts and how they can address problems at hand and still maintain an amicable and conducive environment with the passage of time. Every short term solution can and will at some point of time throw a number of surprises in the long term not because such solutions were worked upon with an ulterior objective but because they have been implemented in a poor and unrealistic dimension.
Most of us are often in no position to judge relevance until long after the fact. This should not be taken as a problem or a limitation for most of us cannot and will not be able to fathom a situation until it has long passed. What we can at best do in such circumstances is to learn. Experience can be a great teacher and can rescue many (most) of us from making the same mistake twice. And more often, situations despite their complexities have some kind of similar bearings one way or the other. The cue is in relating to experiences and how one had solved similar situations in the past. A certain degree of logic, prudence, patience and sincere effort should see any human being through a stumbling block.
For me, like anyone else, a confusing situation is a major source of pain, however I try to limit the pain to a certain time and by a certain extent after which life jumps back to normalcy.
I have in no means been a champion in handling situations and perfecting their outcomes, however, I do certainly have handled quite a number of such experiences which have taught me a good number of valuable lessons.
Personalities are formed with experiences which are a result of tough situations. What we are and what we become depend on the kind of experiences each of us are subjected to,
experiences both good and bad. Every single experience conditions our personality in a positive manner depending upon the manner in which we perceive it and express our receptiveness.
Although oft repeated, we do not always realize that life is not a bed of roses and that we all go through some tough situations from time to time. What we really need to do is understand the gravity of such situations, learn from our actions or those of others rather than actually subject ourselves to cold mistrust of life. Life probably is a manner in which time rules our lives and time is a measure that cannot actually be quantified. Time can be a witness to a good number of progressive stages and at the same time can also ensue the happening of a number of unwarranted situations that we do not desire to experience. But experience them, we must for we have in most cases not choice. What we can perhaps do is to allow time to aid us to become better people. Something like making the best of a bad bargain.
I have to close this post with the following lines which came via an email sometime today.
"Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved."
Enough said!
The first is gaining vision - something that I have long passed.
Then there is opposition - something that I'm facing now!
And finally there comes recognition - I will gain it with time.
- Anonymous.
Nothingness has always been a very unsettling state for the body, mind and the spirit.
A state of nothingness is always a state of confusion despite the magnitude. And Oblivion has been part of time since time itself!
Usually we fail to comprehend the impact of a state of confusion until it has long gone, which is the very reason why we fail to deal with such a state in a very proactive or a prudent manner.
There is not steadfast solution to deal a confusing situation much as there is no by-the-book approach to solve a confusing problem. All problems create some amount of confusion which consumes valuable time and effort. A great deal of time is spent to ease confusion and strangely, despite all sound qualifications of superior judgement, only a limited few are able to handle such situations with professional ease.
An inability to handle or resolve confusing situations is not an indication that we are bad situation handlers, it simply is a sign that we have not devoted enough time to understand the essence of the situation by applying proper thought and thereafter action.
Why are confusing situations confusing in the first place? Because they are confusing!
Now, this is itself a confusing answer but then nobody said confusing situations are easy to handle, since such instances are expected largely to impede the speed of thought and thereby action. The one thing that needs to be understood the most is that confusing situations can only be resolved if the resolver is free from confusion. Therefore, the best action during turbulent times is to understand the importance of presence of mind and remain calm despite whatever the situation might throw up. Panic and disturbance add to the confusion that is already prevailing and in no manner do they help solve a situation.
Depending upon the reception of the mind, any and every situation can be confusing thereafter leading to faltering actions due to which arise a multitude of mistakes often referred to as Faux Pas or a blunder of sorts. A blunder does not usually happen all of a sudden, but is a result of a series of faltered actions. Time too plays a huge role in the manner of which a situation presents itself in reality leading to a full blown state of confusion. And then of course, there are the variable elements such as people, places, actions, connections and action-related inputs and outputs.
However, the simplest reason for a menacingly confusing situation is the result of an action having been done with the wrong intention, by the wrong person, at the wrong time, with a wrong frame of mind leading to wrong results.
While dealing with confusing situations can be a daunting task, the outcome and the manner in which the situation is dealt with is a huge indicator of the trait a person has.
After the incident even the fool is wise. But, the trick lies in neutralizing a sticky situation before it manifests beyond control, and for such an outcome to be expected, the handler of the situation needs to be absolutely calm and wary of pace depending upon what the outcome itself should be.
More often than not, all of us display a sense of urgency combined with uncalled for panic during testing times. This is largely due the fact that our conditioning guides us to display so.
While it is easy to blame a person for having displayed an action that was totally unnecessary during a confusing situation, it would not be wise to do so, for every single one of us reacts differently given handling problems at hand.
While disaster strikes, it is always wise to sit back and give it a few moments before pondering over a course of action at lightning speed. No action is always better than a hasty and even more confusing action that could in one way or the other compound the level of problems.
Every wise decision which assumes the form of action is a direct result of good thought, and good thought can only be manufactured at a time when the mind is free from pressure and devoid of the burden of urgency. Some of the best decisions are those that are taken and implemented with poise. Sometimes an action may be a direct solution to a problem, but one also needs to consider and understand the fact that despite having thought about and ready to implement what is a good action, that action could in the long term have certain repercussions related to people or problems. Therefore, such actions would be wrong to implement despite their immediate ability to calm nerves and liquidate a situation.
The purview of the human mind is in many ways limited despite its ability to focus and work upon a multitude of aspects all at the same time. Intelligent decisions are those that consider facts and how they can address problems at hand and still maintain an amicable and conducive environment with the passage of time. Every short term solution can and will at some point of time throw a number of surprises in the long term not because such solutions were worked upon with an ulterior objective but because they have been implemented in a poor and unrealistic dimension.
Most of us are often in no position to judge relevance until long after the fact. This should not be taken as a problem or a limitation for most of us cannot and will not be able to fathom a situation until it has long passed. What we can at best do in such circumstances is to learn. Experience can be a great teacher and can rescue many (most) of us from making the same mistake twice. And more often, situations despite their complexities have some kind of similar bearings one way or the other. The cue is in relating to experiences and how one had solved similar situations in the past. A certain degree of logic, prudence, patience and sincere effort should see any human being through a stumbling block.
For me, like anyone else, a confusing situation is a major source of pain, however I try to limit the pain to a certain time and by a certain extent after which life jumps back to normalcy.
I have in no means been a champion in handling situations and perfecting their outcomes, however, I do certainly have handled quite a number of such experiences which have taught me a good number of valuable lessons.
Personalities are formed with experiences which are a result of tough situations. What we are and what we become depend on the kind of experiences each of us are subjected to,
experiences both good and bad. Every single experience conditions our personality in a positive manner depending upon the manner in which we perceive it and express our receptiveness.
Although oft repeated, we do not always realize that life is not a bed of roses and that we all go through some tough situations from time to time. What we really need to do is understand the gravity of such situations, learn from our actions or those of others rather than actually subject ourselves to cold mistrust of life. Life probably is a manner in which time rules our lives and time is a measure that cannot actually be quantified. Time can be a witness to a good number of progressive stages and at the same time can also ensue the happening of a number of unwarranted situations that we do not desire to experience. But experience them, we must for we have in most cases not choice. What we can perhaps do is to allow time to aid us to become better people. Something like making the best of a bad bargain.
I have to close this post with the following lines which came via an email sometime today.
"Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved."
Enough said!
Monday, August 21, 2006
547 days later.......................
It's 21st August 2006, a year and a half have passed since I joined GE.
A huge milestone packed with various experiences all of which have in some form or the other greatly contributed to reform my person!
Over the last year and a half, I have set my foot on many different places, many of which I had longed to go for years now. I've seen how it is to work for a conglomerate multinational in its most grassroots levels. I've been on the table and under the knife thrice.
I've matured with each passing day, striving constantly to become something better than the usual!
F-316 JVT which was my abode for more than about a year now stands 'former' home and in my quest for merging with nature and becoming one with the self, I now stay at a place called Mayfield Gardens which many regard as the back of beyond. The welcome sight of peacocks straying in a brushed yard not too far from where I stay continues to thrill me as ever.
Kappu has moved to Pune assuming the role of a Manager with a very prominent BPO and Bodhi has left for Calcutta for an indefinite period of time.
Vishal Samuel has become part of the LSA team replacing Alka Shukla who has moved within Healthcare.
Rohit Goel a.k.a Randy Gold who is my former boss will soon become my next boss replacing Amrita a.k.a Amy.
Folks back home continue to do better and Deepu looks forward to re-starting his career.
Adi & VJ continue to do well and keep talking to me off and on much to my re-assurance explaining to me all the time that life will dish out some of the best opportunities provided one has the patience to wait for them!
Brij continues to be a source of some of the most amazing collections of music and films that I've ever heard or watched!
Catching up with friends have been the piece de resistance; Rahul Maroli & Rohit D'Cruz both of whom went to college with me at St.Aloysius, Mangalore (1996 - 1999) landed up at my doorstep 7 long years after I last met them!
The feeling was overwhelmingly good.
Most of all, one of the best things that happened in the very recent past was a chance telephonic conversation with my best buddy Alex ARJUN Abraham, also a friend from college!
I had for a number of stupid reasons chosen not to stay in touch with this superbly mature intellectual and avoided all his genuine efforts to connect when finally I simply lost him and could not trace him excepting a few small ocassional inputs of his whereabouts and doingwhats which in itself were very sketchy, when finally on August 20th, I got his contact number from another college buddy Jacob Vishal Abraham!
The world is a very small place, despite it's long and vast expanses that may seem excruciatingly huge and far.
It was a feeling like never before to call on someone whom I had not spoken to in 7 years, let alone meeting up. Much as usual and to my expectation, it hardly took a few seconds for Alex to recognize me and our 36 odd minute chat was very similar to how we would talk when in college.
It seems that the more things change, the more they remain the same.
Ani (Ramakrishnan) & Vinu have gotten married. Many more seem to be waiting to get themselves into the knotting game.
My own self seems largely 'sobered' due to extensive amounts of self-introspection and (uncalled for) analysis at all times. I spend most of my days at work and during the weekends remain glued to books, televison and music which interest me more than many things that I used to do. I do not mean to convey that I have come of age, but merely wish to illustrate a phase in life which many of us experience at one point of time or the other.
Change is a very important part of life and only change remains the one thing that is permanent. Whatever so one may be, or aspires to become, change is the one aspect that will continue to be an inevitably permanent part of life.
Change is good provided it yields positive vibes and outlook. Change is important so that life stays in sync with with the passage of time. And time is nature's way of not letting everything happen all at once.
A large part of the year is over and while most of the country and the world are preparing to welcome the winters, Delhi continues to reel under the extreme heat combined with disgusting humidity and hot winds.
In short, a huge number of things have changed.
But, I am still expectant of a lot of good things to happen. Life has for sometime been very numb, devoid of activity and goodies! I sometimes wonder as to how many more long years do I need to wait for some basic things in life to happen. I'm tired of constant efforts being matched with no results. My levels of motivation have slurred down phenomenally and I now seem to lack the vision to go forward.
For the first time in years, I now feel, I do not possess the zeal to fight my way forward.
I'm extremely disturbed at the fact of being a nobody.
Obscurity and nothingness which have been the pillars of my 'thoughtcentral' suddenly seem to be relating to my everyday life in a very imposing manner.
It's much like being in a dark wet alley without knowing where to head.
Life has become dark and dingy and I painfully fake a smile trying to appear calm and unperturbed.
Everyday living has been rendered a very painful and depressing chore.
My inner self is contantly in pain and I see no immediate solution.
I know not what to believe or trust for every path that I walk through is one form of deception or the other.
27 years have been a while too long and dreary now.
Some of my friends & folks reassure me (with great effort) that changes are imperative and that some of the best things are yet to happen.
But then, have I not been hearing them for years now?
My questions to the man above.................
Where are you now? Where have you been? Are you there at all?
A huge milestone packed with various experiences all of which have in some form or the other greatly contributed to reform my person!
Over the last year and a half, I have set my foot on many different places, many of which I had longed to go for years now. I've seen how it is to work for a conglomerate multinational in its most grassroots levels. I've been on the table and under the knife thrice.
I've matured with each passing day, striving constantly to become something better than the usual!
F-316 JVT which was my abode for more than about a year now stands 'former' home and in my quest for merging with nature and becoming one with the self, I now stay at a place called Mayfield Gardens which many regard as the back of beyond. The welcome sight of peacocks straying in a brushed yard not too far from where I stay continues to thrill me as ever.
Kappu has moved to Pune assuming the role of a Manager with a very prominent BPO and Bodhi has left for Calcutta for an indefinite period of time.
Vishal Samuel has become part of the LSA team replacing Alka Shukla who has moved within Healthcare.
Rohit Goel a.k.a Randy Gold who is my former boss will soon become my next boss replacing Amrita a.k.a Amy.
Folks back home continue to do better and Deepu looks forward to re-starting his career.
Adi & VJ continue to do well and keep talking to me off and on much to my re-assurance explaining to me all the time that life will dish out some of the best opportunities provided one has the patience to wait for them!
Brij continues to be a source of some of the most amazing collections of music and films that I've ever heard or watched!
Catching up with friends have been the piece de resistance; Rahul Maroli & Rohit D'Cruz both of whom went to college with me at St.Aloysius, Mangalore (1996 - 1999) landed up at my doorstep 7 long years after I last met them!
The feeling was overwhelmingly good.
Most of all, one of the best things that happened in the very recent past was a chance telephonic conversation with my best buddy Alex ARJUN Abraham, also a friend from college!
I had for a number of stupid reasons chosen not to stay in touch with this superbly mature intellectual and avoided all his genuine efforts to connect when finally I simply lost him and could not trace him excepting a few small ocassional inputs of his whereabouts and doingwhats which in itself were very sketchy, when finally on August 20th, I got his contact number from another college buddy Jacob Vishal Abraham!
The world is a very small place, despite it's long and vast expanses that may seem excruciatingly huge and far.
It was a feeling like never before to call on someone whom I had not spoken to in 7 years, let alone meeting up. Much as usual and to my expectation, it hardly took a few seconds for Alex to recognize me and our 36 odd minute chat was very similar to how we would talk when in college.
It seems that the more things change, the more they remain the same.
Ani (Ramakrishnan) & Vinu have gotten married. Many more seem to be waiting to get themselves into the knotting game.
My own self seems largely 'sobered' due to extensive amounts of self-introspection and (uncalled for) analysis at all times. I spend most of my days at work and during the weekends remain glued to books, televison and music which interest me more than many things that I used to do. I do not mean to convey that I have come of age, but merely wish to illustrate a phase in life which many of us experience at one point of time or the other.
Change is a very important part of life and only change remains the one thing that is permanent. Whatever so one may be, or aspires to become, change is the one aspect that will continue to be an inevitably permanent part of life.
Change is good provided it yields positive vibes and outlook. Change is important so that life stays in sync with with the passage of time. And time is nature's way of not letting everything happen all at once.
A large part of the year is over and while most of the country and the world are preparing to welcome the winters, Delhi continues to reel under the extreme heat combined with disgusting humidity and hot winds.
In short, a huge number of things have changed.
But, I am still expectant of a lot of good things to happen. Life has for sometime been very numb, devoid of activity and goodies! I sometimes wonder as to how many more long years do I need to wait for some basic things in life to happen. I'm tired of constant efforts being matched with no results. My levels of motivation have slurred down phenomenally and I now seem to lack the vision to go forward.
For the first time in years, I now feel, I do not possess the zeal to fight my way forward.
I'm extremely disturbed at the fact of being a nobody.
Obscurity and nothingness which have been the pillars of my 'thoughtcentral' suddenly seem to be relating to my everyday life in a very imposing manner.
It's much like being in a dark wet alley without knowing where to head.
Life has become dark and dingy and I painfully fake a smile trying to appear calm and unperturbed.
Everyday living has been rendered a very painful and depressing chore.
My inner self is contantly in pain and I see no immediate solution.
I know not what to believe or trust for every path that I walk through is one form of deception or the other.
27 years have been a while too long and dreary now.
Some of my friends & folks reassure me (with great effort) that changes are imperative and that some of the best things are yet to happen.
But then, have I not been hearing them for years now?
My questions to the man above.................
Where are you now? Where have you been? Are you there at all?
Monday, August 07, 2006
Finding Neverland
The never-ending quest for bettering the best and still feeling incomplete is actually a sense of ambition deeply imbibed in the metaphyche of the human mind (not to be confused as an attribute of the soul). Such a quest in my life is what I've termed as Finding Neverland.
The reason I call it so is not because of the possible fact that there could be / is a place of such a kind, but because there actually is none at all.
Neverland, as much as the name suggests, is probably one that does not exist in reality (I have not however ruled out the possibility of the Other Dimensions). However much so, Neverland can be reached. It probably is a state of mind for some while being a phase of life for some others. But for me, it simply does not exist.
Why? My alter-ego, which is as much as a person that I am (in many different opposite ways though) does not actually permit me to reach neverland although I'm sure if there was a place so, it would perhaps be as good as heaven itself. Such is life that while the heart actually advises you to address the basics of life and keep them strong, the mind urges and later commands you to embark upon a journey which is long, ardous, meaningless, robbed of time and a great deal of unwanted effort! But then, sustainence is a key aspect to all our lives and one needs to always build a strong footing on which life can be well-balanced rather than make it hang in there in a very precarious and awkward manner. Therefore, addressing the calls of the mind and the body are extremely important and must be conducted in a very well orchestrated manner to avoid the risk of running amuck.
So there comes the element of perfection (something that I have been talking about from time to time), the single most notable anomaly in the matrix of human programming. Perfection is in itself reserved as a prerogative of the Gods, an act / state which cannot be gained by the Human Kind at all since the code was never incepted into the programming in the first place let alone the prospect of combining artificial intelligence into robotics. I however am not denying that AI and Robotics will not take the world onto a different level. Remember Kawasaki in 1985 ? The Tech World was slammered with tonnes and tonnes of everything but affirmative conviction! I recall arguing widly with my cousin Vikas who stepped up his salvo committing that the Human genome and its superbly written code could never be implanted into anything other than Human. But how sure of this can we ever be? Could we not develop a mechanism that could eventually circumvent the power of creation and rectify the long hated presence of the anomaly in the code? Think I'm talking straight out of a CIA Delta document? Think again.
It is fairly easy to fathom a world apart from that that we know and live in. Going by the very simple logic that we might not (always) be the only ones inhabiting the universe, this probability
seems more of reality than Science Fiction from the pages penned by Issac Assimov.
Then would surface a question as to why we have not discovered life forms outside of our realm of living. Two answers to that. Do we ever know how far and wide-stretched the universe is?
Or better still, do you and I have any access to that which is already known to a handful?
Whatever the question, the answer is an emphatic No.
Thereafer, the concept of Neverland may and most possibly will exist in another dimension unknown to the simpleness of the human mind despite its superbly unimaginable and unknown proportions. And no matter how much folks such as me would in one form or the other refuse to believe the concept of Neverland, we know and acknowledge somewhere deep down in our fickle minds the very existence of something that we choose to deny so verciforesly!
Stupidity, escapism, lack of a sense of equilibrium to understand that the element of human does not actually form anything that is supposedly the most important constituent of the universe or perhaps ambition clogging the minds signal of reality leading it to believe that Finding Neverland would in all possible ways lead to a sense of complacency that would put the mental evolution to a complete standstill thereby throwing us into the darkest ages of life ever.
Imagine, every single Human being on Earth were to find neverland, we would live perhaps in a state of perpetual bliss and off guard at all times converging to perhaps Humankind's greatest defining moments ever, something that could lead to our extinction en masse!
Are you going to ever pause for once and think why?
Subjectively and progressively the most vicious of intended 'cyclops' in the entire code, why must I not believe that we are being created and destroyed and created and destroyed over and over again ? For you to better understand what I am proposing to illustrate, let me take you through an eposide of evolutronics that I once chanced upon while watching the Discovery Channel.
25000 years later...................................The Earth is a barren planet with no evidence of life on the crust. The Scorching Sun has ensured that all living creations come to a grinding halt on the surface. With temperatures running upto 200 degrees centigrade on the higher side, and an excruciating lower side of -400 degrees, any and all living molecules would cease to exist.
But evolution seems to have found a way to guard its purpose despite the most hostile of conditions. Deep below the surface an army mills through semi wet colonies burrowing deeper inside. These life forms are superble adapted to living below the surface and would not ever require to venture into the open at any time whatsoever.
Sinister that it may seem, these twelve legged creatures have remarkably perfected levels of intelligence. They seem to be spending a large part of their 180 hour long day growing colonies - colonies of the last living mammals in order to help them retain their primary staple diet!
Can you then imagine the fate of human beings? Finding Neverland seems to have been a long past dream that may have once come true but no longer holds relevant
Threatended by shadows in the nights, and exposed in the light!
Epilogue
Finding Neverland is a an amazingly well cast tale of magic & fantasy inspired by the life of James Barrie, the real-life author of the well acclaimed children's classic - Peter Pan.
Set in London in 1904, the film is a fictional account of Barrie's creative journey to bring Peter Pan to life. The starcast includes Johnny Depp, Kate Winslet, Dustin Hoffman & Julie Christie.
I have in no way attempted to discredit this wonderful work of art, however, I have via this post attempted to convey a distinctive message of relativity combined with imagined variations of life and some consequences that may result thereof.
This post is a figment of my imagination and thanks to Discovery Channel for their wonderful portrayal of The Future of this planet!
The reason I call it so is not because of the possible fact that there could be / is a place of such a kind, but because there actually is none at all.
Neverland, as much as the name suggests, is probably one that does not exist in reality (I have not however ruled out the possibility of the Other Dimensions). However much so, Neverland can be reached. It probably is a state of mind for some while being a phase of life for some others. But for me, it simply does not exist.
Why? My alter-ego, which is as much as a person that I am (in many different opposite ways though) does not actually permit me to reach neverland although I'm sure if there was a place so, it would perhaps be as good as heaven itself. Such is life that while the heart actually advises you to address the basics of life and keep them strong, the mind urges and later commands you to embark upon a journey which is long, ardous, meaningless, robbed of time and a great deal of unwanted effort! But then, sustainence is a key aspect to all our lives and one needs to always build a strong footing on which life can be well-balanced rather than make it hang in there in a very precarious and awkward manner. Therefore, addressing the calls of the mind and the body are extremely important and must be conducted in a very well orchestrated manner to avoid the risk of running amuck.
So there comes the element of perfection (something that I have been talking about from time to time), the single most notable anomaly in the matrix of human programming. Perfection is in itself reserved as a prerogative of the Gods, an act / state which cannot be gained by the Human Kind at all since the code was never incepted into the programming in the first place let alone the prospect of combining artificial intelligence into robotics. I however am not denying that AI and Robotics will not take the world onto a different level. Remember Kawasaki in 1985 ? The Tech World was slammered with tonnes and tonnes of everything but affirmative conviction! I recall arguing widly with my cousin Vikas who stepped up his salvo committing that the Human genome and its superbly written code could never be implanted into anything other than Human. But how sure of this can we ever be? Could we not develop a mechanism that could eventually circumvent the power of creation and rectify the long hated presence of the anomaly in the code? Think I'm talking straight out of a CIA Delta document? Think again.
It is fairly easy to fathom a world apart from that that we know and live in. Going by the very simple logic that we might not (always) be the only ones inhabiting the universe, this probability
seems more of reality than Science Fiction from the pages penned by Issac Assimov.
Then would surface a question as to why we have not discovered life forms outside of our realm of living. Two answers to that. Do we ever know how far and wide-stretched the universe is?
Or better still, do you and I have any access to that which is already known to a handful?
Whatever the question, the answer is an emphatic No.
Thereafer, the concept of Neverland may and most possibly will exist in another dimension unknown to the simpleness of the human mind despite its superbly unimaginable and unknown proportions. And no matter how much folks such as me would in one form or the other refuse to believe the concept of Neverland, we know and acknowledge somewhere deep down in our fickle minds the very existence of something that we choose to deny so verciforesly!
Stupidity, escapism, lack of a sense of equilibrium to understand that the element of human does not actually form anything that is supposedly the most important constituent of the universe or perhaps ambition clogging the minds signal of reality leading it to believe that Finding Neverland would in all possible ways lead to a sense of complacency that would put the mental evolution to a complete standstill thereby throwing us into the darkest ages of life ever.
Imagine, every single Human being on Earth were to find neverland, we would live perhaps in a state of perpetual bliss and off guard at all times converging to perhaps Humankind's greatest defining moments ever, something that could lead to our extinction en masse!
Are you going to ever pause for once and think why?
Subjectively and progressively the most vicious of intended 'cyclops' in the entire code, why must I not believe that we are being created and destroyed and created and destroyed over and over again ? For you to better understand what I am proposing to illustrate, let me take you through an eposide of evolutronics that I once chanced upon while watching the Discovery Channel.
25000 years later...................................The Earth is a barren planet with no evidence of life on the crust. The Scorching Sun has ensured that all living creations come to a grinding halt on the surface. With temperatures running upto 200 degrees centigrade on the higher side, and an excruciating lower side of -400 degrees, any and all living molecules would cease to exist.
But evolution seems to have found a way to guard its purpose despite the most hostile of conditions. Deep below the surface an army mills through semi wet colonies burrowing deeper inside. These life forms are superble adapted to living below the surface and would not ever require to venture into the open at any time whatsoever.
Sinister that it may seem, these twelve legged creatures have remarkably perfected levels of intelligence. They seem to be spending a large part of their 180 hour long day growing colonies - colonies of the last living mammals in order to help them retain their primary staple diet!
Can you then imagine the fate of human beings? Finding Neverland seems to have been a long past dream that may have once come true but no longer holds relevant
Threatended by shadows in the nights, and exposed in the light!
Epilogue
Finding Neverland is a an amazingly well cast tale of magic & fantasy inspired by the life of James Barrie, the real-life author of the well acclaimed children's classic - Peter Pan.
Set in London in 1904, the film is a fictional account of Barrie's creative journey to bring Peter Pan to life. The starcast includes Johnny Depp, Kate Winslet, Dustin Hoffman & Julie Christie.
I have in no way attempted to discredit this wonderful work of art, however, I have via this post attempted to convey a distinctive message of relativity combined with imagined variations of life and some consequences that may result thereof.
This post is a figment of my imagination and thanks to Discovery Channel for their wonderful portrayal of The Future of this planet!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)