My feet are aching, lower legs especially, and am feeling a bit drowsy, even after sleeping for 2.5 hours in the afternoon. That pretty much tells you what I was up to today (please, no mischievous guesses!). yes, I ran (and walked) and somehow completed the half-marathon (21 kms) along with 20000 other Mumbaikars & some foreigners as well, and am glad to say this, am feeling a sense of satisfaction and happiness when I look back at the entire experience of about 3.5 hours!
I won’t go into the usual suspects when it comes to describing the experience, namely the Mumbai spirit (though I cant leave that out as wellJ), or even more broadly the human spirit, but it would suffice to say that I, and am sure everyone who had taken part or even watched it from the side, had a whale of a time!
Right from reaching the starting point at 6.30 in the morning after waking up at 5, to starting off with resonant cries of “Bharat Mata ki Jai!”, all the contestants and non-contestants (like me!) poured out into the South Mumbai streets in the slight early morning chill, and we saw the sun rise on us as we traversed the Marine Drive (doing so, I fulfilled a long-standing wish of mine- running on Marine Drive!). I realized after 4 kms of running that its prudent not to overestimate my fitness, and combined running with walking for the rest of the course.
Sorry guys, but am feeling a compelling need to come back to Mumbai and human spirit, because, at the end of the day, those are pictures that stay with you- Old couples running together, a group of autistic people being led by the volunteers, their eyes all the while displaying their enthusiasm and happiness at being able to be part of something our so-called ‘normal’ society indulges in, disabled people on wheelchairs pedaling away with gusto, strangers calling out and waving to each other while walking/running, people cheering from the sidelines with words like” Come on!”, “Run!”, “There is always hope!”, a little bespectacled child standing on the sidewalk with a wide grin on his face, holding a beautifully painted India flag on a piece of paper with the words “Chak de India!”, groups of volunteers offering water and ice packs, people coming out from their homes with bottles of water, packets of biscuits and fruits for complete strangers, smile on their faces and encouraging words on their lips- and many many more!
These are the things I’ll take away with me, and when I sit back and wonder what it was that kept me going, I can only think of these images, the entire atmosphere and the whole lot of people who kept going. In a way, I guess that’s what life is all about, right? Keeping going, keeping the flagging body going with the help of an indomitable sprit and will of mind, despite setbacks (Sorry guys, getting a bit carried away here, but you get the point!)
I have made a commitment to myself to keep running every year, and every time I’ll feel down or depressed at what life is dealing me with, or things around me seem unfair, or there is despair all around, all I need to do is to think of the face of the autistic and the wheelchair-bound people, the sheer hope and happiness radiating from them, and I’ll know, as in that recent song, “Everything’s gonna be all right!!”
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Friday, January 2, 2009
2009- A wish-list!!!
Hmmm, well, so its 2009! 9 years into the new millennium and it just feels yesterday we were caught up with the y2k problem, which incidentally was the most memorable reminder of the new millenium, yes, such are the ironical times we live in!!
So, my hyperactive idle brain thought (well, I’m at home sweet home, you see!), why not ramble on something about the coming year, and what would we want from it. I initially thought I’d write something heavy, which I like doing, but then realized I’m not angry enough at this pointJ
So here goes, my own wish list for 2009:
Ø Starting with cricket (I’m a fanatic you see!), would love to see Dhoni send Zaheer & Bhajji to open the batting, given his penchant for surprising his opponents, & maybe bring himself on as the opening bowler, and have Venky Prasad with his super-slomo bouncers at the other end, which will dip on the batsmen with the speed of a lawn-mower, and the batsmen would get out bored of waiting for the ball at the wicket
Ø Coming to the other great Indian obsession- Bollywood, I’ve heard from reliable sources that Sanjay Dutt is building 12-pack abs (!!) after the 8-pack blitz we have had to endure from boy-man Aamir Khan. I wish Sanju baba and his packs well, and hope for the perennial no-hoper and woman-groper Shakti Kapoor to gun for 16 packs (not sure where the other packs would fit in one’s body, maybe a couple at the back and a few on the legs!)
Ø How can I forget the greatest Indian obsession-politics? Of course, given the current lot of rock stars we have in office, nothing much remains to be said, but with the general elections slated for this year, how about wishing for the great Dalit hope and messiah Mayawati to play the king-maker in an expectedly hung parliament and wrest the post of the prime minister of our country! That way we will soon have her statues adorning all important and critical public institutions like Nirmala(for the uninitiated- chain of super-clean and comfy public toilets), barber shops (given her stylish mane) and we would have only one national holiday- her birthday which would be celebrated with much pomp and prominent guests like Michael ‘Whacko’ Jackson, Bappi ‘the gold plated’ Lahiri & Samantha ‘thunder-thigh’ Fox would be asked to perform for the stunned audience!!
Ø Of course, how can I forget all of us, I mean all of you readers, many of whom have either already bitten the forbidden passion fruit, the eternal poison ivy, undertaken the mother of all battles- marriage, or are about to do so this year! Yes, I know there are many of us whose heads are on the chopping block, and the hour that would define our future is nigh, but fear not my friends, for we will fight till the finish, what say??
Well, enough of rambling on, and for those of you who have managed to reach this point without losing your mind, and are searching for me to beat me up, I’m not reachable currently, because I’m working on developing a half-pack stomach, which will be unveiled shortly!!
So, my hyperactive idle brain thought (well, I’m at home sweet home, you see!), why not ramble on something about the coming year, and what would we want from it. I initially thought I’d write something heavy, which I like doing, but then realized I’m not angry enough at this pointJ
So here goes, my own wish list for 2009:
Ø Starting with cricket (I’m a fanatic you see!), would love to see Dhoni send Zaheer & Bhajji to open the batting, given his penchant for surprising his opponents, & maybe bring himself on as the opening bowler, and have Venky Prasad with his super-slomo bouncers at the other end, which will dip on the batsmen with the speed of a lawn-mower, and the batsmen would get out bored of waiting for the ball at the wicket
Ø Coming to the other great Indian obsession- Bollywood, I’ve heard from reliable sources that Sanjay Dutt is building 12-pack abs (!!) after the 8-pack blitz we have had to endure from boy-man Aamir Khan. I wish Sanju baba and his packs well, and hope for the perennial no-hoper and woman-groper Shakti Kapoor to gun for 16 packs (not sure where the other packs would fit in one’s body, maybe a couple at the back and a few on the legs!)
Ø How can I forget the greatest Indian obsession-politics? Of course, given the current lot of rock stars we have in office, nothing much remains to be said, but with the general elections slated for this year, how about wishing for the great Dalit hope and messiah Mayawati to play the king-maker in an expectedly hung parliament and wrest the post of the prime minister of our country! That way we will soon have her statues adorning all important and critical public institutions like Nirmala(for the uninitiated- chain of super-clean and comfy public toilets), barber shops (given her stylish mane) and we would have only one national holiday- her birthday which would be celebrated with much pomp and prominent guests like Michael ‘Whacko’ Jackson, Bappi ‘the gold plated’ Lahiri & Samantha ‘thunder-thigh’ Fox would be asked to perform for the stunned audience!!
Ø Of course, how can I forget all of us, I mean all of you readers, many of whom have either already bitten the forbidden passion fruit, the eternal poison ivy, undertaken the mother of all battles- marriage, or are about to do so this year! Yes, I know there are many of us whose heads are on the chopping block, and the hour that would define our future is nigh, but fear not my friends, for we will fight till the finish, what say??
Well, enough of rambling on, and for those of you who have managed to reach this point without losing your mind, and are searching for me to beat me up, I’m not reachable currently, because I’m working on developing a half-pack stomach, which will be unveiled shortly!!
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Numbing images, numbed thoughts!!
I thought of writing this some time ago, when I was watching the news channels which were showing the images that have numbed our senses for the last couple of days, and when there was a heated debate raging on what went wrong, and why things came to this turn that a few young boys rode across the open seas, landed in our midst and caused havoc with our lives. But in hindsight I’m happy I didn’t write it then, as I was in such a state with anger and helplessness that nothing sensible would have come out of my mind.
Honestly the events over the last few days have made a deep dent into our psyche, whether you guys agree or not. My roomie summed it up best when he said that the menace suddenly felt so close to us, for the first time perhaps we felt weak, vulnerable, helpless. What does one do in a time like this? Keep watching the news channels? Switch on some music/entertainment channel in the false hope that we are pushing the issue to the back of our minds, and life is normal? Pray for the safety of our loved ones, and wish that the entire operation ends quickly and all the perpetrators are caught/ killed? Or wish that they had taken a couple of cabinet ministers hostage instead, as if that would help wake up our ever-sleeping and thoroughly incompetent bunch of jokers we call our politicians?
Well, I guess we will tide this one over too, owing to our now-over-abused and over-stretched “resilience”, and normal life will resume again. Just as it has every time over the last 15 years that we have been bombed, shot at or targeted! But guys, seriously, when we talk of our so-called ‘spirit’, what choice do we have than to get back with our lives and pretend everything is normal? I mean it’s a question of survival after all, right? To me, its not spirit, its just our resignation to the fact that since we have a useless bureaucracy and even more useless politico, its no use expecting anything from them, better go back to work and forget everything. Sometimes I feel its this “resilience” that’s harmful for our own good, we resign to everything, and we just don’t demand enough/protest enough, which can at least make our great politicians take some notice. I guess that’s what being ruled by foreigners (and this goes back much before the British era) for centuries has done to us!
Spare a thought for the amazing rulers we have for us- a home minister who’s more in the news for changing his bandhgalas between meetings than for framing forward-looking policies (I heard a rumor there is an Indian attire fashion show being planned somewhere in his name!), a railway minister who has more scams in his name & more cows in his shed than the years he has spent on this earth, a prime minister who, notwithstanding the fact that he is an earnest man, sounds as threatening for the enemies as Venkatesh Prasad bowling a bouncer at a batsman, and most of all, a president who has decided to cut short her very important trip to far east (which was to my guess more of an effort in the direction of her improving her culinary skills in the sea-food category) more because another former superstar V.P. Singh has passed away (no disrespect intended at a person who has died, but you get the comparison!). Well, with this and more as a list to look up, its anyone’s guess that our enemies won’t really be quivering in their boots or even expecting an aggressive diplomatic real-politik stance from us!
Well, I don’t mean to sound entirely pessimistic, so lets dwell on some positives as well. And nothing can be more heartening for an Indian than the way our security forces, the NSG & the MARCOS have risked their lives in saving ours, and in the process we have lost some of our bravest citizens. My heartfelt salute goes out to all of them, for inspite of being poorly paid & shabbily treated, they have stood up for us when we needed them the most, and shown us what true bravery is all about, and who our true heroes are! God bless, gentlemen!
What now? Well, some points that keep coming up after every such incident so much so that they have become a tad rhetorical, though that doesn’t take anything away from their importance. First, reforms in the way our security forces are treated and improvement & more investment in their equipments and modernization of the same, on a war-footing. Creation of a central body on terror that will, most importantly, be an autonomous body and be answerable only to one person at the top(this looks a bit difficult, though!). Drastic and immediate improvements in the pay scales of our security forces, I mean this is so elementary that it’s a shame to even mention it! Reaching out to every community in our country through regular programmes, making sure every complaining voice is heard, and no situation is created wherein few people can take advantage of the feelings of injustice/hatred people may foster for each other.
Last but not the least, more involvement of our generation in politics, & what I mean by that is at least making sure each one of us votes. I know you will say they are all the same, but at least it has to be made clear to the politicians that the educated class cares in how the country is run, and if its not done properly, it will ask questions.
Let this be the turning point in how we deal with terror, and how we look at taking our country ahead, and I would end it on a positive note, quoting Morgan Freeman from Shawshank Redemption: “Hope is a good thing, and no good thing ever dies!”
Smiles,
Sayan
Honestly the events over the last few days have made a deep dent into our psyche, whether you guys agree or not. My roomie summed it up best when he said that the menace suddenly felt so close to us, for the first time perhaps we felt weak, vulnerable, helpless. What does one do in a time like this? Keep watching the news channels? Switch on some music/entertainment channel in the false hope that we are pushing the issue to the back of our minds, and life is normal? Pray for the safety of our loved ones, and wish that the entire operation ends quickly and all the perpetrators are caught/ killed? Or wish that they had taken a couple of cabinet ministers hostage instead, as if that would help wake up our ever-sleeping and thoroughly incompetent bunch of jokers we call our politicians?
Well, I guess we will tide this one over too, owing to our now-over-abused and over-stretched “resilience”, and normal life will resume again. Just as it has every time over the last 15 years that we have been bombed, shot at or targeted! But guys, seriously, when we talk of our so-called ‘spirit’, what choice do we have than to get back with our lives and pretend everything is normal? I mean it’s a question of survival after all, right? To me, its not spirit, its just our resignation to the fact that since we have a useless bureaucracy and even more useless politico, its no use expecting anything from them, better go back to work and forget everything. Sometimes I feel its this “resilience” that’s harmful for our own good, we resign to everything, and we just don’t demand enough/protest enough, which can at least make our great politicians take some notice. I guess that’s what being ruled by foreigners (and this goes back much before the British era) for centuries has done to us!
Spare a thought for the amazing rulers we have for us- a home minister who’s more in the news for changing his bandhgalas between meetings than for framing forward-looking policies (I heard a rumor there is an Indian attire fashion show being planned somewhere in his name!), a railway minister who has more scams in his name & more cows in his shed than the years he has spent on this earth, a prime minister who, notwithstanding the fact that he is an earnest man, sounds as threatening for the enemies as Venkatesh Prasad bowling a bouncer at a batsman, and most of all, a president who has decided to cut short her very important trip to far east (which was to my guess more of an effort in the direction of her improving her culinary skills in the sea-food category) more because another former superstar V.P. Singh has passed away (no disrespect intended at a person who has died, but you get the comparison!). Well, with this and more as a list to look up, its anyone’s guess that our enemies won’t really be quivering in their boots or even expecting an aggressive diplomatic real-politik stance from us!
Well, I don’t mean to sound entirely pessimistic, so lets dwell on some positives as well. And nothing can be more heartening for an Indian than the way our security forces, the NSG & the MARCOS have risked their lives in saving ours, and in the process we have lost some of our bravest citizens. My heartfelt salute goes out to all of them, for inspite of being poorly paid & shabbily treated, they have stood up for us when we needed them the most, and shown us what true bravery is all about, and who our true heroes are! God bless, gentlemen!
What now? Well, some points that keep coming up after every such incident so much so that they have become a tad rhetorical, though that doesn’t take anything away from their importance. First, reforms in the way our security forces are treated and improvement & more investment in their equipments and modernization of the same, on a war-footing. Creation of a central body on terror that will, most importantly, be an autonomous body and be answerable only to one person at the top(this looks a bit difficult, though!). Drastic and immediate improvements in the pay scales of our security forces, I mean this is so elementary that it’s a shame to even mention it! Reaching out to every community in our country through regular programmes, making sure every complaining voice is heard, and no situation is created wherein few people can take advantage of the feelings of injustice/hatred people may foster for each other.
Last but not the least, more involvement of our generation in politics, & what I mean by that is at least making sure each one of us votes. I know you will say they are all the same, but at least it has to be made clear to the politicians that the educated class cares in how the country is run, and if its not done properly, it will ask questions.
Let this be the turning point in how we deal with terror, and how we look at taking our country ahead, and I would end it on a positive note, quoting Morgan Freeman from Shawshank Redemption: “Hope is a good thing, and no good thing ever dies!”
Smiles,
Sayan
Sunday, November 2, 2008
So long Jumbo!
I was spending the perfect Sunday afternoon, after a satisfying lunch at home thanks to our caring Maharashtrian cook, curled up on the drawing room sofa watching the India-Australia test match, when the news filtered in of Anil Kumble hanging up his boots. Well, not a surprising piece of news you might say, not even one that would evoke a lot of emotion among someone who doesn’t follow cricket.
However, I’m and always have been, an ardent cricket fan, and always believe test cricket is the ultimate test of a cricketer’s skills, and there is something about test cricket that mirrors life, that is so eerily similar to life itself! And it is with this background that I thought it fitting to pay tribute to a monumental cricketer, and man.
The last few days have been bringing along bad news by the galore, TV channels falling over each other to bring us news of the entire manoos-bhaiyya drama (I call it idiocy), the Assam blasts (of course, it’s a different matter that we have become completely de-sensitized to these by now, as along as we are in one piece, its cool!), not to mention the economic meltdown, courtesy which an entire breed of professionals seem to be losing their value in the matrimonial market! Amidst all this negativity, it was a welcome change to see some positive words and comments today in the channels, that’s the power of good old-fashioned goodness of character, integrity and dedication, words that are as alien to modern day society as politicians not indulging in regional vote-bank politics. And that’s what brings me to the man called Anil Kumble!
There is something very great about someone who refuses to give up, someone who stands tall in the face of adversity and still retains the strength of his character and doesn’t give up on the way he has decided to live his life, someone who is humble and modest often to a fault, someone who, even in these troubled and confused times, pursues his goal single-mindedly and without resorting to cheap gimmicks, low tricks and in a manner reminding everyone the way sport should be played, and indeed, life should be lived- with head held high! Qualities like these warm the cockles of our hearts, because deep down, we all nurture this goodness, and want to live life that way (trust me!), but most of us are too weak to resist the temptations, or we give in to our circumstances, as we love to say. The truth being, there is always a choice (quoting Spider-man), and its upto us to make it.
That’s Kumble’s legacy, not his 619 test wickets, or his nearly un-playable top-spinners or googlies, or his impeccable line and length, but to be able to demonstrate true leadership and be able to be a true champion, someone worthy of emulating and making a role model out of, whichever field one might belong to. Who can forget his bowling in West Indies with a fractured and heavily bandaged jaw, so much as he could hardly open his mouth even to appeal!
The farewell scenes were poignant, and brought a lump to my throat. But more than anything I realized what a true champion can do, he rises above the game or his own field, and gives us some pointers as to the way life should be lived, and unites us in a way which no politician or other hate-agents can ever dream to undo!
Well, I might be getting a bit emotional here, but I guess this is the vent I needed to pour out my feelings about the crap that has been happening lately! Guys, we all have a responsibility of behaving in the right way in the present circumstances, and to use an old chiche, spread the cheer!
And as far as Mr. Kumble is concerned, I guess it will suffice to say:
Well played sir!
However, I’m and always have been, an ardent cricket fan, and always believe test cricket is the ultimate test of a cricketer’s skills, and there is something about test cricket that mirrors life, that is so eerily similar to life itself! And it is with this background that I thought it fitting to pay tribute to a monumental cricketer, and man.
The last few days have been bringing along bad news by the galore, TV channels falling over each other to bring us news of the entire manoos-bhaiyya drama (I call it idiocy), the Assam blasts (of course, it’s a different matter that we have become completely de-sensitized to these by now, as along as we are in one piece, its cool!), not to mention the economic meltdown, courtesy which an entire breed of professionals seem to be losing their value in the matrimonial market! Amidst all this negativity, it was a welcome change to see some positive words and comments today in the channels, that’s the power of good old-fashioned goodness of character, integrity and dedication, words that are as alien to modern day society as politicians not indulging in regional vote-bank politics. And that’s what brings me to the man called Anil Kumble!
There is something very great about someone who refuses to give up, someone who stands tall in the face of adversity and still retains the strength of his character and doesn’t give up on the way he has decided to live his life, someone who is humble and modest often to a fault, someone who, even in these troubled and confused times, pursues his goal single-mindedly and without resorting to cheap gimmicks, low tricks and in a manner reminding everyone the way sport should be played, and indeed, life should be lived- with head held high! Qualities like these warm the cockles of our hearts, because deep down, we all nurture this goodness, and want to live life that way (trust me!), but most of us are too weak to resist the temptations, or we give in to our circumstances, as we love to say. The truth being, there is always a choice (quoting Spider-man), and its upto us to make it.
That’s Kumble’s legacy, not his 619 test wickets, or his nearly un-playable top-spinners or googlies, or his impeccable line and length, but to be able to demonstrate true leadership and be able to be a true champion, someone worthy of emulating and making a role model out of, whichever field one might belong to. Who can forget his bowling in West Indies with a fractured and heavily bandaged jaw, so much as he could hardly open his mouth even to appeal!
The farewell scenes were poignant, and brought a lump to my throat. But more than anything I realized what a true champion can do, he rises above the game or his own field, and gives us some pointers as to the way life should be lived, and unites us in a way which no politician or other hate-agents can ever dream to undo!
Well, I might be getting a bit emotional here, but I guess this is the vent I needed to pour out my feelings about the crap that has been happening lately! Guys, we all have a responsibility of behaving in the right way in the present circumstances, and to use an old chiche, spread the cheer!
And as far as Mr. Kumble is concerned, I guess it will suffice to say:
Well played sir!
Saturday, September 20, 2008
A little help!
Hi guys,
How many of you have noticed what happens to the food that is laid out for us for lunch in our companies, after we finish? We dont normally notice, even I wouldn't have, until one day when I happened to go into our canteen for water at around 2.30 p.m., and to my horror, found quite a lot of food that was left over in the containers (and Im not talking of leftovers here), was being thrown into a plastic bag for disposal. What a sheer wastage of food in a country where there are so many people who dont even get a square meal a day!
I decided something needed to be done about this, and then I recollected reading somewhere there were some NGOs who voluntarily collected extra food from places and distributed it among the poor people. I did a quick net search, uploaded my query to karmayog (an NGO listing site), and sure enough, got a response from a gentleman who knew quite a few of these NGOs, and put me thorugh to one of them. I talked to them, and they were more than happy to enter into an arrangement whereby they would come to our office every day around 2.45, with their containers, and take the food to feed children who they took care of. This NGO is quite close to our office in BKC, so it suited both parties, and though only one week has gone by with them collecting extra food from our office, and the economic feasibility of the same is yet to be ascertained from their side, but at least some hungry children are getting to eat with a little help!
The reason for me telling you guys is not self-promotion, indeed, thats the last thing on my mind. But what I really want to achieve is bring about an awareness among our privileged generation that there are lots of people out there who are not as privileged, and that all it requires for you guys to start the same in your respective offices is, believe me, one hour of effort one day in googling for an NGO near your offices, and 15 minutes to talk to your office admin guys, trust me, there are always people willing to be associated with a good cause, they only need to be shown the way!
So, a humble request to all of you, try and implement the same in your offices. If you want, Ill share the number of the person who had contacted me initially, and also help you with the process. But only if you are interested!
Trust me, its a huge satisfaction to be got, particularly for those of us who keep complaining of not having job satisfaction!
How many of you have noticed what happens to the food that is laid out for us for lunch in our companies, after we finish? We dont normally notice, even I wouldn't have, until one day when I happened to go into our canteen for water at around 2.30 p.m., and to my horror, found quite a lot of food that was left over in the containers (and Im not talking of leftovers here), was being thrown into a plastic bag for disposal. What a sheer wastage of food in a country where there are so many people who dont even get a square meal a day!
I decided something needed to be done about this, and then I recollected reading somewhere there were some NGOs who voluntarily collected extra food from places and distributed it among the poor people. I did a quick net search, uploaded my query to karmayog (an NGO listing site), and sure enough, got a response from a gentleman who knew quite a few of these NGOs, and put me thorugh to one of them. I talked to them, and they were more than happy to enter into an arrangement whereby they would come to our office every day around 2.45, with their containers, and take the food to feed children who they took care of. This NGO is quite close to our office in BKC, so it suited both parties, and though only one week has gone by with them collecting extra food from our office, and the economic feasibility of the same is yet to be ascertained from their side, but at least some hungry children are getting to eat with a little help!
The reason for me telling you guys is not self-promotion, indeed, thats the last thing on my mind. But what I really want to achieve is bring about an awareness among our privileged generation that there are lots of people out there who are not as privileged, and that all it requires for you guys to start the same in your respective offices is, believe me, one hour of effort one day in googling for an NGO near your offices, and 15 minutes to talk to your office admin guys, trust me, there are always people willing to be associated with a good cause, they only need to be shown the way!
So, a humble request to all of you, try and implement the same in your offices. If you want, Ill share the number of the person who had contacted me initially, and also help you with the process. But only if you are interested!
Trust me, its a huge satisfaction to be got, particularly for those of us who keep complaining of not having job satisfaction!
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
An interesting conversation!!
Yes, I am writing a blog entry after quite some time. What prompted me to write is an interesting encounter or rather conversation I had this Saturday night with a Mumbai auto-rickshaw driver. I was coming back from a dinner, and had taken this auto from the station to my place, it was around 11 in the night. Our place is very close to Bal Thackeray’s, and as we passed his place, we saw a mini-congregation of TV reporters and cameramen outside, which had actually been a feature last few days, owing to the sudden increase in importance of politics and consequently our high profile politicians due to the trust vote facing the government.
The rickshaw driver wondered aloud what the fuss was all about, and politics being one of my favorite topics (we Bongs love to discuss politics, you see!), I launched into a full-fledged gyan session about the current Indian political scenario, the impending fall-outs of the trust vote, and so on. The driver was listening quite attentively, and once we reached our place, asked me if I have some time. Of course, I was totally vella, and sensing he wanted to talk about the topic, couldn’t resist it. He parked the auto at one side, and we, an unlikely discussion pair of an auto-rickshaw driver and a pseudo-intellectual wannabe, started discussing one of the most discussed national topics- Indian politics.
To my surprise, I found him to be very sensible and with strong views on Indian politics. He hailed from Uttar Pradesh, the state with the highest number of MPs in Lok Sabha, I guess that had an effect on his interest. We covered the full range- him talking about Rajiv Gandhi- his favorite politician, about how anyone who tries to do good work in politics either ends up dead or out of reckoning, to the dirty divisive politics being played by some of our current politicians. He had strong views on the recent attacks on North Indians in Mumbai, and how politicians are using the common people to foment hatred and thus keep themselves from losing political relevance.
We talked for about half an hour, during which we straddled the murky political world and the socio-economic issues as well, and we established a connect as many of our views matched. We parted with the decision that it’s the responsibility of people who understand and realize the wrongs that are perpetrated to try and spread the awareness among people, and when he mentioned he would try and do this in his own and nearby villages in U.P. and that he would approach the local councilor with the peoples issues and their stated support, I felt a sense of comfort, a sense that as long as there are some people like him in our villages and interiors, we need not worry.
Moral of the story- Sometimes you can have the most interesting conversations in the most unexpected places!!
The rickshaw driver wondered aloud what the fuss was all about, and politics being one of my favorite topics (we Bongs love to discuss politics, you see!), I launched into a full-fledged gyan session about the current Indian political scenario, the impending fall-outs of the trust vote, and so on. The driver was listening quite attentively, and once we reached our place, asked me if I have some time. Of course, I was totally vella, and sensing he wanted to talk about the topic, couldn’t resist it. He parked the auto at one side, and we, an unlikely discussion pair of an auto-rickshaw driver and a pseudo-intellectual wannabe, started discussing one of the most discussed national topics- Indian politics.
To my surprise, I found him to be very sensible and with strong views on Indian politics. He hailed from Uttar Pradesh, the state with the highest number of MPs in Lok Sabha, I guess that had an effect on his interest. We covered the full range- him talking about Rajiv Gandhi- his favorite politician, about how anyone who tries to do good work in politics either ends up dead or out of reckoning, to the dirty divisive politics being played by some of our current politicians. He had strong views on the recent attacks on North Indians in Mumbai, and how politicians are using the common people to foment hatred and thus keep themselves from losing political relevance.
We talked for about half an hour, during which we straddled the murky political world and the socio-economic issues as well, and we established a connect as many of our views matched. We parted with the decision that it’s the responsibility of people who understand and realize the wrongs that are perpetrated to try and spread the awareness among people, and when he mentioned he would try and do this in his own and nearby villages in U.P. and that he would approach the local councilor with the peoples issues and their stated support, I felt a sense of comfort, a sense that as long as there are some people like him in our villages and interiors, we need not worry.
Moral of the story- Sometimes you can have the most interesting conversations in the most unexpected places!!
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Attitude is everything- is it??
“Attitude is everything”. How often have we heard the above cliché (or so we believe it is), from teachers, parents, friends, success cookbooks, management gurus, so on and so forth? Remember that forward, which said that “attitude” is the only word in English the sum of whose alphabets’ position values adds up to 100?
Bah, you say, or most of us do, another one of those pseudo-intellectual discussions which lead to nowhere, how does attitude help me get rid of my problematic boss? Or my griping about being made to slave and being paid peanuts, relatively speaking? Or my girlfriend who never seems to understand my point of view? Or my potential in-laws who seem hell bent on marrying their daughter off to any Tom, Dick or Harry in this universe but me?
Well, the fact is that attitude, or for that matter, nothing will rid us of the above problems. Nothing can, because more often than not, its us where the problems start with. Trust me, this is not as part of any success cook-book, but something that I have realized over time.
By now you must be wondering, why this sermon, that too from someone who cannot lay claim to any level of success apart from somehow getting into a premier B-school and managing to come out of it unscathed? Well the fact of the matter is somehow I have been made to think a bit of late, due to whatever reasons, and just wanted to share my thoughts with whoever reads this. I wont deny it, I was reading this book “You can win” by Shiv Khera, and while I have no intention of promoting the book in this forum (no, I am not getting paid by him nor is he offering the hand of his beautiful daughter to me in marriage!), the first chapter itself set me thinking, and thus, by extension, typing this.
There is no success cook-book, no guarantee of instant success, if there would be then life would be so much easier. But the fact is that when you read such a book, you get to spend some time with yourself, and some times, also open some closed windows of our minds. Yeah, we interact a lot with people throughout the day, but with ourselves? No we don’t usually do that. Interacting with yourself, this guy must be a loony bin, you must be thinking! Well, what I mean by that is we all live with certain prejudices, and that includes a certain notion about ourselves, which sometimes makes it difficult to judge ourselves impartially.
But it helps, from time-to-time, to have these conversations with ourselves, where we are honest and where we try and open the windows of our minds. It helps us to know ourselves better, and trust me, I have realized, a lot of issues we create are because of the way we think, and if a little bit of change in that helps making our lives better and more successful, then why not?
Don’t know if this will help me, yet to find that out, don’t even know if I can sustain this looking inward thing, but would be glad to know anyone’s comments on this.
Cheers!
Bah, you say, or most of us do, another one of those pseudo-intellectual discussions which lead to nowhere, how does attitude help me get rid of my problematic boss? Or my griping about being made to slave and being paid peanuts, relatively speaking? Or my girlfriend who never seems to understand my point of view? Or my potential in-laws who seem hell bent on marrying their daughter off to any Tom, Dick or Harry in this universe but me?
Well, the fact is that attitude, or for that matter, nothing will rid us of the above problems. Nothing can, because more often than not, its us where the problems start with. Trust me, this is not as part of any success cook-book, but something that I have realized over time.
By now you must be wondering, why this sermon, that too from someone who cannot lay claim to any level of success apart from somehow getting into a premier B-school and managing to come out of it unscathed? Well the fact of the matter is somehow I have been made to think a bit of late, due to whatever reasons, and just wanted to share my thoughts with whoever reads this. I wont deny it, I was reading this book “You can win” by Shiv Khera, and while I have no intention of promoting the book in this forum (no, I am not getting paid by him nor is he offering the hand of his beautiful daughter to me in marriage!), the first chapter itself set me thinking, and thus, by extension, typing this.
There is no success cook-book, no guarantee of instant success, if there would be then life would be so much easier. But the fact is that when you read such a book, you get to spend some time with yourself, and some times, also open some closed windows of our minds. Yeah, we interact a lot with people throughout the day, but with ourselves? No we don’t usually do that. Interacting with yourself, this guy must be a loony bin, you must be thinking! Well, what I mean by that is we all live with certain prejudices, and that includes a certain notion about ourselves, which sometimes makes it difficult to judge ourselves impartially.
But it helps, from time-to-time, to have these conversations with ourselves, where we are honest and where we try and open the windows of our minds. It helps us to know ourselves better, and trust me, I have realized, a lot of issues we create are because of the way we think, and if a little bit of change in that helps making our lives better and more successful, then why not?
Don’t know if this will help me, yet to find that out, don’t even know if I can sustain this looking inward thing, but would be glad to know anyone’s comments on this.
Cheers!
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