TOW Salute

I was recently told about a female who lost her child because of negligence of creche where she left him while she worked. She then started a creche of her own. She also spent a significant amount of her savings on her relatives, who abandoned her family when they needed them. She gathered whatever broken pieces she still had and rebuilt what she could. I could not even guess this in spite of meeting her several times.She is one of the most gentle persons I have seen. She can look after children, caring as her own beyond time limits, beyond eccentric parents. It certainly is not money that drives her. She is not bitter, nor has she lost faith in goodness.

When I was told about her story, I was lost wondering what does it take to stay sane. To accept things as they come. So many of us breakdown. We give up on ourselves and on others. We distrust, we hate. We lose faith. Troubles leave us weaker than before. But some of us react differently. They emerge stronger each time they are tested. I wonder what is that differentiates and empowers them. That they come out neither bitter, nor sad or jealous. Rather they come out as fearless souls at peace with themselves.

I am sure it takes more than any strength I can fathom. A lot more trust than I can measure. To fall freely, no strings attached, knowing that the power will catch you, will not let you break, even if you get bruised. It takes more... a lot more to not break. To not let your spirit die. To stay good. To forgive. To stay human.

TOW Loss

• A 3-year-old tribal boy's fingers are chopped off for being an alleged Naxalite..... say two good friends of mine.
• China has annexed substantial amount of Indian soil in Leh during past decade..informs Army chief...
• Harmful chemicals found in plastic toys sold in India. Nothing can be done because we don't have a standard to measure this.
• Environment minister loses his cool in answering questions related to introduction of GM food in India. No decisions taken yet on this. Govt. will take a decision on this based on some unknown or undisclosed parameters.
• Copenhagen meet on decision of Kyoto protocol ends in total disaster and almost name-calling.
• 16 years after he harassed and drove an innocent teenager to suicide, ex-DGP Rathode is finally convicted to 6 months of imprisonment and then granted anticipatory bail.
  
  These are some of the things making news these days. Its not that there are no happy news. I am sure something good must be happening somewhere. May be we have found a cure for swine flu... may be somewhere a bandit has given up arms... may be somewhere women have been given their due rights...
  
  But somehow I find more sadness and in general negative happenings than positive ones. Its sad... but I find it worse that I don't care anymore. That I don't feel burdened... that it doesn't matter to me now... that all that I need to do is put the paper down or change the channel... that most of the things don't agitate me any more... that I have lost the will to try or the hope of change... I have begun believing that we are on the downward sine- curve of human race evolution life cycle... that it can only go worse...then hit the downward datum and start afresh. I think I have lost something or may be I have lost. But who cares. :)

TOW Cricket

Cricket is one of the things I love to hate.

I dont like the fact that people can get so mad at one thing. Passion is fine, good for you. But how much time and emotion can you invest in a sport? I personally consider it a waste of emotions and not to mention time. Not that I dont spend time shopping or just watching some other crap serial.. but thats not waste ... not to me for sure;) I am seriously amazed how we can follow something so closely, pray for the team's win, fire crackers when the team wins and sulk the whole day when we lose (oh so often) . How we are able to load some players with countless "Bharat ratna" and millions of advertisements... and yet let the other sports or poor millions die in oblivion. How we are able to raise some "Ganguly" to a certain pedestal one day and throw stones at his house the other. I am simply baffled by the amount of emotion involved in it !!!! We probably find it difficult to realise that the real war between India and Pakistan was at Kargil or the real heroes were the NSG guards who saved Mumbai and not the wildly held notion of Sachin saving or not saving India!!!

But for all my apathy (hatred is too small a word) towards the game, I am still fascinated by one quality of it... its ability to unite people. Somehow in India it has cut across class. Men irrespective of their age can discuss the sport for hours and watch it till eternity. Somehow everybody has an opinion on who should have been sent to bat first and whether there should have been an extra fielder on leg-side!!! I have seen people stop on the way to Vaishno Devi and ask for latest score... people posting the scores and discuss later on my office discussion portal... unknown people bound together by a common thread "Cricket". Men who would otherwise push and shove each other in a local train are at peace if there is live commentary going on!!!

I sincerly wish that all those who cheer for one country can stand together and work for that country too... that if we can accept one Dhoni to lead Indian team, we can certainly tolerate other people from Bihar as well...that the way we think Indian cricket team should be the best team in the world... we think that India should be at the top of the world too... and probably be as passionate about this cause too!!! Amen!!!

All that hatred

damn these mood swings. I am in a boring terribly irritating mood... God save anyone who comes near me today... Either he/she will die of boredom or I may just try my luck at murder. So heres a collection of all things that I hate, may hate or nearly hate.. Inshort I am going to yell and swear all my way. Its my blog and I will curse all I want, you are free to curse me in your blog or in the comments section ;)

• I hate the way USA acts.. like a spoilt rich brat... "American way of life cannot be compromised" ? You keep on leaving your room messy and someone will clean after you? Isn't that what other countries are for? We are tired of being your mom or your hired help... stop acting like a kid. Grow up. Take responsibility.You clean the mess you made of environment.
  
• I hate the way China acts, like a school bully. Start eating your own lunch and stop snatching from poor Bhutan, Nepal and Tibet's boxes. We are not giving you even a tiny bit taste of Arunachal Pradesh. Stop yelling or flexing your muscles. You must be aware that no good kid on the block talks to you or atleast nobody wants to.
• I hate the way Pakistan acts, as if we are all hypnotized and believe whatever they say. You say, you will help in ending terrorism? How, by calling the leaders to Iftiyar party? Destroying it Gandhian way... Kill your enemies by Love? Somehow I am not amused.
• I hate the way some of the Indian politicians treat us all like dumb uneducated ignorant folks. Those who cannot read court orders that say "Stop building your sculptures and start building roads". Or those who cannot make out that the way you are preparing for Common Wealth Games is the way an ideal Engineering student prepares for a viva... last moment. Hoping that there is no power cut, no rain and that there is a God, answering the harried prayers that were done instead of the preparation.
• I hate the way we common folks act, infact I hate that more than any of the above. We act as if there is no relation between cause and effect... as if mere wishing could change things... I wish, the streets were clean.. I wish the politicians were more answerable to us... and that news channels showed news instead of gossip... that someone would do something about everything... and that I had a gennie... yeah wishes do come true... we don't have to as much as lift a finger.

Thats it for now... I feel better ;)

Change Request

After 3-4 weeks I went to CMP again. CMP is Corporate Mentorship Programme where in employees of my company spend 2 hours a week with kids from two orphanages ...kinda "mentoring" them... wherein we are all addressed as "Bhaiya" or "Didi" ... and our aim is to be that in long run... to become someone they can rely on... probably be an elder sibling who can guide and mentor them. One who is not as strict as a teacher and yet not just a fun buddy.

Anyways.... so today they were being taught "Etiquette"- Table manners, general courtesy, etc etc. Things like:

• Leave your seats for elderly and other needy people.
• Open and hold the door for elders and other people.
• Do not take other's things without asking. Always return back things in good condition and with thanks :)

Hmm... pretty impressive... We should teach kids to be courteous for an ideal, happy society.

But then I remembered an instance from "Shantaram" - a book on real life story by Gregory David Roberts. This man is in Bombay, India and leaves his seat for an old man in a local train and he is scolded by his Indian guide for being an idiot and hence having to stand. He is advised, if you can not see an old / disabled/ pregnant ...in short needy person in discomfort due to standing... do not see... turn your face away... look away. You ain't supposed to give your seat!!! How convenient :) And well ... I am not very proud to say, this is what is actually done. As if your looking away will take the pain away... or in general... if you can ignore something it ceases to exist!!!

I dont remember how many times I have lent books that were never returned or how many pens I have lost that were kept at the desk. I do not see any deliberate intention of theft here, but yes may be we are too careless to worry about minor things... Or may be deep down within we believe in "Vasudhev Kutambkamb" ( treat the whole world as your own brother) and think its okay to be casual in dealing with brothers. :)

We certainly know what is right and what is not. The way things should ideally function. The things that should be taught to kids. But somehow in the long journey of life..from 18 onwards we tend to forget some of the unimportant lessons of life.

I am reminded of an intersting quote, "Conscience is the most flexible material in the world. Today, you cannot stretch it over a molehill ; while tomorrow it can hide a mountain." Sometimes I wish, conscience were more visible, more tangible... some thing like an itch... you just cant ignore it!!!! If you see something going wrong, you cannot help but scratch!!!!! This is one of the change requests I am going to give to the creator when I meet Him ;)

PS... Poulomi... I know your "Little Women" is with me. I intend to return it when we meet next

India Shining!!!

"India Shining" has been a phrase that was used extensively at one point of time in India and has been more or less forgotten now... However the phrase has somehow stuck with me. Though the parameters for this shine were never defined, I believe it must be some interesting financial and social term that I will never understand. Hence, I labelled some moments as my own "India Shining" moments.

One was when I saw an advertisement of Rajasthan Tourism in Denmark. Cant describe how happy I was to realise that we are trying to sell Rajasthan soooo far off...

And then I again noticed "India Business Report" in Denmark as well. Guess the world is really interested in how much money we are minting and where we are heading. Sahi hai

Next one was when I saw "Hare Rama hare krishna mission" people on streets in Aarhus in Denmark. Yeah I agree that this is religion and not nation... still.. I liked it. I liked to see all those people with Western faces, citizenships and upbringings wearing sarees and dhoti-kurta, singing hindu hymns so loudly, telling about Lord Rama and Krishna to all. The words "Rama" and "Krishna" with a certain accent seemed interesting. Well... this means slowly we have people accepting that Christ may not be the only God. :)

And the last one in the list was when I watched this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HaImMwP134 ... all foreigners singing "Jai ho" from the movie "Slumdog millionaire" !!! Well... may its not an Indian movie... but the language is certainly Indian... and getting the world dance to our tunes... well that is something ;)

Lolz

This is no place to write (office)... this is no time to write( 6:30 in the evening... for others to go home, for me the best time to work)... this is no day to write (Friday!!!) and this is certainly no reason to write( not to be mentioned).

I should be rather sad and totally embarrassed at myself. The reason is not to be mentioned... I told you once!!! Anyways, had it been just sometime back, I would have been soooo totally embarrassed and gloomy the rest of the day and may be weekend and some days after that as well. But I have now begun to forgive myself. I have now decided not to be sad and embarrassed about reasons I may not remember in another 2-3 years. I will not regret trivial things. I cannot change a lot of things, I cannot be a lot other things, I can't get a lot of things, but that has to be accepted, isnt it? Life doesn't anyways give you all that you want. I was always able to laugh at myself. I donot get offended very easily, but the recent change is that I have now begun laughing at myself alone!!! I can now laugh if I fall down walking alone or in a crowd, I can laugh if I make blunders in office. I can... I can. Probably its because I have overused my capacity to be sad, gloomy and embarrassed. Probably because I wanted to try a different way to react. Probably because I have realized I donot matter to people as much as I matter to myself. Probably because I am just bored and need a good laugh ;) Anyways, I like it this way.

I am soon going to make a collection of all the blunders I or people close to me have made. A collection of stories behind the gyaan vaanies :D. I am sure I wont be able to publish it on moral ground, but it will certainly give me the much needed laugh :P