Million ways to Happiness, Life and Death !

My recent trip to Borders and Virgin Book Store revealed something startling, fascinating and amusing to certain extent. I came across a set of confident looking, smartly pictured Life and career Coaches who were inviting me in the Book shelf to discuss the matters most close to my heart, my fears, my worries and concerns. Most of them claimed to have solution to all my problems, which could be solved in few minutes or days. That's what I have been searching for all these years. In fact I created few additional and peculiar problems, so that I can Stumble upon some non-conventional paths to wisdom and perpetual happiness. This is what I craved for all those years and so here they were in my face, with an awesome money back guarantee.

Back in front of my personal computer, aka Laptop, I smartly searched for 'How to Live Happily' and in a fraction of second (0.27 seconds to be precise), I found 48.6 million pieces of advice in the form of text, videos, vivid images, powerful, earth moving presentations. My secret wanderlust desires prompted me to excavate more truths to Nirvana from my comfortable desk using my Quad-core ( has four time musing capabilities !) machine. So within few seconds of finding a million ways to happiness and life, I embarked upon the journey to the other pole. Backed my binary logical upbringing and limited imagination, I promptly searched for 'How to Die Happily'. This time it took a tad longer, about 0.32 seconds, but EUreKa, I found 1.76 Billion ways !

After this discovery, my wanderlust desires made me travel back in time...err place ! And I was taken for a surprise once again. I couldn't fine a single book which can tell me how to achieve a happy death. So does it mean that more people in the virtual, Online world are keen to explore the path to happy death and much less in the real world ?  Is it one thing to Live Happily and Another to Die ? Why not many books have been written about perfect Death ! Is it possible to live a happy life and die unhappily ? Is it possible to live a not so perfect life yet die perfectly ?

No matter how much we try to sort things out,we always land up in a trouble !  No matter how many books we read, understand and appreciate, we are still not sure which one is perfect or to close to it, for us. Sometimes we know it, but we don't want to pursue, what we preach or read. Perhaps the search itself is futile ! A million ways have been discovered towards happiness, life and death and many more are still waiting to be discovered !

We all at some point in time Knows, what is right and what is not. We know, at least to certain extent, what can make us happy. We have all these wonderfully smart books, blogs, e-papers and what not at our disposal to 'Know' the ultimate truth, literally at the blink of eye. 'Knowing' isn't everything. 'Knowing' alone cant bring the change we all have been craving for eons. However 'Knowing' is right beginning in the right direction.We need to take small step from Knowing to Doing towards Happy Life and perhaps Death !

Waiting for Tomorrow !!

The humble Sun is all set,
And the nasty Moon rises.
Stars and cloud
Are slowly filling the
Empty black skies.
Satiated Vultures have
Long fallen asleep.
But the groping bats are
Still staring deep.

My loyal dog,
Has decided
Not to bark tonight.
And the ravenous hyenas
Have surmised,
To have mercy
On my plight.
All this while,
The politic owl
Has been waiting
Anxiously
For the sacrimony
To begin !

No longer can I contain
My anger, disdain.
So, I close my eyes
As the Sun rise.
Sometimes I attempt
To recollect, regain
About yesterday
But its all futile, in-vain.

And then, I succumb
Yet again.
To my paralyzed life.
Slowly, falling deep asleep.
Waiting for a better tomorrow
All over again !

Water - the Ultimate Elixir of Life

Billions of years ago life as we know it today, began its journey in the rarest compound of this universe thankfully found in abundance in our planet. What began as a single cellular, simple life form, has evolved into  the most complex piece of machinery and art, we call it the human body.  As we all know it, 80% of the body is made of the transparent, odorless, neutral fluid from where the life evolved, i.e. Water ! The more the complex the machinery, the more the complex will be its maintenance and slowly we transformed from living a nomadic life to a civilized full blown city life, with added complications almost every decade, the wear and tears became complex and the breakdown (partial or total) frequency increased exponentially. Though the human body including brain has stopped evolving for more than 10000 years now, but everything else created by we the humans evolved phenomenally during this period.

Pharmaceutical industry is valued at close to $700 Billion per year. The premise of the industry lies in investing in R&D and filing patents for theydrugs discovered, invented in the process. No doubt, the industry has saved several lives in past 100 years. And in lieu, it has made enormous money for its shareholders and owners. Somehow, the modern pharamceutical/ medicine industry has not invested much time and resources to discover the potential benefits of omnipresent Water. The reason is simple, it cant be patented, its comparatively much easily available and most importantly it belongs to the state and the people to a very large extent. 

Thanks to our 21st century increasingly sedentary life style, our body is under attack of toxins, harmful chemicals, pollution, free radicals and saturated fats. The traditional pharmaceutical and not so traditional wellness companies knows it. The highest selling Drug in the world is Lipitor used for treatment of Cholesterol, with annual sales of $14B. Other popular drugs are for treating Hypertension, Gastro-Intestinal disorders, Headaches, Fever, Migraine, Hypertension etc. Source (Wikipedia)

Water the forgotten Elixir of Life, the ultimate panacea, can solve most of the problems almost at zero cost ! Sounds too trivial to be true ! Perhaps we are getting used to complex lifestyle and solutions for problems which can be solved easily otherwise !

Coincidentally I tried water treatment for headaches and mild fevers caused by heat strokes, excessive stress, excessive physical activity etc and it worked. Somehow I tend to catch cold easily then most of the people around me, sometimes due to allergy and sometimes due to unknown, unidentifiable reasons. In recent past, I started drinking warm water 3-4 times a day, whenever I encountered a sneeze attack and so far I have been reasonably successful in combating the sneeze force ! I have experienced that sore throats, congested nose and cough can be easily tackled by gargling with hot water and salt. 

Drinking enough Water is the most simple solution to treat high blood pressure and lower cholesterol to a great extent. This website is a great resource to find out what all can be treated by simply drinking water. Water not only helps in hydrating our body, but it helps in flushing the harmful toxins out of the body, eases transportation of vitamins and minerals. So the women and all those beauty conscious men will be glad to know that drinking water can reduce acne, improves texture of the skin and provides a overall state of well being and alertness in the body. One glass of warm water with half lime/lemon early in the morning can do wonders to anybody of any age, shape or size.

As per this research medically supervised water only fasting treats Hypertension and lower blood pressure. Without doubt, water is THE solution to treat constipation and dehydration which in turn can cause headaches and several other unwarranted diseases.

This blog has several simple suggestions about the benefits of water. I was surprised to know that by increasing the water intake, even Depression can be cured much more easily.

A very simple variant of water which can help fight several diseases easily and effectively is Alkaline Water. The normal water we drink is usually neutral and its very easy to make it slightly Alkaline. Most of the food we eat is Acidic in nature and hence disturbs the pH of the body, which in turn has several repercussions such as inflammation, heart burns, gastric problems, liver and kidney related disorders. I found this website an excellent source of information on Alkaline water and the overall Alkaline way of life.  

Ayurveda has always put a great emphasis on the role of water. Water is one of the Five main elements. Drinking water stored in Cooper vessels improves the immunity of the body. Ayurveda recommends not to drink too of much water during or immediately after the meals. Chilled water, soda water or cold drinks consumed along with food can negatively affect the digestion process ultimately leading to weight gain, increase in cholesterol levels. As per Ayurveda and ancient Japanese, Chinese medicines, drinking luke warm water after food, enhances the digestion process and body is easily able to retain the vitamins and minerals from the food. I was never a fridge water drinker. I just love the smell of water stored in the earthen pot, Mataki as we call it. The water stored in Mataki not only tastes great, but quenches the thirst more effectively without any side effects.  

As we wake up every morning, the world becomes more complex then it was yesterday. However the solution to all the problems need not be complex as we usually tend to believe or are made to believe. Drinking Water can not only improve our health, but emotions and psychology to a great extent in a positive manner.

If you do your own research and small experiments, I'm sure you will discover several benefits of drinking water in various forms. Do share your Water Experiences...

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Disclaimer - I am not a medical expert and the views expressed are based on my personal experiences, discussions with some doctors and internet research. I have tried to provide url of the websites which I found were providing balanced views, without any hidden agenda. I am not associated with any/all of these websites and in no ways responsible for the views and suggestions provided on these external websites/ blogs.

Image Source - Mouserunner, Photovaco

Slog Addicted !

Working hard is the simplest solution to achieve our goals and dreams. Though it is not the simplest thing to do !

The day we enter school, we are told to work hard. And so we do as we are told, not because we like doing all those things but perhaps because that's what people around us value and appreciate. We dont give up not because we don't want to, but because that's what They want us to do all our lives ! Slowly 

Some really far sighted, bright and intelligent person has once said - results dont matter, just keep trying ! And so in our hope against hope we keep trying so hard that we even forget what we wanted to achieve in the first place. In order to get there first, we run hard with our heads bent down, facing the ground. And so unconsciously we completely loose sight of the ultimate goal worth living and dying for. We get so engrossed in daily chores that we tend to make them our goal, e.g. servicing of the vehicle, working overtime so as to buy the latest gadget, saving today so as to own an apartment tomorrow, buying deeply discounted deals online etc.

Slowly as strive to prove ourselves to rest of us, we slog even harder, at least harder then our nearest neighbor and closet kin. In the process we loose precious time and limited energy, completely forgetting to look at goals, dreams and life beyond hard work. We put more efforts, pump iron, sweat blood, toil relentlessly and think rarely. Steadily we keep drifting away from our path, path to happiness, which can not only help us to fulfill our necessities but also can lead us to what we are really worthy of, what we sometimes secretly hoped for but never imagined.

Reckless slogging makes us selfish and that's what happened to India of today. Whatever growth we have achieved from 1990s to till date according to me should be attributed to this unique quality of we the mango men and women. We kept out heads down, toiled hard for decades to reach a level where we are today. A lot of we the hardworking, slogging Indians have managed to cross the income line, but in the process we became increasingly indifferent and detached from each other. We incessantly slogged day and night to maximize the pleasure and protect the interest of our 'immediate family', leaving us with no time to think cohesively as a society or a country.

While transitioning from hard working to slogging, we tend to loose our thinking abilities, am talking about plain vanilla thinking ability, not that jargonized 'Out of the Box' thinking. Because thinking requires time, moments of solace, retrospection and introspection which we can no longer afford. Sometimes we slog in order to run away from the present, to avoid confronting the problems today. We know if we do that our family will not expect anything from us, when we are back home, we know we will fall asleep, not because we are satisfied with the day went by, but because that's the most easiest thing to do on this planet !

Most of us never had any option except to keep slogging harder, so as to survive, to get rid of our ugly present or to achieve a rosy future. Unintentionally, our slogging skills become our biggest handicap. 

I think, sometimes its very important to take a pause, to give up at least for the time being and take a breath.    By loosing an argument, a match or a task we don't become a loser, but by not accepting that fact and  slogging heedlessly we definitely become one.

So are you Slog Addict ? And what are you doing about it ?

No Bollywood for Middle Aged Women !

There's an old saying - art is reflection of the society! 99% of Bollywood movies are certainly an exception. Interestingly the India film industry aka Bollywood has two clearly defined categories - Stars and Actors ! Stars are evergreen, media friendly, people savy stalwarts, usually adept in marketing and PR activities.  Ironically very few women have been able to achieve stardom in past 100 odd years of India cinema. 

Until late 1970s, heroines, as we usually prefer calling them, had a well defined role, character and attributes. In addition, mothers and sometimes sisters too were important part of the Bollywood stories those days! The divas of 50s, 60s and 70s gracefully retired as they hit mid 30s, though most of them were married in the same fraternity,i.e. no dearth of opportunity.  Why only the women/ the heroines take a sabbatical to raise their kids and then they slowly move into obscurity forever? Why women from these wealthy and seemingly liberal entertainment industry powerhouses only become the scapegoats of the double standards? Some might say that the choice was theirs, but how free, how unbiased that decision was !

Those days going to a theater was not considered a good manner, so women rarely went to theaters. According to my guesstimate more then 90% of the Directors, Producers, writers and the technical staff was and is male. So there were genuine reasons for not casting middle aged women those days, i.e. no market for women oriented movies, very few women representatives to hoist the flag !

Cut to 2012 and the situation is still the same. Unfortunately not even young, educated, outward thinking, highly smart, international competition winner and even talented heroines are not able to demand, command good script, well written characters except those of confused love birds. The superstar actresses of 90s and early 00's are already forgotten. The mothers and sisters are no longer relevant in the mindless movies made for weekend multiplex audiences. What a wastage of talent ! 

I think the reason for current state of affairs lies in a box, infact two boxes. The one box is what you are currently using. A significant % Women in 40s and 50s in India currently are not yet Online. So they are not able to voice their opinion, voice their demands unlike their teen kids. This box has done one more thing. Because the teens and the young kids are constantly in touch with their friends and the rest of the world, so they dont miss the middle aged women anymore in personal and virtual lives and even movies. 

The other black box, is our good old, earlier known as Idiot Box. The Indian Television Industry has been filling this vacuum for past 15 years. It has preserved and reserved the Prime Time for Indian women and served them quiet adeptly. Infact the Television has provided good opportunity to showcase talent to several middle aged hero and heroines who were good actors but couldn't achieve stardom in Bollywood.

However I am slightly perplexed here. What happened on the Television screen was the cause or the effect of what happened on the Silver Screen ! Perhaps the reason lies in our expectations. We the viewers always expected our heroines to be beautiful, young, elegant and sexy. We are/were not interested in their acting and so couldn't accept their growing wrinkled face or disproportionate vital statistics ! 

Let me know what you think...

That Cut of a Blade !

An accidental cut,
a momentary gush of blood
Reassured me that,
color of my blood,
Is still red !

Somewhere beneath my skin,
its flowing effortlessly, smoothly,
Without me caring or knowing.
running all over inside,
Reaching, where it needs to be.

Am no selfless warrior,
or caring doctor.
I'm merely,
a morbid mortal.
A thankless cynical.
living heedlessly,
Still surviving on
several umbilical.

I'm in pain,
but, happy this time.
After a long time,
somehow, I realized
Am Alive !
grateful to,
That Cut of a blade.

Tabula Rasa !

Watching my kid growing up, makes me wonder that how she knows that  jumping from a high chair can be dangerous even for the first time. She was bit curious and afraid when she saw fire for the first time. Chocolates, colorful balloons and animation attract her and I guess infants and toddlers all over the world, in almost the same manner.

Are we really are born clean slate ! I think irrespective of the place, family or surroundings the human infants are born with human instincts, which perhaps they learn/acquire genetically or experiencing the external world while sleeping lazily in the womb.

I like hot coffee, cold milk, tangy tomato sauce, sweet sweets but she likes cold tea, hot milk, sweet tomato sauce and spicy spices, though we are married for forty years now. Brothers and Sisters are raised for ten to twenty years under the same roof, but still they perceive, react differently to same situations. I don't think any of the identical twins will have similar liking and personality, though in addition to being exposed to identical surroundings they share few genes as well.

So I think Neither the Blank Slate hypothesis (Tabula Rasa) Nor the hypothesis that we are product of our surroundings is true in isolation, in totality.

More importantly we have to understand the significance of this non-blank slate hypothesis while raising our infants and toddlers. It might sound surprising but yes even the infants and toddlers do have a personality, idiosyncrasies. If we assume that they are Blank Slate and try to impress upon them our ideologies, our ways of behaving, it might work in some cases but I dont think its the best way to interact with infants and toddlers.

Parents keep telling their kids that they are free to do, choose career, marry as per their liking, free will. But is that actually true! By assuming that the new born is a blank slate, the parents intentionally or unintentionally start not just guiding but largely influencing and shaping them the way they  wanted to live with a secret desire that their kids grow up to become what they always wanted to, but never could !

And I think I am Smart !!

I purchase goods from a  mega sale.
Yes, the huge discount was too much to resist.
I never cared to check few weeks before
Or after that sale.
But, yet I think I am smart.

I go by the reviews, rankings and ratings.
But I fail to realize that those previews,
Rantings and raketings are written, by
Somebody like me.
Some of them are paid for it,
Others write because they are still  not paid.

I love the senseless movies,
Not because they make lot of sense
For those who made them.
I know I can something meaningful,
With my time
Yet I choose to be entertained.

I care, so I never dare,
Though I know its not fair.
I choose to hear only few
Of my near and dear.
When confronted, I rarely give that stare
And instead look here and there.
But, yet I think I am smart.

I know they don't care,
Because I dont.
And so I gradually transcend
From being carefree
To perpetually careless

I think I am not harming anybody
But, I fail to realize
The One who's getting harmed,
The most.
Is nobody, but Me.

I know I deserve better
Yes, heaven is the place for me.
But I am ready to spend all my life
Right here, on this Earth.
Yet, I think I am...

Who the hell laid that Golden Egg ?

Nobody has an iota of doubt that a lot needs to be done to establish India as a sporting nation at an international level.

The Golden Egg is very rare, so it doesn't Exist !

But, with all due respect, I dont agree with PT Usha's latest comments about advent of Formula 1 in India. She pioneered the cause of Women athletics in India, motivated and trained several young women to dream big despite not much support from government or their own family members. I would completely agree with her if she says that Athelitcs is not gaining the popularity it deserved because the country lacks infrastructure, coaches and constant funding etc. But what's the point in bashing one form of sport which happens to be one of the most popular sport of the world, to promote another.

The Golden Egg fell from the table, so lets kill the Goose !

What has all the T20 cricket bashers gained, the T20 cricket evolved, improved, became more popular, offered opportunity to make money, gain respect to several young cricketers who could never make it to national team, offered employment to 100s of 1000s of people. On contrary I feel, T20 forced teams and coaches to think different, try something new and thus lot of experiments were done, some went successful some not, but ultimately the game evolved. Some cricketers got injured while playing T20, so lets ban T20

The Golden Egg was actually Silver !

Lot of mediocre player get chance to play, perform, learn and earn when a sports become popular. Some remain mediocre and some rise. That's what happens in every walk of life. I dont blame the body shopping IT companies for not pioneering the search engine algorithms. Saina Nehwal is not PT Usha and I don't blame Deepika Padukone for choosing modeling over sport or for that matter Sania Mirza for choosing sport over modelling. The not so famous medium pacer Salil Ankola became a not so famous TV artist, so should BCCI ban TV channels in India now?

  I will Kill your Goose who lays Golden Egg, because I don't have one !

What is the definition of a Sports? Is sports only about physical capabilities? I think Formual 1 like any other sports requires physical fitness, mental stamina, rigorous training, planning, commitment, passion to succeed amidst intense competition. Behind every successful Formula 1 sportsmen is a huge team of 15-30 people which includes highly qualified engineers and psychologists. Not all the successful Formula One world champions were born in rich families. They became rich as a consequence of the success and name they achieved by excelling in their sport. In the countries where Athletics is big sport, the Formula One driver or the NBA player makes more money in general. So ? 

From Wall Street to Ballot Box in Middle East AND Back !

The innocent looking, mathematics and business wizards, who were slogged in for 12 hours a day 5 days a week and partied for 24 hours on the weekends, who stood on their feet high, self made, a bit greedy at times for all the right reasons mostly never would have imagined how their shorting of all the traded asset classes, will affect the life of people sitting 5000 miles away in the middle of a desert.

At macro level when I think I am surprised to discover that by first half of 20th century imperialistic powers were thrown out and democracy was established in several third world countries, but many second world countries were and are still controlled by their own home grown imperialistic regimes who have allowed a selective or should I say restrictive freedom !

Interestingly the recent upsurges which swindled the thrones of hitherto venerated and often celebrated flamboyant, reasonably autocratic rulers such as Qaddafi, Mubarak and Ben Ali, have not impacted the GCC countries, despite their close political, cultural and religious ties. Instead the GCC countries have maintained the precious golden silence about all these surges, movements and have neither supported nor opposed any of the sides vehemently. Even more interestingly elections at various levels were organized within 3-4 months across these GCC countries.

The power in GCC countries is concentrated with very very few members of the royal family and almost anybody who has spent reasonable time in GCC knows this. The Kings and the Queens of these countries have used all their power and money to wield even more power and earn more money for themselves and for their people. All the royal families of GCC nations are popular amongst local nationals, are western educated and reasonably liberal too. So despite their old friendship with the likes of Gaddafi, they were wise enough to judge the changing times. Before their peace loving national could find spare time from shopping in the newly built swanky malls and artificially created islands, elections were declared, candidates were nominated, electoral lists were prepared and elections were organized peacefully and efficiently. While people were busy watching Al Jazeera and CNN to find the truth of what actually happened in Middle East, showcase reforms were conducted in a sweeping manner at the speed of light in this mighty oil rich part of Middle East now called as GCC. The local media and newspapers went all Gung-ho about these lip-service elections, but despite all the attempts to create buzz, voter turn out remained low (20%-40%). The voter list was prepared a bit arbitrarily though and not all the members of the family were allowed to vote. To impress the west and the rest, some women candidates were made to contest elections, but not many women were allowed to vote. The low voter turnout indicates the interest, perhaps necessity and efficacy of such elections.

In the increasingly connected world, the information is already being democratized at a much rapid rate and the consequences have been beyond what anybody could have ever imagined. The otherwise orderly GCC nations witnessed for the first time the chaos which was accompanied by movements/uprisings/struggle for freedom and democracy. At present the GCC nationals does not seems to be too much bothered about the idea of democracy. The generous government spending will ensure a high disposable income in the smaller of the GCC nations. However the not so oil rich and not so small nations are already facing the heat of dissent and public anger. The seemingly never ending supply of the Black Gold and its near all time high prices will ensure a constant source of revenue and hence prosperity for these nations. But for how long and how far, is the question which nobody wants to face right now. When all the developed socio-economic-cultural powerhouses of the world are busy in saving their today, these GCC nations can very easily afford to forget the distant future, which is very very difficult to predict in any case.

Tunisia and microscopically speaking the recession which was born and bred in the Wall Streets of the first world has catalyzed the process of democratic transformation in the second world but surprisingly most of the third world seems to be reasonably insulated. GCC nations have white washed their countries, the other Middle Eastern nations are celebrating their success, are busy pondering about their respective futures. Because of the autocratic regimes which lasted for decades, a political and leadership vacuum got created without anybody noticing it. So the new generation revolutionaries who knows how to Tweet on Facebook and fire AK 47 are digging mud to bury their past and fill up the vacuum.

The bizarre world we live in is getting more wired and weird every day. We are back to where we started this post, Full Circle as they call it. The snapshots are the same but the faces on both sides of the table are bit different this time. The flashy, egocentric, tyrants are being replaced by the suave, educated, liberal, capitalists, who are interested only in minding their own business. Infact they too would have never imagined, that such a day would come within their lifetime. As of now, they seems to be committing the same mistake which their counterparts from the Middle East committed, denial! Before they will realize things can become more ugly and violent.Will it end the same way?

 .Chaos the only Order.

Monkey Near Zebra Crossing !

I missed your calls today,

I think I missed some yesterday.

You know what,

I even missed to say,

How much I miss you !

Yes, you are right, I don't

Share my thoughts as frequently

As you do.

But you know Dr. Peters say,

We, men are capable of doing things

Such as thinking about nothing,

Without much ado.

Yesterday at the pa'a'n shop,

I heard some people say!

You are like a Chocolate pie,

And, I am a Monkey in the Zoo.

But even that doesn't stop me,

from ThinkIng about you.

I miss you, when I dont find you

To handover the towel,

And prepare a cup of tea

While I am in Loo.

I even miss you when,

I have other things to do.

So, please don't take this crap,

seriously, because you know,

We are near zebra crossing

and I'm driving slow.

Before reaching home,

We might bump into,

Couple of speed breakers,

If I don't take that amicable short cut

And a big traffic jam,

If I do.

But, Don't ever say that,

I don't care about you.

Just because I haven't bought you,

That Pink Shoe.

Because I know, you love me and

You know I you love you too!

Soft Bomb !

All of us in some way or the other played part in this explosion! This time around the noise is and will be played on demand, inside our minds, without causing any damage to the ears. The eyes, sometimes hands and the wallets all the times will be playing the instrumental role in making these explosions happen one after the other, sometimes for good, sometimes for bad but most importantly at will. This bomb has the ability to influence far more people in ways beyond imagination of the creator, the diffuser and the consumer. Yes, you read it correctly, there exist consumers who are more willing then ever to consume this explosion, so that they can create their own.

At any given point, so many people are working on their bombs and so many explosions are taking place that, some bombs despite potential, fail to create the craters or sometimes the moment you and me decide to make an explosion of our own, create our craters and enjoy our own Popcorn Happiness somebody else will create a bigger, wider or deeper crater with different shades. And so the people who were planning to fall into your and mine craters will instead be lured to the newly created friendly neighbourhood crater and after a while, your soft bomb and crater will be forgotten as if it never existed. But dont worry, every explosion no matter how small or insignificant it ever was, it will will always exist, forever before you yourself or the guy on who's land you made that explosion chooses to fill it up with sand and stones.


Some wise man will plant saplings out of explosion. These saplings will quickly grow into fruit bearing trees. Fruits for you and me to consume and enjoy, but once again this time around, things wont be same as before. The tree will indeed bear fruits, but unlimited number of people will be able to eat and enjoy these fruits for as long as they want.

The interesting aspect is the same bomb which created crater in my mind can give birth to a sapling in your mind !!

What have you created today ?


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Image source- Google.

Cute Bitto, the Politician !

Mom to Bittu (3 year kid)- Bittuuu, where's the ice-cream your dad bought yesterday ?

Bittu - I dont know mom !!

Sonia to Kalmadi - SK where are $10 billion we gave you to spend on Common Wealth Games?

Kalmadi - I dont know mam !!

Mom to Bittu- Bittuuuuu, have you done your homework today?

Bittu (is playing outside, so over hears)- Yes mom, yesterday itself !!

Public to PM - Sir, have you passed the Lokpal bill yet?

PM-Yes, yesterday itself! I mean yesterday we had a meeting with Sonia ji, she said she will do something about it.

Mom to Bittu- wake up Bittu, its time to go to school !

Bittu - I cant, I will be having headache today, I mean I am having stomach ache today.

HC to Amar Singh- Sir, its time to go to jail via court!

Amar Singh - I cant, I will be having dementia (sh%t, Kalmadi), I mean I am unwell, confined to bed.

Mom to Bittu- Bittu ...

Bittu-It was not my mistake, you know my friend Sonu, he was pinching me from the back, so I slapped him!

Mom- But Bittu, I was about to ask why you got so low marks in the maths test! And by the way, is this Sonu a boy or a girl?

Journalist - Sir, why..

PM- no, no I was just following my coalition dharma !

Journalist -But sir, I was about to ask why have you sent Amar Singh with money to BJP MPs!

Bittu- Mom, Sonu is a girl, I told you last time also about her!

Mom - Ok Bittu, you have so many friends, I cant remember all of them.

PM- this time we will fight with them !

We the People- Oh, ok sir, we trust you again this time as well, because we cant remember your previous 179 promises in past 7 years and 2 months and 37 days!!

Bittu grows a young and smart now and starts receiving some missed calls now!

Mom - Bittu do you have a Girl friend?

Bittu - Noooooooo wayy mom ! None..Not at all !

We the people - Honorable Politician sir. Do you have a Swiss bank account ?

Politicians - well, you know the answer now :)

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To be continued !!

Popcorn Happiness

I know the 'Chotu' at tea stall,

Saw him from a distance,

Selling tricolor, in the rally.

I know about his slums,

Behind Mall.

I no longer live in the town,

I was born.

But I know they face,

four hours of power cut, everyday.

So, I wear a pair of rugged jeans,

Brand new, but torn.

I was ambitious, so I left.

Lack of resources, so I left.

What I left, never left me.

But after the the right I took, I think,

Nothing was left.

From Letters to emails to sms and tweets.

I religiously acquired all the apps.

Partying this weekend, so pardon me this time.

But I know the names of all the scams.

On my way to make it big.

Someday!

Yes, I do enjoy.

My Popcorn Happiness,

So, what's wrong?

----

Nitin

Recession- Is the World Falling Apart - Part 2 !!

An Unexpected Part 2 !! I hope it does not turns into a trilogy !!

Back in December 2008, I wondered and mused whatever is happening to global economy, but the political and financial leaders are not taking the necessary, bold, corrective steps in time. Unfortunately the world leaders kept on salvaging the old stalwarts of Wall Streets, left, right and centre, perhaps that was the only option left. Unfortunately not many people are punished for committing financial crimes of by over leveraging in a hope to make quick buck and multiply the effect of that quick buck several times.

Low interest rates in developed world for decades and the compulsion of printing T Notes and Bonds and Currency, especially in the United States caused the Public and Private debt to grow into a monster, beyond control of almost anybody!

A temporary blip happened in the market sentiment in later half of 2010 and once again gold, crude, stock prices started going up, baring Real Estate! In ability of EU to create jobs, high spending habits of the people and the government led to massive accumulation of enormous public and private debt, utlimately causing the economies of whole countries such as Greece, Spain and Portugal to collapse. Now the fears are that of collapse of Euro, because the comparatively better off economies of Germany and France cant bear the burden of Italy, Spain, Portugal for a very long duration.

If Euro did collapse in coming months, years it will once again ensure the Numero Uno position of USD ( it is even now, but at least Euro had some chance) and another failed attempt (earlier being Japanese Yen and Chinese Yuan). What an irony once again ! Couple of years ago OPEC was contemplating of switching from USD to Euro and now we are wondering whether Euro will be dead alive in 2012 !!

An amazing war, conspiracy, symbiotic and parasitic relation is developing between the current and future no.1 country (on the basis of GDP). In order to compensate for reducing wages and unemployment, US still wants cheap Chinese imports of day to day items and perhaps luxury items as well ( habit! dont change overnight), despite what so ever anti-dumping laws, hue and cry in the public ! China's love affair for Exports ensures that it keeps accumulating USD from USA and from several other regions from all over the world. And with surplus USD in their kitty and a possible fall of Euro, they are left with nothing but investing in US bonds every now and then. So by printing more Currency on one hand US is receiving wrath of OPEC and on another of China, but the irony is both (all) of them cant do anything about it!

Sudden demise of Euro can increase the demand of USD and can strengthen the $ thus reassuring China and OPEC! So while fall of Euro will be really unfortunate, it can bring windfall profits to somebody else in seemingly unrelated relation!

So being poor and underdeveloped for decades finally started paying India in unexpected manner! We are resilient to global shocks and crisis, because we have far too many internal problems to solve. Fortunately, we have lots of gold and silver reserves hidden deep inside but in safe custody of our Lazy Gods for centuries!

So to summarize, I would like to repeat and age old adage especially in rural India -' Sab kuch Bhagwan bharose hai' ( Everything depends on the mercy of gods!), finally worked really well for us, in a way which even our Bhagwan would have never imagined thousands of years ago :) !!

Youth. At any cost !

A burning desire to succeed,

Sometimes at any cost!

Against Limited supply,

Of resources and inspiration, and,

Love of family and few friends.

Learnt to learn, grow,

Shine and outshine,

Achieved seemingly impossible,

Earned and remained happy,

Sometimes at any cost!

We are open, liberal,

Perhaps hypercritical.

We do pay our taxes,

Don't litter on much on streets,

Drive our new bikes, and

friend's car occasionally.

In a hurry to reach our destination,

Sometimes at any cost !

Whenever we faltered,

We stood up, sought advice,

Fought, made our own way.

Call centres, IT, Culinary Arts or Fashion,

Yes, no great innovation,

But some of us managed to thrive,

Sometimes at any cost !

We are thankful, indebted for the privilege,

Of being born in free India.

Yes, we know many issues,

Still unresolved.

Yes, be assured will be solved,

Perhaps slowly, but,

At any cost!

-----

Nitin

---------

Frankly, I started writing a prose and soon decided to convert it in a poem instead. Writing a poem after a long time, after having written some really long articles in the recent past :)

A Happy Independence Day to all, hope this year will be an year of action, beyond watching old patriotic movies and listening to old songs !

Phir Bhi Ganga Behati Hai !

Someone, somewhere once rightly said - Art is the mirror of the society. The medium of art which strongly influenced the Indian society and vice versa, is, no brainers indeed - Cinema !
A melodious songs from a timeless classic of Rajkapur released in 1960 very beautifully written by master Poet Shailendra, goes like this -
होटों पे सच्चाई रहती है, जहाँ दिल मैं सफाई रहती है. हम उस देश के वासी है, जिस देश मैं गंगा बहती है!
महमा जो हमारा होता है, वोह जान से प्यारा होता है ! ज्यादा का नहीं लालच हमको, थोड़े मैं गुजरा होता! बच्चों के लिए जो धरती माँ, सदियों से सभी कुछ सहती है! हम उस देश के वासी हैं, जिस देश मैं गंगा बहती है!
कुछ लोग जो ज्यादा जानते हैं, इंसान को कम पहचानते हैं, यह पूरब है, पूरब वाले हर जान के कीमत जानते हैं! मिल जुल के रहो और प्यार करो, एक चीज यही तो रहती है! हम उस देश के वासी हैं जिस देश मैं गंगा बहती है! The picturization of this song, relevance to the story and music indeed are simply superb. However what is more important is the timelessness and travesty of this song. I think every generation in past 2500 years of history can relate to this song and would have wished to live in a society narrated in the song. This song portrays An immortal wish, dream, value system, which never materialized and perhaps ever will ! To good to be true, the song touches the Indian hearts and souls almost every time it is played (rarely though these days) on the television or perhaps YouTube ! That's plurality of being Indian, a confusion, dilemma, puzzle, enigma. In the context of movie, this song plays a role of fire in ice. Amidst cold blooded hooligans and innocent villagers a modest man reminds everybody of what it means to be being true Indian-Modest, Truthful, Generous, Loving, Happy despite all hardships, Caring towards friends and guest, Sacrificing, Pious . This is what elders in every generation has taught to the younger generations, this is what is written in the books, this is what is being taught by religious leaders, saints, gods and demigods! The truthfulness, the simplicity depicted in this movie and all other movies released in 1950s and 60s appears to be - Too Good to be true, now !! The society, the people shown in Black and White movies of those times, were black and white in their character, in their beliefs and value system. Where are those people ? Is it safe to say that people now are more complicated than people 50 years ago ? Or is it the other way, i.e people are far less complicated now and don't try to hide behind a song, or don’t try to live in a make believe world and are honest and courageous enough to accept the truth! 40 years down the line, Javed Akhtar penned a song, which projected a grey, yet happy state of Indian society -
हम लोगों को समझ सको तो समझो दिलबर जानी जितना भी तुम समझोगे उतनी होगी हैरानी अपनी छतरी तुमको देदें कभी जो बरसे पानी कभी नए पच्केट में बेचें तुमको चीज़ पुरानी
थोड़े अनारी हैं थोड़े खिलाडी रुक रुक्के चलती है अपनी गाडी हमें प्यार चाहिए और कुछ पैसे भी हम ऐसे भी हैं हम हैं वैसे भी
थोड़ी हममें खुशियाँ भी हैं थोड़ी है नादानी थोड़ी हम में सच्चाई है थोड़ी बेईमानी आँखों में कुछ आंसू हैं कुछ सपने हैं आंसू और सपने दोनों ही अपने हैं दिल दुख है लेकिन टूटा तो नहीं है उम्मीद का दामन चूका तो नहीं है
हम लोगों को समझ सको तो समझो दिलबर जानी थोड़ी मजबूरी है लेकिन थोड़ी है मनमानी थोड़ी तू तू मैं मैं है और थोड़ी खीचा तानी हम में काफी बातें हैं जो लगती हैं दीवानी फिर भी दिल है हिन्दुसतनी !!
Another timeless classic, another song to which almost all the generation can relate to, not in a philosophical or superficial manner but as a song which represents them more accurately, which portrays their mixed feelings, emotions about being what we are as we are now !

Both the songs are beautiful in their own way, while former summarizes lessons from thousands of years the later symbolizes past 20 years of liberalization.

What about the benchmarks ... (ps: nothing to do with the creativity and genius of both the writers!) Of Society ? While the former song refers to a wishful thinking, but still it reminds us of what is right. Perhaps an escape from reality but yet reminds us of how we should be ! I think whatever acts of kindness, nobility we see in our society can be attributed to the good songs we used to listen to, poems and books we used to read. We still are good as a society but with some insanely bad habits, especially the most fundamental ones! I always believed that realization is the first step, but mere acceptance and a bit of arrogance that "we are like this", “ Everything is possible and everything is acceptable”, cant lead us to anywhere! To maverick foreigners visiting India, this new found freedom, madness on street might appeal a lot, to NRIs returning/visting India, all of this might appear despicable and to most of us all of this becomes a routine with indifferent attitude. 
Such an attitude puts a break on the growth of society. What starts with acceptance of minor deviations in behaviour, small wrongdoings becomes a habit which society keeps on accepting and slowly and unknowingly, the minor deviations becomes humoungous caused by complex interactions, leading to permanent changes (temporal but over long duration such as couple of decades) in the benchmark of what is right and what is not! For example what might have started as an occasional 'gifts', 'inaam', sweets, slowly become a monster what we now call as bribing, which grow out of proportion in the form of multi billion scams! Similarly what might have started in an attempt to taste the legacy of East India Company and the British Empire, i.e drinking Tea in government offices, slowly became a habit of absconding from offices to drink tea and ultimately leading to whole day being turned into a tea break!

While its good to realize our shades of grey, black and white, attempts must be made to turn the greys and blacks into lesser greys and lighter blacks white, with universal (and not contextual) definitions of rights and wrongs, an attempt to be white and fair beyond the fairness cream for women and now for men !

As Javed saheb has rightly put - दिल दुख है लेकिन टूटा तो नहीं है, उम्मीद का दामन चूका तो नहीं है !