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 !

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 ?

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.

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...