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.