Nostalgia

               My Gosh...nostalgia is something which is sweet but induces grief. Nostalgia accompanied with solitude is even more painful. When you leave your home for the first time with all the excitement for new ventures, nostalgia is unprepared for. We do not expect to get nostalgic before the onset of the new journey(this being the worst part). We paint a picture of everything,including our to-be-surroundings, how we will be placed in a cosy environment; but hold on, did you see you were alone in that scenario?NO.. I term this is as selective imagination.
          All those things, practically everything, even the unfavorable moments which one had experienced in the past comes like a flash. They seem to be sweet and one feels like experiencing them once again. What is it that makes it this way? Can anybody answer?

     When we roam around in the new place, we recollect our older environment, older places where we had been to,  the people whom we had met. Today, I sat and pondered on this and I think there is a reason behind all this. Friends, we get attached emotionally to the inanimate objects around us as well. Did you ponder on this ever? yes..the recollection of places corroborates this fact. The places where we have been to and remember have a positive vibe.This makes us unconsciously bound to it. Each time we visit, the bond gets stronger without our knowledge. Nostalgia makes us realise this.
    When people are concerned, it is obvious, we get attached even more to the people because we have lived with them, had some good memories with them and also certain out-of-the-way moments. In the initial days, life sometimes becomes miserable and friends, this is what makes us realise how beautiful our past was. It is but one thing which validates the orchestration of events of the past. Sometimes, this retrospection makes us second the adage,'Everything happens for a reason'.It is like a reminder by the Almighty to realise the results by retrospection.
       If a person is habituated to being emotional, he/she will always look out for bonds as strong as the previous ones. This adds to the nostalgia and makes it even more painful. The gap between the relationships forged in the new place(which are often nascent and weak) and the ones which are forged in our previous place(which are strong) is filled by memories. But, let me tell you one thing, the magnitude of nostalgia gradually reduces as we start having even stronger relationships in the new place. Memories never fade away(always in our Hard disk drive) but yes our RAM is filled with fresh moments and this is what is required.
    To sum up, nostalgia should be welcomed and it is very natural. However, nostalgia becomes a devil when it forces one to go back to the previous cosy environment which is an impediment to our growth in life.
One must feel nostalgia and let it pass through as a phase of life.
GOOD DAY TO ALL OF YOU!

When do you truly experience bliss?

              Bliss, a concept, a state where everyone wants to be. Why does the feeling of being happy actually make us feel good?Why does it imbibe positivity?Why are negative feelings bad?Why does it happen that we always want 'good' feelings to reside in our hearts.the last question I would like to ask is can we experience this so called "happiness' without knowing its flipside i.e "negativity".
          One very recent observation I made is that humans are risk averse. They fear taking risks only because it may lead to sadness. They fear taking risks because it may hurt their ego, which is a tamed lion in their hearts which is constantly being nurtured by restricting oneself in a cocoon. A cocoon which helps a person justify each action taken by a him/her to avert taking risks. It's strange that people admire a person who fears making mistakes, whose life is flavourless and feels that his/her life will run according to a script coded by some supernatural force residing within him/her. I absolutely detest such attitudes. Even if these people reach heights, its because the conditions(of they hanging around for such a  long time in a safe zone) have pitied them and given away 'success'. Are they really happy or just that their outer self wants to indulge in happiness for the sake of it?
         One must take risks; it's not that every risk will bear fruits. Out of 100's of risks a person might have taken, 10 might bear fruits and rest 90 might be a bad experience. The taste of these 10 fruits is far better than 100's of fruits earned living in a cocoon.There is one thing I must surely point out that risk brings with it a lot of pain and failures.These pain and failures are a grave threat to happiness.
The failures of risk are so damaging that one might feel totally down, immersed in the sea of sorrow. This sorrow is so deep that it makes a person believe sunlight to induce darkness on earth. One might feel that his/her world has totally come to a halt and that his/her future is dark.
      This is where the best part of life begins, for the one's who realize it. This is where the strength of one's mind is measured. The battle during such times is much strenuous than any war fought physically. The harder thing lies in one's mind which is invisible. It may take months,years to win this battle. Finally what is the use of winning this battle, it is that one experiences true bliss. One can only understand the true value of happiness when one knows the value of sadness/sorrow.
    Many of us fail to accept the fact that life is not that easy. Hence, we do not also want to accept the sadness which life throws upon us, we do not want to experience this. It is this attitude which curtails us from experiencing true bliss. Accept the things which you cannot do, take risks, fall,rise up,face the consequences and finally EXPERIENCE BLISS in whatever the result might be.

GOOD DAY TO ALL OF YOU.

Write one, Feed One.

                    Before I begin elaborating on the issue, I would really thank Blogadda for such an magnanimous initiative. For years, observing my contemporaries, youngies recklessly sitting on the streets and scourging for food;begging for money instead of progressing in academics and career,  I always wanted to help these people. But the number of people with this kind of affliction were grandiose. Through this blog post I not only wish to do my part but also appeal to all the readers to do their bit.
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         Many a times, I was struck by "what-if" situations. What if India(world on a larger scale) was void of hunger, what if in India, every child was educated. As of now these conditions seem to be utopian, but the optirealist(optimist with a fair amount of realism) prefers to think otherwise.  It is NGO's like Akshaya Patra which will help scores of people like me realise this dream.
         The underprivileged children primarily need food. In absence of it, they become oblivious to the importance of education in their life. A perfect remedy would be mid-day meals where children are fed and made to study under the same roof. There are two advantages to this scheme,
1)Children are fed, which is their current demand
2)Children are educated which helps them in their future aspirations.
      If such schemes are implemented diligently and earnestly, I can one day see the number of children falling under the ambit of such schemes increasing greatly. It will not be a distant dream for me to find the roads deserted of children sitting on the footpath for money and food.  If the current generation is taught to stand on their feet, they will positively influence their children to stand on their feet and gradually the concept of poverty will cease to exist.

                                                    ctsy: akshaya patra

   
     Talking about education, there are millions of people who are sitting there out on the roads, who are sometimes very talented and capable but are pulled down by lack of food. The worst part is they themselves are unaware of their talents and someone else notices it. I have observed quite a few people who are extremely sharp in grasping things but they lacked proper guidance. Taking this a bit further, if children are educated, activities such as theft will go down. People will learn to earn by working hard with the skills acquired by education as compared to earning money by stealing someone else's fruits of hardwork. Children must be educated to make them realise that the "Pen is mightier than the sword".They will gradually come to terms with the fact that there are peaceful and dignified ways to earn your bread rather than indulging oneself in various nefarious activities.
     As discussed, the advantages of such schemes are galore.Eliminate malnutrition and encourage children to take up education. It's impact on the present and the future is really mammoth-like and it is better sincere efforts are taken in this aspect in the present.

I am going to #BlogToFeedAChild with Akshaya Patra and BlogAdda

For every blog post we write,  BlogAdda will sponsor meals for an Akshaya Patra beneficiary for an entire year, as a part of our Bloggers Social Responsibility.

Tags:Akshaya Patra,Bloggers Social Responsibility,Poor Children,Food,Education.


           

Book Review:GOD IS A GAMER

Details:

Name: GOD IS A GAMER

Author: Ravi Subramanian

Genre: Thriller

Background: 

Just before picking up this book for reviewing, I read "Devil in Pinstripes". It dealt with mind games and relentless politics played in banks. I was intrigued by Ravi Subrmanian's lucid writing and wanted to read more of his books. Through a book review programme by blogadda, I was opportuned to get hold of this book.

Plot: 

  When you grab this book, the very first thing you notice is this catchy word, "Bitcoin".Bitcoins, a relatively new concept is promoted by the author. The prologue aptly explains how the concept of "Bitcoins" was invented.

     Gillian Tan is a top notch member of the US senate committee advising on South Asian affairs. Aditya Rao(after reading devil in pinstripes, I could understand who this Aditya could be!), a person who was in the higher echelons of NYIB(New York International Bank). Sundeep is a very close aide of Aditya. Swami is a person in the race to become the CEO after Malvika and a very good friend of Aditya. Tanya, Malvika's daughter is an attractive woman. A few FBI officers and CBI officer.

Now let us connect the dots. In India, in NYIB a phishing scam breaks out and Swami becomes the scapegoat when Malvika is the CEO. Swami has a personal dislike for Malvika since he is made the scapegoat and his promotions and the promise of charing the bank has met a dead end. The management in Singapore realises who the real culprit is and promotes her to an inactive but a catchy position of chairman who is just a pseudo lead.

  Tanya, is a very attractive girl who enters into a relationship with Varun. Varun is a person who is unaware about his relatonship with Aditya Rao , the owner of two startups eTIOS(handling transactional operations of NYIB) and Indiscape(gaming company). After Varun meets Aditya and fathoms his relationship with Aditya, he is made in charge of Indiscape. 

   Meanwhile, in US, Gillian Tan is murdered and an ATM heist breaks out. The ATM heist is well planned and follows a pattern. Some part of this money is then converted to bitcoins and then transferred. eTIOS(managing card transactions of NYIB, owned by Aditya Rao) is accused of allowing this withdrawal amounting to millions of dollars overseas. Why is Gillian Tan murdered?Does Gillian Tan hold some other identity which led to his murder?

  In India, during her birthday party, Malvika is said to commit suicide by apparently "jumping off" from her house which had a low parapet.  her daughter(Tanya) makes an appeal to find the real culprit and she pins the blame on the finance minister who hadnt kept up his "promise". Was he responsible for her murder?

  In India, Indiscape, a venture of Aditya Rao(operations managed by Varun) in online gaming is suddenly accused of mingling with bitcoins. Aditya Rao is a Samaritan citizen and totally oblivious to this bitcoin transaction going on through his venture is clawed by FBI  for this underground activity. 

Hold on, before moving further? What is going on? How are all these incidents connected?..is something one must read this book to find out.

My Verdict:

Well, the plot has a lot of twists and turns, the prologue of this book describes it the best. Here it goes:

            "God is a Gamer is a world where money means nothing, martyrs are villians, predators are prey,assasination is taught by the ancient Greeks, and nothing is as it seems."

It is very rightly said, "nothing is as it seems" and things are grandly deceptive. People who seem to be so innocent aren't innocent.The author has put in a lot of time in research. He has explained the concept of Bitcoins in depth using various technical terms. The author has however, made sincere efforts to explain the functionality of each of the terms used. While reading, at each juncture I tried to connect the dots between the incident happening in the US and India. It is like the story begins from the north pole extremes but ends converging at the south pole. The read never got boring though there were two parallel incidents being narrated, they both managed to keep me gripped till the end.

Best Part:

1)The lucid writing of the author which keeps one gripped to the book notwithstanding the tortuous plot.

2)The author keeps the plot exciting on all three fronts-the start, the mid and the end.

   However, I felt that the character of Sundeep(close confidante of Aditya) could have made more space in this book. He always acted as a support system to Aditya. If not anything else, he could have occupied a greater role in this book.

Secondly, author could have made the slightly simpler for readers to grasp. One has to keep in mind the preceeding events to understand the logic behind the events to-come. This may cause problems for readers who read this book for a long span of time with huge gaps. One might forget who's who or the events which lead to a particular conclusion.

    The chapter-wise format was a wise move by the author but at areas I felt that created discontinuity but thats how it goes!

The only flipside of this book is that the plot is very complicated but the author's simple and lucid narration nullifies this and makes it easier to understand than expected.

Final word:

Highly recommended for people who wish to read something actually exciting and thrilling. Will make up a very good weekend read.I completed this book in two sittings. Highly increased my confidence in Indian authors.

Keep up the good work Mr Ravi Subramanian, waiting for your next book.

My Rating: 4/5.

This review is a part of the biggest Book Review Program for Indian Bloggers. Participate now to get free books!

Ravaging Love-THE END

                                                                                                                         Read Part 02

                                                                   

                      He lay bare, his wounds were ostentatiously painful. People around him could sense the kind of indifference he had towards himself. What had he done.?He tried to enter into a hole, a black hole which was a trap.What was she doing(nobody including herself were not sure of this)?
  In this whole confusion, Jack was the sufferer, partly he was to be blamed for trusting her in a short span of time. He craved for answers and the answer was quite simple, that she was a perplexed human being. A damsel in distress manipulated by the right person for his own ulterior motives. Somebody said, feelings induce weakness and here was an apt example of it, letting oneself bare and open for someone to manoeuvre her life.Yes, you guessed it right, someone else was driving Lucy's car.Jack wasnt bothered who it was but the motives were very clear that somebody wanted to create disturbances in the lake Jack and Lucy were comfortable floating in. For all Jack knew, he did not expect such a rough and unforgiving behaviour from her.
       For Jack, at this juncture, time had passed and it was too late to accept Lucy as a friend. His mind and his heart were at loggerheads. He never wanted enmity with anyone. What should he have done? Should he forgive her and accept her as a friend? She managed to remove the element of trust from their friendship. For him it was done and dusted but some part in him said "let go" events of the past. given a chance people do improve.
      "Improvement" was the last thing he should have expected in this case. Making best of the confusion was what Lucy knew very well.  Some wounds are better untouched but Lucy, never left a stone unturned to weaken him each time with a flashback of all that had happened and by dragging her past into the scene more and more. While Jack let go her for her mistakes, she was busy deciding the best choice for her life. She was so whimsical that someday Jack would bring about green lights while some other day, it would be her past. She was trying to act as a puppeteer and Jack and the other guy were supposed to be her marionettes.
   Jack was getting bruised each time he saw such unjust things happening in front of him. He chose to opt out of this tirelessly painful friendship and once and for all finished it with her.
. He underwent a lot of turmoil in all this, his rational self was proved wrong when she did not mend her ways. It was painful but he still had expected things with her to improve for the better. Isn't it painful to have expectation inspite of truth pointing in the other direction? In this whole process a lot of bitter words were exchanged and there prevailed a lot of ill-will.
      Jack's life was never the same after this. He never had the time to experience what he had been through. Things were fast-paced and damaging. A man must be judged when the grass is green in his pasture and Lucy "outperformed" by damaging everybody in the process. What she got out of it?Nothing. What had this whole incident done?
It had ravaged Jack and ripped him apart with wounds which only time could fill...or could it?
What is love if it is so ravaging and wild? 

Ravaging Love-The Damage.

   Read part 01       

              ...she was his destiny...Jack had a narrow vision..all he could see is her attention..which was slowly fading away...Jack was a passionate man. He had great conviction to keep her happy. Lucy was rethinking her decision...what held her back?What made her so attached to her ravaging past? Did she not want him?What did she want?
     Lucy had put herself and Jack in a labyrinth. She wanted Jack to shower full attention on her..treat her like a princess and at the same time she did not want anything formal. What was she upto?She wanted Jack and she did not want him at the same time. Days went by and the fading away of the attention was so gradual that Jack couldnt question her. Jack was gradually becoming a victim of his own feelings towards her. Even before he could experience the joy of love, he was being subjected to a tortuous path laden with thorns. Each thorn pricked him so badly that they punctured his heart. Jack was a determined man, he had ambitions and to his hard luck, Lucy, the friend who often featured in his good books, a friend whom he shared everything with, was turning the tables against him. He was totally dismayed. This is the last thing he could have expected of Lucy in his life after having supported her in her bad times.
     On one hand his personal life was taking a toll on his mind and on the other hand he had to battle the looming examinations which was just a week  away."Time" and "girl" make or break a man's life and future and as of now, both had given up on him. Gloomy thoughts made Jack evaluate mistakes which he hadn't even done. What did Lucy do? She had left him completely deserted amidst a sandstorm which she herself had blown for Jack. What was the purpose of all this?Was Lucy sadistic?
     One fine day, Lucy had pinged Jack to say that everything was "over" between them. There was nothing formal between them, so Lucy could make use of this confusion by not mentioning whether she was talking about friendship or something else. Jack was totally down. He was suffering for no reason. For the first time in life he had felt for someone, and this is what he got.
     He somehow wanted to get out of this quagmire and the more he thought of escaping, the more he was drawn into the labyrinth. The last words heard from Lucy were, "You mean nothing to me..I have got him back..I was totally blindfolded in thinking of being with a person like you"..He was ripped apart...his heart shatrtered to pieces.. He could not make any sense of it..He diverted himself with great difficulty by studying for the upcoming exams. As things were not making sense, he atleast thought of making sense by faring well in the upcoming exams.
     After about 2 months, he saw a message flashing on his mobile. It was an unknown number, all he could read is a big 'sorry' and a feeling of regret for all that had happened.  He need not lookup in any directory or for that matter even ask the person his/her identity. She wanted to apologise..but for what?for all the mess she created?
   She wanted to resume 'friendship' with Jack. Friendship in this context is so flexible that it was used by her to indicate a pseudo-relationship i.e a relationship where Jack is something more than a friend but less than a boyfriend.
   Jack was stumped. He was left astonished at she coming back to him after such a bitter exchange of words.  Things were only getting too complicated..but there was a solution which Jack was blinded from...he still had some affinity for her..she too had it..but she had options..she was spoilt by options while he never did so..
Jack waited for answers..WHY ALL THIS? was something he wanted to know..
                                                                                                                               PART3

Ravaging love!

PART-01

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       He had never harboured any feelings for a girl while she wasn't alien to harbouring feelings for a boy. She was opportunistic, he was shy. She was shrewdly expressive, he choose to be foolishly silent and dumped his feelings for anyone. He was a great man with many qualities of a gentleman while she was the only one who could understand his heart's predicament of being coy. He never approached her, she did.
        Lucy was already committed to a person who was unforgivingly taking advantage of her. She had feelings which she had to be accountable to. Leaving him wasn't an option but staying with him wasn't working out either. Her quandary was complex for which she had no solution. People who mattered to her the most had asked her to just leave him for his rummaging behaviour. She could not, she wanted someone else to replace the resulting void.
            Jack was a person of gentle nature and chose to be under the covers. Jack and Lucy were in the same class. Jack and Lucy had many things in common and they became good pals. Jack, owing to his nature knew one thing for sure that he must never cross the line. Lucy on the other hand wanted to somehow end her nerve-wrecking relationship with her boyfriend...afterall she was opportunistic.
           She played it well. Without Jack sensing the breeze of she coming close to him each day, she made sure to impress Jack by her nature of understanding every aspect of his. Afterall, she was a 'good friend' of Jack. Jack was too oblivious to all this and he somehow enjoyed somebody caring for him this way for the first time. By virtue of his nature, he would make sure that he always respected Lucy in every possible manner(as he did with other women). Lucy was beginning to enjoy the unfettered attention she got and she made herself feel special. They would often talk about their views on life, interests and they seemed to strike a cord with each other.
      Jack couldn't sense what it was. He still considered Lucy to be his very good friend. For him, sharing and caring was restricted to 'friendship'. Being a slave to her own feelings, Lucy couldnt withhold herself from expressing it to Jack. Jack needed time, he would take time but come up with rational decisions. He always thought about the future. He did not want to hurt Lucy.
    Lucy was getting impatient with each passing day. Time was flowing by and JAck was still pondering. After about a 20 days Jack said 'yes'. Things did go well but Jack observed one thing about her, she was pretty negative. She always thought of being alone but she had feelings for him. She also had feelings for her ex-boyfriend. Can a girl feel for two people at a time? the answer is pretty clear. Owing to the long  time Jack took, she got an option to evaluate her proposal Such was her confusion, she was playing with herself.
    Jack unconditionally loved her. It was his nature to fulfill every commitment of his. He meant what he spoke and he tried to keep her as happy as possible. But isn't a man spoilt by choices...she enjoyed being with him....but wanted some more events to spice up her life..he was enamored by her nature..he was intensely involved with her..he craved for her..he thought she was it..she was his destiny..

One body, many faces.

               Am I talking about any supernatural forces? Am I talking about any mythological figure here? Well, friends, not necessary that such titles point to something "super"human. I am talking about us, common human beings as described in any biology book(:p). I insinuate at human beings having one body but different natures with different people.
    Isn't it so common to be one's best by being obedient in front of seniors at office and at the same time being our true self in front of one's loved ones? "He/she is my boss, how can I say this to him/her";"She is my girlfriend/wife and I HAVE THE RIGHTS to share everything with her" are the common selected quotes I hear at times. While there is nothing wrong in such things, it made me wonder on this issue. At office, if our boss berates us, we can do nothing but listen with a patient ear or else voice our opinions in a very mild and 'respectful way'. Be the same case with our loved ones, we are on our marks to bombast him/her anytime even though the mistake might be ours at times. It's as if we are programmed to behave in a way according to circumstances and people.
    This behavioural change is also observed with one's friends. We are at times so casual, caring at  loose with them. Be it any small and trivial issue, we help them and value them. Its a different domain altogether. Be it your loved one, you can either be more caring than this or can be looser than this. I have also observed some people being gentlemen to their acquaintances and at the other hand being the total opposite to their close ones/family members. What makes a person so different?
  When I pondered on this issue for sometime, I felt emotions could be an explanation. I have elaborated on this in the article titled Emotions. We don't have the same kind of emotions towards everyone. When it comes to our loved ones, he/she is very close to our heart, so we are at our best(or worst maybe, depends).We have a lot of expectations which we expect to be fulfilled at some or the other point. We fight/crib crave because he/she provides an emotional space. When it comes to our boss, we dont have any great emotional attachment(as with our loved ones) and we hence be formal and our professional best. It is hence said, professional and personal lives be kept different because the intersection of these can be catastrophic.
     When I talk of 'many faces', I cannot miss people who are actually double-faced. They will be their sweetest self in front of you but even more venomous behind your back. Their disguise is too perfect to find any imperfections or catch them red-handed.  Such people are master-gamers and all they see is their 'profit' in every relationship. Prima-facie it seems that these people are devoid of emotions or have learnt to live a transactional life.  They have no room for genuine emotions or one might say, they have learnt to let go of it. Somewhere,or in some life they surely realise that such 'fakeness' doesn't work and that the pleasure of experiencing such third grade activities is nothing as compared to genuinely caring for someone, showering her/him with emotions. God be with such people and bless them soon enough.
   So,coming back to the main theme, let me ask you "who are you?"you are one person with many faces...one who loves someone, one who cares for someone, one who gets angry at someone, one who is far too sincere to someone and one who is daringly insincere sometimes.One who agrees to everything with some people and one who never fails to disagree with some people.
Life is the greatest irony, isn't it?
While writing this article, I wondered on this question: can emotions be so damaging that it leads to reckless and rash behavior with loved ones sometimes?What makes it so damaging?     

Charity exudes dependency

             Being philanthropic is not very uncommon these days. People have made large amounts of money and then turned to charity. While the word exudes positive vibes prima facie, it is all about maintaining the dependency on the mood of the people who actually donate money. There is nothing wrong in charity and it is done with good intentions but the real question is whether it is the ultimate solution to all problems. Will filling up the money deficit be a solution to poverty and other issues?
          Money cannot buy everything; it applies here too. Giving out charity is like doling out schemes which gives out free benefits to the needy.I dont think it sums up correctly. A little more introspection on what they require is needed. From a philosophical point of view, we are bestowed the fruits of our actions. So, if we need to earn, we need to learn and work. Being dependant on somebody's whims and wishes all the time is not a very great idea.
       Let me take up an example. Let us suppose the existence of a family of three; Father,Mother and Son. Let us also assume that they are super rich so much so that the next 3 generations can easily survive on the wealth accumulated. They have two methodologies to bring their son up
Method 1:      
Tell their son that they have amassed ample wealth and that he need not work and lead a cosy life. Though its not tagged as charity, parallels can be drawn. Their son is given everything at no cost and he will never realise the effort to make a fortune such as that.The son will lead an indolent life, making use of all the perks without realising how others are competing and sweating blood to get it. If the father suddenly changes his mind somewhere in between what will the son do? Isn't the son at the mercy of his fathers wishes? That seems to be a terrible dependency. Can he survive in the blaring competition outside if chucked out of his father's shade?NO.
Method 2:
Educate their son with the wealth amassed in some top class university. Encourage him to study and earn a living. Making their son realise what life is and that earning to make a living is not all that easy as it seems.Never let their son splurge wealth and make him realise the value of money. So basically instead of free charity, work towards creating an independent environment for the son. So that when he faces the world outside, he has an identity and can survive without roping in his fathers resources.
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Which is a good option people? The second one has a strong base and can tackle most adversities in life. Providing the necessary skillset is required and not freebies. Becoming a Managing Director of company requires the person to have worked for so many years and it takes a strong base to reach to that level and make decisions. A person who has come up with nepotism will never be able to do justice to the chair he occupies and will eventually have to give up.So, in everything, skills count more than anything else.
    Charity provides you the end result directly(money) and developing a base provides you avenues to earn money. Let us take one more step ahead and monitor how these resources are used. As also our contributions must be used judiciously for developing these individuals into self-dependant people. As, donor's we need to be accountable as to where our money goes and actively participate rather than passive participation restricted to just money donation.If one has decided to take a step ahead, let it not be half-hearted.
Lets collectively take efforts to make THE ROOTS OF THE TREE strong rather than focusing on how GREEN THE LEAVES CAN BE MADE. Without a strong root even the best quality and shining leaves have no place to house themselves.
GOOD DAY TO ALL OF YOU!

FOR #indispire31:-
Charity or Empowerment? Are charitable donations to feed and house the poor really the way out of the mire of poverty or do NGOs need to focus more on skill development? Should we as donors be more proactive rather than merely donating money?

The sound of silence

               She was petite and vivacious. She never spoke much but her eyes conveyed it all. Meet Priya, a 22 year old teenage girl stuck in the whirlpool of perplexities. At this age, it is pretty common to get confused and to find things enticing. She had just graduated and found herself a decent job.She preferred the company of books rather than people. WHen she was with a book, it was an outpour of all that had happened in her life. Such was the love for books that she was ready to make reading as her profession rather than anything else. Bitten by fear of finding herself nowhere, she chose to keep this wish in the box and took up a job with a reknowned IT firm.
   Raj too was in the same company. He was an assertive, expressive guy who wouldn't hesitate to go ahead and voice his opinions. Infact, he would be ready on one leg for stage performances and taking up initiatives.He was a garrulous person and sometimes, he would be over-expressive and modest by asking others to excuse him for being so. He had certain people in his life who were 'prone' to his habit of being this way. They knew one thing that he would not hesitate a moment to help them and hence let go all of his habits of being over-expressive and too true.
     It was day 1, Raj was excited for getting a job of his interest while Priya was excited for the uncertainties which this job had to offer.  Raj was a focussed guy, his main ambition was spawning something innovative for the society to use. He wanted to use his knowledge for the betterment of the society and this being his first professional endeavour, he was in a paradise. There was something about Priya which often enticed him, he found her to emit an aura which struck him. Raj was an exception to his own personality when going ahead and talking to a girl. He was conceived to be a shy person with a  foreboding instinct. He would be defiant to his own feelings and never initiate a conversation with her.
     Priya was an ambiguous personality, Raj never found her being garrulous to people outside her set of friends. Like Priya, Raj too read a lot of books; infact he loved being in the company of books rather than his friends but just unlike Priya there were other things he loved apart from books.
  One fine day, as he finally garnered the guts to talk to her, he started walking where she stood. Just when he was about to reach her there came this voice, "Hey whats up Priya, hope things are going good."He immediately changed his track and went on to some other work. This happened umpteen times.

   It was almost a month and nothing had happened. It was a day when rain God had dominated the earth when he was walking home. Drenched in  his own directionless and confused thoughts, he noticed her to be walking on the other side of the road alone. He mustered courage and said, "Hi I am Raj, your good name?"there were sirens and drums beating inside him. "I am Priya",she said. Raj said, "could we go to the station together if you dont mind?"she did agree but with an silent appeal to be left alone. All along the journey she never looked at him but choose to stare her flickering mobile screen. Once when their glances met(for quite an amount of time), Raj could see something more to it than what it was. Raj sensed that she knew that Raj had liked her but wished to play careful by not leaving any hints outwardly. That one glance and he could see an ocean of emotions in her just like a book which is so silent but has volumes to speak to the reader on being read; emotions which are of a grandiose magnitude to be expressed requires something more than speech and confessions. Raj could understand it all but his shyness and premonitions never allowed him to understand what is to be understood. He, inspite of being so open to the outer world, was just finding avenues to prove that what he was seeing is not what he should perceive.
 
 Though they had so many common things to talk about, he could not just not talk, but that one glance spoke so much about her own inhibitions. He had his own interpretation of that look..
"Look, there is something but I am not the one who approach people. Dont mistake me for being egoistical. I am really struck by your persona but require time.This is something I could hide from you by speech but my eyes fail to do so.. I hope you understand.."
 Hadn't her silence spoken volumes?
Isn't there a sound to silence?What do you think?

Book review: TO SIR,WITH LOVE

Details:

TITLE: To sir, with Love.

AUTHOR: E.R. Braithwaite

GENRE: Autobiography

Background: 

Well, after a few thrillers, I wanted to read something which could touch me and move me emotionally. I searched and searched and after reaching a saturation point, I was about to give up. Then I came across this classic and thought of giving it a shot. To Sir, With love as you may all have guessed is a very intuitive,deep-rooted and touching story. It is about  how a person overcomes impediments faced by  being a black and a teacher in a school filled with brats.Not that it is a new novel but I am reviewing it so that people of today come to know about it and do read it.

The plot:

E.R. Braithwaite is black by complexion. Living in briton and facing the heat for being black, he is rejected for job offers at various engineering endeavours. What is in the colour? Just because a person is black, should he be subjected to a different kind of treatment?

    E.R Braithwaite is an apt engineer and qualifies for many challenging jobs. Wherever he goes, he is rejected because of the color of his skin. Employers, often convinced by his knowledge would often put him down and spin a yarn to reject him. After some episodes, he finally enrolls himself in a dreaded school as  teacher,the school being apparently notorious for the brazen defiance of its students.

   Now he doesn't only have to overcome his apparent inferiority obstacles but also the rebellious attitude of his students. His students obviously throw barbs at him. Many Teachers had failed to pacify them for their rebellious behaviour. E.R was determined, he wasn't going to give up; No sooner did he strike an emotional cord with all the students than did the students gradually start getting along with him.It also reaches a point where he gets personally involved with issues which his students face. He gradually feels accountable for his students action and consider them as a part of his. Thats the level of attachment he develops inspite of all the barriers. It also vaguely depicts emotions of a girl who hints at liking him for all his traits that she would blindly accept and listen to his advises.

       He also falls in love with a white woman who is a co-worker in the same school. Wonder of wonders, not only did he overcome the complexion issues but also convinced her parents for their marriage. Her parents come up with a pragmatic view regarding the obstacles they might face. The story culminates with all his students giving him a present with....TO SIR, WITH LOVE...written on it.

My verdict:

Marvellous, is the first word coming to my mind when i read this book. It managed to touch me with its deep message. Life comes with struggles from the womb for many, just because of their colour in some areas while some other paratmeters in other parts. When human tries to discriminate a person not on the basis of his knowledge but his colour, creed; when his judgement becomes prejudiced and he tries to call himself a human, lies the greatest irony. The way he gels with the students which even certain white teachers fail to do so is worth it. This reasserts the central theme of the book. The book proves that emotions are oblivious to the color of the skin.

BEST PART:

"Things are easier said than done."  The author reasserts this. Many raise a voice against discrimination but when it comes to implementation, they still have reservations.

WORST PART:

From an emotional point of view, it was terrible reading about the kind of prejudiced judgements he was subjected to.

Final word:

Strongly recommend reading this novel. Maybe one can finish it off in one go.

The ambiguous relationship between maturity and age.

               "You are small and are not matured", these are the most common words uttered by a "matured" adult to anyone junior. There is an underlying assumption that increased maturity is only accounted for by the age of a person. I decided to give it a bit more thought rather than blindly accepting what people had to say.
        Though I do not deny the fact that maturity increases with age, but not in all cases.Quite frankly, sometimes I have this inherent feeling that these people throw barbs through such comments. When they have no explanation for something you just asked, you must immediately take note of the fact that they are matured and must cease enquiring further. Some smart people will aptly answer "Dear, you need to see this world to understand things". They will dismiss one's reasonable and sometimes logical opinion by uttering the same sentence. Now since the young budding guy/girl hasn't lived that amount of time, he/she has to
surrender.
       We are victims to a 'generational understanding difference'. Our elders have lived a simple lives mostly, preferred to keep things uncomplicated and valued things more than we do. There is a lot of difference in thinking between the youth of today and a generation earlier. Partly I think, the difference in opinion arising out of these transitions may be at loggerheads. While we find ourselves pretty receptive to concepts, quick witted and quickly forgiving, they are all what we are not; atleast this is what is the line of thought. We dispose off things so quickly whilst the generation above is is still cherishing things they acquired that time. The generation earlier thinks of this generation to be callous, careless and daring. Since these attributes are associated with us, they have a feeling that we cannot take care of ourselves and that only they were born to live a life filled with dept and realisation.
       I find these assumptions to not be perfectly correct. The people of the earlier generation are prone to the habit of generalisation. Based on a few experiences here and there, they generalise everything and also relate to each person of the younger generation to be callous,careless and unnecessarily brazen. When we question the very basics of things which they follow, they are threatened and give out explanations which are highly abstract and does not address the issue.It's a diplomatic reply
.
       So, when such differences exist, people in power will always try to undermine the lower rung ones giving the number of years they lived as a reason for we not grasping things. I would also vehemently state that yes, experience is a good teacher but learning from someone else's experience is better.There are many things we can learn from you as also things which you can learn from us.Talking about experience, there are myriad things which younger generation of these days experience which you, at your time did not. So maybe, you also have things to learn. With time competition has increased manifold, relationships are made and broken faster. These all things give the younger generation a perspective which maybe you dont have.Though not all things are green, they nevertheless provide a perspective to judge things and add to our experience.
    With this blog, I appeal to all those to be clear to the younger generation by breaking all shackles of formal relationships and foster an open minded conversation.
Dear elders, enrich our lives by sharing your experiences with us so that history does not repeat itself as also we evolve in this journey of life.Let us not think about who is born before and after, for this cycle is an endless one and someday, even we will be elders.I say ,elders, make us respect you by your attitude by rationality and love. I have always respected people who have never openly forced me to respect them.There exists no border for thoughts, neither any personnel to defend it for thoughts are beyond the realm of all physical shackles. This world needs thoughts and rationality for peace and not brute force. On this note, let us open the floodgates and break all shackles.So adults, are you ready?

   

Betrayed!

      " Conflagrating forests, starving friends,mass destruction; many of my friends were bludgeoned to death. He brought me to a house which had four walls. A restricted area; these "people" prefer themselves to be engulfed by the walls they build on their own. They call my house a kennel. They fascinatingly coin a term for just everything so that they could blurt it out when amongst other people to show their knowledge. My owner had taken me to a party once and there he was apparently ranting about all the complexities involved in keeping me alive and the associated expenses. Well, Mr Owner, do you know how much expensive it is to the nature to hold you? These people are the greatest irony, they want restricted areas to live but unrestricted imagination,ultimate security for themselves at the cost of insecurity of a many, want to be titled the most intelligent creatures of this earth but doing insane acts like devaluing emotions, they create huge structures but small hearts.
    You might wonder why am I on a tirade mode today. While I tell you I might be breathing the last few breaths of my life, I just hope Ill be able to complete."

    "Servitude had been always been in my veins. mind you servitude with loyalty of the purest form.Once he took me to the beach near my house. They have intelligently coined a term for this too named it after some human as if they were the owners of everything. They forget that this world is cohabited with so many creatures far greater than the population of theirs. They want dominance. Anyways,coming back to my point, he took me there and promised to come back to me after running an errand. Guess what, he never came back, he left me languishing there at the mercy of the tides which struck black and blue. It was a rainy day and I somehow managed and slipped my feet out of that place. I was a well groomed dog with bushy hair and wonderful eyes; it made me wonder, have humans lost respect for beauty? the object which they persuade for all the pleasures they desire? Freedom of speech is what they sponsor but when I barked in the night in one of the streets helplessly making an appeal to my master to come back, I was subject to tyranny.You play music at night loudly its okay, cant I be expressive and call out to my master? They injected me with some chemical and made me unconscious. As  they took me to a "hospital", someone blurted "What a nuisance, but because these creatures exist we are having our job". I couldn't believe it, the cheap mentality they have.They seem to be the epitome of selfishness. Look at me, I, notwithstanding the jeopardy to my life,  serve my master ready to even fight a tiger knowing that I am bound to loose. Will he do that for me?"
       "Said enough? well, yes..I dont think what these people are upto is intelligence in any sense..as they left me deserted and at the mercy of God, one day, in one birth, their soul will experience the same and then they will come to know the grief which one has to undergo.", as he said all this, he passed away and the doctors failed in their half hearted attempt to save him.The doctors tried only because they were bound by some law of the land against cruelty "but who is bothered, arent so many humans loosing their lives, we arent able to save them, why to save dogs?"said one doctor and got back to his work.
Ever imagined what animals could have told us? If we have violence, lack of peace as our problems being from the same race, they have greater things to rant about. We must let everyone have their space in life. Let us keep upto our intelligence and contribute to the well being of those wonderful souls out there.

I would like to end this blog on a quote
"Save a life, be it human or any other for the soul that lives is nothing but the energy which is oblivious to the form"
/*on a lighter note, excuse the grammatical errors, its a dog's speech afterall..:p*/
Good day to all of you!

The Last Wish

             Ryan was a singing prodigy.At the age of 7 his baritones would be the most melodious. He belonged to a middle class family and his father was a normal 9-5 office goer.  "Dad, cant we raise ourselves above this banal job. How do you work, I can hardly manage to be a witness to what you do"said Ryan, to this his father would reply "Son, my life has passed in this manner. I think God has given us enough to eat and sleep and we must be thankful for these instead of cribbing about what we dont have." Ryan was a believer of this thought 'We are only limited by the limits we set' and quite lugubriously he would discard his father's contentedness with such a life.
      Inspite of differences in opinion, Ryan always adored his father. He always looked upto him for advice, his dad was a role model for him. He had often heard people saying,  "Your dad is a great learned man and and so many of us look upto him for advises". This nourished Ryan's respect for his dad. He would inform his dad about all the accolades he always got. In class 7, he won the first prize in singing in the state level.Later on, in class 10, he got an offer for playback singing for a film. He would often be dismayed that his dad would never truly appreciate and consolidate for his achievements. This pinched him and he lay bare and incomplete albeit with all the achievements he had. He was never totally contended.
      Ryan often went out with his father for many social gatherings. There they met myriad people and he noticed one peculiar thing. His dad would be the one who showered numerous adjectives in praise of his friends whose achievements were not that great as his. He was always dismayed at all he saw. He would be pensive and  wondered "Why doesn't dad praise me and why is he so extrovert in this aspect with others." He felt wretched and shed tears but to no avail.He neither wanted to ask his dad and then superficially and forcefully gain praises from him. He wanted his dad to be open to him from his heart.
      Time passed by, but his expectations always remained unfulfilled. He became a great playback singer and was approached for majority of films for his melodious voice. He was adulated by many but none of them ever bought him the boundless joy which he wanted to experience.He had all the success and money to his credit. He rose above banality and did something which got him and his family fame. His father would be accosted by random people to shower praises about his son. What his father replied was a mystery for him.
    Ryan was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer at the age of 34 and doctors had already surrendered him to the mercy of Lord. When he lay at the hospital, his dad came to him and said,
 "Son, it is a matter of greatest disgrace for a father to see his son give up his life infront of his eyes.I remember the days when you took your first steps.My elation knew no bounds when you won a playback offer in 10th grade.I remember how I scolded you to study well and my little genius managed everything perfectly.Now, I remember the days when I admonished you for small things; I dont regret that for these admonitions never let you stray from your path. but it makes me nostalgic.I considered myself to be stone hearted but this day I lay bare with emotions. Dear, you have melted the stone in me. You know, when people accost me anywhere, they address me as Ryan's father. Tell me dear son, what could a father demand more from a son. Its a matter of pride my dear, you have done what I could never do. Son, I am proud of you. "
(after this long speech his father started crying..it was like he somehow managed his fluid speech to convey whatever he had to)
"Daddy, daddy......."Ryan was panting and he had to be urgently taken to the ICU. "Sir he is in a critical condition", blurted one of the doctors.Ryan held his breath till he could see his dad for one moment and complete his words. He requested the doctors to call his dad inside and they did so.
"Dad all these years, inspite of my achievements, I always had a sense of incompleteness. The whole world adulated me for my talent and skills but I only wanted one person to shower praises for feeling happy and contended to the fullest. I always craved for your praises and encouragement and today when I am in the arms of death I seem to be getting it....Dad.....dad..."Ryan was on the cliff of loosing his life"Thank you dad..you...you...fulfilled my...MY LAST WISH". On that terrible night which his father never forgot, Ryan had been launched into eternity.
     One fine day,in the quest to find his son in the stars, his father gazed above in the sky and spotted one bright star and said "Son, I wanted you to keep going all way and not become stagnant by the praises which I could have given. I hope you understand"..the star twinkled...   

Unexpressed!

                 "I am Maya" were the first words Rakesh had heard from her. In a class of 40, he found her to be a bit different from others. In what way, he himself could not fathom. Rakesh had only known that women were  "different kind" of beings than men in that they had long hair and often had some adjective called "beautiful" associated with them. He was pretty innocent, being in standard 9.
            Maya too had a similar reaction like him. While he was introducing himself, he became the victim of Maya's unflickering stare.He did not know about this . Both of them were in oblivion regarding their feelings towards each other(it was still nascent).  Rakesh and Maya could not fathom  this alien link which they shared.Nevertheless, they enjoyed this world of acknowledged silence. In their silence lay tons of messages yet to be decoded.
       They matched gazes and stole glances at each other increasingly with time. They had a wish to be inconspicuous to the whole world but still conspicuous w.r.t each other.
   One year passed by in similar fashion and nothing had changed. Words were not given its due importance to their relationship yet. Rakesh was hesitant even to go and talk to her. Maya was tired of these things but at the same time wanted to be expressive about this to her friends. One fine day she blushed in front of her friends when they took his name. She inadvertently said , "I and Rakesh are committed". She learnt this from one of her elder siblings who would often talk about commitment and marriage. When she heard her sister say this she could somehow feel good about Rakesh taking the place of the man she wants to get committed to.
     Maya's unrequited commitment statement was something which even Rakesh did not know. Rakesh was taken aback when one of their mutual friends pulled his leg by stating what Maya had told her friends. He did not respond to this comment and only expressed his oblivion regarding this. Perhaps, he was feeling elated from inside that someone liked him that way but he hadn't realised what it actually is. He just wanted to avoid all "this".

   Then came standard XI, where people face a paradime shift from school life to college life.Rakesh had tacitly hoped that Maya would not be a part of this college for them to match gazes and steal glances at each other. Perhaps he did not want to acknowledge his abstract emotions or his feelings were yet too immature to understand all this. Some part of him clearly asserted that she be away from this college for the better.
    He was confidently striding towards the gate of his college when he saw her entering with him. The gate was narrow so he could clearly make out who she was even in the foggy atmosphere. It was Maya and now he was in an uncomfortable position and clearly did not know whether to greet her or not. He somehow did not want to acknowledge her presence. She too had similar thoughts. She was feeling her heart-beats rising and the better of her asked her to keep words at bay. "Why did she come here man", Rakesh told one of his friends."Don't worry Rakesh, Just a matter of two years. Just don't pay much attention and do your job"blurted one of his friends.

      They were placed in different classes and that put Rakesh at ease. It made things difficult for Maya because she always wanted to see him once in a while. She managed to make some friends in Rakesh's class and somehow managed to give her eyes a feast atleast once by dropping by his class during lunch breaks. Rakesh would gush out of the class when he noticed her.
    Two years passed by and they never crossed their ways after junior college. One fine day, one of their mutual friends informed Rakesh about her tying the nuptial knot with some guy. Rakesh was happy that this happened but he still wasnt sure about his own feelings all these years. What was it that lay unexpressed all the time?

Towards a zestful life...

     The title says it all. Zest is the  supreme quality when it comes to achieving success and no matter how big your dreams are, it finally comes down to your will, to your physically non-existential will to be precise, to do things. Everyone of us have some or the other situation,people who give us the necessary zest to succeed and surprisingly, it hasn't have to be positive all the time; for me negative things have also added zest in my life by creating a void which only greater things could have filled up. I consider life to be a surface which maybe irregular and with depressions in certain patches; but these depressions do not exist for a long time. If depressions exist either you perish or live by filling up the depression. I'd like to share five scenarios which lights me up:

                                             Presence of like-minded people: 

Like minded people, the kind of people who have the same electric charge as yours. If you go right, they'd also prefer going right. These people are the ones who make us feel at home when we are alienated in a particular place.I still remember the times in my college when I used to get a bit sullen owing to the environment there and wouldn't interact much. I inhabited this feeling of loneliness since I felt that no-one thinks the way I do, hardly pursue things which I do and then I met a person who had thought the same way I did and then we had a plethora of topics to discuss. In that sullen environment, the presence of a single like minded person adds considerable life and zest to any situation.  

                                                Presence of positive people: 

Optimism has always been a key factor which provides the necessary nitro boost to keep the car running in the long race.If any of you have played Need for Speed, there existed a concept of Nitro-Boosters, Optimism is like a Nitro-booster where the race has participants who are optimists,pessimists and extreme realists; optimism gives the necessary boost which helps overtake even the fastest bike in the race. The best thing to learn from optimists is how they succeeded inspite of the impediments they had. Considerably adds to my zest. Positivity is always associated with zest.

                                              Presence of a motivating leader: 

Sometimes, all you need is motivation. You might be the best engineer in the planet but without proper motivation, you are as good as a confused average engineer who is stammering to get things done. Brain ceases to support owing to the dull environment.
 Impossible has been achieved by people who have had a good leader nearby. A zestful leader can take you to the darkest dungeons and make you believe, against your senses, that there exists light and you never know, you have already crossed that dungeon thinking so. Such is the power of a leader.

                                   Being Happy and making others Happy:

 I like being happy and making others happy. Happiness is such a good feeling that it adds life to even the darkest of situations. There is no definition of happiness as such. I get happiness by seeing someone smile, by being in a place where there's a lot of greenery, sometimes by being solitary,sometimes by breathing fresh and non polluted air early in the morning. The spectrum of happiness in my dictionary is too huge but surely being happy myself and spreading happiness is an idyllic scenario for me.

                                   Presence of people with conflicting opinions: 

Having written the first point, it seems quite strange to write this point which is the total opposite. I find this to be a necessary condition in growing.Even a stable democratic government needs an opposition for smooth functioning. When you face opposition, you face either of the two situations:
     i)You are driven to prove them wrong.
    ii)You learn something out of it.
The first case is a clear situation where one is motivated and the second case is where one learns something new.This is one of the situations which adds zest to my life. Isn't it refreshing?
  So guys, what is your zest mantra??

This post is a part of the #ZestUpYourLife activity in association with TATA Zest and BlogAdda.com




The beauty of fiction

            

    Fiction has allured scores of people over the years. Fiction has helped many authors make a living, fiction has helped us to reach areas which are considered remote according the realms of reality. Fiction has helped some authors showcase the power of words which they possess to make the experience nerve-gripping. I haven't based any of my articles on fiction but have read many blogs where authors so lucidly and vividly describe some surreal circumstances. To understand fiction, a person needs a mind which says "There is world beyond mundaneness".
      Reality can never second the old adage of "Nothing is impossible". In our real world, we are often impaired by our limitations of seeing,listening,sensing things. Yes, you got it right, these are an impediment according to me. I term them so because they widely limit our thinking to whats called actually possible. No doubt that today our race has made a mark on the moon. Long before it could be turned into reality, we had already made our mark on the moon fictionally. It is fiction which initiated and heralded a spark in us which is today responsible for this milestone by human race. We are still physically putting in efforts to determine the end of the 'infinite' universe. Well, I have already reached the end and have also seen its creation. It is imagination to be more precise, the premier component of fiction which defies all laws and breaks all the shackles. There exists no manacle for the hands of fiction.  I sometimes wondered, how to restrain thoughts just like a person who is jailed. Is there a way?After hours of being pensive all I could infer is that "there exists no non-existential(because thoughts are themselves physically non-existential) chain to restrain our thoughts".
     Somebody has rightly said that 'a particular thing is realised twice, once in the mind and once in reality'(words may not be exact as the quote). For the latter to happen, we must let the first stage to really 'materialise'. All great inventions can be considered to be "fiction" once upon a time when people could only imagine talking to each other with them resting in different continents and united by a wire carrying electrical signals; the telephone which is now a reality.
   I feel that fiction is the precursor to reality. Some of you might still think of situations where realisation of the same is next to impossible. One of the situations might be humans declaring to have reached the end of universe and interacting with other extraterrestrial beings as depicted in numerous movies. The "fictional" part in me clearly shows a affirmative feeling. For me there exists nothing coined as bizarre, everything is possible, everything can be done first in the mind...and then finally, someday, experienced.
    Unexpressed fiction is the ultimate freedom a man can have, he can surely do all the bizzare things in his mind and no force but himself/herself can only stop or oppose his/her actions. So, let the MS Paint of your mind be active and let you all paint something which you wish to see true, someday.
I would like to end this blog on a quote:

"Whatever the mind of a man can conceive and believe, it can achieve"
-Napolean Hill

Let me know about the fictional stories you have written!
GOOD DAY TO ALL OF YOU!

Fakerisms

   Well...well..well.. Did I keep you wondering on the title of my blog? Any guesses? take a chance one more time? Fine, lets me break the ice, it means 'fake mannerisms'. It means to show to the world that one is well 'mannered'.For the sake of understanding let us consider mannerisms something more than etiquette's followed when we meet people. I mean to say that it is the value given to a particular relationship from the heart and to actually mean when they greet a person.
    There are so many people who say "Hello, nice meeting you" but hardly a handful of them mean what they speak when they follow the etiquette here. These dialogues have become so banal that we now utter them like machines do when we meet people either to match up to their status or to be as sweet as honey. Well, some innocent people are unable to realise this and think that they really mattered to these people.This apparent feeling of being valued is limited to only one meeting: once the meeting ends, the "strong-ties" come to a bleak end.
   A little more introspection into such people shows that these people are the epitome of being fake. They will show you green pastures only when they need your support to cling to. You must either be of some financial value or emotional value to them.Meeting them is a good experience altogether; their talks filled with embellished language to cajole preys out there. They will analyse each person by the value that person may provide in their lives and accordingly tailor talks to keep their record clean in his/her books. They will have no emotional attachment towards anybody whatsoever but they are master disguisers and will never let their true self show up.  These people will have two faces and to sets of friends; one set of friends to show to the other social beings out there with all sorts of fake interests and to create a fake high social image. The most jocular part is they may do 10 things which may seem modern apparently but their bases of such things are void.The second set of friends who actually stood by them during their tough times. The latter set of friends would never make it to their "parties" and other social gatherings. The worst part is that these people may not even bother to remember their well-wishers who stood by them like a pillar during high tides in their lives.

   These people are heralder's of fakerisms and they very well know how to lure others by talks and trap sane people for their own insane actions and purposes. I loathe such people to the fullest and feel that these people must be ripped off all the company they have at their disposal. They do not deserve anyone who is genuinely interested in friendship.These are the people who can never actually experience the joy of true friendship with anyone but can only maintain a ledger/balance sheet in life with one column containing people names and the other containing the "value" others contribute to their lives.Sometimes I even admire the "best-friends" of such people.Who knows this best friend might just be another person to just support this person so blindly in even all the wrong things he/she might be doing.
  So..so..so let me end this piece.It was surely a long one with
rancor directed to such fake people. The instant I see them, I am repelled miles away mentally. Someday, I wish to see such people out of this world so that the efforts I am taking to even keep them away is reduced and used for better purposes.
So, beware of fake people guys!!they are everywhere and you might be the next object of their interest, lured by their sweet mannerisms trap!
                                       GOOD DAY TO ALL OF YOU

The filthy rich but poor state of affairs!!

   It is morning 7:30 am IST and I and my friend are standing in anticipation of a bus at the stop. In a vast colony of ours, I can just hope that some bus might have gone inside the depot to later on make an appearance outside to ferry the customers to station. These buses are said to follow a timetable and are supposed to be on time like the local trains. The "Fixed" time actually is "variable". Sometimes the "standard deviation" is too much and sometimes astonishingly too less. I get a bus after these calculations only to know that I have no seat to sit but a comfortable place for my legs to hold the weight of my body.
 After a half an hour journey with my friend, we reach the station and this is where things are more disordered though the timings are fixed and sacrosanct. Every train does come on time, does its duty diligently of ferrying customers but customers fail to care for the services provided. In this case it is assumed that money paid is a big favour done. This is not the attitude which people portray or would express but something which their actions speak. "Macho-ism" here is something which is not based on one's character and actions but more on one's habits and appearance. People consider the whole of the country as a "wash-basin" since hardly there are any restrictions on spitting and every man has an extended right of "right to spit".
The railway tracks are a victim to this phenomenon. They are filled with so much filth and dirt that it is hardly bearable. People have become active doers but passive observers, what I say by this is that we act very easily, may it be any action but the effects of such actions are something which nobody wants to even observe or bring to notice or for that matter improve. One glance at the tracks will show many plastic bags, sometimes some bad spit stains which are considered to be "normal". From the person's perspective who has spit can consider himself/herself a hero figure since he did this action and there was not a single person to stop him/her in doing so.Behind him maybe 10 other passive commentors who would not publicly ask him to mend his ways but might abuse him internally for his insanse actions."Akhir me kaun jhagda karega aur jhanjat mei padega, ek ke sudharne se desh nahi sudharta(At the end who wants to fight and why to get into trouble and just improving one person will not improve a country)" is what people use as a standard "comment and logic" to refrain from correcting the person or questioning his/her actions.People, with this logic end up getting a false satisfaction a  reason for their actions. Owing to this attitude today, the not only the tracks in India but also the streets are filthy with garbage lying on roads, in certain areas(I see the condition slightly improving these days, feel good).
One more dirt is the passive attitude of people in turning a deaf ear to such problems. As I mentioned above, as always there is a rat race for money and there is no mistake in it being so, mistake lies in considering  that paying money allows one to do as per his whims without fulfilling any of his/her responsibilities towards the country. People don't realise that money cannot buy him/her everything: money can surely buy a house but it cannot buy him/her environmental beauty which is complimentary with the house. As the environment is complimentary, so should be such duties and they must not be equated with money paid for a service.
   So, people are getting richer day by day in terms of money but we are still poverty struck when it comes to our social responsibilty. So, guys, human race can never be poverty-free, can it? If we ever have to experience any such time, let us not turn a deaf ear to all gross that is going around us and make this world a "rich" place to live in.
    Let us first understand the different shades of "poverty".
Lastly, I would like to end this blog on a quote
“You might be poor, your shoes might be broken, but your mind is a palace.”
-Frank McCourt

Is avoidance really a solution?

       Avoidance is said to be the main strategy which is adopted by humans to reach a truce to the problems which they face. I recently happened to wonder, is it really a solution to all issues? Does avoidance provide a permanent solution to the problems? What do you think?
       To start with, whenever I stated any problem which did not have a straight-forward solution, avoidance was suggested by people. It is the solution which, according to them, relieves a person of pondering about a problem which they have. At this very moment, I wondered, where does this problem go? The whole universe is balanced and there is no magic in problems vanishing away out of the blue. What should be done then? Let us take up the  process of food assimilation and overall digestion process of our body. Whatever food we ingest into our body is either absorbed and used for our life essential processes or excreted from our body, in this way there is always some process which defines each action performed. What if we imagined that the food we just ingested was avoided by our system and rejected for any process whatsoever. Just imagine now, where will this food go? It cannot be residing in the realms of our stomach all the time; it needs to vacate the space occupied by it to make room for the new food substances to nurture our body's health.
     Emotions are no different  and being emotionally healthy involves flushing out old emotions to make room for new and healthy ones.The unhealthy and vicious practice of people to generalise emotions based on a previous experience acts as a hindrance. After any bad experience, people often harbour these feelings(often negative) inside them, ignore them and are complacent that things are good with them; this complacency does not last much and the emotions which once they avoided surely hits back like a thunderbolt out of nowhere. Emotions have no physical existence and are abstract  and this makes things worse because we have no external tonic or any medication to help. The grandiose challenge, I believe is not an unhealthy body but unhealthy emotions. Having said all this, the best I could hope for is the presence of an excretion system for emotions. In this way, people realise how much filth they hold in their hearts.
    The first step to flush these emotions out of the system is accepting the fact that things have happened and letting go of the past for a better future. But wait, there is a catch here too, memories, they act like destructors of this process. People think what they experienced in the past to be way better than it actually was. This compels them to go back to the place where they came from to feel "secure". How can memories exaggerate things like this? If things were so better, they would never have taken a turn for the worse. With such destructive memories, they spoil their present and end up ruining their future prospects. People at the other end of such emotional people are smart enough to know this and take this to their advantage. So, in this discussion we found that avoidance of issues spawns memories which again backtracks our progress by 2 steps.
    I have explained the perplexities involved in avoiding a problem w.r.t emotions. However, this could also be extended to other domains, areas for a better life and healthy living.
     So, having said all this, I wish to ask all of you, do you see avoidance as a strategy to tackle your problems??