We walk together,
You and I,
With no pretence or sorrow.
The world around us stares and shakes,
Is it love that we see,
Or something else?
We laugh at them.
It’s beyond your grasp, is all we say.
Defying everything and everyone,
Laughter our only fuel,
We go on and on.
A majestic mountain obstructs our way,
Covered in snow,
It’s cold, it’s dark,
It’s the test you see, the world claims,
Pass this and see how it ends.
Our eyes meet,
No fear in them.
We smile and start the climb.
The frosty wind blows, with all its strength,
The frozen snow breaks at every step,
Our eyes can’t see, our feet can’t walk,
Yet we go on and on.
For days together, we fight the gods,
We refuse to give up, refuse to fall.
At long last, we see the sight,
The glorious summit, in front of our eyes.
We look at it, it stares at us,
We know this is the final step.
You leave my side, for a moment, you say,
Give me your hand; I shall reach the top,
And then I shall help you there.
You reach the peak, you look around:
The brilliant sights and the melodious sounds.
With a smile on your lips, you drift away.
It’s the moment, I tell myself.
Repulsed by your victory, the wind blows harder,
Its viciousness unmatched,
Help me, I shout.
My words don’t reach you, somehow,
Is it a delusion or for real, I cannot say.
The ground shakes, in a threatening way,
I look at you,
Intoxicated by the view, your blind eyes see the sights,
Your deaf ears hear the sounds,
Of victory, of glory and nothing else.
And then, I realize, the bitter truth.
The snow shatters with a final crack,
And I go on and on.
And the world below celebrates.
Your feat. Our fall.
Friday, November 20, 2009
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Play Fair!
Sports and India don’t really get along well. Of course it’s different for Cricket. When it comes to Cricket it is termed “religion” and it is claimed that,”…it unites all Indians…” etc.
The overall reaction to sport of any kind is disappointing and sad even though there are heated discussions and anger on news items like “India fails to qualify for Olympics in hockey” or “Sania Mirza knocked out in the first round of Wimbeldon”. At that point of time, that particular Hockey team or the Tennis player or the Boxer or the Shooter, in question, becomes useless. They are termed “one-time wonders” and are blamed to be more interested in endorsements and the glamour. It is ironical that an Olympic-disqualified Hockey team is what it takes to make people remember that Hockey (and not Cricket), is our national game.
But things are different for Cricket. People take interest in it, watch it, and cheer for the team. And the biggest thing, even though the team loses, people support it. There is disappointment of course. But it’s still Our Team. The players are Our Players. If a player is not playing well, fans do not lose faith in him. Fans all over the country motivate the team even after losing. When it comes to Hockey, no one has any clue about the team’s past performance. Hell, no one even knows what the names of the players are. All they care about is that they didn’t make it to that Big O and hence they are good-for-nothing bunch of losers who bring shame to the country by not qualifying. Why this sudden love for Hockey? It’s our “national game” yaar!
The only point I am trying to make here is, do not expect results from a task when you do not invest in it. Here, by investment I do not mean money, but motivation, support and cheer. A sport is not only about the sportsman spirit shown by the players but also that which is shown by the spectators. One has the right to brand a team useless, only when one had supported the team earlier. Then at least the disappointment is understood. You don’t give a shit about the sport. You don’t even know who the names of the players and then when you comment, that’s unacceptable. And that’s not fair. Just like it doesn’t matter who is playing, it shouldn’t matter who won. You need to support the team through the ups and downs else keep your comments to yourself!
The factor here is motivation or support. Take a simple example. You work in an office and your boss is a sadist (a Hari Sadu clone!). You slog like crazy; there is no proper equipment to assist you in your work. Yet, you make your ends meet and finish up the task given to you. You present it to your boss. If it’s good he won’t say a word. But if it’s bad he’ll yell at you, hurl all sorts of insults and threaten to fire you. How do you feel at that point? That’s exactly how the players feel when people do not cheer for them or motivate them, but yes they don’t think twice before finding the faults when the player(s) lose.
When the Indian Cricket Team wins even a minor tournament, the welcome they get when they come home is a sight to behold. Traffic jams, people surrounding the players’ vehicle(s), fans yelling from roof-tops. And the other Indian teams? Well they get their share of people, which is hardly one percent of what the cricketers get: handful of people, mostly the players’ family and friends, a representative of the federation related to that sport and a one-in-a-million fan.
Don’t get me wrong. I have nothing against Cricket. I am not saying leave Cricket and focus on other games. Of course not! But, even if fifty percent of the kind of spirit that is shown by the fans when it comes to Cricket is shown in other games, I am sure the players will be motivated to perform well. A better performance will lead to a better chance at winning games. And even if the team loses, the player(s) will try to give more and more to it, to win the next game. Because then, when they win, they will have a billion people to share it with. Even half a billion would do the trick. But the question is will even a quarter agree?
The overall reaction to sport of any kind is disappointing and sad even though there are heated discussions and anger on news items like “India fails to qualify for Olympics in hockey” or “Sania Mirza knocked out in the first round of Wimbeldon”. At that point of time, that particular Hockey team or the Tennis player or the Boxer or the Shooter, in question, becomes useless. They are termed “one-time wonders” and are blamed to be more interested in endorsements and the glamour. It is ironical that an Olympic-disqualified Hockey team is what it takes to make people remember that Hockey (and not Cricket), is our national game.
But things are different for Cricket. People take interest in it, watch it, and cheer for the team. And the biggest thing, even though the team loses, people support it. There is disappointment of course. But it’s still Our Team. The players are Our Players. If a player is not playing well, fans do not lose faith in him. Fans all over the country motivate the team even after losing. When it comes to Hockey, no one has any clue about the team’s past performance. Hell, no one even knows what the names of the players are. All they care about is that they didn’t make it to that Big O and hence they are good-for-nothing bunch of losers who bring shame to the country by not qualifying. Why this sudden love for Hockey? It’s our “national game” yaar!
The only point I am trying to make here is, do not expect results from a task when you do not invest in it. Here, by investment I do not mean money, but motivation, support and cheer. A sport is not only about the sportsman spirit shown by the players but also that which is shown by the spectators. One has the right to brand a team useless, only when one had supported the team earlier. Then at least the disappointment is understood. You don’t give a shit about the sport. You don’t even know who the names of the players and then when you comment, that’s unacceptable. And that’s not fair. Just like it doesn’t matter who is playing, it shouldn’t matter who won. You need to support the team through the ups and downs else keep your comments to yourself!
The factor here is motivation or support. Take a simple example. You work in an office and your boss is a sadist (a Hari Sadu clone!). You slog like crazy; there is no proper equipment to assist you in your work. Yet, you make your ends meet and finish up the task given to you. You present it to your boss. If it’s good he won’t say a word. But if it’s bad he’ll yell at you, hurl all sorts of insults and threaten to fire you. How do you feel at that point? That’s exactly how the players feel when people do not cheer for them or motivate them, but yes they don’t think twice before finding the faults when the player(s) lose.
When the Indian Cricket Team wins even a minor tournament, the welcome they get when they come home is a sight to behold. Traffic jams, people surrounding the players’ vehicle(s), fans yelling from roof-tops. And the other Indian teams? Well they get their share of people, which is hardly one percent of what the cricketers get: handful of people, mostly the players’ family and friends, a representative of the federation related to that sport and a one-in-a-million fan.
Don’t get me wrong. I have nothing against Cricket. I am not saying leave Cricket and focus on other games. Of course not! But, even if fifty percent of the kind of spirit that is shown by the fans when it comes to Cricket is shown in other games, I am sure the players will be motivated to perform well. A better performance will lead to a better chance at winning games. And even if the team loses, the player(s) will try to give more and more to it, to win the next game. Because then, when they win, they will have a billion people to share it with. Even half a billion would do the trick. But the question is will even a quarter agree?
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Taboo or Tomorrow's Truth?
Thou shalt not speak English.
Thou shalt not speak to a person of the opposite sex(Oh God!!)…er… gender.
Thou shalt not wear skirts or pants or anything which our Western counterparts wear.
Thou shalt not enter a mall or a pub, especially women (else we’ll beat the crap out of you.)
These are some of the rules which a handful of wannabe “Prime Ministers of India” want us to follow. Reason? Well, they want to stop the “westernization” of India (whatever does that mean!). They want a ban on the most ridiculous things ever. You have them coming on news channels and with a very serious face, they start commenting on how they feel youngsters aren’t following the Indian culture. And how the sight of a girl and a boy walking together holding hands and speaking English (seriously!) makes them sad, because it is anti-Indian. The moral brigade will beat up innocent girls just because they were in a pub, which is supposed to be against Bharat ki Sabhyata aur Sanskriti, and the Wannabe PM Brigade will support it. According to them, that is Indian culture-bashing up young girls who are enjoying themselves.
So for a moment I give in to their ridiculous demands and say that in India a young, working, unmarried girl should not go to a pub or a mall to have fun wearing indecent clothes (that includes skirts and jeans and t-shirts), children in schools should not study or speak, English, a girl should not see, talk or go shopping in a mall with a boy, pubs should hold a notice saying “Women not allowed”. But will the revised and updated version of Indian culture raise a voice for the girl who gets raped and murdered? Will it stop the men who molest a two year old girl, who doesn’t even know what is happening with her? Where are these men and their Indian culture when innocent men, women and little helpless children are burnt, hacked and slaughtered in the name of religion? Will it do justice to innocent victims like Aarushi Talwar and Neeraj Grover? Will it ever include real issues like education, poverty, population, female foeticide etc? I doubt whether the Wannabes would even comment on these issues.
If men having such thoughts are would-be-PMs, then what is going to happen to our future? On one hand we rejoice and boast about the progress of India, and on the other, a bunch of sadistic men are trying to put everything in the reverse gear and take us back to the Middle Ages. And considering the current voting trends and statistics, they just might be successful in doing so.
Indian culture is not the load of crap which a handful of idiotic politicians make up to get their fifteen minutes of fame. The two points, which are the essence of the Indian culture, are: Secularity and Democracy. But sadly, these two factors are disappearing gradually, giving way to the fake and unreasonable form of Indian culture. Secular India should not have people fighting on religious issues every now and then. Democratic India should not have an average turn out of only 50% during the Lok Sabha elections. I mean, if the trends continue, there might be a time where only 20% Indians vote and form the government and guess who’s Mr. Prime Minister? Our dear misogynist and sadistic Wannabe PM gang leader.
The most important question right now is who the hell are these 50% Indians who are trying to wreck our future? They are no different than the rest. Most of them are educated, employed and intelligent people. But casting a vote during elections is a big waste of time for them. They would rather enjoy their day off and sleep a little extra. A few of them don’t care because they are going to move out of the country and get themselves branded as NRIs, so voting is of no use for them. And the rest of them don’t give a shit. So they are ready to let a few bunch of people decide there future because voting, according to them, is a waste of time.
What they don’t understand is that the only way we can make ourselves be heard is if we choose a government who is willing to hear us out. How long will we keep hurling shoes on ministers to make them hear us? News channels, newspapers, magazines can help by bringing to our notice certain important issue. But at the end, it is upto us to choose a future. It can either be 50% for the favour of fake rotten Wannabes or a 100% for the favour of a happy, progressive and a transparent tomorrow. And the choice is ours. Should we just sit at a coffee shop and bitch about the government and politics, without voting or should we make an attempt to change things by doing the simplest of all things—vote.
Thou shalt not speak to a person of the opposite sex(Oh God!!)…er… gender.
Thou shalt not wear skirts or pants or anything which our Western counterparts wear.
Thou shalt not enter a mall or a pub, especially women (else we’ll beat the crap out of you.)
These are some of the rules which a handful of wannabe “Prime Ministers of India” want us to follow. Reason? Well, they want to stop the “westernization” of India (whatever does that mean!). They want a ban on the most ridiculous things ever. You have them coming on news channels and with a very serious face, they start commenting on how they feel youngsters aren’t following the Indian culture. And how the sight of a girl and a boy walking together holding hands and speaking English (seriously!) makes them sad, because it is anti-Indian. The moral brigade will beat up innocent girls just because they were in a pub, which is supposed to be against Bharat ki Sabhyata aur Sanskriti, and the Wannabe PM Brigade will support it. According to them, that is Indian culture-bashing up young girls who are enjoying themselves.
So for a moment I give in to their ridiculous demands and say that in India a young, working, unmarried girl should not go to a pub or a mall to have fun wearing indecent clothes (that includes skirts and jeans and t-shirts), children in schools should not study or speak, English, a girl should not see, talk or go shopping in a mall with a boy, pubs should hold a notice saying “Women not allowed”. But will the revised and updated version of Indian culture raise a voice for the girl who gets raped and murdered? Will it stop the men who molest a two year old girl, who doesn’t even know what is happening with her? Where are these men and their Indian culture when innocent men, women and little helpless children are burnt, hacked and slaughtered in the name of religion? Will it do justice to innocent victims like Aarushi Talwar and Neeraj Grover? Will it ever include real issues like education, poverty, population, female foeticide etc? I doubt whether the Wannabes would even comment on these issues.
If men having such thoughts are would-be-PMs, then what is going to happen to our future? On one hand we rejoice and boast about the progress of India, and on the other, a bunch of sadistic men are trying to put everything in the reverse gear and take us back to the Middle Ages. And considering the current voting trends and statistics, they just might be successful in doing so.
Indian culture is not the load of crap which a handful of idiotic politicians make up to get their fifteen minutes of fame. The two points, which are the essence of the Indian culture, are: Secularity and Democracy. But sadly, these two factors are disappearing gradually, giving way to the fake and unreasonable form of Indian culture. Secular India should not have people fighting on religious issues every now and then. Democratic India should not have an average turn out of only 50% during the Lok Sabha elections. I mean, if the trends continue, there might be a time where only 20% Indians vote and form the government and guess who’s Mr. Prime Minister? Our dear misogynist and sadistic Wannabe PM gang leader.
The most important question right now is who the hell are these 50% Indians who are trying to wreck our future? They are no different than the rest. Most of them are educated, employed and intelligent people. But casting a vote during elections is a big waste of time for them. They would rather enjoy their day off and sleep a little extra. A few of them don’t care because they are going to move out of the country and get themselves branded as NRIs, so voting is of no use for them. And the rest of them don’t give a shit. So they are ready to let a few bunch of people decide there future because voting, according to them, is a waste of time.
What they don’t understand is that the only way we can make ourselves be heard is if we choose a government who is willing to hear us out. How long will we keep hurling shoes on ministers to make them hear us? News channels, newspapers, magazines can help by bringing to our notice certain important issue. But at the end, it is upto us to choose a future. It can either be 50% for the favour of fake rotten Wannabes or a 100% for the favour of a happy, progressive and a transparent tomorrow. And the choice is ours. Should we just sit at a coffee shop and bitch about the government and politics, without voting or should we make an attempt to change things by doing the simplest of all things—vote.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Being selflessly selfish
Most of us think of volunteering for active social work or helping someone. It makes us feel good. It transcends us to a different level of happiness. We become great in our own eyes. Yet why is it short lived? The answer is we are eventually human beings. Everything that we do-social work, helping someone for free etc.-won’t give us the feeling of complete happiness until of course there is something in it for us. I am sure most people would get their weapons out and start a war with me; to them I would just say-take a moment and think about it.
I don’t say that I am a saint who goes out of her way to help each and every person she meets. I do that with a few people. And before anyone draws a conclusion that I am selfless, I should mention that after the initial happiness, sometimes, I do not feel very good about it. No, I am not Satan’s ally, neither am I a hypocrite (someone’s laughing). I am a human being. And so being selfish comes naturally to me. It rests in my genes. It flows with my blood.
A person cannot enjoy someone else’s happiness if he/she is not happy himself/herself. That’s the basic human feeling. It happens to the very best of us. If you say you are not one of them, well either you live in denial or you are the happiest man/woman on the planet.
It is as simple as this. You are a student. Your friend too is a student. Together you study for a test. Your friend cannot understand a particular concept. So you, trying to be selfless, stop studying for your own test and help your friend understand the problem. Eventually both of you give the test and your friend scores more than you. Will you feel happy? Yes, you might, momentarily. But after the initial happiness, what do you feel? Regret-for helping out the friend or anger-for being stupid to give up your time for your friend? So where did all the happiness go? It didn’t go anywhere. It did not exist at all in the first place.
We think the selflessness and the happiness exists, but the fact is, it is a mask worn by us to show people how great we are. Only a truly happy and satisfied person will have his real face synonymous to this mask. And in humans, that’s a rare breed. For us, the most important thing is to our own selves. As long as we are happy and content, nothing in the world can deter us. But of course, we are never happy or satisfied. The world we live in does not let us be satisfied. Because the moment a person is satisfied with what he has, he is termed a loser with no aim in his life.
And the irony of the whole thing is all of us know this blatant truth. We know we will eventually regret helping a friend as there is nothing in it for us. But we still do it. We still go out of our way in doing as much charity/social work we can do. Because we all know it’s better to have a mask of a happy person than have nothing at all. Because at the end of the day, even though we feel low and depressed about our failure, we can somehow calm ourselves by taking the credit of someone else’s success.
And that makes us, human beings, the smartest of all creations, sad.
I don’t say that I am a saint who goes out of her way to help each and every person she meets. I do that with a few people. And before anyone draws a conclusion that I am selfless, I should mention that after the initial happiness, sometimes, I do not feel very good about it. No, I am not Satan’s ally, neither am I a hypocrite (someone’s laughing). I am a human being. And so being selfish comes naturally to me. It rests in my genes. It flows with my blood.
A person cannot enjoy someone else’s happiness if he/she is not happy himself/herself. That’s the basic human feeling. It happens to the very best of us. If you say you are not one of them, well either you live in denial or you are the happiest man/woman on the planet.
It is as simple as this. You are a student. Your friend too is a student. Together you study for a test. Your friend cannot understand a particular concept. So you, trying to be selfless, stop studying for your own test and help your friend understand the problem. Eventually both of you give the test and your friend scores more than you. Will you feel happy? Yes, you might, momentarily. But after the initial happiness, what do you feel? Regret-for helping out the friend or anger-for being stupid to give up your time for your friend? So where did all the happiness go? It didn’t go anywhere. It did not exist at all in the first place.
We think the selflessness and the happiness exists, but the fact is, it is a mask worn by us to show people how great we are. Only a truly happy and satisfied person will have his real face synonymous to this mask. And in humans, that’s a rare breed. For us, the most important thing is to our own selves. As long as we are happy and content, nothing in the world can deter us. But of course, we are never happy or satisfied. The world we live in does not let us be satisfied. Because the moment a person is satisfied with what he has, he is termed a loser with no aim in his life.
And the irony of the whole thing is all of us know this blatant truth. We know we will eventually regret helping a friend as there is nothing in it for us. But we still do it. We still go out of our way in doing as much charity/social work we can do. Because we all know it’s better to have a mask of a happy person than have nothing at all. Because at the end of the day, even though we feel low and depressed about our failure, we can somehow calm ourselves by taking the credit of someone else’s success.
And that makes us, human beings, the smartest of all creations, sad.
Friday, January 16, 2009
Slumdog Perception
Slumdog Millionaire rocked the Golden Globes. It has a whooping eleven nominations in the Bafta awards and is slated to finish its winning roll with an Oscar!
So now I wonder. Is perception more powerful than education? Can a child seriously learn so much by mere perception and win a million rupees? I suppose he can. When the slumdog (not yet a millionaire!) answered Benjamin Franklin to a particular question, he did not remember a book or a paragraph or the line where the answer was written. He remembered the incident years ago. As a child guide, not only did he earn the one dollar note, but also this piece of knowledge. And all this just by looking at the note!
When we look around the world, we see many things. We remember some things while some are stored at the back of our brains. These things stored at the back may or may not come into our conscious mind. Some people have a knack of analyzing things. These people even remember each and every detail about an object they’ve seen several years back. Such people have a high level of perception. The slumdog millionaire was one of them. However, not everyone is as sharp. There are people with a low sense of perception. Such people are those who cannot even remember what they saw an hour ago.
Perception is not something that can be taught. Neither can someone have it overnight. Each individual has it inside him. Its upon him to use it or not. If he uses it, his brain gets used to the process and after a while his brain adapts to it automatically. A strong sense of perception automatically leads to a sharp brain.
When a little child begins his education, the usual alphabets, numbers etc., some importance should be given to develop his sense of perception. Once a child starts analyzing things, it becomes a habit and his brain automatically works that way. A person who cannot analyze things and learn from them, i.e. perceive, slowly stops noticing everything around him. And ‘not noticing and learning’ thus becomes his habit.
We can learn a lot by simply looking at the basic things happening around us. The chances of a person remembering a visual image is more than that of him remembering a paragraph. Other than learning, perception boosts the sense of imagination and creativity. And the whole process makes the brain sharp. Our brain learns to be on alert all the time. And it notices even the smallest unusual activity around.
So, awards or not, the message from Slumdog Millionaire is clear. Perception is an amazing thing. It has the power to help you win a million rupees. And you don’t need to be a slumdog for that!
So now I wonder. Is perception more powerful than education? Can a child seriously learn so much by mere perception and win a million rupees? I suppose he can. When the slumdog (not yet a millionaire!) answered Benjamin Franklin to a particular question, he did not remember a book or a paragraph or the line where the answer was written. He remembered the incident years ago. As a child guide, not only did he earn the one dollar note, but also this piece of knowledge. And all this just by looking at the note!
When we look around the world, we see many things. We remember some things while some are stored at the back of our brains. These things stored at the back may or may not come into our conscious mind. Some people have a knack of analyzing things. These people even remember each and every detail about an object they’ve seen several years back. Such people have a high level of perception. The slumdog millionaire was one of them. However, not everyone is as sharp. There are people with a low sense of perception. Such people are those who cannot even remember what they saw an hour ago.
Perception is not something that can be taught. Neither can someone have it overnight. Each individual has it inside him. Its upon him to use it or not. If he uses it, his brain gets used to the process and after a while his brain adapts to it automatically. A strong sense of perception automatically leads to a sharp brain.
When a little child begins his education, the usual alphabets, numbers etc., some importance should be given to develop his sense of perception. Once a child starts analyzing things, it becomes a habit and his brain automatically works that way. A person who cannot analyze things and learn from them, i.e. perceive, slowly stops noticing everything around him. And ‘not noticing and learning’ thus becomes his habit.
We can learn a lot by simply looking at the basic things happening around us. The chances of a person remembering a visual image is more than that of him remembering a paragraph. Other than learning, perception boosts the sense of imagination and creativity. And the whole process makes the brain sharp. Our brain learns to be on alert all the time. And it notices even the smallest unusual activity around.
So, awards or not, the message from Slumdog Millionaire is clear. Perception is an amazing thing. It has the power to help you win a million rupees. And you don’t need to be a slumdog for that!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)