A FOOL AND ROBIN

Robin is the name of the person I met today on my way to the Bombay (soon going to be Mumbai) High Court. I must be meeting quite a few people in a day but this small story needs a specific mentioning here in this blog because I intend to know sometime in my future that whether I am myself or I am a fool. I am not confused but I need to know whether I should be what I am, or do I need to change.

When I left from office today, I thought I was already late for an appearance before the Prothonotary. But then when you are running late, then everything else has to fall apart. So, on my way I am stopped by a lean guy wearing a brown nike cap and a black t-shirt having a message that “I do not work here, I just a consultant”. He asked me (in a very good british accent), “Are you a lawyer?”. I looked at him and told myself “don’t I look like one having wearing the black jacket, white shirt and the band?”. But then I told him yes I am a lawyer. Then very hesitantly he asked me if I knew the address of tourism bureau. He then explained that he is looking for a tourism bureau like they have it in England (I do not know if they actually have it) through which he can ask his brother to wire some money. I said you have western union money transfer and all but there is no state agency through which you could do that. Later on he told me that he too was a solicitor and was robbed yesterday by a bunch of guys who tried selling “Hashish” to him and took away his wallet, passport and every other thing he was carrying. I first thought if the man thought I was a fool and would believe in his story. But if he thought so, then he may not be wrong. I asked him how could I help? To which he said if I could message his brother Kevin that he was in trouble and if kevin could wire some money for travelling to Goa by bus (I do not know to which account) and that he would call him later from some other number. And then he told me his name –ROBIN. I messaged his brother and wrote down my number in a slip for him to contact me later to find out if his brother had replied. Then I rushed for the court, attended the matter and came back. His brother did not reply.

 At 2:30, I got a call from unknown number and it was Robin. He asked me he could call his brother from my mobile if I could help him in getting money through western union money transfer as he did not have any identification proof. I gave him my office address and asked him to come. In the mean while I thought that the man is really in need and I should help him atleast by buying him a ticket for Goa. I searched and found details. When he came, we tried calling his brother who, he said, was a forensic scientist. His brother disconnected the call. Then I told him, “Look Robin, I believe that you are genuinely and I need and so I will help you. I told him that either I could give him cash or book a ticket for him. He said he was good with anything. I then decided to give him 600 bucks cash and plus 50 bucks extra if he needed to make a call or use internet from somewhere. He asked me if he could make arrangement for returning money to me tomorrow. I bluntly told him that I do not care about money and that it was important for him to reach his friends/folks at Goa. He thanked me and once again told me that he shall arrange for returning money to me tomorrow. And then he left.

This may not be a very interesting story. I know 9/10 people would not have believed Robin. I know I may be (am) a fool. A very big fool who can be fooled very easily. I can buy any story or even silliest of arguments. And the best thing is that I and always conscious and realise when I am being fooled by someone. I always find out when someone is lying to me. But still I do not confront the person. In case of Robin, I knew there was a huge possibility that Robin would be lying that. I had no reason to believe him. But then I thought what if the man was really in need? I would prefer losing 600 bucks to a liar than not helping someone badly in need. I do not know where Robin is and if he is really on a bus to Goa. He may have lied to me. Those 600 bucks may neither make him rich nor make me poor. If he lied to me then he would be rolling a joint somewhere, but will be happy. And irrespective of then fact if he was lying or not, I am at least satisfied. I am waiting for tomorrow to find out whether I am a fool or I am myself. That whether should I change, or be myself !

August !!

All is well here ! I have been more careless than busy for not writing for almost two months. I havent even taken a vacation this year till now. I havent done so many things. But I have a solid reason for not writing a post for two months and which is that I thought I will give all you some news about me shifting to another city. But that is not happening anytime soon, so I thought I shouldnt keep on breaking my promise and write back before this month ends. I have a couple of stories to write about. One of them I narrated in School and another similar one which I read somewhere recently. But that is not happening today. May be as soon as I get some more time (as I am writing this post from office and I believe its a crime if you do not justify your pay and pass your time in office).

Okay ! Updates n information now.....

• I have bought a Digital Single-Lens Reflex Camera (Canon- 600 D) and have been trying random stuff in random settings. It makes a person switching from the traditional camera to a real SLR camera that how personalized and detailed a picture can be. If you have a taste and vision for clicking good picture with more details, then surely buy a DSLR camera whenever you have some extra money lying in your account. But on tours, if you strictly believe in living in present and admiring the beauty of a place than capturing it in your camera, then a DSLR would be a liability rather than being an asset for you. And you will have to be extra careful while handling this.

• We have shifted to a new rented flat this month which is smaller, less airy but cozy.

• I am going to visit Bhopal on Rakhi and will be flaying to Delhi from Indore on August 16;

• I have booked a car but there is some waiting period. This is that phase of life where most of the things that we do are the "First Time Things on your Own". This is one of them. And an emotioanl person like me shouldnt get emotional, attached and obsessed about these things (Like Subodh in DCH).

• A trip to Lakdakh-Leh is on cards from Sept 3 to 9, 2011. Damn excited about it. Am going to switch off my mobile during this trip and enjoy it to the fullest.

• I joined a gymn after realizing that some of my muscles got degenerated. However, it continued for a period of three weeks and then I realized a couple of hour extra sleep in the morning is better than going to gymn if you are draining your brains out the entire day in office.

• An article says that Intelligence is in genes. And which means that if i wish that my kids be good in maths, I may have to marry a woman who is brilliant in maths coz I badly suck in higher standard mathematics. One day I was trying to add two different fractions and i had to stress upon my memory to recall how do you add two fractions. It becomes difficult if figures are like for eg. 31/831 + 43/1457. I was stumped and i googled to confirm if the method i recalled was the correct one.

• I have filed IT return for the third time and my feeling that "why should we pay tax to such a corrupt government" is becoming stronger.

• I have a stong feeling that notion of patriotism is fading day by day. A food for your thought - What makes us Patriotic? Is it only Cricket/Sports/Oscars ???? Thats it? Since the scenario in this country has become so adverse, I have to count the number of reasons that why am I living/want to live in this Country.

• Football season is going to start soon. I am damn excited about it. I will dedicate one full post explaining why I support Liverpool FC. People who dont knowabout/or like football can never understand it.

• Despite of dismal performance in England. I have full faith in M S Dhoni and the Indian Cricket team. Just that we need R. Ashwin,Pujara and Kohli in team very badly. I see shadow of Anil Kumble in R. Ashwin and yeh overseas matches Bhajji ke bas ki baat nahi hai.

•  I am back on facebook. And there is a reason for that. However not so active. Still prefer twitter. And a friend of mine has logged my phone on whatsapp as well. Still figuring out how to use it. I preferred being in my own world and blogging to write my mind, being away from facebook and chats and other similar stuff, being detached than being too much in touch. Let us see how long this lasts.

Thats it for today. Shall see you all again soon. Take Care till then and live your life to the fullest. Life changes its colour and character in seconds and the time you are spending now is never going to come back soon. Make yourself appoachable and helping.

Samay aur Taqdeer

These two shers from movie sajan describe samay and taqdeer so well and they compliment each other even better. Sometimes you come across shers which fit exactly into the situation of your life. My life too is revolving around these two:

Falak Ke Teer Ka Kya Nishana Tha
Idhar Mera Ghar, Udhar Uska Aaashiyana Tha
Puhunch Rahi Thi Kinare Pe Kashti-E-Umeed
Usi Waqt Is Tofaan Ko Bhi Yahaan Aana Tha

Taqdeer banane wale tu ne kami na ki, kab  kisi ko kya mila yeh toh muqaddar ki baat hai !!

My friends, waqt se pehle aur kismat  se jyada naa kisiko mila hai aur naa kisiko milega.

Meaningful things in life !!!

I have a question for all of you that what are meaningful things in life?? And this question itself generates so many other relevant questions like what is purpose of your life? What is the real truth behind our lives??? So many people have, in their own words, given answers to these questions and they seem to be very convincing too. All those who think a lot about their lives must have, at some point of time, thought that Is what they are doing is a meaningful thing??? You may find nothing new in what I am going to write. It’s a caveat before you read this further.

I will start with discussing about a close friend of mine. He is hereinafter regerred to as "X". X is a kind hearted person and is really a nice human being. He believes in realtionships, respects them and cares about his loved ones and those who love him. X is a man of his words, very hard working and dependable. And by god’s grace, his luck and hard-work, he is very well placed in life at the moment. X is working at “his type” of place, with a lot freedom in terms of work and is earning well too. But he did not land up in this place because he badly wanted but because of his destiny. In fact, he says that he is in his profession not because he wanted to, but because he simply went with the flow in life. He sincerely believes that he is moving in life with the flow of life but not with any big ambition in his mind about being superb, excellent or at the top. However he has a target in life. He told me that his life is going pretty smoothly with a good job in hand and without any fear or risk of any sort and that he is kind of satisfied with the way the things have shaped up so far and are happening in his life.

But as you know, life isnt simple. Its damn complicated. A man is not satisfied by what he has. But he is satisfied by having what he wants. Rest is a compromise and his bad luck that he couldnt get what he wanted.

One day, X mentioned to me that he keeps asking himself if this is the ultimate satisfaction??? He told me that his own self answers in negativ to this and says that things happening in your life may be good and must be giving a lot of comfort, but they are not meaningful things in life. X says that he has made his parents, friends and everyone around proud so far. He does things to make everyone happy. He always wants to help people and thus believes that his satisfaction lies in helping people and thus wants to leave his “golden” job. On this, I told  X that he can help people even by continuing in his present job. But he convincingly reasoned that he wants to focus only on one thing and when you do multitasking, you are not focussed and your jobs aren’t done with perfection. I believe he is right when he says so. Surely if X quits his job, he will not have any source of a good income. So he will have to deal with that and manage it somehow. Secondly, X's parents want him to get married in 2-3 years or so. He doesn’t want to get married until he is prepared for it and even if the marriage is forced on him, he will not be able to provide a luxurious life to his spouse or kids. On one hand, he presently has a good secured life and on the other hand he wants a satisfied but risky and uncertain life. Any sane person would say X would be insane to quit is present job. But then such is life. We crave for things/person who are not with us. We take for granted and do not value things/people that we have. But this is not the point of concern in this blog. Issue still remains what are meaningful things in life. Let us take a break from X’s life and focus on our lives.

I have some questions for myself and all of you. Please ask youself that when you were born and were crying, were you doing any meaningful thing in life? Or when you started going to School, were you doing any meaningful thing in life??? (I would also say yes but let us still examine). Then when you learned and developed the skills of playing sports or the art of debating or painting or singing, were you doing any meaningful thing in life? When you liked a girl and subsequently had a relationship, were you doing any meaningful thing in life?? When you broke up and went on a drinking spree, were you doing a meaningful thing in life? When you chose the stream of a particular subject in school to proceed with, were you doing a meaningful thing in life? Or when you started consuming alcohol and drugs, were you doing meaningful things in life?? Then when instead of attending lectures, you preferred bunking and going on bike rides or playing cricket, were you doing meaningful things in life? When you loved a girl who did/could reciprocate or love you back or did not want you, were you doing a meaningful thing in life? Or when you are sleeping for extra long hours, are you doing any meaningful things in life??? There is a never-ending list of such questions.

You may have answered in either yes or no but the common feature is only one awnd which is that at all these times, you were living your life the way you wanted to and were beahving naturally. We spend alot of things in our life without even thinking if these are meaningful things. And our life is a sum of such small things. The way of doing each and everything defines your approach towards life and it also affects the way you live your life.

Therefore, I suggested X that no matter what he chooses to do in life, he will be living his life the way he wants to. If he stays back in his job, he will be a happy, secured and a content guy. Ek din uske paas gaadi aayegi, phir ghar aayega aur phir ek din biwi aur baad mein bachhey. Wah Suneel Babu ! Badhiya hai.  But if he leaves his job, then shayd hi gaadi aayegi, shayad hi ghar aayega aur aise nikamme nakaare se shaadi kaun karega???? But then he will be able to succeed in his objective of helping people. He will be the most satisfied then. What is stated above may bring some clarity in your thoughts. However the moot question is still not properly answered.

For that I have to say that meaningful things in life are those which make you stand out from the mob, bring satisfaction and make you feel proud about yourself. The answer is also somehow linked with the talent you have. It could mean being a terrific scientish or an engineer or a lawyer or a doctor or even a mechanic. In short every work can bring you the feeling of doing a meaningful thingin life. Acchi Ghaas katne wala can also be doing a meaningful thing in life. Even being a nice human being is a talent and is like doing a meaningful thing in life. Knowing your talent and still not pursuing that due to fears you have in life is living a compromised life. I am not saying it is bad. It is your choice if you want to live a compromised life. Because if you life a compromised life, then there are always some voids and one persistent though that - "Wish if i could have". It is simply a matter of your choice.

Therefore dear people, my perspective is that, no matter wherever you reach in life and what you do, you must live your life on your own terms and try to live each and every moment. I believe that the art of living in present and tackling things are they come must be developed by a person. No matter how we structure our lives and no matter how many good habits we build and precautions we take, there will always be things that we cannot control. Going with the flow invloves acceptance of the facts and changes happening in our lives. A change may affect you to be either shocked, baffled, sad, happy or amused but the strength lies in how quicklly you recover and accept it and go on with the flow. And yes the "Jaadu ki Jhappi" and "All is well' work. Once a part of your life is distorted and dismantled you must accept such distortion and then improvise things with the resources available to you. Keep it cool. A source of inspiration lies everywhere. Always remeber that the match was not over when Sachin and Sehwag got out so early in the final, as much we thought. But the situation was tackled and pressure was absorbed by Gambhir and Dhoni. This just a small example. There are no so famous but bigger sources of inspiration. Please note that whether you are rich or not-so-rich or poor, you still can live a very happy and satisfied life and can do meaningful things in life. And if you keeping complaining and crying about things you couldn’t do or you could have done, you are wasting and destroying the charm of the moment you are living in.

. Let me also realte this with a popular saying that - “kisi ko mukammal jahan nahi milta, kisi ko zameen to kisi ko aasmaan nahi milta.” Lekin meri nazar mein agar mukammal jahan nahi milega toh job hi jahan milega who hi mukammal ban jayega. Jo zameen ya aasman milega who hi jahan ban jayega.Nothing and no one is indispensible in life. Life goes on.

I told you, there is nothing new in what I wrote. But I will be happy if even one reader is inspired by what is written above and I will feel that I am doing a meaningful thing in life.

Love,

Gaurav

P.S:  Since I do not edit or re check my posts for spelling or grmatical errors, so those who finding such errors should ignore and be concered about other things. There are bigger and serious concerns to address and worry about. 

Kyonki Main Jhooth Nahi Bolta !!!

Before I write the main content of this small post, I shall tell you an event that happened in my life today. It was a call from a client that I received on my office landline number (022-22715636 (emphasis supplied -matlab "landline" pe gaur kijiyega):


I was working on 3-4 matters today paralelly and around 4 pm my phone rings and I pick it up:

Client: Hi ! Is it Mr. Gaurav Gopal?
Me: Yes! Speaking.

Client: Hi! This is X this side.
Me: Oh ! Hi Mr. X. How are you doing? (In a moment I realized what he had called for. And I was occupied in other urgent matters, I had not worked on his matter!)

Client: So have you read the agreement and papers that I had sent you last week. (And I was right. I knew this was coming!)
Me: Yes. I have read the papers (a white lie). But riht now I am out of the office so cannot discuss. (Goddamn! I realised and cursed mself for being foolish and stupid. Who picks up his office landline and says that I am out of office??? Have you guys being so dumb ever in your lives?). But then in 1/2 asecond I again realised what I had done and tried to correct myself.

Me: Ummmm. Sorry can you hear me??? I think there is some disturbance. So yeah since I am moving out of office now, can we discuss it sometime later?
Client: (Must have been saying to himself -do you think Im an airhead or stupid that I wont understand what you had just said a second ago???) Okay. No problem. We will discuss it tomorrow.

Me: Mr. X, tomorrow would not be possible since I am going to Delhi (which is true). Therefore we can discuss it on Monday.
Client: Alright. I will call you on Monday.

Me: Sure. Thank you.

Conversation over.

Now, jokes apart. Apart from it being a major stupidity on my part, I firmly believe that all these practices are highly unethical but due to work pressure I have been forced to follow at times. Till last year I used to attend each and every call of our clients, for I understood how important their matters are to them. So I always made myself available and ensured that their work is completed before time. But since last six months or so, due to immense pressure and exponential growth in number of matters, my approach changed and since I couldnt finished work on time, I have been constrained to lie and give false excuses to clients. I have now divided matters based on urgency and priorities and I still try to finish all matters on time. But todays incident has forced me to review my own approach. I sincerely believe that One shouldnt do such things to others which may cause pain to him and you should always put yourself in place of others for determining if it is painful.

Being inspired by some events that happened in my life I had decided that I shall speak the truth always. And I really try hard to practice it and am sucessful most of the times. Trust me. Speaking truth always helps. We might be afraid of immidiate consequences. But speaking truth is the best practice.

If you commit an error, you must confess it. Error can be rectified but a lie cannot be.

If you know you cannot do something, say you cannot do it. (This doesnt apply to things which are genuinely possible). Do not give a false hope to anyone.

If you do not know something, accept it.

If you love someone, tell them. Everyone likes to be loved and pampered. This applies to all relations. Even to a girl who your are afraid of telling.

If you know that someone loves you and you dont/cant love them, then tell them you dont/cant love them. They see ray of hope in your every smile. Do not give them any hope.. Do not keep your options open !!! (exception here is the true love. when they are hopelessly in love with you without any condition and expectation. They will keep loving you. No I am not taking about Shahrukh Khan in Darr type of love).

If you do not like a thing which is being imposed on you and which is against your principles, then protest.

Above are some indicatives for you to follow.

When one lies, he is deceiving himself and everyone is capable of deceiving himself. Because in your mind, you know the truth. If you can be truthful to your mind, why cant you be truthful to the world? You shall always take a pride in speaking truth.

Truth keeps your conscience clean and you never have to look down before anyone. Truth resolves all issues. We all want to know the truth so we all should practice speaking truth and doing truthful things.

I am not just preaching. I have learned a something from my mistakes. I admit before all of you that I lied. But from tomorrow I shall make a fresh start. I shall speak truth and do the truthful things.


Regards and love.

I must sleep now. Have to catch an early morning flight tomorrow. Dilli chalo.

The State of India

For all those who are confused, there are 28 states in India and 7 Union Territories. New Delhi is not a state but only the capital city of India and National Capital Territory of Delhi. Anyways the motive behind this post is not to educate anyone about the States and UTs. In India but to present my views on the state of affairs in India at present.


Someone at some point of time had asked me what is the use of expression of these kinds of thoughts and discussions? I replied to that question by saying that such profound thoughts and serious discussions with people who are either experienced or have a sound knowledge of the subject, bring clarity in our own mind about the notion we have of things. And the expression of such thoughts and discussing the same is nothing but passing on the baton to the like minded people and introducing new people with your ideas. And you never know how much and what an idea can do. I never impose my views on anyone. But like minded people are bound to follow.

My views on India are neither new nor flabbergasting. I think all of us are aware about the same and sometimes speak with fellow mates about the same. To summarize whatever I am going to write below, without any doubt I have to say that India is in a state of confusion. Rather, Indians are in a state of confusion (why to blame this beautiful country for the acts of the bursting population).

Indians were always in a state of confusion and still they are and for many more years to come, they shall remain in the state of confusion. And the foundation has been the classification and division of the Indians and India from time to time. Without discussing too much history and events which may be disputed (as history is never clean and is always disputed), let us look back at the very basic classifications of –“Racial Divide” and “Caste System”. In my views, it were the Indian Early Men or Tribals or Dravidians who were inhibiting originally in India and used to speak their own Dravidian languages among themselves. A recent judgment by Katju J. and Mishra J. passed on January 5, 2011 very nicely describes how India has been affected by immigration and how 92 % of the present population of India consists of descendants of immigrants.

Since Indian Early Men or Tribals or Dravidians were human beings, undoubtedly they would have formed different tribes, folks or groups based on affinities between them and such tribes, folks or groups must have had their own folklores, deities they worship, etc and it appears that there would not have been a huge difference in the religious practices and thus there would not have existed too many gods, sects and religions as they exist today (including Sachin and cricket). But then India was hit by a series of invasions by well known conquerors and also migrations too.

Mughal bhi aaye, Muslim bhi aaye, Angrez, French aur Portuguese bhi

De gaye virasat mein who kala, sanskriti, tehzeeb, rang aur rangbhed bhi

Hum maante gaye unki baton ko patthar ki lakir si,

Aaj GDP aur Growth toh badh gaye phir bhi haalat hai ek fakeer si!



It is immaterial to count here and describe everyone who came to this country which was very easy to get exploited. (I wish to do some more research on the history of polity of India). But as a result today there exist a large number of religions, castes, languages, ethnic groups, cultures etc. in India. There are immense dissimilarities in the physical appearances and features of Indians when you move across North to South and East to West.

Pahadi, Panju, Bhaiyya, Jatt, Gurjar, Gujjubhai, Marathi Manus, Mallu, Anna, Oriya, Bengali Babu, Chinki have become the words of description of the regional attributes and qualities. We Indians call foreigners coming to India as “Firangi” on their face as they cannot understand Hindi. It is a common feature that I have seen in this country. Even the telephone operator in my office does it and even I have done so sometime.

Some poets and writers in past have glorified India as the country of great diversity and have said India is true symbol for “Unity in Diversity”. There is diversity for sure but where is the Unity??? I am not sure that Unity existed even when Vedas divided Indians based on their caste (No one has been able to trace the real source of this caste divide in India. (If I am given opportunity to go back in time, I will prefer to kill the source for free) Unity did not exist even when India was invaded by conquerors. It did not exist even when Gautam Budhha was here, Ram was here, Firangs were here. There is a myth that unity in the country existed at the time of freedom struggle. But in my views it did not. Having a common objective to achieve freedom does not mean there existed unity among Indians. Of course there were different groups having common ideology. There isn’t any language called Indian Language, there isn’t any society called the Indian Society, there isn’t any culture called Indian culture and there isn’t any spirit called the Indian Spirit. Of course there are typical Indian way, style and methods of doing particular thing which are common throughout the country. But surely we can’t call it as our culture or spirit. Therefore whoever uses the term Indian Culture is himself confused as he cannot define it. Cultural Diversity can be a reason of our pride but such diversity itself does not define our culture.

Another fact which establishes the confused state of the Indians in the number of political parties India has and the states are being ruled by distinct parties. Maa-Ka-Paa, Inca, Bha-Ja-Pa, Lo-Ja-pa, Jha-mu-mo, Gon-Ga-Pa, Ja-Pa, Sa re ga ma pa, etc. And in rare cases either of the parties get handsome majority.

We, the North Indians, the South Indians (Sorry I haven’t heard of West Indians and East Indians as the Indians) and rest of the Indians, I mean to say “the Indians”, do not have affinity for each other. Talk about Kashmir Issue which has been the most violent issues of all times, is anyone is South India concerned about that. Of course there would be some who have the pseudo-Indian spirit who will object to what I am saying. But truth is that in majority of cases, we Indians cannot relate with each other. Marathis get beaten up in Assam and Bihar and in reply Bhaiyyas get beaten up and robbed in Maharashtra. What is Bodoland, we do not care. We do not care which festivals are celebrated in which part of the country but we are just concerned with the holiday we get due to such festival.

The majority of Indians are ignorant and uninformed. They are unaware of the fact that the thing which surreptitiously gives them the sense of unity and equality (up to some extent) is the constitution of India and the legal and administrative framework of India. The mother of Indian Laws (Constitution) keeps alive the sense of Unity us together despite all our tremendous diversity, because the Constitution gives equal respect to all communities, sects, lingual and ethnic groups, etc. in the country. The Constitution guarantees to all citizens freedom of speech (Article 19), freedom of religion (Article 25), equality (Articles 14 to 17), liberty (Article 21), etc.

The youth in India today are very confused and disappointing too. Those who are living in big cities are impressed and influenced by the fast changing cultural trends in the west. They call my-ma, cool-kewl, god-gawd and what not. Picking up slang is not objectionable but what do they know about the Indian languages. They can’t speak or understand hindi and think that being like that is cool. Much less about other states, they do not know anything about the state they are living in. They do not know the leaders who are going to represent them in the House (Lok-Sabha I mean). And they do not want to know. That is why the turn out for elections is diminishing every year. The youth in India is confused about what, who and when to follow.

The people in rural India too are confused. They do not know whether to continue with agricultural activities or not. Of course any one can get frustrated with change in climate, untimely rains, rivers and sources of irrigation drying up and crops getting damaged due to all such reasons. Additionally they too want to move to cities and attain a particular standard and culture of living. They are entitled for it but as a result, the agricultural production is decreasing, prices are increasing. And needless to say that imported bright and extra colorful exotic fruits and vegetables which do not taste they used to before, are taking up places in stores and stands.

The professionals in India too are confused. The origination can be traced inside their mind and their parents’ mind where the conservative thinking and approach of playing safe lie. The Playing Safe approach means choosing the better option based on the likely outcome. There is no risk involved and minimum harm is done. The best example of this approach can be given of a situation where parents force their children to pursue safe and steady courses for an assured career.

Well, yes there is another thing that binds India. It is cricket. Nothing in this country is more popular and bigger than this game. Have you ever witnessed such celebrations around the entire country when India won World Cup 2011. The team is selected from among the players from different regions of India and religion is no bar. However, as cricket unites us as a country. Every Indian feels patriotic when it comes to cricket. And more so in case of matches against Pakistan. A victory against Pakistan in a cricket match appears to be more important than anything else and it always seems that we have won a war against Pakistan. We go berserk. Aakash Chopra has very well said that, “Every time we behave like the way we did this time (after match against Pakistan this world cup), it pulls us down as a responsible nation.” And the truth is that superiority of a nation can never be established by a Cricket match or its Cricket team.

It has been 3 days since Anna Hazare is on hunger strike on the issue of Lokpal Bill and corruption. How many of us have bothered to even read about it? We Indians think that let Anna Hazare only do it, why should we disturb our routine. Sadly, we, the Indians, are badly confused, for all of us can celebrate the entire night when Indian wins world cup but we cannot spare a minute to support Anna Hazare who is fighting for all of us.

Get up! There are hundred other issues thatcould have been covered in this post. But the idea is that atleast you wake up and realise ! If one wakes up by this, I believe he can shake 100 and wake some of them up ! And those few can wake thousands up!

The Underrated Conquerors !!!

What is common between VVS Laxman and Gautam Gambhir??? They have always stood in need and have played the most crucial knocks which have earned the status of "Greatness" to this present Indian Cricket Team. Be it Tests, ODIs and T20s, they have always performed when it was most needed by the Team. Ofcourse VVS Laxman plays only in test matches and Gambhir in all three formats, but both have been the underrated conquerors of the star flooded Indian Cricket team. It is beyond any doubt that Sachin, Kumble, Dravid, Ganguly, Sehwag, Yuvraj, Dhoni, Harbhajan and Zaheer Khan too have been the pillars of Indian Cricket and the muh overrated Man of the Match award is not the criteria of judging the worth of the contribution.

I am not writing this post based on statistics. But i am writing this post based on my memories and recoolections of those moments of glory. I do not believe that I need to remind you all about the crucial innings played by the elegant 36 years old VVS Laxman. I do not need to mention that how he has single handedly challenged the domination of Australia which has been the most powerful nation in terms of cricket. And his innings have not been crucial only in terms of wiining a match, but also in terms of saving a match.  A luxury that you have only in test cricket. I still wonder why he was dropped from the ODIs as he was required more than the then powerful and loaded names of Ganguly and Dravid.

Let us now come to Gautam Ganbhir and discuss only two match wiining knocks. Can you recall T20 World Cup final when the Indian batting collapsed and he stood tall and tamed Pakistan with his brilliant knock of 75 runs. And then in this world cup when everyone had lost hope after Malinga removed Sachin and Sehwag at the very beginning. No doubt Dhoni is brilliant and there is no match for his humility and pressure handling tactics but more that Dhoni, in my views it was Gambhir. Gambhir on both the occasions laid down the foundation of our World Cup glories. Both of them derserve  much more than what than what they have been labelled today as. This post is dedicated to both of you as an acknowledgement of your greatness which is not at all smaller than the best ones. 

MARCH –THE MONARCH

Since  I acquired virtues of awareness and consciousness, I always found that March has been the month of change in my life. If I do not realize it then when I am living in March, I release it later at some point of time that events happening in March affect me a lot. May be it is my unfounded belief as things happening in other months might be affecting my life equally as well. But I have a strong belief that March is the Monarch among all other months in a year. There are umpteenth such reasons and events that force me to believe it. I am not going to discuss any or all of them here. But you have to believe me as you do not have any choice. Those who know me and can recall such moments happening in March can very well understand what I mean to say. And for those who do not know me so well, it is for your information and knowledge.

Anyways, March is crucial for others as well for other factors. One of them being that it is the last month of the financial year and all workers, businessmen, employees look forward for it. It is the month of appraisals, revisions and bonuses. Oh! Wait. Bonus reminds me that I too had decided for readers of this blog that I shall write a bonus post for you all this month. It could be boring but bonus is bonus. I am not going to impart knowledge any further. I am just going to discuss things happening around my life:

• The visit to college for the Alumni Meet was very pleasant. It is always wonderful going back to college and meeting people you love and who love you. And the alumni meet turned out more like a 2008 batch reunion. Is our batch more enthusiastic about college or others batch are too dead. I think it is more about solidarity and attachment.

• It has been a year since I have been badly loaded with work. It may sound like boasting but I have lost 8 kilos since July, 2010. I was worried but then after a thorough medical check-up, I have found that my body is fully fit and sound. I have realized that Work is going to be like this. Whether I am there in this profession or not, work shall always be like this.

• Since one year my frequent visits to Bhopal have stopped as well. But my love for Bhopal hasn’t reduced one bit. That’s also why I chose to be an entrepreneur as well.

• I am in a very confused state of mind. But I have learned a lot and have been learning a lot in terms of behaviors and their interpretation. And I am sure about one thing that I can easily gauge the complete movie just by watching the promos and this applies to human beings and their behaviors as well. So if you think that I can be fooled easily by your fabricated and manufactured behavior, then you are wrong.

• In January, WG played third in a row final of the ELP Cup and won it second time in a row. And it may again sound like boasting, but I have been playing in finals of all cricket tournaments since seven years now for 2008 batch and WG.

• All of us are entering into most crucial phases of our lives where we have to learn to create balance between our aspirations, dreams, ambitions, expectations, obligations and responsibilities. I am sure you all know and can understand what each and every word that has been used means. I regularly pray for everyone in my thoughts and also wherever I go. Trust me I take name of each of everyone whenever I visit a temple or a place of similar importance.

• Jimmy has grown very old. Almost 15 years old now. I touch his feet when I see him. But old age comes along with a lot of diseases and issues which are painful. I feel very bad but simultaneously I feel helpless too.

Alright. Sufficient updates. Very sleepy. Will be back shortly. Take care of yourself. Quit Smoking. I will do anything u ask me to for that. Live in peace. When you feel dejected and cheated, think about doing something for needy and poor. Do not let anger take control over the good stuff inside you. No one else shall be there for you forever apart from yourself.

I Say

I used to be a part time poet. Below is a poem that I had written when I was in fourth year of law. It describes my state of mind then.

I SAY !!!
 
It feels so weird and is hard to realise,
I have grown so big so fast.
I always tried hard but no plan did materialise,
no focus, no target only problems are vast and vast !
 
But its not really so fast as I have put up,
things were really slow when I was low.
Up there was sky and expectations were also up,
I never felt so hurt without even a single blow !
 
Life is very beautiful , I keep on saying,
But who says beauty is without tears,
beauty is in smile, beauty is in innocence,
Beauty is also in anger and beauty is in our moods when changing gear!
 
Present is where they say to live in,
And life would become beautiful then,
But lookingin future and reviewing past is no sin,
with self in control, I win myself again !
 
It feels so weird and hard to realise,
that i will grow more big so fast,
with many dreams and desires I realise,
Life can`t be beautiful if I give up so fast !
 
I was small, I am young, I will be oldest someday,
with dreams fulfilled or left, that will be my last say,
Life was so beautiful, so wonderful and great,
Be happy when happy and also when sad, who says you can`t change your fate !

TIRADE OF DECADE’S ESCAPADE – 2001 TO 2010

 The second most crucial decade of my life has come to an end. The Decade of 2001-2010 means the Decade of 16-26 of my life. What a journey it has been. Life hadn’t been so lively and eventful before. In this decade, I have acquired the virtues of awareness, rationality and consciousness in life. However I am still to master the art of the uncompromising use of my mind. I used to (and may be I still) believe that I am that kind of a person who can spend his entire life even in an Island alone. I am neither an introvert (ask my close mates) nor an extrovert (ask my colleagues). But I have developed the ability to adapt with any kind of given situation. This is may be because I have seen, felt, observed and handled too many adverse as well as favorable circumstances in this decade of my life. I have gone through the worst phase of my life and have come across very complex emotions as well. Sometimes I believe in destiny and think that may be it was all written and I was bound by it with no mercy and no escape. These circumstances were my apprehensions and nightmares when they did not happen. These were problems and hitches when happened. And these have become lessons when I look back. Yes, we all do look back and laugh. Sometimes regret as well. We all are one and the same. Living in present isn’t independent of looking back into past and dreaming about future. If you haven’t looked back at all, you haven’t learned from your mistakes and you are bound to commit those mistakes again. And if you do not look into or dream about future, you cannot progress. My dear friends, life is all about living based your own experiences. Hearsay is voidable. Life is complex but beautiful. All of you are grown-ups, have been learning the tricks of the trade and are mature people. And as I always say, you all have your own experiences and different circumstances, so live life accordingly. In this post I wanted to record for my own memory (when I grow old and start forgetting things) the summary of things (that I remember) which happened in my life in this decade. But I couldn’t complete this post on time and ended up breaking my own promise of writing a most every month. But I condone this delay as I was caught up in some other important and nice things.
 
However, I shall put here what I had already typed instead of going in details. There is a lot to remember and think about but following is the summary of this decade:
 
The beginning of this decade was marked by falling in a relationship. Yes, I am not wrong when I don’t use the word love. I call it falling in a relationship. I define love as the depth in a relationship. All relationships have love but all relationships do not have a name. So people, for their convenience, tend to call it love. Be that as it may. All this started around February, 2001 and ended in January 2008. Wow, I just realized that it was for full 8 years. A very longtime indeed. And at the risk of being called “girlish”, I admit that I remember most of the “Dates”. I know everyone has to be very particular about “Dates” and anniversaries of all small and stupid things that you do together with your partner. Sometimes you do it out of love and sometime you do it as pretence and out of obligation but you have to do it. Okay I don’t want to profess about it anymore.
 
I gave CBSE 10th Board exams in 2001 and was quite successful as well. And I will tell you something won’t believe. I don’t remember the month (may be it was May). We were waiting for our results which were scheduled to come on 31st of that month. And I had a dream between the 27th night and 28th morning (most probably it was early in the morning) that I have score 85.4% in the Boards. And guess what I actually scored 85.4% in the Boards. Who sees percentage in decimal points in his dream and which turns out to be bang on target. I never had such an accurate dream before. And may be I will never have.
 
Then since my dad got transferred to Indore, he made an attempt to take me as well as our family planned to shift in phases. First dad and me. And then mom and brother as my brother was preparing for engineering entrance exam. It was very difficult as I did not know anyone else in that city except my dad. And I spent three difficult months there. I was fully involved in sports during these three months and almost quit studying. And I thought my relationship was over. Finally I had a typhoid and dad decided to export me back to Bhopal in my old shool. Old villain re-entry. Arrey mind blowing (remember this dialougue from rehna hai tere dil main?). Then started two golden years of 11th and 12th standards of my school life of endless fun. Danbhai, how deadly we were in those days. Phod Dengey !!! And my relationship resumed. I also recall me and rishi wanting to take PCM with Economics in XI Standard in Campion School (which combination was not there in our school) and we went upto the extent to clearing the entrance exam and even dared to go for admission alone with each other and were finally thrown out because we had not informed our respective parents about the same. That was hilarious.
 
Then is the tale of my college life between 2003-2008. A saga of the golden days. There are so many things to share. First year, Bhopali-Delhites, Introduction, Pole-dance, Fahion show, dance in the freshers, boycott, Friends, Infatuation, Commitment towards my relationship, Mindori, kerwa, flooded savanna grasslands, Café-chino, cricket three times champions, football one time champions and 2 time runners up, volleyball one time champion, play, Spiritus-2006, Invicta-2008, Viruddhaka -2008, Kerla Law Academy Moot-2006, Henry Dunant Moot-2007, Internships, Beer-Pitchers at TC, Microsoft Scholarship and what not. This list will never end. May be I will cover each and every aspect sometime later in subsequent posts.
 
The period between October, 2007 till November 2010 was the most tragic phase I have ever been through. I need not explain anything here coz I shall remember everything throughout my life.
 
Then there is another new phase of life after joining WG on 7th June, 2008 till the end of this year. I will son finish three years here and I am still happy till I get exhausted by the heat of this profession. I must confess, work has now increased like crazy and there aren’t too many things left to do after a days’ play is over. It is all about creating a balance in your lives.
 
So my dear blog readers, my advice to you in this new year is that accept people the way they are. A jerk will always remain a jerk and humble will be humble always. But both exist in this world with their set of ideologies. Accept them without cribbing but restrict your behaviour and actions based on their character. Please all of you, show the love and respect you have for your parents, friends and other people in your lives. Only in tragic and sad moments of life we realize the value of people in our lives and then some times regret. Live life such that you do not have to regret. Be loyal and faithful and do not betray the trust and confidence that people have in you. Always be truthful and honest with yourself. Once you learn this, you shall be truthful to everyone else. Even I shall try to stick to my these words. May this decade brings a lot of love, happiness and prosperity for you and your loved ones.  

P.S.: It was unintentional but the total number of posts in my first year of blogging was 29. And that is a lucky number for me. Those who know me know why.