Bitter times and Better times...

Well, bad times are a better teacher then good ones…

Though none of us can even question the sweetness of success and will never trade the same with failure…we need to agree that success is the bright light in life which with its brightness, conceal the crevices of the soul.

You never come home and introspect after winning. We never explore alternating paths or approach as ours get already qualified with success. Also the one who has stumbled down once will never laugh on any other.

So is failure as bitter as it is portrayed or is a forced scenario to evolve…

Barbed Times

One of the toughest things to do is to fight a loosing battle…

It’s like you are in middle of running for Presidency of United States. During the Campaign, close to the elections the support turns heavily against you, for whatever reason. So the two options out of you misery as not really options you can exercise because if you walk out of the situation you succumb to defeat before it happens and you cannot really envisage victory to motivate yourself because you know unlike a Hollywood sports movie nothing will change a few seconds before the finish line.

So at some point of time even if you make peace with your potential defeat, you still have to work towards your all elusive victory…

Even as most of you I meet on a day to day basis counsel me to be unruffled by work issues, I cannot as I am living through my loosing battle.

Excerpts from Raj Thackeray’s Diary…

“I sit in this dark and stinking jail cell and I can’t, just can’t help smiling…

I was the right hand man of my uncle Bala Sahab Thackeray and expected him to let me become heir to the Shiv Sena. But when he choose his son over me, his nephew, I did not give up. I created MNS called Maharashtra Navnirman Sena but actually it stands for Menace and Nuisance of the Society.

In Shiv Sena I learned how fascism works, how it catapults you into limelight. But today I have outperformed this ideology of my former party that axe me.

I had it easy. Everyone wants more then they deserve. I target the poor. Tell them their poverty is not their inability to earn better but the fault of a more hard working north Indian. They also listen to my gibberish.

Not all get convinced by my tactics but I have found enough “Marathi Manoos” to be a known face in dirty poliics. The media has given me required focus. I did use the name of Bachchan family and took offense by their non-offensive statements to get media’s attention. And they started writing Nike and prorogue in hindi on showrooms because of me …

I finally became a known face, folding hand while getting arrested was a little filmy but I am sure they must be showing the same again and again on the news channels.

I have already made enough arrangements and instructed my people to create enough impairment and violence to make people realize that a popular leader is in jail.

Soon I will win in elections and get my aim of becoming the chief minister. To reach their soon I will have to soon change sides woe North Indians as their votes need to be harnessed too. I have nothing for or agaisnt marathi manoos … they were just meant to serve a purpose and they did …”

A Good Life...

I have not seen poverty, hunger or dearth. But I work hard everyday for a good life. Good life for me is to have a bigger TV, bigger car and more amenities then what my parents enjoyed.

For five days a week
• I cringe every morning when the alarm rings and drag myself everyday out of bed for a job I hate.
• I work with people I don’t want to be like
• I don’t see a value add in doing what a do
• I take many coffees to keep up my attention.
• I miss meals or eat while attending calls
• I miss gym because of the long hours I work.
• Stress ensure I don’t sleep very well
• I crib at the first opportunity I get about anything related to work.

I work for good life, losing five days of a seven day week. I work for good life where the sum of my weekdays is the paycheck I earn at the end of the month. I work for a good life which enables me to not worry about day to day survival and allows me to dream, but it also detaches my from my dreams…

Earning a livelihood is the imp but need to redefine a phrase “A Good Life”

80-20 Rule Changed

The Pareto principle (also known as the 80-20 rule, the law of the vital few and the principle of factor sparsity) states that, for many events, 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes.

This rule has changed. Now it is the 99.99 - 0.01 rule, probably called the Destructive Rule or the law of irrational few.

Examples
• A handful of people defaced the “Brand Bengal” in name of social justice. After the Tata’s many company’s pulled out of West Bengal giving a big setback to the state’s economy. These people got the political mileage but what about millions of unemployed youth.
• A handful of MNS member (or I should say hooligans) changed the face of the most cosmopolitan city of India, Mumbai. The nuisance element is so high that International brands write the store names in hindi and the big & mighty apologize in public, lest they may have to fight unreasonable people.
• The so call moral police whose issues range from New Year celebrations to discotheques to school uniforms while hunger, poverty and exploitation persists.
• Few want to be politicians are the ones who throw Taslima out of the country, who rage at Hussain’s paintings, who make Sania take a decision not to play tennis in India to hide from controversies.
• Some people who hurt Indian economy by jamming transport between Jaipur and Delhi to earn reservation for their community. And a handful of politician who erode the social fabric of India to exploit the reservation law to win elections.
• Some people who create a strom when a celebrity hunts a black buck, but don’t even comment as many lions and tigers are hunted at times for profit and at times because of ignorance.


• The coward terrorists… who hide and kill innocent people to get their whimsical demands noticed, who bind the whole world in mourning and pain.

Complex Chemistry

I somehow got addicted to Big Boss Season 2.

It is not very cool to walk into the house after hours of toiling in office, keep coffee in microwave with restless hands, fight guilt pangs of postponing gym and search for the day’s episodes on youtube. Though such obsession seems childish, I have my reasons. This may sound like a cover-up but I think the program talk’s volumes about human psychology, the chemistry of human interactions and the gospel art of living.

Following are of my observations of people, based on this show which incidently match well with my day to day interactions with other Homo Sapiens....

• Everyone believes he/she is right.
• Everyone believes that in a confrontational situation irrespective of their role, that they have been wronged.
• If someone doesn’t like you there is nothing you can do to change their mind.
• Complexes define personality.
• It is easy, almost innate to take bad relationships on a downhill path, immensely difficult to redeem it.
• Crying is a weapon for women that ensure undivided attention.
• Revenge is best served cold.
• You have to practice a lot of silence to earn value for your spoken words.
• Looks matter.
• Only winners can be graceful.
• Life is not a game of chess where your winning or losing will matter. Life is a takeaway food joint with a long queue where your moving smoothly without creating a hassle counts.

Finding Prito

They say it is better to take a wrong road then wait at forever at the crossroads. But the fear of being wrong is enormous. As I struggle in the quest to find myself, I worry that my confusion will be evident in my writing… this results in many uncompleted and unpublished posts…

But the weight of unspoken words is weighs down the soul; add another worry of losing my skill to my palpable anxiousness.

So I promise to myself to write every single day for next 14 days…and publish

Bloody turn of events…

Once upon a time news was made by the mundane statements... of the people in power…

Next came the age of political scandals and kickbacks, highlighting the loss of character in the politicians and government officials…

Now all channels and online newspapers are filled with stories of crime, that too most heinous in the eyes of law; murder.

Statistically now India top the number of murders as compared to other countries. Practically, everything from a love triangle gone wrong, greed of property, uncompromising marital differences, one sided love stories, families refusing to accept relationships… all seem to lead to murder.

Each culprit has confidence of dodging the criminal investigator and law, each time. They now plan to get alibis and remove proof of the crime with a stoned heart and unfathomed mind. In 1995, when Sushil Sharma was accused to murder Naina Sahani and try to erase proof by burning her in tandoor, it was branded as inhuman. But now many of the recent murder stories force us to change the perspective of these words.

Indians shown as the family oriented, high valued individuals in patriotic Bollywood movies in 1960’s and 1970’s are at the nadir of relationship mess and crime.

I believe being intolerant and emotional can be lethal. As control and support of the society decrease, the fear for consequences of a crime has decreased. Now each person and family feels alone and trapped in its circumstances and feels solely responsible to resolve it. Obviously, they choose to take the easier option of removing the opposition then facing it.

I feel important …

For long the Indian middle class was supposed to be not a great place to be. These were tax payers who had moderate means but great dreams. For them getting their children to good school was a status symbol and their kids getting into good college a definition of their life’s success. As most Middle class Indians believe, this is the strata of the Indian society that embodies Indian culture.

Education has paid high dividends as always and India at prime in the outsourcing culture is growing leaps and bounds; lot of focus has come on the middle class. Most have seen their parents save and stash, and they now want to spend. They are now a confident regular income class whose consumerism is throwing India’s economy in spin.

It seems the my mundane middle class is creating waves…worldwide

Already hit by the subprime and infuriated by India’s agricultural policy, America and Miss Rice are making unkind comments on the food grain consumption of the “affluent” Middle class. And Prime Minister of India tells repeatedly that paychecks and purchasing power needs to be kept under check for the neo-rich. The inflation is in bad state and the new manta of “Living Today” a norm.

I am not very sure how this will unfold. But I somehow find it very interesting that the law abiding, moderately rich,tax paying, education oriented families, fixed deposit creating strata becoming a nightmare for economist…” Fate, It Seems, Is Not Without Its Sense Of Irony” …ha ha ha

Whose country is it anyway?

I was born in India. Although not as make-believe as Karan Johar expression of patriotism, I indeed love my country. Even though democracy prevails in my country there is nothing that reflect my views and visions.
The issue is that with the substantial fruits that political office yields in India, all involved are ready to stoop at any level, overlooking logic and humanity to hold on to the chair of profit. So even as I have a right to vote, I don’t have any one echoing my thoughts, to vote for.

Is there anyone who thinks the following?

• Taslima Nasreen should be allowed to stay in India. As a writer she should not be harassed to appease any community. In fact, all artists like M.F. Hussain, Salman Rushdie should neither be witch hunted because of their religion and extra-ordinary intolerance existing in other religion nor any creative artist be allowed to kick-up controversies to sell their work. The person who created controversy by asking “Aaja nach le” title song to remove a paragraph that says “mocha bhi khud ko sunar bole”(for being derogatory for backward classes) should be given life imprisonment for having a sadistic and narrow minded approach and wasting resources of a nation on such misinterpretation.

• Raj Thackray should be removed from the face of earth, without media coverage and fan fare like any traitor is vanished. Any one like Shiv Sena or MNS trying to highlight regionalism should be handled without intervention of media.

• Cricket is a sport. It’s heartening to look the way commerce has spun around it, by noticing the IPL actions. But other sports need help. I wonder what is happening of the commonwealth games India plan to host in 2010. I believe it should be taken seriously as a matter of national pride and keep it clear of corruption and controversy.

• As US face economic recession, and has pulled down the economy and stock market across the world. Shouldn’t it at least now focus on its home affairs, instead of telling China how it should deal with Tibet.

• The education system has three most coveted career paths viz. IITs. IIMs and IAS. Its disheartening to see the controversy surrounding them. The merit list have been quashed for IAS by yet again on giving reservation candidates a rough deal.

• Media is the new necessary evil for our country. But someone should lay rules of what story they are making. Aaj tak making a one hour news program on film actors with no chest hair is acceptable then the media quoting people who create divide in name of religion and region. They actually stood in front of Raj Thackray’s house to take his pictures as if he was some celebrity.

• Can somebody please take notice that the world is actually cracking a joke when they say India would be the next superpower. No country can be unsafe for their women and be a superpower. And India will lose any and all tourism if tourist women are continued to be attacked at the rate they have been in the recent past. And the attack on these foreign women is only because of the general disrespect Indian men have for the women kind. For any riots and display of religious intolerance women like nuns are often attacked. Instead of seeking 33% reservation for women, may be we can try making India safe for them and they will not need any such artificial assistance to bloom.

Lead India

Lead India according to me was a very well thought initiative. Not that I believe that the participants will change the future of my country or that youth will choose politics and community service as its mission from this day; but because we are exposed to many rational views and thoughts.

As Mumbai, is held at ransom by political aspiration of a nobody called Raj Thackray, this show became voice of the people living in cities who unfortunately are not a vote bank. In fact many of them, like me cannot vote as we are born and living in different cities. And that may be one more reason why we abhor regionalism and communalism; hence Nanavati lost to Mishra.

We heard people rationalizing on SEZ, reservations, capital punishments for rape culprits and foreign relations with Nepal and China.

The prime time TV looked beyond regressive serials created in the name of family and culture, and brought to reality that you can go to a slum and place a fire alarm system or get justice and hope for someone who meets with an accident. Though these tasks will be a little difficult without the camera and crew, they are still achievable.

Brain Dump again ...

Writer’s block is a deceptive concept. You get Writer’s block not when you run out of ideas or inspirations to write, but when there are too many ideas seeking your attention. Following are few of the waves in my brain

Wave 1: How can one talk about sports? There is nothing more action associated and spontaneous then it; then how can one do a pre & post analysis of the same.
Wave 2: Why anything that we seek and we get, seem so mundane?
Wave 3: In case when a situation goes wrong, like partners splitting, roommates fighting etc; how come all sided sound equally wronged and aggrieved?
Wave 4: It is difficult to subjectively access a creative work, is this why taking up a profession dealing with creativity, so difficult?
Wave 5: Do people who are focused have lack of communication and articulation skills? Or because people lack these skills they do not waste time and stay focused?
Wave 6: Why India emulates US without considering the population and its Attitude? Just came back from Reliance Fresh, the lines at the cash counter are unusually long as people peep into the computer used for billing to confirm the rates and offers…
Wave 7: Why movie makers experiment so little more? It has been more than a month to a movie hall. :(
Wave 8: Why is there an urge to proliferate?
Wave 9: Why now celebrities are denied vices like smoking also, along with a personal life?
Wave 10: Do you love some one more by tattooing his/her name on your arm?
Wave 11: Why do we only talk about irrigation, when another imperative duty of the rain gods is to save my cricket team from a defeat?
Wave 12: Why marriage is the only time bound relationship? Never heard people saying that I should have had twelve close friends by this age …

Landmark …

Movie sangharsh has a dialogue “Sapne soch samajh kar dekhne chahiye, kabhi kabhi sach bhi ho jaate hain” … This dialogue defines my day on 28th Jan, 2008.

My composer friend Manu created a music album, in which I was fortunate to participate as a lyricist. Today the album was launched at the music world, Brigade Road, Bangalore. As I climbed the stairs, I heard my song being played. It felt so special, never thought a song that holds lyrics penned by me will be played in public as till date most of my creations stay with me or find way to friend’s mailboxes.

Few lines for the people who worked with the album…

My first voice is a prelude
And is the sign of a song on it way
My first words are the beginning
As my heart has so much to say
My first work is the sunrise
And I know I have the day

But sense of accomplishment is less then the new found restlessness as I itch more then ever before to write and express, as a possibility has unfolded in front of me because of God's grace.

Not a Nano Issue

The Ratan Tata 1 lakh car, brought joy of the common man.
But why?
Because prosperity is associated with owning a four wheeler? Or because a developed country is the one with many & only cars on the road?
The problem is not the nano car, the congestion on roads and not even the threat to the environment. It’s a mindset and lack of foresight of Indians. With the kind of population India has, the best and most prosperous mode of transformation can only and only be the public transport.
An efficient and safe public transport is very fuel efficient, control damage to the environment with access fuel emission. It also prevents the government from spending disproportionately on the big cities in the name of infrastructure development.
India and Indians need to stop looking towards the developed countries to define development and affluence. Different set of positives and negatives define us, population being the one most important deciding factor.