WE DONT NEED NO FACEBOOK

Someone recently reproached me for not yet having a profile on any of the social networking sites.This is not the first time that it has happened and I through expperience have learnt to deal with situations of the sort.'Tum sab to mere dil me ho,facebook ki kya jaroorat hai' and then a sly smile does the trick most of the time.Sometimes they say 'diplomacy to koi tumse seekhe' which is answered by another smile,a meek one this time.I know all this makes me sound like a reclusive guy which I am not.Its true that I lack societal skills but then also I easily make good friends.When one moves as in from school to far away college or college to another city for profession great freinds get parted and gradually its warmth also disappears and it cannot be salvaged through sites like these.Well this is the way that life is and should be-dynamic.New places bring new friends and new perspectives.Frankly speaking you hardly miss anyone when you have good freinds.I believe that once a friend is always a friend and thus it does not matter if there is a daily exchange of wassups or not.Also if one wants to chat up there is that great gadget called phone.The reason that keeps me away from these sites roots mainly from my love of the idea of bumping into a long parted dear freind and inviting him back to my place to have a evening overwhelmed by nostalgia.These sites would just make such an evening impossible.

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SHOPPING LIST

A few months from now I will be on the payroll of a software company.This makes me think about what will I buy for myself with my own money the very first time.Maybe a washing machine.Getting my laundry done has been the most irritating of chores during my life as a student and having a washing machine would be of great help.I just cannot stand waiting for the launderers to return my clothes at time and its the most demanding of jobs for me to give the clothes to them at time.Last but not the least my skin crawls when they count the clothes before making the bundle out of it.If I buy the washing machine I will I have to buy an iron.A steam iron that they advertise on TV will be the one.Next item on my shopping list is a grand leather recliner.Oh! I cannot stop dreaming of the day when on returning from a busy day at office I retire to the regal cosiness of this throne of mine.I clearly see a stool by its side on which rests a glass of whisky.Sipping on the whisky I would watch my favourite shows on a slick LED TV.The next thing that I want to buy is a really nice quality leatherjacket,brown in colour and aviators that would go with it.

I am taken away from this heavenly future of mine when my phone rings.My mother it is.After the usual 'whats up' exchange my mother asks me to send the tution fee receipts.'Its for the education loan thing' she says.In one second I am brought back to the reality that initial years of my employment are going to be spent repaying my education loan.The recliner and that jacket will have to wait but I will come for them.Someday....

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PLANS

10 years from now I want to be the owner of an enterprise.I have no ideas about this enterprise but I will be its owner.Reaching there requires me to follow a strict routine.I will have to first be successful at executing the short term plans that I have in my mind.This horizon 10 years away is just the basecamp.The road to this basecamp and the climb thereon is my calling.Its the exhilaration in moving towards that goal which entices me.It is not a mercedes that I want to own or a luxurious house.I may eventually possess these things but What is so special about this enterprise thing is that it will be my own creation.The money that I make will bring me the joy that a farmer gets when he reaps his crops.To this start I look forward to-a farmer with his own land.

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INVICTUS

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

Any one who has seen the movie Invictus will remember this poem by the same name.The poem was written by William Ernest Henley.When Henley was 12 he suffered from tuberculosis of the bone which in later years reached his foot.At the age of 25 his foot was amputated right below the knee.Henley wrote this poem in these trying circumstances.The inspiration that lead him to write this poem also encouraged him throughout his one legged life which he spent very actively and writing excellent poems which evoked varied emotions in the hearts of readers.Henley died in 1903 but never did 'Invictus'.

Nelson Mandela while serving his lifeterm at the Robben island recited the poem to himself and other prisoners.He spent 27 years in prison before being freed in 1990 and then becoming the first black President of South Africa chosen through elections in which for the first time blacks voted.What he achieved in hiscountry was because he never bowed to adversities but rather looked them in the eye.Henley's poem helped him do so.In 1995 the world cup of rugby was held in South Africa.The home team was all white and previously hated by the black community.Mandela took keen interest in rugby.Prior to the event not only he achieve success in turning the hate of the blacks into support but also motivated the captain Francois Piennar to win the cup.Mandela told Piennar about the poem and how it helped him stand when all he wanted was to lie down.Against all odds S.A won the cup defeating New Zealand in an epic of a final.This is the story of Invictus being Immortal.Well so far.....

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KARMA

Arjuna is overwhelmed by tears at a critical moment in the battlefield and looses sight of the path on which he already had come a long way.His dear friend Krishna teaches him to get over with the emotional ramblings that drive him to inaction.Krishna teaches him that as a Kshatriya it is his duty to stay on the path of righteous action.He tells Arjuna that the empathy that makes him weak is not deserved by the Kauravas and so he should not mourn them.He suggests him that Karma is like a win-win situation for him as if he wins he gets the kingdom and if he looses he still dies as a martyr for a cause.He later on explains to Arjuna that it is through an unrelenting march on the path of Karma that a soul becomes worthy of immortality.He then explains the importance of being unattached to once Karma in order to experience the true happiness that the path of Karma holds for its pursuer.He elaborates by saying that once a righteous course of action is chosen one should put all efforts to follow it without caring about the results.The true prize he says is not that which you expect to be in store waiting for you at the end but it is in the exhilaration that accompanies action itself.A person who actually pursues his Karma with noattachment whatsoever becomes capable of taking happiness and sorrow in the same stride,and only such a person is fit for immortality.Such a person only has the chance of being one with god.

The most striking interpretations that I draw from these dialogues reaffirm my very deep rooted beliefs in objectivity.When Krishna teaches to be unattached with the results of one's actions he just wants to imply that happiness is not in eating the fruits but in the path that makes him deserve the fruit.He also hints that there is no such thing as a higher spiritual goal but whatever heaven that exists is here to be found.His reference to immortality of the soul is more in the physical sense than the metaphysical dimension that has been popularly ascribed to it.Its about the immortality of ideals and the legacies that one leaves behind in this world.Objective theory has it that a man in the true sense is one without any guilt and only such a man can take happiness and sorrow in the same stride.The concept of man's oneness with god highlights one of the main ideals of the objective philosophy that sees man nothing short of
god.

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SEEKING TRUTH

The world and the human existence must carry some purpose,it is this belief that has carried us this far.What exactly this purpose is hard to ascertain and if one actually finds a purpose,chances are high that it may be the wrong one.The most common purpose that has been ascribed to our existence by many relegious ideologies is oneness with God,the path to which can be travelled only through the values and morals inherent in these relegions.Morality can however not be a dictated one as everyone is dependent on his interpretations.Guided by individual interpretations we start to develop our own value system and when these contradict those taught by relegion we face a crisis that challenges our existence.Most of the people however never get to this stage as they already had abandoned their reason to the concept of god which requires one to be faithful without asking questions.Faced by such a crisis a reasoning mind however formulates a personal value system and seeks his own purposes.The transition takes place through a stage when one doubts the existence of all values,knowledge and purpose.This is the state of nihilism in which a person holds no beliefs,looses all loyalties and seems to have no other impulse other than destroying.This transition proves destructive for many who either turn into amoralists mindlessly seeking things like power and material pleasures while some others into ascetics who renounce all earthly desires in order to prevent getting hurt.The people who get through this state come out as pioneers taking the civilization ahead.Last two centuries have been very dynamic and have pushed the whole humankind a step closer to this transition.The lifestyles of especially the young today shows signs of nihilism.However dangerous it may be,one needs to go through this stage as it helps one to wipe the slate clean and emerge a phoenix.Their is a big probability that the truth that one reaches through this process may once again eventually lead to contradictions and thus maybe a newer and deeper nihilism.Sometimes people get caught up in a vicious circle of self realization and nihilism and spend their lifetime trying to break off.The path to the truth is the most trying of all but remember 'The climb may be arduous but the view is grandest at the top'

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POLITICIAN OF THE YEAR

There is something clean about Nitish Kumar that parts him from the pack that the politicians make.Be it his opposition to Narendra Modi campaigning in Bihar or the recent opposition to BJP's Lal Chowk attempt,there seems to be a consistent effort to stay away from stunts aimed at things that have nothing to do with development.His plans for development have never been extravagant but only basic ,but the efficient way of execution has returned maximum benefits for the average Bihari.When he came to office,crime had become a menace.Instead of announcements of buying sophisticated weapons for the police,he initiated the system of speedy trials.Most of the notorious criminals were behind bars in no time and all of a sudden their was a never before fear of law amongst criminals.Through the later part of his second term as CM he was involved in construction of roads at an extensive rate.To get an estimate here is a piece of information-while the Bihar Rajya Pul Nirman Nigam had built 319 bridges in 30 years (1975-2005), it built 339 bridges at an estimated cost of Rs 798.04 crore in just three years (2006-09)!Recently while recieving the politician of the year award he was asked that why he gave cash to families to buy bicycles for girls instead of distributing the bicycles.He answered that doing the latter would involve issuing tenders which could turn the plan into a scam.Today one can see girls happily going to schools on their bicycles.The women empowerment had started back when the state government brought a legislation that reserved 50% of the panchayat seats or women.Thus its no wonder that women played a pivotal role in his re election the third time.The overall image of Bihar is at its best and the general mood of the public is upbeat.Everyone seems ready for the journey ahead.For 50 years it had voted its caste but at last Bihar has cast its vote.

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KEEP WALKING

For once certain and sure
I walk alone with my vision pure,
branding maxims and proclaiming objectivity
I hold my head high,against eternity.

No repose for the end I yearn,
no open arms I wait upon
Driven by the fire inside that burns
towards my Atlantis I march.

No heaven on my horizon
neither promises of an afterlife
content I walk on
the path with flowers and thorns rife.

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THE EBBING LIGHTS

The ebbing lights
bring me to you,
to pangs of pain
and peals of delights.
The receding waves
uncover now and then
the bed beneath
of cherished sands.
The river you were
has changed course
leaving behind rivulets,
with no choice
but to wait
to cut them deeper with
the pangs of pain
and peals of delights
when the light ebbs.

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THE STATE OF MEDIA

"Aap bade ho kar kya ban na chahte ho?"-"Sachin Tendulkar" pat comes the reply.The petite correspondant from Aajtak keeps asking this same question to kids that seem to be dressed up in full cricketing gear just for the occasion.And yes the correspondant has that trademark hindi reporter accent which irks me whenever I hear it.As this story ends we are taken to a cricket match being played between the so famous saas and bahus that rule the Indian telly.The camera closeups one by one on the players who have some of their own criceting wisdom family serial style to share.I switch to another news channel and they are showing sadhus play cricket near sangam in Allahabad while some foreign tourists watch on.Yes it is a fact that India is a cricket crazy nation but these mediamen and women just kill it.They over do it over and over again.They dont realize that to bring out the fanaticism over cricket you dont need to serve it as breaking news but just document it.However media in India just cannot get over its breaking news syndrome.Meanwhile India wins its warmup match against NZ.I switch back to Aajtak where broad block letters read out "JEET KI HUNKAAR" .Seeing it I realize maybe what I ask of these channels is a bit too much to
ask.


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DESPO NOT ME

Recently I was watching 'How I met Your Mother' season 3 on my laptop.In a particular scene Barney Stinson while reminiscing about his first sexual
experience says: “That was the night I was born. I rose like a phoenix from her mentholated bosom and strode into the world, Armani-clad and fully awesome.” Something hit me hard,something which was hard to admit and still harder to ignore.Thats too many 'hards' in a single statement but that is how I can best summarise what I felt.I never gave 'being still a virgin 'a serious thought,but the way Barney expressed himself and especially that mention to the phoenix thing did ring bells inside me.Someone seemed to be yelling-"he! you are still unused, and you had one of the best chances" .About the best chance thing- I study in manipal(popular belief has it that it is the land of pleasures galore).I try to talk my brain out of this 'student-life crisis situation' that it believes was my making all the way.I try to explain to it that how I with my meagre monthly allowances and fat intoxicant bills could do nothing but wait for time to shine upon me.My brain counters me by giving the example of the poor Andhra guy(he lost his V just in the 3rd semester) and our own 'bewda' who opened his account just last month.I try to reason that the poor guy was a geek and the girl he nailed was another geek who just thought that they could share some codewriting skills through mutual fluid exchange and that bewda's escapade was a fluke as the girl mistook his 'senti bullshit'(that he diishes out whenever he is drunk) for the vulnerability that girls so dig in for.At this point my brain went all guns blazing-"Why is it that things fall in place only for others?".This time I was silenced like a husband who just goes in the corner after he cant pull up more explanations.In my own corner I finally admitted to myself that it was lame of me to deny my body of such great a pleasure.If now I say that I am a 'mechie' probably most of you will typecast me as one of those despos who are now the face of our fraternity in every engineering college around India.But seriously I am not one of those types.My desparation is not all lust driven,its just the curiosity and the fact that I feel I have been a bit late on getting my hands on this type of experience.I feel kind of low about it but again something rings a bell inside me.Its my brain saying-"All is not lost, tomorrow is another day and we are going on a voyage

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CENSORSHIP

According to wikipedia censorship is suppression of speech or other communication which may be considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or inconvenient to the general body of people as determined by a government, media outlet, or other controlling body.Well many people are opposed to this idea as they think it is an insult to the intelligence of humans.Such people reason that a mature person already possesses the maturity to respond to what is important rather to get tangled with obscure and immoral ideas.These days whenever I watch television I keep thinking that a new type of censorship based on stupidity should
be in place.Reality shows are the main source of my belief.All opposers to the idea of censorship may also support me too because no one can possibly stand stupidity.Well family based serials is where all this started but its too late to do anything about it now as it could lead to a nationwide disruption of family life.People hurling abuses at each other for reasons hard to comprehend,shedding tears as if they are in a private session with a psychiatrist and bonding so strongly after having just met for the first time are things that just force my rationale to question its premises.Whoever makes such shows must be some character.Also shows like TLC,Roadies,Splitsvilla are on the same bandwagon as no matter how much there following is,what they seve is sheer stupidity.Well I wont have a problem if inspite of being stupid they turn out to be interesting,but that's hard to find.

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OF BENGAL

One of my good friends today shared with me a conversation that he had with an uneducated Bengali when he had visited Kolkata recently.This friend of mine has his house in Kolkata at a place where nothing but barren fallow land existed since his grandfather had bought the land in the 60's.Today that place is overpopulated by malls and flyovers and other features of a newly urbanised Indian locale.Now this Bengali after a formal hi hello,jumped upon the topic of politics.Given the fanatical nature of importance that an average Bengali gives to politics,sports and culture my dear friend went all ears just to have a good timepass.This die hard follower of "didi" had a very strange but an interesting story to tell.According to him the locality that I am talking about here was once a very fertile piece of land that used to be green with the rice crop that grew here.Jyoti Basu's son slowly acquired the land by forcing the
innocent farmers out.This son of Jyoti Basu was a very fond of luxuries and thus he developed this area as an amusement area of his and also made a lot of money out of the process.This fictional dramatic story indicated that the story had been told to him for sole purpose of gathering an opposition against the existing Jyoti Basu government.Later on the man talked about the Singur issue and hailed the cancellation of the proposed factory being set up there as a big step in the empowerment of the poor."Cholche na-Cholbe-na"(has'nt worked and will not work) is what he very emphatically announced.My friend also discussed how people did nothing in his village but gather in the evenings to criticize MNC's and America.Hearing all this makes me remember the day when the Bihar
election results were out and everyone talked that from now on the people are going to vote on the basis of development only.That day I as an Indian felt very positive unlike today.

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