Just Like That

2011-12-09T03:43:00.000-08:00

This is an entry for a 500 word competition with the theme as 'Mango'.

A Window of Opportunity:
Kumar was heavily perturbed that day. He was agitated. He didn’t know why. It seemed so bizarre that a simple contest poster could throw his life out of balance. But it did. Trying to set his emotions a little aside, he sat down before his computer and began to check his e-mail. His mind wandered back to the contest poster. Finally he mustered strength, “Chuck it, and let’s give it a shot”. All he needed was a story around mango. “Are you sure it has to be about the mango?” Kumar went back to the poster and nothing else was to be seen on that. “It has to be about the mango, there is nothing else in it. A story with Mango, but how do you even begin a story around that? What are the attributes of a mango? Mangoes are sweet and posed temptation challenges to all diabetes inflicted people”. So he began to formulate his main character around a middle aged man named Arun suffering from diabetes, who is yearning to have the mango in the kitchen without his wife knowing in the night. “Such a drab and sick story, the first thing that comes to your mind, is Diabetes when you see a mango!! Awful. You can do much better.” “Let’s build a society relevant story that addresses societal problems. “His main character became Selvi, aged 13 selling cut mangoes with red pepper and salt outside the Govt School, when she ought to be in one herself. So the other characters obviously included a drunken father, a bed ridden mother and two younger siblings to feed. “Yeah with this now you are a modern version of Mother Teresa, just write about a small child taking family responsibilities and how corrupt our system is and hope to win the contest. Hypocrite. !!“ So Selvi too lost in front of his inner voice. “It’s time I thought differently, just like Vivek told in boys”. He enlarged the canvas of the story.” It’s a long time ago; how long?(who cares?). King Kumar has no children and he doesn’t have many years to live according to his astrologer, because the dhruv star of his is losing shine. So he prays to Lord Shiva for years (of course lesser than the years he is going to be alive) and he gets a mango. With that he has 2 sons who later on become very famous. ” “Seriously? Historical story? First of all, its 500 words limit contest and you can’t even start to explain the kingdom without exceeding the limit “, his inner voice interrupted again. This time he was done for good, he decided he can’t cook up a convincing story and was about to call it quits, when his mother quipped “Can’t it be a story about opportunity since that’s what the poster represents. After all it’s a simple window to test your creative skills. ” Finally his inner voice agreed too.

2011-12-08T23:50:00.000-08:00

A ‘Critic’ in every one?
Critic, the word is applied to persons who are publicly accepted in a recognized capacity, such as professional employment, graduation from a course of study, etc., to give critical commentaries in one or any of a number of specific fields of public or private achievement or endeavor. (Courtesy: Wikipedia)
How different is a normal person from a critic? Both present opinions on matter and hence there isn’t a specific need for a differentiation between the two. What makes a critic is one whose opinion matters. Hence the emphasis on a recognized capacity is the crux of the differentiation between the 2. “Everyone is entitled to his/her own opinion” is a very common phrase that has come up in the past 2 weeks, thanks to Kapil Sibal and his attempt to gag the voice on Internet. But are we entitled to an opinion? I guess yes. It is very difficult not to have an opinion on viewing/learning certain things, because forming an opinion determines how you received it. Was the book good? Yes. That’s an opinion. Did I like the movie? Yes that’s an opinion. Should I recommend that? That’s also an opinion. But the aspect that has changed over the years is the platform that we express ourselves. In the days of our parents, they too had an opinion, but they didn’t have the outlet. At most the outlet was with a colleague, over a cup of coffee or a cigarette or in the omnipresent train and bus travels. Internet and social media are so popular because, it gives a pseudo celebrity status to an otherwise normal person. We have multiple outlets to announce ourselves on all matters under the sun. With the internet, an opinion it is instantly shared, viewed, commented, ridiculed, appreciated and shared again. As a platform, internet also dissolves the geographical boundaries and in an increasingly cosmopolitan society it reaches multiple people with different cultural, religious and national backgrounds. With such a vast reach, the factor of “recognized capacity” is no longer a criterion for being a critic. So everyone active on the internet then becomes a critic for the things they associate with. Thus, a person with bare minimal knowledge on things can ridicule/appreciate an aspect, which he/she has been witness to irrespective of the consideration of the recognized capacity. One of my former colleagues said that Uthappa was a better finisher than Tendulkar, since he won us a match on the England tour, when Dravid was the captain. It is ridiculous but then, it is an opinion and he, a critic. In India, everybody is an expert on cricket, cinema and politics (predominant aspects of our social life that captures the most attention), irrespective of the capability. Jokes about manmohan singh not even opening his mouth in the dentist’s office, Morphing Sonia Gandhi’s photos all becomes an opinion, which has no implications on the person doing so. The opinions tend to become increasingly personal as you get more likes. Politicians and film personalities are an easy lot to punch and so much so, they have I think stopped worrying about what people might actually say. Just because they are in a public life, I believe that it doesn't give any of us the right to ridicule them in the limited capacity that we have on the public forum.
There is no sense of responsibility associated with the majority of such comments. They might be passed in jest, to continue a conversation or raise a few eyebrows. Since nobody will be able to certify “recognized capacity” on the internet and the social media, I feel it becomes imperative for the person to understand that a certain degree of credibility in that field is required, before announcing themselves on a public platform. Having a bigger reach(through the internet), it is important to be able to identify one’s area that he/she can voice their opinion. I, for one can be a critic of a Java code(how effective, is a bigger question :-)) but I cannot criticize Dhanush for singing Kolaveri for many reasons, one being I don’t know what is Gibrato? We have no idea on how it might affect some person’s life, because that's where the lack of responsibility leads to. If we know that, half of us will think twice before saying something that catches Kapil Sibal’s attention. :-). Censorship will not work and it will pose bigger issues down the line, but a basic understanding of one’s abilities and being a little sensitive to other’s feelings or aspirations is what I believe, will solve Mr Kapil Sibal’s headache.

2010-12-19T19:05:00.000-08:00

Recently, I came across a colleague, who had delivered a baby boy sometime back. Unfortunately, the baby had a heart condition that it required couple of surgeries of the heart to be able to live. I know everybody''s heart goes out to the boy and her. She came to office and I happen to bump into her and was asking about the child. She said the first operation was done and the baby is recovering and the doctor was positive about the second and the chances for survival increased. At this point, she said God has been so kind to us so far, I hope that he continues to bless us going forward too. I was simply dumbstruck and tongue tied to speak anything. At a stage, where I would have thought why me?, she said thanks and it was the single most profound thing that I have heard in recent times.
It got me thinking on God and the way I have grown up with that notion. There are images that have been associated in my mind for things which I haven't seen so far. For a long time while I was growing up, God used to be Rama, Krishna and innumerable others in Hindu Mythology. The images was of Arun Govil as Rama and Nithish something as Krishna. It's stupendously hard to believe that Arun Govil was the God I was praying to but that was the image that was formed in my head. They used to stand on top of clouds and watch over us as we do on a daily basis. Later on it changed to actual pictures kept at my place, a ravi varman painting of crowning of Rama and various other portrayals of Krishna and other deities. These images were later on replaced with blank images as I got introduced to Ayn Rand and Osho. These folks as a matter of fact, believed that God doesn't exist. It was a difficult fact to assimilate. Growing up in an religious background, this wasn't a topic of discussion and it was given that God exists. I have never been able to switch to either sides, and always been in the metastable state. Neither here nor there is not a great feeling, as to a certain extent it indicates an indecisiveness to stick to a side. Indecisiveness as a quality is the most disturbing aspect that I could attribute to an individual. It indicates a lack of other qualities such as accountability and responsibility, which opens a can of worms and those persons are depicted as villainous characters in all Ayn Rand novels. Naturally, I never wanted to be villainous, so I had to take a side. There are days when I took side of both of them, based on my convenience. I know it sounds incredibly stupid, but that was the fact. After days of difficulty in accepting there could be a possibility that God might not exist, it was a difficult phase to get through. At a later point of time, it became simpler to believe that there is a super power that exists beyond us, than trying to prove the fact that God doesn't exist. For a civilized society, I think God is a necessary entity to sustain a stable governance, as a concept of Hell might actually scare somebody from imparting bad things upon others, and at this point of time, I came to the conclusion that the existence or non existence of God is an individual's choice. It is that simple. It gave such a huge sense of relief and joy that I was at liberty to switch sides without having to live with the concept of right or wrong. I think that is the day a notion was formed in my head that the concept of accepting something as is without having to complicate things with the possibility of right or wrong is probably the key to find a sense of peace. It has to be noted that only the notion has been formed, but its not in practice though. Thus I feel God is and will always will be upto us.

2010-06-19T08:41:00.000-07:00

Germany lost to serbia yesterday in the FIFA World cup 2010. They should have equalized with the penalty in the second half but somehow it wasn't to happen and they are in a spot of bother for qualifying for the next round. Always have felt sad whenever Germany loses in the World Cup. Actually dont know the reason why!!. I have watched different Sports for a decade now, or even more in some. I wondered why i always have favourites and always support a side or a player in any match, be it in any sport. I have hardly watched a match neutrally. There are some reasons i can think of this happening in Cricket, whenever Indian cricket team loses. But hard to fathom, reasons behind the sorrow for a German football team loss, LA Lakers loss, Boris Becker loss, Schumacher's non performance this year. Is it really me who simply can't watch a match without supporting any side or a player or is it a common feeling?

2009-12-30T02:45:00.001-08:00

We are living in a world where i think everything is worth a tad above than what they actually are. There isn't a better example than Cricket in our country. We didn't make it past the group stage in the 2007 world cup and there was a lot of hue and cry asking for many heads to roll. We weren't that bad then. We won 20-20 world cup and we were celebrating as if we wont live another day. We weren't that good also then. It’s the same case with the IPL, Champions League and Champions Trophy. I believe that the reason for such drastic shifts in response is an actual result of the hype and marketing associated with it. I wonder when cricket gained such popularity in India. Or rather how did it create such a huge fan base?
While we ponder this issue, we need to keep in mind that we were not World beaters while we gained popularity. Our record overseas was abysmal; we were winning at home thanks to tailor made pitches. So we cannot attribute the popularity of the game on the fact that we were the best side in the game. We still are trying to. We were made popular because we were touted to be the best side. Commentators were constantly saying we have the best batsman of all times; we are the side to beat at home and so on and so forth. It became an enigma to the viewers who were glued on to the game, thinking others were also glued on. My theory is this. You have a product, you say it’s the best constantly irrespective of the quality and it’s the one that people would love to have and some time some where down the line, it’ll be perceived as the best. Perception is the most important thing here than the actual realization.
This is not true with respect to Cricket alone. Oscars are the pinnacle for any person associated with the movie industry. It’s again that over a period of time that we need to make sure that the perception of things is the best of offer and over time, it will become the best in the field. Did we ever wonder why EPL is garnering more attention in India and worldwide than the other leagues. Why Chetan Bhagat is considered the most selling Indian Author in Indian Writer’s History, which is automatically perceived as the best, because we best understand numbers. Why do we have stars associated with products? We perceive that they are the best and hence the products they endorse are the best too.
It’s the brand Creation that is the most important thing to be successful. An employee of an organization is expected to market himself/herself in the best possible way to be able to differentiate himself/herself from another employee.

The whole marketing principle is visible everywhere we go and whatever we do. Why it takes longer time to fall out of love than actually falling in it. I mean the first process only created the need for the second one. I mean you cannot fall out of love if you are not in it. You fall in love, you are happy and you continue in a relationship. In this process, we are guided towards a certain place in terms of expectations by the need to go out, speaking to the person for long hours, give gifts etc.. How were these needs created? It was marketed as necessary as what most people will do when they are in a relationship. We generally do not question the authority of the majority. When you have to fall out of love, we perceive that we were happier earlier when we were in love, and hence we despair. It helps to realize that whatever we feel, whatever we think is the best, whichever person is important to us, is a direct implication of the marketing and hype we create or is being created by others around us. Hence what and how we feel, are things which is under an individual’s control which basically indicates that even though Hype and Marketing around us influences our way of thinking, it is occasionally worthwhile to remember that we can control these factors and truly we are the King.

2008-03-21T21:27:00.000-07:00

Politicians and Actresses costumes

This topic actually made me think quite a bit. At first sight, looks like a pretty simple topic to understand. Politicians commenting about actresses’ costumes to gain political mileage and as a questioning generation, we ask whether our law makers are actually doing good to the nation by raising this seemingly trivial issues.

For a change we’ll try and look at the rationale side of the issue. Let’s consider the politician as a human being and we give him the benefit of doubt that he has some sense in making that statement. There are various people who are going to hear the comment as the politician is known across the country. He has a role to perform as a leader of a particular group of people, spread across the geographical conditions. Popular to many beliefs, I believe that leaders are made. The factors that make a leader might vary but I believe leaders are made rather than being born. I would like to quote a small example for this. Invariably in traffic jams in small streets where there is utter chaos, there will be a person who will volunteer to be in the centre of them all and giving directions to the people and the people will follow the man religiously and get out of there. He has become a leader by virtue of us following the instructions he gave. He satisfies the need of the people at the moment and that’s what matters to the people stuck there. Individual view points in the traffic jam might lead to further confusion among the people, so the need of a person to collectively represent a smooth way out of the situation becomes pertinent. Once the leader starts functioning, the group stops reacting, it simply starts acting based on the instructions. Nobody question his credentials whether he is capable person of making those directions. This is why I think that leaders are made and not born. The subject matter might be little trivial but it’s the attitude of the leader which I am mentioning. You might wonder what this has got to do with the fact of politicians and actresses. Politicians represent a group of people who look upto them. This includes urban as well as rural population. In a country like ours, the difference of a rural and urban upbringing is as different as chalk and cheese. I am talking in terms of exposure to things and the general outlook towards varied situations. The politician might be representing the view point of the group of people he might be representing, as individual opinions in this case will be no longer valid. Its like individuals in traffic jam expressing their views, which creates more chaos and more trouble. When a person acts as the leader the group stops reacting and they take into consideration, somebody among them has taken the initiative. So it could be a collective opinion voiced out from a single person. We do things out of pressure that normally we won’t do, like going in the one way in the road due to traffic etc.. and the politician might have acted out of that.

Now it comes to the ethics of the question. Whether the politician is ethically justified in making a comment on behalf of the group he represents, which actually (lets assume) he doesn’t believe. Its vote bank politics. At the end of the day, it matters to the person whether he is in power or not. We can say that the politician must do his duty and not expect these things. But lets be practical. What if he loses out because the group wants him to do a certain thing and he refuse to do it. He will go down in the view of the people who actually matters to him(in terms of numbers). Life for us is full of numbers. How much you earn? How many marks? How many bugs? So to him its how many votes?

We compromise in our professional life. You write code that you know isn’t good, but its pressure at the time that makes you write and throughout the cycle of the code we are going to say that it was pressure which made us write that. Politician cannot publicly say that. (He cannot go back once he has said that)

The aspect of urban and rural upbringing can also be looked in this context. We know that there are things which are beyond the skin of the actresses. We realize very well that there is a line between real and reel life. It is because we have been exposed to things of greater importance some way or the other. Through books, educated parents, friends and self realization. The rural population is getting there but I guess slowly. I like to say that the exposure that we have got is the only reason we are thinking that things like these are trivial and that the rural population is coming slowly to that. I don’t question the integrity or the intelligence of my rural friends.

What I wished to say that every coin has two sides we have to understand that there are certain things which isn’t intended for us and we are not to judge the credibility of the person based on that. There is a zen story with regards to the acceptance and non acceptance of things. A man approaches the zen master, who along with his other disciples is sitting on the bank of a river. The man openly starts swearing at the master much to the shock of the disciples. Since the master kept quiet, the disciples weren’t able to do anything. After the man left, they approached the master and asked why didn’t say anything to the man? The master said that first I need to acknowledge the fact that I am all those things which the man said I was, then only the question of reacting to it comes up? I know myself and that’s why I kept quiet. We need to understand the comments like this aren’t directed at an educated person and the audience for that are completely different. Just like the difference between the Hollywood and Kollywood movie audiences. Kollywood isn’t Chennai alone and definitely not Sathyam alone. We have to judge that person on the basis of the work he does. Its simple to point fingers and say this is wrong but basically the fact remains it is easier to find faults than actually creating it.

P.S: The whole point could be closed with the simple statement that “Freedom of Speech” is available for everyone including the politician.

2008-03-12T09:55:00.000-07:00

“It’s not our abilities but the choices, which determines who we really are”. Needn’t say to whom these lines belong to. For the folks who don’t know, its Dumbledore of Harry Potter series. But are we comfortable with choices? The answer might be a little trickier than we actually think. I am not talking about life threatening decisions, like can I drink and drive? Absolutely no!!!. We decide between things based on how we actually feel. If its sad, unhappy then choice is simple, do the opposite of it. But it’s those choices, which isn’t so obvious and clear, the simpler yet exasperating ones. Should I do this or that , when both of them are things which aren’t life threatening. Should I do this exam now or later, is this the right way of going about things or that way.. When do we have choices only when the basic needs are fulfilled. We have a job so we have the luxury of saying I am not getting what I want (Basically what my friends are getting). Since I am not getting things which I want or think I want, I should do other things which might fulfill this void.
Basically what I mean to tell is that most of us if not all, are afraid of having choices, which might lead to responsibility for the choice u are going to make. But the presence of choices in our lives indicate that we have progressed to a better stage than our parents at the age we are now. “To be or not to be”. Life is all about making small but significant choices that comes our way. I think we’ll never know whether the choice is right or not. Just that we’ll have to believe that it is right and continue believing the same. Choices thrusted upon individuals, not prepared for it cannot be pleasant. Its like watching Karan Johar’s movie and suddenly getting Ghosts and scary things on it. Its like the matrix blue and red pill.
Basically I think it’s simple for us to tell others which is right and wrong because u needn’t be responsible for the final outcome. Making a choice asks for accountability and responsibility for the consequences associated with the choices. We cannot have either one without the other.Responsibility and Accountability is something we always say are missing in people but never question whether we have it in the first place. So as we grow up emotionally and physically we need to understand that we have choices we have and take a minute or two to decide and be accountable for whatever happens. Choices represent growth or improvement in one’s life. The more the choices at our disposals the better lifestyle we are leading. I think as a part of one’s life one needs to understand and learn to make choices as permanent fixtures in their day to day activities as not prepared for those might be more exasperating than the thing actually demands. “There are better things that we can do having money than not having it”. Having Choices are good and the earlier we realize this, the better for us I guess. Likewise, having choices in life and making decisions based on that are pivotal in leading a happy life in the current day scenario, where the sudden availability of options to a generation which isn’t accustomed to such a situation isn’t a happy situation. Taking decisions aren’t so straightforward in 21st century J

2008-03-12T01:59:00.000-07:00

Having watched Cricket over the past 5 world cups and supported India throughout our rather patchy and occasionally brilliant record, I felt proud after the recent victory in Australia. To be frank, I was happier with the test match performance with the only glitch being our loss in Sydney when we should have drawn it. That fateful 3 minutes proved the difference between drawing the series and losing them. But we might say after the loss only, we regrouped and played well to win the Perth test. But all in all, I think it was a commendable performance. Anil Kumble, the unsung hero of so many famous Indian wins finally got his due. This made the test series special. He didn’t get his due for the services he has rendered to Indian Cricket. We all say that we play well at home and it was true as he was the only man who made the records possible. 600 test wickets and we still have people doubting his ability about taking wickets. Once he is off the scene, the record to my understanding is under threat. Playing at home has been taken for granted and probably we might be in for a rude awakening when he decides to hang up his boots.

The start of the one day series was bad. The manner in which Ganguly and Dravid were asked to go was abominable. You have to respect the contribution they have made to cricket and they deserved a much better send off. They aren’t supposed to know their future through the media. The BCCI and selection committee should have informed them of their decision and I bet them to have taken it in the right spirit. Just because they are supreme cricketers who put their interest after the team’s, they shouldn’t be taken for granted. I am not questioning the selector’s decision to drop them . It was the right now, considering the world cup in 2011. By the same yardstick, even Tendulkar should have been dropped. (Applying the same age yardstick as done to Dravid and Ganguly).Now after the series also, I still say Tendulkar should be dropped. I have absolutely no doubt that as long as he is batting, he’ll score runs, because he is a genius. He’ll score tons like we drink coffee. Having a man close to 35 years in the team and looking forward to the future(when he is going to be 38) is a little far fetched. People might think I am against Tendulkar, but I am big fan of his and the only reason I think that the game is popular in India is because of him. He revolutionized everything about the game including the aspect of media coverage. He bought about the change of cricketers becoming financially comfortable and for all this the game and the whole cricketing fraternity will be happy. He is a true icon and a fantastic ambassador to the game of Cricket as such.

But in hindsight, I think it was poetic justice that Tendulkar was part of the team that won the one day series. For all the runs he scored and all the records he broke, he didn’t have many trophies to celebrate. Our first overseas test series win in West Indies (after a long time) didn’t have him in the side. But we have won in England and performed commendably in Australia, so I think its justice finally. For atleast he'll have a few memorable victories in his otherwise illustrious career.

Rahul Dravid is another man whom I think hasn’t got his due completely, people still brand him as a test player when his strike rate is around 75 and average close to 40. For all we care he has had a better statistic than Yuvraj Singh when he played the one day format. Its sixes and fours which matters to the public and its awful. Dravid as a player has contributed so much in so many aspects to Indian Cricket. For balance of the side he has kept wickets. For balance he has played at 3,4,5,6,7 and even opened the test side for the side to have more options. We could see that he was uncomfortable on this tour, opening the innings, but it was determination and dedication which made him score those runs in the series. I will stick my neck out and say that Dravid and Kumble have contributed more to Indian cricket in the recent years than Tendulkar. I am not talking about numbers but the things they brought upon themselves for the team’s need. Laxman hasn’t got his due. Ganguly got his due but is now being treated shabbily.
This is dedicated to all the unsung heroes of our team who had to be applauded for our ODI victory in Australia.

2006-02-13T06:55:00.000-08:00

The facet that is common in most successful people is Passion for something that they do. Passion towards work or Passion towards anything that the person likes.
Again, Success is a very relative term, so we will take satisfaction as the criterion here. Satisfaction that you are doing a good job in whatever you do and also liking it. Taking the cue from my previous post, we all are passionate about something. But the question is how many of us follow our passion? What stops people from taking up something, which they are passionate about?. Fear of Failure. Maybe. But i think fear is one friend who is there with us always. Fear manifests itself in many ways as we grow up. Fear takes various dimensions and sizes, like cockroaches to Math teachers and so on. But as we grow up, the fear about real persons takes back seat. What grips us then is purely psychological. We are afraid of losing, of ridicule, of being outcaste, of being left out of something and of failing. Fear gives us an option to take the easier way out of any situation we are in. So i think we blame it on Fear for not doing something. Fear of losing someone will make us never tell to that person how special he/she is to us? There could be many reasons behind that particular action, but the fact remains we didn't make the effort to move forward. So we use Fear as an excuse for what we didn't do.
Fear stops us from doing things we normally do. Once we face our fear, we realise that the thing that we feared was not worth that emotion. Fear makes our thought process narrow, and in the process makes us overlook certain simple things
Fear is inborn in our system but the thing we fear is acquired by us. Failure is a superficial thing which we acquire psychologically and associate it with the fear factor in us. So how to get rid of things, that is an obstacle from being what we are?
1) Start living with the fear and do things which are safe.
2) Get ready to face our fear and probably realize it wasn’t that bad.
Failure does threaten us. It shakes our system of beliefs and makes us doubt ourselves. Sure enough nobody wants to feel bad. But how it is possible to really value something, if we don’t know the value of not having the same thing? How it is possible to reach a high if we don’t know where the low is? The troughs have to be known in order to appreciate the high. The safe mode of thinking is acquired from our middle class parents. Again, I am not finding fault with them. The same phrase “Ignorance is bliss” is applicable here. Safe is fine as the safe path is successful according to our parents. So by following it, we are leading our parent’s life part 2. If two days of one’s life can’t be the same, how can 2 lives be similar. Again, if being similar makes people satisfied, fine , I have bored you with my blog and there is no need for you to read along.
We actually have fear fighting instincts within us. We love cricket matches going down the wire, we love heroes after being reduced to dumps, come back against the odds and defeat the villain. So in hindsight, every one of us love fighting and coming back. Just that we put the thought “ Doing things the right way” gyan and do not attempt things that we want to do.
Life is supposed to be an art and it can be an art only when it comes from our heart. There is this Greek mythology story, a person attaches wings to his shoulders with wax and flies towards the sun. It defies logic. Agreed. On his journey, his wax melts and he falls and dies. He followed his heart and made an attempt to overcome his fears. History and science calls him a fool. What about you?