Stray Thoughts

This is the 1^st line I have written after early February this year. The last article I wrote was a valentine day special. Well time has clearly flown by and with time, so has my motivation to write something.  Now, all I have bottled inside me are random thoughts, mixed thoughts, brief thoughts about everyday things or every mundane thing which we are confronted with in our regular life.

So I decided to collate all these stray thoughts and compile something which just reflects my views on all that is social.

Life is a mess which needs cleaning. Very seldom you identify a lifestyle which is clean as a whistle. Everyone has problems. These problems are the basic motivating or demotivating factors. These causes an individual to take steps which might not be right in others view point but spot on correct in the person’s point of view. This is the basic foundation of good and bad activities. A person taking a bribe is a classic example. For us, its taboo! Why? Becoz we haven’t taken a bribe as yet, becoz society condones it. It is something of an ethical thing or a value based attribute which enables us to decide that what we would undertake is wrong. What we fail to acknowledge the situation under which the person might be pushed to take money for some work. We do understand it but never acknowledge it. The money taking might be due becoz of a not to do well background from which the individual comes. It might also be a compulsion imposed by others. For example, if a traffic cop doesn’t take bribes to do work, people would go to him and others wont be entertained. Yes, wrongdoings can also be compulsion in these scenarios.

Common Wealth Games came and went. The event in itself was breathtaking and awesomely conducted. However, the pre and post activities would always be remembered. What should we attribute this to? Greed? Or just the reason I mentioned above? There is always a motive. Yes, we made jokes and did we get any accountability from these people? The media also just moved on from this piece of news as it wasn’t “happening” enough. People and friends I know also moved on saying “This will toh happen…becoz this is India”. These are the people who look at things with a bias in mind.

The metro is a classic example. Yes it is a step in development of Mumbai. But tell me 1 thing, should we do development for the heck of it? Should be develop one area of our infrastructure and damage the other? These are questions which people fail to understand. Yes metro has long term benefits but those benefits are getting cancelled out by the vehicular traffic the rails would create once operational. Bottom line is that this project was pushed for money making purpose NOT for development as it is projected. Development is a by-product not the chief one. The route which was taken up would make life easy for people. But it would ruin the road development which has been done. Furthermore, ownership would be a key thing here. We, Indian like to wash our hands off things which are ambiguous in nature. Metro developers would build their rails by breaking the concrete road. Once they are done, then they would just move away from the breakage citing that the road development authority should handle it. The Road development authority will then say its your mess clean it up…the media would have field day of pointing to the mess but not doing anything and the common man would learn to drive/walk around it and then mention it to his/her friends saying “Is desh ka kuch nahi ho sakta”.

Please don’t mistake the above words as means of me complaining. I, as media is doing, am just pointing out the flaws. What I am willing to do is come forward and do something about it. But when I look behind, what do I see, nothing. No one to support.

Meter Jam was another awesome initiative. Even I had thought about it but didn’t think it would ever be initiated. Meter Jam did happen. There was only 1 problem. They didn’t take into account the Mumbaikar’s “chalta hai” attitude. The masses (college folks and IT professionals) did try and support the initiative. People I know boycotted rickshaw. Even I said an up-front NO to the auto walas. But the issue was that there were few areas or rather sections of society who weren’t informed or choose to be ignorant of the initiative. They took the rickshaws out of dependency or out of plain opportunistic attitude. “What’s it in for me?” “How this would hamper me today”. These are typical questions which they asked. I won’t consider this as a self centered attitude but more to do with what Mumbai is. It lives in the present, works in the present and plans for the present. It doesn’t think about the past or the future. Not even doing the times of the train blast or the infamous 26/11 attacks. This attitude costs us dearly. This attitude makes us lose out our unity and that is how others take advantage of this. The rickshaw unions celebrated as the Meter Jam folks were embarrassed by the people of Mumbai. However, what they do forget is what goes around comes around. Let’s hope that this attitude doesn’t spurge up when Rickshaw union need public backing to be in business (yes the day would come).

Speaking of Mumbai’s attitude, every step of the way since the 1960s, it has been taken advantage of. That’s till what I can recall. This divide and rule culture has been adopted by all major political parties with a view to make a mark on the country’s financial and commercial capital. This culture involves instigation, provocation and downright ugly protests all in the name of a common man’s struggle. Tell me one thing, when a common man is staying in his house on a hot summer afternoon with 5 hours of load shedding or when he scraps through the day with minimalistic water intake, is there any noise made? If noise is indeed being made then why is the common man still affected with the basic aspects of life? Why is importance given to protests on a movie which calls Mumbai Bombay? Based on my understanding of this subject, Mumbai is better off as Bombay. Atleast it doesn’t have a selfish ring to it. Bombay looks more welcoming and more open towards success. But I am the last one who would just be intimidated by the name. There was a campaign, spanning 5 years, just to change names of institutes and important landmarks. Why wasn’t such an effort spent on improving education or maintaining the landmarks which we so dearly love! As a matter of fact, where were these voices when Mumbai was siege on 26/11 or 11/7? I tell you where these voices would have been. These voices would have been plotting their next move to leverage the predicament of the common man.  However, at the end of it all, we always commit the 1 basic mistake, we vote these degenerates back into power.

We are progressing towards success and development. But still I see a lot of wastage in terms of processes and in terms of personnel. Why the hell does one have to undergo N number of form filling just to get his own marksheet? The answer partly to this question is the fraudental nature of this country. This again is attributed to what we began this discussion with (remember the bribery aspect). This country lacks trust. People don’t trust each other, the system and they don’t trust the fact that this country has the capability to deliver. This is seen in all aspects. The level of bargaining which goes on in buying vegetables, the hesitancy in purchasing something online, reluctance of giving someone loan, the list is endless but the source is only 1 word – Trust. Further, I would say that we trust the wrong things in life. We trust the degenerates and vote them in power. We trust that people around us are going to dupe us. This has led to an atmosphere where only distrust has prevailed. Some factions of society have known this all their lives and have been milking it to their advantage.

Trust is an integral part of any nation. It is in full force in the USA. I would say they trust each other too much, hence the recession. There needs to be a balance. Sadly to achieve such a balance, one needs to be in a world where there are no misdeeds. This thought does bring out a chuckle in me. But it is the truth. As of now, as I type this line, I wonder how much balance the forces of good and bad bring into the truth equation. This complicates and to some extent contradicts matters now. Let me sum it up for debating:

Distrust arises due to people engaging in wrong doings. Now, to have a trustful environment, trust needs to prevail. If trust prevails, wrong doings won’t. If wrong doings don’t then there won’t be any different viewpoints and if there are no separate viewpoints, development of a country would get adversely impacted. Putting it in an equation we get:

Development = (Good – Bad) + (Trust – Distrust)

How on earth would this balance out now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

System Fault

What is a system? A system is defined as a network of interrelated components which have been assembled in order to achieve a common goal/objective. A system basically is set up in order to fulfill that objective and the various components required for attaining the same in a smooth fashion.

An individual’s daily routine can be seen as a journey through various systems. He/she is constantly moving from one system to another in order to get through the day. The system can be self installed or can be a 3rd party process which he/she has to undergo. In other words, we can say that an individual’s routine is achieved through a network of interconnected (NOT interrelated always) systems! Thus this network of systems can be referred to as a Super System! Needless to say that a person’s routine is enriched or harmed based on how this super system works. Expanding the statement, I can say that the quality of the routine depends upon and is restricted by the quality of the each and every individual system he/she transits through.

Now that it is established that all systems impact an individual through their routine, we can have a closer look at the systems themselves. Let’s consider the systems introduced in the country. If the government or whoever it is that wants to help or enrich the life of its citizen would be designing a system to do exactly that. It is very rare to find a system which doesn’t want to assist the individual. Even the legal system provides a way for the guilty suspect to be given a chance. So, basically system is initiated to help! If it helps individuals, it increases satisfaction level which in turns helps them to trust the system. But what if this system turns for the worst? What if the very guidelines or rules which help establish the system lead to more dissatisfaction than trust? Would the individual be right in his place to go ahead and fight it? Ideally yes, he has the right and the power to do the same. But I am bit skeptical if that is possible in a country like ours.

Let me give you an example of the way the Police authorities have established a system. Suppose my bank account is hacked and someone transfers all the money into his own account and goes ahead and withdraws the same from an ATM. This would be a police complain for which I would need to go to a Police station. This should be a simple thing right? However, it is there that I find out that I need to go to multiple places just to get my complaint registered!!! The rules of the system become so conflicting that the Police think of rule 1 and tell me “You need to go to the Police station which is closest to the branch office where you have an account”. When I argue that the transfer was done online and the money was transfer to an account which is in a branch closer to this police station, reply based on rule 2 and 3 says “You need to go to Cyber crime cell as this is an online case”. What this system lacks is accountability and flexibility. This system forgets or ignores the state of mind the people coming have. If they are truly there to help the people then they should not make them run around from point A to B. Instead they should have an internal mechanism which enables them to register a complaint with Cyber Crime branch and also the various other places where this has relevance. How can this be achieved? One answer can be infrastructure. Development of this infrastructure is also system in itself!!! This can establish how 1 system affects another one!

When you face a system which lacks accountability and flexibility, you should have the right (as the basic and primary inputs to the system) to call for a change. However, is it really that simple? Yes it can be, if this request for change is taken in the right spirit. Most of the time, such a request is taken as a threat to the system. Changes involve drawing people out of their comfort zone. This is the simple concept of resistance to change. This resistance becomes prominent which the person doing it has power. In a country like India, system corruption is a common thing. It is a naturally accepted fact. Thus when you try to change the way of functioning of powerful but corrupt people, you rattle the cages which in turn brings about consequences. Now, in a country like India, it is needless to say that people are scared and afraid to fight the system becoz of 3 basic points… (a) No one wants to get their hands dirty; (b) they have dependants which might also land up in problems (c) They just don’t have any time!!

Yes, the natural argument is that “no system is perfect” and “how simple people can bring about a change”. Perfectly valid questions, however, they are not practical enough to be asked and answered. The point is that since the system is so corrupt and dirty, it doesn’t need tuning, it needs an overhaul. A brand new system introduced by new set of individuals is the way to go. This might sound a bit radical but this is the only way one can guarantee that the system becomes corruption-free. But then such a system cannot be perfect from the onset. But there is a surety that such a corruption free system can be made perfect through the concept of evolution. Clean systems would tend to have accountability and flexibility which would in turn increase trust and faith in them. This would further give impetus to improvement and development of the system and also increase the satisfaction levels of the people who are the primary reason these systems are in place - We the People!

A lost Family Member - Remembered

Human beings are a part of our everyday life. Our relatives, social circles, family etc become a part of a bond which is, even in today’s world, unbreakable. We laugh with them in their good times, we cry with them in their bad times. However, there are a few finer things which we tend to miss out. Those living beings which are actually a part of a family but are not considered as a family member by lots of people that I come across. They are our pets, our companions during tough times.

My dog was always considered as a part of my family. I think remember, around 16 years ago, when my dad got a phone call from one of his friend about a puppy which he was giving away. Dad immediately went out to his house to get the pup. My mom, my sister and me were at the window, as anxious as a would be father outside a delivery room, waiting to see and welcome the new member of our family. A rickshaw stopped and my dad stepped out. He turned around and made his way into the society with a small white snow ball [:)] in his arms. That very moment, a sense of happiness overcame me. The happiness, which at that age also, told me that we had someone new in the family. Someone cute, someone whom I can spend hours on end and someone who can be my companion for life time. My pet dog had arrived! Dad came and placed her in front of every one of us. The puppy, although only 4 months old was aware of the new surrounding and studied each and every one of the family while we were sitting around it. Then it made its 1st move, it slowly, hesitantly, moved towards mom and fell into her lap with ease as though requesting her to take care for life.

She looked like a god sent dog! To such an extent that Lord Dutta’s picture frame which was put up in our mandir at home had pictures of animals surrounding him. One of those animals was a dog which resembled in all ways to her. She always used to be there for me during my good times and especially my bad times. She came to me sensing that I was depressed. She was the solace that no one ever could provide me.

Life was beautiful for the next years to come as having such a cute bundle of joy in the family, someone who is more expressive than all 4 of us combined was really a blessing in the most convectional kind of way. I for one was very proud to have a dog at home. Not only was she a great companion but an awesome conversational piece with friends, relatives and all. I simply enjoyed the times when she used to undergo her mad spells of running here and there in playful moods and biting and tears stuff which was exclusive for her and also some stuff which carried some importance.

She was the most mischievous of us all. She used to hide socks, towels all in her little den and used to sit there and wait for us to come and take it off her. She used to give up her treasure but not before providing a fight! I still remember the day when we thought of getting her “married”. We got a stallion of a dog for her and made them talk in a room but to our dismay, they were totally not into each other and sat at the 2 ends of the room!!!

As years went on, the fun, the comfort, the presence grew more than ever. However, it seemed to me that whatever she used to do previously was something she began to avoid. For example, as our house was on the 3rd floor, she used to perch up onto a window with great speed and agility. However, as days passed, the speed and agility seem to slowly fade away. Although she didn’t ever have any illness in her early years, cold, cough and sightlessness were beginning to creep in. Her time was coming and slowly I realized the same.

I would never forget that week of August. She was trying to be the most cheerful one but wasn’t able to. She was constantly fighting the cold and the cough which irritated her to the max. Even in her worst conditions, she would make an effort to try and come to me. But then, on the unfortunate day of 31st August 2007, she left us. She went to a place where she could once again roam around freely; she could company those souls who had enough trouble in their stint here on earth. She would go and bring joy and happiness to the afterlife….leaving me alone.

Some people make an impact on your life. When they desert you or leave you, you feel lonely, left out, as if a part of your body has been separated from you. Same goes for living beings who can’t speak anything but have an enormous impact on your life with their presence. You don’t feel much when they are around you, when they come up to you with their wishful, hopeful eyes and give up all the feeling of belonging which they want to give without asking for anything in return. But when such things stop happening, you do feel cut off. Even today, I sometimes keep my hand on the side of the bed with a hope that she would pass under it……

But I know that she is there…watching us…not forgetting the house where she was loved and adored. That is why this year, on the same exact day, she sent her messenger, a small cat that came into our house, made it its own, visited places where she used to sit and then vanished the next day! I wonder if the cat came only to provide us with the support we needed to go through the day when we lost one of our family member, on the day when I lost one of my companions I had known for 16 years…….

The formula for Success!!

No!!! This is not another inspiration speech on how to attain success in whatever you do. This is more an observation on what I think nowadays holds the key for people who are successful in the modern world. Also, this is not a piece where I am pouring out my jealous for anybody, anyone.

My dad always used to say, “Son, whatever we do in life, we should do it honestly, be true to yourself and we would achieve what we have set out to achieve, attain our destiny”. As a kid, I had no alternative but to listen and follow my dad’s work. So I began my life’s journey, took on both sorrow as well as joy in whatever I did. The tension of studies, the emotions of a good/bad score, I had everything in life. Got good marks, attended college, did my degree, got recruited into a good company. In this short journey, I had the usual ups and downs with the ups playing a dominant role. However, when I look back now, 3 years since my graduation, I don’t think the ups in my life hold any value. I wonder, what is it that has led me to this position in life?

People say that the foundation of your success is laid down in the early years of your life. Well, in that case, in my early years, I have been a dedicated student, always completing my homework, being disciplined when it comes to exams and studies. I carried this attitude into college. Being a regular student in college, having 90% attendance, being a teacher favourite, being on top o my game, I thought I had laid that foundation well. But now, looking at the situation, I feel lost! All the friends/acquittances I had during my study years, those who were exactly opposite me, have achieved something in life. Something big, something interesting, something which even I couldn’t achieve. They have achieved success!!

So, what is it that drives a person to success? Is it the financial backing? Well if that is so, then unfortunately I didn’t have that. Was that a mistake on my part? Should the amount of money in your family’s account determine how your success should be? Bottom line: Can Success be bought?

The answer is a complex one. It’s a yes and no. Yes because, money allows you to secure the tools (degree, skills etc) to attain success. Money can also help you buy yourself a job, something which is also considered as a corner stone for getting success. No because, there is a limit to which you can use cash to go up the success ladder. Wait, does it mean one has to buy aka bribe i.e use the dishonest path to glory? As I said the answer is a complex one. But I will try to explain this.

Success is like a linear equation. You need to balance both sides. It’s a system. The amount of inputs you provide, based on the nature of the input, you get an appropriate output. People who make use of money and other negative means to achieve success might get it eventually, but what they fail to see is how much grander the success would have been if some amount of money was substituted with hard work and honesty! As for people like us, well, once we really come face to face with success, our life has come full circle.

Caged Animal

Violent games, movies provide me entertainment,
action has become my latest craving,
but the problem resides in me,
caged animal in me wants to break free.

Society doesn't treat me right,
my friends spit on me at every sight,
I cant do anything about it,
fear of rejection grips me,
caged animal in me wants to break free.

Workplace has become a horror story,
Every monster plays trick or treat,
Their tricks are making me vary,
there is no future in the path that i see,
caged animal in me wants to break free.

Slowly but surely the animal has been growing,
it groans at all the mistreats it sees flowing,
but the laughter covers the groans,
but the fire is raging in me,
caged animal in me wants to break free.

Fear

People often come up to me and tell the various perils they have in their life…..”Man I need to clear my exams”….”this is very bad for my career”…etc etc….I often think what it is that drives the people to worry about their upcoming activities…or the ones completed already…Even I have been in such a scenario when I have been very tensed about my future and career activities…This tension is attributed to a fear…

We come across a number of fears in our life….One is actually known to us as fear while others we term as something else….When we are in college, we are often worried about exams and how we would fair and stuff..this is actually a fear…fear of not being able to see a future for yourself if the current obstacle (exam) is not overcome….similarly when at work, we wonder, where is my career heading? Will I ever “grow” in this job? This thought is also associated with a fear..this one is a very big one…it basically starts from the thought that if we continue doing what we are..we would be overtaken in this race of life…due to this, we wont be able to earn extra cash…this would in term affect the way we live our life…we wont be able to fulfil the responsibilities which we have inherited living in this black hole called as society….this thought is scared and hence fearful….

The tragedy of this world is that we are bounded to the society with our so called set of responsibilities hence making us fearful of our actions…..every action has a cause and effect….If we do not do well in our job (cause) we wont be able to fulfil the current obligations which we have on our minds (effect)..This fear makes us strive to achieve the impossible…but in this all mess do we really think sometimes…what would the world be if the bonds of responsibilities do not exist? If I can live in this world just for myself with a constant supply of the necessities of life?

I wonder if I can one night get up, think and just grab a bunch of clothes, put them in a bag and then head out in a direction which I just thought of 10 mins ago? If the bonds of responsibilities are not present I would be able to carry out such a stunt..as I wont have the fear of the people/obligations that I am accounted for bound me to the house, the life that I am in….I cannot afford to be off the grid for a time period which depends on my mood…Very few people have such a luxury….Some people whom we know very well have this kind of luxury…to do what comes into their minds...the criminals of society…Pity that with no responsibilities they think only about negative aspects of freedom rather than the positive ones…Some actually do wrong things to attend a dream which can be fulfilled only with pots and pots of money!!!!

At the end of it all, the basic problem with human fear is that it is gripping…it plays on your mind all the time…there is no escaping it…even though you go off the grid for some days..that fear will ensure that you are back in that seat in office Monday after your leave (to go off the grid) is completed….otherwise the opportunities which will help better your life would be handed over to others….

Fear induces greed in people…I have never been able to understand what drives celebrities to increase their paycheck size…the amount of money they make in a year for some is a gross amount earned in a lifetime…it is the fear which induces the greed to have more money in your life…the fear that the good looks and good acting would one day cease to exist and the excellent lifestyle would be a thing of the past… This greed is in normal human being also….the average middle class worker also has this greed…this one is induced by fear to better on the current way of living otherwise the same will consume you up!!

What I would really want to do is to wash off my hands with all the burdens of life and go off in the wilderness with absolute no clue as to what my destination is….However, I cant do this….the reason…I am afraid….

Twister

The world is a funny place…it is a paradise set in hell….there are angels but for some reason portray themselves like the devil workers….they are all capable of doing good deeds but always think and talk about negative and evil activities….Some portion of the society are always complaining..They complain about the hot temperatures but also complain when they see a steep electricity bill…See this is a funny world…a double edged sword….To me this place feels like the circus and the circus which is full of clowns..

Clowns are running all over the place here….any particular thing done by 1 individual is or might be humorous to the other…For eg, when a person does RnD for a week to decide which kind of clothes to buy for his vacation is totally funny to the others…The documents which we (IT professional) type and maintain like our life and our careers depend on it, if such documents are given to a layman, he would just laugh at its contents becoz he wont understand squat of what is written in that document…That’s why I say this world is made of clowns….every act performed by 1 person would at any given time make someone or the other in this world laugh!!!

In old movies, when the hero’s mom used to die, he used to come home and then run his mouth with very melodramatic dialogues which just make us go crazy laughing in our seat…taken that the movie is a fictional one but the thought of someone dying is always a serious one…But still we laugh, why? The question here is not why do we laugh..the question is Why shouldn’t we laugh? Why we have to be so serious all the time? Why so serious all the time when some act in this world is bound to crack your insides up?

The answer to this question is tricky. Why So serious? Is the real question…..Whenever we are down…whenever we are totally de-motivated…lost the will to enjoy, we should ask ourself…why should serious? This simple question would make us look around, all the people around us are our source of entertainment…look at them…enjoy their weird behaviour and bring a smile to your face….

So now the world is full of clowns….At a particular instant…everyone is doing something or the other right? Now imagine all the people of the world in a room looking at each other’s activities at the same time, everyone should burst out laughing as every act would inspire someone or the other to laugh their heart’s out…Isnt this something freaky? Isnt this something which if happens would really be a cool coincidence?

But nothing that happens in this world a coincidence....it is a plan…a awesomely orchestrated plan….Now don’t ask me who plans it….but it happens…it is fate…this one time I was coming home…the journey was a long one…estimated time span of 1.5 hours….I was dead thirsty….the only mistake that I did was not to quench my thirst when I had the chance…I sat in the bus…I saw a shop on the outside with all kinds of cold drinks on display…the driver was in the bus along with the conductor so I was hesitant to get down as missing this bus would be waiting for an additional 30 mins…After a good 7 mins I made up my mind to get down…just as I got up…the bus started and we were off..Then all the way I got n number of phone cal..a record in that time span…the heat increased along with the traffic…All this made me think…who planned this all? Why did this happen?? Believe me there has been some incidences in your life which might have put a doubt in your mind..some incidence which you might have put on density…some incidence which we term as “they are meant to happen”…But don’t you think that these things might be a plot…a plan?

So to round it all up….The world is a place inhabited by clowns…Also the events that trigger people to laugh are something which are planned… a part of the plot….So if there are instances which are planned to make people laugh which means that a joke is pre-planned…something you know is coming….will a joke which you know is coming be at all funny?? Would you laugh at something you know is destined to happen??? People who figure this out are the ones who don’t need to laugh…Then what would they do??? They are the ones who are sad….Thats how the balance of the world is planned!!! Savy? :)