Kicked out of the Oblivion

In the movie Inception (if you haven't seen it, you are missing out my friend), Nolan uses a kick to wake people from their dreams. Your first job can be the kick for you. Right through high school and college, we dream. The world seems to be our kitty. There is someone to take care of us. Some of us have the independence of hostel life where you can do what you want without being told off. Every month, you get a pocket allowance enough to take care of your pizzas and your phone bills. If your parents are generous, you don't need to worry how much you are spending. You never sit back to feel the weight of the penny in your pocket. At the same time, you look forward to start working, being financially independent. Towards the end of your college, you start dreaming about the kind of house you will rent (if you have to stay away from your hometown ofcourse). You might even have planned your first vehicle. And, you imagined a world where money would not hold you back from pursuing your middle-class aspirations.

And then, when you start working, you get the kick. You are invariably thrust in a hostile environment on your own, totally out of the comfort zone. You look out for familiar faces and suddenly start realizing the importance of family and friends. You begin to realize that you have responsibilities. You actually start planning your budgets and investments. You realize you need to change your food habits, your sleep cycle. Night outs start looking risky. You can't be late anymore. You can't miss work without good reason.

And then, at some point, when the whole deal becomes monotonous, you start thinking seriously about what is that you live for. This is probably the time you start thinking about your priorities in life. College life has an expiry date and with that there was always an anticipation of what next. Here, the privilege of an expiry date is taken away. You probably don't have anything to look forward to. Which is when you realize, you need to have a life beyond work, an identity of your own, independent of your job title. What matters to you the most?

Maybe you have your answers, maybe you don't. Maybe you haven't felt the kick yet and are still oblivious to the real world. But in case you have never thought about it, I pose a question to you -

What is that you live for?

The Messy Cupbaord

The world has a natural tendency to disorganize itself. Entropy seeks to maximize itself. Disorder is, in fact, the order of the day.

Look around you and you will find numerous examples. Look inside your cupboard. Perhaps, you had arranged things in order only a week ago and it already is a mess again. Traffic goes haphazard, queues break into clusters, systems tend to fail, telephone lines disrupt.

There is a natural propensity towards disorder, anarchy, rubble, chaos. This is because regulation is difficult. Maintaining order requires precision, patience and discipline with continuous, thankless and ungrateful effort.

Does that mean we crib and give up? Hardly. I guess, life is in continuously fighting this rebellious streak towards disorder and aspiring for harmony. So, let's promise ourselves to keep arranging our cupboards, if only to allow them to get messy again.

Take a bow, SRT

A flick off the sqaure leg, a humble single and history was made!

After the historic run, Sachin took off his helmet, took a deep breath as if trying to let it sink in. He was in no hurry. Then he looked up, then to the stands and pointed his bat handle towards his helmet front on the BCCI and India logo, telling people that he did it for the game and for the country! I remember Sachin was happier when India won the World Cup last year.

And, then business went on as usual. Subdued celebrations? Well, I guess it is exactly that, which makes people respect him.

What grace! Take a bow, SRT!

Words of Wisdom

Two quotes I came across recently that I liked:

"I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious." - Albert Einstein

"Happiness is a conscious choice, not an automatic response." - Mildred Barthel

The Year It Was (Part 2)

On 31st December of 2010, I was at Hyderabad, atleast for most part of the day. Boy, was it hot there in December! I remember how I yearned to get rid of the sweatshirt I was wearing in anticipation of cold. Anyhow, an educative Panel Discussion (on mentoring and alternate funding opportunities for entrepreneurs) in a state-of-the-art auditorium in an artificial-looking, engineered ISB Hyderabad campus followed by an inspirational story of how Naandi Foundation has made the dream of mid-day meals possible efficiently in South India. All this was part of the Jagriti Yatra 2010.

The dinner was had on the platform. I remember it was a really good, considering the already high standards. Midnight happened in the train. One new year's celebration it was! If someone was watching the train in motion from up above, she would have seen all 12-13 bogies thumping because of people dancing like crazy. We were shouting, screaming, singing, dancing, eatcing cake, and swearing to one another that in the list of crazy new year celebrations, this would always stay on the top.

Dear Blog, Happy Anniversary

It's been roughly three years since I blogged first. One year since Jagriti Yatra.

Both these events in the past remain important turning points in my life.

So, here's to life!

The problem with being different...

...is that you might end up being alone.

Courtesy: Patsy McArthur 

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— 

I took the one less traveled by, 

And that has made all the difference.

Let there be light?

"Dilon mein tum apni betaabiyan leke chal rahe ho, toh zinda ho tum." - Javed Akhtar's lyrics in Zindagi Naa Milegi Dobara

“You must have chaos within you to give birth to a dancing star.” - Neitzsche's quote in the opening line of The Dirty Picture

The concept of Pain (dard) as a prerequisite for good music as explored in the movie Rockstar.