Mumbai, the financial capital of India, has been in the news recently - for reasons quite appalling. The city has a habit of creating headlines and its people have acquainted themselves to move on despite all the negative news. From riots to bomb blasts to floods to gun and grenade attacks, the city has seen it all. Being born and brought up in such a city gives you the courage to face the worst of terrors and still continue living like nothing is wrong.
I have lived through the riots, swan across in the floods, experienced the bomb blasts and witnessed the gun attacks; but such incidents have neither deterred my love for the city nor the respect for its citizenry. But a recent incident has rocked my belief in the sanity of the city's populace.
Bidding good-bye has never been an easy task. Especially when you have been associated with someone for over two years and it happens to be your first association. Over a week back, I was preparing myself for one such bid, and trust me I had never seen myself as nervous as then. When the final moment arrived, I was only a little better than speechless. Stumbling and stammering, I was hunting for words as if I was speaking some foreign language. And to make matters worse, the opposite having realised my plight and understood my motive was grinning mischievously. Phew!! I had never thought resigning from the job is such mountainous a task.
And why wouldn’t it be? A place that gave you your first shot at building your career, a place that trusted you when you were absolutely raw, fresh out of college, a place that gave you the much sought after ‘financial freedom’ would definitely be close to your heart. I have known a lot of people who have been able to absolutely detach themselves from their workplace, but that’s not the case with me. Agreed, I have never been the die-hard workaholic types nor have I ever sacrificed my holidays for that extra bit of work, I still hold my place of work in high regards. This is the place where I met some genuinely wonderful people in the form of bosses and colleagues, where I have learnt the art of analyzing businesses and where I had the opportunity to travel the length and breadth of the country.
Just like a coin has two sides, the going here has not always been as smooth as it may sound in my words. There have been tough times, there have been disappointments and there was also a lot of frustration. But, standing here today and looking back, there are enough fond memories to more than make up for the not so good experiences. As for the present, while I surely anticipate the new responsibilities at a new place, I surely feel bad for having decided to move on.
Curiosity is no strange an attribute to humans. The curiosity over an apple led to the discovery of gravity and sex!! Difficult to say which ones greater than the other but definitely more people are thankful for the latter than the former (had Adam not eaten the apple we wouldn't have been in existence!!). Anyways, allow me to trace the reason for this post. A week back, someone having stumbled upon my blog called me an avid blogger - which made me think whether I really am one? Looking at the number of posts I write in a month I wouldn't call myself a blogger, forget being avid. So i thought maybe its not about how much I write but about how many people read what I write. Well, that number wasn't really encouraging either (check the counter on the bottom of the right panel). So then I started blog-browsing and realised that the most read or most updated blogs are the ones where people write about their daily lives and experiences. Penning thoughts and experiences has been a practice of humans since time immemorial - a practice that created history, literally!!. But personal details have not been public except in autobiographies or until the recent internet era. For the kids born in the era of google, facebook and myspace making a public diary and peeping into other's such diaries is a common habit. As for me, blogging was always about penning thoughts, and just thoughts. I don't really appreciate someone peeping into my personal life so easily. Maybe that's why my earlier blog was not easily traceable (although I didn't write anything personal directly!!). As for those wirting public diaries, I doubt the completeness or honesty of such posts (no offence meant). I wonder how much would their conscious allow them to write all that they felt to the public at large. Wouldnt their conscious act as an editor or a censor board and cut down on details? I am not blaming them of dishonestly but then we all have secrets to hide, right? Some blogs that i read did mention a lot of those secrets, but then the author's identity was not revealed there. So what fun would one derive in reading half-truths (i wanted to write half-facts, but I am not sure if that is an accpetable phrase)? There is no clear answer to this question just as there is no right or wrong in penning a public diary. Its a matter of belief and mine doesn't allow me to pen diaries for the public (not like I pen one for myself). But one thing is for sure, by no means am I an avid blogger!! :)
I am no cynic, but sometimes I like to behave like one!!
Life is full of uncertainties;the worst being its end. What exists today may tomorrow be a thing of the past. Combine that with the human affinity for procrastination - especially when it comes to expressing your love or gratitude for someone - and the results would be nothing less than sheer regret.
One fine morning a beloved someone leaves as per his/her routine and instead of him/her coming back as scheduled, you receive the grim news of his/her demise. Or maybe, in the middle of the night you are woken up from deep slumber just to be told that a dear relative is no more. Alternately, you wait for the dear one at the airport only to realize that their body and soul were on flights to different destinations. Whatever the situation in which the news arrive, the outcome is the same. Suddenly your world comes to a stand-still. The conscious mind gives in to its subconscious counterpart. Immediately upon taking over, the subconscious mind takes you through cycles of visuals from the past and of the future. Half nostalgic, half hysteric one juggles between responsibilities and emotions.
Directly or indirectly, I have witnessed such unfortunate situations many a times. I have always wondered what must be going through the minds of those at loss, until I lost someone close enough to find the answer. For the not-so-strong hearted, the thoughts are usually revolving around the memories of the gone while for the stronghearted, the brains are already working on deciding the future course of actions. (They say you can never make up for the losses. True, but then you can’t even sit grieving for the loss because grief only brings more sorrow.) Whether you are the strong hearted or the not so strong hearted, there is one feeling that you just cannot overcome – the feeling of regret.
There is always a moment when those at a loss wonder, hope and pray that the deceased would have stayed on for a little longer. ‘I wish he would stayed until the so-and-so’s function at least’; ‘I wish he would have seen his new house before he went’ - we all have heard such statements being made at funerals. But what remains unsaid, and to my mind what is the most important, is that regret of not having expressed enough to the deceased. The desire to or even the actual actions of expressing one’s love and gratitude towards the deceased is the most painful sight to see. ‘Why did you leave me alone, what will I do with out you, please take me along’ – such statements have always broken me down. I have always pondered over the possibility of the cold lifeless body coming back to life and giving a warm consoling hug to the ones at loss – just for a moment. There would be so much to say…………….the heart would be so much lighter……..for I think its not just loss but sudden loss that makes the process so much more painful.
India has moved from being a long time under-developed country to a developing one. The journey now advances towards the more sought after status of a developed country. Dreams are big - and so they should be. But the biggest of the dreams are fruitful only if they are backed by a determined action plan. Economically speaking, higher spend on infrastructure, higher conversion of savings into investments, promoting education, creating opportunities and an open economy are the actions that will convert India’s dream of development into a reality.
Unfortunately, a major deterring force called politics stands between India’s dreams and reality. There is no denial that the both, the present and the past governments, have given a fillip to the infrastructure development of the country. However, there are various issues that stand as hindrances when it comes to infrastructure development. Those familiar with the news would know that land acquisition is one of the major hurdles that come in the way of development. Various projects approved by the center are stuck because of opposition from locals (who are ofcourse backed by their MPs/MLAs) either on environmental grounds or for higher compensation. Corruption and bribery further deter the quality of the work and whatever development takes place is for a short period. The bureaucrats, just before and election, will polish the roads and prvide water supply, and once the elections are done water can only be seen in the potholes on the road. Take any major highway/road/lane in Mumbai and you can bet your life that there will be more potholes on any given stretch than its length. Someone put it very aptly by saying “yeh mumbai hain…yahan pe kabhi sadak pe gadde milte hain..to kabhi gadde mein sadak”. The financial capital of our country, the Shanghai of India, has some of the worst roads than any of its metros.
Its not just bad roads that the country has to mend, there is another problem of similar scale about which very little could be done. The problem is that of the turmoil in the global financial markets. One news channel says, when the US sneezes, India falls sick. Very True. Just when Indians started leaving behind the memories of the dot-com busts and the various stock market scams, and we saw a higher conversion of savings into investments, the stock markets the world over have crashed. To make things worse, the real estate markets have also crashed in tandem, thus leaving very little scope for investment for the Indian Households. Add to that the various IPO scams and the sentiments are pushed further into the negative territories.
It is said that the Indian investors are not a very educated lot and driven more by sentiments than by logic. True, but not surprising. On the one hand, vote-seekers propagate the need for free education; on the other hand, the cost of education is rising leaps and bounds. Education, today, stands to be one of the very attractive investment avenues; and its takes no rocket-science in relating the attractiveness of a sector for investments to its profitability. Thus the sector has shed its social image and donned a corporate look. So what so the policy-makers do to overcome the problem of low-education? Well, they reserve seats for the SCs/STs up to higher education and push for such reservation in the corporate sector as well. All in the name of giving opportunities to the socially backward classes. Now, is a socially backward student wanted to study and had the ability to do well, he could have done so in his earlier years of education when he had the same reservations. If, inspite of backing his form school to college, he had failed to be competitive, why would you want to push him further into higher education and work-place. Anyways providing employment to educated youths is a problem and we add to it by pushing the non-performers just because they belong to some under-privileged caste. It is evident that all this is done merely for votes and there are no benevolent intentions here.
Most of the solutions to all problems have been short-term – all for the purpose of garnering votes and winning elections. Bureaucracy, corruption and a laid-back attitude have held the economy from growing as well as opening up. Inferior quality of work, delays and regulatory confusion have only added to the problems of the country. Most long term issues have been handled with a short term solution. We have managed to save our today, but at the cost of our tomorrow.
The problem, however, is not just that of an inefficient system, it is also that of an ignorant population.
Come August and the great Hindu diaspora gets into a celebration mood. It is said (atleast in my family) that Holi marks the end of the festive season whereas Raksha-bandhan and Janmashtami mark the beginning. So after a dry spell of nearly five months, the Indian diaspora finally has a chance in August/September to deck-up and demonstrate (read: exaggerate) their love for festivals.
Ganeshotsav - celebration of the birth of the elephant headed son of the Hindu deities Shiv andParvati - is one of the most prominent festivals in the western parts of India. It is said that one of India's more famous freedom-fighters, Lokmanya Tilak, popularised the festival as a grand public event (prior to his efforts, the celebrations were private and within the family). The idea was to facilitate community participation and provide a common meeting ground for people of all castes and sects in a time when social gatherings were prohibited by the British rule (somwhere in 1893). The celebrations included learned discourses, dance dramas, poetry recital, musical concerts, debates, etc. so as to spread the messgae of unity and evoke nationalist feelings.
Lokmanya Tilak was a great visionary. But even this great visionary would not have envisioned the future of the practice started with a noble thought. While the festival, even after more than 100 years, is celebrated as (or maybe more) grandly as (than) it was celebrated then, the essence of the celebrations has undergone a lot of change. Instead of promoting unity and oneness, patrons are often seen drunk out of senses, eve-teasing, abusing and fighting. Bhajans and devotional songs have been replaced by the whacky filmy numbers. The traditional dhol and lezim have been replaced by the mordern DJs, flash lights and cheap dances. Not that I am not a fan of the new age hindi music and dance, but its just that your love for those songs and dances can take a back seat sometimes...specially when the ocassion is an auspicious one.
Maybe someone fore-saw this day and therefore the ritual includes submerging the Lord's statue in the waters. Because the way things are today, I am sure that the Lord himself would be wanting to drown himself in water out of shame looking at his 'modern' devotees. Going by he way we are influenced by movies and music, it is quite possible that one day we see the deity's statue in the following avataar:
Humans are one of most social animals on this planet. Whatever we do, wherever we go, we seek company. The innate desire to have someone witness each moment of our life - be it happiness, sorrow, triumph or failure - leads us to coexistence. Right from preschool to the hospital bed, we never fail to identify with like-minds and create that 'special' bond. Sadly, not all that is 'special' lasts long.
School friends...by the time you graduate, half of them are lost. Some because you cant connect to them, and some coz they are growing their mustache in some other nation. People you meet while you are finishing college (graduation/post-graduation), hmm , well you hang on to them for a while. But then, theres work that keeps you occupied and ofcourse there soon is a family to build and look after. So best friends soon become people whom you party with on birthdays and anniversaries, or have a drink with each time you have fought with your spouse. With time, most of them are also lost in transit, only a few remain (with whose spouse your spouse can manage to have a conversation). And ofcourse, there are some we find at work. But then, either you or they change their jobs..and shoowsh..the names are tucked away slowly into memory. Really sad, we spend so much time building relationships that we would care so little about in the future. Wouldnt it be better to have a few and hold on to them for a lifetime....or is it that you play safe by having many so that even if you lose some on the way, you dont find yourself walking alone??
Dunno whats the public opinion on this, but I surely would love to have a few good and long lasting relationships (friends i mean). And I wouldnt say I have been hundred percent successful with that formula of mine; there are a few that I wish would have stayed till date.....for them...this is something I found on the web..
The day that we first met,
in my mind I still see,
you sitting in the lunch room, looking for some company.
I alone myself, sat down with you that day,
neither of us knowing what the hell to say.
But we got through the awkward times, and quickly came to be,
the best of friends to eachother, we could ever be.
The closer we grew, the more we left, the other world behind,
just me and you we jumped into a new place totally blind.
We prayed together our friendship forever, and always would stay the same,
but time has passed, only memories last, and little friendship remains.
WE ONCE WERE ONE! I screamed at you, I want my best friend back!
But we both realized at once it was that bond we lacked.
You think it doesn't hurt me, to see us back to two, looking to my left and right to see there is no you.
But we both are moving on now, lets do it gracefully, I hope our friendship still lives on in you memory.
Times have changed (and they have been changing ever since). Economies are opening up and globalisation has become the latest economic buzz-word. Level of education has gone up and so has earning power. The consequences: longer working hours, stressful lifestyles and therefore an increased need to 'unwind' frequently. Since I belong to this fast moving globalised economy, I cannot really stay away from the need to unwind - and so I have taken up to traveling.
Keeping in mind the shortage of time and money (there are other ways of unwinding which also need attention and money), a lot of my unwinding excursions have been to a place called Sanjay Gandhi National Park, also known as Borivali National Park (BNP). While from the outside the place might look like just another picnic spot, the deeper you venture into this stretch of green land extending from Borivali to Thane, the more you'll find yourself falling in love with the place.
About a three-four kilometer drive into the park would bring you to the staircase (pictured above) leading to Canheri caves. About a 100 odd ancient caves greet you at the entrance of this natural abode. Beautiful carvings, lush green valley, monkeys with red face (and bottom) and a huge waterfall add to the beauty of the place. And as you move past these semi-natural::semi-man made structures, what you experience is an absolute treat for any nature lover. Colorful wild flowers, thick rain-forests, a huge lake, variety of bees, spiders & crabs, huge rocks and the dwarfed city at the horizon add to the beauty of the place. Further eep
into the jungle are hidden huge waterfalls, not so difficult to trace if you have sharp ears and strong feet. Other attracions of the place include a Lion and Tiger safari ride and a plethora of cliffs for rock climbing and rappelling.
All in all it’s a wonderful getaway for the adventurous as well as the nature enthusiasts. Truly a small little heaven within the claustrophobic city of Bombay.
P.S. For more photos on the place check out my picasa albums placed on the right-hand panel.
I always thought that news programs were meant to provide information about recent and important events. But reality seems to be far away from my understanding. With everyone wanting to broadcast a bouquet of channels, the number of news channels are, i believe, as many as the GECs (general entertainment channels). Its difficult to even spell out the names of all the news channels that exist today. Add to that the fact that all the news channels are 24 hours now.
No wonder than, that there is a lot of non-sense that is broadcasted on these channels. From Amitabh Bachchan feeling cold to Prince eating biscuit while being trapped in a pit to some UFO abducting a cow to NASA hiding an alien....you'll find it all on the national news channels. Well these are still events and maybe one could accept them as news. But for the numerous reality shows being telecasted on news channel - no comments. I mean what were they thinking?? I wouldnt be surpirsed if some time later we have snippets of the saas-bahu serials being part of news channels as well. Imagine a saree clad newsreader buried under tonnes of cosmetics reading out आजतुलसीनेमिहिरकोथप्पड़मारा....whoaa....
Maybe we should go back in time to the one hour news show on door-darshan. Atleast national news will remain national news that way.
With this melodious song ends the movie Mumbai Meri Jaan...an attempt to potray the undying spirit of Mumbai after the July 7 serial blasts. A strong star cast and some good camera work tell a series of parallel tales of people who were, in some ways, a part of the blasts. Building a strong emotional base, the movie fails to carry forward or even hold on to the emotions. What the movie does, though, is give away a few tiny messages against corruption, over exploitation of emotions by the media, false alarms and of-course communal distrust. In doing so, the movie looks like nothing more than another documentary on the blasts with a very large scope for betterment. That's for the larger audience; for someone like me the movie is much more than a documentary, a deja-vu of sorts. It reminds me of all the chaos, the pain, suffering and fear, and above all the feeling of hatred and helplessness that the blasts had inflicted...things that last much longer than the physical injury. To ease your pain before you move out of the theatre, plays the song aey dil hai mushkil jeena yahan..zara hatke zara bachke yeh hain mumbai meri jaan -in the backdrop of the entire city observing two minutes of silence for the blast victims - a moment that will bring a small smrik if not a full hearted smile on your face as you ready to move out.
Saw this movie called “In her shoes” yesterday. The movie is about the life of two sisters, both single and living by themselves. While one is successful but not beautiful enough to find herself a boyfriend, the other is beautiful enough to drag any guy to bed but not successful enough to afford herself a living. The movie narrated the life of these two sisters as they traverse through their good and bad times. Not exactly one of my favorite movies, but a definite entertainer on a lazy Sunday morning.
Anyways, the reason I write about this movie is that towards the end of the movie, there is a recital of a beautiful poem by E. E. Cummins called “I carry your heart with me”. Not often does one come across such a lovely expression of feelings using some simple words. So I thought maybe I should reproduce it here. This is how it goes:
I carry your heart with me; I carry it in my heart
I am never without it; anywhere I go you go, my dear
And whatever is done by only me; is your doing, my darling
I fear no fate; for you are my fate, my sweet
I want no world; for beautiful you are my world, my true
And you are whatever a moon has always meant
And whatever a sun will always sing is you
Here is the deepest secret nobody knows
Here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
And the sky of the sky of a tree called life;
Which grows higher than the soul can hope or the mind can hide
And this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart
Most Mumbaikars, particularly those traveling daily by road, would not be amused by the adjacent picture. Heavy traffic jams and break-down of vehicles at traffic signals are as much a part of Mumbai as is vada-pao. The time one spends traveling by road from one place to another has gone up significantly in the past few years. And the increase in travel time, instead of improving our patience quotient, has made us more impatient and irate, to say the least. The moment the traffic light turns green, the guy behind you starts honking - like he missed the pole position in a F1 race and now wants to rush ahead of everyone. Worst still, if - by chance - your car fails to start-up in a traffic jam, you have had it. The guys behind you will start a symphony of horns - just that this one is no music to anyone's ears. "Horn bajao...traffic hatao"..this seems to be their motto. Wonder how in the world will this honking help anyone in anyways. I mean common, the guys car's broken down. Nobody would like to stay in the middle of the road just like that. And all the honking does, if anything, is makes the poor driver sweat and increase noise pollution. Then some smart-ass dude from behind will stretch his vocal chords to advice you to move your vehicle - yes dude thats exactly what is not happening here, a@@hol#. Wouldn't it make more sense if instead of honking or screaming, the guys behind step out of their car and help you cart your vehicle to the side - solves the problem quickly and also keeps a check on the pollution!!
Maybe its time we graduate from "HORN OK PLEASE" to a sober "USE DIPPER" or even better "PLEASE WAIT FOR SIDE".
Inspiration is often linked to creativity; in-fact it is said to be one of the forces driving it. At times though, inspiration takes over creativity, leading to disappointment and disgust. I recently experienced such disappointment when i stumbled upon this forwarded email claiming that all the recent hit songs of a particular music director to be 'inspired' by songs from around the world. At first, there was disbelief, then disappointment and finally dislike. It is such a pity that someone has risen to fame on account of work that actually isnt his. Maybe this is not the first account of someone claiming fame on account someone else's work, but this definitely is the first time that evidence of such a shameful act is available publicly. Such acts makes one wonder if creativity is really in short supply; or is it that aspirations have gone so high that conscious is just a thing of the past? For long artists have known to be inspired by the work of someone, but such inspirations have been acknowledged. A blind reproduction of someone's work, without giving any credits to the original artist is nothing less than theft; and so a criminal offense. And since such work was done for nothing more than money/fame, such persons should be made to part away from all the assets arising out of dishonest work. Furthermore, lyrics, tunes and rhythms should be patented across the world so that such heinous acts can be curbed.
Below are the links to the original compositions of some of our chart busters that i received:
.jpg)
