Random Musings 2

A desperately long wait for the phone to ring, apprehensive as I am for some news from the visa office, spinning of the head, Ana’s pics on slideshow mode taken at Oktoberfest in some exotic city that looks to me like Amsterdam, a Persian movie running on the TV and ‘iktara’ from a latest hindi flick playing in the backdrop, the inherent inclination to live life in the moment, yet the anxiety about the future, a cloudy mist that I long to see outside the window, so many things humming in the head.....just a day in the life of a flippant hearted soul. Now I know.....the mind is definitely a waterfall of indiscriminate thoughts. As of now, I’m waiting to get into my pink pyjamas.......the story behind it shall be narrated some other time.Lol.

The Spirit of Spirituality

As I wait with bated breath for yet another didactic, informative lecture to get over, I wonder what kind of difference spirituality is going to make to a management trainee!? I know, I know....it’s the crux of a sound and well-balanced soul. The professor is throwing light on things like vaasna and swadharma, I wonder why an Electrical Engineer from an Ivy League University is throwing around jargon from Sanskrit Vedas. Maybe he has got all the answers of his life and is trying to help us find ours. Uh-Huh. All this spiritual gyaan sounds good, but it may not necessarily work in the real world. Not atleast for me. Like when the less deserving guy gets a Rs.6 lac p.a. job and u don’t get it, you are dejected, not coz you are greedy for the moolah, but coz that’s the only thing humming in your head when you have to repay a 25 lac loan and the deadline on your house mortgage rings like the death knell of your peace of mind. Can any spiritual guru relieve me of that stress when they talk about breathe-in and breathe-out techniques? I don’t think so! That doesn’t help destress here. Absolutely inapplicable! If it were indeed possible, I would’ve tried it for sure.
They say ‘sex and money is what makes the world go round’ and rightly so. I’ll tell you what spirituality is, in the real world. It’s a rat race and everyone is running to outdo the others, you run and run, but when you are just about to reach the finish line, you realize that it just got extended. You run some more to chase the finish line yet again, and as you near the winning post, it gets further extended. So, you keep chasing unforeseen goals until one day you reach the finale and with one call of collapse, your life ceases to exist. That’s modern day spirituality. Now that’s what I call ‘Welcome to the real world!’ You can’t learn driving unless you get behind the wheel. Likewise, strategic or contextual planning aint subjects that can be verbally taught, they come from the throbbing grind under the wheel of life.
I can’t take at face value the idea of the absence of luck that some spiritual guru is trying to put across when I’ve seen a woman burnt alive in the shanties behind my house for no fault of hers. Or I don’t know what else can explain a 5 year old kid losing his arms whilst playing near a blast site in suburban Mumbai. Did they deserve it? Whoa! I didn’t know it was his karma to be disabled at a tender age of five //speaking in spiritual terms//. It is never the rich kid’s karma to be born to a billionaire or the less fortunate underdog’s to be born to a menial labourer.
So, no matter how many art of living sessions we attend or how many times we flip through the Book of Answers, we can’t deny the fact that life revolves around what we pursue. For as long as we live, we know that once the goal achieved and the milestone accomplished, we’re gonna miss the journey that we trailed.

Random Musings

As I get ready to wrap up yet another day of assignments, projects, test prep, words unsaid, time lost, friends not met, loved ones not called, good books not read, conversations not indulged in, I wonder if it’s really worth the pursuit. The pursuit reminds me of a conversation that I had with a male friend, whilst in the mood for some serious introspection. We pursue a job to sustain a life and family and then we give up the reason that was the very cornerstone of the primary activity.
So we run for a good college to find a good job. We run for a good job so we may find a good partner. Then we run for money to fulfill material desires. We run behind the kids that we reared with great delight. Then we run for our ambitious dreams like a visit to the Eiffel or a ride in a Mustang. Whilst we are busy chasing a string of these, we fail to see the world that passes us by, the simple joys and humble bliss that walked by.

That sets my head humming with Frost’s immortal line:

The woods are lovely dark and deep
But I have promises to keep
And miles to go before I sleep
And miles to go before I sleep

So whilst I follow my treasured trail
Of needs, wants and my holy grail
I shan’t forget what was ingrained
About life and bliss and karma incarnate

Who’s greater: the Politician or his agenda!?

Now, this one thing really makes me wonder. A case in point would be the Marathi Manoos agenda of the Maratha bigwigs, namely the MNS and the Shiv Sena.
The Shiv Sena chooses to pay homage to the great Maratha warrior, Chattrapati Shivaji Raje, by naming the party after him. As the self-proclaimed Sena of Shivaji fights for the cause of the underdog Maharashtrians and goes about vandalizing property and terrorizing people whilst insisting on changing names of the venerated VT Station and the International Airport after the celebrated kingpin, it’s surprising to see that a life-size poster of Bal Thackerey, commanding chief of the Sena overtly overshadows a miniscule statue of Shri Raje Shivaji stationed below it at the Shiv Sena Bhavan, the Sena stronghold.
This really sets me thinking. Are they indeed paying respect to the cause that they’re fighting for?
Now, I would really like to know if the Shiv Sena and the MNS actually practice what they preach what with Raj Thackerey’s son enrolling for French as his 2nd language instead of Marathi for his State Board Exams. That’s either a case of complete disregard for one’s parent’s aspirations or it’s a clear exhibit of an agenda solely structured for populist terms without belief in the party’s convictions.
Whatever be the case, I don’t blame them. Indian Politics is hypocrisy personified.
The voters must practice discretion whilst making wise decisions keeping such things in mind.

Crystal maze indeed

Mysterious as it has always been, it never fails to stump or surprise me. It’s perfect one particular day, and so flawed the very next day. You’re trying to set things right and suddenly another boulder comes and hits you totally off guard. And you’re trying to balance, trying not to get hit, but you’re so panicky under the oh-so-immense pressure and stress, that you lose control out of paranoia. Its not for nothing that they say: its easy to fall prey to it, but so much more difficult to stick through it.
Moral of the story: we fall in love with imperfection coz beauty lies in flaws and resurrection.
It’s like a good fuck that ain’t worth the pleasure without the pain.
Now, you know what I’m talking about. The sacrosanct feeling called Love!
Still haven’t figured out the mechanics but I’m not trying either.
P.S: Don’t read much into it. This ain’t my story. I’m just the narrator. :)

Service to man is service to God

I only wish that G.J.Reddy, Karnataka’s tourism minister could discern the depth of the above words. If only he could understand that a diamond-studded gold crown worth Rs 42 crore offered to Lord Venkateswara at Tirumala does not in itself qualify to serve as profound devotion to the almighty. I’m sure his piety would have been much highly appreciated by the deity had he made a more meaningful donation.A Rs.42 crore would have been well-spent in the glory of God had it given shelter to the homeless, food to the starving, medicines to the ailing, reparation to the disabled or tragedy-stricken or a better life to the impoverished. One can only hope that the Tirumala Temple trust acts in the interest of god’s will and ensures that such donations find their proper place in the homes of the less fortunate and underprivileged by way of charity trusts and NGOs. After all, God cannot be thanked for all his graciousness by adorning his idols by gold and emeralds, but by noble deeds done for allah ke bande.

Ever wondered why !?

Ever wondered why the sun goes down, why the horizon looks pastel orange like the masterstroke of a maestro, why it’s always visible, yet unreachable. Ever thought of why you’re running short of time, why you’re chasing your dreams like they were always your own when the truth remains that most of them are just an illusive manifestation of what the world perceives utopian.
Do you know for sure that the person you’re in love with is really the ONE or if they’re just painting a surreal picture of the vision called the perfect companionship?
Have you gauged pre-hand with some magical tool, the success that the new job will bring to you, or the stairway you’re going to take to reach your coveted zenith.
Do you ask yourself why you’re taking up a particular roadmap in life, why you’re investing money in an SIP for a rainy day whilst consciously not spending a single penny on your aged parents who reared you to this day?
Have you asked yourself why you wish to spend half your life’s savings to buy a house by the sea front, when you don’t even have the time to bask in the glory of the expensive landscape that you bought?
Do you ever think about why you don’t have the time to give a call to that long-lost friend or visit your sister who lives barely 8 miles away unless its an occasion or an eventuality that really demands the effort.
Ever found why your colleague at work is behaving in a certain indifferent way or if you’re friends or family do not approve of a certain decision that you’ve made?
Ever thought why the greed becomes more at every subsequent stage, from junior to senior executive to deputy manager or creative head and higher up, whatever be your organizational or life pedestal hierarchy.
For these and more, I never sincerely contemplated or sought reasons for. They remain unanswered, like countless others never pondered, never asked.
We live an existence whose parameters of glorious goodness and the negation of that are defined by a worldly protocol.
All our lives, we pursue a fortune, that we find it at the doorstep to heaven is improbably opportune.
Like the scriptures say, it doesn’t matter why you did something or how you did it, but what you did that left behind the hallmark of goodwill that shall be carried forward centuries hence.
But hopeless as it may sound, I shall continue to be human like the rest of the species living up to the worldview that accompanied my upbringing.
As of now. shirking it off seems like a burden in itself.