Ab Na Ja

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZR4DZ0qb9Mg 

Songs like this, even if not attached to you through any emotional event in the past, have such a  beautiful theme / lyrics / videography and music that you immediately are attached to them and connect a matching emotional state of your past with the song.

The song reminds me of my introverted nature. I still feel comfortable not speaking much, so much that the other person may get bored. But life around me demands an explicit behaviour, so that introverted person is still somewhere inside, but not visible a lot. The song also shows the sad part of not letting your feelings come to words. But the part of song I like most is how seeing the photo and earring, the girl also recollects when that event happened. She must have realised how valuable that casual pic had become for the guy. In the end also, she wanted palash to say the words. She kept waiting and then was leaving in sadness when Palash could not stop anymore and asked her finally to not go anywhere.

There are heartbreaks as well as promises fulfilled in everyone's lives. So no one is ever alone in his or her journey. 

However in high emotional situations, when no one comes to your mind but you and your situation, music can become a great companion. 

m

An old year goes, new year comes!

A day will come when we will also leave our bodies along with our past. I wonder many times how much new we will become then :)
There should be some bundle of identity that we may take with ourselves. May be not. Anyways, the thought is more often exciting than dreadful.
Like everyone waits for their turn, we all shall also wait for shedding off our loads. Till then, an assumption that our load is temporary will help us walk long long way! :)

Unmarried yet Unhappy

So ironic some people's lives are. Just talk to them if they are married, and that is just sufficient to make them erupt lava, however cool they behave in front of people.

Look at the married people and see how happy they are. Everyone is having a stuggle to go through and every patient man or woman is having a hard time holding on to this virtue.

Unmarried people / unhappy people, you are not alone. There are 7 billion people and innumerable species on the same plane as you. Have courage to go along.

:)

When the going gets tough

Brave men come to mind
Those who did not budge
in front of whom
the wind had to bow down

but the eyes are heavy
and don't want to brighten up
they keep waiting
if something would come
and lit them up
too tired they are
to themselves brighten up

And they don't want to lit up
Easy, comfortably closed in darkness
What was there to run after so much

It's the soul that doesn't agree
again she pulled me
stretched the loaf of meat I had become

My hands, still numb
moved an inch by themselves
my limbs, no longer powerless
got a grip over earth
my eyes, still heavy, but
head was a little light.

I stood up straight.
Took sword in my hands
the king that I was
refuses to be in dark

He wishes to fight again
He is not done yet
His enemy won't have an easy let off

He moves to win again.

A Cup of Tea

This is a piece written by my sister. I thoroughly enjoyed reading each bit of it. Hope you like it as well.
===================

All of us for sure remember the first time we rode a bicycle. That very moment when you look back and realise nobody was holding it and you were all alone riding it, when you knew it was all you. Just wow wali feeling comes as if some battle has been won. That rush when you realize a warm feeling is spreading from your chest to the tips of your toes – a feeling you can only describe as "being free".

There are many moments like these, the ones  we want to relive again and again. Few habits are inculcated in ones life as if they are some ritual...
Ive always seen my parents one such ritual was sharing a cup of tea at 5:30 a.m., every day. Watching them throw their everything into enjoying that moment made me to ponder what it was and felt like experiencing it too. Anything come in , but this ritual can't go was a reason why actually I felt to be in this moment but...

Girls have complexion as the biggest concern coz this is the parameter for their future prospects. Since childhood girls are refrained from having tea coz of the so called myth of getting their complexion off or early maturity and la bla bla .... " don't take lots of tea ... you will become dark ... shadi nahi hogi types and all ... chai garam hoti hai ....but still kisi ki aadat lag jaye to jati nahi hAi ... habit of tea and getting it sticked to ones lips becomes part and parcel of ones life and never want to be off with it as it's also taken as best companion if one is alone ...

How this habit of tea came in was more interesting ...Watching my parents go through the morning ritual of preparing tea. At 5 a.m., my entire house would be filled with the scent of fresh tea leaves and my father asking my mother to get up n have his hand made tea.. in summers adrak one and in winters ginger n jaggery ..I too at times woke up early but their habit was not modulated by any reasons ...they sat in balcony and would then sip it in silence while peeling vegetable or some other work ..For those 45 minutes or so nothing would sway them.. I always used to remember in my mind words of mother not to have tea as it will go for darker complexion but why they ...though its aroma was great but once i tasted it (chori se) and literally shit it's  bitterness numbed my tongue and made it impossible to taste anything for a while. It made my breath smell funny and worse. My taste buds were out of place . For the life of me, I couldnt make out why people drank hell amounts of this poison  every day, without actually enjoying it . At time I thought why tea but then in some deep corner of my mind I made to me that could be a possibility, probably my taste buds were not developed well by then ...

I thought of experimenting one day ..
The following incident occurred many years after my struggle why tea , I think I was an old and sensible girl in 6th standard. It was random day back from school we both sisters were shit tired and so thought of resting ... my mom was not there ..It was probably important coz my mind was wobbling with thoughts of what's so great in this tea ..
I asked my sister will you've tea ..She looked pretty down and while I wanted to cheer her up, I had no idea how to. I am a little awkward in situations like this.
But Great, now she is sad and I am stressed. I needed to relax and get her relaxed by this "tea" coz I've heard from my friends that tea is stress buster so that noon was just working like dream come true types ...
I again asked her chai piyegi Guddi...
For the next twenty minutes, she didnt say much.. while she slept I was in experimenting mode .. I watched the Taj Mahal tea changing coloration of plain water and it was really nice to see. I poured  in the sharp odour of cinnamon, cardamom and ginger brewing with the tea water which has already changed its colour .Then came the milk. It was the most amazing scene to me than to anything what I had seen till date.. the sight of milk mixing up and filling in the black spaces in a cup of tea.
I don’t remember much of that day, what I said or what she said. I don’t think she appreciated for tea coz she was sleeping sound and so I put that hot cup on her bare legs.  Though she didn't say anything rather slapped me for doing that mischievous act but i didn't do it purposely rather it was just done for appreciation in return as it first time struggling hard to make that which I used to have aversion with .But I remember my first sip of tea – spicy, soothing, sweet and refreshing, all at once.
But after having it, I saw her and yes we were both at peace. Complete, total peace. And as long as we had that cup of tea, things were going to be fine. We were going to be fine.
And that was the moment I completely fell for tea. I loved TEA..

So what at the end of the day I felt for tea was that yes Tea is a ritual. It is a million little reasons and jovial moments to yourself that help you get through the day. It slows you down and gives you ideas. Tea is patience, it is meditation.

Now ,
22 years and many hundreds of cups of chai have passed since that day in and beyond the room But to me, the comfort and well-being a cup of tea provides hasn’t changed. I hope it never does.

And yes it can't be replaced to anything ... it's my first love <3

Her Dilemma. To be or not to be

She was not in very best of her judgemental capacity when her father had fixed her marriage with an unknown person, at least unknown to her for sure. Afraid of her father, as well as not very much sure of herself, she did not say raise much objection and followed what her fate had for her.

Her new house was different, in almost all aspects, for her. Her ego did not let her change herself and her new family did not change it's rules and principles for her a lot. She, still not sure of herself, only relied on her mother and her husband for advice, both of whom could not see the situation as deeply as it was required, as they were in their own roles.

Her husband tried to solve her problems by telling her what to do in some situations, but she could not follow them because that would mean forgetting her previous family and focussing on the new family where she is sent. She still felt responsible for her old family. Her indifference to the new members isolated her in her new house and due to societal pressures, she could not break the shackles and go back to live in her old home.

Her new family was experiencing this stress for the first time, where nothing wrong is done, but there is an environment of stress everywhere, because there is a family member now, who does not consider herself to be a part her, who thinks people are against her and the only people who can protect her are her old family mates, her siblings and her parents. May be the rules of the new family were too much for her to follow; or may be the new family was genuinely very bad, contrary to the perceptions made by the society for over 50 years.

She had two options to choose, both of them demanded sacrifice. In one case, the sacrifice of her ego and her teachings of old family which were causing troubles in her new family. In other case, the sacrifice of her newly found husband friend and also the new associated pains of discipline, restrictions and solitude. Unfortunately, she has not yet been able to choose.

Her dilemma is very strong, as there are for sure a few items in both the options which she does not want to sacrifice, and a few items which she wishes to.

She has to decide where to take the next step. She does not like being finger held and shown the path. Everyone is waiting for her to take the next leap. Her husband, her mother, her in laws, her siblings, and may be she herself.

A toast to raise! 1000 Likes

This blog has received 1000 likes. On this small achievement by this diary, I wish to thank people firstly for appreciating posts of this blog.

Emotions are not easy to convey in such a manner that they affect all the readers. Only a few who are the masters of control can express what truly is behind their minds. Even the bests like Shashi Tharoor can write something in gust of emotion which will affect readers in an unintended way. I, being a simple modest man by all standards in language,  am trying to keep myself aloof but at the same time wish to tell about an emotion, Love.

I discovered one true effect of love. It connects! It makes a person feel oneness with every one else. He/She is able to relate to others' joys and sorrows. It makes the other person feel secure that he/she is not alone in this world and that there is always someone around him/her who will understand. Life of love is very light, as you share your burdens, because you see that you are not alone ever carrying a load; everyone else is taking space on the same ground with you. You speak effortlessly without fear of the adjacent person about politics, cricket and what not, babies, kids, whole world in a nutshell is open for discussion for people fearless and full of love.

A person in love would be more than ready everytime to save a person in distress. His passion for keeping peace alive and vibrant inside his territory is worth inspiration. His dedication for his parents is a role model for any family. Nothing can be rid of love. Peace and prosperity comes to such places where importance of love is known, either as a work or as a ritual.

So dear world, connect with others, love others and feel the oneness of all. 

A world of Dream: Shatter it yourself

A world of dream...

How nice it seems. Free from daily troubles. Once you are lost in the dream, roads to next stage automatically open themselves up to you. And everything is so fluffy on the way.

How easy you become millionaire and all your life's problems are solved just at throwing of a bundle of notes. Worrisome things like death, illness are never even existent. You get whoever you wished for and are even more happy with them.

You fly high and there is nothing stopping you, except the only thing real... the harsh situation, the deep shit you have brought yourself into.

Why did the pillars of dream not realise ? Because there were never there, you fool! Did you ever had a look what is the platform for them ? Never did it occur to you that this world is not in the dimension your dreams are.  Now you are homeless, begging for even a small shed to protect you from rain, why not try to rebuild the pillars of dream ?

You, you are for the real world. Where did you waste yourself in the world of no end ? While you were resting in peace in your cushioned bed, a body left this world hoping for a better world ahead. Was your cushioned bed even visible to it ? You just wasted your existence connecting yourself with the bed which did not even exist.

Your limbs are for real, you are for real! The power that you have is for real. Proof lies in every bit of this world. It has not got built by itself. Hundreds of years of strength of hands like yours have created and witnessed the magnanimity of things around you. Your two eyes are for real. See. Inspire yourself. Get fuelled to act. Act to serve this world. It badly needs you, however much you wish to neglect it.

These students will make everyone proud

A year and a half ago, I went to a college for promoting a training programme for job placement. I was received well and was given a chance to address the students as the chief guest in their annual departmental function.

Sincere students look up to their teachers and always have a hope that their teacher will guide them to a bright future. Some of them contacted me after my address and showed their interest in the training programme. Excited to have my first batch of students from this college, I decided to come to the college classroom itself instead of my classroom to teach them, as it was far to the students to travel 13 kms to my place. They learnt programming and had enthusiasm and ambition of changing the world. I had not imagined that students from private colleges would be having their eyes lit up for bringing change to the world. I had thought that they would be solely focused in securing a job after graduation. It was a pleasant realisation for me as now I could dream of involving students from all colleges to work with me.

I had to discontinue my visit to the college as I was going to get married and following 2-3 months would have been busy, though I always kept myself available to the students and tried to clear their queries through chat and email. This is the least I could have done to keep their spirits high.

One year on, and yes these students are turning out to be exceptionally good in programming and still have great eagerness to change the world. Their hard work has already rendered them great feats in competitions and their tenacity to learn more leaves them growth hungry. Who wouldn't like such students. I called some of them at my home classroom to discuss how interested they are in resuming the classes, and they were ready and excited to start.

At Teck Academy, I guide students to better themselves in programming and work at some challenging example problems which will make them ready for placements in college. All those students, near or far, interested in interacting with me can contact me from any source given in the page. I will be more than happy to give you guidance related to programming and placements. 

Happy Republic Day

While I listen to this song, which got auto-played in youtube after the song I was hearing finished, it hit my mind that I have not written for long. Also today is a day not to be forgotten, as our country's functioning system was brought into force this day.

We the people, had given to ourselves this constitution exactly 2 months before 26 January 1950. We started abiding by it exactly 67 years before. Our soldiers, guarding the country's vulnerable boundaries continue abiding by the constitution even at the cost of their physical existence.

Our political leaders, who upheld the constitution in its formative years are to be praised and saluted for their will and commitment to build the concept called India. Had they been of wavering tendency, our 1.3 billion people would have no where to look upto and the fall would have been even more insulting than the British Rule; that we were not able to stand on our own when we were given a chance. Unfortunately, the trend of honest politicians was soon replaced by corrupt ones, who got inspiration from corruption of bureaucrats and rose to power. The constitution was again in threat when dictatorial attitude of Indira Gandhi but with power of the people, the threat did not loom for long. Diversity of India forced coalition politics which bound government of many terms to opposition and interruption filled functioning. But the coalition government at least showed that no section of our country is not represented. All, thanks to the solid foundation on which our forefathers built the constitution.

Time and again, this masterpiece of Baba Saheb Ambedkar, or so I feel, has saved this nation from political disaster. This time though, under the present government, I feel the constitution is showing its true power! The nation has matured in these 68 years and we now have more engineers, doctors, statesmen, artists, and many other professionals than even before. This government has the freedom to execute its plans without any interference from opposition. In addition, the representatives holding the minister-ship have impeccable records professionally and politically, with most of them already having proven their intention of India First. The current alliance shows what we can achieve if we act collectively and coherently. I am not a bjp fan, but I am immensely awed by the discipline, a sense of common cause, and intellect of the party members.

Of late, no other political party seems to have new faces in political arena; most of them just being busy in reshuffling and adjusting the defected other-party members. Good orators and debaters like Sambit Patra, Nalin Kohli, Sudhanshu Trivedi etc are adding quality to the discussions in tv debates while others seem to have no quality content in their replies. The opinion of crowd is not built in a day and in debates where some party spokespersons outshine others, the winner in minds of the people becomes clear.

The spirit of constitution is what is driving the politics right now, or I wish to believe, is starting to drive the politics. Earlier, the Anna andolan moved the public out from their comfort, and Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party (which seems to have lost the cause for which it started and got people's support) emerged. Then an alternate option of BJP as power holder came into realisation. The nation has seen unprecedented changes in these 2-3 years, including demonetization, which in my opinion is the boldest move the government has made till now, all this under the umbrella of our constitution. Though with a small fear of dictatorial apprehensions (signs of which have not appeared till now),  I am seeing the current development of politics as going a right direction and aiming towards growth of every one.

He who, taught me love!

He who, taught me love

Only seems like a dream and nothing more

He who, talked for hours

Has become a story with a scar

He who, fought in love with me

Is now caught in love by else

He who, showed me the differences

Has made life indifferent

He who, had so much to say

Is now silent in the grey

He who, scared me with his wish-list 

Is now flying high in the mist  

He who, sang in the ears

Is moving ahead with his dears 

He who, dreamt to grow by my side

Is now been held tight in the snow slide

He who, was always seen

Is still searched like a silly teen  

  

He who, taught me love

Only seems like a dream and nothing more

  

What to do when the world is against you

Die is the simple solution :P
Fight is a little tougher solution.
Change the world according to you, for you. - Toughest solution

The equations somewhat lose their demarcations the moment the word 'world' is replaced by 'family'

Some great minds and some not

I have been fortunate to have lived among some of the brightest minds of the country, though just for a small period of time. There were saintly geniuses as well as aggressive winners in my college. There were some who rose to sky after falling into deep shit due to their carelessness, and yet some of them fell deep into troubles from their cheerful state. In midst of this all, I spent some very defining parts of my life. These minds continue to inspire me to reach to the top and never give up, as they have still been doing.

However, college life doesn't last forever and real state of a human is 'survival'. He will do anything for it. Topics like intellect and humility don't matter to them generally unless it fetches them money. Simplicity matters to them when the simple person has already proven himself through his power. Purity and ethics bother negligible number of minds if no greed or ambition is associated with them.

How in a resource crunch situation, a man changes himself and cares only for himself! I was ready after college to give up my new job to go prepare for civil services but my father said that it is important to first make your state good before taking care of others' state. I did take his advice seriously, but only after sometime did I realise that the minds are not the same. They are clever, shrewd, sometimes wicked as well, thirsty for recognition and drunk in superiority. May be this is a regional observation and can not be applied generally. The harsh truth that I realised is 'situation of survival makes you an animal'. Survival in job, survival in business, survival of life... the animal in you saves yourself from getting vanished. It fights for you and brings you back from death, to go for another survival challenge. That animal, however, can not take care of anyone else but the body owner. That animal is called Self of the person. Other people are demolished because of it. The self doesn't care about all. This animal never needed to appear in my colleagues or profs in my college days. But real world teaches differently. I concluded that I have to live along with these great as well as no great minds for the rest of my life.

My camaraderie is spread out in different parts of the world and most likely would still be spreading goodness to the world, or some of them would have also become victims of 'survival'. But certainly, the old time is gone, and it won't come again...

All you have is the present time to make better than old time :)

The death of two puppies

Some incidents just stick to the mind and become very basis of a part of your character. In this regard, an incident comes to my mind. It was about two baby pups getting crushed by a car. I  can't recall my age but should be less than 10 years old then.

I was freely roaming outside my home and must be wondering about some things of nature when I suddenly heard a loud shrill of dogs, a sound made by them when they are hit by stone or a stick or bitten by other dogs. (Street dogs are not so uncommon in India, so I suppose the sound is not unclear. ) I went to the source of the sound.

The damage had been already done. The driver of the car possibly didn't realise that it's not a stone that he has taken his car over, but were two live puppies, and rode the rear wheels of the car as well over them. The pups made sound for a few moments, then I saw blood coming out of their mouths. It was not that I had seen blood for the first time, but live running blood was the first incident. It did not scare me, but made me inquisitive for sure. In a few moments, the two pups became like statues, like any other dead street dog I would see on the road.

What made impact on my mind was, their mother! She wouldn't let the sweeper take away the pups' bodies. She held the sweeper's clothes and stretched it to the extent that the sweeper feared that her clothes would tear if she dared move a step towards the pups. The two dead bodies remained there till I was there. The driver of the car realised that he has run over two baby animals; he slowed down for a moment, looked at the statues, and then went away to his work.

The mother dog didn't show her grief, or anger. She just didn't let anyone go near her pups. I had not seen emotion in animals before this. I was scared away by dogs twice before this incident, but i never felt that was because animals have anger as emotion. I just thought they are there to kill and bite bad guys. ''That's why people write beware of dogs'', i used to think.

But i love those creatures anyways (though there are serious hygiene issues associated with them, but who cares when you are a child ). 

Why Aam Aadmi Party is despised

A new political party arising out of rubble; a party whose members have never experienced political activism before in their lives; a political party which arose against the semi permanent leadership options from which the people had to choose their representative. Now the party's image is slowly getting tarnished and the group of people that arose in spirit and strength against the might of powerful people so ritualistically nurtured to become the rulers by the people, that group is slowly getting diluted in numbers.

The AAP party getting phenomenal share of votes in Delhi Legislative Assembly elections indicated quite prominently that people are fed up of the existing democratic process and want something more, some process from which the daily dissatisfaction from the government is vanished and more progress at grassroot levels is visible. During election campaigning, the AAP focussed specifically on people centric  issues and reached at micro level solutions to issues, something that common masses in delhi were able to identify with themselves. BJP and Congress parties were hardly doing campaigning of that level. Congress had already given up as its credibility had forgone long since the scams reports emerged in front of the public. And BJP was neither finding a good candidate to stand against Kejriwal, nor was there any quality campaigning that people may get impressed from.

BJP and Congress, two major national parties of India sensed an imminent danger to their existence in form of AAP; a threat that would snatch the power from long time power holders belonging to these well established parties and gives that power to common masses, those very common masses which have hardly any time or mind to care for the events other than their daily bread and family. If AAP, which at the time of its formation stood for honesty, justice, truth and such righteous principles, becomes a success, i.e. is able to secure the trust of people throughout its 5 years of office stay, the foundation on which the BJP and Congress have been standing erect would no longer be strong. The people blinded by power of politicians and mesmerised by the glory and stature of these party leaders will then be shifting their eyes to this new political party having members least concerned for their political careers and more focused on delivering.

BJP saw that it has 5 years to change the perception about AAP in common masses' minds. Preying on every single mistake of amateur politicians, catching the weakness of middle class politicians and exploiting them periodically, like making order for arrest of delhi MLAs is a strategy which is right now benefitting BJP more than any other party, as the hopes of a better political party are being shattered and next in line left at national level is only BJP. Congress is a dormant party, infected by incompetencies of its leadership, hence does not surface higher.

How the political parties other than AAP have been doing, I can think of a few observations:
- Shiela Dixit, the former  CM of delhi, accused of corruption during CWG games, was being filed FIR against by AAP government, as a part of its election manifesto implementation. She was soon made governor of kerala by the central government, thus preventing her from arrest or criminal proceedings against her.
- DGCA files raid from CM's office by CBI. Some files went missing and no news about the missing files...DGCA had a BJP prominent leader as its major office bearer role, and DGCA was accused of high level corruption
- Lieutenant General and Chief Minister's tussle over power. Though constitutionally the LG prevails, but decisions of AAP government  on any sensitive issue is mostly, if not always, discarded.
- Jokes on Kejriwal as an agenda to malign the CM's image of being a sensible human. The jokes portray him as a maverick not listening to anyone else and just doing work according to his whims and fancies.
- Periodic arrests of AAP MLAs, an arrest in normal middle class families is a big thing and shatters the image of a person and plays deamon to his self confidence in front of the families surrounding him.
- Booby trap of AAP Minister showcased on TV channels, so that people's perception about AAP, if good gets worse
- portraying AAP leaders as anti social and immoral

Aam aadmi party, which got birth out of an upheaval, out of the masses themselves, is losing the trust of the masses only. The masses are losing faith in themselves indirectly, and naturally the losing of faith in oneself results in his downfall. The AAP party  hence should urgently undertake some activity as its image control measures otherwise the poison of malign that has already started affecting its stature and if not treated quickly will infect the whole party body badly.

A tribute to the olympic games

Games do connect humanity's various bit and pieces together effortlessly, isn't it ? The race of Usain Bolt, that lasts meagre 10 odd seconds holds the breath of millions for time much greater than 10 seconds. How do games that last for such a small duration hold the world together for so long, and keep the memories as fuel for next games, or so to say, for re-bonding of the world again ?

The torch of Olympics is aptly treated as sanctified, as it is the symbol of the games that remains lit, alive and bright throughout the event. It spreads its heat to many places of the world before finally resting to see the games proceed in full bloom.

In a single event, whole events of life can be extracted. The event becomes an eye opener for many new comers, players or even spectators. Physical activity is something that every human can associate with himself/herself. The pains of training, the determination and grit to find a solution and win, the following success or failure, the analysis of faults and further improvisation to achieve desired level; nothing misses out in these games. The recognition for the hard work done and smartness applied, even if the person is not the sole winner (the 2nd and 3rd rank holders, though have won, but have also lost) further adds to the charm of games and keeps the viewers as well as players attached.

Long lasting friendship, fan-ship, mentorship of players also happens quite often through the games. Some find their soul mates through the games, some get inspired to beat the player they worship as their hero, and even succeed in it, while some find the true strength of the hidden fighter in them. The games do good not just to the individual players and viewers but also to the collective communities associated with them, as everyone associates himself with labour and despair, common feature of every game. Victory of a player unheard of by many brings pride and joy to those very people, just because they belong to the same country. Winning of the person supported by a person makes the person often feel that it's not the player but the person himself who has won! May be he can also win, as he supported the winner, a childish but a super encouraging thought will light a person, a someone among us, and will rise up to inspire another someone among us. Without the games, the scale of reach of event of this quality is close to impossible, as there is no category in this world other than physical activity which every human can claim to be doing, and hence would associate closely with it. Engineering events are participated only by engineers and a few other interested exceptions, economics events, governance events, media events and many others remaining follow the same suit.

The connectivity among humans provided by the games is unparalleled and is worthy of worshipping, something which personifies the old proverb in Indian mythology of 'Vaasudhev Kutubakam' (the whole earth is a family).

Alas the sportsmanship in our country is not one of the best in the world and needs lot of buildups and mends to stand strong against destructive tides, only if the task was easy! There are economic, cultural, political, nutritional challenges which are just enough for India not to produce a great number of players for the event. But actions by government like giving a reward to the medallists is a small step to motivate more people take up the course of sports as means of succeeding in their lives.

Olympic games have given this world a great platform to experience the oneness of humanity, and also a reason to introspect on our own shortcomings and improvise to better our situations. The players are the priests in the temple of games which show the world how it is to be handled, the game of life. The sanctity of human sweat is showcased in the games, which undoubtedly unites the world and will inspire future generations forever to contribute to the One World. 

Burhan Wani, And the likes

I have not done much research into who he was and how he was killed, but one thing that almost all news articles describe is that he was a militant. For state (India), he was a terrorist who was terrorising the idea of a united India. For some other states (say, the likes of Pakistan) he was a martyr who gave up his life for the freedom of Kashmir.

To me, he was an indoctrinated youth, mislead to path of violence and fundamentalism. He might not have even committed that much crime in such a small age (21.7 yrs) that he was labelled in the eyes of nation as fit to be killed, but the thought, the idea, the organisation which he represented was the culprit. He was standing in front of the army men as an idea of a divided India. Indian soldiers, or for that matter any Indian citizen would risk his full life to kill this idea. That idea was showing itself in full demonic form in Burhan Wani, and possibly the soldiers who killed him could not differentiate between the idea and the person.

They killed the person, but could not yet kill the idea. Words like martyr, decorating a person whom the rest of the country considered a terrorist, did further harm to the country's loss. The country soon realised that it has not just lost one of the sons of its soil, it has also gained a multiple times more number of opposing forces, having sympathy with their late martyr.


I am yet to understand clearly why the forces have to kill the terrorist. When they see that the killing is more costly to them, as the idea spreads more when the person fighting for a cause is killed, why they let the idea spread ?

The same happened in Pathankot when the officer saw no other option but to blast the room in which the terrorists were hiding. 26/11 led to arrest of one out of six terrorists but that lone terrorist was able to disclose information of priceless value, something which a dead terrorist would not have provided even in remote dreams. Why not follow the policy of arresting the terrorist alive ?

I personally don't have the full information of the overall encounter, but if the forces' ideas was to terminate the person as such, I am no less certain that this is a non useful, in fact a militating idea, an idea that actually goes against our wishes.

May be the forces in Kashmir have arrested so many innocents as well (on the basis of doubt) that the higher action against the true violence perpetrators appears to be death. This is again not right in my eyes.

I hope this violence ends as soon as it can, and opportunistic countries shut their mouths before interfering in this nation's internal and sensitive matter.

Woman, a social issue

The title may irritate many, but this is true to a large extent. For a long time, women have only been fought for, or have themselves fought; for equality, justice, tolerance, gender parity... the list is not endless, but it is not short either.

The issue may be the difference of opinions that today's liberated minds have nurtured. Some would hardly care about any other group in the society, while some others may only think about themselves. Some may think about pressing problems out of their lives, but would not have the will to address those issues. Some may have the will and may fail, while a very few remaining ones will be able to succeed. Unfortunately the amount of success achieved by them is not sufficient to address the unrest arising out of the issues related to women.

Why is the action not sufficient ? I believe it is because the mindsets are hard to change if there is no one who would inspire, or at least make people aware for changing their mindsets. Without awareness, even an initiation to change does not happen. A few feminist groups, or commission for women would not be able to change the mindsets. Punishment is just a remedy and a deterrent but not a solution. They are there only when we contact them, telling them about the grave injustice related to a woman happened around us. They will take our case and will fight for us. This may indeed create love for them in our minds, but that will not be the change in mindset that I am talking about. Mindsets are developed with loved ones, the people whom we trust. Only when the close knit group, be it a family or a group of friends, keeps a healthy environment will the bigger groups , like society be rid of such painful realities. The 'unit economics' of the social organisation has to be positive so as to ensure that the social organisation is fully positive.

There must be many incidents in families where on birth of a boy, there are big celebrations, while the birth of a girl child invites sadness and worry. At the same time, I also know of families where there is great celebration on birth of a girl child. There are families where growing up children realize that they have this role to play as a boy or a girl. While there are also families which raise their kids equally, as kids the brother and sister playing and fighting each other and only with time, the brother realises that he has to be a little more sensitive for his sister and the sister realises that her brother has his own needs which she should respect. The gender roles evolve with time in both these kinds of families but in the first kinds, the difference in male and female has been engraved right from childhood, while in the second kind, the differences have evolved with time and are more of understanding and tolerance based.

During prosperous times, any of the kind of families or groups would live happily as everyone has what he wants, but when resources are limited, emotional strength is required. This is when the second type of families get an edge over the first type. When the siblings were considered equal, they both are going to contribute during the time of need, whereas in cases where the female(on in some regions, male) member is not considered worthy enough, or weak enough, only one would be able to contribute during the time of need, as the other, unworthy one, is not at all prepared, or she/he may not even have been asked if she can contribute. Hence the inequality in such a case becomes bigger, the seeds of which were as small as division of work right at the birth. The second type of families were able to come out of the difficult times earlier than the first type, because work by two is finished quicker than work by one, simple maths. Along with this, the woman of this family was happier as she also contributed during the time of need, as she was brought up like this, equal to everyone.

This 'unit economics' of a small family that I am trying to describe can be scaled 3 billion times to make the world we live in. The society built by such families would for sure have women and men treated at par, while both having their work definitions evolved with time, which would certainly not be mutually exclusive. We all are mix of feminine and masculine qualities, females having very small masculine qualities and males having very less feminine, if masculine and feminine have to be necessarily defined the way these words are. Females can have power to blow a punch on face of their colleague, and males can have power to show shyness and timidness. (I just tried to mix the well formed opinion about masculism and feminism. I do not personally associate with these definitions.)

Swami Vivekanand said, "The best thermometer to the progress of a nation is its treatment of its women.” He connected the women as symbol for good health of a society. 

The news of bad treatment of women at workplace perturb people equally. No one would be able to justify sexual assault on women, whether one of them is working as a labourer in a garment factory or serving as a manager to a rich MNC client. Sensitivity to women's issues should start at home, the very family in which we live, and with the very friends which mean the world to us.

If we are able to stop any differentiating incident or any indecent remark made towards women in our group or our family, we are going ahead with the progress of the nation, as per vivekananda. (as per me too :) ) 

Small poem .. written 2 yrs ago

Facebook showed that I wrote it exactly 2 years ago. Must have been super upset with society.

Life changes. Change lives. A moment sun rises. A moment sun sets. Moment changes. Life changes.

The wrath of Sun will only hurt the one not willing to change his stand. But his stand was his life. But, Life changes.

That famous tree which did not fall, was willing to shed the ego so tall. Adamant egos died a change. Change lives.

Only change lives. Society you will not live unchanged.

Efforts in a Joint Family

It can be really frustrating and disappointing at seeing that the very thing that you wanted to prevent by taking an action has actually happened, only because you did what you think was the right way to prevent that thing.

Half of the day is spent in sorting out the differences and moderating the mood in the atmosphere. There are bunch of expectations from the new member of the house, expectations related to food, dress, size, family handling and also that the new member, the daughter in law has kept the parents' son happy.

The son comes with his own set of expectations. The wife should not bring disturbance in his peaceful house. She should be taught how she will live with his parents. How the elder or younger brother will have to be seen and dealt with like the husband has been doing. That she should not stop her studies and how she can squeeze time out from her busy schedule to study.

The wife comes with her own fears and with sole dependence on her husband, who is the main mediator and anchor for the family, till the time the wife settles in. She cries at the scold of the parents in law but only on the shoulder of her husband, who can not question his parents because the things that the parents told the wife to do have been there in his house for long. He has to keep balance so that neither the parents feel offended that their son is asking them to change their way of living, nor that the wife thinks that her husband is taking her lightly and is only concentrated on his parents.

Sometimes, the efforts backfire. And the mediator becomes the receiving end from both the sides! Neither his parents remain happy from him, because he had done something as a husband which was not acceptable as a son, not his wife agree with what he would have done, as she thought that it was her and her parents' in law matter and he should not have interfered in the process.

In the whole process, the air of the family gets heated up and no cooler or ac can cool it down. Again the anchor of peace in the house makes efforts to get the train back on track.

In this process, half of the day gets easily spent. And another half gets spent in office. Whole day goes away in stuff not enriching anyone, but only maintaining a long family.

p.s.: If you want to build a startup,, there is no good or bad time if you are strong willed and a risk taker, but if you want to maintain the already existing structure and add on bricks to it, be it family or anything else, the best time to do it would be when you are in your early 20s, when there is little more to zero responsibilities on your head! :)