Left, Right and Center

Its all about perspective. Its all relative.

An outsider's perspective:



The Right View:


The Left View:


My View:


Perspectives :)

The culprits

http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=Eij5o7XizIA&feature=related

We gave them the reasons to point fingers. We gave them the shield behind which they can hide.

One

Mumbai struck. Mumbai bombed. Mumbai gunned.
The news is full with the ongoing terrorist attack in mumbai, which they say is the biggest till date. 125 dead including 14 police personals.

Recently I was watching a talk show hosted by Barkha Dutt where Nandan Nilekani was the guest and he was answering questions on things related to all that is going on in India and world. But what struck me most was the question that Barkha asked him at almost the end of the show.
"What unites India?"

Can we be brought together? What is it that brings us together? Nandan's answer was too diplomatic least to say.
The fact that all of us want to have a better life. The fact that each of us wants to grow. And the fact that we want better life for the next generations, better than ours.
But that again is what goes in mind of every human being on earth. What is so "Indian" in that?

Pondering over the question, I was so stumped by the fact that I could not think of one reason that brings us together. Yeah, definitely Pakistan, Cricket and as Nilekani said the desire to improve our lives is always there. But what after that. Do we take pride on the very basic characteristics of our country? "Unity in diversity" seems to be a quote out of a fairy tale. "World's biggest democracy" has become the smallest in attitude and vision. While the world rejoices in the election of Obama as US president, the biggest election issue in India still remains how to blame everything on the other party. While the world talks about "change". We talk about "differences". The biggest calamity today fails to stir people and bring everyone together against it. This debacle that we have been witnessing on TV "live", will it bring people together? how would it be remembered after it is over, and say in a week. As a failure of the government? Will it again be given another colour? Ofcourse the government failed. The intelligence failed. The security failed. We failed.

But the question is, are we together taking the blame? Or are we blaming it on someone else? We will have to come together. We will have to find reasons to unite again. We will have to look at the aspects that brings us together and not focus on the differences. We were once captured, "enslaved" because of the differences. Do we want to see that again? We cannot fight each other and still fight the outside forces. We have to unite and stand against them, together. We need a sense of "being Indian".

Ask yourself. What is it that you think makes us Indian? That unites us? That brings us together? That brings all of us together?

Was the joker right?

"You know what I noticed? Nobody panics when things go according to plan. Even if the plan is horrifying. If tomorrow I tell the press that like a gang banger will get shot, or a truckload of soldiers will be blown up, nobody panics, because it's all, part of the plan. But when I say that one little old mayor will die, well then everyone loses their minds!"

These lines were spoken by the Joker, in "The dark knight", when he tries to explain how schemes and schemers have brought everyone to where they are. How he has just showed the city that however big plans they make it can be ruined by the smallest person with the smallest mind. Sometimes I really wonder, was he true? Is anarchy the real freedom, where no one, NO ONE has any say on what the other wants to do. read this article by Tarun Vijay today and suddenly the crazy, the maniacal face of heath ledger (joker) trying to convince two-face why he does what he does comes to my mind, where joker it seems has cracked the mystery behind all the wrongs in the world. And joker looks more like a saint than a criminal (well, in the movie he did do miracles. " Look what I did to this city with a few drums of gas and a couple of bullets").

Everytime you think that you have seen the worst of the politicians, you are baffled by the limit one can stoop to. The batla-jamia case is one such example. The politicians are running all around to show sympathy to the kins of the deceased in the batla-jamia shootout. Is the colour of the flag really become so important that no one can see the red.

The Indian flag was explained by Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, who later became the first vice-president of the country as:

"Bhagwa or the saffron colour denotes renunciation or disinterestedness. Our leaders must be indifferent to material gains and dedicate themselves to their work. The white in the centre is light, the path of truth to guide our conduct. The green shows our relation to (the) soil, our relation to the plant life here, on which all other life depends. The "Ashoka Chakra" in the centre of the white is the wheel of the law of dharma. Truth or satya, dharma or virtue ought to be the controlling principle of those who work under this flag. Again, the wheel denotes motion. There is death in stagnation. There is life in movement. India should no more resist change, it must move and go forward. The wheel represents the dynamism of a peaceful change. It also represents 24 hours in a day."

Today it seems the colours have remained the same, but there meanings have changed. Saffron stands for Hindus, the white for christians and the green for islam and the chakra in middle shows the constant motion of our politicians, from one colour to another but never facing all of them at the same time. Never the secular, that they claim themselves to be.

Do we need a Joker today? Or maybe a hitler? Do we really need explosions to make the leaders listen, who have gone deaf and blind (dumb they always were). RDB and A wednesday, are these the only ways left? I hope there's still some light left to look forward to.

Patriotism

Realised something at the wagah border.

The proximity to the homeland increases as you move towards the border.

Stranger

The most beautiful pair of eyes, a set of perfectly shaped lips and one of the most attractive faces. This was how my trip to Amritsar started. Well, it started by friends coming and picking me up from office to the railway station. But it was in the train that I met her. Jaime, Matteo and then me... and infront of us was she. She looked angelic when she closed her eyes, even more when she opened them. We started talking and came to know, that she is a model and also runs her own boutique. Married for 8 years now . Has a 5 year old kid. She got off a couple of stations earlier, but me and the other two, still have her face in our minds.

Change

Finally sent the official resignation to my manager. Am happy. Am very excited about my new job. Everything has finally started falling into place and started making sense. Changes are good. Will meet new people. Will work with new people. Will explore newer destinations. Can restart and reorganise my life. There's so much good this change has brought. Everything would be new.

???

Life

Cry
Laugh
Hunger
Food
Faces
Voices
Speak
Walk
Run
Read
Write
Watch
Observe
Flowers
Trees
Fields
Plains
Rain
Pain
Sports
Dreams
Books
Career
Women
Love
Lust
Food
Drink
Sex
Money
Travel
People
Family
Ups
Downs
Achievements
Disappointments
Sickness
Health
Dread
Blood
Bed
Dead
...
...
..
.
.
LIFE.

Start

Finally, after a long long time i got time to do what i like the best in office. Read quotes on internet. Last week I bought "Thus spake Zarathustra, Nietzsche" (Though haven't turned a single page as yet). KT, finally I am going to read what u have been suggesting for a very long time. Lets hope I get time to do it.

Well, today suddenly i was reminded of the book and decided on reading quotes by him. Must say, his quotes are not just powerful, they simply stir you, churn you, make you feel something inside your belly. Very few people I have read have struck at just the right spot.

Some of the favourites....

1. A casual stroll through the lunatic asylum shows that faith doesnot prove anything.
2. Insanity in individuals is something rare - but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule.
3. No price is too high for the privilege of owning yourself. (Somehow, this reminds me of something going on in my mind for sometime now)
4. Talking much about oneself can also be a means to conceal oneself. (I think I ll like reading him)
5. There is always some madness in love. But there is also some reason in the madness.
6. The man of knowledge must be able not only to love his enemies but also to hate his friends.
7. The Christian resolution to find the world ugly and bad has left the world, ugly and bad. (So true, even with other religions)
8. I would not know, what the spirit of a philosopher might wish more than to be a good dancer.

I guess I ll have to start the book soon.

Perspective

How are perspectives built. Met someone yesterday (well, actually have known him for sometime now, but met him only yesterday). We had so much in common. We love to read similar stuff. We watch similar movies. If you look at us from a very third and indifferent point of view, you ll see we are so much alike. But then when we talked, I realised something, not necessarily when and if you have similar interests and you have thought over same things, because somehow you have read and seen the same happenings means, the start and the finish are the same.

In life, not always is 2 and 2, 4. Some times its a little less and sometimes its a little more. Sometimes it can be zero.

As you can see in the pic, what you see in it may or maynot be true, its mostly dependant on what you want to see.

I want to laugh.

Yeah I do. I want to laught at all the people around me. I want to laugh at there faces. Laugh so hard, that i dont need to laugh for another life of mine.

Why?
Coz, they will never be able to understand, that I am different from them. That they will never stop trying to convert me into one of them. That they will get frustrated everytime they don't succeed.

A break

3 weeks of travelling. 3 weeks of extensive work schedule. Tired. Break. Bored.

Late nights at office -> Goa -> Late nights at office -> Hyderabad -> Bidar -> Hyderabad -> Late nights at office -> Rishikesh -> Late nights at office -> Very tired.
Thought would take a break from travelling and enjoy this weekend, at home. Had forgotten, enjoyment at home doesn't exist. So was bored, am bored and looking forward to office on monday and the next weekend. Am definitely doing (going) something (somewhere) again.

Hmmm...

Are you stuck in the conversation?

Don't know how to react to an uncomfortable question?

Don't know what to say?

Just said something, which now you regret and want some time to re-arrange (read: make some excuse) your thoughts?

OR you are just plain stupid?

Here's the panacea for all this. Hmmm... In the virtual world, it buys you time, makes the other person you are thinking, when you actually have to go pee. In the real world, this usually should accompany a nod. Now the other person is fully aware that either you know a lot, or are seriously interested in what they are saying.
I mean, use it whatever way you want to, wherever you want to, this works, 95% of the time.
Well, how did i reach this statistics... hmmm.

But jokes apart, lets for once discuss something serious. Hmmm... I think is another name of GOD. I think I want to start a new religion, hmmism. I mean, why do people want God? To rescue them from problems. In the virtual world this is what hmmm can do. And anyways, even God these days is not all powerful... And since there are anyways, some 2 billion religions in the ~6.5 billion world population so another additon won't disturb it much more.

Q: Neeraj, it seems the work stress is affecting your grey cells.
N: Hmmm...

Q: Don't you have anything productive to do?
N: Hmmm...

Q: What are you saying? Why are you saying?
N: Well... hmmm...

So, am back again.

Back again? Well, i didn't exactly go anywhere to get back, but if you look closely to the date of my last post, you'll find that its been more than a quarter of an year, since i posted anything. Well, here I am back from the long long sleep.

So, where was I? And what happened in between. I can say one thing for sure, life was playing what it plays best.... LIFE.
1. Met someone, found someone.
2. Travelled a lot. As in Hyderabad, Agra, Goa, Ranchi (If you consider going home as travelling), Bidar, Rishikesh.
3. Partied.
4. Read a few books, though want to read a lot lot more.
5. Worked my @** off. Late nights became a daily thing, so much so that when I was returning home last night at 11, I was glad that I am going home early.
6. Appraisal happened. (Would love to post what happened, but they want us to keep it a secret.)
7. Because of all of the above, I am in debt till my neck now.

So, the final assessment of these months, I worked hard, partied harder and spent the hardest.

See you guys soon with more stuff.

Dream @ TATA

The interesting thing about dreams is that, everyone has them. But very few have the fire to go for them and only those few are the ones who turn their dreams into reality.

Ratan Tata saw one. And he had the guts to go for it despite everyone's opposition. Now, there's a man to look up to.

This is how the world treats those very few.

DO

Gurgaon once again: MP schoolboy shoots mate

The news piece glared at me in the front page of TOI today. And i still haven't come out of the shock. Now, obviously i won't start complaining to what the world has come to? but somewhere we went wrong. We as an individual, as a family, as a society and as a nation went wrong. The following extract from the news piece says all:

This murder by a schoolboy, seen together with the Gurgaon killing and the murder of a student in Noida by his former classmates last month, shows a disturbing rise in violence involving students which until now was reported only from the US.

Its about time we realised our mistakes and did something about it. Innocence has already become so rare among us. We have lost the trust we had in the people. Everyday, we hear things happening around us, but unless they come to our doorstep we don't speak. Its always, the son of another man who shot or was shot. Its always the daughter of someone living far away who is raped by her own classmates, and its always the fault of the women who party at 2 past midnight who get molested. Its about time, we questioned the victim and the guilty less and questioned ourselves more. Each one of us.

What would we have done if we were there at 2 am in mumbai? What would we do, if we find someone with a gun in their hand, and what should we do to make sure that the people around us don't ever get the impulse to take such extreme steps. New year was good, but the days that have followed, the newspapers have been full with random incidents of rapes, murders, accidents because of drunken driving and more.

If anything has to change it will have to start with us, near us around us. If nothing is done, the day is not far when we will find our own sons carrying guns and daughters getting molested around. Its neither too easy, nor is it impossible. But we will have to understand the urgency of the situation, the urgent need of an action. We cannot be the bystanders, reading newspaper, sipping coffee and finally saying "ahh, what has world come to?"

"You must be the change, you wish to see in the world."
Mahatma Gandhi.

@Office

Yeah, I am working late at office once again. 20 days had gone by since i stayed back late, and i started assuming i had become efficient. Well it seems, i was wrong, it was just that i didn't have enough work. But now I have. Am i glad? I think I am.

As they say, an idle mind is a devil's workshop, and my mind was a laboratory for him(or should i say 'IT'). All kinds of thoughts came to my mind. The destructive ones. The frustrating ones. The self-immolating ones.

Ha!!!! D, now what do you say? Come and get me now. But now you can't get me. I am away from your reach.

Why am i writing this blog, when i should work? What am I writing? Or even better question, why am i writing this blog at all? Well, i think i don't know. Opened my blogger to check for new comments, but there weren't any. So, its for you all good-for-nothing-souls, comment on this, or when next time i dont have much work in my hand, i ll be thinking about you. And let me tell you, this can get very very
VERY
VEEEERRRRRYYYYY
SCARIE... HAHAHAHAHA.

huh!! (Neeraj shrugs and decides to end it)

chapter closed.

Its a cliche post

So, what do you think do i have in mind? I gave u the biggest hint thats possible. Its an used, per-used subject for writing a blog. People all over the world would be writing something about this subject. Everyone will try to make it as funny and "interesting" as he/she can. But to no avail.

I mean, every year a very big percentage of bloggers write about this, unfailingly. And every one tries to make it as unique as possible. The style that has never been used. But since we all have read the very same (or, similar) stuff, its very hard to make this subject even slightly different than what all already exist in the sphere.

Although I am very sure, you highly intelligent breed of common sensical people must have for sure guessed what subject I am talking about, but If you haven't been able to "decipher" it, coz of lack of the blob that exists in the upper most floor of the human body (and still to my utter dismay have stumbled to my post), the subject i am talking about is,

NEW YEAR 2008.

Now, people who have read enough of "happy new year" or "nu yr" or "HNY" etc etc posts, kindly move away from the blog, and those who haven't, go further.

Happenings of 2007:
1. Got a job. I am still employed.
2. Left IIT. Still hung up on friends and life there.
3. First flight.
4. First big city experience. (I think I am doing quite well)
5. Night Clubs
6. Absolutely no luck on romance side. (in short, "the same")
7. Made some 100 more friends. (in short, "the same")
8. Bought a bike. CBZ xtreme. (wanted to write a blog, but then didn't)
9. Travelled
10. Ahh!! now even i cant stand the stench of the used and used subject, so, etc etc etc.

Resolutions for 2008:
1. Can't tell you
2. Can't tell you
3. Can't tell you
4. Once again, etc etc etc.

Told you not to read it, now don't blame me.
After all the subjects says it all. It is, It was and It will always be, a cliched post.

so, to end my blog i ll like to say, goodbye 200.... ahh, c'mon.

chal ab kat le. bahut padh liya.