le meurtre!

Bloodbath in management….atrocities abound….newspapers are agog with news of IIM graduates seeking resort to naukri.com and other job portals. “Is it really them?” we ordinary mortals wonder. They who snubbed and scoffed in arrogance at such trespasses. But truly, it is a fall from grace. Management as a discipline is necessary, but the perks were a bit overrated. After all, 24 year olds, rubbing shoulders with people with over 24 years of experience, expecting those kids to implement whatever they have learned over a short span of 2 years, not realizing how far is the classroom from the boardroom. But this was shocking! Most people think along the lines “If this is the fate of the IIMs, then what about others?” True, when it comes to placements, the other institutes will not be able to rise to the occasion. But all the students should take heart. Pending liabilities and loans and EMIs notwithstanding, students should grab this opportunity to study recessionary behavior. I hope it does not come around for a long long time…and leaves behind enough lessons for everyone to learn.

Live now....

We spend so much of our time ruminating on what went wrong in our life....what we could have done better....and how we could have avoided certain decisions that we took. In the meantime, we deprive ourselves of the joy that the present moment could give us. We forget that the present moment offers us a chance to amend some of the wrongs of the past. Learn to live in the moment, breathe and exhale freely, live now...and turn every moment into a memory...its you who can change the course of the events....Live now!

Love actually......

Love … ahoy!

No single emotion can be as draining, as frustrating, and as wearisome as love. It can erode, and efface your self, dissolve your identity and then you keep seeking solace in the dark.

“Your heart starts to feel like an overcrowded lifeboat. You throw your pride out to keep it afloat, and your self-respect, and your independence. After a while, you start throwing people out--your friends, and everyone you used to know. And still it is not enough. The lifeboat is still sinking, and you know its going to take you down with it.” Shantaram, Gregory David Roberts,

Then what is love, and what should it be like? Love should consume you and create more of you each day each moment. It should keep you anchored and liberate you at the same time. Love should be one of your achievements, one that you are proud of....

The denominator

In a high performing scenario, the marginal performer’s output increases, and in a marginal environment, the high performer’s output declines.

Mediocrity is the ultimate bane. One day the mediocres will overtake the world because the intelligent are meek and too busy….The meek, the denominator, shall rule the world.

You can know your true worth by competing in an environment where you are pitted against people better than you. Mediocrity is a slow killer, it kills your self worth like nothing else. Consciously make an effort to challenge your mind, to associate yourself with high performers. Being in a mediocre environment is like being in intensive care with the monitor showing a steady line, and you wait for an absolution that never comes….

Revisited....

The radio blaring Hindi songs, the laaaaaaaaazy sun, Anant and Saurav on Radio Mirchi, Delhi Metro snaking through the whole of Delhi, chilly mornings, garam chai, squiggly toes nestled under a blanket, a cupboard full of woolens, extra helpings everywhere, sunning yourself on the terrace, bonfires on Lohri, the big big white buildings in CP, getting lost and helpful strangers helping you all the way…great roadside food, tandoori nights, Delhi-ized version of Chinese, South Indian delicacies, high fashion couture, the intellectual elite at IIC, and theaters, plays, Indian International Film Festivals, chaat at Netaji Subash Place, Delhi University, footpath fashionwear, junk jewelry, chartered buses running from nowhere to everywhere, dhabas on the go, bhalle papdi, debates at Delhi School of Economics, the lush green cantonment area, the beaurocratic snobs, the land of amazing contrasts, of scorching summers and freezing-to-death winters, of stiff upper lips, of British Council Library and the American Council, diplomatic enclaves, the lawns surrounding India Gate, the fashionistas at Hauz Khas, the land where everything is possible by jugaad, the land where I belong…

Home.....

Like a leaf torn...a bird thrown....
I flew here....I flew there...
Searching for the place called home....

My heart yearns for the place I seek...
Where I grew up among the trees and the mountain creek....
To count the days when I will go again...
Searching for the place called home....

The sky that beckons me, the arms that welcome me....
The familiar smell of the earth in the air that comforts me...
I look at the horizon to make that day come soon....
Searching for the place called home....

Vindication revisited?

A lot of hullaballo has been generated over the elections results that have just been declared. Pro-incumbency has been toasted to no end. However, I beg to differ. All this fancy analysis aside, of how the electorate chose to view the larger picture keeping aside the recent repeated assaults on national security and the nerve recking economic gloom, how people voted for development, I think the BJP lost in a few states because of its own undoing and not because of some spectacular feat pulled off by the Congress. This was an opportune time, and the BJP milked it right too...what with V. Raje going on television exhorting people to rethink about a party that brought the country to the brink of downturn......but the BJP failed to capitalize on the moment. Especially in Delhi (being a Delhiite), where Sheila Dixit didnt quite do justice to the capital, being there for a decade...but people saw the alternative on offer...V. K. Malhotra....and they chose the lady over the relic......why field a toothless tiger in the first place?
Elsewhere too, the Congress won on the weakness of the opponents not on the strengths of its own candidates....Aptly put...these results are not a vindication of the Congress....but the electorate choosing the lesser of the two evils.....As they say...the devil known is better than the devil unknown.....

Words.....

Everywhere we glance around … we see and hear the pitter patter of words, some move slowly, some need time to form, some hit bull’s-eye the first time around, others lumber on. Some convey the exact message we want to, some leave us feeling restless and dissatisfied….Yet, it is necessary that we speak or write to express…it is not enough to know, it is equally imperative to communicate, to speak out loud, to write, to tell…

Speech is a gift we are blessed with, but speech optimization is an acquired skill. Imagine when words are clogged down your throat and all you want to do is speak…and you can’t. There are only a few things as heartbreakingly sad as this…

So go out…and speak your mind out loud. Share ideas, thoughts, brainstorm, express…..
Reach out to that person you love, to your close friend, to your family and let them know how much you love them, learn to stand up and speak for yourself, speak and assert your rights, declare your independence, affirm your vows, let go of your inhibitions and soar high on the power of words…

Happiness...

We associate happiness with a time when everything functions smoothly in our life…like a well-oiled machine, which does our bidding. It is a time when the yacht is bobbing on tranquil waters, professional sails are booming, personal matters are resolved. But happiness is not the absence of chaos, conundrum, disorder, disarray and turmoil. Happiness is trying to find joy in the everyday turmoil of life, of trying to remain sane despite mayhem around us…it is not giving up despite all other things going wrong. Happiness is not the absence of chaos around us…it is how well we manage the chaos…

There is never going to be a time when all the variables in our life are solved. We have to figure which are the ones that matter…Our life is always going to be as disorderly, as frenzied, as cluttered as it is now…so quit waiting for that perfect time when you are in that cocoon of happiness…and let happiness be the air that you breathe, the aura you radiate, the moment that you live in….

Life and Longing

"Sometimes the most important thing in a whole day is the rest we take between two deep breaths " Etty Hillesum

The irony of our times is that we spend years agonizing over a particular need, a specific desire and when we finally attain it…we move on to the next one! We don’t enjoy our achievement at all, which we spent years working hard to accomplish. Forever wanting, forever waiting, for an absolution we never get….

Then arises restlessness, a sense of urgency, sleepless nights, tormentous thoughts, anguish rules, misery looms large, distress decapitates our happiness completely.

Plan ahead, but learn to enjoy this moment. It is never going to come again because unfortunately we can’t hit the rewind button for life to relive the good times once again. If we don’t live in the moment, we snatch from it the opportunity of giving us joy…

Don’t let longing erase the joy of living….take life by the reins and you lead the way…life will follow…

Crossroads...

It was love at first sight … I was floored hook, line and sinker. Taken aback, breathless…so different from anything else I had ever seen and then reality sunk in… and I came to Bangalore finally…but I hope not for keeps!

Well Bangalore…as a thoroughbred Delhiite would put it…The city is way too neat…Where is all the dust and grime we are so used to? Bring it on…Miss it all…even though I hate it all.

Bangalore is the land of ubiquitous CCDs, round every nook and cranny….They have more than one in every block…Can you beat that! Ahem… we Delhiites are more used to Barista, definitely more arrogant than the humble CCD.

More seriously, the city smells of jasmine everywhere…software is like a cottage industry here…a place where you will find the biggest showrooms and yet not get the things you want… the city where having a two-way road is considered “the thing,” a very common sight when you peek out of the autorickshaw is scores of techies, all on bikes saddled with backpacks…as if some divine assembly line is generating those prototypes and mailing them to Bangalore. You could get stuck in traffic jams even when you move around your block…It’s a place where there is no correlation between the weather and the time of the year…Heck…I can look at Delhiites and tell what month of the year it is…you will find innumerable pubs and discos, but sadly not that many libraries…that’s Bangalore for you.

Ah Delhi…the city exudes warmth, shopping at Sarojeni Nagar, the narrow bylanes of Kamla Nagar, the riotous colors in Chandni Chowk, where it is forever festival time…Delhi Metro, rickshaw rides, malls and flea shopping, blueline buses, all night tea stalls, the greenery of Delhi University, the big white buildings at CP, vendors and hawkers on every pedestrian pathway, the open air amphitheater at Central Park, boating at India Gate, all those massive flyovers, road rage, kulfi at Roshan’s in Karol Bagh, haggling with autowallahs, the crème-de la crème at Rajouri Garden, Delhi is forever on the steroid called arrogance, we are forever throwing our weight around…and forever flaunting…boisterous, noisy, chaotic, rude, and amazingly likeable at the same time. Gawd! I miss it all ….

From noise I sky dived into vacuum… the silence in Bangalore is killing….

It finally started … all this jargon, the fancy terminologies, biz gobbledygook, Greek gibberish … I wonder …do we really need all this?
Yeah … I am told … “cuz others spout these so you need it too … there has to be some USP, else what is the value add?"
I have suffered much waffle over the past few days-some good some bad and some worse!
I used to feel that we unnecessarily complicate our lives with all these theories, hypotheses, models, concepts and systems, some of which is pure conjecture … but now I feel that even if it is hogwash, it is pretty good hogwash.
Rome beckons … and so I must heed the Romans… and do as they have done and are doing…

Deconstruct deconstruct deconstruct!

When will we learn?

Lets herald our nation's latest obsession: A country of one billion, is now fixated on one gold medal. I am amazed not at the amount of popular sentiments that have been generated, but their nature. We are celebrating this occassion as if it were a huge triumph. In fact, it is a national shame. It took us 56 years after the 1952 Helsinki Games to win a gold...It took one man to change it, and he changed it despite the lack of infrastructure provided by the government, despite the callousness of the authorities, who dont provide proper equipment and training facilities to youngsters. In his moment of glory, all the state governments and government organizations rushed to partake in his fame. Even more amusing is the prize money being bestowed on him: 1, 00,00,000 by the Punjab Government; 50,00,000 by the BCCI and the Haryana government; 10,00,000 by the Maharashtra CM; 5,00,000 by the Chandigarh administration efforts; 1,00,000 by the Chattisgarh government; 30,00,000 by the Central government; 10,00,000 by the Karnataka government. The question is if the state governments were so blessed by funds, then why didnt they utilize it for developing training centres, providing modern contemporary equipment, better coaches to the players...so that more Abhinavs would have done India proud? More players would have access to the facilities which have clearly been denied to them.
We should utilize this incident to introspect. Will we achieve a gold at Olympics only by the effort of a person who is capable of overriding government apathy? Will the government never ever create a program to nurture and cultivate sportspeople and take away the petty politics that currently infests our sporting culture?
Let alone this Olympics, we have no plans for the London games. To win, first you need a desire to win. Whereas, the US and China are obsessed with who will end up on the top of the total medals tally, we are still hoping with anticipation that maybe, with fortitude, with luck, we might win another medal. The difference lies in the attitude.

Where is it?

She wandered through the city, through skyscrapers, through the sea-swept beaches, through a crowded street, through boardrooms, through malls, at day...at night....and yet she couldnt find it....
It left her puzzled. What could she do to find it?
She woke up each morning, consumed with just one thought. Where was it? Why couldnt she locate it? All around her, she had the external trappings of happiness, yet only she knew the truth...and how far was she from it...
She was intrigued by this quest... as much elusive as it was futile...but she ploughed on...
The apartment was filled with things....and silence. It was as if everything was operating on mute...
Awards, accolades, and praise kept on accumulating meanwhile...and her search continued. She grew desperate...and restless. It had to be somewhere...and all of what she had was meaningless without it...
She continued to immerse herself in all the other things in life...charity, reading, cooking, and did all that she could to keep her busy. But now the only thought that haunted her life was fast turning into an obsession...Where was it?
She attracted a lot of attention, the kind that a successful, single woman does, and surprisingly, she was immune to it all. Only one thought was capable of arousing any kind of emotion in her... Everything else in her life was something she could do on auto-pilot.
Her quest showed her how passionately she desired what she missed...and it took her through the entire gamut of emotions....first curiousity, when she realized what was missing, then determination to find it, then frustation at not being able to find it...and now she was nearing despair...
Then, one fine day, she found it....and that too at work!! Her missing piece of heart was strutting down the staircase, trying to balance a huge pile of paperwork, in all his bespectacled glory...and then she knew what she was missing all this while... she reached up and touched her heart....and now knew it was complete....

Rain….and it is as if every hue in nature is washed and scrubbed, green, the meadows are awash with color, the shadow of hills is a blue blur in the background, the trees are drooping with blossoms, it is like an idyllic stroll through nature’s own backyard, the sky is a gloomy as if in anger, the clouds will cackle and vent their fury of rain on us, a flock of birds fly by, a sea of white over the vast blue overhead. Amongst this all, a solitary train trudges along, where people are occupied with their own worries, and the song of nature goes unheard…
Rivulets spring up, as if offsprings of the canals and rivers. Boats stand by, as if waiting for the season’s catch

The pastures roll on as far as the eyes span…meeting the foot of the mountains, as if in reverence….No dazzling electronic wonders can ever compete with the sheer beauty of a tree with the overhanging boughs providing solace in its green arms….The tall trees at the end of the meadows, standing as if sentinels over the entire grasslands, a house nestled in the hills, a cozy abode….

A river meanders along, as if unsure of her path and is ambling along.

Evening comes and darkness falls. Wisps of smoke rise, as if chorusing in unison the onset of night…

Nightbells ring, temple bells toll, and the crickets, birds, bees, and insects start their opera for the night

Morning dawns, and people go about their business of making a living, and forgetting life in the interim.That is what nature is… an exquisite princess, a tempestuous woman in fury, the comfort of a mother’s arms….a woman in all her shades

Despair.....

People with vacant eyes and dull faces...each morning heralds a day that is struck off the calender....trudging from home to office and back again...weary of life and weary of living...effacing the memory of each day...drowned in misery and drenched in sorrow...comfortable in the everyday sameness of life...confused, lost, and directionless...fighting for perfection and then struggling to accept incompleteness...tunnel vision with no end in sight...falling once to rise again...and then falling again never to rise once....a lost battle and a lost cause....
Struggling for life..struggling to live...and then struggling to breathe....
Dragging yourself..and your feet....
A tired soul...a weary pen...muted to silence...and silenced into submission......
Nothing is wholesome....everything is a half-hearted attempt at living....even the breath you inhale....
It is as if everyone is waiting for someone to switch the power off in their lives.......

Love...................

Usually in two circumstances, do we give something to someone. Either if it is completely useless to us or if it is extremely dear to us. In the former, the lack of its need in our life presents an opportunity for us to dispense it. In the latter, we like something so much that we want another person to revel in the same joy as we did.
So why dont we treat love the same way?
We cant love somebody by despising ourselves and making another indivisual the object of our affection. Before loving somebody else, we must love ourselves completely, categorically, and unambigously. Only then can we give ourselves to the one we love.
Loving ourselves in no way means we overlook our deficiencies.It just means that by loving yourself first, you choose to give that person the thing that is most dearest to you: yourself....

Violence........

In the USA, there exists an institution known as the CCNV, the Centre for Creative Nonviolence. When I first came across the term, I thought "What a misnomer!" If something was nonviolent, it could be creative, but how can something creative be nonviolent?

We all possess this violent streak in us, but in the exectuion of this streak is programmed differently.

Something creative cannot be nonviolent. Simply because creativity orginates from within, and unless there is a violent upheaval of that thought from the mind, from the heart, from our being onto a medium, creativity is meaningless. It becomes null, void and hollow because creativity flourishes in expression.

We all strive to be different from each other. We try to create this difference subconsciously too. But how do we become different? Quite simple. Unleash all the violence that we have in our creativity. Purists would be naturally sceptic about this idea and why not?

But this concept needs no long winded explanations. ....just a plain scientific law. Creativity amounts to work done and to obtain this we need force and the distance over which it is applied. Violence is the most potent force in an indivisual. Unheralded and uncompromising. Since this force is predominantly negative, all we need to do is to reverse the sign, apply it in the positive direction so that it traverses harmoniously the distance---the distance between thought and execution, between mind and medium.

Violence when used positively will lead to beautiful creativity. We need to let go of this inner violence which will otherwise wreck havoc with our body.

The secret in harnessing this force is not in defeating it, but using it to foster and nuture creativity.

So the next time, our violent streak appears to outweigh logic, reason, and rationality, just reverse the sign and apply it to something--a painting, that unfinished write up, an unfinished sonata...

Just unleash your violence and hold the reins while creativity trots and charts its course.....

Courage

We are all always looking for comfort in numbers, security in social approval. Our sense of right or wrong usually depends on how many people we know approve of it......

Majority is never a parameter for conscience. The strength of a man's courage depends on his ability to continue when he is the last man standing....

There is a time in our lives, when all of us have to walk alone. And we should not be afraid to walk that lane....

What makes you smile?

There r times when we bow to the difficulties in life. I smile when I see the triumph of the human spirit....when somebody overcomes his/her fear, hesitation, uncertainity...I smile when I see the mind defiantly standing up against defeat..I smile when I think of freedom. I smile when I see people around me.....staring failure in the eye.. and daring it......