The Child Is Father Of The Man!

Ever heard someone say, "Today's generation is far more advanced; they do this, they do that!"? And then they start comparing themselves with the newbies. I was wondering if this is actually some NEWS or just an old expression since Adam and Eve. My prefrontal Cortex tells me that nobody would have ever said that their decedents would be a bunch of morons (this is a generalized statement and should not be taken otherwise). I bet every generation grew up hearing that they were, in fact, the smartest of all that has walked upon this earth. They have the capability and courage to overrun whatever the previous generation’s laggards have left behind and render it kaput. What do you think the rational behind this behavior is?

The answer for this could be many folds, and just for the records, I am no Doctor or a Psychologist to pass upon my judgment with certainty. But as far as I could apprehend the situation it's the incubated aura that the incumbent generation carves out for next age group. We have everything modeled for us and what has not been done shall be done by some brainiest people of current generation. And this cycle would go on and on and on. There is nothing out of the blue here. This is what is expected. Isn’t this what the great Darwin said in his theory of evolution? Remember opposable thumb!?

I grew up in an era where computers were deemed as "fancy gadget" to be flaunted by Richie Rich people. Status quo: a child, from a middle class family would learn and type 'ASDF' before it learns to write 'ABCD'. It took ages for the likes of Da Vinci, Newton and Einstein to device some theories and formulae that we use so often to solve our problems ranging from finding a shortest past to our office to launching a stealth missile.

This universe is filled with mysteries and being the curious creature that we are we always strive hard to unravel it. We don’t like the enigmas to be lying around the table, unsolved, untouched upon. We have been handed over the knowledge torch, already lit up. What we need to do is to keep the flame alive and discover new arenas and avenues. We cannot and should not compare ourselves with people from different generation. That would be like comparing apples and oranges. So, would it be wrong and unfair to say that the next generation would be what we expect them to be and not the bunch of Michelangelos and Galileos?!



~Abbey
http://twitter.com/anupborkar (@anupborkar)

A Beautiful Mind!

What if I were to tell you that I am Opinionated? You would judge me. Some of you (let’s call it group Radical) would say that I am hard-hearted and obstinate. Some (group Casual) would say that I think clearly and have a strong opinion about things I talk about. And the remaining (group Whatever) would be indifferent. Now what if I were to change my stand and tell you that I don’t have an opinion about anything? Again you would judge me (that’s all what we do; Judge People). Only this time, it may so happen that you might have shifted from Radical to Casual or may be to Whatever group. And to be honest and truthful to you, there exists no science that would figure out which group would you be jumping off to. The reason being you have your own "opinion"!

Having an opinion is not a bad thing, but getting glued to one is. You read about something, you hear about it and then when you "think" that you have enough of information to form an opinion you go ahead and do it. We all do that, and there is nothing wrong with it. It’s good to have an opinion. Isn’t that’s what makes us human that we are?! Having an opinion is an integral part of our nature. Now here is the real test; what would you do if someone makes you jump into a conversation and challenges your opinion to prove it wrong? What would you do in such situation? You would:

Option 1: Retaliate with the hardest argument that you can to demolish the person standing against you?

Option 2: Go into the conversation with open mind and if you feel, down the line, that the argument made by someone else has some credibility associated with it, you would accept that you were wrong?

Option 3: Be indifferent?

Before we try and unravel, let’s see what all is it that contributes toward holding one thought dearer while berating other. Whenever you make an opinion you would like to believe that you have reached to this point all due nothing but your rationality and your intellectuality. But the fact remains that other irrational factors has equal involvement. While the opinion is in the making it arises from: your knowledge about the topic, your values, circumstances, feelings and experience. If you think hard enough you would realize that every human being, at any given point in time, hold these things. And everything that we do is influenced, if not driven, though subliminally, by them. Now, for the time being let’s make a hypothesis that whatever we have discussed till now is true (I am saying hypothesis because some of you would not agree with me on this, but even if you don’t please try to walk along for the sake of fun). Here is the fun part; if you give the list a hard look you would notice that all that’s up there is subjected to change with time. You read, you talk about the topic to increase your knowledge and you know a lot more than you were aware of before. Values are a tricky business. It changes along with the situation, e.g. Lying is not a good thing, but what if it is in the best interest of everyone at that moment? Circumstances and feelings change every split-second.  And as they say, the number of gray hair is directly proportional to the mistakes (they call it experience) that we have made!

So now my question is, if all the factors that have helped you reach to an opinion are variable and are subjected to change with time, is it a good idea to get stuck and be adamant about your school of thoughts? Would it not be in your best interest to be open-minded? I know it’s real hard to flip 180 and go ahead to admit that you were wrong, but isn’t that what shows the character?! You can go along and debate your opponent out with you callous arguments, but in my opinion that is the worst thing to do if you really wish to explore the subject in discussion (of-course with an exception for court room trails and a debate competitions).

Ultimately, it’s in your hand what you would like yourself to be perceived as: The Great Debater or someone who has A Beautiful Mind!

~Abbey

http://twitter.com/anupborkar (@anupborkar)

Run, Forrest. Run!

It’s weird! I thought to myself on my way back to Pune from B’lore. I was sleep-drunk when an announcement overhead woke me up into my senses. I looked outside the window only to see shimmering lights in a dark, foggy winter evening. The airplane driver (a.k.a. Captain) spoke again to share his wisdom, which I was not interested in, but felt entitled to know. I was gazing outside the window, glued, mesmerized by the landscape, protruding a night life in an ocean with hundreds of thousands of jellyfish glowing in the dark. Suddenly, I felt I am being watched. Not by someone from within the plane, but someone from down the ground. Someone standing there watching the plane flyby, wondering if it could ever get a chance to board one of these. And I, on the other hand, amidst of all the turbulence, was hoping to land ASAP with all my limbs intact. And then, BAM!

A sudden thought rushed through me. And I, subconsciously, looked around inside the plane in a desperate hope to find at least one gnome who is doing something that I wasn’t - looking outside the window. But, Alas! With a feeling equivalent to hope being flushed down the drain, I found myself back on the course of gawking outside and got lost in thoughts.

Why is it that we always long for something that we do not have? Why do we strive after something, so hard, just to realize that after all it wasn’t worth it? Why do we disregard, more often than not, the things that we have in possession?  Deliberately or subliminally we all do that (Saints and Sadhus apart). You may say its human tendency. Couldn’t agree more! But my curiosity wouldn’t die down with that answer. It demands more! A concrete explanation, if there is any, is what I am looking for.

We set goals, we achieve them and then we move on to set some new ones. Apparently, this cycle ceases to exist only on pyre (though I am not certain about this; never been there). We are always in a hurry; running after something or someone. We do our level best, put our heart out, burn midnight oil, and sweat our brows just to get hold of whatever it is that we sought after. Knowingly or unknowingly every move that we make is associated with a motive. It doesn’t matter if that motive is kind or unkind, just or unjust, Mother Teresa-ic or Hitler-ic. We-just-do-it!

I thought as hard as I could to come up with one rational explanation that would explain this behavior. And look what I’ve got… no rewards for guessing, it’s Sense of Accomplishment! An ego booster! The feeling, the adrenaline rush, the testosterone, the euphoria, the nirvana is inexplicable. However short lived let that state of the mind be; it’s all worth it! After all that’s what we have come here for, isn’t it?!

In this society of ours we judge everyone around us; not by their ability, but by their accomplishments. And I am not saying there is something wrong in it. ‘Coz to apprehend someone’s ability we have to invest something that we, the Homo Sapiens, do not have: TIME! So what do we do? We take the shorter route acting upon the proposition that ability implies accomplishments. Just admit to the fact that, at some level, we all do it. Even Steffi Graf – the tennis diva - responded to an anonymous “will you marry me?” by what I call witty but darn serious answer “how much money do you have?”

We got to earn respect here. We have to do something substantial with our lives. And if not that, be on top of “show me the money, Honey!” game. The sooner we realize and embrace this fact, the better for us. So unless you are okey being treated like a turd, you better be running!

Peace-Out!

~Abbey

http://twitter.com/anupborkar (@anupborkar)

Rebirth!

This life, this beautiful journey of mine,
Seems all just a myth, an illusion of a kind,

I’ve enjoyed the moments, dancing on the rhythm,
Keeping time with my hands,
I’ve been there, dejected, cried my heart out,
Tears soaked into deserted sands,

I am tainted, with guilt, with wrong doing,
Tainted head to toe,
Tried washing my soul, nothing helped,
nothing grew from the seeds I sow,

Turning back, looking at my voyage,
I see a lot of mistakes, most were uncalled for,
How I wish, wish to sail back,
To clean the slate and set out on a new track.

I long for an angel, the savior, the redeemer,
I long for that helping hand from a knight in a shining armor,
To show me the path, to guide me through,
Eyes closed I realized, life is a lesson you learn it when you are through.

I feel smothered, striving hard to breathe,
I feel blotted, dirt it seems all I feed,
Could you watch my back, get that dirt off my shoulder,
Could you breathe life in me, Resuscitate me, Resurrect me of this boulder?

How I wish I could re-write the whole story without uncertainty,
I wish I could rebirth, untainted, in a cradle of purity,
Let me Rebirth, rejoice the experience of being spotless,
Revive me, let me relive in my own world of serenity!

Live And Let Live!

Independence! Heard of it? Yeah, sure, we are reminded of it every 15^th Aug of every single year. We holler on top of our voice, ride bikes and drive cars with flags held up high, we sing patriotic songs and watch parades. But the question is do we have the independence yet? Do we understand what independence is? Or should I ask, Are we really independent?

We see Independence as an object; something that we managed to snitched from British some 60 odd years back. We celebrate the same thing over and over and over again, without being able to comprehend what exactly does that mean. We fail to fathom the fact that independence is served in phases. We live in an Independent nation (debatable, but that’s another topic), but we are yet to be independent as an individual (for sure). Why would I say that? What do I mean by that? Well…

Prior to 1947 Brits used to decide upon what we should and should not do. They were the rule makers. They ruled by law, and for obvious reasons. The Empire as it once was no longer exists, but it’s the society that has been passed upon the baton now. Every single decision that we make is influenced by our surroundings. Everything that we do is done in a way that is being approved by society.

If I may say, in a way we have become indecisive. Ironic enough; we like it! We like the idea that most important decisions of our life are taken by someone else. We like the idea of being remotely controlled by outside authority. We like the whole ‘you do it for me’ concept. We are afraid to make our own decision, fearing the possibility of being wrong or thwarted. We are raised that way; being inculcated with this thought since a fetus we once were. And to top it all off, we are expected to pass on this truncheon downhill.

Paradoxical enough as it is; we are expected to vote at 18 and are forced to marry someone our “society” deemed compatible for us. The society decides upon whom shall we fall in love with, whom shall we take as our partner for life and whom shall we celebrate our joys with and share our sorrows with. We are too scared to make that decision on our own being afraid that others would think less of us (who, more often than not, does not mean a squirt of piss). Call it dignity or loss of opportunity, but the truth prevails. And it’s rubbish!

We have set of protocols that we are obligated to follow; it does not matter how grim, irrational, boisterous, preposterous piece of crap they are. We are bound to walk the road our care takers have carved. We are riding the same old bullock-cart that our great great grandfathers rode with very little or absolute no change-over. ‘Aren’t we breeding pissants in human body?’ The moment we see the wind is not helping to sail our life boat, we drop on our knees and beg for help. Keep on doing this and the concept of backbones would be a myth in no time.

We have to understand that we are yet to achieve individual independence. And until we do that we are just mocking ourselves in our so called great nation. We must apprehend the fact that our freedom ends where the tip of our nose begins. We are not authorized to sculpture someone else’s life when we failed to do that for our own self. We are raised in a society where we are taught to be respectful to elders. And with this cute looking thought comes in some ugly stuff which says: if you don’t want ass whipping, better let us make decisions for you.

We call this nation of ours an epitome of democracy. I have better word to describe it: Hypocrisy! We are a nation full of hypocrites. We say that we are a secular nation; we throw big words: freedom of speech, democracy, diversity. But when someone tries to put forth his/her thoughts we smother them, strangle them, and choke them to death, rather brutally! We would not flinch to make someone go on an exile (self imposed or otherwise) who tries to hurt our sentiments. Why do we fail to understand that everyone is free to speak out their minds, free to express their feelings, their thoughts, free to live their lives as they reckon good for them? Let alone appreciating someone else’s work; can’t we cut them a little slack if we don’t like what we see of them? Is it too harsh of a concept to practice? Or are we so self centered, pampered, egoist, eccentric, bunch of hypocrites that we would not want our coziness to get hampered at any cost?

Living life on own terms! Sounds so simple, but seems a colossal task to live out. Life is not meant to be complicated; thanks to our “skills” we make it complicated. If we peep into ourselves we would know that we are so tangled from within that the idea of sorting out someone else sounds absurdly amusing. If you feel that you are independent, would you be so kind enough to let others feel the same way? All I want to say is… Live and let live!

My Luck! Or is it?

I happened to stumble upon something a little while back which read – ‘Luck has a particular habit of favoring those who don’t depend on it’. This got me wondering; what is this luck? What is its significance? Has this four letters word got such a huge potential to make someone’s life flip 180? Why is it that we always blame our luck for our failure and seldom give a credit of our success to it? What is that thin line that segregates something tangible from intangible?

I believe we, the human race, are nurtured in a different way than other living species by the virtue of reasoning power we enjoy. We have evolved and came a long way because of the curiosity trait that we posses and the ability to reason; to reason our existence, to reason our beliefs, to reason the whole purpose of life. To be human is to reason. Interestingly, we even have a word for the day we stop beating up our minds: Armageddon!

Every genome has a different structure. And that is what makes us unique. That’s what differentiates me from Einstein. Brains are something which is to be given a credit for our exclusivity. If we hold this fact dear to us, can we afford to say that the reasoning power that we posses stand at varied levels? These levels could be demarcated by individual’s thinking capacity, speed, the level of depth that one achieves or aspires, ability to untangle thoughts, etc. If you want to know where you stand on this mental ladder, just ask yourself how often you use the word luck! Or say – ‘Meh! He was lucky enough to pull that off’.

We try to be rational every time we think about something, try to find a solution. The moment in time our reasoning power gives up we hand over the situation to our all time favorite - luck. Needless to say; we GIVE UP! Even when stated matter-of-factly, it’s a mean thing to say to anyone. It’s a kind of an anathema, if I may say so. So let me restructure the “give up” phrase to mellow it down a little. We may say: That’s the point in time we think that the question in hand is not worthy enough to ponder upon. We pick that situation up from our Area of Concern and place it in our Area of Influence so that it does not bother us any further. And we resume enjoying the bliss in ignorance.

If we believed in Newton when he said: Every action has equal and opposite reaction; shouldn’t we declare this phenomenon called luck obsolete taking into consideration the popular belief that luck has nothing to do with your actions? Had Newton termed the Apple falling on his head incident his bad luck and moved on, we would have been deprived of - what is being referred to as one of the most hated figure in the area of physics – Gravity = 9.8.

There are only limited resources in this universe. Remember Einstein when he said: Energy can neither be created, nor be destroyed! Better known as E=mc2. If you are not the one to posses the thing you wanted, someone else deserves it more than you do. It’s not something your luck should be blamed for. It’s what you do that makes you or breaks you. That’s simply timid of us if we blame our failure on something not even remotely related. Every situation that we find ourselves in is the aftermath of our actions. It is just that we fail to see the relation, we fail to connect the dots, and we fail to get our brain cells ticking the right way to perceive the obvious.

The moment we give up reasoning is the moment we stop living. We are as good as other four legged living creatures around if not for our brains. So the next time when you say – ‘Luck hi kharaab hai yaar!’ - ask yourself this same question: Am I doing justice to myself?

I am going to leave you with a thought by a protagonist of a movie called Matrix.

Neo: I do not believe in fate, because I don’t like the idea that I’m not in control of my life.

Keep thinking, Be Alive. Dubito, ergo cogito, ergo sum.

My Love!

Why have you left me? Bereft me of all that glow,

Push has come to shove,

What is the matter my love?

Have I made a mistake? Have I made you cry?

Give me something to work upon,

This torn relationship; you left me high and dry.

It was bliss the day we kissed,

Never did I diss, the closeness is what I miss.

Can’t live without you now,

Resuscitate me and hold me tight now,

Caress me with your love, I beg you not to rove.

I am deprived of you, fill me up to the brim,

I miss you to the death, Oh my Sleep! Oh my dream!

You are the one, you make my heart go bleep,

You are my love, Oh my Sleep!