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!

Alive...

Life is outside,

Crying out loud my life is like,

Colossal mountains and raging rivers,

Swaddled in green, I go psyched.

Sparkling rain, silver clouds,

Foggy paths with misty vows!

I am falling for your beauty,

Falling from the mountains to the sea,

Green’s the color, privileged I am destined,

Moist is the touch, mischievously clandestine.

I’m learning to breathe,

I’m learning to fly,

It’s a season of love, a season of life,

Time to learn and reach the sky.

Intoxicated by your splendor,

I am lost in your eyes,

Inner peace is what everyone adore,

Your cradle is where it all lies.

This journey, this mystic point in my life,

Oh God! Let this not be a dream,

Let me be on cloud number nine.

How I wish to drink every single drop of it,

May I savor this and hold it tight?

I feel rejuvenated, I am high,

Is this how it feels to be alive?

Man-Of-War!

Hindi-Chini bhai-bhai! The term was coined way back in 1950s when Mr. Nehru was 'believed' to be resurrecting India from a disgraced, 3rd world country to something substantial. Since then we’ve come a long way; a long, long way. Today none of us would use this obsolete 'Hindi-Chini bhai-bhai!' phrase. We would rather clobber those who would dear this though. Why would we do that? What is this whole outrage is all about? What has happened in last 6 decades that has made, arguably, the two greatest nations of all times take different boulevards?


1991’s Economic liberalization, just a fancy phrase for economic reforms, could hands down be considered as one of the greatest things to happen post independence. Indian policy makers were adamant to open up the market for outsiders, but they had no other choice. India was sitting on a huge debt and no cash reserve to survive. The dormant volcano was about to get active. Socialist policies that Mr. Nehru held dear to were to be put off. The foundation was laid for what could be considered as biggest transition in the way we live, the way we think. The stage was all set to get socialist caterpillar out of its cocoon to transform it into a beautifully diverse capitalist butterfly.


Were we late to join the party? Yes, we certainly were. China understood the power of capitalism and the need for economic reforms way back in 1978. They were quick to introduce the aspects of a capitalist economic system. Before this, China was following the Soviet, Marxist-Leninists model of economic development. In mare 33 years, post reform, the PRC (People's Republic of China) enjoys the position of being called the world's second largest economy. Let's take a look at the facts here: In 1991 China’s GDP (Gross domestic product) was USD 409.165B with 10th rank while that of India’s was USD 289.362B with 15th rank; 2/3rd of China’s GDP. 'Meh! Great deal?! We didn’t lose anything despite showing up late.' You would say. But keep in mind the fact that India had just joined the race and it had an ample amount of opportunity and potential to give it a full throttle to out rank anyone in between. Check the latest figures: in 2010 India’s GDP stands at USD 1.5 Trillion at 10th rank while China has outperformed everyone else but USA with 5.8 Trillion of GDP securing 2nd rank. China has been growing at a rate of 10-11% for past decade. India, on the other hand just managed to hit 8-9% recently. You do the math. Flabbergasted?!


What happened? What wrong did we do? Or what is it that China did that we didn't? How come China grew by leaps and bounds and we barely managed to stay afloat? The answer is many fold, but things that top the chart are: Corruption, Political incompetency, mediocre economic policies, low literacy rate and democracy to some extent.* It is projected that India would outrank USA in GDP to hold the sliver by 2040 (by this time China would’ve secured #1 spot) and by 2050 India would be at the pinnacle of GDP race. In my opinion, for this to happen, India would have to go through huge reforms. Reforms in the field of Leadership, and by this I mean politics, economic policies and law.


Many would argue that though China is glittering it’s not all gold either. They, too, carry baggage, and heavy baggage at that, along. I couldn't agree more. China’s growth has been ostentatious if not outrageous. Reason: political perseverance in nation’s growth story. In China, 80 odd percent of GDP comes from SOE (State Owned Enterprises). Dictatorship is what has accelerated its growth. Though it's a spring time of growth in China, many investors would refrain themselves from frolicking! Why is that, exactly? Simple answer: China is a gray box. Almost all the huge enterprises in China are State owned, ergo, not answerable to the investors. They are spending more than half of their GDP on building infrastructure (take a look at this; the New South China Mall, apparently the biggest mall, is 99% vacant since it's opening in 2005). China's growth story owes a great deal to exports. This export-driven economy is shifting its gears to focus on domestic consumption. This, it seems that, would not happen anytime soon. What about demographics? Yep, you guessed it right. Screwed up! China’s most controversial one-child policy is taking a toll now. It is said that China is getting old, before it gets Rich! It is expected to hit 65% mark on dependency ratio by 2050 while India would be around 45%. When ranked based on per capita income, China stands at 12th position, which is derogatory in a sense that it holds second spot when GDP is taken into consideration. Yuan manipulation, human rights, freedom of speech, adamant government, rule by law…the list could go on and on and on… Gist: China is biting off more than it can chew!


Okey, China is in soup, but we are no good either. We are morbidly disgraced by puny policies, lethargic leaders, leprous law, corny casteism, sarcastic sexism, et al. We are, in fact, a warehouse of mess-acre… pun intended. Thing to ponder upon would be who finishes the gut wrenching job of repairing the system first? Would it be bearishly slow, sluggish and smothering India? Or would it be bullishly atrocious, assailing and assaultive China? Easier said than done! This is something only time will tell. Wait & Watch!


*Democracy is good, but its absence has been bliss for PRC. Let’s just face it that it is easier to get something done when dictated which could take ages to reach consensus. Nonetheless, India or any state, for that matter, is better off riding slob democratic elephant than opting for serpentine dictating dragon's ride for a fall!