Gone are the Days

Gone are the days........but not the memories. Gone are the days ,When the school reopened in June, And we settled in our new desks and benches with new friends. Gone are the days, When we queued up in book depot, And got our new text books, uniforms and notes. Gone are the days, When we wanted two Sundays and no Mondays, yet Managed to line up daily for the Monday morning prayers. Gone are the days, When we chased one another in the corridors in Intervals, And returned to the classrooms drenched in sweat after a game of football during the lunch break. Gone are the days, When we had lunch in classrooms, corridors, Playgrounds, under the trees and even in cycle sheds. Gone are the days, When a single P.T. period in the week's Time Table was awaited more eagerly than the monsoons. Gone are the days, Of fights but no conspiracies, Of Competitions but seldom..
Will we ever get these bygone days back in our busy lives

The Recreational Body

“This is dedicated to a modern man”

To the woman in rural India who walks tens of kilometers every day to fetch water, the sight of the paunchy middle aged going for determined walks must seem a little absurd. What is a defining life condition for one is a self-conscious attempt to import health for another. For most of us, the walk is one of the few ways in which we exercise our bodies, used as we have become to a life which makes little demands on them.

In the absence of work, we find ways to simulate it, just to keep our bodies in running condition. Make that walking condition. We use motorized transport to travel, eschewing even the bicycle as a mode of transport. We use elevators and escalators to climb stairs, appliances to help us with our daily chores. We use hired help to take over all tasks that involve physical labor, if we can afford it. Products vie with each other to offer labor-saving conveniences and we surround ourselves with these.

Technology works hard to eliminate work- even the smallest effort that we make is hunted down and reduced. Progress means eliminating the effort we made to kick start our motorcycles and dial a telephone. The idea of the ‘automatic’ is that of the self-fulfilling; a condition which allows us to not only eliminate all effort itself, but even the very thought of it. The automatic watch rids us of the need to wind it, the automatic washing machine of the need to transfer clothes from the tub to the dryer & the automatic transmission allows us the great facility of not having to change gears manually.

It is easy for us to forget that our bodies are machines that transform energy into work. In the earlier days, our bodies were our primary instruments in our quest for staying alive. We hunted, walked, ran, grew food, cooked and cleaned. In general, we kept the wheels of life moving through the motive force of our bodies. With time, technology and with surplus, it was possible for us to increasingly delegate work to others, be it animals, machines or other people.

Today, for a section of the world, our bodies serve little useful purpose; these are increasingly instruments of recreation. We use our bodies when we want to & not when we need to. Societies with surpluses become increasingly drawn to sport; the body gets utilized in a manner that gives millions of spectators’ pleasure. Sport is an ‘empty’ way of using our bodies- by definition no sport is meant to serve any utilitarian purpose. Sport allows us to expend our energies in a symbolic quest for perfection & swell bank accounts. The most exercise a child in a large city is likely to get is in sport (carrying their bags to school) & has no other avenues for physical exertion.

In keeping with the recreational role of the body, the role assigned to food too has changed. Food is much more than the fuel that keeps us going; we look to be lavished with new & more exotic toasts to our taste buds. The notion of cuisines; the idea that food is something to experiment with, is a relatively new one. Every meal now is a culinary adventure & nothing is more annoying for the modern family than predictable, routine food. Today’s housewife needs to be able to constantly surprise & delight her demanding family with newer dishes & recipes.

With so much emphasis on personal attractiveness, and such little real use that we put our bodies to, the body has become an end in itself. As pointed out by a social scientist, the body today is seen as a project that is in the process of becoming. It needs to be fashioned by diets, exercises and products. We ‘work out’- having exhausted the need to do real work, we ‘burn’ calories, we ‘build’ muscles in desired parts of the body and voluntarily go on the ‘tread-mill’ to make our bodies a work of art. In everything we do, we simulate real work, only this time to construct a version of ourselves that we are happy to see in the mirror.

As we move from the mechanical era of physical machines to the digital era of computers, we are freeing up yet another part of our bodies for recreation. The mind, which hitherto was completely occupied so far in our quest to build a good life for ourselves, is increasingly being freed up to pursue its own interests.

Computers process information at a rate human mind can barely comprehend. In the land of the whites, a new generation is reaching adulthood not knowing how to make arithmetical calculations mentally. As computers start doing more of the ‘real’ work, our minds will seek more avenues for pleasure. Already, the most exciting developments in the digital world are linked to communication and entertainment. Whether it is I-pad or gaming or blogging, we are finding more and more recreational uses for what was to begin with a computing machine for businesses and technology transfer. From a time when we lived through our bodies “unselfconsciously”, today we are increasingly living for our bodies. The body is what we pay obeisance to; all its needs have become paramount. The body is the passive recipient of new forms of stimulation. Our body today is a hobby, to be pursued for pleasure or to be perfected to gain admiration from others. To be affluent in today’s world is to pander to the body; to be poor to have to depend on it. When we don’t have too much work, no wonder we need to work out!

Intellectual Interactions

Delving into the depths of another mind can be both interesting and adventurous. Similar minds attract while unlike ones captivate...
Quite often, we find a person eye-catching or gorgeous. But how many times do we find another person mentally stimulating? Like a good book or a movie, how many times does another leave us with thoughts to mull over, questions to answer and yet more questions to ask?
Do you wait eagerly for the next meeting of minds with someone? How often does someone excite the mind rather than just the body or emotions?
You may grow used to the sheer physical beauty of your loved one; grow out of a visual attraction or even get used to their kindness, warmth or niceties and start taking these for granted. But there is one thing that can neither be taken for granted, nor is a trait you could get used to or grow out of. This is the stimulating power of another mind, the uncanny intricacies of the mind that attract and enrapture you.
This is the one quality that doesn't come with an expiry date.
As a young boy, along with other friends, I enjoyed reading Hardy Boys, the Three Investigators and Tintin, not for the adventure but for the sheer joy of reading and trying to picture myself to be part of them with the main characters.
The almost-always petite, fiery haired Tintin and the tall, arrogant, Hardy Boys always would hold me enthralled and for me, these became the definition of boyhood heroes.
We are always interested in the working of an unusual mind. Those who are predictable get boring after a while. It's the minds that are able to think differently, think out of the box, come up with new, creative ideas and keep destroying to rebuild again, that are really worth interacting with.
Whenever a problem is brought up, almost everybody tries to offer quick, easy and commonplace solutions. And then there may be that one person who will think different. And come up with a solution that's unusual and path breaking. That's the mind that operates a notch or two deeper than others.
You may talk to many people during the course of a day. And yet there may be the one whose conversation had the ability to make you sit up and take notice; the one who’s thinking process and mind not just interested, but challenged you. That is the mind and the conversation that stays with you, the one that you will seek out again and again. The one you will have a mind affair with.
A mind affair that is quite different from a physical affair. Delving into the depths of another mind can be more interesting and adventurous than anything else in the world. While a similar thinking process and similar thoughts can be attractive and reassuring, what can be mesmerizing is a different mind that challenges your understanding and the working of your own mind. It is not necessary that the mind you relate to would be attractive to another as well.
Criminal minds all share a common mind-set that is disturbingly different from the average mind-set. Such proclivity towards a criminal mind is evident from childhood. The very strangeness and dangerous quality of this mind holds a different type of fascination for us and we find studies, books and movies made around the study of such a mind extremely engaging.
And then there is the realm of mind games, games that highly intelligent minds play to control the minds of those lesser than themselves or those emotionally dependent on them. Such intelligent, but complicated minds can be highly dangerous and are usually associated with people who have a high IQ level. You wouldn't even realize and somebody close to you could be controlling your every thought, every action and emotion. And deriving a great contentment from it!
It's almost like playing a game, like posing a challenge to one. Such a mind often veers towards obsessive and it can be very difficult to disengage from such a person who almost takes you over mentally.
Also consider the twists and turns of the corporate mind, the ability to survive highly politicized situations and stay afloat with sheer power of mind. This can be a unique aphrodisiac when you win the games and the worst depressant when you lose some! It's a game of one upmanship. Such games can be dangerous for the uninitiated, though they are a deadly battle of survival that takes place every day, all the time, just beneath the sophisticated, smooth-seeming veneers of most organizations, at the higher levels.
The beauty of finding a person whose mind appeals to you is that he/she keeps you fully engaged and in a state of perpetual stimulation. The effect can be a highly positive one if you do not allow yourself to be completely overshadowed but rather focus on enjoying the magnificence and intricacies of such a lively interaction and taking inspiration from it to build your own mind and grow to a higher level together...

Bitten by Tifosi Bug

For all the beginners pondering on what Tifosi is, searching it on the internet would be the best bet. I have been a dedicated Tifosi and bitten by the Scuderia bug at an early age and it just stays on from that day.
The motor sport greats like Sir Jackie Stewart, Nikolaus "Niki" Lauda, Juan Manuel Fangio, have moved on sans Michael Schumacher. From Black, Blue, Red to now back to his Black Days, his heart still is Red. Gone are the days of one team domination. The real test of character came back in the days when Damon Hill and Michael fought for the championship in 1997 or the days of the “Flying Finn” Mika Hakkinen and Schumi in the 1998/99 season before he broke his leg and was out for the rest of the season. Thanks to new rules and technology, the sport now sees a more competitive fight to the title race. For the third year in a row, the Brazilian F1 Grand Prix saw the world title being decided at the Sao Paolo circuit. Just as Kimi Raikkonen (in 2007) and Lewis Hamilton (in 2008) sealed their first F1 World Driver’s crowns at Interlagos, the 2009 Drivers’ title went to Brit Jenson Button who finally decided to put some tiger in his tank and motor hard to seal the championship he had dominated in the first half of the season and then nursed it well by cruising in the second half. Of course, knowing how capricious the sport it, credit has to be given to Jenson at the way he saw the superior portrait and wanted to win the confrontation rather than all the 17-18 battles that marked up this year’s F1 World Championship. And Jenson should know. Prior to his invigorating start to the 2009 season, he had won but one Grand Prix, the 2007 Hungarian GP, a fortuitous win at that when rain helped him luck out to the chequered flag first for his maiden GP victory. While Grand Prix wins are hard to come by (its another matter when you are Renault and have a willing driver wanting to check out the crash worthiness of retaining walls all in the hope of being generous to team-mates), a solitary World Championship is even more difficult and maybe at times Jenson was playing it far too conservatively. Heck it was almost a repeat of the last GP of 2008 when Lewis Hamilton played so cautiously that he almost got blown off for the crown for the second year running. But this time Jenson and his think tank (the know-all Mr. Brawn) re-evaluated all what he had done right at the beginning of the year and decided to get back to the intuitive driver that everyone knew him to be. No longer wanting to be ultra conservative, Jenson’s Brazilian drive was pure tempered samba, precise and never a wheel askew even when he made those kamikaze moves while diving into the first corner to carve past rivals who had qualified ahead of him. This steely drive with that true grit approach of a champion was a purists’ delight even if it meant the masses were deprived of a fight going right to the wire as it happened for the past two seasons. So a resurrected-from-the-dead team with a new name, a new engine but the same human power got the job done on its first attempt is pure music to enthusiasts who like nothing better than for someone just like Brawn to come up and shake the status quo. Maybe it would be Force India’s turn this season, who knows! If ever one wanted to see F1 in the best way possible, we had that for a measly ten minutes on the Saturday before the Brazilian GP. It was in Q3, the last flat out qualifying session for the top ten slots and you had not two or three of the title contenders slogging it out for pole, but nine of the ten who had got into Q3 putting on a dazzling display of driving as each of them went head to head against the rest and the clock and the track to try and get the best grid positions for the big race a day later. Barring Fernando Alonso, the sight and aggression, not to mention the pluck and the finesse of the likes of Rubens Barrichello, Mark Webber, Kimi Raikkonen, Adrian Sutil, Jarno Trulli, Sebastian Buemi, Nico Rosberg, Roberto Kubica and Kazuki Nakajima as they decimated the lap times even before one could gather it all in.
That was truly F1 at its best for 2009 and I sincerely hope that with the newer no-refueling rules for this year, new teams, new point system, new drivers, return of the most successful F1 driver and changes in point system, maybe we will have a return back to the classic art of speed with controlled aggression in 2010. Maybe it is then that the smooth fluid styles of a certain Jenson Button would come into even more sharper focus, especially with the other British Champion with him! Or could be the year we see the resurgence of the “God” again or just the Brazilian Samba with a Spanish retreat with the Prancing Horse flying high. For sure Brawn and brains did seem to Button up quite well as champions!

Secular Religiosity

A very curious debate, by some of the trendiest like-minded individuals, is cropping up occasionally in the world media. Religion quite unambiguously is the theme of debate. Chronological scars are put on show. That despite, such deliberations beyond a threshold never end with appeasement. Sometimes it is eradication & sometimes it is acceptance. The arguments' merit is one matter. The treacherous side is that you may infuriate more than you lessen. It's an old therapeutic argument. Check it.
How many religions do we have in the world today? And how many are official religions? There must be an 'International Religion's Directory' at least with the UN, since the two World Wars, & most major historical wars had some sort of a religious coloration. Certainly one would be breaking an eternal law by specifying an order to the listing. For the sake of 'secularism', an over-squeezed lemon that now only oozes the pungent sweat of its peel, the order should not matter. Born in a lnad of many religions, where I belong to a Hindu family, went to a Jesuit school, later to a Hindu College & now in a foreign land, having some of the best buddies who can call themselves Islamic, Parsees, Christians, Jains, having been trained by some of the best scientific minds in the world & found that they follow Judaism, having objectively realized that no one actually forced 'religion' on me, but imparted the best they had to share professionally from their own encouragement, without naming a 'brand name', some of what we can read in the media today is so decidedly 'Old Fashioned'. One does not discuss & argue what should not be discussed & argued & yet cannot be set aside. Our parents for instance!
No God, His Son, or Prophet, descended to fight for a religion. The 'religions' came after They left. For the believers, the chronicles that have been passed on in the Holy Books, rituals, holy times, social laws, were interpreted & followed with sufficient concurrence & uniformity for generations. That became the mass, in fact the critical mass of humanity, by numbers or application & began to enforce on others such practices as they sincerely believed would lead to their salvation! Pursuing
The beginning & end of life, as one sees day in & day out in a hospital are equally joyous or pathetic, depending on the way one looks at it. The ritual of burial, cremation or any other, may keep the pundits & designated priests preoccupied. The sense of loss, or liberation, is a matter of human emotions. These may be called 'subjective', but are more human & consistent than the most objective of ceremonies as dictated by various philosophies, practices, call what you may, or call what you call as 'religion' whatever extra meaning it may give, in a particular situation, once a commonly agreed part of 'life' is over. Does it matter? Forgive me if I am wrong for I ask in full modesty, not questioning it. I have always found the coolest corner to be the one at the base of the staircase of wisdom. For there the path doesn’t rattle, & no one really is out of breath.

In school, I often liked reading John Keats’ “Ode to a Nightingale”. He analyzed & won over the merits of an intellectual existence. To be able to relish measured reason, poetry, literature & decent company, were the 'tastes' of the evolved. He says in his "Two Sonnets on Fame"

“ HOW fever’d is the man, who cannot look Upon his mortal days with temperate blood, Who vexes all the leaves of his life’s book, And robs his fair name of its maidenhood"

But over the course of a century, human choices & understanding are different now. It's better to cheer & chase your T20 or football club. There is this Lebanese colleague who always speaks to me to make sure we have a distraction from work. After his job, we always talk of football, golf, basketball and cricket. I asked once, "Which is your club?" Gives me a disapproving look, saying "Can't you see?” I then notice his Man U wallpaper and the Old Trafford poster in his cubicle. "Rooney is my man, & Alex Ferguson is only next to God. Thirty years as a coach, is no joke". So said a close friend from school some years back, “At the moment, Messi is God” The Man United fan will not be talking to me for a month, till the EPL finals are over, & I am praying that United does well, or I'll miss the few happy, non-manipulative faces that are left around. We might get tired of all the off-the-cuff diagnoses that we can rant, but seldom do we see religion as a factor which determines how a human befriends another.
For a change, it helps to become a believer of the spontaneous & the purposeless act. Happiness is the essence of all existence. If someone asks me my religion, I would rather say, "Let's talk of something that would make both of us happy. If you have realized that, for God's sake never let that be the important thing in judging His creation".
Religion however will stay put in the centre of existence for the majority. No doubts here. Some of the wisest will be seen on screens or tweets and others dividing countries and states on the basis of skin color and religion. Some might argue on how we contemplate humanity if we had left behind these religions centuries ago. Fundamentalism is genetic to a fraction of every community. Those who understand should dissuade its use for worldly alliances or disputes. Let humanity & merit be the universal yardstick. Squaring up the past never helps the present or future.
God is smart. He has no religion. But He keeps you guessing, even agreeing to hints of coming over to 'your' side. He also is accepted by His believers as the final 'Disposer'. For the atheists, perhaps they are smarter. Still no reasons to argue!
If whatever be the purpose has been conveyed & matters reasonably understood, we may not let these discussions drag too long in a country that boasts of being the largest secular country in the world with the richest historical legacy. Plans & strategies evolve for their own reasons. But conciliatory words as 'forgiveness' & 'sorry' are always helpful. Let go of the wrath. You are still on your path!
I would be surprised if Sarfaraz Ali Khan or Ashwin P Rao ever read this, but they always advised me that “You must be like a plant that can blossom anywhere planted” and believed in simplicity in the way you think of leading life. Two men I admire a lot in life for letting me get to the US with no worries in life. Sarfi Saab’s Last email had these aspects…..

The Nine Aspects of Life
Adventure of life is to learn,

Purpose of life is to grow,

Nature of life is to change,

Challenge of life is to overcome,

Essence of life is to care,

Opportunity of life is to serve,

Secrets of life is to dare,

Spice of life is to be friend,

Beauty of life is to give up...........

Ride Your Ego

“if someone who knows you mildly, can play you like a musical instrument, eliciting the responses they want, that is your biggest Achilles' heel”

If ego can erode brotherly ties between the world's richest siblings, ruin careers and relationships, wipe away fortunes and futures, it surely is a greater force than most of us give it credit for!

Come to think of it, ego is one of the two deadliest traps you could fall into — at work, or even in your relationships. The second is purely emotion. The two forces within that could conspire to ruin you with very little help from external enemies. The enemy is within.

Ego is that blinds you to all else but a perceived slight. And emotion that blinds you to the outcome of your resultant outburst. Ego that makes an entire clan believe their honor has been hurt by a young couple's romantic liaison. And emotion that makes them kill their own child and the lover.

From the Gita to Osho to Buddhist teachings to modern Western analysis of the constructed nature of self, all religions and philosophies have attempted to define ego. Yet, ego remains almost as abused a word as "moron"! "He has a huge ego;" "Don't let ego ruin your relationship," "Ego comes in the way of success" are oft-heard phrases. And yet, how many understand what the word means?

Here are a few definitions. Ego is "a pseudo reflection of the soul" (Lord Krishna in The Gita); "a false sense of the self," (Master Sheng yen, one of the world's most respected Buddhist masters); "an emotionally charged image of self" (Otto Kernberg, pioneering psychologist); "A false centre. The reflection of what others think" (Osho).

So then should one rid oneself of all ego and emotion as religious texts prescribe? Well, so long as you wish to live in the world and not take off to the mountains in a loin skin carrying a kavandal, the better deal surely is to learn to handle ego and emotion rather than give them up!

You can either make ego and emotions your strength or your greatest weakness by allowing someone else to handle them to their advantage. If someone who knows you mildly can play you like a musical instrument, eliciting the emotions and responses they want from you, that is your biggest Achilles' heel. If your enemy knows what most angers you and so makes you lose control, undoubtedly he will be tempted to use his power over you.

In our everyday lives, we are bound to be faced with situations that hurt our ego or incite emotions. A hurt ego almost always responds emotionally. The emotion may be one of sadness, anger, revenge or aggression. Give in to it and you have walked into a trap; to walk away is to transcend on to another plane and feel thrilled with your will power and control over yourself.

People take a catlike delight in playing with those trapped by their emotions. As Deepak Chopra says, managing others begins with managing yourself first. "Business leaders who don't know themselves too well and cannot get a grip on their emotions and ego, fail miserably."

The top performing companies are usually those whose CEOs' names you wouldn't know. They have an ego and arrogance associated with a CEO that has taken them there. That's because "these people were not into themselves; their goal was not adulation or power, but to create a great company." Their companies would do well even after they leave, which is more than what can be said for Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric.

The aim should be to develop a high level of emotional intelligence and self-respect, which enables you to think through your emotions intelligently, to use your emotions to help you think more intelligently. Respect people the way they respect you and don’t waste time on people who know not how to respect others. An individual always represents the way he/she is brought up. It is important to stay in touch with who you are as a human being, because that is who you will be in every sphere of life, be it work or relationships.

To that end, ego or an awareness of self is important. Who you think you are is an integral part of who you become.

Darwin was a Genius

First blog of this year- 2010 has started off on a good note. Lots of opportunities, promises, hits-and-misses.

The following is purely non-fictional. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead is purely intentional and not coincidental.

Charles Darwin once coined the phrase "Survival of the fittest". Little did he know the magnitude of what he was referring to? To start things off, I'm not talking about natural selection or evolution of species... I'm talking about evolution of a different kind. Human survival!!

This is not about air, water, food or shelter. The basic nature of adaptability is something always been pondering about. How people change over a period of time and how they resist change.
All of us go through major life changes every once a while. To name a few, New school, new job, new places and new friends. Not everything is perfect in these new things that come into our lives. What do people do when they don’t seem to find company or detest the surroundings for some reason?

One of 2 things, either leave their prejudices behind or go talk to the people around. If they aren't exactly their "type" they just change their idea of "type" entirely and go with the flow. Sure they feel rather uncomfortable for a few days but then they get used to it and start having fun. If it’s the surroundings that bother them they try changing it or at least find some positive aspect about it.

Then others on the other hand don't mingle at all for a long time... Or mingle very minimally and constantly crib about the surroundings and rant about how much better things used to be or could have been.

Over a lifetime, we meet both sets of people. The 2nd sort are happy to begin with preferring to be alone than to be in "wrong" company. Or derive some weird satisfaction by telling every soul in hearing distance how perfectly horrid everything is. But as the days go by they get depressed and a vicious cycle starts there. The end result is a dull boring life and poor performance at work or school.

The other set find it a little exhausting at first trying to understand these new people around and manage with whatever they can get. But in some time they are happy and positive and lead comparatively active lives.

But people are not strictly black or white.. Everyone eventually moves on and gets accustomed but not without leaving that bitter taste behind. It all just depends on the individual's ego and the time which they take to 'crossover'.

The human ego is probably the biggest hurdle to happiness. So if you can’t beat them, what are you waiting for..?? Go join them!! :)

Disclaimer :

Discontinue reading my blog if any of the following occurs. Some of my readers might be affected by the following symptoms:
Itching
Vertigo
Dizziness
Tingling in extremities
Loss of balance or coordination
Slurred speech
Temporary blindness
Profuse sweating
Heart palpitations