Heroes

I despise their heroes for they're all men who're not un-ordinary even in the slightest way. They're all men who've walked a favorable road of fortune to become admirable figures and worship-worthy Gods.

I despise their beliefs which create heroes out of ordinary men who're fortunate in many ways, who're unlike those in the dark gutters of the underground, being whipped by life every single day but still standing and surviving it all. Those silent sufferers are heroes nobody knows of. 

Where Are We Headed To ?

We, the youth, are the children of progress. With the fruits of modernity at our disposal we are abled in many ways. The entire concept of childhood has changed, and so has the way in which we grow up. We see more screens than faces; we always want to be over connected not in reality but through virtual mediums. Due to countless similar reasons it wouldn't be wrong to say that we, the children of progress are paralyzed by technology.

Today’s childhood does not involve adventures in the pool or the parks. There aren't stories of princesses, dwarfs and other innocent mysticism that once helped the budding imaginations to flower. The playfulness of children is limited by screens that hypnotize them. Children are not surrounded by familiar faces for each of the family members are out in the world chasing their dreams of fancy careers. The human element in raising children is absent and thus we’re raising children who’re developing a dependence on the so called technological aids, some things that eventually cage their lives in a virtual utopia.

The children who've graduated to become bread earners are constantly being influenced by a western lifestyle, an outcome of a booming economy that has led to migrations into the big cities where these newly arrived adults are experiencing and relishing their “big city lives”. Thus, there is a generation of young people who thrive on western sitcoms, drinking binges and an unawareness of the future. A generation that does not worry about the future and even neglects the worries of today, a generation that has left families behind and has found a sense of individuality, an individuality that lacks the virtue of responsibility.

Life is treated as a party, and thus there’s carelessness in this modern life. The paradox is that even after being so well informed about everything under the sun, we live without the basic ethics that our fore-fathers had. It’s this careless playfulness that is now progressing into marital relations and divorce is not much of a taboo for the Indians of today. Such changes are bound to happen. Cultural advocates will scorn at such a new way life but the fact is that material progress comes at the cost of cultural degradation. Progress woes people, affects their lifestyles and finally affects their beliefs, making cultural norms look like forgotten facts of a certain period back in time.

The youth today makes its own choices, its own rules and is on its way in creating a pseudo-culture, a culture that will be followed by generations to come. An eventual outcome will be a culture that is closely related to the western way of life. The Indian youth is on the road of progress. It has come really far but it is slowly forgetting where it once belonged.

The sun which once rose in the east,

Will eventually set in the west...

When the course of life,

Changes from east to west...

The Purposeless Pursuit

"Science has a purpose, art does not have any purpose"

                                         -Me

The following statement was uttered by me. And just like the ones who heard it, 99% of you would differ with me. I have demeaned art as a force I have called it without any purpose; I've somehow proved it worthless. But not many would think that art is without any purpose for it hides infinite purposes within it. It is worthless for it is cannot be weighed along with a specific worth.

Purpose is an end, a conclusive point of stagnation that ends a pursuit. That’s science it begins with an equation and ends with a well-defined result. And art… did it have any purpose? Does the beautiful Starry Night tell you of a purpose? Does the night watch give you a clear understanding of its random set up? It’s all beyond reasoning, beyond understanding and most of all beyond purpose.

Then what was art? Art was nothing fixed. It was an infinite dive towards the unknown, feeling a thousand and one emotions, passing by innumerable thoughts. It was free from purpose. It was like happiness, like an orgasm, unaffected by anything, without any purpose, not reaching a conclusive point but breaking free through a free-fall of liberation.

They all argue, then why do movies have a message? I say those movies aren’t art, they’re an amalgamation of art and science, the science of psychology, of passing a message to the minds in return for the green paper of materialistic powers. This amalgamation is necessary in the worldly environment, and it works at times when the ruling element is art and not the science of generating psychological appeal (read “making money”)

So the next time, you’re giving a purpose to art. Think again. You may have reduced it to a science that dies the death of purpose.

Barren Lands of Art

In an attempt to revive this blog which has remained dead for a while now, I thought of answering a question which I stumbled upon while trying to live my life. The question asked me, “Why isn’t art valued in India?” and for a moment which turned out to be very long I was scratching my head while I recollected the sad state of affairs of art and artists here.

My attempt to find an answer told me about things that tried to form a reason. As Indians, We live a calculative life. There is an age for education (which is of a lower time period for those lucky women-folk), an age for the disguised devastation of a marital association, an age to announce the good news and not feel as if you’d scored. Then there is the culture keeping us in place, arranging us like sheep of a herd, heading blindly to a single direction. And while at home, we’re busy calculating the rising commodity prices as we weep for our pockets. Yes, an Indian life is highly mathematical, governed by constants. But how can people living by “constants” understand something as infinite as art?

All of us are busy moving, like gears of machinery. Not being able to wander, to fly. The ideal career again has to abide a constant. So half of the potential artists die a death of sacrifice, they want to fly but “No” say their Indian lives, “Go into that cage and live chained to the constants that you’re bound to abide”. But the artistic soul always breathes in them, so they play a gamble some time later in life. They break their cages of careers and try to fly. A few of them attain a flight but many crash. They see the masses, relishing a circus in the name of art. They’re happy with a stagnant song and dance of glamorous personas and true artists are left ignored in the corners. So many artists face disappointment and surrender to their cages again because it’s too late then, as the system demands them to take care of the children they've made, even the advocates of culture threaten them to abide by the code. And when they turn old, sitting on their rocking chairs, they reflect about a life that never happened while they were busy in trying to fit in a calculative existence.

This is the story of these barren artistic lands that we live in.

Bridges

There is a bridge between your future and your present. The strength of this bridge is highly dependent on your monetary well-being. Even though the bridge is highly dependent on money, one cannot guarantee if the bridge will fall off at any point of time or no. Here’s where luck twists the situation, it adds the unpredictability and leaves the ultimate outcome of the bridge confidential and uncertain.

Luck may hold the ultimate outcome, but financial security means a stronger bridge and a fake sense of security that can keep you unaffected and numb to the uncertainties of life.

Money makes your journey smooth even though it doesn’t guarantee an outcome. But unfortunately the outcome is just a momentary aspect and it’s only the journey that lasts and has a greater effect on one’s life.

This proves that money isn’t everything but is definitely something crucial. It may not conquer the cosmos but effectively rules the materialistic world that we’ve created.

And hence the rich brats can go on with their parties without the slightest concern or worry, while the middle class has to slog, make adjustments, and live his/her life in glimpses. A life that sometimes gets lost between all the worries, anxiety and fear of an utterly uncertain life. That’s how, lack of wealth makes you live with the reality and walk a weak bridge made up of ropes and wealth makes you walk a concrete bridge.

In the end, both bridges can fall but the person walking the latter bridge might go down with a little less regret than the people belonging to the former class.

The Drunkard's Sermon

Alcohol, the secret love affair of many. The love affair with such a beautiful thing is kept in secrecy since it is shunned by the worldly protocol. Most people will hide their love for alcohol as they’ve been told by family, religion and even society as a whole, that it is a downright bad thing. But then, what do they know?

The preachers and the family men will point fingers at alcohol since they feel complete with what they have. A family life or a religious approach to life may not be the answer for everyone. We all are different, different people with different lives. That’s why one cannot create same rules of living for everyone. That’s where societal guidelines and religions fall short. Such things forcefully impose principles without understanding the hardships of life that are largely subjective. So yeah, what do they know?

The politically correct minds will advocate their righteousness by stating that alcohol is the cause of family feuds and alcoholism is very much responsible for the devastation of many individuals. I cannot help but agree with them but that does not give me enough reason to completely zero down alcohol as something destructive. Excessive indulgence in anything invites disaster, and alcohol is not an exception. But their minds are extensively tamed and are afraid to think freely thus they will not cease to have blind opinions. In the end, it’s the same question which concludes it for me, what do they know?

If alcohol is just limited to some sips and some drinks. It is a boon; it quenches the thirst of a thirsty soul that feels helpless sometimes, it fills the perennial voids of life for some time and lastly it makes the less fortunate a little numb to their misfortunes. When I’m advocating this subject I know that I can be proved wrong by infinite proportions of people in the world, from the religious ones, to the successful ones and even the family oriented ones. It just proves that people can only talk and their opinions are poorly judged since we humans do not have the ability to feel someone else’s emotions, emptiness and feelings. We judge everything by our own life and every life does not make the same individual out of everyone. That’s why, what do they know?

As humans, the unchangeable roads of our lives remain the same. Some of us are walking terrains that are very rough. We may find ourselves helpless and that’s when a few sips of this bitter blessing will be our helping hand. While the people point fingers, talk and look down upon our blessing, we will keep surviving our life and with a drunk grin we will silently ask ourselves, what do they know?

Realization of Life

Somewhere down the line, in addition to just being an experience life also ends up giving you a realization. The realization is encountered by us mortals sooner or later. It’s when the desires lose their appeal and luster and man realizes that what happened just happened, and does not hold an everlasting importance since nothing is constant in life.

Now when we say that, whatever happens “just” happens we should know that the series of events in our life are just self-unraveling. Our efforts or actions are just ways with which we let our minds make sense of what happens. The actions are actually also a part of the self-unraveling trait of life, because our actions are governed by circumstances and circumstances are never certain. So yes, actions are a part of the unknown which only our life knows and we can in no way change the unknown, we can only face it.

During youth when we all are so full of energy, we tend to think of our achievements as our own. We tend to keep more expectations and start working even harder. Working hard is never a problem, expectations are, and when these expectations are not met as they do not coincide with life’s plan, there is sadness.

Whatever I’m talking about may not make sense to you, but just take a while, look back and think of a situation when you made a narrow escape and things just fell in place. Any such incident is a proof that life itself is striving to fulfill the unknown.

Experienced and successful people individuals who weren’t believers of the destined progression of life, eventually agree to the fact that everything just happens. This realization comes easily to those who do not attain enough success in life. They do not let their efforts have a purpose as they’ve understood that the ultimate control of everything is under life itself.

Everyone will develop this realization sooner or later, that’s why the King of Bollywood himself talks about it in his speech at Yale University.

“"Success just happens. Really. It is accidental and we take credit for it..." -

 -Shah Rukh Khan

Indian Relatives -The High Maintenance Girlfriends

There’s a thing about knowing a lot of people in life and especially in a place like India, where there’s an army of relatives that are a part of your life. Relatives, the people who’re your so called well-wishers, who will give you cash money in your birthdays on fancy envelopes, the people who will assemble at your place on your big days, give you free advises to show that they care, eat food and then talk about the same food when they’ve left. Relatives are the circus performers of human relationships that keep one amused and a little less lonely.

Maintaining relations with so many people is a tough job; there is a lot one has to do. Especially because in India formalities are to relations, just like spice is to food. The formalities can range for calling up your relatives on special occasions, indulging in a restricted small talk that does not hurt their sentiments in the remotest way and even giving the right amount of money on the right occasion. Indian relatives as you can see are easily much more demanding than your regular high maintenance girlfriend.

Due to the considerable amount of time I’ve spent outside India, I’m not good when it comes to maintaining relationships with relatives. I have to be told when to call whom and when I’m on the line, I don’t know what to say. So when I start repeating the round of questions, I somehow know it’s time for Changa fer (Okay then) to contribute to the tenor and the call to end. The case is different for people who’ve grown up here, some have a genuine liking for relatives; some have trained themselves to develop a liking. I on the other hand am still learning.

The problem with some people is that they cannot fake emotions. While we’re struggling and crawling through the hell holes of our life, apart from our own confused inner self, there is very less possibility of people stealing the spot light. When I’m living the life that’s not of a retired person there’s a lot on my mind, formalities somehow remain far from my state of mind. The only true affection is for those few people you meet every day while riding the unpredictable bull of your life. When you and your relatives are altogether on a different road with the restrictions of many rules of interaction, affection is over powered by formality.

Relatives should not stick to so much of code of conduct, because we all have our lives which bears its own set of orders, therefore having another governing system and that too in a relation is not feasible. The important thing is that even though you may not be in touch with your relatives but when you meet them you should be glad because that feeling of well-being in a social gathering is genuine as compared to the fake display of affection over phone calls.

In the end, I would just say that out of those 10 fake smiles in a social gathering, around 1-2 are genuine ones. Maybe that’s how relatives justify their role in life. Relatives are also the boons that can back you up in times of needs both financial or moral (not emotional). Because no man deserves loneliness in life and these relatives fill the void and keep you safe.

To My Fellow Virtual Inhabitants

So you wake up in the morning, as your consciousness takes its own time to wake up, as that sub conscious voice is blurting out some final thoughts before hiding away in secrecy. And while these mental activities are happening, you're just staring blankly while motioning your hand to grab your mobile phone. It was the same old early morning curiosity to greet the itch of social networking. How utterly connected you are, Aigh?

So you sit down all excited, grabbing this book you'd bought. The cover had been keeping you entertained for quite a while now. After much delay and suspense, it was time to witness the magic this book had within it. With just a page down, your hand moved, not to flap the page, but to check the mobile phone. It was time to feed the weeping baby of curiosity with a feed of social networking. Again, How utterly connected you are, Aigh?

So you drop yourself on that couch ready to watch the Sunday night movie, or that much awaited cricket match. The sexy blonde guest star or the smashing sixer by a tail ender, reminded you of that seducing lady of social networking who cajoled you to share the excitement with her. It wasn't an interruption, it was just an act to complete your excitement. Oh well, How utterly connected you are, Aigh?

There's no doubt about how utterly connected you are how willingly you are letting a mechanical medium suck your life up, little by little.

Why are good people unhappy ?

….And just like that my mind was ticking, walking yet another road of contemplation, trying to find a destination, an end to the answer. But the roads of thoughts are mostly about the observations and very less about the conclusions.

The question being asked was, What is it with good people and suffering? There’s this peculiar pattern in the universe which “gifts” suffering to the good people. For some time I just kept my thoughts open to various hypothesis being preached on the inter webs.

There were some who painted a picture in the colors of Christianity who claimed that the good were fighting a war against the evil; therefore suffering was just a part and parcel of their path. This religious theory keeps a bunch of grapes at the end of the path, the grapes are the heavenly treatment for those who manage to survive their life, while sticking to their faith.

Another very practical theory is something that can be easily digested from a logical perspective. It takes the principal of evolution and claims that good people aren’t necessarily on the same lines as evolution. As their survival instincts are already crippled by a strict moral code of conduct. So “good” people suffer but “fit” people survive and are less prone to suffering. Fair enough.

I myself am very hesitant to believe all such hypothesis. I never believe in actually “finding” the truth by digging the logical layers of one’s intellect or by blindly use religion as a walking stick.

My perspective relies heavily on something called “Pre-defined randomness”. It means that everything is shaping up through a random way with an overall pre-defined pattern. The big bang was a random phenomenon that was pre-defined and the fact that everything just fits into the slot is a proof that there is a divine presence that governs the evolution.

It’s like throwing the pieces of a puzzle as they scatter in a random fashion, but slowly and gradually every piece is finding it’s place as the pieces are being arranged in order. So you’re walking the road and not constructing it and while you’re at it, your sufferings and your joys are pre-defined.

…Because you never chose your family, your existence was an outcome of randomness, which was predefined and so will be your death, “Random” and “Predefined”. So when the start and the end of a life are agreeing the same rules, even the entire course of life works in the same way. You’re fulfilling the course of destiny, the course of universe’s plan where happiness and suffering are given to everyone in a pre-defined manner.

So the good people are the ones on a different road and the bad ones are on a different one. The question is who walks wisely and finds a way out ? The road, the destinations will remain the same, what will change is "You". And it's "You" who can decide to be good or to be bad. Suffering and joy will remain predefined.

In this entire process of fulfilling one’s chosen path the ultimate virtue becomes finding and cherishing the flashes of bliss, that you encounter, choosing to walk your road with less regrets but with indifference and some gratitude.

Because you never choose it…you always get it.

=====

Such an argument is very debate-friendly. We mortals are mere outcomes and forever we'll remain the children of existence. So...till the end of time we'll just make our approximations about the truth like mad children who're overly curious.

This approximation is just another child bragging his heart and mind out. You can do the same.

Cheers.

My Gurus

My Gurus were bad men, they were drug addicts.They were those corrupt-Buddhas who had known that life was a tasteless experience They'd understood the lying optimists and the religions of hypocrisy. But instead of using meditative suffering, they used intoxication to open the doors of bliss, to get a glimpse of heaven.

They were on a different road altogether, the only thing about life that made sense to them was its eventual end.

You might say, my Gurus were bad men. They weren't those who would be accepted by the society. For they had surrendered and turned towards the darkness, the darkness of truth that envelopes a reality.

My Gurus were wishful thinkers. They knew that reality wasn't worth the admiration. So they used intoxication and dreamt like children, lived in a dream world, wrote, sang, danced and remained in a meditative state of intoxication. They taught the world to dream, and not to keep running away from the reality.

My Gurus may be bad men for you. But for me, they're men who weren't sucked by the whirlpool of make-believe as they had their realizations intact, deep inside their honest hearts.

To Morrison and Osho.

[Image courtesy- http://bit.ly/ABJDw8 ; http://bit.ly/z41Jtv ]

[ Mood setting courtesy- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jq9IhOhQt40 ]

A Self-Proclaimed Truth

Your different appearance can cripple your character. Sadly the worldly eyes do not look into you. A surface-level judgment is passed and things proceed from there. The worldly eyes are blind to something that’s different. No matter what their lying mouths utter, their eyes will never see through.

We’re humans who can only sense our own emotions. Emotional reception is not something that is one of our abilities. Pain is either felt, spectated or questioned. Pain is never shared. That way, the sufferer is a lonely person, left alone, in a corner, with his misery. Tragic is not the fact that the world does not understand another man’s misery. Tragic is the fact that no one even tries to.

This is the truth, the truth which may be regarded as Cynicism by the world. But it’s just another way by which the world shows its hypocrisy. A world which ends up doing whatever it denies. A world that’s full of angelic tongues that hide demonic minds.

The world will rediscover life once minds are silenced and hearts are allowed to surface up in our lives.

About Women and Rapes

Every now and then, amidst the rush of news, there's always an incident of rape that is high lighted, hyped and forgotten. The news channels will talk about it, flashing a blurred face on their cluttered channel screens, some big shot woman will criticize and condemn the happening in the news paper, raising the same old questions on the culture, the status of women and the authority. Once the cycle of these events end, it'll all be back to square one.

Let me not complicate what I'm trying to say. Let's just segregate this concern in two questions.

The first question,

Why the rapes?

I still remember what one of my friend used to say, foreigners keep the sex in their beds and their work in their heads but it's the other way round for Indians; the sex is always in their heads. We're chained by our cultural restrictions, and hence we become like those dogs in captivity who want to run away to satisfy their natural urges.

Rape will remain a societal hazard as long as the sexual freedom is not given to the people. Such kind of freedom cannot be given as the impositions will remain due to the heavy cultural protocol on our shoulders.

But this restricted sexual freedom is a good thing, as it gives sex an exclusivity. An act that holds a sacred kind of importance and isn't an amusement.

This restriction is bad too as the sexual frustration will accumulate and rapes will persist.

The second question,

Why a victimized woman ?

In response to every rape incident there is always a famous lady voicing her complaints regarding the status of woman in the society and the gender difference evident in Indian families.

Before raising the blaming fingers, one has to understand our strict hierarchical existence. Because here in India more than the individuality it's much more about the families. Due to our strong family ties we have a specific status for everyone. That's why there is a difference and diversification. Diversification is a good thing but discrimination is bad.

So all the blame game just hides the fact that we don't look at each other as individuals but as constituents of a society, family and a cultural union. That way the difference remains, as the entire setting facilitates this difference. A woman is mostly a victim with regards to this difference.

Conclusion

Despite of seeing through the reasons to these tragic happenings. One cannot deny the seriousness of this issue, the plight of the victims and the shamelessness of men who're not men after all, but dogs of the worst kind.

The solution lies with the authoritative power and our administration system. A system which is full of loop holes.

The bottom line is, it's hard to change the thinking, the society or even the cultural influence. The only change that can be visible is the change in the authority. An authority that should be bribe-resistant and justice-friendly.

Once the authority starts exercising its power of righteousness, only then will we start justifying the status of Goddesses we give our women.

Words from the Master..

This is one reason, why I listen to this guy.

Not as a guru, but as a friend.

Mad Children

I've never liked the concept of schooling. The whole concept of constantly evaluating a young talent is absolutely pointless. There may be many who would excel in such a system but there will be some who will not, and very early in life, they'll loose the most priceless asset of their being- their individuality.

Children, with fresh minds and unshakable hopes are full of divine energy. Something that shouldn't be enclosed in a protocol but should be allowed to flourish with an approach that is free. An approach that does not hold these young minds but lets them flap their wings in the skies they choose to fly. Because later on, an entire life is dedicated to dwelling in cages. So at an early age these children should be allowed to be free that will light an undying flame of life in them, thereby preparing them to face the storms of life ahead.

But sadly, the system hasn't changed. All through the years, this tradition of imprisoning young minds has continued. Even today some of these children have the same expressions that kids like me had some time back, pressured by hopeful parents and demanding teachers. I can clearly make out that some of them were lost. These lost children will somehow survive their schooling life but once they're out, they'll come out as lost souls who never received the nurturing they needed. This will add up to their endurance and instead of blooming like flowers, they'll survive as thorny bushes which will vaguely remind of the flowers they once were.

Then again, maybe it's the reality. It hits all of us. Depends on how fortunate you are, some fortunate beings will never encounter the reality till that inevitable one happens in the end. Some will not have a pleasant childhood and schooling will become an excuse for the reality to hit them. Maybe the whole point of having a school is to remind young minds of a reality, that life is shadowed by rules and it can never be free.

But still, I will demand...

Let these children be free. Let their lives play with existence. Let their laughs be endless and their smiles be honest. Fill them up with an undying madness, so that later on.. when the days get dark and the nights get cold, they laugh and put a reality to shame like children who're blissfully mad.

What is an ideal career?

The aforementioned question keeps ringing in my mind like a repeat telecast of an Indian news channel. In times when careers are the only walking stick that lives can rely on, the "Aam aadmi" can just ponder in utter confusion. There's career in everything. Every damn thing. And to make matters even more worse there are even sub careers. As in, the fields are further segregated again to give specialized degrees and create a niche career path.

A career was not just about the money. Well, yes the money is an integral part. But a couple of months down the line even money loses its sweet taste, if the career path is not of your preference. And if you're impulsive like me, you might even start contemplating on leaving the job. (And if you're actually me, you might even start looking at "sanyas" as an option)

Too bad we can't time travel to the times of our fathers and mothers, when the career-agenda was just something secondary. The primary motive was to live an innocent life of the village. No motor cars, no TVs, just songs on the radio, and people never got enough of living a life. Every day was welcoming life with open arms. I guess I'm just over exaggerating here. But nevertheless even parents agree that life was better during those days and I would rather agree with them as I try accepting these modern times and the dilemmas they cater to the modern man. Turning life into this dry emotionless experience, where the dogs keep running after the materialistic bones.

Coming back to the question of an ideal career, many of us nowadays live with a passion. A passion which many dream of turning into a career then again we are not in the times of our "Baap dada". If "Pappu can dance" then he will be earning his bread for a few years and after that when Pappu's bones become weary. He'll have to look for a different job as his savings won't be enough for his fruitful sustenance for the rest of his years (Thank you Mehengai Dayan)

I did mention of sanyas previously. Which is a possibility that's voided out today. Modern lives have become so tempting that it's difficult to give up the material luxuries. It was always difficult to leave life but then nowadays the business sense has even percolated the religious and the spiritual side. The only sanyasees are those who're sanyasees not by will but by compulsion.

Lets come back to the question again, about the ideal career. In respect to which I can relate something that I see nowadays. The herd of professionally inclined people, just ready to switch jobs. It seems that every job has its saturation point, which once attained, will lead to disinterest in the work and you'll start looking elsewhere for something that's worthwhile and the cycle will keep repeating. There are even those who've studied something and end up doing something not even remotely related to their field. Career flukes are made and they live with their own dilemmas.

Let's get this straight, this whole career thingie is a hoax.

The conclusion is, no matter how much ever you reaearch, you'll come to know that there's no ideal career. If you're born in the working class, you will stay there. Like pieces of dominoes you'll keep collapsing as even your son and grandson will find themselves living the life of a working class individual.

Therefore, the ideal career is NO career. YES. Careers are just systems made for sustenance. Sustain, but also find ways of indulgence that make you relish life more blissfully. Do art. Write, make music, drunk dance. Career gaya tael lene.

Hence aim for NO career. Having a big shot dad and marrying a rich elderly woman will help.

The best career is "No career"

Peace out yo!

PS- Current expression-----> =|