MY TV:MOST LOVABLE FAMILY MEMBER

I and my brother have been a big time TV viewers since childhood. Certainly, we have enjoyed more time together in front of our Direct TV than anywhere else. Somehow, I have felt that our DirectTV has played a great role in uniting my complete family and it has given us that quality time, which we all have loved to spend together when we were not outside the home. I still remember how tough it was to get the remote control out of my brother’s hands, as a result we ended up fighting eachother for so many times but thanks to our parents who always made sure we were sitting together and watching our Directv together again.

Today, we both have grown up but we still cherish to spend few hours in front of our Direct TV together, after all TV has been a kind of uniting factor to my family. Dad and mom still carry on with their favorite tasks while watching the TV. I and my brother still love the Pizza and Coke combo while watching our favorite shows on the Directv. Certainly, my family’s TV watching habit has been one important factor, which lead us spend so much quality time together.

Recently, we moved to a new place but what was my family’s favorite past time together went missing, as even after moving since last 15 days, we were not able decide on the DirectTV connection we want to install at our new house. The consequences of the house without the TV connection became so irritating that me and my brother were not spending much time in the house, which actually hampered the quality time we were spending with our family while watching the TV shows together. One day, when I again came late to the house, I had a verbal tussle with my parents. I really felt bad about it and realized that I have to soon find a solution to the Direct TV connection problem to change the environment back to the normal. Soon, I became lucky and we got a new Direct TV at our home.

I became so happy that day as finally the most annoying and the most boring atmosphere at home had come to an end and at last we were all feeling better with the complete family sitting in front of our new Direct TV again. I never realized before that TV has become so important factor in my family or let me just say that it has become a family member itself, the most lovable one, which was uniting us all and making us all spend quality time together. Certainly, our Direct TV had become a blessing in disguise.

COME ON INDIA: WAKE UP

We have showcased ourselves as the most diverse country in the world for long and we have never missed the opportunity to feel proud about the vast multi cultural environment where we live but at the same time, the ground reality is that we have muted ourselves of being probably the most racist people in the world. Yes, I m talking about us- the Indians. We have assumed and accepted, the hypocrisy and the racism like a deaf by closing our ears to what is wrong, unethical and inhumane, and we have acted like a dumb by giving the name of our cultures and religions. I know in India, we have the problem of Hindu-Muslim for more than 65 years but what is more heart breaking is the fact that instead of finding the solutions to the problems, we have encountered more of a same kind such as the Marathi’s placing Maharashtra above the India, the Tamil’s and the Telagana’s demanding a free state, the Sikh’s revenging the 1984 massacre, the Bihari’s doubting the government since Mr. Lalu Prasad Yadav left the railways, the Eastern Naxalism, the communists of Kerala and Bengal, and many more. The complete India has been divided into small groups on the basis of caste, religion or region. The country might seems to be doing economically well on world stage but as they say it reality bites. The question is how long India can possibly sustain its development along with all the internal disturbances.

If the statistics from the experts are to be believed the internal disturbances have multiplied in the last two decades in India and if not controlled the situation will soon worsen. Probably, as a country we need to first focus on what is happening inside the country at the grass root levels than any other thing. It’s not that today Indians don’t understand what is happening but the mystery is still we have the support among our own intelligent citizens for all the wrong things happening in the country. No bad thing in this world can evolve until it has some support and i.e. probably we are doing, we are supporting the wrong people and wrong things in the name of our religion, region and caste. We have to STOP IT, enough is enough!!

I have never been out of my country but still I haven’t felt even once when all the citizens of my country united against all the political shit happening. Not only politics but also corruption, we have almost failed in all the departments. Compromise, has become the only word of our lives. We have given the power to run our country in the wrong hands and we have ignored that fact for long. We have ignored all the wrong things happening in front of our eyes like a blind. If its not related to us we have not even tried to get indulge into it, which is probably the mistake we are doing since long by killing our conscience and not doing correct because of the only reason as it wasn’t related to us. For long we haven’t even tried to bring out the sins, which we are committing for so long but we have to start someday. We should try by making a small change in the way we think, we should try think like a human before putting all the constraints like religion, region and culture. Nothing should be considered more important than MANKIND.

I m glad that Shobha De writes so much about the current state of our country and inspires so many people but the inspiration needs to be passed to other people through the people who got inspired, they have to make sure whatever they understood a good thing for the society, which needs to be passed on else it will go waste. I m glad that Sachin Tendulkar mentions that it’s an honor playing for India. I m glad that A.R.Rehman makes patriotic songs. Thank God, we have young and inspiring writers like Chetan Bhagat today who are sending the right messages to the young India by using their genres to the perfection. Chetan Bhagat has been successful in bringing out the untold truths of Indian society in the most polite way.

Don’t say we don’t know how we can spread the awareness and inspire people to do their best, everyone is special and everyone has its own special way just find it out and pass the signal. We have to start from basic, first start by changing what we think. Forget the castism, racism, regionism and think only onething that we are “Human”. Just believe in onething- Mankind and soon we will realize that we have solved probably the most complex puzzle with utmost simplicity. We need to make the best of what we have be it music, be it blogs, be it sports, be it anything, we need to make sure that the purpose is served, that’s it. We need to WAKE UP, WAKE UP INDIA, WAKE UP!!

LIFE IS A LEARNING CURVE

It’s a well known saying that “Life is a learning curve” and perhaps today, I totally understand the complete meaning behind it. Well, if life would have been straight forward and simple then everyone would have been living in the same manner, the ordinary way and probably, there would not have been anything special about it but certainly i.e. not the case et al. If by chance Life would have been considered straight forward then all of us have learnt the same things without any special efforts and those things might not have been as valuable to us as they are today. One thing is for sure, if Life’s journey would have been considered straight forward and simple, one would have easily completed it with the blindfolded eyes but certainly it’s not.

Having said that “Life is NOT straight forward”, I meant that it is a bag full of twists and turns, where we might sometime just take a wrong step outside our correct assigned path but we learn to get back on the right track again and again after each failure or bad thing happen to us in our lives. The beauty of this whole cycle called Life is that all of us fumble from our correct assigned paths but what is so special about it is that i.e. exactly when we learn to fight back and work ourselves back on the right track. Yes, we all struggle and we keep on doing it until we get back to the correct paths but among all the people who are struggling few decide to give up and settle for what they have got and they put full stop to their life’s growths, which I consider not to be an ideal way of living the life. Au contraire, there are people who have just kept on fighting back again and again after every failure and kept on chasing the dreams of their lives until they achieved them. Yes, that is probably is the main difference between a person who is successful and a person who is not successful.

So, it’s a very basic and simple rule of life that we may have hindrances and troubles in life but we should learn from them and we should always show willingness to learn whatever we might have failed at; the thing is if we keep on learning from our mistakes, we keep on reaching to what we actually want in life and i.e. why its very correct to say that “Life is a learning curve”.

VOLATILE MIND:THE MOST UNIQUE CREATION

I wonder, how difficult could be a situation when the mind remembers everything permanently whatever it sees. I don’t know how it would have dealt with a situation like this where whatever we see in a whole day is saved like a Xerox copy in the mind. I know many people will argue that this is probably the best thing, which could happen to us but I think the volatile nature of mind would rather be considered the biggest gift to human beings. You may be wondering how an ability to remember all the things be bad to us? Well, the whole point is I m not only talking about the ability of mind to distinguish people or things from one another but also its special quality to remember our relations, friends and colleagues. Yes, this is truly a unique quality of our minds, which always help us remember all the people we actually know but forget the ones whom we haven’t met or talked and we don’t bother about them such as a stranger, whom we might have met in the shopping mall.

Probably, now you may be in a dilemma, which would have made you think again that what is so special about this quality of mind. Obviously, that is the sole fundamental on which a mind functions but what is so special about its “Volatile Nature”? Well, few days ago I also used to think in the same way but then I realized one thing very different and I think this is the very reason that makes the Volatility of Mind so very much special. Ok, now lets cut the suspense short and think about a situation. The situation is you are madly and deeply in love with a person and the bad luck is- the person you love so much is cheating on you or lets say that person does not love you et al. So, what will be the normal reaction you have? I m sure you will feel hurt and you may be depressed about the whole situation, and if worst, you may go into depression and keep on thinking about that person but there is a solution to it and we all know how the solution works, its simple we try and convince ourselves that the person we love doesn’t deserve our love and we try to convince ourselves that the person whom we loved so much doesn’t matter to us anymore.

Once you have convinced yourself or lets say your mind and soon it triggers the real magic of its Volatile Nature, and soon after few days you will realize that you dont even remember that person or don’t even bothered to think anything about that person. Yes, that healing up, which resulted from the mind’s very own volatility is the most precious feature of human mind. I think due to volatility of mind, we all are able to overcome any mental road block and just flush out everything, which may hinder a person emotionally and mentally. Indeed, I have no doubt that beyond intelligence we have a special gift in the form of our “Volatile Mind”.

I WILL TRY AGAIN…

Days are not going well and nights are sleepless.
Life seems to be full of questions and the answers are yet not known.
The clock seems to be ticking faster and the time seems to be running away.
All things seem to be stranded in front of a closed door and no where to go.

I have decided to put full stop to it.
I have decided to make my days well and make my nights stress free again.
Only I can answer to all those open questions as only I have raised them.
I have to pace myself by running faster than the time again.

I know this isn’t happening the first time in life
But why m I thinking again?
Yes, I know life isn’t that simple the problem seems to be same
But the questions are different again.

I know, I can’t live like this anymore
But I have to choose the correct door once again.
I m not going to stop as yet but keep on trying again,
Until I fulfill my aim.

I m not going to give up…
But fight again.
Victory is the only option
Let the enemy fall away.
With no mercy let me try again and I will try again!!

THE FESTIVAL OF DHANTERAS

Dhanteras, when Hindus buy precious metals in the belief it would invoke prosperity, generally accounts for sales of 15-20 tonnes of gold in India. Dhanteras is the first day of the five-day Diwali Festival to follow and when Hindus buy precious metals like gold in the belief it would invoke prosperity. The word Dhanteras, Dhan stands for “WEALTH”. On this auspicious day, Goddess Laxmi is worshiped.

Here is a story behind the Dhanteras festival, which says that once the sixteen year old son of King(named as Hima) was doomed to die by a snake-bite on the fourth day of his marriage as per his horoscope. On that particular fourth day of his marriage his young wife did not allow him to sleep. She laid all the ornaments and lots of silver coins in a big heap at the entrance their house and lighted in-numerable lamps all over the place. When Yama, the god of Death arrived there as Serpent his eyes got blinded by the dazzle of those brilliant lights and he could not enter the Prince’s chamber. Thus the young wife saved her husband from the death. Since then this day of Dhanteras came to be also known by the name-”Yamadeepdaan” and lamps are kept burning throughout the night.

On Dhanteras, Hindus consider it auspicious to purchase gold or silver articles or at least one or two new utensils. It is believed that new “Dhan” or some form of precious metal is a sign of good luck.

THE REAL MAGIC OF RAIN….

I always liked the Rain; there is a feeling of freshness associated to it. The transition of the sky from the bright color to the dark and grey colors is so much heart smoothening. There is a certain mood swing, which occurs in everyone who witnesses the coming rain. There is a buzz in whole environment just before it’s about to pour. The trees, the grass, and the soil, all seem to be shaking in the nature’s fury as if they have being spelled to the voodoo.

What makes it all special is the impact of rain on all of us. I always feel there is a strong connection between the rain and the human beings. I believe there is a sudden excitement about the situation when it’s about to rain. Everyone one of us has some or the other reaction on seeing the grey sky, few of us get into some kind of hurry of reaching to some place, others get into tensions of cancellation of their plans but most of us feel so rejoiced that we feel ourselves taking a plunge into the ocean of joy and excitement. Yes, most of us get into a mood of happiness and that is the true effect of the coming rain.

I have the same beautiful effect on seeing the rain. I may be in the most stressed or in the most emotionally demolished mood of my life but on seeing a droplet of rain falling on the ground changes my whole mood. Especially, the smell of the earth’s soil when the first rain occurs is so good and a true indication of the earth losing its heat and gaining the fresh life.

The buzz is created by the environment and by all of us, when it’s about to pour. The trees and the grasses while shaking in the air make a different sound to welcome the rain, the zooming pleasant sound and they give an excellent fluorescence when the first drop of rain falls on them, a special sight to notice. The doors and the windows bang themselves to gain our attention and let us know that it’s about to rain. The wind blows with the grey clouds floating in the beautiful rainy sky. The whole environment in the locality becomes so chirpy that everyone is just talking about the rain. The children start running either to their homes or to their friend’s place so that they can enjoy the rain in a manner suited to them. The ladies at the homes start taking off the wet clothes hanging in the sunlight for drying. The hawkers on the streets are in a hurry to reach to a shelter. The Traffic Police is taking out their rain-coats so that they can wear them when it rains. People who are at office does not miss the celebration too, they just start seeing outside for a while from the window of their office and to make their whole experience even more joyful, they will have their favorite cup of coffee or tea to sip with their amazing mood. The elders at the gardens and lawns hit a tea party with some oily snacks along with their mates, yet another way of celebrating the rain.

Finally, when it rains and everybody wants to be exactly where they are present at the time of rain as if everyone has got an excuse to stop and to stay at that place. Everyone enjoys the rain with one’s own style but all have one thing in common among them i.e. the excitement of rain, which has made their mood so jubilant and happy in whatever they are doing and that is the real magic of it.

8 THINGS: AN AMERICAN AND AN INDIAN SHOULD LEARN FROM EACHOTHER

I have worked with the people of both countries-India and USA, and after spending some time in USA I have great regards and few keen observations about the unique American culture. I observed few really interesting characteristics among the both Indians and the Americans, which actually triggered me to write this post. I m really amazed with the fact that how the people are bonded to their cultures across the boundaries and how there is a subtle change in the mind-sets across the different geographies. What I m trying to showcase through this post is how few characteristics of two different cultures are better than the other or lets say 8 things which Americans do it uniquely and Indians should learn from them, and then the other way round, those things which Indians do it uniquely and Americans should learn from them.

The Carefree Americans Vs The Worrisome Indians: I have no doubt whatsoever about the Americans having the attitude, which is carefree and relaxed; they don’t live with the unwanted and the unnecessary tensions in their minds as the Indians live with. Indians have a tendency to always worry for one or the other thing sometimes it’s about the family, work, girlfriend or money etc. I don’t mean that Americans don’t worry about those things but the point is when they are on a vacations they are going to enjoy the vacations with friends or family rather than worrying about any of those things but Indians are opposite to that even if they are on a vacations they might be talking about the same worries there also. At one side, Indians really don’t live for the moment, they go in their shell and don’t enjoy the life the way Americans do.

The Super Saver Indians Vs The Easy Spending Americans: Indians have the effect of their worrisome attitude over their spending too, which actually becomes their boon as they tend to save a lot through out their life. Indians are very good planners in terms of financial spending, they hardly lose a penny unwontedly. An ordinary Indian starts saving money for ones own purpose and for it’s family from a very early age. Since, India is a country where parents still stay with their children, parents make sure they are saving every possible penny for the better future of their wards. In most of the cases, the whole family lives in the same family home and even after the marriage of the children they will stay in their parent’s home. On the other hand, the Americans are a bit different. They are less concerned about the future as compared to Indians, and they believe in living for that moment as a result they end up spending more comparatively.

The Bold American Professionals Vs The Compromising Indian Professionals: The American professionals are a true professionals, most of them are very punctual and they are always on time but the Indians are most of the time late. They are unpunctual and are a severe victim of procrastination. Most of the Americans are into those jobs, which they really like but the Indians are mostly in the jobs just for the sake of earning rather than any interest or desire to work. One more reason is Americans are more content with whatever they are doing, which exactly opposite to Indians. Indians can work for several hours day and night going beyond their work hours but the Americans strike a perfect balance between the work life and personal life. Indians are almost ready to compromise anything and everything for their job as compared to anything on personal front. Probably, this is one reason why so much has been outsourced to India, after all we have the workforce, which can be easily exploited on low salaries but it will wrong to blame the Indians as the competition is so intense that they are almost forced to save their jobs by making personal sacrifices.

The Adaptable Indians Vs The Rigid Americans: Indians are very adaptable to all sorts of conditions as compared to Americans. On one hand, Indians are Adaptable people, they realize there is a difference between their self (who they are) and their behavior (how they choose to act). By any means I don’t intend to say that Americans are not adaptable but comparatively Indians are more adaptable. They simply change their behavior, not their personality. Adaptable people consciously decide whether and how to respond to a person, a situation, or an event. Less adaptable people, on the other hand, respond in a more habitual manner, regardless of whether the response is likely to be appropriate or effective. Americans are a bit picky or choosy about what they want and what they want to do.

The Self-Dependent Americans Vs The Confused Indians: The Americans are very self dependent as they grow up they move out of their parents house and start living on their own, which certainly is a great characteristic of American culture as it really makes one a self dependent candidate for life. Comparatively, Indians are helped by their parents a lot to settle in their life until they are ready to do everything by their own. There is an immense support from parents for their children in the Indian society, which I feel sometimes hampers the self-dependent thing.

The Hardworking Indian Students Vs The Party-going American Students: On being the second highest populated country in the world has made the Indian students highly competitive and hardworking. There are few seats in good management institutes or engineering colleges in comparison to the number of candidates applying for them. So, that results in an intense competitive education system forcing Indian students to work really harder. Comparatively, Americans live a easy life and enjoy their education periods with a lot of parties and stuff.

The Passionate Americans Vs The Boring Indians: Americans have a very special trait in them i.e. to follow one’s passion to the core. An American believes in doing something or the other, which he feels really excites him but as Indians give lots of time to their jobs and studies, they (Indians) hardly pursue anything of such a kind. Americans when they join the university their electives are totally based on their interests but Indians are driven by either their parents or doing the same as everyone else is doing. Americans generally take up only those professions, which they really enjoy but Indians do it just for the sake of earning. Ironically, few Indians spend their whole life thinking what they actually want in life. The Americans enjoy their life to the fullest but Indians live a rather boring life comparatively.

The Indian Family Vs The American Family: Generally, an Indian family is strongly bonded, they mostly stay together in the same house and follow certain rules as per their cultures, like touching the feet of the elder people while greeting them, helping their parents in the best possible way and after marriage the wife makes sure for looking after the in-law’s. Every member of the family is very emotionally attached and they live a happy life together. In America, the families are not as closely bonded with each other. Mostly, the adult children of the family don’t stay with their parents and they visit each others house not so frequently. Though, Americans cares a lot about their families but not like the way Indians stay together.

I TRULY MISS THE GREAT MAHATMA GANDHI

Today the world celebrated the 140th birth anniversary of one of the greatest leaders of the world, known by the name of “Mahatma Gandhi”. The word Mahatma is made up of two parts: “Maha” and “Atma”. The word “Maha” means “Great” and synonymous to “Maharishi” meaning “Great Sage” in Hindi and Sanskrit languages. The word “Atma” means “Self” or “Soul”. In Hindi and Sanskrit this word is used as “Atma-Jnana” meaning knowing or knowledge of the “Self” or “Atma-Svarup”, which is the essential nature of the self. Atma is the true self, as opposed to one’s body, individuality and personality. This is exactly why Mr.Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi is called as “Mahatma Gandhi”.

Truly speaking, I haven’t been a Gandhi Fan for most part of my life until I really understood this great personality and his impact on the whole world, I was really confused with the term called “Peacemakers” throughout my life and I was always of the belief that there is hardly any concept like this and probably I never witnessed the need of such people. But as I grew and understood the people and the society around me, I came across the most important and terrifying word- “TERRORISM”. Especially, when I m spending my life in a country, where terrorist activities have always impacted the daily life of my country-men and where the people almost daily come over the fear of the terrorist attack which has last happened and still continue to live a normal life. All this has made me think about how can we reach a world free of “Terrorists” and full of “Peaceful Life”.

I remember, the 9/11 attack on America was one event which I saw on the television soon after it happened and I was so shocked with that it became an eye-opener to me, and i.e. at that time I began searching for PEACE. Before 9/11, there were many such terrorist incidents in India but they never actually impacted me so strongly as did the 9/11. I dont know why it had such a great impact on me, may be I started understanding what is terrorism and I started valuing peace. Then followed by the bomb blasts in London, Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad all made me realize the importance of peace and the people who influence the world peace. Soon, after all those events I started looking for the “Peacemakers”. One name which came to my mind instantly was no other than “Mahatma Gandhi”.

This frail, non-political leader with barely any possesions released India from the occupancy of history’ most powerful nation using non-violent resistance and forgiveness. Non-violent and loving end to conflict wasn’t his only platform. Gandhi was also a seeker of truths. Truly one of the most remarkable men to ever live. I hate myself for not knowing Mahatma Gandhi’s real character for all those years when I was just ignoring him and his impact over the world. I know there are still few young Indians who blame Mahatma Gandhi for the partition of India and Pakistan, which is completely wrong but I still dont understand how can they underestimate his efforts for the freedom of India.

I have not followed Gandhi in my whole life still I have so much respect for him and his true character, which had done so much for the people of India. Today, when whole world is in such a bad condition and where terrorism, discrimination and racism have become a hard truths of our society, I miss people like the great “Mahatma Gandhi”, who had that super calming effect on the world, and who spread the peace around the world for the welfare and well being of mankind. I wish Mahatma Gandhi to reincarnate in present world to help us and to guide us all towards the lost PEACE. We surely need a Gandhi to have that peaceful and truthful effect on us. I truly miss him.

WHO IS REALLY INSPIRING?

I have this amazing widget on my blog, which keeps on flashing motivational quotes randomly and today it has something really interesting that triggered me to think about it. Well it says- “If what you’re working for really matters, you’ll give it all you’ve got” by Nido Qubein.

Nido Qubein is a motivational speaker and president of High Point University, an accredited undergraduate and graduate institution. What is more interesting about Mr.Qubein is the fact that he had been ranked 6th among the most motivational speaker world wide in 2008. He is chairman of the Great Harvest Bread Company. He is an active speaker and consultant addressing more than 100 business and professional groups around the world each year. His books and learning programs have been translated into three dozen languages and are sold across the globe.

You know what I think on knowing so much about Mr.Qubein that he is one really inspiring soul on this earth. Yet I still not convinced with his quote above in bold. I understand this clearly that its very logical and basic for someone to give one’s best shot at something, which really interests him but this is a very simple thought or let me just say that it’s a very common aspect of one’s personality. It’s like when I like something and it really matters to me, I m going to give my best shot, this is kind of obvious isn’t it? With due respect to Mr.Qubein and with no offense to his opinion instead, I feel this is not at all motivating, probably if that quote, would have given me an advice or mantra through which I could have realized a thing that really matters to me in life would have been worth. I think, we all in our lives want to achieve what really matter but most of us throughout our lives are never clear about it so we keep on trying different things at all times by actually copying the people who have done well rather than doing what would really matter to us. It’s a proven fact that people who are clear about what they want are the one who are successful in their lives. The reason is very simple as they know what exactly they want and in which direction they have to apply themselves, with full force to achieve what they exactly want. So, what I m trying to say is it’s not about if I m doing a thing that really matters to me and I m giving my best in it but it’s about how I realize what thing really matters to me because once I know that it’s almost definite that I m going to give my all to it.

Au contraire, I have another observation, which I would want to share here. There are people with such a character who have a tendency of giving their best at whatever they do. Moreover, they do it despite their intention if it really matters to them but it’s more of their rare pure character. These are actually the people who are true winners because not only they feel satisfied with themselves as they do all the things with full passion but also do it with all they have. Beyond that it really doesn’t matter to them even if it doesn’t reap them any use. For instance, I know a person who works for a MNC. I know that this guy has not received any good hikes for last 2 years or so but yet his passion for his work and zealot at work is commendable. He himself knows that there is no use of working so hard but still he do it for himself. He says that’s his nature or character he feels satisfied in life only after performing something not by cheating himself. Now this is a truly inspiring character because if one knows what really matters to him in life, he would surely going to give his all but here is somebody who is not sure what matters to him and yet giving his all.