Unified in heaven...???

They say marriages are made in heaven… Is it? The concept of merger between two souls is definitely most widely accepted in every society. Marriages actually work just in the similar manner a merger works – eligible partners are selected, a consideration of a lifetime is set (nothing financial, all emotional), the two parties agree to it and the shareholders (family members, friends and relatives) usher their consent (through blessings). The deal is ultimately finalized with one more financial management concept – higher the risk, higher the return! All these risks are high in case of an arranged marriage (leave aside the love factor, for now!) – leading to only another statistical concept – it’s all a probability!

Deal is closed – success or failure of the merger would only be known in the days to come. Allowing hope to remain with us, heaven-made mergers (oops! marriages) can only bring eternal bliss. Or was there something planned on the contrary? All faults of those who haven’t read the rule book of merger and as a result, disclaimers have only piled up to bring solace.

No, be it anything but marriages are neither a financial methodology nor a valuation (de-success of which can allow it to be called off). It takes understanding, maturity, focus, strength of character, proper implementation of plans, third-party smiles and a forgiving attitude to build up a successful marriage! No hard and fast steps for a successful marriage – these are just the broad outlines that knocked my brains (though I am unmarried). Do let me know the traits, that you think, would act as catalysts for a merger (marriage) success! Only one conclusion, they should now at least say, mergers are heaven-made! Don’t blame Tata or Corus for that matter – they probably hadn’t read the rule book properly or hadn’t come across the blissful touch from heaven…

Life and time waits for none!!!

It was destiny – much to my surprise! Fighting destiny wasn’t at all my cup of ‘jasmine tea’. I wanted to show myself the way to freedom but only to get entangled all the more. I never knew, Delhi would hold so much of a ‘destined surprise’ for me – skepticism swept me off my feet, brought me to the brim – only to make me hold on tightly to the situation. Probably I was small enough to understand the real meaning of the adage – ‘If you hold on to sand too tight, it might slip off’! Had heard – love is like sand, found that there were more ‘lovely’ synonyms to it. Time also played a similar role and slipped off my hand.

Before my stint with Delhi for my studies, my friends and ‘too-indulging’ neighbors knew me as a separate entity whose introvert nature shouldn’t be messed up with. After the Delhi stint, time placed me in the opposite direction - I only gathered myself as the one who had found the meaning of life and smiled away to glory. The initial days in Delhi were alarming – making me curse my decision to hold on to time with a firm grip. Later on, it only made me love myself to the extent that I wanted to love life the way I never did. Yes, time was still slipping off…

The game wasn’t easy – as there was a timer attached. Though not a rapid fire round, yet those tricky questions had to be answered simply in no time. Yet, few answers are unanswered – better to remain that way! The solved answers have made me raise a toast to myself (forgetting the negative marking). After all, I wanted to relish my refreshing ‘jasmine tea’ back home!!! Don’t ask me if I found freedom at the end!

Walking over the flower bed...

Warfield! How would you define that? Life? Love? Work? Relations? Doesn’t that all succumb together to form one whole factor as a field for war. But who is the opponent here? With whom have you been fighting? How well have you been fighting? What instruments have you been using? Aren’t you getting bored of the too many strategic warfares? Have you ever asked these questions to yourself? If not, ask them now and get it answered. No one, except you, can best answer them.

As for me, the war field was already set the moment I gained senses. It was difficult; mastering the art of fighting everyday was even harsher. Rudely, I learnt it and I am still learning it. Probably, one learns this art till the last day of leaving aside the breath. Family, friends, foes, peers, bosses, acquaintances – they all helped in mastering this ever growing ‘Warfield tactics’. With bounds unlimited, thoughts unwrapped, desires flung open, dreams set out, instincts put forward – I learnt how to minimize the rate of a ‘strange liquid coming out of my eyes’. I tried not to let my eyes swell with this ‘liquid’ at times when the Warfield was all fuming.

Efforts did pay off at times, but mostly I was zapped, not being able to set the limit for the horizon. The strange liquid was mostly witnessed by only “I”, “me” and “myself”. Probably that’s what coined up the ‘stone’ in me – gathering all pace to laugh always although the strange liquid tried to gush out. Here, I stand the winner!

Life, love, work, relations – all of you have made me what I am, who I am! For the good part of me, thanks to all the ‘strange liquid’ and for the bad part in me, thanks to the ‘stone man’ in my life. I couldn’t help it…

Those who are reading this, I wish, you reign supreme to throw away that stone man/woman in your lives! Could you at all guess who the stone man/woman is?

Honey! When did you last taste money?

How about a debate? How about arguing? How about putting forth your views to others in a way that people understand you? How about being informative? Too many how’s??? Well… actually faced a debate topic (Job satisfaction is more important than money) at office on the eve of Independence Day celebrations and successfully had put across my views to a host a people listening to me. The day at office started off in the usual manner, a hitch in my mind –whether I will be able to speak well! Actually would be on a debate forum after a long time. Avoided too much of self indulgence – as that was making me a bit skeptical. But then, the ironical part of the entire debate process was that I was the last speaker – one who would be closing the debate (talking against the motion). I tried to cool down, stay calm and just be myself. Just that did happen – to my surprise…

Went on my speech – though had jotted down a few pointers, but when I started everything went on haywire and I formulated a different flow all together. Excerpts of what I spoke –

Actually my last opponent had ended on a note of marriage – making it easier for me to take the cue. All thanks to him!

“We look at security. Financial security. Yes, talking about a girl who is getting married. Will parents get their daughter married off with a guy who is not financially secured? Would they ask the groom – are you satisfied with the job or would indirectly try to know (sometimes directly also) how much is the monthly earning capacity? Will my daughter be well off? The society that we live in today says outright – ‘The man who has the money makes the rules’.

Making it simpler, with one real life instance. X is a management student of finance – geared in a way to believe that working in a core finance environment – doing valuations for various firms, number crunching is what X should be doing after getting graduated. And also to add to that, it is something that X also liked doing, so pursuing higher studies in that field made him realize the dreams more. But destiny had something in store. X had a load on his back of a hefty educational loan and also had to support his family for personal reasons. With no option, he accepted a job in a media house – entirely swayed from his dream that he was pursuing till now. Though once, twice – but didn’t have a chance to think thrice as the duties and responsibilities called for sacrificing the ‘job satisfaction’ mode. He was paid handsome enough to sustain his cost of living, pay the loan off and also support his family to some extent. Initial few months – he argued with his conscience – is it money all that I need? Why am I doing this? Every time, mind out spoke the heart and he stayed back at the job sacrificing the ‘satisfaction’ quotient. Came a time, when gradually he was succumbing to the pressure and was made to satisfy himself with the job – after all his needs and wants were being fulfilled by the employer.

This social evil – (I mean money) is something which one can’t deny. The one who denies it – I am sure he/she loves to stay in the ‘self-denial’ mode. Be it getting a house for yourself, or getting a decent respect in the society or up keeping all your responsibilities you need this evil to be with you.

Job satisfaction is not that important as compared to money in today’s world. You work and you get want your pay – there are a lot of commitments waiting for you back home. Otherwise who shall take care of the ‘necessary jargons’ – like ‘recession, crunch, crisis….’ (The list is endless)?

Those who say ‘Money, isn't everything’, ‘Don't be so money minded’, ‘I don't care about money’, with due respect to their thoughts, the crude fact remains like this – money is that important component which makes the entire world spin. Next time you plan a vacation with your family but you do not have the finances to meet the requirements – would you excuse yourself and your family with the thought? – ‘I am satisfied with my job’?

Answer this question yourself and be true to yourself (nobody is hearing you(((:))))!

Eye the 'I' quotient

Well…quite a few days and I didn’t write! Actually was a bit busy with personal and professional commitments. As writing makes me speak to myself – I dare not loose a single chance on that. When I speak of ‘speaking to myself’ – I am first reminded of the ‘I’ quotient. Co-incidentally – we can attach a lot of adjectives with the letter ‘I’ – viz, Intelligent, Intellectual, Impromptu, Iconic, Impressive, Interesting, Imaginative – the list probably can be never-ending. We have all the subtle reasons to keep ourselves on the top – that’s why we end up being hurt always. That’s what I feel. How many of us can actually not get obsessed with this ‘ill I quotient’ and stay happy? I guess not even one, at least not the mortal souls. We always strive to make ourselves happy, and keep saying to ourselves – I am not happy, he is happier than I am. When I feel sad, I tend to cheer myself up with the thought that I should not get hurt, rather why should I be hurt? What did I do? I end up realizing I wanted to be sad – that’s why I am sad.

Self pity – is something we all at some point of time indulge in. The end effect of which is disastrous. I try to talk more and all the more and dig myself into reality and drown myself in more solitude – by which I probably end up abstaining from self pity.

Now, after reading this, it’s your turn to count how many ‘I’ was used in this entire blog. I lost a count myself:::))

Do re mi fa....!

So, I was fighting. The duration was long enough, at least long enough for me to collapse – but I kept the pace and steered along (though reaching the 5th gear was almost impossible). I staggered along in the 2nd gear – looking forward to the road such that I don’t bang onto something. Concentration was a must, keeping the eyes open was a mandatory factor, allowing fellow passer’s to zoom along was required and having the driving sense (read technicalities of life) was probably the conditional factor to stay stable.
However, all these were not my forte. I had to learn, learn from people I mixed, learnt from people whom I just saw, or learnt from people about whom I heard. They all played a huge role to inculcate these habits in me. At the end of it, I summed it up like this –

...Life is a harsh drive,
Meant for all who can ride,
Ride the road keeping your eyes wide
You may be hit even if you do it right!!!

So, tune it right, play it right and lastly sing it right.

Known ancestral link (((::::)))

You will be surprised to find a similarity in all my blogs...Guess what? No couldn't! All my blogs do have at least one question in it - just for you to scratch your brains! How can we forget the age-old link to our 'most beloved ancestral trait' (of scratching the brain)? Forgot the members of the zoo? The chimpanzees have been a wonder to watch always - but somewhere we excel! I mean human beings excel...and this desire to excel more takes us into an illusion.

Illusion? Well...the touch of it, is a feeling which not many desire. So, it is always preferable to let the practical tinge bite you, after all - you need to stay glued to reality at times. Things became worse for me when I landed myself in a disillusioned state of affairs trying to gather bits from the neighbourhood - only ending up in self pity.

The thought of staring at the blank endless blue sky sometimes augmented the situation of my getting stabbed by illusion. I fought back, tried hard and conquered at the end to my surprise..Want to know how? Read my next blog for the continued era of events...!

Who's there???

A face in the dark? Have you been haunted by such images? Did you fear them? How did you tackle the atrocities that your mind had to offer? Is there too many questions on the block? I did many a times got haunted by such dark figures...face were dreadful, tried to escape it, but in vain! The more I tried to shun away, more firmly its grip entangled me...I was totally in the loop.

Life showed its patterns (mainly geometrical) in varied manners - thus I adopted the strategy to smile back at the dark face in the dark... I don't know whether it saw me, but I enjoyed laughing back at it. I had no reasons to escape, I realised. The pang of pain slowly eased out, making me get the fresh feel of those lovely wild flowers.

I also realised the canvas of life needs to be made colorful, otherwise the grey shades might be too much in quantum to overshadow you. I learnt to breathe deep, I also learnt to hide tears, I learnt to pass through the Looooooonnnnnggggggggg tunnel, I learnt to fight back, I learnt not to lean down but walk upright and straight. The words wouldn't be enough to pen down the exact timely feelings, but I shall definitely try to send across a message to all who are reading my blog.

Learn to fight, live to smile - because we are born for it. Check the difference - and I am sure you will (even by 0.5%) by following this.

Random thoughts((::))

Thoughts bewildered...feelings entangled and emotions disintegrated - that is what is my status at present. Work is worship - made to believe this adage right from the time I gathered senses - and another maxim which comes to mind - ' All work and no play' makes Jack a dull boy... Now, will all worship logically make Jack a dull boy? It's upto you to decide. For me, the disintegrated, entangled and bewildered thoughts should get diluted to ease the mind, otherwise peace shall not be found. I aim to attain peace - strategy is to laugh and let others laugh. Work till a limit that you can worship your own feelings and emotions - don't let it dry out. A desert (inspite of an oasis) is not desirable. Life comes as a chance to us - chance to live the moment, chance to let others enjoy the moment with you, chance to enrich yourself and 'flow with the flow'. You surely wouldn't like to become 'post dated'!!

Make yourself indispensable - that is how one will feel your absence...Presence is something which is void, nullify it with your absence.