Myriad Expectations

Life throws up many situations that the way you deal them go on to define how you deal the future ones. Funny thing about life is that the same/ similar situation haunts you again. Why does this happen? When does this stop?

We all live and evolve, apart from physically growing into a man/ woman; our thoughts, desires, aspirations,  & influences evolve. These are also a function of our perception of things. The experiences that we undergo are primarily caused by our desires/ expectations. We want things, materialistic like the latest touchscreen phone, a sophisticated notebook, etc and un-materialistic like career goals, love interests, recognition etc. These wants transform to needs as we transcend across socio economic classes. While a well to do child might want the newest G I Joe toy a child from a slum would need basic necessities like books & education, worst case – food & clothing.

Things to expect after Osama bin Laden’s death

So, we now have the WORLD’s MOST WANTED MAN DEAD! While some news channels are busy exploring how exquisite was Osama’s mansion others are busy busting Pakistan for “potentially” harbouring terrorists. we are all laughs. This could also be the moment when Osama’s large size picture featured on every US newspaper/ magazine/ news sites. It certainly has triggered all the “Headline” writers to come up with wacky, different titles for their productions.

While all this happens, here’s what you can expect in the coming days:

1. Conspiracy Theory/ Controversy

Yes, right! A controversy. Every momentous US event on their calendar has sparked a conspiracy theory. Be it the Moon Landing conspiracy or the 9/11 ones, every major US event has attracted a controversy. So make sure you get your popcorn ready before something pertaining to this pops up.

When this comes, all channels will end up behaving like the one who aired the news that a spaceship kidnapped a cow, and that milk supplies in India was threatened!

When “Padhaku” types ruled…

I was browsing the innumerable television channels on a Sunday afternoon & stumbled upon a yesteryear comedy flick “Golmaal”, which used to be telecast, repeatedly, as a matinee show on major channels like they do with “Singh is King” and “Welcome”, these days. As a kid, I even developed a fascination to have a fake moustache using a black sketch pen, only to discover that it wouldn’t wash itself away and that I’d be a laughing material for my class. I now shave off the real moustache, but then you get the point.

This was the scene I stumbled upon & then it sent waves of thought gushing in, in an otherwise desert of lazy grey cells.

Well, how do you define a person in a 10 minute interview? Not really accurately right, and I can go on to provide a laundry list of what to do in an Interview, but then let’s keep it aside for now.

Considering the emphasis on extra curricular and “things apart from academics”, interviews seem to have come a long way, and for the better too. No longer do your mark have to do the talking for you, what you do in a creative/ constructional/ personality development sense matters. All of which, add up to you amassing a lot of knowledge!

Remember the time…

When was the last time the nation soared and cheered for it’s heroes? How many of us recollect a time when every Indian wished and prayed for an Indian victory. I have witnessed the integrity and unity expressed during the Kargil War and the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks. Generations older to me can venerate many more such instances.

Today, as the nation comes to a standstill, it signifies a self imposed bandh, one that has not been dictated by political parties, one that has not been enforced by fundamentalist groups & one that is not caused by a hike in petrol prices. A bandh, whose losses we will be happy to bear and glad to forget.

Today is the day when the mobile phone usage will be equivalent to that on an Indian festival, and no operator will deny you the discounted rates.

Today is the day when sound volumes will not disturb the neighbourhood uncle.

Today is the day when 16 percent of the world’s population will breathe and exhale at the same instant, a billion hearts will beat faster than a formula one car, pressures will rise above levels that the strongest alloy can resist & emotions will soar to a point that no greeting card can accommodate.

Today, it does not matter how much the Sensex changed, it does not mater how the rupee fared against the dollar, it does not matter whether the top lines are top enough, it does not matter if the rickshaw wallah asks for an extra buck.

Nothing else matter as much as the mother of all encounters…

The Circle of Life

We often think, act and judge on predefined notions that the real face of the issue at hand gets confined to the corners. It had to be fate/destiny that we are here, doing and seeing things the way they are. How much do we influence ourselves in seeing things the way they are? Is our role confined to the limits of education and training that we see a circle as a circle and not as a square?

I wanted to see the circle as a square, I tried pushing the corners to the edge but the whirl inside the circle kept me revolving and in constant motion inside the circle. I saw no start, sadly no finish. I always wished that the walls of the circle would rupture at a point and the revolutionary motion would fling me out of this vicious cycle. I wished that the rupture flings me to a point where I can swing the way I want and draw my own shapes, re-shape the circle to a square. But then the walls did not rupture and at a moment I paused to look around my space while I was still revolving. I found that I need not adhere to the wall, I could have swung in the space inside the wall. The wall was a good thing to bank upon, but it confined my movements, in a way it restricted me. It was good security, but it was plain vanilla space, without any flavour or essence.

Book Review: Super Freakonomics by Steven D Levitt and Stephen J Dubner

Many of us do read the news, and what’s generally happening in the economic and scientific world is generally accepted at face value by the normal audience. Back up a phenomenon with a “convincing” explanation and you don’t have to search for believers. Examples of such cases could be Global Warming, hospital accidents, terrorism and many others.

Two economists – Steven D Levitt & Stephen J Dubner had taken the world by storm when they launched their book “Freakonomics – A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything”. They looked at various aspects of the society in a different light, one supported by statistical analysis of huge amounts of data. The result – myth shattering outcomes. Now, they have come up with what they call a “frequel”, sadly the book does not live up to the expectations for a sequel to a block buster like “Freakonomics”.

Ye re Ye re Pausa

“Ye re Ye re pausa,
Tula deto paisa,
Paisa zhala khota,
Paus ala motha”

Vinay heard a mother, from his neighbourhood sing out this jingle to her child, as he walked past them in the early hours of a Sunday. It was 7 in a typical Pune morning, empty lanes marked by couple of morning joggers, few drowsy people dawdling in their verandas and the early birds picking up dailies. Returning from an hour long jog, fatigued & drained of body fluids, Vinay reached out for the fruit juice carton in his refrigerator.
“What! Not cold? What’s wrong?” he thought.
He looked around and discovered that electricity wasn’t there. “Gosh!” he sighed, picked the cane stool and walked to the veranda. He glanced through the newspapers and found a piece announcing additional load shedding. The dams around Pune had dried up, the rivers were no good, and water was now a prized commodity.

Avoiding another regional catastrophe

Much needs to be thought about the ongoing fight against the Maoists’ insurgency in the forest areas of Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Orissa, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh. So far I had perceived the fight as a counter agitation operation by the Government of India against the insurgents, but after reading an article “Walking with the Comrades” by award wining writer, Arundhati Roy, my perception has changed. Arundhati adds an interesting human aspect to the saga of war waged in the forests of Central India. The article brings forward the tribal’s side of the story. A direct interpretation would be that the insurgency is a result of years of oppression and sufferings of the tribal people. Roy documents various narratives by people about rapes, burning & looting of villages, fake encounters etc., while giving a brief history on how the Naxal movement started, how the helplessness of the tribal population was tapped by Maoists into making the gravest “Internal Security Threat”.

Any individual who simply goes by the news bulletins would perceive the Maoists as hard hitting terrorists. The sad part, is they (viewers) are not to be blamed. The projection of the violence is similar to the way terrorists are projected. There is hardly a difference in the manner Maoists have exploited the helplessness of the tribal and the manner religious fundamentalists have created the Taliban.

The good old Tom & Jerry cartoons

The American trumpet melody, the mouse sitting atop a “Y”, a cat framed in a “O”, a roaring MGM lion and an array of maverick characters like the duckling, bulldog, street cats and the lady who owns the house; all reminiscent of the fun filled, inseparable duo of Tom & Jerry. The cat and mouse duo is undoubtedly one of the most watched cartoon characters across ages; I would like to indulge in divesting a fact that I still do watch them. The duo does provide rollicking humour wherein each of Tom and Jerry outwits the other. The multitude of imagination displayed by the creators is extraordinary.

The cartoon series has transformed across ages to stay relevant with the times and keeping audiences hooked for a little gag. Off the Gene Deitch era cartoons and those directed by Chuck Jones, I find the latter more hilarious and witty in nature. Off late, the original Hanna Barbera creation has largely turned slapstick in character. From what had been an act where Tom and Jerry would utilise every possible resource available in a typical American house to get the best out of each other, today’s cartoons have attached the scientific developments that the world has seen, ever since they had been first telecast. Today, the action is more about mad chases rather than smart ones; it’s now one where the humour is derived from rampant hurling of objects against each other, where earlier there was a tinge of fun associated with the same sequence of events. The cunningness in Jerry’s acts is missing as is Tom’s cleverness in pursuing Jerry. The charm and the delight in the duel are lost in the frame.

Branding Mutual Friendship

Is it right to broadcast Sania and Shoaib’s marriage as a new landmark of Indo Pak friendship or is it best left by not politicising the same?

Sania and Shoaib’s destiny can be easily termed to associate with the mutual affection that the people from both countries have for each other, a testament that a learned person, not brainwashed, not indoctrinated by BS, can have a rationale thinking that goes against the conventional norm. For 60 years, parents, siblings, friends from each side of the border have yearned for a better day in Indo-Pak relations. A day where sun does not shine to highlight the iron fences and the army tanks but to glisten the minds and hearts of people, cut across by things beyond their control.