New turns on the road..

So the long road unwinds with a twist here and a bend there. I thought why not bend it as much as possible. Squeeze the life out of the road before it gets to you and does you in. And so I landed up at a completely new set up. Somewhere secluded, but connected all the same. Things seem a lot more interesting now, lots of x's waiting to fall into place and annotate the road map. The sense of adventure should never die out. It shows what life could be instead of what it is. Then you can follow it, and who knows your "could-be" might become your "is". But as with difficulty, it is going to be so, no comfort zones. When you are thrown into the wild rawness, there is no place for you to hide. Your true colors show up no matter what clothes you wear or how you look. This is rawness. Stripped to the core. You get to know who you are, whether you are who you think you are or maybe you just like the idea of who you could be and used to that. When you pursue something you know, is going to change you, you will feel that every second is a little less than an actual second. Every breath feels like a lot more of air in it. Every thought is amplified with millions of possibility. All culminating at your discovery of self. Consider your mind, you get a few hundred parallel thoughts, each creating sub-thoughts and flows, criss-crossing the neural, all trying to find a solution to the same problem. You can get so many options, that you can afford to keep other solutions for later. These solutions then add to your map where your conquest takes you. In search of internal glory, something that other people can or will never understand, same as you won't understand so many things in this world.

But what's in a road you may ask? Road stands for a link: A link between two places - From: the place where you "were" and To: the place you "will be". The road in such a case becomes you "are". The road is the present, because there will always be a "will be"(pun intended). There are stark revelations to be made at every one of these corners, the road never ends, the road will never get tired. The only thing true about the road is that it will be with you all the way and that will be the only thing you truly can call yours in this world. 

"Co-incidence is Jo-incidence with a 'c'". That's what co-incidence is, a joke. Laugh when you get it, move on if you don't. Paulo Coelho says in his book "The Alchemist" - "When you really want something, the whole universe conspires so that your wish comes true". May be true ,may not be true. Reading omens is different from waiting for one. It's just a method to understand the situation. That is always needed.

Adventure is always a harbinger of both pain and joy. The road ahead will be difficult, challenging and always taunting that you cannot do it. With the right support from the right people at the right time, truly it would be a complete adventure. Some times bending a road might fragment it, but only to join back at the end. In those times, a lot of self-confidence is going to be helpful, but really I don't have too much of it. I guess I will have to toil through.

It's a feeling of incomparable measure when you first look out into the ocean, trying to find the end of the horizon, trying to get a glimpse at the other side. It's not joy, it's not pain, just pure adventure. That's the feeling when I type this. I have taken this road. Others do ask me "why this", "why not do that", "why not do something from where you are". To them I say, "That's the way my road goes, and I will follow that". There is another poem that has affected me ever since I came to understand it,

"If you can keep your head when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

But make allowance for their doubting too;

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,

Or being hated, don't give way to hating,

And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;

If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster 

And treat those two impostors just the same;

If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken

Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to, 

broken,And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools: 

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

 And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings

And never breathe a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

To serve your turn long after they are gone,

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!'

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,'

 Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,

if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,

If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,

Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,

And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!"

"If" by Rudyard Kipling.

More about it in my next post. Bye till then.

P.S: Read aloud the poem to yourself, rather than reading silently. You will note a difference :)

The eternal war

"Who are north indians?

Who are south indians?

What about the remaining people?!?!"

- Anonymous.

Ah yes, the eternal war. Who is better, North Indians or South Indians? First let us define who and what are north Indians. The average Indian's dictionary defines a North Indian as "anyone who does not live in the following states - Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka(except people from Bangalore, they are practically North Indians landlocked from their homeland)". And do a boolean ! with India as the sample set, you get the South Indian definition.

So what about the West Indians and the East Indians? Don't they get a chance to fight in this war and get a stake on "the Glory"? Nope, you are all North Indians no matter how east-ish or west-ish you are, no questions asked. And South Indians, you fight between yourselves. Go to Tamil Nadu, people from Kerala and AP are idiots and vice versa. I mean why the discrimination, you are all South Indians, why can't you be united? Maybe they haven't got the new version of the average Indian's dictionary yet.

The war:

It's been going on for a while, I don't know how long. Long long ago, very long ago, well whatever. It stems from parents teaching their kids not to hang out with those kids, "they are not good for you". Goes either way. One knows Hindi, the other does not. One really bad thing about South Indians, they try a lot. They'd rather be a northie than a southie. A northie goes to Tamil Nadu, he/she would speak Hindi and get his/her way through. You know why? The southie would learn Hindi by then!! Same thing, a southie goes to some of the "northern" states, same thing happens, the southie would learn Hindi by then! Yup we scoff at people who are different from us. In movies, the southie movies make fun of northies mis-pronouncing southie language. Shahrukh would go do a "Enna rascala!", and northies go thats what southies do, why din't I know that before. Giving everyone an image, or rather a stereotype. This fuels the war and keeps it going. A northie gang would not induct a southie without the southie making sacrifices, and vice versa and so on.

Another point of exclusivity, any one person from the South of India can be called a Madrasi. That I never get, because there are other cities too! Same way, a Bengali is completely different from a Punjabi, so no point considering them in the same category.

If you want to find differences, don't take the people, take the food. You love different cuisines because they are "different" from your routine. Personally, the food is more important than the people in the locale. No one is going to stop me from eating Bengali Raskadam, Punjabi Butter Chicken, Tamil Paper Roast, Idli Sambhar, Dilli Aloo tikki, Mumbai Vada pav just because I have a problem with some person. By nature, Culture breeds uncultured people. Fight the opinion, not the region, cos its the home of delicacies you have always liked. Let food be your guide.

Differences are the only thing we have, why waste it and try to get the same old stuff from everyone?

P.S: I started writing this a very very long time ago, added the last three blocks recently. But just finished, or tried to, so forgive for the lack of flow.

If Ambiguity was a person...

Have you wondered how it will be to have Ambiguity as a person around you? You would be in a woozy world where you don't know what anything means. Consider that you meet Ambiguity at a party unexpectedly:

X: Hey Ambig, what are you doing here? I din't expect to see YOU here.

Ambig: I don't know, what are you doing here?

X: I came because Y called me over. (Then kicks himself in the shin for telling it). Anyway what are you doing here?

Ambig: Ok. Hey look that's the sky, this is the ground. See you around!

X: Ok........... Ok........ Well, good to know that........... Bye!? *_#

Ambiguity will leave you flabbergasted. You know why? He/she would get all the information from you and give you nothing but vagueness without you having a clue of it. Beware of Ambiguity, you never know what it really means. It will hit you like a runaway truck hitting a frog, but as soon as you turn around, it's gone. Gone baby gone! The best part: You can never get back at Ambiguity, because you never really know what it meant o_0

P.S: The author is a staunch follower of Ambiguity and it's principles, hence the post.

Things as they are

Have you seen people talk about their lives? Have you seen people actually live their lives? Nah, who cares right. But come again, people talk about their lives, forget it, people just talk, we listen, and then we realise something. That discomforting feeling does come knocking. Yes, judgement. Any living human with an able mind judges anything given to it at lightning speed. Because that's what the mind was built for, processing whatever it senses! Heck leave listening to people, you are doing it while reading this. Now comes the tricky part, how does one not show his/her real judgement and try to coerce a feeling to the other person that he/she needn't worry about that judgement. That would come handy when someone asks for a definition of "Politeness" - State of mind where your actions are exactly contradictory to your thoughts. When you don't, you just are really really, I mean really, rude. There is a state even beyond the regular judgement. It is called prejudice. We all do it. Tiny, but existent. The whole civilization is based on showing a masked reaction to everything that happens. That's social norm. And by judgement, it can be a good one or a bad one. But people as such tend to peep into good ones as if that's the best possible thing in the world. What if it is wrong? What if I am wrong? What if everything is wrong?

We still have to live the same way as we used to because we used to? I am not the best judge of it perhaps, hence that is a question best left to be answered by each individual. Nah, this ain't no philosophy. Just a little pondering. Chaotic at that. Like every other post of mine, you come with nothing, you go with nothing after reading it.

To IPL, with love

To KTK,

Thanks for reminding Kochi is in Kerala. Again.

To PWI,

Thanks for reminding Pune is in India. Has been a revelation to many, they were looking at the other part of the globe. Dumb idiots eh..

To MI,

At first I din't think they were all Indians. But now I can't deny the fact that they are Indians. Justified.

To CSK,

Ever heard of mind-blasting from Russel Peters? You must try it. "Super" = mind blowing. "Kings" = fantastic. "Super" + "Kings" = Mind-blasting!

To RCB,

Dear Mr.Mallya, thanks for reminding me of your brand, I keep forgetting it. But then I remember your team name, and voila I get your brand name. Real smart move!

To KXIP,

While others stopped at 3 letters, you went ahead with 4. Leaving everyone else in a dilemma - K-X-I-P or K-Eleven-P or Kings-XI-P or Kings-Eleven-Punjab?? Nah you made them all call you by your full name. No other team has achieved this!

To KKR,

Rather SRK, you missed the plot. What has been consistently making a hit for SRK? "Rahul, naam to suna hoga?" If not a Rahul at least a Raj.

To DD and RR,

How do I put it.... Hmmm.. You guys are, you know, "different".

To DC,

Ambiguity has been your meaning and performance. Chargers. What could they mean? Do they "charge ahead" or "charge/electrify the field" or simply "charge money"??

Sad life Pathetic life Happy life

Sad Life:

SadGuy has the worst luck in life with things not going his way. Not even a little bit. I mean if he wears sunglasses just because he felt like it, would by nature make it a rainy day, if not worse. So that person is really shattered at every step he takes.

Pathetic Life:

PatheticGuy has a few things worked out for him. But he never seems to be even a little satisfied with it. He finds that everything he does has no meaning in it for him. He would feel like he is an outsider. Always. No matter the number of hours/days/months/years he spends with someone, he always will feel like an outsider from the inside. He needs constant reassuring of his achievements, qualities, abilities and the whole parade.

Happy Life:

HappyGuy has a life similar to that of the PatheticGuy but he seems to be satisfied with what he has. And life, in terms, has been kind to him at times.

So what's it all about? When you think about it, it's all about perspective. You have a life, that is all. Happy, sad or pathetic, doesn't matter. There is something that can be called over-living, which is similar to over-engineering, opening up one's thoughts so recursively that there is no individual thought independent of itself. So there comes the wreck in to the picture. I mean what's the meaning of it? Nothing, you came, you went and obviously, you are gone now. If you can not make peace with your own head, well it's going to keep coming back with its angry retorts time and again. Like I say, "Just get it over with".

Well lookie what we have here...

Hey. Ever wondered why the sun rises in the east? Why not the west? Because someone didn't know that and someone else wanted to act smart, he called it the east. And the whole world believed him and still does. Mad world. Why couldn't the north be the south? And so on. Anyway I guess its always been the perspective. No one wonders these things nowadays, at least according to me, because it is taken for granted. The phrase "taken for granted" is a lethal weapon if given to the wrong hands. I mean literally. Even in the right hands it is a powerful one. All crap right.

This is the end. This is the start. This is everything. This is nothing. All paradox. Whats this world got to offer me? Or you? Or them? All of these are just questions. Stupid questions. With no answers. All crap again. Does this mean I am stupid? Maybe. Or maybe not.

The next part comes to languages. Just now one of my friends was telling me that I am wasting time by learning new languages when learning one is enough to get us through. True. What is the point I am trying to make by learning this new language? I can communicate effectively? Or just wasting time? What is it? Don't know any convincing answer. I see the practical uses very reduced since I know a few more languages. But what am I using it for? Same way. Why not learn a new language? It is knowledge. But will it be useful investing in? Am I the only idiot in this phase? I don't know that either. I am not promising a solution to this question either. So what is it I am presenting? The question obviously.

Whats the use of all this? All this media, broadcast? Criticism is a useful tool in making things obsolete. We need it to focus, but the same thing can stop us from doing essential things that make life worth living. But "make life worth living" can also be criticized and break down what we are trying to abstract from our regular thought cycle. Brooding into too many thoughts may lead to senseless exasperation. But thats just the side effect, the main effect is that we may start to question whatever exists, what may come to exist. What is the point? That will become our motto. The path ahead is bleak. It is hidden in a shroud of mist. The mist doesn't seem to be clearing. Do we let it cover our eyes or try to live in harmony with it? What's the way of life, there doesn't seem to be one way to it. There is nothing like it. I don't know. That's where our society comes in. Painting pictures for things we haven't experienced. Forming a prototype of things which were and which will be. Whole load of pointless nonsense to attain a state of supposed bliss. Either block the rest of the world which you really really don't care about except for argument's sake and get on with it. Things will go according to plan, things will fail. Because that's what the plan was in the first place. Anyway who am I kidding? Myself. And that's why the saying "Some people just don't get it" seems very appropriate here.