The Rational vs The Emotional

Many a people have told me that I am a very rational person and lack emotions and practicality. They also tell me quite often that things according to me stand only in Blacks and whites and a grey doesn’t exist. To all my well-wishers I bow down and say thanks for your opinions - they are highly rated but I think the concept has been a little misunderstood. Allow me to explain :)

The debate that I hold is not between the rational and the emotional. Rather it is more about following the right path - the path of righteousness, which is not a rosy one and demands a lot of one. Very often in my encounters with different kind of people at various junctures, I have met people who can very easily dismiss this thought. The reason being lack of practicality - they kind of preempt results and the results then become impractical. So why do it? The bigger question here is how long can you ignore it? If one were to tell me that he did not see the right path even in the middle of all the chaos in his life - it would be difficult to digest. It is just that we dismiss the thought.
So then what becomes of the situation we are stranded in? What is the difference between the definitions of my well-wishers and that of mine own? The difference is the preemption of the rational as an extremist and the emotional as accommodative. They hold this view.
Lets look at it this way, all of us at many times have come across incidences in our lives wherein we were loaded with an emotional baggage and were asked to make a choice between the right and the not so right (most often this came as a result of the emotional bombardment). What did we choose then? Did we choose to be better men or did we choose to be a better son/daughter/brother/lover/husband.........? Were we blinded and did not see the right path? What was it that we leveraged out of the situation? What would have been the best thing to do?

Emotional incidences and situations in my belief just pose a challenge to your thoughts and beliefs - how strong are they? Would you break down or would you continue o do what is right? Maybe there'll be a result as you desired, maybe not. You never know - but there is certainly one surety you'll have and that would be that you own self esteem and honour in your own eyes would not diminish. You'll sleep peacefully. We may choose to ignore the righteous path today but tomorrow it'll surely haunt us and eat us from within.

Coming down to the colours - the blacks, whites and the greys..... Its not people who are either black or white. It’s the above reactions which make you stand in these sections at various junctures of your life. Whenever I choose the righteous path, I score a white and whenever I succumb to my surroundings and end up sacrificing my righteousness, I score a black. It’s like a continous game that goes on. If by your experience, you can tell me one man in history that we can classify in only one of the brackets - I would be amazed. My role model is Che Guevera - He scored a lot of whites. He left his promising career as a doctor, left the aristocracy he would have had as lineage, fought for what he believed in, never gave up in testing times, worked towards the upliftment of the poor and the downtrodden and many more..... Lotsa whites. HE KILLED MANY INNOCENT PEOPLE WHILE DOING ALL THIS. Now there’s a black. Maybe had Che been alive, he would have showed us many more blacks...... So the point I'm trying to drive home here is that noone can be neither wrong nor right. He is either wrong or right. In a way, the summation of our lives is nothing but an equation of these whites and blacks. How do we correct the blacks and how do we try not to commit more of them - the only path is by choosing the whites. It’s not so extremist you see...... :)

The above makes you a very forceful person - determined to go beyond the obvious in an attempt to not let the blacks come in. I think this force is the one which was a little misunderstood. But I think it is equally necessary for stopping the lag factor to come in which then compels you to break down.

So as I said, its not that extremist line of thought you see. Life’s not about winning trophies to satisfy our egos..... Rationality is not about having objects in your life instead of people. It goes a little beyond that - Its about loving to be in an emotional situation (that’s coz people love you) but still not making the love a reason to commit a wrong. Love is love and similarly right is right, both cant be debated.

Stop.... Rewind...... Play !!!!!!

How many times do we feel that Oh I could just go back in time and do this this way or that way????

Of late, I have been just reminded of one song - "Us Mod se shuru karein phir yeh zindagi; har sheh jahan haseen thi, hum tum the ajnabi" (Lets go back in time again and start our lives from the point when everything was so beautiful and both of us were strangers)

What a thought. Really speaks my mind out. As in giving words to my thoughts. Yes they were beautiful times, lovely ones. I would love to go back then and place myself there. When I didnt know you and you didnt know me. The time when I didnt expect anything, neither did you. The time when both of us were free and happy souls. The time when all we could think of was that day as if there were no yesterday and there would be no tomorrow. Yes they were great times.

Can I go back there and do all that I should have? Can I say sorry to all whom I've hurt? Can I go back in time and hug all those people I didnt coz I thought its okay and took it for granted? Can I go back and not sleep so as to enjoy that time to the fullest? Can I go back in time and just sit under the moon observing its moves?

A million things I'd like to set straight if I could but cant. All that is left of it is a wish, a prayer, a need to relive those times, to be that innocent fool, to laugh out at someone and be laughed at in turn, not being scared in speaking your heart out no matter who the audience is, not thinking twice before waking you up at the middle of the night just to say I love you. All these were sweet things which seemed to have been lost out in the attempt to be mature and professional.

Looking back, I just have a few questions......
Am I more mature / pro etc etc today than I was yesterday?
What is the motivation for me today to do anything that I do? Is it stronger than what it used to be back then?
Have I lost out on my identity and my persona in this attempt?
Am I the same person anymore?

If I am the same person that I used to be, whay this dissent? Why does the vibrancy of the city appear as a noise to me? Why do the nights seem as an alarm for an early day tomorrow rather than an opportunity to dream, look forward, look inside? Why does the rain become a hassle now when it used to be the most beautiful thing back then? Whay have I become so concious of what I eat and not enjoy the junk being sold by the roadsides? Why to I feel as if trapped in an alien body?
The way forward from here - learn to adjust to the new life!!! Look at the brighter side of what you have!!! All that gyan........ But more honestly, there aint much that can be done about it now, the time has gone, the bird has taken its flight...... All that is to look after is the next bird............

Instead of it being a STOP....REWIND....PLAY as I would have wanted; its actually a STOP....PAUSE....PLAY. Life isnt so benevolent to you but fair enough.......

The Balance Sheet Effect

Assets = Liabilities. This was one of the first rules I learnt of accountancy in my school days. It stuck to me whenever I sat for an accountancy examination and was the guiding light. Never did I knew how true it would be for my life's balance sheet as well......

Those following this blog would know how many of the good news I have had to share amongst all. Those were good times for me when I thought now I was in control and nothing can go wrong. This was to be but not for long and my worst nightmares started to come true. THE BALANCE SHEET suddenly became unequal. So Mr God up there decided to equalise it and all my sand castles started to come down - one after the other. The happiness that came across was forceful - the balancing effect had double its force. It hit where it hurt the most. Probably coz in the entire euphoria, I somehow happened to ignore that there were fundamental problems with my castels - they were not water proof.

Actually I think this year for me has been very similar to the stock market..... Initial euphoria - Stock market rising..... Up Up Up (the initial 5-6 months of this year for me) and then suddenly came the satanic forces of the global crisis (US goofed up and the Indian market fell down - this analogy only a few would understand who know me well, so dont wreck your brains on it).

Still waiting for the stock markets to recover - maybe it'll be a different sector this time or a different country which pulls it up.

Mid Year Update

My last entry had come in when the year began, now this one is coming in in the middle of the year...... My researchers' mind says that the next one is due sometime in December :) But its really a shame on my part to have behaved like this. Yet again, I broke my promise to be more regular on my blog. So learning from my past mistakes, I wont say that this time but try to do it.


That reminds me that I have been trying to do a lot of things of late...... Lets start with how these months went by;

What happened to my agenda - Things to do for 2008 (refer to my last blog)

To start off with, I did buy my dream bike - The Royal Enfield 350cc Electra on the 9th of May and I'm damn exhilarated whenever I drive it. I know its not a big deal but its like the first cycle for a child - nothing like it then (remember your first time :)). It cost me a hell lot on my pocket as the interest rates are also up but its okay, I did managed it and the wait was over.

Secondly, I am now writing this from Mumbai which means that I managed to get transfered to Mumbai as I had thought of - closer now to my loved ones and friends :) Another reason for me to have a big grin on my face. Got shifted in the middle of March and things have been good since then, better than Delhi in terms of my personal life. As for the most often debated subject of Delhi vs Mumbai - which is better, maybe on my next post.

Thirdly, my elder sister got married in April this year and things have been good for her as well since then. yet another reason for me to be happy. :) :)

So lots of positives till now apart from a few here and there type sad events but thats fine as I keep taking it as a part of the game. Its okay or else you tend to miss out on the fun ;)

Today is a special day for me as I have started off to quit smoking - at least reduce it considerably. I know that in one of my posts I had said that it would go down with me to my grave but that was out of the love for it. Today, I'm trying to quit for something which is more valuable to me than it. Fair trade I guess. You give some, you take some. Lets see how far I go, This is a serious attempt and I do plan to pull this act through. Wish me luck :)

More on my next post. Till then, enjoy and keep reading.......... :)

WELCOME 2008!!!!!

Pooh!!!!! That was indeed a long gap..... Nevertheless, I think I do not owe an explanation in my own webspace :) Jokes apart there were two main reasons for such a late attendance. Firstly, I could not think of anything on which I should write (nothing much happening or am I plain sulking) and secondly, as many of you would agree I was lazy :( Anyways whats gone is gone.

So whats new. 2008 is here. As usual at the start of this year we are expecting things to take a positive shape. All of us have a tendency to treat an upcoming year as the saviour grace to all of our problems and by the time half of it goes by, we find out that this was the worst year we ever had. Reason for this - not known. Why all the big hooplah over it. Its just another date yaar!!!! chill mar daru pee, naya bahana mila hai :)

On my front, a few things seem to be surfacing for the good. I'm all set to join a new organisation called Millward Brown International (http://www.millwardbrown.com/). No I havent changed jobs, not so early. Its a result of a collaborative relationship my organisation has with this company which is setting up in India. Its a good move because of the kind of work that would be coming my way, package and of course more future options in the area of marketing. Thats latest on the professional front.

There was an alumni meet that I recently attended at my alma mater IIFM, Bhopal. Although the alumni attendance was too sparce but I had other plans. The idea was to basically chill out and remind oneself of the good old days and that i did with utmost perfection. I would call it a trip to remember. Yes ofcourse the team was missing and had teh gang been there, it would have been not rocking, not fun but simply maddening and hysteric. At the end of the trip I realised I did myself a favour and am looking forward to more number of such visits back in campus.

The trip to Bhopal was also important as it made me realise what all I wasnt doing in my life and what all was missing and slowly fading away. The fun, bubblyness, charm, enthusiasm (in a nutshell kaminapan) seems to all fade out with time and lack of company. Am I too demanding as there are many other friends of mine who are in more challenging places without a lot that I already have and are not complaining. Maybe I am. But I just dont care. I am not perfect and I love it that ways :)

A lot of changes are expected in this year, maybe my location in Delhi; maybe no Delhi. All this is for time to tell. What makes it a happy note for me is the fact that the year has started on a good note and so again I like all others am expecting this year to be my saviour grace ;)

Here are a few things that I have planned to do this year;

1. Visit outside Delhi and meet friends more often

2. Indulge more in my own self in terms of the expenses that I incur on myself from my own earnings

3. Purchase a Royal Enfield motorcycle (something that I cant wait for)

4. Try my level best to move out of Delhi, probably to Mumbai

5. Be happy all the time no matter what comes my way.

6. Visit IIFM at least two more times this year

Well this list is very personalised so might not be interest to many but Hey dude, its my Blog ;)

Lets see how things shape up. As of now I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Assure you guys that my next post would be coming soon and not like the last one. Till then CIAO.

Of Weekends, Alumni Meets & EARTHQUAKES

Well Well Well........ This is as excited and happening as it can get. Weekends which were always the most sought after but yet the most boring and uneventful ones had a different story to tell this time round.

It all started off with the ever exciting, most awaited Friday evening with a dear friend of mine Tarique bhai who treated me with beer, crab, fish and more sumptous chinese delights, followed as usual by Old Monk which was like a topping on the cake.
I was looking forward to the following day (Saturday) as we had our Alumni Meet for the Delhi Chapter at IHC, Delhi.
It was a real treat to meet some old friends and lost lost seniors at the occasion which was indeed a remarkable effort by our juniors who took it on them to organise the entire event. The event started with some informal introductions and then some formal ones, interactions with some old and some very old seniors as well as juniors. The entire crowd could have been divided into different sets of people. Some trying to catch up with seniors who could be helpful in their career pursuit as they were working in the same industry or functional areas. The other half having a gala time with their own lost out batchmates with whom they lost touch with. A small fraction (esp the juniz) were busy with the arrangements and were aiming towards a prospective database of alumni who could be helpful for the institute in many aspects. It was strange that even in the midst of all this hullaballu everybody had a connection with everybody else. Some leg pulling from here, some taunts from there. It was pure fun. It all ended with some lovely dinner and the typical IIFM anthem sung with full pomp and unison.

That was as good as it could get and just when I started to think that the remaining weekend would be boring, up came Old Monk again and Saturday was past. I woke up surprisingly with a heavy head (had caught a cold - dont blame Old Monk), bid Tarique bhai good bye as he was to leave for Raipur that morning. I kept sleeping then till afternoon, did nothing all day as was not feeling like doing anything. The test match kept me busy and they were also screening Desperado on AXN. So came the evening. Old Monk resurfaced. My brother was supposed to come back with his family that night. They came, we chatted and caught up on the events that had taken place over tha past few days and went off to sleep early, in the hope of getting a good sleep.

Yeah i remember theres an EARTHQUAKE mentioned in the title of the post and i'm coming to it guys........ As i was saying, I slept off and in the middle of the chilly night came a tremor, I felt I was dreaming and suddenly the bottle of water beside me fell to the ground. It never struck to me that it could be an earthquake. It lasted for a few seconds and I didnt care about it as I was too drowsy to understand whats going on. Back to sleep again.

My phone rings at around 5 in the morning. Prashant (one of my juniors on his internship in Delhi) calls up and enquires how am I. I was furious, Why do have to call at 5 in the morning to ask me that when i left you at 9 in the night. Obviously I'm okay. He then told me that there was an earthquake shock that Delhi had experienced now. I started to regain conciousness....... remember what I thought as a dream????? Well thankfully I was fine and so was everybody else. I started thinking that what if it comes again but I was too lazy to get out of my bed. I thought "If it has to happen then be it, I dont wanna screw up my sleep" but I was staring at the ceiling of my room above which were 4 floors. This suddenly made me realise of the very vulnareable position that I was in just in case theres an earthquake. It also reminded me of all the tiny insects, flies, mosquitoes that I had squashed. It seemed that in the event of an earthquake all those insects would join forces and request to God to give me the same kind of treatment. All this made me realize that I did not want to die.... At least not like this!!!!! So unwanting though I got off my bed and the love to not die took me to the door from where I looked outside and saw that it was an empty scene. So I came back thinking all is well....... That marked the end of the eventful weekend that I had but it left me with some questions.....

1. What if Delhi would actually experience an earthquake??????
2. What happens to the country then??????
3. What happens to the economy??????
4. Will Pakistan suddenly launch an attack on India to seize this golden opportunity?????
5. Why cant we relocate the country's capital to a place which does not fall in the siesmic zone????
6. @ Alumni Meet - When will I go back to IIFM, Bhopal????? :(
(I know thoughts no 4, 5, 6 are really foolish and kiddish but remember I was sleeping, so I am allowed to think insane ;))

Well thats it folks!!!!!!! Catch you up on my next post!!!!!!!!!

This Ones to Alcohol!!!!! hic hic hic

Well its been really long since my last post...... Sorry blog.....

The motivation behind this post is an old love of mine...... OLD MONK..... I've been drinking it for close to more than 6 years now and it has never let me down..... Interestingly, I find it there in almost all of the wonderful moments that I cherish......

Some analysis of Old Monk.........

Advantages....
Cheap and Affordable.......
Starts working with the first gulp that you take
Doesnt give you a hangover
An excellent medicine just in case you have a throat problem (regular old monk rummies rarely have this problem ;))
Has a sweeter taste than the others
The bottle reminds you of the old age drunkards in a barn or an inn......
Gives you the rusty feel
Has a colour which ignites passion within you
Goes great with soda, water or coke
You can use the old monk bottles for growing money plants in your home (donno what the connection is but invariably everyone would have seen one)


Disadvantages.....
Hardly any......
Sucks up your liver (but who cares)
Has a tendency to take you out of bounds as you cant stop and the results of Old monk overdose can be catastrophic (leaves you with a wide variety to choose from....... superman, spiderman, shaktimannn, saint, devil....... you can turn into anything)
Not available everywhere

Old Monk in other words can be described as Pleasure Guaranteed..... We started off together during my Delhi University days and it seems to stick even till date. Back then it was the most affordable drink as we were always short of cash but now its graduated as being the most favourite. I would also like to mention about the magnificient correlation Old Monk and Wills Navy Cut ciggarates share...... Both are like husband and wife..... And these two have stayed with me for a considearbly long period of time......

Well I know the evils of smoking and drinking and I also know that had I been a sane person, I should not be doing it..... But hey......., who said that i was sane and if I aint, whats the point of mentoring an insane????? And moreover, everyone has a different set of priorities, ideas, likes and dislikes..........This is just to ward off any comments dealing with I should quit and stuff....... Sorry, I think these two will go down with me till my grave...........

To Alcohol....... The cause and the solution to all of lifes' problems..........

CHEERS!!!!!!!!!