A vent in the Delirium

For long we have debated the rural urban divide that exists in our nation and how this might bring the nation to collapse. But this repeated conditioning of our mind has veiled the unity that exists between the cities and the mofussils. There are threads that bind the two together and the sufferings are similar on both sides. This union can be seen as a very attractive segment by marketeers and politicians alike. It is important that we start looking at people beyond differences in castes, language or geographies. India might be a land of great diversities but the pain and sorrow of the poor is fairly constant everywhere. Pain can be a much stronger uniting factor than any other. This common thread of sorrow and despair among the poor was the major factor responsible for catapulting an year old party to power. The party looked at urban and rural poor with the same eye. The problems in the life of poor in the country are same irrespective of their place of residence. There is rea...

The latest fad in town is all about the Aam Aadmi Party and its poster boy Arvind Kejriwal. But what is much more important than the party is this concept of a more representative form of decision making. There is a limit to the tolerance of people and the rupture after the pent up silence was bound to shake a few things. The Big Bang moment in Indian politics will not last forever and there must be a plan to sustain this momentum in the future. The common man on the other hand should also manage there expectations and realise that this is not magic solution to all of our problems. The biggest problem in front of AAP at the moment is to manage this huge momentum it is carrying forward. They are in a situation similar to a start-up that has seen phenomenal growth but is finding it difficult to maintain the quality at that scale. Managing such explosive growth is just as difficult as managing failure. This is going to be the deciding phase in the history of AAP. They could become ...

It feels so helpless to write something original when all you do every time is Google stuff. When googling is the only inspiration you have had for the past few months then you really have to look deep inside to come up with something original. I wish I could develop some optimal path algorithm to reach back to my originality. But the mechanical me soon realizes that its not quite possible in this domain. In this mechanical world where people work only on numbers, be it- the marks, the deadlines or the count of their likes, it is hard to find an inspiration. How do you differentiate between a bunch of individuals who have very little to separate them? Everyone's running the same mad race that has a finishing line no one knows about. Just that some proclaim to have won it while the others are made to believe their loss. In this madness the outcasts make for a good inspiration. At least they have their own way in the madness. Thus to break the shackles and come out of this m...

A man wants to be a free bird, not bound by the constraints of time, money or geographies but in trying to push one of the constraints he gets more strangled by the others. This forms a sort of an impossible trinity or the unattainable Nirvana that everyone dies reaching. I, however, find myself bounded by concrete walls, confined to a small geography. It's amazing how your world shrinks to a 6 acre plot when you do not have enough time on your hand. This life has exposed the fragility of my concrete resolutions. It's impossible to do everything in life especially when you have so many passions. It is easier to be a master of one than being the jack of all. Prioritizing is the key but very difficult to achieve. I have not been able to prioritize at all and am always playing catching up. A very popular way to prioritize is in order of the opportunity cost of each alternatives but the practical use of this concept is just as alien to me as the others. In this mad rush...

Rumor by weight is a very light object to lift, fairly easy to pass around, but very difficult to put back again. In a recent chain of events in Muzaffarnagar (a town situated 130 kms from Delhi) what started off as an episode of harassment of a Hindu girl, fed by retaliation from the girl's brothers culminated as a full fledged communal riot. An event  well orchestrated by the political parties to suit their vested interests in which, according to official records, 48 unfortunate people have died. What was achieved? What purpose it served? Which side ‘won’? These are the questions which will never be answered. What we can be certain about is that all those who have died from both communities were poor people, too weak to defend themselves. People who lived in slums were easy targets for a maniac mob advancing with grievous steps towards them. Whenever there is a brawl, even the strongest of oppressor looks for the weakest of adversary to prove his mettle .No David d...

Nathaniel Hawthorne from the book The Scarlet Letter remarked, “No man, for any considerable period, can wear one face to himself and another to the multitude, without finally getting bewildered as to which may be the true.”   We all wear masks. We pretend to become the person, the people around us will like. It is said that we display our true self when we are under a guise. What if it’s the other way around? What if the disguise is a way to mask our true feelings? How many of us want any of us to see us as we really are? We become the person that the others want us to see. Taking the popular scenario when friends and strangers come visiting.. What do we do? Straighten the cushions, kick the books under the bed and put away the letter you were writing?  We put on our social face . During all this, we forget to be the real us. In fact we forget whether we have a real self at all since we are constantly playing different roles and responsibilities. That is why “Tell m...

Wikipedia puts excellence as “ Excellence  is a talent or quality which is unusually good and so surpasses ordinary standards.” These ordinary standards are surpassed by a continuous extraordinary effort and dedication. Thus being Excellent is a long process and not an end-result. It’s important that we realize this because most people around us are looking at the results. The results don’t make people excellent, the process does. A Vinod Kambli or Abhishek Bacchan wasn’t in the excellent league for this precise reason while Sachin Tendulkar or Nawazuddin Siddique are in that list. They made some extraordinary efforts to finally achieve what they have. Since excellence lies in the process, it’s imperative that you choose the path that excites you and something that you are passionate about. A Sachin would have made a dismal actor and a Nawazuddin would have been a pathetic cricketer. Most of us have deprived ourselves any chance of excellence as we are busy doing things ...