FlashBack-2010: The Unplugger's Way

It’s 3 a.m. in the wee hours of one of the last December mornings. The tip of the wing is blinking like a red star and the KF bird is about to take off while I ponder what the hell did I do in 2010?

A year of struggle and a total mismatch of expectations. You longed for home made food, a cosy bed and deep afternoon slumbers while your team mates longed for excellent ppts, profs demanded on time submissions and bosses sought for perfect reports. It was a year when mornings started at noons and nights ended with sunrises. I wonder whether I migrated to BPO industry where my clients were my professors and long distance people.

It was a year of trips spread across the length and breadth of the country with warm Punajbis to sophisticated Tamils to bindast Mumbaikars to elegant Gujaratis to happy go lucky Singaporeans. Special thanks to Lucknowites!!! It started from a lonely trip to Varanasi to fun filled trips to Pune and then the Road trips, Rail Trips and Air trips sponsored by ADM.

It was a year where my professors liked me more outside the classes, some wished if they could flunk me(and I promise I was always there to add to their agony). The reasons ranged from deep classroom slumbers to uncanny mischiefs; low attendance to proxies; Xeroxed reports to copied assignments; No hard feelings profs but I guess I had a great time outside the classes.  ;-)

It was a year when I slogged for the biggest agro giant from the corporate offices in Gurgaon to farms in Maharashtra to hedging desk in Mumbai. It was a year when ‘Kisaan’ gave me the lessons of life and a great company. T’was a great summers with you dude!!! The projects sucked my sweat, neurons and ate a great pie from my personal life but trust me it was worth it. I wish the company good luck.

It was a year when life taught me never to give up; no matter even if you are at the fathom. Life always has a master plan for you and would propel you at the right time. The key learnings were show faith and have patience. Life whispered ‘If you have it in you, I have it for you.’

It was a year when I played the game of my life ‘Basketball’ with passion. The excitement to play at home ground; zeal to drive IIFT to victory; penchant to beat the hell out of the opponents is indeed incomparable. I would miss the support showed by IIFTians. It was also a year when Redbull beauties surfaced on the soil of IIFT and people drank more than they did in the rest of their life ;-)

It was also a year of unemployment and employment. The thrill to move from Day 150 to Day 0 and getting two jobs in a year can only be experienced by few people here and I guess I had that pleasure. But I believe I have more to it. Let the coming days unravel...

It was a year when the three musketeers of Socrates put their hearts and souls out in everything they did. It was a year which gave me exposure to entire hierarchy of corporates from secretaires to CEOs. I thank Socrates for making this year more exciting. I thank 11-12 family too for being the backbone all throughout the year.

Finally, a solemn pledge taken a year back is coming to an end. People questioned my will power and even I was doubting whether I could do it. It was indeed a test of patience and conviction when your friends make the most of the freedom and you are tied down by one damn vow which I don’t know why did I take and ponder now, was it worth taking? I guess now only the 3 digit sms could help continuing it.

Everything happens for a reason in life. Don’t try to fathom it out. Just play the game of life with spirit.

The unplugger had an extraordinary year with some extra ordinary people. I wish successes continue to shower on you all as the baton is passed to 2011.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Mayur Plywood and I go dark after this.

Life Unplugged - 11

The Swing of Pendulum

Hello Folks,

After the marathon gap, the Unplugger is back in action. The more I unravel the bitch the more cryptic it gets. This occult nature pumps me to intrigue deep into and fathom it out. For past few months Life has been a sojourn from one extreme to another from one low to next high. But usually, we experience these opposites in varying degrees, which makes life more like a pendulum swinging on a fulcrum.

Life is a pendulum hanging from a chain. Every breeze of nature, every comment of persons in society, every event of chance and circumstance affects the motion of your pendulum of Life.  These are cosmic influences that you cannot control. This changes the course of the your life, leaves you in lurch and sometimes even puts you to dust. What really matters is how well you can stabilize your swing of pendulum, how well you can mitigate the variations and how well you can rise in adversity.

Like pendulum life goes through each hour, each season and each phase. It garners experiences, faces defeats, rejoices victories, experiences departures, welcomes new arrivals and teaches to continue the voyage no matter what! After getting bogged down N times, it is the spirit to stand up N+1th time that guides you to success.

Most of the human species I know either wallow about their relishing past memories or are vexed about their future. They miss the golden moment of present. Few lines apt for such morons.

We hope for the future and we curse the past,
never ever being in the golden moment,
Ever we count what we gained and lost,
never ever enjoying the moment that just passed.

As we walk through day, endless thoughts swing from ifs to buts; sway from utopian to present realities and decelerate the progress of life. When such conundrums trouble you, just focus on your key targets and work for them. See what matters to you, check where lies your happiness and then channelize your energy accordingly.

Pendulum swings left pendulum swings right. Life is also about living you choices. Make some right decisions, commit the wrong ones too. Life is more of about the experiences rather attaining the perfection. Even the pendulum stays at the centre the shortest possible time through its entire journey. The people around you are the best people to live life than getting lost in mazes of past and thinking about the perfect ones. Life is not about cribbing, grumbling and receding in disappointment. It is more about praising the deserved ones, learning the right skills and making the right moves.

Life like pendulum swings back and forth between joys and sorrows and weaves the fabric of experience with equal dedication. It is only that for some people joys come in a lot, for some sorrows while for some they are dispersed well. Folks, even I had my pie of sorrows in chunks, and I bet you nothing is more depressing when your most sought after plans come down like house of cards. The spirit to rebuild those castles of cards comes only when you motivate yourself for your targets which should be aligned with your pursuit of happiness.

Pendulum do give us lesson to jive up the life with dance, fun and frolic as it does so while moving from one end to other. The day when pendulums stops swinging will be the day one moves a step closer and finally seek out the divine treasure.

For the unplugger too, the pendulum of life is swinging from one S to another S. It’s time to say good bye and it’s also the time to welcome.

Happy Diwali guys and make your swing count!

Life Unplugged - 10

Virtuality takes on Reality…

As I pen this one down sitting beside my window, watching the droplets of rain race from the sky to kiss the earth, Delhi cheers with one more good monsoon. The sky goes grey, winds go cooler and green is the colour of mother earth’s habiliment. Weather can’t be more quixotic and drive through the rain with the special someone is what I wish right now…!!!! But this is what the virtual me thinks of. The real me resides in a more pragmatic world. He knows that everything is just for the moment. There are things to be done and there are people who depend upon one and the purpose of life is still to be met.

The human species have two minds running in parallel. The one which is more optimist and the one which is more conservative and life plays a tug of war with both these heavyweights. One shows you ray of hope and the other covers the ray and uses a torch instead and leads you safely to the end of tunnel. Sometimes you spell your heart out but things don’t materialise. But you feel, things can be achieved with little more persuasion. The judgement whether to give more effort and time to the task  is a result of who wins between the two minds which often goes unnoticed.

Rosy pictures are good. They make us happy and life seems a cakewalk. The optimist mind knowingly beguiles you but the hardheaded one comes to rescue. The conservative one knows the matter-of-fact and helps you draw life plans with these constraints. But one thing I like about rosy one is it makes you think things which are out of your reach and thus inspires the groundbreaking neurons in you. It helps in expanding your boundaries and this is how human evolves. Just like a tier 2 MBA student dreams to drive a BMW after some years into the job. But the ground realities make him feel dejected. The optimist mind goads him to search for new opportunities beside the regular job. Innovation strikes gold when poor chap puts his ideas into business and the conservative’s smile turns upside down.

What creates ruckus in life is when one mind tries to dominate the other. Many have tried to draw the optimal mind balance ratio but to their dismay. Both minds are individual tigers and no one has to be fiddled with else it backfires. Let them sort out themselves and by this way you reach your auto-equilibrium of mind. Virtuality makes you think you are going the right way at a good pace and things are falling in place(good job, exciting love life, mesmerising growth rate of salary, profound knowledge) while the reality takes you to ground zero vis-à-vis with your current snapshot of life (does the job drive you to work, is the love real, is the salary worth to forfeit small tantalizing things one does in life, isn’t there more to be learnt in this world?).  

The optimist gives you freedom the conservative gives you caution. Life often faces dilemmas as both minds get adamant at times and trouble starts when one fails to resolve the deadlock. But there is always a master key for life and I guess every carries it. Use the key, resolve the situation and have the maximum fun in life as these droplets of water are having with petals of flowers after the showers bathed Delhi. Life can be more exciting if you loosen yourself, challenge you imaginations, fall in love and rise in it too. Have a lovely monsoon  and Happy friendship day to you folks. Let the minds be at peace!! :)

Life Unplugged - 9

At Crossroads of life....

With less than a week to go in for my silver jubilee existence on this very mother earth, I find myself again at the crossroads of life. I am delighted to what I have done in this very life. But there always lied a fear whether the step am taking will put me on the right path. I tell you once you develop the finesse in this judgement making process, life is a cakewalk. But the hard fact is we have to deal with situations by our conjectures only. Certainty in decision making is a distant dream.

I feel most of you may have been at crossroads of life at some point or the other. Question like "Is this the way to go?" must have pested your soul like a thorn. I tell you relief comes only when you get a big “Yes” for a particular direction among the options (at crossroads) else the ambiguity kills your soul like hell for the entire journey. If you do a retrospection of the decisions you have taken and where they have landed you in, it gives you enough cues for which paths to choose in near future. But this all comes at cost of experiences which eat your life time. So how to reduce the cost and be economical?

If life is a journey, where are we headed for? And if we can answer that, how do we get there? What road, path, course do we take? And what's our means of transportation? In choosing our course, we need to keep in our minds our goals.  Life is full of small modules. The essence lies in completing these small modules and then connecting them. So whenever we get ourselves at cross roads, we need to identify which module are we in and how does it lead to our ultimate goal. Sometimes bypassing a particular module makes sense too. This helps in reducing uncertainty while making decisions.

Despite reassurances life does not offer guarantees. It is capricious. Nice cars, a good education and a high IQ don’t mean things will go smoothly. When standing at life’s crossroads you don’t necessarily know which way is the best. One road may mean happiness, another adventure, and yet another means safety and security. It takes heart to be alive in the world. You have both, courage and heart; do not be afraid to express either. You need to be bold when confronted with few dilemmas and you need to be alert at the same time. One may get too overwhelmed by the situation which may lead you to pick the wrong path(This is one of most common reasons why people fail to break the crossroads jinx.) These carrefours are the test of your character. Initially at crossroads, we may not the hit bull’s eye in choosing the right path  but the sooner we learn the better we get.

Crossroads are must. Life is too tad without them. And I tell you, once you know how to break the code, you will relish being at crossroads. But the most important part of the whole story is you should not forget that you are not alone in this whole journey. Helping co-passengers, guiding the lost ones and motivating the hopeless ones make your voyage more satisfying. I know “competition” is the word which makes you do all the wrong things but there is something bigger than that which you guys know better!!!

It’s a sayonara from the Unplugger who gets ready for a double 25 on the coming one. :) I wish my doll makes it here. 

XY vs XX

Note: The blog covers human species with 99% confidence interval and exceptions prove the rule.

Gals and Boys! Both, very much human, full of life and almost same intelligence level(no pun intended). No one is from Venus and no one is from Mars. It’s pretty much the same mother Earth. Both love to go to movies, have friends, good food, and get rendered with good education. So what sets them apart besides the XX and XY combos of chromosomes?

Well, I tell u , the Almighty played with us by providing two, almost identical machines who intake food, oxygen, water and education in same volume but produce very different characteristics of behaviour, emotions, temperament (wildly substantiated by their shopping frequencies). Let’s unravel how the species add spices to life which otherwise would have been a humdrum without a proper mix.





Some facts:

1)Two boys can complete a journey without opening their lips and it needs a feviquick for the fairer version.

2)Two gals can make a mussy hostel a home, while a single boy is enough for the reverse.

3)Gals feel more concerned during the last years of their education(parents pressure), while boys feel more liberated unless tied down by neck belt by… :P

4)Gals are after boys and boys are after gals. One is always in the hunt of one level more and that makes the story more interesting and lively. (The rule is called “flight for greed”.)

5)True love exits and I believe in the principle of unlike charges attract each other.

6)Gals breathing same levels of oxygen till date show more level of responsibility and maturity. But even guys can show when entrusted but are no volunteers.

7)Dressing sense: It has to be matching for gals, while for boys it has to be just covering.

8)Boys can be better cooks (credit to innate skills) but gals turn out to be more consistent ones.

Both gals and boys want to strike a conversation with each other. Initially one shows attitude and other reverts it with interest and net result: Intensity to converse grows(if the level equation matches and flight to greed is satisfied else the battle is lost b4 the start) Most of the times the pity version(boys) give up(to break the ice) and then starts the game of master and slave(not the circuit version of electronics). But ideally, it's the game when one needs support and other lends the helping hand and the connect evolves. I believe that's what we call friendship.

Quarrels are part and parcel when such friendship begins. That’s perfectly alright and as I said above, boys have some qualities which don’t resonate with gals and it takes some time to settle. But the funny part is when both have such a fight, one becomes the dog and other turns into a bitch. I wonder how fast humans change races and even genes. Now the bridging exercise is required which boys are pathetic at and gals egos’ play the deterrents :P(can be viceversa). So the story hangs in between earth and sky, but as of now it’s a bye.

Chao, tc folks!!!

Yours truly,
Life Unplugger.

Update

Hello Folks,

The Unplugger will be back with a new topic called "Boys and Gals". But the wait will be a little longer as my life is in an attack mode. Lemme reply the bitch(Life) hard and come back. Till then you guys and gals have the time of your life because after that Gals will more be gals and Boys will more be men :)

Chao.

Life Unplugged - 8

The interplay of emotions

How many of you have started a new activity (such as a personal project or exercise routine) with a burst of enthusiasm, only to see that initial momentum evaporates? This often leads to depression and causes us to give up prematurely. I’ve experienced this letdown dozens of times in my life. But fortunately, with a bit of thought and reflection one can turn this negative emotion around. The key to harnessing your emotions is understanding them. The natural pattern of our emotion is peaks and valleys. When we start a new project we’re filled with tremendous optimism. All we can think about is the expected benefits, and since we haven’t started yet, we aren’t aware of the difficulties involved. This natural high causes a surge of mental and physical activity. The peak is a great thing because the energy boost sets off the project. You feel like nothing can stop you. Then starts the drama of our bi**h(Life) with minor obstacles and snowballs into a thunderstorm of negativity.

The downside of this surge of energy is that it inevitably ends. Exerting large amounts of quick energy doses, the initial optimism wears off. Confidence takes a beating and motivation goes for a toss. The combination of fatigue, scant results, and an awareness of impending adversity makes us want to give up and motivation goes for a down ride. Emotions, by nature, lose their power when we understand them. Prove this to yourself. Next time you get angry, take a moment. Step back and reflect upon yourself. Look at the causes. Are you tired, burned out, disappointed by the results? Are these feelings justified, or are they a by product of a low point in the emotional spectrum?

To overcome this prepare yourself for a letdown. Know your emotions, understand your emotional pattern and be prepared for an initial emotional peak to pass. Mostly, optimism would give way to depression. In the back of your mind, foresee the impending motivational battle and the faith crisis in your ability to take it to end.

The passing of an emotional peak is a blessing in disguise because it allows you to revaluate your plans from a fresh perspective. At first you are blinded by your own optimism. Such motivation crisis drives away the Dhritarashtra from you and makes you look around 360. Guys, either get down on ourselves and give up, or use these negative emotions to discover your faults and rectify them. Revisit all the negatives thoughts you had and apply them to this crisis. Be realistic about your abilities and expectations. Emotional valleys bring us back to reality. Without them we’d be raving lunatics with unlimited self-confidence.

One reason people digress is that they became too concerned with the financial aspect and lose the theme of life. Know your passion and realign your motivation with it. It won’t be a cakewalk but your goals will be the carrot to take you forward and I bet nothing beats the joy of meeting your set goals and basking in the shining drops of sweat.

In truth, sometimes giving up is the right decision. If you started doing something for the wrong reasons you’ll likely lose your motivation. This is a good thing. It allows us to see what really motivates us. In these cases, the best choice is to move on to a new endeavour. Don’t fight self doubt, use it for your benefit.

We generally accept our emotions as beyond our control. They are powerful and mysterious and appear quite irrational. But if we contemplate our emotions, if we explore the inner workings of our minds, we find that like all things, emotions obey the law of cause and effect. Armed with this knowledge, we can continue to allow our emotions to dominate our lives, or we can use them to our benefit.

What I learnt in the last few days is learning the hard way embosses the lesson for the lifetime. But to be on the fast track one needs to look around and learn from others’ emotional breakdowns, others’ goof-ups. Even sharing your stupidity sometimes help. You can get new angles which you haven’t even thought of. What life has taught me is never be shy in sharing the knowledge.

The Unplugger takes your leave with some lines…

Nothing quenches thirst like water, nothing is as refreshing as sleep, nothing is as comforting as a friend’s shoulder in a sob and nothing is as divine as nap in the mother’s lap. Guys it’s family time for me. Will be meeting 40 cousins, (both sides) in a span of one week. This is from Tony. “When it rains, it pours.” :)

Life Unplugged - 7

Hello Folks,

It’s happy spring from the Unplugger. I know it has been long but it’s worth the wait. Life was playing the game of see-saw and I was deep into the ocean of dilemmas. Conundrums are good for life but I almost got suffocated in them. Bruised and razed, somehow, I arose out of them, the past weekend. Now you must be wondering why am I beating around the bush. It was magical and it was none other than Barbie.

Every human has carved a specific life for himself but hardly one’s plans fall in place as designed. After breathing oxygen for two dozens years, rarely I have seen the perfect engineer of life. Different weights are set for different elements like success, leisure, love, family and solitude. The variations in the above ingredients results into different recipes of life. Even though one attains the desired combination at some junction in life, the quest for perfection drives people more. This in turn takes the value curve of life for a down-ride. People forget emotions, values and principles and materialism takes its ugly form.

I have seen many friends, relatives and even the Barbie run after perfections or the best fits. The craving for the best is like swimming in whirlpool which takes you deeper and deeper and people lose control over desires. The ladder of desires starts from Lux moves to Dove and then to Dior and it never stops. But four brothers sharing Lifebuoy for bath at village’s lake: Priceless.

What I exactly mean is you miss the beauty of life when you run after perfections. The real charm of the bi**h called life is turning imperfections into the magical ones, turning Bihar into Gujarat, turning Dharavi into clean labour centres, turning yokels into gentlemen, instead of running after the perfections or best available resources. I bet most of you like underdogs metamorphosing into heroes than heroes becoming heroes. But why don’t we carry the same philosophy in the real life. Why we try to stay away from the imperfections like beggars, disabled or the crooked ones.

The real spirit of a person is seen in how s/he deals with these imperfections. I have two friends and they showed how obtuse humans can be. One just tipped the flanking poor child and other stopped had a word with the child and made the lil champ comfortable with life. Very few people have this egalitarian eye which sees people as people. These are the ones who can screen your souls like anything. They just sieve the materialism from the humanism and gives rise to new kind of mankind. I wish if every one of us treats the every other with the same eye.

The day when the amount of satisfaction one gets in helping others super cedes the satisfaction derived from self-help, my job is done. I can foresee people hurling questions on the practicality of the above “Gyan”. Well life is not about living it king size but the right size.(as it goes with the inner wears :P) I hope my reasoning sounds well. Life is not walking past the finish line alone but about setting the right tone and always be in the fun zone.

Some one said “Try your luck now”. And I did. To say the least, it was enamouring, charming, and really touching. I fought over petty issues, twisted one’s hand, visited women’s section more than I did in my lifetime, hurled stones at bunch of dogs at 12 am and even woofed with the bunch till I got the commute. Sometimes people go “crazy” and but the word is reflecting in life again and again and I wonder is this the magic which Barbie creates?

Guys and their gals lemme chao for now as I accede to the internship program.

The more you miss it the stronger it becomes......

Happy Unplugging :)

Update

Hello Folks,

I know the Unplugger is always late in his posts. But this time it's gonna be more as it's Life Unplugged- "7". Hope you all are doing fine. One last thought guys,smile till you run at least a mile because "Smile is the electricity and Life is a battery" and discharging is not a fascinating option. So charge up!!!

Will be back around April first week.

Signing out for now.

Bon jour!!

Life Unplugged – 6

Hello Folks,

Uneasy lies the head under the crown, but I find it damn suffocating . Some changes have taken place. My newspaper colour has changed from white to light brown. Casuals have made way for formals. I bet I studied more in these few months than I did in the past 24 years, I worked more in these two weeks than I did in the two years of my job. Life has suddenly changed lanes and nitro boosters are a common go these days. But I still find time to talk to people I like, chat with besties and have Gol-gappas/pani-puri/fugge (thanks to diversity in India) with them. The whole essence of life lies in breaking the monotonies with some small moves.

People do need to change gears when they drive the vehicle called life. Some like to zoom past and some try to beat the turtles. We have wide variety of them but no one can stick to his/her comfortable speed. The level of adjustment one does with the speed of life can determine one’s type whether one is social, practical, introvert/nerd. The speed of the life in inversely proportional to the social life of a person. But some get beguiled by the notion of speed. They give due importance to finish time rather than enjoying the things on race course. Helping troubled souls, having light moments, playing pranks, innocuous overtaking and sharing food make more sense to me rather than zooming to first and staying alone(both in the journey and at the finish line). I really pity these lone finishers and worshippers of solitary.

By this time, many go-getters’ hands would have come to my collars and many socialites would have felt like a million. I am not telling to opt out of the competitive nature of life but to make the competition healthy at least. I have seen people get drowned by the pressure right at the end of my schooling and I promise you it's painful to see someone’s mother weeping so early. You guys know more than me how deadlines can make us look dead as a duck, how juggling with tasks can take the fizz out of us. Whatever pressure it may be social, economical or personal; Easing it out can only save your life from derail. So people just prick the balloon of pressure and have a little sigh. Chuck some exams, screw up a meeting, overrun some deadlines, miss some trains, give your boss his attitude back, take a random break from office. I tell you just freak out guys and sometimes with gals to make the voyage more salubrious and enjoyable. Three magical words for you: Digress, Explore and Rejoin.

Anyways guys, Barbie resurfaced from nowhere. I was hopeful though. Some times Almighty only knows why He wants some things to happen but I enjoy the story of my Scriptwriter. So what’s next? I can very well smell the naughtiness in the air. So guys, come this Holi and time to speak your hearts if you missed out on Vday. (Saviour line after failed attempts: “Bura na mano: Holi Hai!!”)

Yours truly,
Life Unplugger.

Life Unplugged – 5

I know it has been long, but life can make an idle look hectic sometimes and that’s what has happened to me over the past few weeks. Joys and sorrows blended equally well and the juice of life tasted really good this time. Persistence paid well though hard work was unanswered. Friends do make integral part of one's life. One must be having a host of friends, but these MBA jargons have compelled me to think whether all friends fall under same category.

Okay(Barbie says like this), I could hear a unison “No” from all of you. I have some ramifications about them too. Some friends can be Operational friends: Where you both try to get the max of other one’s skills. Once the job’s done both turn to their individual dens. It is as good as a joint venture. They do smile when they meet up but the smile lasts only till they cross. Some friends are a function of time. They do give regular visits when you are king/queen of good times and lurk nowhere in your visibility when life gets hazy. These successes are the real test of a human being. If one can’t differentiate the goldies (the besties) from these chameleons you are screwing up big time. Goldies are the ones who see your priorities above theirs. Some may call them fools but I just admire these ones because they have taught me a lot.

The underlying fact I have observed is besties turn up only when you are in a pickle. They leave you enjoy white threads of life with these chameleons but monitor your well being like a hawk. Some more in the category are the Financers(landlords). They do take vantage of their moolah and always try to get artificial set of friends around them and thus make a bigger fool of themselves than they are. Anyways these superficials(Baratis) have a good time at the financers’ expense but they do maintain some loyalty towards the landlords. Some friends use you like a sheer product. These are none other than Mar-ke-teers who can beat a dead horse out of you. These folks hardly meet you but give your references or cite your examples during all possible events. This can be a double edged sword which can work well if the person really understands your good work(doesn’t matter how the bad one is reported). The real managerial skills lies in how you handle these species of the friends except the goldies. Because they are the ones who are the important pillars of your life and it is would be insane to play with them.

Life can be really bi***y at times. Why do the people you love the most always have the highest probability of leaving your life? Why good time don’t last much and bad time has a bigger pie? How does it feel when you try to forget things but couldn’t? Memories mutate and attack your mind like clouds in a monsoon attack a defenceless sky. Sharing dosas at Udipi resto, fighting for bills, late night gossiping or just walking down the isle hand in hand; How small and big the memories may be, they do make indelible marks on your mind. I too got nostalgic when I met my oldies and goldies friends during a recent visit.

But I am a follower of “Jo bhi hota acche k liye hota hai”. Every damn thing in this life happens for a reason. These small things are nuggets of life which play some part or the other and are somehow linked. The masters of the life are the ones who identify these nuances, connect the links and capture the bigger play of life. Sometimes these nuances are trying to help you when go wrong or are signalling the things which are going to happen to you in your life. Life gives you enough clues and makes difficulty level easy when the game of life gets tough. So at which level are you playing folks?

My train is lurking in the outskirts of Delhi now. Cya and take care guys because I know, guys will take care of gals. :)

Life Unplugged- 4

Hi Folks,

Basking in the sun in Delhi with cold waves swirling around coupled with my hot tea, I am back in action. Life has been a charismatic friend till now showing its various “Avatars”. Each time I think this is the fathom of life, I see people further down the barrel making me realize life is not that bad. The hope in the eyes of these troubled souls for some silver lining makes me feel more inspired.

Many times you are about to throw arms after putting every damn effort. You feel defeat is imminent. Relatives show back, near ones act as strangers, and adversity becomes the first word of life. Then some people turn up in life as angels (farishtas). (My dear friends, this is the point of inflection in life which tells us helping people in soup can come back positively.) I recently realized that the help one gets in one’s dire times comes from the people you haven’t even thought of. It makes me wonder whether telepathy with God is faster than light. So people, always have that extra little faith in life before giving up. You never know that may make your day.

People do say life is simple. But many giants have been dwarfed by this simplicity. There are no short cuts to your goals other than perseverance. Some may get lucky but in the long run your hard learning pays off. The level to which you stretch your stress-limit to get that extra punch determines which way your life is heading. Some feel this is the max what they can do and settle for mediocrity while some strive to shine by seeing tasks to end. This segment of humans become the front runners. No matter from where do you start the lap, the motto is to cruise. But some take it as a race and in short take away the grace of life.

My first day after the winter break. One of my profs was preaching (literally) Listen students, life is full of tradeoffs. The more you try to juggle around more chances are for your downfall. Choose! Studies or Fun. I was initially bemused and murmured is this the way to welcome back at campus. But seriously life does throw dilemmas at us. Like a son stuck between mom and wife and given an option to pick one. Dad-Mom’s anniversary or best friend’s wedding? Job continuation or giving CAT one more shot? Whether to use law against close ones? The question is how to deal with these quandaries. Some of you may try to optimize while some may choose one of the options. But the point the life wants to make is, it wants you to do a real time check on your ideals. How clear and passionate are you for them? So guys and gals welcome these ambiguous situations warmly. One who makes most of them makes a life.

Lemme borrow a famous line one of my friends uses, if life throws you lemons, make lemonade :)

Life Unplugged- 3

Life is a battle. It’s not about garnering success but giving meaning to one’s life. You must be wondering what kind of meaning am blabbering. It’s justifying one’s existence on earth. This happens only when one’s skills and passion resonates with one’s job requirements. Very few end up with this rare but desirable combination. Some folks sacrifice this for family, some for moolah and some of us have learnt to compromise over the years. (Chalta hai kind of..). But few years down the line when one does a cross sectional analysis of one’s life holy s**t happens. You remember your colleague’s birthdays more than your family. You like being at office more than spending time with near ones. Career and job are almost at different ends of a string. You are not the same person you imagined to be some five years ago.

It hurts when you are forced to face this reality. You mind corroborates about your failure but heart still makes you optimistic about a screwed interview/horrible breakup (in short a lost battle). This dilemma must have been faced by many of you. Some would have made a fool of yourself by not accepting the fact while some, giving due importance to neurons, would have digested their defeat. The whole drama is to make life happy. Some do this with forged lies while some achieve this with naked truths. This leads to two species of humans i.e. bold and cowards. Critics may find the above statement too crude. But the bare fact is, this is how you confuse your mind by giving unwanted rationale. Recognizing one’s specie and working on it may help than pondering over why I am so.

I am forced to write about the impossible trinity mentioned in Life Unplugged-2. This covers life in all respects. Every human will eventually land up at certain corner of this triangle. Each corner is junction of two elements of this trinity. Suppose Lakhan is successful and raking in moolah. He may have either screwed his life (by burning the midnight oil) or may have been a victim of infidelity (compromising morals). The more Lakhan tries to run close to the third element the more away he gets from first one. But still I find spirit in life by seeing humans catching the last Virar local with balloons in their hand for their children. Some though crippled by life were trying to run faster than me at Jogger’s park. I loved losing that battle. Some slogging hard at office to sustain the marathon run called life. Your child giving you his/her piggy bank when s/he sees financial stress in the family. This indomitable spirit resurrects the faith in you every time the bi**h (life) tries to ebb you down. This helps us making the trinity possible though virtually.

Much depends upon the values humans assimilate over the time. Some argue that they are the derivatives of those 46 chromosomes. But I believe that these values are variables of time and environment. Grooming with a moron will certainly vanish the optimist out of you. Similarly a martinet mother will make an HMT/Titan out of you. Humans do evolve but how positively that needs to be looked out for. The more positive values they imbibe the more stronger they become mentally. Many confuse that this values harnessing process completes with your childhood but unknowingly it is an unending process. What these values do is they create humans like us of varied nature. This variety adds spice to life. But right now I need to catch a breath as I have landed in Delhi with MBA trimester three eagerly waiting to munch me :)
Cya folks and take care.