Purpose of Life - An Unending Quest.

"Even stones, trees, rocks, etc. come into existence & wither away. What's the difference between you & them? If you're born as humans then leave some mark behind." - Swami Vivekananda

These sharp, stinging & penetrating words have had a profound effect on my mind. If we examine this quote, undoubtedly we will arrive at a conclusion that in spite of all advancements & technological progress we haven't been able to find the purpose of our life. According to Evolutionary biologists & Anthropologists, the only purpose of life is to proliferate your species & ensure their continuity. According to different religions, purpose of life is to attain divinity & to attain salvation of our soul. Different sections of human society will answer this question in different ways.

The answer to this question is a complex product of our socio-economic & political background. For someone born in a troubled tribal society or in a nation facing armed rebellion, the purpose of life cannot be the same as that of a person born in lutyens' delhi or las vegas. If we aren't driven by something then even a blow of wind can drive us somewhere. The whole purpose of life isn't about reaching somewhere or getting something. In my opinion, the only purpose of life is to be in control of your life. It's about tightening the grip of your life. The targets which we set for ourselves are nothing but an instrument to drive inspiration for ourselves, perennially.

While answering the question about the purpose of our life we think of it as an objective issue. If having someone in our life gives you a sense of fulfillment then it's not because of that person but it is due to our perseverance & your efforts to be with him/her that you have that fulfillment. If possessing few academic laurels gives you a purpose then it's your efforts in achieving it that gives you a purpose.

By painting life with different colors & giving it a anthropological or a religious color we will be doing gross injustice to it. We would be belittling life if we think of it or look at it through the narrow prism of achieving this or that.

The whole purpose of life is about being in control of it rather than being controlled by it. If we're able to work the levers of ourselves then rest all things are secondary. But for that 'If' we all would've had a clear cut purpose of our life. Maybe some day we all will be able to get away with that big fat 'IF'.

Reflections- A look back at 65 years of republic india...

As we enter into the 66th year of indian republic, I share my thoughts about the same. The debate about what could've been achieved is futile & insult to what we've achieved till today. By refereeing to achievements, we must see them as realisation of the principles laid down in our indian constitution. The driving point here is whether we've manifested the goals & targets set by the constituent assembly while framing our constitution. Now I don't wish to go into knitty gritty of the directive principles of state policy. But my blunt & straight question is whether we are any better off, as Indians, as what we were 65 years back?
Purely from statistical point of view, our economy & social indicators have definitely shown positive signs & they're no doubt commendable & laudable. But the fundamental point is has the last man reaped benefits of our efforts & initiatives? In my opinion, indian growth story resembles a chemical reaction without a catalyst. We are on the cusp of a major revolution but we're yet to touch that pinnacle. Indian economy has continously demonstrated its potential barring last 4 years. The fact that we weren't affected much by the global slowdown of 2008 displays our strong financial infrastructure. India's innate ability to be a global power centre has never been questioned even by our harshest critics. But we're definitely being questioned about our ability to rise on to an occasion & encash our potential.
Evaluating our electoral & constitutional obligations I can proudly conclude that election after election we've matured as a democracy. Now no longer can leaders garner votes in the name of identity politics. Caste lines have begun to fade. The public discourse has shifted from narrow communal discussions to more governance centric discussion. Definitely these are signs of a maturing democracy. LS Elections of 2014 represent the earnest desire of Indians to grow & unleash our potential. After 30 years indian electorate has given a strong & decisive mandate.
But I still feel that we're yet to arive at the correct interpretation of article 19(freedom), 21(life & liberty) & 25(religion & conscience). We still haven't effectively lived the spirit of our constitution. Directive Principles of State Policy are yet to be fully implemented.
The above mentioned things are more technical in nature.
As an evolving democracy, we can't afford to have a deaf ear towards the youth of our nation. They represent the palpable beat of our nation. As young citizens we ought to develop the Indian spirit in us. We ought to develop that indianess in us. Nothing is above the well being of our nation. Sovereignty & Integrity of our nation is paramount to us. We need to live & realise that indian spirit in us.
I wish & I urge all my young friends that lets realise our potential. Whatever we're today we owe it to our nation, if not fully than partly. The affirmation in our preamble that 'INDIA IS A SOVEREIGN, SOCIALIST, SECULAR, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC' must be realised in our spirit. Its mere presence in our books makes no sense. Lets redeem our pledge for a better india.
India is not a piece of land but it's an affirmation of spirit. We are that spirit. We represent that faith. India is an article of faith. Its a conscience which we abide by.
I hope that we'll live by that spirit & help India prosper economically, socially, politically & spiritually.
Wishing all my countrymen a very happy republic day. Ek Bharat! Shresth Bharat!

Changing Political Discourse of India

2014 witnessed a tectonic shift in the political history of india. Advent of Mr. Modi & his landslide mandate has invigorated new hopes & has made the environment euphoric. Political & Economic pundits have extensively commented on the agenda put forth by the new government. Those who understand the knitty gritty of economics have also started questioning Mr. Modi's ability to deliver. Political journalists are by & large awestruck with Mr. Modi's charisma & his vote catching potential. We'll not find a single day without some or the other news pertaining to Mr. Modi. Even for Electronic media, he turns out to be the TRP boosting machine. When there's no news suddenly we find a documentary on Mr. Modi.Economists, across the right & left political spectrum have been polarised about Mr. Modi's economic policies.
The most important change which has happened since Mr. Modi's advent is the change in the political discourse of India. This has largely remained unnoticed by main stream media. Discussion has shifted from narrow political statements to debates on policy issues. Never before has the post of RBI Governor been so keenly followed. Never before has the public discussion been so focused on hardcore economic & policy matters. The discussion has shifted from identity & so called secular vs communal debate to development & economics. Every word spoken by Finance Minister is closely scrutinised which reflects the changing political discourse of India. Never before has discussion on Fiscal deficit & fiscal consolidation dominated the prime time debates. Earlier it all used to be TV studio theatrics about he said & she said.
Now whether Mr. Modi actually delivers or not is a big question in everyones mind. I don't know if he'll really bring 'Ache Din' but at least he has definitely brought 'Ache Batein' in the political discourse of India.

Art of being indifferent....☺

Emotions & Events are interlinked. All normal human beings are affected as well as effected by events & emotions. Hardly do we witness any change in these normal scheme of things. Effect of any emotion is always subject to its perception by the individual. No matter howsoever good or bad maybe the emotion, but its perception by the individual determines its actual effect. I don't wish to elaborate & dig into the intricacies nor do I wish to play with plethora of words or loaded terminologies.
We all know that no human is emotionally bankrupt nor is anyone a buddha that he remains unaffected by circumstances. We all have a heart that ultimately beats & bleeds for someone. The extent of emotional expressiveness of every individual is different & it can be debated. But the existence of emotions or a concept like emotion can never be debated. One of ways to be emotionally independent is to have zero perception towards any event. Now that remains a theoretical concept with no practicability. But a suave & intelligent way to be emotionally independent is to have perception which isn't guided by the nature of emotion. For example, trust deficit with a best friend can lead to sadness & worthlessness but emotional way to deal is to tell yourself that 'he didn't deserve my trust & it was my mistake to trust him'. The moot point of my argument is that don't let others invade your emotional space.
If you're subjected to some bad emotion, so be it. But develop a mechanism in yourself that tells you 'Life is all about me & myself'. It's about having a poker face outside & a beating heart inside. Happiness is a pre decision we've to make. Because if we're affected by every event then one day that element of original personality is lost. You're born as 'XYZ'. You must die as 'XYZ'. Don't let others' doings change the person in you.
YOU ARE BORN ORIGINAL
YOU DIE ORIGINAL
It's all about being indifferent.
It's all about poker face with a beating heart...😊

Liberalization of Thoughts

Closed minds breed narrow mindset. A well thought anecdote to this statement is the existence of customs & traditions which try to infringe upon the fundamental rights of the citizens & which are ultra vires with the constitution of India. Basically it's about the existence of extremist organizations like khaps & taliban. Existence of divergent view points is a pleasant reality which we must proudly accept. As a growing nation & a maturing democracy, we're yet to arrive at the most relevant interpretation of Article 19 & Article 25 (Freedom of Speech, Religion, Conscience, Thought, etc.). While the Honourable Supreme Court of India has strived to protect the rights of the individuals pertaining to freedom of speech, thoughts, etc. but what we must bear in mind is that it is ultimately we who're responsible for our conduct & it is we who build & create social conscience & morality.
My point of discussing this is not about the legality or what the law should be. But my conviction is that when we're bound by the shackles of self-righteousness we conveniently forget that there's nothing like absolute truth in this world. We can happily disagree with a view point. My firm belief is that we're sometimes too rigid in our outlook that we do away with the opposing viewpoint without giving it a proper thought & a reasonable consideration. In this era of economic liberalization & privatization, it's also necessary that we liberalize our thoughts. By no means I intend to say that we must liberalize our ideology. But we must liberalize our thoughts to the extent that we give opposing thoughts a proper consideration.
I believe that in a pluralistic society such as India, no person can afford to claim of being absolutely true by himself. A relative truth is a creation of prevalent socio-economic & political condition. So it's in the ultimate interest of our society that we build an attitude which serves purpose of the society as a whole & not few rigid minded individuals.

Dare To Think Beyond Emotions

The focal point of any discussion about life is being happy & being successful. While both happiness & success are relative as terminologies. They have different implications & appropriations for different individuals. By & large our ambition is confined to these two adjectives.
I sincerely believe that we think more about achieving these two rather than really achieving it. We have myopic vision about these two things. I wish we had broad-spectrum definition about these two things. The mettle within us melts when we're disgruntled & disappointed by relatively small failures. The problem with disappointment is that it withholds us from thinking & aiming big. If small follies & failures disappoint us then we cannot reach beyond that last blue mountain.
Everyone of us is bounded with those shackles of mediocrity that prevents us from going beyond that self-demarcated boundary. If what people think drives us to our conclusions then we're starving ourselves from crossing that pinnacle in life. All of us have a heart within the heart which makes us subject to emotions but it's about crossing that barrier & reaching beyond.
No one is immune from emotional needs but we have to make a decision for ourselves. We have to decide as to do we want to be lifelong hostage to emotions or we want to reach beyond that last blue mountain.
It's about dreaming big, really big, magnanimous, giant, huge, enthralling, larger than life, breaking shackles of mediocrity......
Do think over it!!!

An Introvert's Account......

World is a conglomeration of musicians where synchronisation of individual personalities leads to peace & harmony. I have always held a viewpoint that excellent individuals create cacophony if they don't work with perfect synchronisation. We think that we are too enlightened as individuals to guide ourselves through the tricky path of life. But everytime my attempts to meet negativity with my positivity are marred by those self righteous 'extroverts'.
An individual who isn't articulate enough to express his emotions is dubbed as 'non-entity'. The proverbial assertion that 'ultimately truth prevails' is too dogmatic & farce to be real & relevant. With deepest sense of regret I hold a viewpoint that shrewd, manipulative, appeasing & superficial sugar coated smiling individuals often paint real, true, innocent individuals as 'dumbos'.
Being an introvert, I feel that those making our mockery must realize that virtual world is afterall a real world's creation. Painting someone black doesn't deem someone black. If only virtuality was needed then whatsapp, facebook, twitter, etc. could've sufficed world's emotional needs. A fuck on the phone could've satisfied sexual desires. Kissing smiley could've done the work. If just talking good was enough then all the telephone operators would've been the most adored & admired individuals. If friendship was just about getting the work done then servants would've been our best friends. If opening our real emotions was just about bitching then with utmost regret & deep anguish I would like to affirm that 'LIFE IS NOT A REALITY SHOW'.
Life is about being frank with all your loved ones & it's about loving individuals as who they are. It's not about creating divisions within but about uniting factions within as well as outside. Our inability to express our real emotions is not as big a crime as faking false & rosy emotions.
I'm too shy a person to tell all this when I actually want to but I'm not a robot or a dumb that I don't understand what's happening around me. My inability to be emotionally articulate shouldn't be considered my emotional incompetence.
That's all what I had to express about the emotional malfunction within me due to politics being played outside.
THANK YOU.