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.

Message to Disgruntled Indians

Yes, it's 15th August tomorrow. Like every other day, it will also have 24 hours. What makes difference to a common man is a 'holiday' on this day. For some, the day might begin with flag hoisting early in the morning & for most of them it's a 'late jagneka din'.
The news channels will air speeches of important political leaders & project it as if a speech is going to be a game changer for India. The traditional 'Bhaiyo aur Beheno'  speech hardly invoke any nationalist sentiments. Now contrast Independence day with Navratri OR Diwali. By no means, I intend to say that these festivals are inferior to our national festivals. But this sharp contrast in our attitude indicates an underlying disconnect with the national festivals. It needs an introspection as to why these festivals fail to invoke nationalist sentiments.
While our present situation may not be as good as we would've liked it to be but by no means it is indicative of our dark future. Dear friends, please understand that a nation's true test is it's capacity to overcome some compelling & enthralling circumstances. India has always stood the test of time & we have given befitting reply to our detractors. When the whole world was in the shadow of dark ignorance, it was India which enlightened the world with it's Vedic knowledge. Now all this Vedas & Mahabharata may not inspire us. But an Indian CEO heading a Multinational Company can surely be an inspiring story. Our nation is too rich in cultural & spiritual sense to be described & understood in a small writeup. Also, I don't consider myself competent that I can describe it holistically.
But with all the prevalent ills, an undisputed & uncontested fact remains that we are destined for GREATNESS. I have no doubt that we will fully comply & withstand the guiding principles of our constitution. Indians are sovereign by nature, socialist by temperament & most importantly secular by cultural. We have upheld these values since time immemorial. I have no two thoughts about our unblemished record as a cultured civilization.
To all my friends, feeling disconnected with India, I must remind them a familiar cricket phrase that 'FORM IS TEMPORARY BUT CLASS IS PERMANENT'.
I wish all of you a very happy & a committed INDEPENDENCE DAY. Today I remember a sanskrit proverb which explicitly states:-
Mother & Motherland are above heaven
I once again wish all my countrymen a very happy independence day in advance & pray for our nation's well being & prosperity.

India's message to it's pessimistic citizens...

As we head for our independence day, I think we need to examine ourselves. Our examination should primarily be focused on what we, as indians, can do for our beloved nation. With all our desires & personal ambitions, a fact remains that we owe a part of our success & failure to this nation if not cent percent. All the fiery writings & speeches don't matter because their effect is limited to few hours. Similarly, celebrating the independence day & remembering the nation for one day is not important.
Celebrating independence day & being unconcerned for next 363 days(26th January) is not what independence day is about. This day is for reiterating our faith & belief in our beloved nation. I don't wish & neither do I have the capacity to attract people into my writings & speeches. But I intend to make people think about our nation is & what we can do for it.
We all admire so called 'developed' nations but what we forget is the role of it's citizens in it's development. If we really have fire in our belly to do something then I don't think a few set of bureaucrats or politicians can stop us from doing so. A nation is a reflection of it's own people. Abusing the nation for being undeveloped & bashing the authorities doesn't help our cause.
If valentine's day invokes extreme emotion than I think independence day also deserves a thought.
India is destined to be great, I don't think we can dispute that. Those abusing India for being undeveloped probably do not deserve such greatness.
I just intend to make people aware about who we are & what we can do as a nation. India will rise to pinnacle & a few loose cannons cannot stop that. We are not some foreign invaders that we consider ourselves to be different from India. We are the nation & the nation is in us.
Nothing can stop India from being great!
Your pessimism is your problem.

A Mumbai travel.....

With all the complexities & ambiguities, the only thing which remains constant for a mumbaikar, is a travel in a local train. All high profile announcements & allocations in budget hardly make a difference to everyday commuters. But what makes difference is a 'seat' in a 9AM Churchgate bound local. Hell with the fiscal deficits & retrospective taxations, the important thing is getting a 'handle' or a 'corner' in a crowded train.
Surely there is a trust deficit between a daily commuter & railway authorities. But what we must not forget is that daily almost a small sized nation travels in locals. The frequency of locals is really a matter of envy for many nations. While we may complain everyday, but an undeniable fact is "WE LOVE IT".
With all my justifiable prejudices for railways, I confess that providing services to such a large population is a no joke. Infact, locals are much more than a service providing agency, they are a second home for Borivali to Churchgate commuters. I think these commuters maybe spending less time with wife or children than what they spend with local trains.
While sex may be orgasmic but getting a seat at andheri in 9 AM local is equally exciting if not less :). Trains & Taxes are like 'You love it, You hate it, You can't ignore it!
But with all our pro & anti biases, an undisputed & undeniable fact is
"LOVE THE LOCALS IN THE LOCAL SO THAT THE LOCAL IN THE LOCALS LOVES YOU"
:) :)