A walk for a good cause

I always wanted to do something different from my routine in the weekends. Last weekend was special. It was the 10 K run – a marathon organized in Hyderabad for various causes. The cause was originally Health, Fitness and Environment. But unfortunately it was transformed into one single cause – Fight against Terrorism.

So many employees from various IT companies, NGOs, school and college students participated in the event. The people who usually wake up at 9 or 10 on Sundays were present at the People’s plaza sharply at 6:30. It was a real festive ambience. I was so proud to a part of thousands of people running for some good cause. The scarlet color was Omni-present and everyone seemed to be cheered up involuntarily. No one had the apprehensions of whether they would be able to cover the entire distance in one go. They all wanted to participate and nothing else was in their minds.

It was a beautiful winter morning with no pollution of sound or air around us. The Marathon started at 7:30 and we all started our journey wanting whole-heartedly to complete it atleast within 2 hrs. We were mutually motivated and none of us were feeling tired. First kilometer was the longest. Later we got used to the distances. We were not waiting for the next milestone. Here and there, they had arranged for some rock bands to keep us away from exhaustion. The whole walk or rather run was around the Hussain Sagar Lake. Once in a while there were diversions to extend the length of the road to 10kms. We usually have a notion that people take the easiest path to complete the task. But none of them took the shorter route. Everybody was so sincere that they obeyed the directions, knowing that crossing the 10 cm tall divider would cost them nothing.

I was jogging alone for almost half of the marathon. Surprisingly I was not feeling bored neither did I fall into introspection. I was observing the outside world. I was feeling euphoric to be amidst hundreds of good people. In spite of all the attacks happening around me I felt a sense of unity and humanity the world is preserving. I discovered some beautiful architecture on the way, which was never an item in the list of Must-See places in Hyderabad. The whole task of 10K run was made much easier by these natural elements.

We could spot the 1km (Remaining) mark sooner than expected. It was really a joyous moment when we crossed the chequered flag. Everyone has won in this event or atleast that was the feeling we all had. The entire journey ended in just an hour and a half. I did not feel any tiredness or pain for the whole day. It all started the next day but made sure I went to office. 

The crux of the event is the endurance, belief in oneself and above all the pride of participation. If anyone possesses these qualities, he or she can go to farther not only in this kind of marathon but also in the marathon of life. Waiting for the next Marathon! Three cheers to Hyderabad and the 10 K foundation!!!!

It is not Mumbai- It is India

Terror rocks Mumbai. It was not a bomb blast or hijack but an open firing. A big question against Indian Security. There is no certainty of life the next second. Thousands of lives are at stake. This event has shattered the minds of every citizen of India more than any other incident that had ever taken place in Mumbai for the past 10 to 15 years. Mumbai had always shown solidarity and resilience against these attacks and as always comes back to normal the very next week. Yes, this can be acceptable and appreciated if it was the first, second, third or fourth time. But definitely not forever.

With a population of over a billion, it is next to impossible scrutinizing movement of every individual in India. So it does not make any sense comparing India with US for example. They had also faced a similar mishap during the Twin Towers attack. So how long do you think the media or the politicians were blaming the security breach there? There is no time to blame each other in this scenario. It is high time that we get into action and curb terrorism. This is beyond politics, beyond religion and beyond Indo-pak feud. All we need is to ignore all the differences in religion, status, borders and ideologies and fight against the terrorism minority who are spread all over the world.

The Home-Minister has stepped down, there is a hanging Govt in Maharashtra, Rahul Gandhi is partying while the operations in Mumbai were in a crucial stage, Ritesh Deshmukh and RGV were having a stroll in the Taj Corridor, the information regarding the illegal entry of people in the Indian Territory taken easy by the officials. We blame everyone for the incident. These were a handful of people. What were the others doing? Is it practical to call everyone and enquire about the carelessness?

Whatever happened has happened. It is time to join hands. No BJP or Congress or Jananta Dal can ameliorate the situation. Only we as Indians can do it. It is election time. Do not vote the party. Vote the individuals. Vote if you believe that the person can bring you out of the unprotected shell to the protected space. Do not vote the famous people just because you feel that bad is better than worse. Vote the not so famous people who strive hard for the betterment of the society.

Media is helping us identifying the right people and the wrong people to elect. We should definitely make use of these things. Though at times, they get carried away by showing the gossips and celebrities, they stand up when there is a crisis. They point out every costly mistake a leader makes.
Salute the heroes who fought till every weed was removed. Every citizen should feel responsible for the things happening around and the time will come when everyone of us feel safe to go anywhere in the country.

No where to go

Hi everyone,
Just to keep in touch with my writing, I was searching for a topic to write. Then I bumped over one of the blogs written by some Shenoy. To tell you the truth, there were blogs which meant absolute sense and a few others which had no relevance to me but still found interesting. Maybe, this blog would be of no relevance to you or not even interesting. Still..

I was supposed to write the CAT(not the Administrative Tribunal) and IIFT in Hyderabad. The centers were somewhere in Abids and Koti. My roommate accompanied me to search them so that I need not roam around on the D days. I had the centers located on the Google maps (So thoughtful of me isn't it?). We took a road to reach the first destination and came back to the main road taking another one. The route to and fro second centre was a bit more confusing. Lady Luck guided us through the correct lefts and rights and brought us to the place where we had to catch the bus.

So what happened in the meanwhile? It was a sheer irony. I had great dreams of roaming in the cities of some part of Europe taking a map with me, struggling to ask the route to the passers-by, enjoying every inch of my walk and the sceneries, doing a great deal of window-shopping. And the reality was I was roaming with the map in the crowded city of Hyderabad, struggling to walk on the road, cursing the city and the weather, couldn't even find the windows. Then I gave a self-consoling monologue- “This is just the starting. Mera Number bhi aayega!!” .

But then I realized, this is the charm and spirit of any Indian city, this is the reality, this is the place where I can be happy the rest of my life. It would actually be strange with no people around, no buzzing streets. I can of course enjoy Europe for so many days but how long can I stay in the fairy-land? I should return home. So we decided to board the bus back to the hostel. The long stroll though not as dreamt of, was still beautiful and refreshing.

Some questions are not to be answered

1) Why does Africa, having world’s biggest gold and diamond mines, also have the highest degree of poverty and mal-nutrition?

2) Why do the machines invented make life easier today and dangerous tomorrow?

3) If Black is not a color then why are the Black called the colored people?

4) If Indians were one of the earliest civilized people, why didn't they travel east or west before the others visited India?

5) Why does the US after facing all the tornadoes and hurricanes every year not get poorer year by year?

6) How would the world have been if everyone gets everything without using money?

7) Have the developed countries stopped developing? If not, does it mean that they are developing countries?

8) If Green IT is today’s buzz word, won’t it be better to stop running computers? Won’t the world become greener after that?

9) If brain has Grey cells but not Black and White, does it mean that it does not answer Yes or No?

10) Finally, if man is a part of nature and nature is punctual why isn’t man?

So how is life?

Hello everyone,
Long since i wrote a blog. Was so pre-occupied with the happenings in my own life that I did not find time to analyse what was happening and express myself here. But now I found time because I recently read a short passage while going through an aptitude paper. Usually such passages never influence people because it is read on only one purpose which is mechanical- to score more marks. But somehow I was influenced by this and suddenly the way I look at myself and my life changed.

This was the first line of the passage..
Goethe, a German philosopher once had mentioned that one should not do what he does not like and must try hard to succeed in life doing what he really wanted to do. Otherwise there is no meaning in life doing things for others' happiness.

I was exactly having the same opinion and was really obsessed with thoughts that I was not doing what I really liked. This made me read the passage with interest rather than with purpose. But the following lines of the passage was a turning point. The author who had mentioned Goethe was actually opposing it. He wanted to convey that you should start liking what you do. Well... I really thought it was nonsense. But i couldn't help circumspecting this fact. We usually don't end up easily doing what we like and that is practically not possible as soon as you wish. It really takes a hell lot of time to fullfill your desires.

In the meantime, if you start worrying about the truth that "This is not what I always wanted", life becomes miserable and I personally faced it. But what if I started to like what I do.. Won't I be happier than what I was? This is what the author concluded. Though he did not like doing certain things in life and was compelled to do it several times as a routine, he had started to like doing them and the result was his own happiness. I had to agree with him and I did not have a choice.

A few days later there was a quote from another big philosopher which supported the author's argument. In Aristotle's words- "Start loving your work. You will never have to work again in your lifetime". This is the sense of practicality. This actually changed the way I looked at my life before reading the passage. Now I feel much happier and peaceful than before.

But this does not mean that one has to stop his journey towards one's desires. Looking this way will only make you optimistic towards your ambitions. When you are happy doing whatever you did not like, then imagine the bliss you would get out of doing what you like. Looking at life from this perspective makes the world a beautiful place to live in.

Natural wonders

Nature really brings serenity to the person who writes about it and later to the readers. So with a mutual advatageous intention, I am going to write about the discipline that the nature showcases through various movements around us. For eg., the timely monsoons, the non-stopping motion of planets at the same pace around the sun, Kurunji flowers blossoming once in 14 years and so on... One such wonder is the migration of birds.

Birds have a biological clock inside which tells them the exact time to start migrating from one place to another in hopes of survival and food. It is an amazing truth that they travel in the same season every year without missing the day. They also make it a point to return to their homeland soon after their work(survival) in the foreign land is over. They sort of maintain the balance of their stay in all the places they migrate.

If punctuality is a characteristic of discipline, then order and responsibility too are a part of discipline. I always used to look up the sky for the migratory birds forming a V-pattern to maintain a sense of direction. They look exquisitely beautiful to watch them in comparison to the totally-out-of-discipline humans around us. Have you ever wondered why these birds are taking the V-shape and why are they so disciplined unlike the cattle which move in herds and not lines?

Well, the whole query has a beautiful scientific and logical explanation. It is the responsibility of the lead bird(the bird at the tip of V) to face the wind and maintain the direction. All the other birds follow the leader. Such an orderly way of flying enables them to communicate the landing,direction and emergency which will be lacking in the flock of birds. The lead bird changes on a rotating basis. After the lead bird gets exhausted the bird right behind it takes the responsibility. This is to ensure that every bird gets equal amount of rest before they take up its job again. The least strain in flying is to the last two birds in the V. No bird leaves the group to go alone. If any bird gets injured, the entire V lands in a place to look after it. They never let anyone alone or lost. Who told birds have peanut sized brain and no sixth sense???

So next time you notice such a wonderful phenomenon, don't just appreciate it but respect it. The beauty, intelligence and responsibility surely do deserve to be honored.

The perennial source of happiness

Life is too short so live the maximum of it. This is a common saying in which each word makes a perfect sense. Though I have been living every moment of my life I did not think deeply about this until I saw a French movie, Amelie. This movie actually portrays the life of a simple girl next-door who derives pleasure out of small petty things around her. One another example is the little boy Ishaan in Taare Zameen Par in which he keeps staring on every beautiful treat that the nature offers but later ends up getting scoldings. So I just felt like comparing my experiences with these people's. It happened to be true that I am also in the habit of noticing the beautiful things around me which others have failed to notice.


Stones
Wherever I go, I like collecting stones. Sounds bizzare?? Yes! Any stone that looks a bit different to me I keep it in my bag and bring it home. I show to my mom with great pride. "Look, I have got something special today". The stones may be round, square, shapeless in blue,violet,pink,green or sometimes multi-coloured. They are actually precious stones for me. I can say it is invaluable because i love them more than the diamonds and rubies. Value after all is one's own perspective. May be this was why I wanted to be a Geologist. Also I like the sound when a pebble is dropped into water. Then following it are the ripples which are formed. I can keep on watching these till there are no stones left to drop.


Clouds
I like watching the clouds and imagining shapes which matches some real-world things around me. And sometimes my conclusion ends up in an Amoeba. :) You can infact make a short film out of the movement of clouds in 10 minutes. It makes me very excited and thoughtful. I am a good dreamer. Day-dreamer you can say. Imaginations are so powerful that you may never even think of it happening in real life.


Dogs
I love dogs though I have never grown one. If I am given a choice of seeing boys and dogs in an instance i would probably choose to see dogs :) I have even decided to resign my job after 40 or 45 to stay at home and grow a dog. Wherever I go, if I see a dog that looks clean I never hesitate to tough and play with it. Though I know that I may never see it again or even if i see i may not be able to recognize it. But I make sure that I have lived those 5 minutes of my life. And I get so many such 5 minutes. You can get instant gratitude and affection from that animal. So probably if you are walking alone in the road you can make friends easily. There is no question of trust you see :)


Birds
I love travelling and have been travelling long distances since I was born. Train journey is a perfect time to notice the world around you because you have nothing else to do. Well, I sleep during the nights because it is too dark outside to notice anything. Morning time, people say it is the most boring part of any journey. But had you done what I have been doing so far, you would not feel the boredom. You would have probable seen the electric lines along the track. But have you ever seen the beautiful birds that sit on these lines? Not those ordinary birds which you see in the cities. Villages are rich in fauna. I still have them photographed in my brain. Wow!! Nature really makes you wonder how these colours are ever produced. Orange, Yellow, Sky blue, Purple, Red etc and also imagine the permutations and combinations of these colors. You don't have to go to a bird sanctuary and see the specific birds that migrate there. You have a jumbo-size bird sanctuary in your reach where there are no limitations of species u can watch.


Going places by merely talking
You never have to estimate the practicality or feasibility for talking :). Whenever I see programs in Travel and Living or NDTV good times or any program that shows adventures or travel or food, my roommate and I start discussing about our "imaginary trip" to the places shown. We actually plan how to get there, which season to go, what food to eat, what sports we have to participate, how to travel there so many such discussions. So we actually travel to these places, live there just by talking for one hour. We plan about bungee jumping, rafting, tree houses,bloody mary,black forest, a cosy hotel, snow capped mountains and what not!! At the end of discussion we actually feel as ecstatic as we have really traveled to those places. It is really a wonderful experience.I have lived that one hour without spending a penny. Who knows! When I really go to these places later in your lifetime, I will definitely remember the discussion I had earlier not knowing this would really happen. That would make me even happier.

Planets
Whenever I am able to see the sky I watch the planets. The easiest way to identify the planets from stars is that they don't twinkle. The one planet I am sure everyone can find is Mars because it is orange in color. So I try to locate it and compare with the snapshot of its position in my mind. Of course the snapshot is relative to the position of moon :). Voila!! I became an astronomer. :) :)

These are actually very few of the thousands of small pleasures I derive my happiness from. I live every moment of my life when I don't work or sleep. You can try many such methods to keep you, your mind and your imaginations active and healthy.The source of happiness is around you and you just have to identify it. After all what we want in life is happiness in us and around us.

PS: I have not given much importance to the language. Please do not mind.. :P