From Strange To Stranger ...

“From Strange to Stranger....”

Aha.... At last a sigh of relief. Semesters are over and I am enjoying the cool breeze in my home town relaxing out the stresses of the previous few days. Tomorrow is exciting as well I thought. I would be meeting a great friend of mine with whom I used to spend hours in college & at office (lucky to have been colleagues as well). Long memorable times I reminisced. Suddenly I was distracted by the ring of the phone. Oh it was her, whom I am eager to meet tomorrow. She is married now. Life must have changed. It would be great to hear from her about her new journey. I picked up the phone & she greeted me warmly, so did I. I tried to express to her my eagerness regarding the meet just when she spoke to me that she have some urgent appointments at home so it won’t be possible to meet. Alas! I had only 2 days left before I would be leaving back for college and those 2 days being working days she would be busy in office. A burden of disappointment descended upon me. The person who used to spend so much time with me in the past, and now she even can’t make it for a meeting of say 1 or 2 hours. Does priorities & willingness in life change so much? I felt strangely sad.      

As I walked along the street dismayed by the recently gathered experience, the winds that once seemed so soothing, now felt grief-stricken. As I happened to pass by a sweet shop, I observed a disadvantaged person (disadvantaged because he could not afford to taste the sweets). The person’s facial expression clearly reinforced his eagerness to have one but he could only managed to give a hopeless look with other customers carrying out their purchases simply ignoring his presence. Nobody cared to give him even 1 sweet from their own nor did the shopkeeper who was selling so much.

Somehow I felt a connection between my eagerness and his. Everyone in this world has some sort of eagerness for something that represents the innocent him, to distinguish it from his greed. It’s very basic and could well be explained by Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. It may be the need for food or for love or for sense of belongingness leaving the advanced needs which might be too much for anyone to sacrifice for anybody. But can’t be give our fellow people this much so that they feel satisfied at some level at least. If we can’t do this then do we have the right to call us “social” when we cannot afford to bear the bare minimum cost of being a social being? We seem to have fragmented ourselves into human race, national borders, state delimitation's, city boundaries, locality limits, family relations & ultimately “me & myself” region. The last one is so impervious that we fail to see anything that does not comply with that region. This is a realization which each one of us perhaps has but we fail to do anything about it and we talk about social behavior that distinguishes us from animals. This is really a strange which made me feel as stranger to myself.     

Romancing a subject .....

"Romancing a subject" - the title might seem strange but it does happen in the lives of many when one gets deeply engaged with that particular subject. Though I am not a Casanova but I have fallen twice in such love in my life till date.Perhaps there were some deep ingrained similarities which were very subtle and can only be felt if one is thoroughly in relation with the topic.

My first crush was - Physics ... A lovely subject which trapped my feelings since schooldays. The intriguing theories presented with mathematical and real life examples which provided a simplistic view of of our sophisticated universe made me lost in the subject. Not that I was a scholar but I felt satisfied and happy spending time with Physics whenever I got an opportunity. It was a kind of unconditional love. The waves, statics, electromagnetism's, optics, nuclear physics all painted the canvas of my mind with varied and long lasting colors.

Now when I am pursuing my MBA another subject which is playing with my feelings and attracting me massively is economics. Though the 2 subjects are a distant apart but I do find striking similarities in the 2 of them. Economics seeks to explain the individual behavior on taking optimal decisions in relation to its environment (business environment to be precise) & is similarly described with mathematics as well the real life examples. The Game, production, cost, demand theories and that on market structures have split the canvas of my mind (once occupied by physics only) and painting the same with different colors.

What makes me feel for both of them is a question of which I am not sure of as well. Is it the way of expression of ideas that resemble which appeals to me or do they indeed have a similarity ? Perhaps if we think (rather we are) that we individuals are part of the universe and understanding the happenings in the universe would help us explaining the incidents in the individual behavior as well then a certain relationship can be explained. Its like micro factors operating in a macro environment. Still a long way to go in understanding the subject and hopefully at the end of the road I do get to know with certainty the real features of economics that made me to fall for it .......

Its not Relegion but Fanaticism that leads to Communal-ism - A food for thought

Communal-ism and riots are not anything surprising in our country. It has been a part and parcel of our lives (Indian lives) from the historical times.Being a nation with diverse religions makes us particularly vulnerable to such instances where we find ourselves engaged in such activities both because of our inner conflicts and many a times by external factors as well. External means exploitation of our religious sentiments for selfish interests of a community or group. But whatever be the reason the root cause for communal-ism lies in our fanaticism or excessive religious enthusiasm which often makes us cross the forbidden lines and make the undesired outcomes to happen.

Religion is like a constitution that defines the way we could live our life in a better and more mature way. Therefore showing extra excitement on such matters is a sign of immaturity which is in direct violation of the religious contract itself. But being a nation of high sentiments and emotions we tend to fall in that trap (one can see our emotions for Cricket which is after all a game while we lack the same for our fellow country-mates who might be of a different caste, creed and religion so to speak of). This lack of sense and maturity is perhaps one of the most important reasons for us being a developing nation still and we would not develop unless we get mature.

The diminishing global boundaries, stiff competition to succeed & survive are perhaps blurring the religious segments to some extent but still such incidents pop up every now and then. We as a nation need to grow up and develop a nationalist feeling (much inspired by our moral and spiritual leaders). We need to look beyond our narrow horizon to a bigger cause of winning as a nation and most importantly channelize our emotions is a more professional way.....

Urge for Independence ..........

Reminiscing on 15th August - the most auspicious day in the history of our nation, a flurry of inquisitive thoughts stormed across my mind which put me into a dilemma with myself. Are we really independent ? Does the definition of independence encompass voting rights only or does it imply something more than this ? With diminishing social security, employment opportunities, transparency of affairs, resources and a lagging economy the real meaning of independence blurred before my eyes. The prime minister's speech seemed to be an annual ritual lacking the inspiration to motivate the people even in the short term. Are we really independent?

Sitting at IMT Ghaziabad, as I am jotting down my thoughts I realize that life isn't any better here as well. Students are anxious of getting summers & final placements, the rat race for competition and marks is on in full flow and though I had myself believed in such a course previously but I expected something different here. Is it the lagging economy that is responsible for such a cut throat competition due to fewer opportunities or Has it become the way of life with us, the Indians to compete for each and every trivial need - kudos to our large national strength ? Are we really independent ?

A green country - green in all aspects viz. greenness of thoughts, of opportunities, of protection and security, a free space to breathe in and greenness of life overall seems to be at its elusive best. The question still haunts me - Are we really independent ? With corruption roaring across the avenues of growth and opportunity, with crime staring at the safety of citizens & with poverty smiling at our lives the meaning of independence has indeed changed for us or have we changed it to console our minds and please our false ego of being independent ?

As patriotic & persistent citizens of this amazing country called India we still believe in fighting our ways out through every possible difficulty. We fought, we are fighting and we will continue to fight such is the spirit and enthusiasm that exists in us. Perhaps the ever prevailing situations has ingrained the aptitude for struggle in our genes. We do falter at a failure, get dumbfounded at a bomb blast, feel sympathetic at the misery of our fellow citizens but the urge for quick resumption of the lucrative rat race that we love so much puts us back on track, this is perhaps how we understand independence and this seems to be our very urge for independence. Are we really independent ?