Wonderman - Part 2

Arjuna got back to his home. He was still in a daze after the news about his Sweden travel plans were confirmed. He crashed on his bed, staring at the ceiling. "What was going on?" he thought. The weird sensation in his head was still there. He made a mental note to consult the doctor after a couple of days if it persisted.

He started recounting the events of last few days. The headache, the Sweden trip, the loud speaker going bust. "Wait a minute" he thought. He abruptly stood up and walked towards the window. The speaker had been removed and there was no more blaring music. He turned towards the table at the corner of the room. "Is it possible?" he mused. "Impossible" answered his mind promptly. "Anything is possible" answered the alter ego. "Only one way to find out" he mused.

Arjuna raised his shaky hands, pointing towards the pen stand at the corner of the table. He dropped his hand abruptly, commanding in his mind to move the pen stand and make it fall on the floor. Nothing happened. "I told you!!" screamed his mind. "Whom was I kidding" he thought and turned towards the window again. "Try again" screamed his alter ego. "Try again and mean it this time" came the scream from within his head.

He slowly turned towards the same pen stand and concentrated hard. Raising his hand, closing his eyes and imagining the fall of the pen stand. He abruptly brought down his hand and also commanded the pen stand to fall on the floor. CRASH. There was a sound near the table. He slowly opened his eyes and saw the pend stand on the floor. His hands flew to his mouth, eyes wide open and slumped to the floor. He couldn't believe what just happened. He had not touched it. There was nobody else in the room. There was no burst of air from anywhere outside. The room was still. His mind wasn't.

He knew a little bit about Telekinesis. Whatever little he knew told him that it requires years to develop that kind of power. Meditation, zoning, visualization, concentration - all the ingredients required to make it happen, practiced over many years. But here it just happened. "How"? he mused.

But Telekinesis did not explain the fact of the Sweden trip. He was not trying to influence any object in that case. How did that happen? He wanted answers and he wanted instantly. He called Krishna on his phone. "Hey man, wassup?" boomed Krishna. "We need to talk. Can you come over to my place immediately?" asked Arjuna. "Everything OK?" asked a serious Krishna. "Yes and No. I can't explain. Just come over" said Arjuna and he hung up. 

Krishna was at his place within an hour and had just witnessed another show by Arjuna. He was staring with his mouth open. Quickly, he regained his composure and both of them sat down finally and just stared down without saying a word for some time. "This is not impossible, you know. Telekinesis does work" said Krishna. Arjuna voiced his opinion about what he was thinking earlier and also posed him the question of the Sweden trip. "How did that happen?" asked Arjuna.

"Well, the universe does work in a mysterious fashion my friend" said Krishna, humor in his voice. "Not funny bob" said Arjuna, glaring at him. Krishna immediately held up his hand in mock surrender and said "take it easy bob. This is all fascinating stuff and you must be happy. You are a superman. But do not get angry at me, I may get hurt". 

"But on a serious note, here is what I think. The universe is indeed connected. How and why, I don't know. But look at the very successful people all over. They imagined what they wanted. They visualized what they wanted. They wanted it and wanted it so bad. It may be success, money, power or simply nothing. But they did get it. After years of struggle. Even our ancestors are known to posses great powers according to the stories of Mahabharata and Ramayana right? They did achieve them with a great number of years of dedicated penance, which is nothing but a concentrated effort through meditation. There definitely is the possibility to get what you want when you want something without a second thought, without a shadow of doubt. Paulo Coelho said it, our sacred texts said it, every guru you come across says it."

"In this case, you somehow mysteriously and conveniently have avoided all the hard work and got to the point of getting what you want" said a smiling Krishna. "HaHaHa" smiled Arjuna sarcastically. In all honesty, both didn't know what was happening, but both were super excited now after the initial shock was over. "I am going to call you Wonderman from today" proclaimed Krishna. "I will enjoy while it lasts" said Arjuna and made the chair which Krishna was sitting to move away, making Krishna fall on the floor. "Easy boy, easy" said Krishna and they both burst out laughing.

Wonderman - Part 1

He didn't want this. Not now. Not when the world he lived in didn't make sense to him anymore.

May be this is the ultimate truth. This is what God wanted him to realize. But this was the problem. He didn't want to accept this realization. This was not what he hoped to realize. Making money, earning temporary fame, leaving a legacy behind. Is this it? Is this what the world wanted him to do? No, he decided. No!!. There must be more to this life than all this !!! But the world around him was just this. This is what it expected of him. But he wasn't buying this argument.

Mid life crisis had hit Arjuna a little too early. He thought he was way too young to go through this at the age of 26. What the hell am I doing with my life, he mused. Facebook had turned into Marriagebook. Everyone around him were getting married. It was almost like the world would come to an end if they didn't go through the ritual of Marriage! People who were already married were now posting photographs of their kids! The world didn't make sense to him anymore.

He closed his laptop and rubbed his eyes. The weird sensation in his head that was plaguing him for the past couple of days was driving him crazy. it wasn't uncomfortable, yet it wasn't normal either. His mind was processing a zillion things at the same time and at 22:30 hours on a Sunday night, a loud speaker was blaring some crappy song outside his apartment. "Oh shut up !!" he thought and there was a loud noise (thud) followed by total silence. He walked out to check what the sound was. Smoke was emanating from the speakers. Looked like the circuits or whatever inside the speakers were totally fried. "Thank god for Small favors" he thought and returned to his room. 

"Another boring day at work tomorrow" he thought and retired to bed early that night. Weird dreams haunted him. He woke up in the morning having a heavy head. "Great" he thought. "What a wonderful start to the week" he murmured dryly. Arjuna got ready and started towards his office and was met with the Monday morning rush of vehicles on the road. He smiled to himself as he expected this and while being stuck in the jam, he called up his friend Krishna "How much did you run today morning ?" he asked. "4 km in 20 minutes" replied a beaming Krishna. "Well, this will definitely come in handy when you want to run away from your fiance, if you get one in the first place" said Arjuna, tongue in cheek. "Very funny dude. I will run towards her, not away" said Krishna, laughing. Arjuna, looking ahead on the long queue of vehicles said "Get a girl to at least look at you objectively buddy". "All in a good time bro, all in a good time" said Krishna. The banter continued for a while and Arjuna hung up as he reached his office.

While going through his mail stack, he came across a spam Visit Sweden. "I so wish" he mused. Rahul came across his desk and started chatting "I assume you had an amazing weekend" he said. "Yeah dude, totally amazing! It was like I was in the middle of an Indo-Pak cricket match and India was winning" he said with a straight face. Rahul burst out laughing. "It shows on your face. Come. Let's go get coffee" he said, dragging Arjuna with him to the cafeteria.

While sipping coffee, Arjuna got a call. It was his manager. "Oh boy. Wonder what's wrong now" he thought and received the call. "Hi Arjun, can you come by my cabin ASAP?" his manager asked. "Sure Suraj. Will be with you in 10 minutes. Just finishing my coffee" said Arjuna. "Sure. See you in 10" signed off Suraj. Later in the cabin, Suraj addressed Arjuna "There is a project kick off in Sweden in 3 weeks  time. Basic requirement gathering, meet and greet. You know the drill. Duration is for a month minimum and might get extended to 3. Interested?" Arjuna looked incredulously at Suraj and started thinking "what the hell..."
(To be continued...)

CHINA: THE UGLY DRAGON - 2

Exactly 50 years ago, China had unceremoniously attacked the north east frontier of India. There was absolutely no provocation and what hurt the then PM Nehru the most is the backstabbing attitude of the Chinese leadership, especially after the fruitful bilateral talks that had taken place during late 1950’s.

In continuation of The Ugly Dragon series, I try to present the Socio Economic and political motives of the China as perceived by a commoner like me.

                THE DRAGON STARTS FLYING

There was a time when Chinese travelers visited various Indian kingdoms and wrote countless books and scriptures about life and culture in India. There was a healthy cultural exchange happening through many centuries, hardly any reason for animosity to brew.

In a recent survey conducted by various think tanks of the western world, 80% of Chinese people don’t even remember the 1962 War against India.

Around 40% of the people have a positive attitude towards India and also want India to grow. Around 30% of the people are neutral and only a marginal 16% do not have a favorable opinion about India. In contrast, what has the Chinese leadership been upto?

Its an open secret that the Chinese provide more than half of the military technology to Pakistan, including their nuclear arsenal. China keeps lauding Pakistan for anything and everything they do or not do (including curbing terrorism which they don’t). In this way, China intends to keep the focus of India firmly divided between itself and Pakistan all the time.

Politically, China employs the stick and carrot policy to Pakistan and thereby increases its influence along the borders of Kashmir. A couple of years ago, when there were severe floods and earthquake in Pakistan occupied Kashmir, China offered to rebuild all the infrastructure. This way, china gained access to the interior regions of PoK and now have set up multiple base camps inside. These base camps are also not very far from the LoC (line of control). In this way, china has the influence not only in Pakistan, but also in PoK and has the capability to enter mainland India from the disputed territory.

The access gained also leads to increased smuggling between India and China. Chinese economy is heavily dependent on exports. Chinese traders may illegally use this route to flood the Indian market with cheap and inferior quality goods. Now that we are talking about the economic impact China has had, let me quote two examples.

1 1. There is a town called Channapatna in Karnataka state, India. It is around 60 km from Bangalore. This small town was and is famous for its wooden toys. In fact, the toys became so popular that it is called “Gombegala ooru” in Kannada (meaning city of toys). The situation is such a worst state that there are hardly any industries left in producing these toys. Artisans’ population is vanishing. The reason: Cheap and inferior Chinese toys that have flooded the market, where the local industry just cannot compete and are forced to shut down.

2.   Silk Sarees have been woven and used in India for thousands of years. There are so many varieties of silk and the people weaving these Sarees are very highly skilled. Kanchipuram Silk, Dharmavaram Silk, Mysore Silk, etc. the names keep coming in. So what happened here you may ask?
A decade ago, some of the best silk weavers from India were taken to China. They were promised and given a fortune to teach their art to Chinese weavers. RESULT: more than half the silk sarees sold in india are now made in china. Don’t believe me? Ask the trader you buy the saree next time and look for labels, if available.

How does china achieve so much penetration into a market? Answer is very simple. Their goods are priced very less compared to locally available goods. It’s not only in india, but the entire world. From the chargers we use for mobile to the phones we use, to the planes we fly. All are made in China. How do they price so less? Look at their exchange rate of the currency.

The US has categorically stated that the Chinese currency is highly undervalued and hence, they qualify for being the hottest exporter in the world. It is not entirely false. But the basic question anyone would ask is wouldn't it hurt the imports of China? Shouldn't they have to pay through their nose to get it?

The answer is: No, not always. China uses the barter system to keep the costs down. For example, they swap food grains for oil, thereby circumventing the issue of currency valuation completely in many situations.

In conclusion, a lot can be said about the way china is conducting its business and their policies. But all I can say is, if we commoners lie, copy and cheat; its illegal and we might be even punished for the same. But if the leaders of a nation do it, it’s then called “Politics”.

MY INDIA

Current problems:

1. Lack of Transparency
2. Non Accountability of Politicians
3. Corrupt Law makers/Law keepers

The path to redemption:

1. The problem of transparency (or the lack of it) has to be tackled at 2 levels.
1. At the macro level, the government has to show intent in re engineering the policies and procedures so as to make them simple, thereby eliminating the need for agents and misinterpretation of rules. Be it for opening a company, a university or running a chain of hotels or hospitals. A single window clearance system and an open bidding process for government contracts. Therefore, lobbying can then be minimized to a great extent.
   
   
2. At the micro level where the citizen is affected directly, greater scrutiny by the public for all the facilities being rendered by advocating CCTV’s in all the offices and relaying the live feed to people outside the offices. Setting a target date for a person’s work to be completed and penalties levied on the officials for the delays (deduction from their salaries)

2. Lack of political accountability has always been one of the biggest roadblocks in the development of our nation. In order to fix this, the elected representatives have to publish their action items to be carried out on per year basis and also show the cost, timeframe and how they intend to accomplish each of their goals.
   
   
3. Corruption grows when the fence starts eating the crop. But how to protect the fence in the first place?

Police is the first and many a time, the last resort for all of us. If they do not protect the helpless, then who would? The most common reason many police officials point out for they being corrupt in the first place is transfers and less salary. The former can be tackled by setting up an independent board to look into it at the state and central level devoid of any political interference with total transparency and on the merit of the case. The latter has to be tackled with legislation and with utmost urgency. Modernizing the force to tackle terrorism is also the need of the hour.

4. The most ambitious suggestion of mine is that, in order to tackle corruption to a great extent, use of debit/credit cards must be made mandatory for any transaction above Rs. 200. Buying/selling of goods and any financial transaction has to be made compulsory only via a debit/credit card and use of cash has to be limited to a great extent. I do understand the huge logistical challenge in implementing the same, but it can first be rolled out in major metros first and then rolled out Pan India. The use of extensive debit card is already happening around us in tier 1 cities. All we need is the intent to do it.

Conclusion:

I do not blame the present system for the mess around. Any system which we follow will have loopholes.

We, the people, have to change. Only then will Our India today change for a better India tomorrow.

CHINA: THE UGLY DRAGON -1

The dragon has started to spread its wings and naturally, the space in which it already is so overcrowded, the dragon’s jostling is causing a lot of concerns, problems and tension not only in the APAC region, but also around the world.

India has always been wary of China and its recent actions are justifying that fact. Even though India has been spearheading the NAM since the cold war days, China seems to have trust issues with one of its closest neighbor, at least geographically. This can be gauged from the fact of its ties with Pakistan both on economic front and more disturbingly on the military front.

The recent issues that I want to point out cover a facet of areas and not confined to the political arena. It encompasses military, Socio-economic and the political areas. In this first of the 2 series I try to explain the circumstances on the military arena as this definitely is the most alarming situation developing at our door step.

THE DRAGON BREATHES FIRE

There have been more than 100 “reported” incursions into the Indian Territory by the Chinese forces in the last one year.  These are official figures and as known in India, the number in reality will be much higher. We can be almost certain there has been no provocation from the Indian side. Therefore, why is China being so aggressive with one of its biggest trade partner?

Is China, by being aggressive, sending a message to the other emerging power that it is still the big brother? Is this a message to the rest of the world that China has indeed arrived on the world stage? Does it want to flex its military muscles and keep a check on India in case it gets a little adventurous?

The intention of the Chinese is not very clear as they always have been a closed society. Some might attribute this behavior to the fact that it is surrounded by hostile neighbors. But again, can one of the reasons for the neighbors’ becoming hostile is because of the military build-up and muscle flexing of the Chinese? This question can only be answered by them.

The modernization drive of the Chinese military can surely be a superb case study. The zeal, drive and the speed with which they are progressing is a case of wonder and alarm for the rest of the world. The Chinese have upped their defence spending substantially along the lines of their meteoric GDP growth. For the year 2012, china’s reported defence budget is $160 billion. This is the reported figure and the actual spending will be much higher. Key areas such as R&D are kept off this estimate and the calculation is only for “known assets”.

The rapid military modernization of Tibet is a clear example of its increasing offense/defence preparedness towards India. PLA has built runways along the border to handle large aircrafts that can rapidly deploy troops in a spate of hours and not days unlike earlier times. Highest motor able all weather roads and bridges have been built to cater to the rapid troop movement from interior china through Tibet and finally to the Sino-Indian border. China has created battalions with a strike group specifically to reach point A with lightning speed and take over that area. Conventional war strategies have now been shelved.

The PLA is still the largest army in the world, with an active force of 2.3 million. But China's real military strength increasingly lies elsewhere. The US planners think China is intent on acquiring what is called in the jargon A2/AD, or “anti-access/area denial” capabilities. The idea here is to use pinpoint ground attack and anti-ship missiles, a growing fleet of modern submarines and cyber and anti-satellite weapons to destroy or disable another nation's military assets from afar, thereby disabling the communications and organizing capabilities of the enemy.

Where does all this leave India? Even though India has also taken note of all the activities across border, its speed of modernization is a cause of concern. Should there be an attack from the across the border, with the present facilities and access points, Indian troops are expected to reach with enforcements in 3 days!!,  whereas the Chinese reinforcements are expected to reach within 15 hours. This clearly provides the preparedness, or the lack of it from the Indian perspective

The Indian defence establishment is very keen and eager to change this scenario but lack of political will and guidance is hurting the armed forces. The defence ministry still denies the fact about the incursions and is not taking note of the activities with the seriousness it should. India indeed has a lot of problems within, just like China. But that should not be a reason for complacency to be shown, especially in the matters of national security.

The dragon has woken and is breathing fire. Isn’t it time for the tiger to sharpen its claws too? The time is NOW!! Else there may not be a tomorrow.

PS: Certain facts and figures have been quoted from The Economist.

THE POWER..TO?

Many a time, I wonder if the concept of power varies in its meaning from a person to person.

A policeman might perceive power differently over a politician. If you look at it, even a doctor holds considerable amount of power. Now we come to the point of defining what power is.

We are powerful to the extent of altering our own lives, but the realization of power comes when you have the ability to alter another person’s life apart from your own. Imagine dictating or influencing another person’s life or his decisions based on what you say or do. Now that is what I call power. In a small, considerable way, you are playing god on your own there my friend.

Let us take two classic examples which we see in our day to day life. Suppose there is a road widening project in your area and the building which you own falls right on the road which needs to be widened. A minister or the chairman of your local civic body can now decide how much of the portion of your building needs to be demolished or even the entire building has to be razed down!! The person now has the power to alter your life completely. You would have to either relocate or fight a long legal battle to keep your property intact. But in the end, your life is not the same anymore because of the action of one person.

The second example I wish to take is how a businessman or a corporation flexes its muscles to control people who are associated with them or many a times, not associated at all. The first example dealt with people who are part of the administration or bureaucracy. While here, I am talking about normal people who have the extraordinary ability to affect or influence other people. This concept was once again highlighted in the recent FAST 5 movie, where the bad guy makes a nice point.

A businessman or a corporation creates an ecosystem around it in such a way that the people become solely dependent on the corporation to provide them the entire basic necessary infrastructure apart from the work and income they provide (example good schools, hospitals) that is needed for their survival. This is just a high level example. Therefore, the person in charge then has the ability to prosper and decide without worrying about the consequences on others. He is using his power to get things done which would suit him or favor him.

Let us assume the people who are dependent on his services do decide to raise a voice against him, they stand a chance of losing something which is very much necessary for their survival! How? Read on..

Power is not only about controlling people. Real power lies in how you exercise control. If you just want to plainly control people, then they would definitely rebel against you at some point or the other; however just, wise or honest you are because we humans do not like to be told what to do. We do crave for freedom in all forms and in all walks of life.

The person will then rebel back because he has absolutely nothing to lose.

But if you raise your stakes and show them that you would lose something if they do decide to rebel, then the very same person will think twice before taking such a step. He starts to weigh in all his options and tries to see if he has more to lose if he goes against you than gaining and most often than not, he does not go ahead because his reasoning says he will lose more than what he could gain.

Therefore, Power in not only about exercising it, but its all about how you harness, manipulate and use it without causing much flutter around you. This is what we see around us, but we don’t realize it. There is a parallel world out there my friends, one which we see but never notice. In that world, these individuals/corporations do not obey the same rules or follow the same laws that we do. Why? Because they are the sole creators of those rules and laws.

SACHIN

SACH!!! IN LONDON

“Dude, please hurry up. I don’t want to cancel the Buckingham palace plan all over again”

I was banging Hari’s door, shouting the above words. We already had postponed the plan two weekends in a row and I didn’t want this to be the third one.

“Ok” Hari said, while we were sitting and having our breakfast,delivering his prophecy.

“We are going to be late today. No point us going now. So let’s plan something else”

“Third week in a row” I said, glaring at him. “Ok, I don’t want to spoil my mood in the morning”. We then discussed and decided to pay Madame Tussaud’s a visit.

We reached the place easily and did wait in the queue inspite of having priority tickets. We finally got in. Took pictures with almost all of the statues of the people we knew and some we didn’t :P

“Hey buddy”, Hari said “Look here, finally our idol Sachin”.

“Yeah, but it looks so artificial man, compared to other statues” I said, clicking away the pictures.

We finished the tour. It was quite exhilarating and exhausting. We were basically famished. This brought out the daemon inside Hari and he said “I want Chicken and only in an Indian restaurant.”

“Dude, we are in the middle of central London, with so many restaurants around. It will take us ages to locate an Indian restaurant. Let’s eat anything which even remotely looks n smells like good food”. I said, pleading with him.

“No. I want an Indian restaurant only. As you said, there are so many restaurants. We will find one for sure” said Hari, starting to march off towards Baker Street. “Oh Boy, fine” I said, giving in, yet again. It’s really difficult to convince this guy in certain situations and him being hungry ranks right up there in the list.

We searched for half an with no luck and finally located a “Food hall”.

“There must be something Indian in this hall, let’s go check it out” I said and we headed inside. We finally did locate an Indian stall inside and he ordered chicken biryani (finally!!) and I ordered the vegan version of it.

I said “Now, we need to find out a place to sit. Let’s go down there n take a look”. We started to head towards the other end of the floor. There was an escalator going down to another glitzy mall. There Hari spotted someone who remotely looked like a person we had recently seen a wax statue of in Madame Tussaud’s.

“Dude, that guy looks like Sachin” he said, pointing out a person who was similar to Sachin and a female was beside him.

“What will Sachin be doing here man? Come, let’s first find a place to sit” I said, trying to drag him away. “No da, let’s go check” he said, now dragging me with him.

We finally came beside the couple who were towards the right hand side of us and it was indeed Mr. and Mrs. Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar. We both were too stunned to say anything and we finally got down the escalator without even uttering a word to him.

He gave us a friendly smile and then we both in unison said “Hi Sachin”.

“Hi” pat came the reply. We were thrilled. Were we actually talking to the God of Indian cricket? “How are you? How is your injury now, Sachin?” I asked

“Its getting better now, thanks” he said and there followed an awkward silence of about 5 seconds.

“Ok, wish you guys all the best” he said shaking hands with us and now taking another escalator upstairs with his wife.

We just watched him leave and we both stared at each other, just like in movies. “What do we do now?” Hari asked, looking like a small kid about to be given his favorite chocolate. “I don’t know. Its not like I bump into Sachin everyday” I said in an excited voice. “What are the chances of us meeting him again? Come on, let’s follow him” I said and we followed him upstairs.

We stood at the entry point of the escalator, trying to look like serious shoppers of Armani shirts n suites.

“Ok” I said “this is the only exit point for this floor. So when Sachin comes here, you can ask for the photograph”.

There, we saw Anjali holding shirts against Sachin’s chest and checking if it looks good (typical Indian wife style) and choosing among a dozen.

We were surprised by the lack of security around. Also, as there were little or no Asians around, nobody mobbed them and everyone let them be. Finally, Sachin came towards us, checking things out one after the other. Hari made the move.

“Sorry to invade your privacy Sachin, but can we please have one photo with you?” he asked. “hmm, sure, give me some time. I will finish my shopping and come” he said and moved on.

We were thrilled. Hari started tucking in his shirt and I didn’t bother about my looks. Then, after a couple of minutes Sachin turned towards us and showed 2 with his fingers, indicating 2 more minutes. “Wow, what a guy” I said. Such humility.

He came towards us even earlier than 2 minutes and gave the permission to take the pic. I went in first and said “Sorry for disturbing you Sachin”. “No Problem” said the little master.

Just when Hari was about to click, Anjali called out Sachin and he slightly looked aside.

This is how it came out and I realized it after getting out and seeing the photo.

Next, Hari went in and his photo came about just fine.

After taking the photo, I asked “So what brings you here Sachin?”

“I came here on a holiday with family. This is the last time they get a long holiday before school starts for a year” he said.

“oh.. okay” Hari Said. Then Sachin continued “plus, came here to watch the Wimbledon.”

“Yeah, we know you support Federer” I said and Sachin gave his million dollar smile.

“Ok guys, all the best” he said, shook our hands yet again and he left. We ran outside, literally, like there is no tomorrow. That was the most exciting day of our lives and we were on cloud Ten-dulkar J

The Substitute Singer (sent by Murali)

This short story impressed me a lot and I thought I could share it with you. Many people would have already read it as it came in the fortnightly news letter of Paulo Coelho. Check it out :)

The Substitute Singer (sent by Murali) Though I was unable to prove the events of this tale, this event supposedly happened many years ago in the Paris Opera. On the night when a famous tenor was to perform, the packed house was told he would not be able to attend due to traffic. Concerned, the director of the Opera appeared on the stage to explain what was happening and to ask for a local tenor to act as a substitute. The audience reacted as expected; with discomfort. Some spectators rose and asked for their money back, while others simply waited to see what lay in store for them, seeing that they had instructed their chauffeurs and made reservations for dinner, and did not quite know how to kill the time. The substitute tenor came on stage and did the best he could. For two hours he sang with all his heart and soul. At the end, there was almost complete silence, since he was not exactly who the audience had come to hear. Only one spectator applauded. In the midst of the clapping a child’s voice was heard, “Daddy, you’re great! Just great!” The next moment, the whole theater gave a standing ovation; a simple word of love had changed everything. :)

So, What are you afraid of ??

I wanted to write about this piece for a looong time. But, me being me, just didn't make up my lazy mind to do so. But, here I am.. unfolding all my thoughts through this wonderful medium of Blogging :)

We all fear something or the other, don't we ? There can be a whole lot of categorizations that can be made.. some of them, I will present it to you now., and the others, I would definitely want to hear from all of you guys out there :)

I will henceforth be considering both being fearful and being afraid as one. Just for the sake of making it easy for me to express things that are running in my head :)

Of late, I have seen people conquering their fears and their worst nightmares. People whom I know reasonably well. That makes me very happy and ask myself, what would I do in a situation like that? For example, I saw my colleagues, who are hydrophobic, jump into a river from a height of 45 feet. I saw my father, who lost his left thumb in a fateful accident last year, overcome his fear of riding bikes and ride it for an hour continuously. I saw a friend who was so insecure about life in general, make up his mind to do finally something about it and come out of the rut he had got into and now is a very happy man.

So, I asked myself this question, "what exactly are the things I am afraid of ?" . I then started to categorize fear. It can be fear of losing people or Job or being afraid of certain situations or of even common things like cockroaches n lizards :P

1. Am I afraid of losing my Family ? Would I be able to live without them?
- Yes, I am afraid. But yes, I can live without them and would not be very happy though for obvious reasons.

2. Am I afraid of losing my friends?
- No. I can be reasonably happy without friends. But as all of us know, friends do make our lives beautiful and mine is no exception :)

3. Am I afraid of losing my Job ?
- Nope. Not at all. As the dialogue goes in the movie 3 Idiots "Mein apne life mein kuch na kuch toh dhang ka kaam kar hi loonga sir" :) {excuse my Hindi}

Now let's see the next set of questions I throw at myself.

4. Do I have the fear of Water, height, or do I have any other phobias ?
-No.

5. Am I afraid of lizards, cockroaches, leeches etc ?
-No. I don't fear most animals, except a Lion. I get a little scared when I get really close to it though :)

6. Am I afraid to fall in love? or to be in a relationship?
-No.

7. Do I fear losing some things like mobile, bike etc .? basically materialistic things?
- No. That does not mean I will be happy losing them :P

8. Am I afraid of the future? the uncertainty? the inability to decide what to do next?
- Yes. Me being unable to see myself clearly in the future is quite unsettling to say the least. But would just thinking about it help? I guess not. I may plan, but I may not execute.

9.And this is the final one I can think of presently. Am I afraid to lose?

-No. I am not exactly afraid to lose. But I really hate to lose. Who does, right? I think I am more afraid of not learning from my failures than the failure itself.

These are 9 questions I could think of. There will be others which I would definitely would have missed. Do let me know and most importantly, try asking the same questions to yourself. May be, just may be, you would discover something about you which you didn't even realize :)

2010.. A New Beginning

Did any one actually realize the speed with which 2009 passed by? Well, for me , it was a shade lesser than the speed of sound :)

I am very hopeful of 2010 . I am hoping 2010 will usher in a lot of change and optimism around the world and India in particular. We have stepped into this new year with a lot of confusion and quite a few problems, but all of them can and will be resolved with the right attitude of our government.

Recession on the whole did not affect India in the manner it crippled the rest of the world, and our economy has shown great resilience. This is a good sign and I feel it would be the same this year as well. All of us are wondering when exactly recession would end, and I feel it would start to see its end by October.

My new year resolution is not to make one :) Simple, isn't it? I want to set goals for myself on a monthly basis and try achieving them, rather than making a resolution and forgetting about it the next day :)

I'm sure 2010 provides all of us a new beginning; The strength and courage to move forward and the ability to forget the bitter past. Cheers to a new beginning.. :)