Randomness - Difference in Opinion

Randomness is back. This time with a lot of words for my dear readers to ruminate upon.

Flavour of news these days in India is what PM Modi did or CM Yogi did. And Flavour of World news these days is what joke of himself will President Trump make of himself today.

ofcourse, the issue of GM mustard, decreasing job opportunities or the pathetic state of our public health infrastructure and initiative, is not really the concern of either media or Government in this nation.  Oops!! My apologies for forgetting to ask, did anyone by any chance come across any news coverage this year about the Drought situation or Farmer's woes???

Well, why should these above issues matter to anyone of us? We are either busy being indifferent or busy fighting on social media to prove our viewpoint. The Governments of the day, have taken this fight a step further, because by virtue of being in Government they have the capacity to Ban, anything and everything that according to them is either harmful or hurtful of the sentiments of those who form the Government.

And so the flavour of the World these days is Bans, Bans and more Bans. Ban immigrants, Ban Alcohol, Ban Beef etc etc etc. At this rate, I am waiting for the day when soon the world leaders of different countries, will ban each other's countries.

It's amusing to me, that with all the advancements to the credit of Human race, we are still incapable of accepting our differences with humility and grace rather than using force of gags and bans!!

Anyways coming to the point of this post, and I am going to begin by committing the biggest mistake any writer is preached not to commit - I am going to begin, by giving a piece of my mind to whoever has come down this far on this post -

                        More than anything else, The Human race collectively, needs to learn ( and in a few cases relearn) to Respect, Accept, Embrace and Value - Differences of Opinions.

Difference in Opinion is just as natural as genetic diversity. Just as no two sets of DNA can be alike, neither can our opinions be. They are the essence and essential ingredients of humanity and the very foundation of it's growth.
          These differences are what define us, set us apart, give us the impetus to challenge, discover and invent.

If We all thought alike or agreed over everything, how would we question? How would we become better? Seek something new?

You may like the colour orange, I may prefer Red. You may prefer being a vegetarian, I may prefer being a non-vegetarian. You may prefer wearing a hijab, I may prefer my bikini. You may love your Coke, I my Whiskey. You may prefer spicy food, I may want mine bland.

Why has it all of a sudden become so essential for us, to have the whole world confer to our world view, our beliefs, our feelings, our ideology?

Why can't we no longer, respect a person for having a thought process different than our own? Or learn to embrace our differences as our diversity?

Rather than seeking agreement, let us start seeking disagreement.
Let us agree to disagree, not because it makes us progressive, cool, hip, right, left or centre, but because disagreement is the driving force that pushes us to question, to seek and thus to discover, create or invent. It is as fundamental to being human as is being alive.

Someone said curiosity is the mother of invention. Well, the mother of Curiosity, is Difference of Opinion. And we collectively as a race are happy these days to start wars, kill each other and our planet, to stifle this Difference of Opinion.

Humanity has the potential to build, nurture and create, but we are too busy destroying our own self, our race and our Planet to prove to each other that 'It is either my way or highway'

Food for thought......For a healthier world.

Metro Musings

You must be wondering, musings in a Metro train?

Well, yes, I do know mountains, retreats, forests or riversides are the usual cliches, when it comes to musing.

But, in our busy city dwelling lives, unsuspecting and unusual places like toilet seats, traffic signals, flights, airports, and of course, Metro trains, have become the unlikely sources of stimulus and thus, rescuers of many a philosophical souls like mine. 

And so here it is, one of the musings from my daily metro commute - 

Thanks to the usual Delhi metro crowd, I found myself seatless and standing by one of the exit gates, and this is how I noticed, the Stark change in the scenery, from the drab and dark tunnel to the all modern, clean metro station with it's tiled floors, escalators, neon lights etc etc

And all of a sudden my mind wandered over to the current construction going on the Delhi-Gurgaon stretch of NH-8, currently in it's formative stages with no finishing touches, and my wandering mind began wondering about the time, when this metro station must have been under-construction, the difference that it must have been then and it is now.........

                                       Well the dots, that my mind connected led to this sudden realisation -

About How we daily see and use our highways, metros, airports, bridges and railway tracks etc

                        We are very happy using and enjoying these finished products, without wondering about the journey of their inception. 

                  We never spare a thought, that beneath these strong structures are the, not so beautiful concrete pillars, the drains, their chemical compositions and construction. We also, forget that all these are a result of the calculations, sweat, trials and errors of the mental and physical labour of countless people we never see or acknowledge.  

                                 Infact, we may be seeing or travelling with these nameless faces daily, without ever knowing, that it is their persistent efforts in the face of harsh summers and winters, under sun or rain, that are the reason for making our daily commutes easier. Without ever offering them any gratitude or even saying a prayer of thanks!!

Strange? Isn't it?

How we Spend our lives, without looking beneath and beyond the superficial surface that our Eyes see. 

How now a days we just chase after the glamorous facade, without seeking to look beyond, what is apparent.

How we are so pre-occupied with the superficial and mundane that we no longer bother about going within, and searching in our depth for the roots or Genesis of our problems, our motives, our feelings and our desires.

How far and disconnected we have become even from our own selves!!

How we simply sit by the shores of the Ocean, without actually diving deep into it. 

And you know, What's funny? That we outrage, get angry or feel bad when people around us, instead of digging deep, superficially and thoughtlessly judge us or our efforts or work. But, when we do the same to others in our daily lives, we hardly break a Sweat!!

Food for thought. Isn't it?

I believe we become wiser, when we have taught ourselves to seek and see beyond the evident. When we learn to be thoughtful and mindful. When learn to be thankful and cherish what we have, rather than taking our comforts for granted.

              When we learn that taking that leap of faith into the unknown, beyond our bubble of comfort is where, we will find hidden treasures and baubles of wisdom, newer roads and companions, which will help us live our lives better, richer and more fuller. 

Dare yourself to look beyond what your eyes can see, let your mind wander and explore to find magic and stories hidden all around you. Gift yourself this journey of exploration, and life will no longer be just mundane.

(P.S. - Before, I sign out, a piece of my mind to NHAI and MCD Gurgaon, who never bothered to discuss with the citizens of the city, before implementing their construction plans. The very citizens who now suffer daily mammoth jams, Nor did anyone break a leg before cutting off 300 or more odd trees and destroying Citizen's parks for this construction!!! And it will be a George Lucas's space saga equivalent to hope that NHAI will work to try and finish this project as early as possible and in the end replant and restore are the trees and parks.

         So much for being a people's government!! A government which doesn't even bother to have open discussions with citizens it is impacting)

Inertia

Inertia,

Yes,

The first law of motion by Newton in classical physics. But, what most people fail to understand is, that it is also the first law of life.

Strange? Yes.

Doubtful? No.

Inertia is referred to, as an inherent state of an object to resist as much as possible, any change in its present state, whether it be rest or motion.

In other words, it is the tendency of any matter, to remain resting if it is at rest or in motion if it is in motion. And it requires an external force to break this inertia.

Simply put, Inertia is a resistance to change. And why just matter or particles, as Newton said it is a law, it applies to us all.

We all love to resist change. More than just a physical concept to be proved in theorems, It is a state of being. Resistance to any sort of suggested change is a mindset, and requires an enormous amount of effort to even acknowledge that our circumstances are such that they require change and we are resisting the change. And a far more tremendous force is required to begin the changes that are required.

That explains, why anything and everything in the universe prefers to resist change. But then, if you look around yourself, you will notice that inspite of Inertia, CHANGE does happen. Both in the world of living and non living.

Lives move on. People change, grow old, die and babies are born.

Times change, continents move, rivers change course, seasons come and go.

Change happens.

Despite of inertia, everything is in motion.

Why?

Because, for every action in nature there is an equal and opposite reaction. So for those in rest, there are those in motion. For those in motion, there are those in rest. And the force that is required initially to overcome the resistance or inertia though may be strong, once the change happens very little force is required to continue the process.

When it comes to us human beings, we love to be in a state of minimal mental discomfort. So, in our case the inertia becomes a resistance to be drawn out of our comfort zone, and the resistance come from initiating the mental thought process, which may take us out of our comfort zone. We my be lying on rock bottom or experiencing a free fall in the skies, but if we manage to convince our minds, that we are comfortable in the state we are in, all the fire in hell will be incapable to move us out of our comfort zone.

Our inertia manifests in our apathy, in our fears, in our silence, in our inability to verbalise, in our unwillingness to make an effort, in our helpless, in our hopelessness. It manifests every time we give up, every time we shut ourselves up, when we think we should speak up. Every time when something makes us uncomfortable and we tell ourselves to ignore that feeling.

And yet, Change happens. 

On one spectrum we see people changing. We see people moving one, overcoming challenges and making a difference. On another spectrum, We also find people who are stuck up, finding it hard to beat their circumstances and give up.

Since, a force is required to overcome Inertia, what is that force, which when present helps us overcome our fears and helps us move on?

I can tell you, that a huge force was required for me to get over my inertia, to get back to writing with this piece, after a span of 2 yrs of not having written a word, to get over the fear that I won't be able to find 10 words to writing this mammoth post.  What moved me?

A need for my soul to communicate, to reach out, to express, to be heard, to be able touch, even if just a few lives beyond mine, and to make a difference, even if just a tiny bit. A need to contribute to the world in proportion to the potential I have within, to get over this feeling of just being and then fading into nothingness. A need to feel alive once again, which comes not by just being, but by experiencing the adrenaline rush when we stand up to our fears.

And yet, for my need to become a force strong enough to overcome my inertia, there was a catalyst that I needed, mine was knowing that I am loved and cared for so much. It is an experience that made me so happy that I wanted to reach out, share my joy by making a difference, even if a tiny bit, with my words, in the lives of others.

This force and the catalyst may be different for each of us, it is the experience that makes us move. So, move on, make yourself restless, take yourself in unknown waters, dare to hold your inertia with it horns and fight it. I promise you, you will discover within yourself words, strengths, ideas and thoughts, you never thought you have within.

                     Challenge yourself. And you Will be stunned by what you find. 

                                      Be the beginning of the change u seek.

                                                           

Clean India - Begin India

Our Prime Minister kick started the 'Clean India' campaign today. And there are no marks, for knowing, that India is not one of the cleanest places in the world, walking on the roads one can find heaps of garbage, litter here and there, public places and toilets stink. To a lot of people throwing garbage on the roadside, spitting or urinating in public places does not seem like a wrong thing at all. People are ok walking past stink, they are fine with dumping religious offerings and Idols in already filthy rivers and water bodies.
            So, the campaign is not just needed but also a welcome attempt to bring a change in the apathetic attitude that citizens have developed towards cleanliness, hygiene and toilet manners.
               And so it came as a shock to me, when I looked at my twitter TL, and found it full of tweets which were sarcastic, cynical and mocking and it was the same story on electronic media. Some were skeptical whether it would work at all, because Indian mentality is so prone to be unclean. Others were skeptical that it may just end up as another fad. Most terming the campaign as a political gimmick to gather votes. And maybe it is really, a political gimmick. Not a campaign with best of planning, but still it is there to knock us up and out our shells of apathy, to begin doing our bit. But is it not more telling on us as people than the Prime Minister and his politics when all we can see is cynicism in this scheme?

Think.
                                               
Criticising, scoffing, being sarcastic, being cynical that things won't work. That is easy. But standing up for things, that is tough.
                                                  Being indifferent. That is easy. Taking action that is tough and that is why we shrug it off and wait for the next person to do it for us.
                                                  We wait for someone to come and clean up after us. We wait for the next person to remain clean. We will forever keep blaming that government has not provided enough infrastructure to keep cities clean. We will forever keep blaming others that our country, our neighbourhood is not clean, While we keep sitting in our homes, drive around in fancy cars, debate and discuss in our fancy English about the merits and short comings of this campaign on TV and amongst ourselves. But will we ever drop our cynicism to Act? To take onus of our responsibility by doing our bit?

                                             Next time, instead of scoffing, criticising or being indifferent. Act.

If you find someone spitting in public. Stop them. Involve people around you to stop them. And if you find someone stopping people, help them.

If you find someone throwing litter in public stop them. Tell them to take it home and throw it in their dustbin. And do the same yourself. There won't be a need to clean garbage when it is not lying where it should not be.

If you find someone peeing in public, stop them. Ask them how they would feel if someone did the same In front of their house.

If you find the person before you forgot to flush and leave the toilet seat clean. Tell them so.

If you can't find a dustbin around your locality, go buy one and contribute to the society. The RWA's can take initiative and collect contributions to set up dust-bins around their societies.

Recycle whatever you can, search ideas on Internet. Reuse Garbage, Reduce Garbage.

There are so many puja pandals that are made every years with expenses ranging in Crores, requiring lot of permits from MCD. Why not give half that money to Sulabh for toilets? Or to MCD to build toilets and better garbage disposal system?

And Government should come up with better garbage collection and disposal chain. It should provide health protection gears to all the workers involved in this work. It should begin working on constructing not just public toilets, but maintaing them.

These are just few things that do not involve government, they can be done simply by us. There are maybe thousand other suggestions and initiatives which each one of us can come up with, if we leave out our cynicism and decide to do something about the problem. But for that we first have to acknowledge that problem exists. Which is what this campaign is about, it is about changing our attitude from,  It is ok to be surrounded with filth because this is India to It is a problem and it is no longer acceptable in India, and by us by virtue of being Indians, because it is our home.

It is time to put down your excuses, and do whatever you can to do your bit for a Clean India except cribbing.

Enough?

I want more, And I am shameless enough to say that.
More from myself, from people around me, from my relationships, from life itself.
I want better, And again, I am shameless enough to say so.
Better from myself, from whatever I am doing, wherever I am.

One wonders, if that leads to a constant state of discontent and struggle, Maybe, but there is another side of the coin, and that is,

Unless, I want more or seek better, I will not empower myself enough to get more or to get better.

I have learnt to tell those who call me a cribber, that I am a seeker and I have no intentions of stopping.
I have learnt to tell those who tell me to count my blessings and be happy with them, that I want to keep adding to my count, and not just adding but also to share and spread my blessings.

Because, there is nothing stronger in the world, than the will of a person, And no one knows this better than human race, the power that lies in the will of  a human being to survive, to seek more, to make things better, our civilization where it is now, owes it to the will of those who were not willing to have just enough.

So, do not let anyone, set a limit on your dreams, on what you seek, on the distances you want to travel, the heights that you want to scale. Be the one to define yourself. Be the one to set your limits.

I Believe...

                               When you live with the consequences of your choices.
                          Reminding you everyday what a lousy choice maker you are.
                                                                        That,
                        is when you have no alternative but to learn to laugh at your mistakes
                                                                       and
                     to do whatever it takes, to let them remain lousy for as little while as you can.
                                       This is what separates winners from whiners.

I have been whining for a while, trying to figure out how to turn my lousy choices into less lousy ones. I have not managed to make much headway so far, and I am lost and weary, but the silver lining is, I am still far from giving up, because the road for ever goes on

Be

I have been missing from this space. This is a fact.

I doubt anyone noticed my absence because I am probably the only one who bothers checking out this space. This is an assumption.

Facts and Assumptions.

Our lives are contained within the premise of these two words.

Paths we choose

Journeys we take

Decisions we make

The stories that our lives become,

Are penned 

In the ink of these Facts and Assumptions.

And yet when it comes to stocking up our facts and making our assumptions

We hardly deliberate

run amok with emotions

we rush.

We rush to gather our facts

We hasten to make our assumptions

And

then we wonder, how come we ended up as and where we did.

Breathe

Hold your breath for a moment

And 

For the length of that breath

Hold 

Yourself Still

Be

Just be

In the length of that moment 

Allow yourself  to just Be.

How long has it been since you have done this?

Been in just the moment?

Celebrated being just alive?

How long has it been, since you have found joy in just your own existence?

Not in your accomplishments, 

But 

In just being you.

In this race against time

Life has become a list of things to do

When was the last time, you gave in to the impromptu?

Laughed without a care

Breathed instead of sighed

Let go your fears

Cry

Laugh

Rejuvenate

Feel

Celebrate

Live