Just another day in Myanmar...

So the world’s favorite pro-democratic fighter “Aung San Suu Kyi” has been put in another 18 months of house arrest. It hardly surprised anyone who is familiar with the Junta’s long and murky record of suppressing the democratic leader’s activities. What is even less surprising is the usual condemnation of the judgment by countries asking for more sanctions, etc. It’s more of a ritual than an effective measure. But what’s surprising is the lack of any retaliation from the people of Myanmar itself. It seems that they are hardly bothered about it and most of the media hype is just a propaganda created by other nations. Or it might be possible that the Junta’s reputation of brutality got the better of them and they decided to stay back. In any case, they don’t have the will to fight and thus don’t deserve and won’t get the freedom they seem to be dreaming of. A people’s revolution can never be underestimated no matter how tough the ruler may be. But it has to be led by the people not by foreign governments. Right now Myanmar doesn’t seem to be in any mood for change.

Meanwhile I wonder who’s more interested in bringing democracy to the country, nations who are finding it hard to lose out on the trading opportunities or Myanmar’s people who have got used to the state they are being forced to live in.

Hardest Changes…

“The hardest changes are always for good”, so one said. But that’s the last thing we care for, do we? It hurts and it hurts bad! These changes always involve a new way of life with no guarantee of being better. They always start with no one smiling back at us when we look over our shoulder every now and then. And it gets even worse when part of us says “Hey I didn’t ask for any of this”. But then the “rule book” doesn’t say anything about spreading out a menu of paths we can choose from. We just got to play along.

Even after we get through the change and reach the “good” part of the first line, I am sure there will be tinge of doubt asking the question “Was the entire price paid was worth it at all?”

There I go again..

Was on my long way down,
In the stuffy & sweating elevator.
The door slid again gallingly,
And she beheld my eyes.

White shirt, denim skirt
And brown streaked tresses,
The charm of her fragrance
Could dent even a queen’s allure.

As she stood there staring
At the ever sliding numbers.
I looked for an alibi to talk
How I wished the lift had got stuck.

But our trip ended like any other
And she just walked away.
I wonder was that love. Damn!
There I go again……..

Can you read the line???

That’s what was asked to me the nth time by two different opticians in one week. I don’t remember ticking off any member of the Optician’s Union. Yet they seemed to be hell bent to make me miserable. I have been made to change my glasses TWICE in a week and yet the optician has failed to provide me with glasses with correct specification. Now, having headaches all day and seeing stars instead of pretty ladies pass by has become part of my usual day. A weekend visit to the optician earns me the assurance that “the glasses they have provided are fine”. That actually is a subtle way of them saying, “The damage is done. I can’t admit the mistake as I might get into trouble. No free replacement for you. Adjust Madi.”

Anyways, after two days somehow my eyes have learnt to decode the stars and ignore the headaches. But a word of advice, “Always get your eyes checked by a reputed guy and make sure that you are careful to leave nothing to be read between the lines.”

Circle the cat!!!

Recently, I got a link of this fun game from a friend. Try it out when bored (when you have to sit in your workstation with nothing to do.)

Cribbers over Career..

Most folks around me (and others also I believe) bleat a lot about how their work is making their life miserable. They just love to create the illusion that it’s their “villainous firm” who’s responsible for the sad work they do. But most of the time they fail to ask a very fundamental question to themselves “Do I have the ability to do a “better” work in a “better place”?”

If your answer for the question is YES then LEAVE!!!! No matter what they say about “how critical a resource you are”, just leave. The corporations are big enough to forget you the minute you leave their gates. They all lie. They don’t really care.

If your answer for the question is NO then its time to realize the fact, “Just because you got a puffed up ego doesn’t mean you deserve something better.” You deserve to be here for your past failures and you will be here unless you do something about it. So stop whining and better use the time to be capable enough to something better that you can also enjoy. I see people realize the hard fact and then work to change it and the satisfaction on their face while leaving for other places is too good.

Trust me!! It’s always better to have the choice of leaving than the realization of the fact that you are doomed to be somewhere you believe you should not belong.

Motivated??

Motivation is a funny thing. Once you start something new it’s brimming out of the pot. Wait for a moment and “POOF” it vanishes leaving behind fading smudges of alibis. The problem is not with finding motivation. It is readily available in every other roadside shop. The problem is finding motivation which sustains itself till the target is achieved.

Motivation is hugely influenced by the reasons behind our aspirations. One can’t be Chopin if he plays the piano for a “standing ovation”. To have the motivation to go ahead and be a pianist as great as Chopin one needs to be as passionate about the piano as he was. When one takes a lesson his dream should be of playing the piano alone for hours just to himself. The motivation from the desire to master every stage of learning sustains till the end. Learning the piano for any other motives will lead to the futile attempt to speed up to the end which will lead to the disappearance of the motivation. If one is passionate about what he does, then finding motivation will never be an issue.

So think before you do something just for the sake of applauses. I am sure there are quite a few things which you will actually enjoy doing and also fetch you approval from others.

Bugs and pleasures...

Nothing, I mean absolutely nothing can be compared to the ecstatic pleasure one gets after finishing an exceptionally difficult task. Particularly those, for whom all the usual solutions don’t seem to work and you have to “push the limit of your proficiency really far” as the usual jargon goes.
It always starts with a request to resolve a very weird “never heard” bug. The first few minutes go by pondering over the question, “Why me??” Then few hours goes trying to make sense out of it. After which one starts a hopeful search for solutions from his “more enlightened” peers. Sometimes this tactic leads to wasting more time but there’s no harm in being a bit optimistic and lazy, is there?? Then, starts the grueling part of actually trying to figuring it out ourselves. The usual fun filled days get filled with innumerable googling, reading up on obscure concepts, rants from one’s boss and meeting dead ends in what seemed to be the most feasible(and brilliant) ideas. After days of dragging it around all avenues, shows up the shy glint of the most apparent solution. Anticipation and fear fill the bay (figuratively) as one tries it and hits the return key the final time.

Thundering Typhoons! It works!! That’s when the pure pleasure of victory and realization of the fact that one is not yet completely worthless rushes in. While others around give a cynical “So what, doofus!” look one just stares at the screen for a whole bunch of minutes. Seriously, nothing compares to it.

Imperfections...

A major victim of “time passing by” is the appreciation of one’s own work. A few days back I was going through the poems I had written during my college days. It was mostly about the usual stuffs like the frustrations, failure, crushes and things I somewhat find too clichéd to write about now a days. Its funny how we and the things around us change and we are the last one to notice it. We don’t even notice the significant contribution we ourselves put to change these things. Coming back to the poems, I would be lying if I said that I didn’t want to make any changes (and improve) any of those poems. I wanted to make them more cheerful. I wanted to change the metaphors I used to describe things. I wanted to frame the verses in a better way. But then poems just do not pop out of nothing. They are the testimony of how one feels for different encounters which transpires in his life. They are the best way to tell who you actually were on that specific day. So even if you try to change the poem you wrote, all you will get is a new one which will show who you are today. You just can’t change something you had written in the past.

Maybe it’s better (and easier) to acknowledge them just as they are and accept that it’s because of what we felt and wrote earlier, we feel and write much better today.

Anyways, just for old times sake here’s the first poem I wrote:


Starry Nights…

Glint of the city fades away,
I flee from glaring heights,
From jeering dark lanes
From the betraying paths.

I head for the woods,
Befriended by the sultry night,
Stars wink excited..
As if meeting an old’ friend.

Sneaking through the clouds,
The moonlight hugs me.
Breeze swims across like angels,
Disappearing the last traces of sadness.

Deaf to the calling city.
Know I have to go back...
Face the glaring sun...
Trying to bring me to my knees.

But for the night I am trapped
I wrap myself by the shadows...
Under the aegis of sleepy trees...
Lying on the grass I just drift away.

Yet Again...

Why do I always get an urge to write about this city whenever I am here?

I have no friends here nor have I stayed here long enough for the nostalgia to hit me hard enough. Yet I am always the "little wide eyed boy" when I arrive here and the "Lonely old man" when I depart.  Maybe I long for the sheer determination of the city to have a good time no matter how grand and impractical it is. I mean in which other city can one do the following things in a single weekend:

• Go to a live gig in a happening pub.
• Watch a Anupam Kher play.
• Watch people show off their Ferraris, Lambos, Porshes in Kala Ghoda.

Its not even these extravagances which excites me. Its the fact that these  things are just a part of every other day which really amazes me. There is no concept of "moderation" here. Everything has to reach its limits and beyond. Have a close look at any passer-by's face. You will find a tinge of arrogance. As if being able to live here certifies that they have the audacity to be the first one to break all norms and then show the entire country how it's done. 

This place doesn't make me realize what I already have. It reminds me of everything I need to achieve somewhere in the future.

If you haven't realized which city I am talking about, then maybe it's time you need to explore a bit...