Here I am, sitting in my plush office and my mind wanders. The screen in front of me shows psychedelic patterns which I am too stoned to even care about. The comfortable chair gives me the luxury to nod off while giving the illusion of a person hard at work. Suddenly I have the hackneyed out-of-body experience. I see myself strangely from above and all I can see is a guy who doesn’t give a damn about the gibberish he’s made to do and yet he is trying to fit in. I see a sea of heads, each glued to their respective screens and pretending hard as I wonder why? Just because someone pays you just enough to keep the cogs of your life running, doesn’t give him the right to make you do what you detest.
I see the Armani clad wannabe, who likes to call himself ‘The Manager’, bullying some misdirected souls. This guy must have been bullied a lot during his childhood so he comes to the office daily thinking its his divine right to avenge it on the poor sycophants who try their phoney smiles every time the boss tells a non-existent joke. Shakespeare once said that the world is just a stage and all men and women are actors. Looking around my office I see people who have taken this statement too seriously! I feel disgusted by all this and that’s when the self loathing hits me. I, myself, am trying to fit into this society of hypocrites.
That’s when the pessimist in me kicks in and fills my mind with the ignominious question- What if there is no perfect job out there which I would look forward to do? People talk about ‘Job satisfaction’ and other fancy terms, and still they do what they do without loving it. The very thought of doing this work for the rest of my life makes me feel repugnant. I sometimes think if the term ‘Ideal Job’ really exists in nature? Even if someone got his lucky charm riding and got a job he would love to do, would he feel the same enthusiasm waking up each morning to do the work he ‘loves’? Its bound to get monotonous and tiresome after a while.
I hear people saying –“What would I not give to go on a vacation or just sit idle at home.”, and I think – for how long will they love it? Maximum 3 months? And after that they’ll be itching to get back!
Then my thoughts turn to the incredulous section of this society which is the most bizarre and unfathomable to me – the workaholics. The people under this section do not pretend, they actually care for the crap they do and are not vexed to put in the ‘extra hours’ to get it done. But this behavior does not engross me the most, what does is that enigmatic smile of satisfaction on their faces at the end of the day. That smile makes me believe that there is a ‘perfect job’ for people out there. Its up to them to go find it or for the more unimaginative lot, find solace in what they currently do. People keep on running all their lives not knowing what they are running towards and in the end they form that discontented group of people who crib about anything and everything.
Will I be able to find the “right job” for me? That’s a nebulous question whose answer lies hidden in the unexplored horizons of the time to come. Until then I sit in my office and my mind wanders as I dream on….
Monday, November 30, 2009
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Biking Odyssey
Some people love biking. They just can’t get enough of it. For them nothing can substitute the thrill of speeding through an empty urban roadway. They get some sort of high from the high octane biking. Unfortunately, as it turned out, I am one of those bikers.
“You are only as good as your machine”, I’ve heard this sentence and I find it absolutely preposterous. The people who say this are either the home bound theorists or have always travelled only on vast, plain and empty roads. When one comes across the urban roads it’s an entirely different matter. On such roads, driving is more of a mind thing than the machine dependent simulation. You can try all you like but while driving in a metro city you have to use your brains more often than any other sensory organ of your body and that’s precisely what makes it even more addictive.
There is absolutely nothing compared to a speedy retreat to ones dwelling, after a long hard day at the ever enigmatic place called ‘the office’. Just you and your bike, on the long, cold and dark road; speeding at your will; the wind in your hair, saying something soothing in your ears. The moment you climb that bike all the headaches and the heartburns, suffered during work, leaves you. You find that 1 hour of your day brilliantly dazzling in the otherwise pallid 24 hours. Probably the best thing about travelling by road is that there are no demarcations based on wealth, castes and creeds. You are all the same to the road and it will do all it can for all of us.
Then comes the rain.
Kolkata is a filthy city, utterly chaotic and closely resembling a bedlam. And the roads (a vast black array of bumps, holes, abysses, soil fragments) are made of surprisingly water soluble material, so it doesn’t take a genius to figure out the state of affairs when it rains in Kolkata. This combination is the most feared and deadly one and hardly any biker would find moxie to drive a bike on it let alone enjoying it.
Yesterday was a day of the Armageddon! (for the roads of Kolkata). The rain had started early morning and it was raining cats and dogs throughout the day and night. And during this cataclysmic day a lonely ranger ventured into the unknown. His weapons were with him- an overwhelming urge to go home, an optimism and trust on Kolkatan roads, and his bike. He was apprehensive yet he was confident, his heart raced with fear while his hands gripped the handle with an apodictic certitude. He was alone because his usual home-bound partner had ditched him. He put him anxiousness to rest and roared off from the parking. The moment he left the building he was drowned in a pool of muddy water. It was an artistic specter, with the debris floating in the water along with the biker. Suddenly the engine whined as if threatening to shut down and the adrenaline rushed in his body. He accelerated until he reached the shallower pool of muddy water. He had thought that this is the only demon he will have to face during this odyssey but as he looked up in the far horizon, he couldn’t help gulping his own words. There was a long, honking, blaring topsy-turvy awaiting his entrance onto the main road (from now on I will call the relatively shallow muddy waterway as road).
He was piqued to say the least. The journey hadn’t even started and he was loosing the first of his weapons. But he braved on. He found the small clearing between the monstrous buses and SUVs with great difficulty and inched his way closer to his destination. He was sure that this was the only stretch of road where he would face the 2 antagonists and as soon as he left that stretch, his problems would half themselves. He left it and drove in silence for a while, silence which turned out to be the one before the storm. As soon as he entered the “safer” zone, he was engulfed in a bigger wave of both traffic and water, this time the water daring to reach up to his knees. He was angry at God for making this such a painful experience for him, cursing his stars under his breath. Anger gave him new life and he accelerated into the ‘road’.
Just half way through the journey and he was exhausted and numb. The cold had settled into his bones and now he was sure that nothing could worsen the situation. Suddenly a pop! His headlight went out. The ire which followed inspired a fresh wave of adrenaline and he zoomed quickly into the dark. Out of nowhere he heard a guzzling sound of water being sucked somewhere and it was not long before he realized he was headed straight towards the open man-hole along with large quantities of muddy water. He maneuvered his bike just in time to avoid the catastrophe. Fortunately no more mishaps followed during the rest of his journey.
When he reached home he was at wits end. But surprisingly he wasn’t all forlorn. He was actually upbeat in reliving the experience in his head. He felt profoundly proud about being able to push his limits. He distinctly remembered feeling euphoric when the first raindrops hit his face. He had an impish smile on his face when he thought about the numerable pedestrians whom his bike had given a shower, during the quest of not shutting itself off. He was happy and wanted people to feel his thrill.
And that’s what one should ideally do in life, isn’t it? We crib and crib about what has happened in the past and how horrible it was but we never try to remember the little joys which it gave us. Life goes on and so should you. Take the positives out of a misfortune and move on because life is too short to be lived unhappily.
“You are only as good as your machine”, I’ve heard this sentence and I find it absolutely preposterous. The people who say this are either the home bound theorists or have always travelled only on vast, plain and empty roads. When one comes across the urban roads it’s an entirely different matter. On such roads, driving is more of a mind thing than the machine dependent simulation. You can try all you like but while driving in a metro city you have to use your brains more often than any other sensory organ of your body and that’s precisely what makes it even more addictive.
There is absolutely nothing compared to a speedy retreat to ones dwelling, after a long hard day at the ever enigmatic place called ‘the office’. Just you and your bike, on the long, cold and dark road; speeding at your will; the wind in your hair, saying something soothing in your ears. The moment you climb that bike all the headaches and the heartburns, suffered during work, leaves you. You find that 1 hour of your day brilliantly dazzling in the otherwise pallid 24 hours. Probably the best thing about travelling by road is that there are no demarcations based on wealth, castes and creeds. You are all the same to the road and it will do all it can for all of us.
Then comes the rain.
Kolkata is a filthy city, utterly chaotic and closely resembling a bedlam. And the roads (a vast black array of bumps, holes, abysses, soil fragments) are made of surprisingly water soluble material, so it doesn’t take a genius to figure out the state of affairs when it rains in Kolkata. This combination is the most feared and deadly one and hardly any biker would find moxie to drive a bike on it let alone enjoying it.
Yesterday was a day of the Armageddon! (for the roads of Kolkata). The rain had started early morning and it was raining cats and dogs throughout the day and night. And during this cataclysmic day a lonely ranger ventured into the unknown. His weapons were with him- an overwhelming urge to go home, an optimism and trust on Kolkatan roads, and his bike. He was apprehensive yet he was confident, his heart raced with fear while his hands gripped the handle with an apodictic certitude. He was alone because his usual home-bound partner had ditched him. He put him anxiousness to rest and roared off from the parking. The moment he left the building he was drowned in a pool of muddy water. It was an artistic specter, with the debris floating in the water along with the biker. Suddenly the engine whined as if threatening to shut down and the adrenaline rushed in his body. He accelerated until he reached the shallower pool of muddy water. He had thought that this is the only demon he will have to face during this odyssey but as he looked up in the far horizon, he couldn’t help gulping his own words. There was a long, honking, blaring topsy-turvy awaiting his entrance onto the main road (from now on I will call the relatively shallow muddy waterway as road).
He was piqued to say the least. The journey hadn’t even started and he was loosing the first of his weapons. But he braved on. He found the small clearing between the monstrous buses and SUVs with great difficulty and inched his way closer to his destination. He was sure that this was the only stretch of road where he would face the 2 antagonists and as soon as he left that stretch, his problems would half themselves. He left it and drove in silence for a while, silence which turned out to be the one before the storm. As soon as he entered the “safer” zone, he was engulfed in a bigger wave of both traffic and water, this time the water daring to reach up to his knees. He was angry at God for making this such a painful experience for him, cursing his stars under his breath. Anger gave him new life and he accelerated into the ‘road’.
Just half way through the journey and he was exhausted and numb. The cold had settled into his bones and now he was sure that nothing could worsen the situation. Suddenly a pop! His headlight went out. The ire which followed inspired a fresh wave of adrenaline and he zoomed quickly into the dark. Out of nowhere he heard a guzzling sound of water being sucked somewhere and it was not long before he realized he was headed straight towards the open man-hole along with large quantities of muddy water. He maneuvered his bike just in time to avoid the catastrophe. Fortunately no more mishaps followed during the rest of his journey.
When he reached home he was at wits end. But surprisingly he wasn’t all forlorn. He was actually upbeat in reliving the experience in his head. He felt profoundly proud about being able to push his limits. He distinctly remembered feeling euphoric when the first raindrops hit his face. He had an impish smile on his face when he thought about the numerable pedestrians whom his bike had given a shower, during the quest of not shutting itself off. He was happy and wanted people to feel his thrill.
And that’s what one should ideally do in life, isn’t it? We crib and crib about what has happened in the past and how horrible it was but we never try to remember the little joys which it gave us. Life goes on and so should you. Take the positives out of a misfortune and move on because life is too short to be lived unhappily.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Men are from Mars & Women from Venus..Really??
Can anyone tell me what the hell does this mean? This is one of the most used, rather misused, statements in the history of debating. I feel no one understands the statement fully; they just use it to divert the topic. Hell, the guy who wrote the book, the supposed master of relationship, the guy who allegedly understands women completely, is a 5 time divorcee! So much for the “expertise”.
The news channels have helped only to increase the misinterpretation of this statement. These days the news has gone so rotten that they don’t know what to show throughout the 24 hours, so they find solace in showing weird and crazy stories as breaking news. If this doesn’t work there is always the evergreen format of debating on mundane and piffling things. The other day I came out of my slumber to watch one such debate, which made me regret my getting out of slumber. The debate was about the misuse of perks given to women and there were a bunch of pseudo intellectual beings trying to make sense out of plain gibberish. There was this one guy, who looked as if he’s had a hangover and was dragged out of bed to be on the show, who was wide eyed and suited just to look good on TV and getting paid for it. Whenever the waning debate required him to talk, all he was muttering was “men are from Mars and women are from Venus. They can’t be the same.” And he used this tactic throughout the debate, stating the saying in various forms, and what was more disgusting was that everybody was looking at him with a respect and no one was willing to get their ass on the line by countering his “argument”, as it was something they barely understood. I was watching it with a sense of growing frustration so as to how a statement was being used without anyone knowing what it meant and as a ready reprieve from having to answer some tough questions.
All this topsy-turveydom made me think what did it actually mean? If we take the literary implications of the statement it would mean that women like sun and men don’t. Because Venus is closer to sun and Mars is a bit far away from it. Being a man, I know what we like. We love our sun. Have you ever seen a man wearing protection masks and sun screen creams to protect his ‘soft’ skin from sun? And on the other hand I haven’t seen a woman trying to go out there in the burning sun to enjoy the sunshine. So definitely the statement doesn’t mean that men don’t like the sun and women do.
So moving on to another possible inference-that all the lesbians are from Venus and all the gays are from Mars! I mean when you come to think about it, this statement wasn’t invented by the church to evade all the questions about the disfunctionalities of some men and women, who choose to take the ‘unholy’ way in life. Hence this interpretation suits the trash bin.
Then comes the 3rd interpretation- that normal men live on Mars, normal women live on Venus and all the Androgynes rule the earth!. Now that’s again a controversial meaning. Because just yesterday I saw this person, who looked like an attractive women, walk by me. But I cant be too sure if she was transgendered because nowadays you cant be too sure. Hey wait a minute….I live on earth. So I hereby remove this suggestion too from the list of plausible explanations.
I could go on writing about the various and what could be termed as stupid interpretations, which find their way out of the uncluttered and jobless mind of mine, but there should a word limit, otherwise people won’t read it! It was then that I stumbled upon its true meaning, or what I thought could be true. And it came to me in the same bizarre way that the doubt had crept into my mind. Another pseudo intellectual ‘expert’, a friend of mine, mentioned it casually to me. The meaning is supposed to be found in the region of symbology. Venus represents love and tenderness and so it somehow truly describes the intrinsic traits of a women (God knows how?). And the Mars represents Aggression which is associated to the intrinsic character of men (we???aggressive?? we are just meek and pushovers in front of women. This is preposterous!!). So thus I came to know that how one can make sense out of a non-sensical statement…and make millions of it too.
I would have to say at the end that let men and women stay on Earth and let the Martians or the Venusians live in peace, because if humans reached there then one can only imagine how much chaos and havoc will be caused by us. After all that’s what we humans do..right?
The news channels have helped only to increase the misinterpretation of this statement. These days the news has gone so rotten that they don’t know what to show throughout the 24 hours, so they find solace in showing weird and crazy stories as breaking news. If this doesn’t work there is always the evergreen format of debating on mundane and piffling things. The other day I came out of my slumber to watch one such debate, which made me regret my getting out of slumber. The debate was about the misuse of perks given to women and there were a bunch of pseudo intellectual beings trying to make sense out of plain gibberish. There was this one guy, who looked as if he’s had a hangover and was dragged out of bed to be on the show, who was wide eyed and suited just to look good on TV and getting paid for it. Whenever the waning debate required him to talk, all he was muttering was “men are from Mars and women are from Venus. They can’t be the same.” And he used this tactic throughout the debate, stating the saying in various forms, and what was more disgusting was that everybody was looking at him with a respect and no one was willing to get their ass on the line by countering his “argument”, as it was something they barely understood. I was watching it with a sense of growing frustration so as to how a statement was being used without anyone knowing what it meant and as a ready reprieve from having to answer some tough questions.
All this topsy-turveydom made me think what did it actually mean? If we take the literary implications of the statement it would mean that women like sun and men don’t. Because Venus is closer to sun and Mars is a bit far away from it. Being a man, I know what we like. We love our sun. Have you ever seen a man wearing protection masks and sun screen creams to protect his ‘soft’ skin from sun? And on the other hand I haven’t seen a woman trying to go out there in the burning sun to enjoy the sunshine. So definitely the statement doesn’t mean that men don’t like the sun and women do.
So moving on to another possible inference-that all the lesbians are from Venus and all the gays are from Mars! I mean when you come to think about it, this statement wasn’t invented by the church to evade all the questions about the disfunctionalities of some men and women, who choose to take the ‘unholy’ way in life. Hence this interpretation suits the trash bin.
Then comes the 3rd interpretation- that normal men live on Mars, normal women live on Venus and all the Androgynes rule the earth!. Now that’s again a controversial meaning. Because just yesterday I saw this person, who looked like an attractive women, walk by me. But I cant be too sure if she was transgendered because nowadays you cant be too sure. Hey wait a minute….I live on earth. So I hereby remove this suggestion too from the list of plausible explanations.
I could go on writing about the various and what could be termed as stupid interpretations, which find their way out of the uncluttered and jobless mind of mine, but there should a word limit, otherwise people won’t read it! It was then that I stumbled upon its true meaning, or what I thought could be true. And it came to me in the same bizarre way that the doubt had crept into my mind. Another pseudo intellectual ‘expert’, a friend of mine, mentioned it casually to me. The meaning is supposed to be found in the region of symbology. Venus represents love and tenderness and so it somehow truly describes the intrinsic traits of a women (God knows how?). And the Mars represents Aggression which is associated to the intrinsic character of men (we???aggressive?? we are just meek and pushovers in front of women. This is preposterous!!). So thus I came to know that how one can make sense out of a non-sensical statement…and make millions of it too.
I would have to say at the end that let men and women stay on Earth and let the Martians or the Venusians live in peace, because if humans reached there then one can only imagine how much chaos and havoc will be caused by us. After all that’s what we humans do..right?
Friday, April 10, 2009
Friends Forever??
There is a saying which goes like this- ‘You don’t realize the actual worth of something unless you part with it.’. I had always been a believer of this saying in the theoretical sense but recent past has made me discover its practical veracity.
Sometimes you tend to take some things for granted. You feel that whatever may be the case, somethings wont change. Somethings are just meant to be permanent. And then one fine day you wake up and find that the static has changed. Your whole world falls ap[art. All of a sudden your plans become a distinct vision and all you are left with is the agony of that loss.
Life is such a trivial entity that predicting English weather seems an easier chore than to predict the course of your life. Borrowing from a famous quote I’d say ‘Life is like a cricket pitch, you never know which way they will turn.’ And perhaps the only thing which brings a bit of stability to life is the presence of friends. Being surrounded by friends is a unique experience. When you are down and out, they lift you up. When you are skeptic about something, they clear the air and your mind. When you fall back, they trudge you ahead. When you have a hand which grabs your shoulders when something bad happens to you or the hand which pats your back when you achieve something good, you know that you have a friend watching your back. And believe me when I say this, having such hands can be an addictive feeling. Never get held on to it and least of all make it a habit, because one fine day it will happen. Those hands go away. You fall back and there is no one to catch you, you are drowning into the sea of misery and there is no life boat you can latch on to. What you thought would never leave you, suddenly vanishes into thin air, leaving you gasping for breath. And that’s exactly the time when you are swept away by the deluge of memories, the ghosts of past haunt you, you see the invisible hands which prodded you. You begin to realize their worth and you actually miss them. You want to say so many things but never got the chance. You want to thank them but they are not there to hug you and say ‘Its all right.’
You get this sinking feeling as if the dam is about to break. You feel as if you are hanging by a thread and that you went over your head. An acute migraine develops and you close your eyes.
After a while it all starts sinking in. you see things clearly. You try to understand their prospective. You realize that the time has come for you to be for them what they were to you. You have to be the invisible hands for them now. You take the personal suffering in a stride and push them ahead. And at the end of the day you lean back on a chair, staring into the dusk that’s settling in, looking at everything but seeing nothing, with a thin grin on your face, feeling happy for your friend, getting over your misery and finally the thin grin replaced by a wry smile, knowing that you’ll be there for them when they need you no matter what.
You have moved on because life….goes on……
Sometimes you tend to take some things for granted. You feel that whatever may be the case, somethings wont change. Somethings are just meant to be permanent. And then one fine day you wake up and find that the static has changed. Your whole world falls ap[art. All of a sudden your plans become a distinct vision and all you are left with is the agony of that loss.
Life is such a trivial entity that predicting English weather seems an easier chore than to predict the course of your life. Borrowing from a famous quote I’d say ‘Life is like a cricket pitch, you never know which way they will turn.’ And perhaps the only thing which brings a bit of stability to life is the presence of friends. Being surrounded by friends is a unique experience. When you are down and out, they lift you up. When you are skeptic about something, they clear the air and your mind. When you fall back, they trudge you ahead. When you have a hand which grabs your shoulders when something bad happens to you or the hand which pats your back when you achieve something good, you know that you have a friend watching your back. And believe me when I say this, having such hands can be an addictive feeling. Never get held on to it and least of all make it a habit, because one fine day it will happen. Those hands go away. You fall back and there is no one to catch you, you are drowning into the sea of misery and there is no life boat you can latch on to. What you thought would never leave you, suddenly vanishes into thin air, leaving you gasping for breath. And that’s exactly the time when you are swept away by the deluge of memories, the ghosts of past haunt you, you see the invisible hands which prodded you. You begin to realize their worth and you actually miss them. You want to say so many things but never got the chance. You want to thank them but they are not there to hug you and say ‘Its all right.’
You get this sinking feeling as if the dam is about to break. You feel as if you are hanging by a thread and that you went over your head. An acute migraine develops and you close your eyes.
After a while it all starts sinking in. you see things clearly. You try to understand their prospective. You realize that the time has come for you to be for them what they were to you. You have to be the invisible hands for them now. You take the personal suffering in a stride and push them ahead. And at the end of the day you lean back on a chair, staring into the dusk that’s settling in, looking at everything but seeing nothing, with a thin grin on your face, feeling happy for your friend, getting over your misery and finally the thin grin replaced by a wry smile, knowing that you’ll be there for them when they need you no matter what.
You have moved on because life….goes on……
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