Something which was regular before now holds a special status

I am a nature loving person, and love to stay close and do as much as possible to preserve it. So GreenPeace, WWF, Organic are quite a regular term in my dictionary. Also I am a huge gadget geek. To be frank, they intoxicate me.
I would prefer buying from a farmers market or at a super market buy lentils, rice, juice, fruits and vegetables which are labeled Organic.
Yesterday when I was shopping at the super market, I realized that out of the 15 rows of vegetable/ fruit tables there was one that was dedicated for ‘Organic’. There were a handful of them available and attracted a 30%-50% extra price tag. What struck to be then was ‘Something which was regular before now holds a special status.’ Then all of a sudden my childhood flashed in front of eyes. I started comparing 20 year old memories with that of today. The food, the trees, surroundings, the gadgets, plants, animals. etc. Out of all that I compared the only thing that stood better today were ‘gadgets’. I felt, I have lost all the rest of the things in the same exponential manner to which gadgets have grown.
While driving back home the typical question “Am I doing the right thing?” came to my mind. I have never been able to justify. Aren’t these facts real and heavy enough to hit me hard on my face to make me that something terribly wrong is happening? Or am I to wait further.
In a typical project if a manger sees these kinds of sign, he would clearly stop the current approach and look for alternatives. So what is preventing me, the world and it’s leaders from doing so?

Free Spirit means more Brain

I have always loved watching movies where people climb mountains, ride bikes cross country, go globetrotting or deep diving in the open ocean. To name a few are– Touching the Void, The World’s Fastest Indian, Motorcycle Diaries etc. Very recently I happened to watch the movie “One Week” where this guy has a month to live because he has a deadly cancer. Then all of a sudden he decides to ride a bike to the Pacific coast. Importantly - he goes ahead to do whatever he always wanted to do. Most of you who have watched and loved such movies know how much of our emotion kicks in while watching them. During the course of the movie you start thinking about a similar feat that you always wanted to achieve even if you are not suffering with cancer. Your mind runs across all the adventurous journeys you always wanted to do. By the time the move reaches its climax, you would have selected the location. The crucial stage is when the movie gets over. At this point of time if were able to pack our bag and leave then the chances of achieving your destiny is 90%. If you get down to planning, the chances are 30%. If your mom or wife (did not mean a gender bias) happen to see your plan then chances become less than 3%. All in all, only a handful amongst us would ultimately utilize the opportunity to go out of their usual ways to satisfy their soul. For others who did not utilize the opportunity created by the chemical secretion of the glands while watching the movie would simply end up writing a good review on rotten tomato or facebook a.k.a. back to routine life (includes me). There were a number of questions in my head.
Why do people want to take such quest? What are the limiting factors? What does one gain or lose from it? Do other living beings do that too? Why only some of us?
The answer I believe lies in the huge thinking brain inside our head - the ultimate source. The position human’s enjoy in this world is all because of the grey matter. We do know that almost all living creature have a ‘routine’ throughout their life. One pig will do the same thing as another, so is the donkey and so is the majority of humanity (with a slight standard deviation). In our routine life we do everything that is possible. There is also a book of rules which distinguishes the good from the bad. But for the human brain to remain ultimate it needs not just to work, but work hard. The brain of individuals who seek out is like a corporation which always has to find the best solution. The rest of the people and other living beings are like the regular local business which does noting innovative and live life by the book. The position that human race enjoys is because few among us have broken the boundaries of routine life. It is because these men and women have made attempts to know what is impossible and what is not, they have tried to experience things themselves and then characterize it as good or bad. They are like the corporations who have dared to do something new across various fields. There might be stories of success and failure alike, but the quest never dies.
So if one loves the world of change and challenges and want to fully utilize the opportunity of being a human being – occasionally do step outside the book of rules and do whatever your ‘brain’ wants you to do. It’s Natural.
STATUARY WARNING: Try and avoid harming others in the process (Source: Book of Rules) 

Dolphins

 

Significance of an event like “Super Mario reaching its ripe age of 25”.

Significance of an event like "Super Mario reaching its ripe age of 25".

• Even with so many games flooding the market the age old Mario still survives. Why do people still choose to play Mario?
  
• Is it the same energy and passion that goes on even today among gamers?
  
• How much change the game has undergone and why?
  

Political Process Management (my learnings from Business Process Management)

S.Taroor once again in lime light. I somehow enjoy writing about this man’s ‘karname’ and the way he gets embroiled into political controversies.

The recent one Saudi Arabia being a mediator for Indo-Pak talks, is hilarious in needed. Media very well knows this guy is a wonderful source for filling the pages of newspaper or some prime time slots. Bechara apnea paet mein kuch nahi rakh sakta and the media waits for him to belch. What interests me most is if his belch smells true, what made India agree to a mediator and why Saudi?

For ages we have been so confident (or afraid) that we do not require any mediator as we were confident that we are two very ‘sound’ nations and we had a ‘good chemistry’. Indeed we are a sound nation as the regular bomb blast take care of it and the chemistry always have resulted in an extreme exothermic and nuclear reaction, so it does work well.

After so much hue and cry finally India has realized that an ‘interlocutor’ is required and not a mediator. I ran through the pages of the dictionary to find whats the damn difference between the two is. FYI an interlocutor means ‘someone who informally explains the views of a government and also can relay messages back to a government’. Now you got it, since the modern ways of communication and transportation fail to connect us two at a psychological level (as physically we are stone’s throw apart) we needed some other channel.

But why Saudi? Here are few points, the first one is simple.

1. America loves Saudi’s, we started to love America à We can start loving Saudis

2. Saudi is a Muslim country with strict Muslim nation with strict laws for everyone there except for the royal family. (I may be denied a Visa or can get myself beheaded for this statement). Now Pak is also a Muslim country. So basically pressure on Pak to leave their inclination towards our beloved enemy (China)

3. Talking about China, India Cleary sent a message across to China “U rascalas, you have no business here as this deal is not as ‘cheap’ as the kind of products you make”. And you better stay out of this as you are number 2 in our hit list.

But how did all this unfold? Here is the secret (from our internal sources)—Someone from our ministry had the time to read the “Arthashastra” J. And for those in the management do a SWOT analysis and you will know the answer.

The Great Indian Live-stock

Shashi Tharoor's recent comment on traveling 'cattle class' has made most of us question "How the F*** can a politician willingly dig his own grave? "

In my opinion he is right in his statement and my sympathies goes to Tharoor for people have been making a mockery of this tweet of his.

In the first place we don't know what to expect from our politicians. Shashi who has been a great diplomat throughout his career is finding it tough to survive in the political scenario. To me the 'cattle class' was very humorous, but I wondered why did people feel so bad about it.

The west calls it so because the seating arrangement in the economy class of aircraft's are very similar to the way cattle is transported in their country. Let's admit it, the cattle class of Sashi's is just second to the best transportation system we have in India. But folks in the MEDIA and some XYZ's don't feel good about this remark. Why? because this is their usual means of transportation. And our 'learned' people started comparing with the "Indian" cattle class (u can see the pics on the left). Feel so sorry for these 'next to VIPs' people. They are so cocooned to their thought and lifestyle that they feel ashamed and angry whenever they are brought close to the Indian reality. Its like, they feel accused. For once can't these LAME people can think out of the box.

Folks!! This is something to laugh and enjoy. I expect people and more than that the MEDIA to be 'realistically' BROAD minded in this regard.

Faith in God

An Atheist was I or not;

But sure that I had never seen him
For people told me that he was here, there and everywhere;
And he always looked upon us with his wide open eyes.

Those days I knew a few that were right or wrong
The rest was still for me to learn.
The right and wrong were not my own,
But it was just the way that I was told.

I knew one thing was certain
To thy self I needed to be true;
For the feeling that is good or bad in you.

That one day was not like any other day,
For I still remember it like yesterday.
I was a happy naughty kid of seven,
Still wondering about the difference between earth and heaven.

I was ready to go to school early that day,
Had my breakfast and was set to pack my bag right.
All was okay, but finding my almanac became a fight.

I searched here and there,
Ran my thoughts to trace back in time,
Wondered for where it had vanished without a trace;
Even my mother could see all the gloom in my face.

Went to school with my mind trying to search it from earth to sky,
At the prayer hall at school that day
I prayed to god like I never did till that day,
And looked up to the sky to search for that wide open eye,

I felt pain and could not stop my eyes from getting wet,
I begged for forgiveness
For all that I knew was wrong,
And also those for which I knew not.

In my prayer I said to god,
I will do well every time in my life,
And not suffer from within for doing any sin;
To smile at life as the way it comes to me
And enjoy it till the time it is with me.

Then I thought of the cupboard in my room
And in it the second shelf to the right
Just below few of my books I could see
The little green almanac of me.

All the day at school I prayed to god,
Never uttered to my friends about this a word,
I went back home at dusk that day,
Still had the gloomy face to my mother's dismay.

I pulled my laces of my shoe,
And tided myself from head to toe.
I walked to the cupboard in my room,
Hoping my prayers to come true.

I opened the door and looked for it right,
Couldn't believe my eyes as they lit bright.
There it was in the corner, my little green almanac
The book that had a few pages of my prayer.