Can't Wait!

Impatience is the new life - says the adcom for airtel broadband which pretty much summarises the way of life today so much so that when I couldn't remember this tag line within ten seconds I immediately called up my friend to look it up for me :)

Everything now-a-days has to happen with lightening speed and sometimes even that is slow...I wont be surprised if the unit of measure changes from a second to nanosecond(spoken like a true geek:))...

Alls fine with speed and manic restlessness BUT It irks me when people can't wait for their turn in the Queue (wherever!)...Why is it that waiting brings out the worst in people? I , for one , hate waiting but only when someone doesn't keep up an appointment ...but I fail to understand
Why the hell do people honk in traffic when they can see that there isnt space for the guy before him to manouver?
Why can't they stand in line but just brush past the waiting people to get a movie ticket?
Why is it that people go on calling even if they hear that their call is waiting?(a super invention by the way)
Why can't people wait for 10 seconds and have to switch the channel as soon as an ad is on?
and whenever I see any such thing happening (which is ever so often), it is all I can do to stop myself giving them an earfull!
Why I mean Why??

Aham brahmasmi!

Back from a week long trip to a loooot of temples :) ...We visited almost 8-9 temples within a span of 6 days and boy was it worth it! Every temple had a story to tell and a few deposits were made to my knowledge bank ;)...These new additions obviously set my ball of thought rolling and as a natural consequence I am blogging ;)...
As a Hindu I have the previlege of worshipping hundreds of deities in various forms...If you observe, every deity stands for certain qualities...these qualities are'nt usually those with which a person is born , they need to be attained through the course of life with a lot of self retrospection and learning there by...thus they are usually branded as unattainable by human standards...It makes me wonder may be it is these qualities we worship and to give them form we associate a godly figure to it-if so hats off to the genius of our ancestors to have exemplified these lessons by personifying these qualities...This is where the second word of my title comes --"Brahmam"
On a different plane, why DO we have so many dieties? Can't we have a single god and associate all the qualities with Him? May be it is our ancestors' way of saying that everyone is different :) and you can't expect all the qualities in a single human being :) A way of promoting tolerance in us-- a train of thought that I am still not very tolerant about though :)...
There is a saying in Gita -- "You will attain moksha when you see yourself in others and others in you". The first one is but natural, but not many do the second one...This is where the first word of my title comes--"Aham"...This prevents people in executing the second thought...
But only the one who realises that the two words are inseperable also sees that only when you believe in yourself do you attain true happiness...
Know thyself - be your best critic.

Gilly Gilly all the way!

Performing under pressure is the real mark of a champion...I fell in love with Gilly all over again on friday..What a knock that was! It knocked the senses out of me and I started jumping up and down for every shot that sent the ball flying or bouncing over the boundary-which meant a lot of physical exercise for me as every other ball was sent to meet the boundary....
The match started with a surprising decision by Gilly to bowl rather than bat first especially when the chargers lost the last 5 matches chasing...But the gentleman's decision was proved right (or was it right just because they won ;)) as the nerves of the semi-final attacked delhi when it lost two very early wickets...The chargers then tried everything in the book to restrict delhi to a defendable score...however friday was Gilly's day...the Daredevils' total seemed miniscule in front of the gargantuan skill of Gilly...Sehwag was in the receiving end of what he usually does to the opposition and he was flabbergasted...Every shot showed a genius in action...every ball - a yorker,short pitch, full toss, leg cutter- whatever the question was , Gilly had an answer....It was however a little sad that the magnificent journey of the daredevils to the semi-final reached an anti-climax...There was only one difference between both the teams that day- one gentleman-Adam Gilchrist!
I do sincerely hope he continues this in the final too and script the unexpected ending to a tournament in which the chargers started as the underdogs!

A simpler time...

Today when I was talking with my amma I was reminded of a much simpler time. Her experiences are so very different from mine and mine would be so very different from my kid's :).When she was relating her experiences I couldn't help musing where has that world gone?
Simplicity was the word of the day then. Today I see around me the expression has become a rarity. There was a time when social occasions like marriages were a chance to let go of reins and swap life stories. At that time even a distant relative was treated as a comrade in arms-literally. But today even filial bonds don’t hold weight and marriages now have just become a social formality. Back then, it was so easy to talk to a relative/friend or a next door neighbor. Inhibitions existed then, they exist now too but the only difference is there was no fear of acceptance then. People had the freedom to be themselves and get away with it. Today however, we surround ourselves with concrete walls - just like the world we live in. People today pride themselves for their tolerance levels. I find the idea laughable. Yes, there are cases where we have changed for the better – definitely and I am proud to be a member of such a society but I still maintain that our ancestors were more tolerant towards life. Compromise-something which comes under “why me?” category today- was commonplace because people were more mature.
They were a much resilient as a result a much happier lot. We on the other hand are much vulnerable. The emotional veils that we hide under now-a-days were non-existent then. Back then people found it so easy to compliment or comment someone because people were mature enough to accept either but today I see that even a genuine compliment is treated with suspicion simply because an honest one is an oddity. An honest person today feels out of place and has to disguise himself just to fit in because his honesty is considered to be naivety!

Why and how then has this change come about?

People today confuse individuality with modernism and compromise with conservatism. People fail to realize that individualistic people can also be conservative and that conservatism doesn’t necessarily mean narrow-mindedness. Sadly the society is now divided into these two groups of extreme thought and the intersection bears the brunt as each of these two groups considers the other deplorable. The elements that divide the two generations were and are prevalent in both the generations. It is only now that we want to attribute adjectives to characterize each generation that these have come into limelight.

Who said people weren’t knowledgeable back then? Who would you trust with financial advice-a Fresh finance graduate who has no practical experience whatsoever or a housewife in a joint family who has handled two generations of wages? But very few people sit back and appreciate the lessons life has taught.
The younger generation treats their ancestors as a bunch of old fools who SO do not understand their line of thought- they ignore the wisdom of experience. The older generation on the other hand has become all the more protective of their off-springs – to shield them from the pain that life has subjected them to – they fail to see through the curtain of inexperience or realize that some lessons are to be learnt practically.
Adding to this are our unbelievably tight schedules which prevent us from bridging this gap. A power cut now-a-days is proving to be such a blessing in disguise. It has probably become the only period of time where the whole family sits in one single room and talk – albeit forcibly. Such is the story of today where we need to depend on something like a power cut to bring us together. I somehow can’t help wishing the world today was as simple as back then with all the wonderful blessings of today.

This is me signing off in the wait for the next power cut :)

To be or not to be!

Compromise- it requires enormous strength of character but when overdone it will ruin one's sense of self. One of the toughest questions in life is when to stop compromising and start living.One needs to know where to draw a line.I have seen both the extremes in life. I have seen people who don't give up their end and thereby break relationships and I have seen people who do all it takes to maintain the relationship but lose themselves in the process. This makes me wonder is it so difficult then to actually sit back,reflect and decide what is more important to you and when?

Huh!

Yesterday I understood the saying..."No one wants to die alone....." -- one of my friends felt this way today and I couldnt help reflecting on the same. When I asked him what the reason was he told me he wasn't feeling well yesterday and just got the thought that even if something happens to him what if there was no one to even tell! Wow! Such a scary thought! Imagine the amount of effort you put into life but ultimately you are on your own aren't you? Somehow the thought was a little unsettling. It makes everything else seem so miniscule and even unworthy!