Michael! Michael! – All I want to say is that…

Michael was entering one of the busiest railway stations of India; he looked up at the rectangular digital clock that read 21:10 hrs IST. His usual train arrives at 21:30 hrs so he went to the nearby “subway” to get his cheese sandwich. He showed his anger on the poor sandwich which would never retaliate to his feelings. He had the whole world to vent out his anger but not his boss. He reached his usual bench and sat on the right corner as usual.As he was munching his sandwich, his cerebral neurons made him think of the recurring dream that he has been having for the past few weeks.

The Dream:

            Michael finds himself as an old man with white beard in a lush green farm amongst several white coated youngsters inspecting the health of the lovely field with sophisticated equipments. The youngsters are beaming with pride as they listen to good old Mike.

Every time he gets this dream he jumps out of his bed with goose bumps and profuse sweating. As he had some more time for his train he started sorting out the odds of that dream coming true, he started asking himself several questions and let his inner voice answer them.

Michael        : Why should this happen?

Inner Voice  : There is more to your life than monthly salaries, ratings, pay hikes,BMWs, luxury apartments, love, marriage, children and death. Though you have achieved and earned most of these material illusions, you are not satisfied because you are not doing what you wanted to do.You are doing something that is miles away from you heart and dream. Your dream is to bring about a change but you are toiling hard to bring some one else's dream a reality.If people say you are greedy never listen to them. If you are gonna bring about a change “stay hungry and stay foolish”(Steve Jobs). Just keep in mind “a satiated soul loathes honey”(King Solomon) don’t be satisfied until your dream comes true and that dream is to bring about the change.

Michael       : So if change is what I need(not want) where should it start??

Inner Voice : Not just a change my dear it should be a sustainable and scalable change. so if you start somewhere in the middle it wont be sustainable and if you start at the tip you wont be able to scale it to next level so the obvious choice is the root. Start at the root level you would be able to sustain and scale it. But to be able to change the root you should reach the root level and become the change yourself as Gandhi pointed out “become the change you want to see”.

Michael        : If a sustainable and scalable change is what i need...what should i do?
Inner Voice  : Follow your dream Mike.The recurring dream that you are getting is your suppressed purpose. You are supposed to change this country’s perspective on agriculture. Devise a business model to bring about a corporate (not at the expense of farmers)agriculture that should lure the next generation to agro based industries.. The inclusive business model should make agriculture the best paying sector of this nation. When Australian and American farmers are rich why cant that happen to Indian farmers too. Understand that the Indian farmers are fed and kept alive in the same plight just for the votes. You are gonna change that.

Michael        : With whom should i start this?
Inner Voice  : It is funny that you ask me such a question after watching "It's a wonderful Life" 10 times.
The answer is your 'friends' Mike. Remember? "No man is a failure who has friends".They are your friends because you have and share something in common. Gather your friends who have the same line of thought. They will bring theirs. There are plenty of youngsters wondering "what am i doing in front of this stupid machine?" and this count increases day by day. They are ready to walk along (not follow)a guy with big dreams. Your ability lies in the search to find and pick out those people. "Seek and you shall Find".

Michael       : Now that I am convinced by the why, where, whom and the what part, the next obvious question is how….so how do I go about all this?

Inner Voice : Its all about hope from here on Mike. Assume, you are driving down a highway at night. you would be able to see only the strip of road that is illuminated by your car’s halogen head lamps at any point of time does that make you fear and take your leg off the accelerator? No. It’s the same hope that should drive from now on. Just hope that the road unwinds itself as you move forward. All that is needed is the first step of hope in the right direction at the right time with the right people and purpose. You know the direction, people and it’s always the right time for you; so it’s easier for you to keep your first feet forward. It may be a small step for you; but it might become a giant leap for the Indians.Just remember you can always connect the dots looking backwards not the other way around.

After all this cerebral activity, Michael decided to pursue his dream. So he decided to discuss about his resignation with his boss tomorrow and start off pursuing his dream to provide a sustainable and scalable change to the woman he loved the most.

Before he could come to his senses his neurons intercepted the blaring horn of his train. He jumped off the bench as if he was enlightened and the whole station looked like a bodhgaya to him. He started walking towards the train with hope and confidence.

All of a sudden his nerve endings freezed on hearing the rattling bullet sounds, he turned back to stare right into the eyes of a handsome young man who will be later identified as Ajmal Kasab.

                                                                                        The End!

P.S. Pardon me if there are any blunders, am writing it after gulping down a beer!

It's a Wonderful Life

Sitting here in hyderabad it's very difficult to set myself aloof the YSR mourning.I can hear people singing the threnody(song of grief) in 'sundara' telugu.Need not mention the TV channels.

Since this lamenting keeps me awake, my thoughts start to wonder about life and death.
some of those random thoughts are here.

What will happen if we die?

Will we be able to see our relatives and friends cry and lament?

Will we see someone other than our relatives shed tears for us?

A normal man becomes a hero when there is someone/something called villain(person or situation).

Likewise, life is made special and wonderful through "death".

If we did not die, if our existence did not unravel in the endless darkness of death, would life be quite so precious, so extraordinary, so moving? asked Andre Comte-Sponville.

If we are given a guarantee that we would never die we may not be doing what we are doing right now.That doesnot mean we have to live for the destination instead live with the awareness that we hav to reach the destination.If death/ultimate destination gives fear, lets take inspiration, strength and courage from the likes of randy pausch.

Life is like a car, we drive it into the unknown future heading towards the ultimate destination, the rear view mirror(past) guides us and gives us hope.we cant afford to keep looking into the past or future we have to do something in the present to move our car forward. So the best way is to keep workin on our present eyeing the destination with guidance from the past.

So why do people cry in a funeral? it's because the mourner's life has been touched by the dead person some way or other.

Now, if we can think of atleast one person in our life whose life has benefitted from ours, then we are worth a living :) and we can proudly say 'it's a wonderful life'.

Do watch "It's a wonderful life"- a classic inspirational movie.

Cocktail ;)

It was a saturday night!

An old man (strong enough to carry himself after a couple of tequila shots and beers) with white/wise beard was sitting alone in the corner of a poorly lighted bar sipping his second beer and staring at the LCD Television which emitted the images from Michael Jackson's funeral service live from Los Angeles’ Staples Center.A sudden burst of laughter disturbed him, he lowered his head to see a group of well dressed, ill bred young group stting around the table opposite to his.

As the Funeral ceremony was boring and this group's chatter was too loud, the Old man started to listen to their conversation, left with no choice.

The girl in the opposite table facing him said,"Wow i love this man" turning her head from the LCD and continued "can you believe he is dead, his moonwalk, his patented moves, his songs they are immortal.He is my role model yo know"
"Wat???? hey Neha, come on yaar how can you call him your role model? he is such a loser.yo know those cases against him right?" said the guy sitting opposite to her with a prisoner's haircut.
"what the heck.... how do yo know he is so and so danny, yo know how much he has helped others he even holds a guiness world record for supporting the most number of charities. 39 i guess" repied neha holding her half completed beer pint.

"those are just desperate ways of searchin for peace, after doing such sins" came a loud voice from the guy beside her with studded ears and Man U jerseys.
"ya exactly karan,cheers!!!" supported danny holding up his pint.
Neha was quite flabbergasted and was desperately looking for points, munching the chips she said "k watever, i like him and i need not prove anything to you guys"

"ok ok we'll stop that, tell me who is your role model karan?" asked the so long silent girl with curly hair sitting next to Danny.
"Namakellam Kamal thaan,i mean KamalHassan-the great Tamil no no Indian Actor.According to me he is the perfect man, oops sorry!, the man striving for excellence.He is my role model if we follow his footsteps thats more than enough.wat about you sandhya?"
"Me,My role model is Dominique Francon she is the archetype of womanhood.Its difficult to be like her yet i have started tryin" pridely replied the curly haired girl, sipping her red wine.

"Machi peter akkaku konjam quarter oothu" danny said to karan and they both burst out into laughter
"wat wat?? hey guys dont we hav the deal that you guys should not talk in Tamil when we are around. we wont come out with you if you continue this way." blasted Neha.
"ok ok, its just a joke nothing offensive don worry"said karan signalling the bartender for a refill .
"wat about you danny?" enquired sandhya
"Mmmmm...Sourav Ganguly -the prince of Kolkata" said danny gulping down his chilli vodka.

The old man shifted his focus again to the Show.Now he could see MJ's daugher in tears, informing the crowd that her father was the best.The old man could see neha getting emotional.The young group continued its discussion in the same lines for another hour at times fighting for their favourites(role models).Karan noticed the old man watchin them but dint mind.

The old man finished his part and started to move out.As he crossed that table he heard "sir one second" it was Karan,"sir,i have been seeing you watchin us from the beginning why dont you tell us who is ur role model?", continued Karan.

"i dont have one" replied the old man curtly.
"atheppadi, i mean how is it possible? Does that mean, no one has inspired yo all these years?" asked a curious Karan.
The old man smiled and said "i said i dont have one, i dint say i dont have any"
The group started to listen(steadily) as the old man continued "i dont believe in the concept of role models but let me make one thing clear.No man/woman is a paragon of all the virtues.Even one cant follow Jesus blindly in all aspects because he never married atleast according to the bible so yo wont find marriage or family related virtues in Jesus.Similar is the case of Ram,Krishna,Nabi they all lack one thing or the other.Thats the reason y we have the life stories of many saints and people in every Holy Book.I personally feel you hav to follow good qualitites from different people"
"naayae summa ponavara yaen da koopita? mokka podran da intha aalu" karan could hear danny's inner voice.

The old man continued, ignoring the guys' reactions .Neha and sandhya started to observe as keenly as they could in that state."I accept whomever yo have mentioned has certain good qualities or personality traits which yo can follow but yo cant and should never try
to impersonate them.See,Souvrav Ganguly's nature to rise rom shckles, his way of indentifying talents,his confidence yo can follow.But definitely not his commitment towards his job and his egotistic nature.Instead, Commitment towards work can be learnt from KamalHassan.You can learn the way to tackle questions,public speaking etiquettes,the strive for excellence,the faith in formal education from him. But again, if yo follow Kamal Haasan's idea about marriage and love you cant survive in our culture atleast with proper image."

Danny murmured something and lied down on the table.

The old man looked at sandhya and said,"And Madam yo can follow dominique francon's nature of "if i cant get it, no one should" in business but not in family and if u try to be ike her let me remind yo there is no one like Howard roark, atleast on Earth. If yo wanna dance follow MJ's steps but not his steps in life there are plenty of other people for you to follw.My advice would be to take good qualities from your friends and parents cos yo know them fully and yo feel and see them from a closer distance.why do you need to tag some celebrity as your role model?"
the old man was relentless.

But for karan the whole room suddenly turned silent, he could hear his heart beat.
He felt as if the flying birds, the waterfall, the swaying trees, the traffic on a metro road, the racing horses,the drop of wine from wine glass to sandhya's lips and every moving object just freezed in time and space.He Felt as if he was watching a movie in which the camera was rotating round the old man 360 degrees.

Then,he heard danny whispering "machi nee yaen da thalaya suthitu irukka???
seri, thatha ku mabbu overaagiduchu nu nenaikiraen kelambha sollu"

What if???

What if we dont have her,
There are plenty of positives to look at.
-> We need not spend hours/mins infront of the mirror.
-> We need not be so worried that if we dont care for her, she ll leave us forever.
-> We need not be perplexed by the fact that she gets away from us daily no matter how much we care for her.
-> The amount of money we spend on her becomes a saving now :)

Obviously we are bound to miss something too :(
-> That "eat one's heart out" kind of look from those who dont have.
-> That "different feeling" when she kisses our fore head (cha! feelings).
-> That Pleasure of feeling her jump and play along with us during the romantic rainy days. (mind you, Hyd's weather is great now(salubrious,in vivek's language))
-> and this is the most terrible thing, Bike ride without her is incomplete :(



so, who is she???

AT YOUR SERVICE

cool article to read on valentine's day..!!!

   Once upon a time there was a tall, dark and handsome boy. And there was a girl, slim, fair and beautiful. They exchanged glances in the morning, which led to an anxious wait in the evenings. And then it led to ferrying her from college to her home. This was followed by frequent dashes to the movies and quick shopping trips at her insistence. Then came Valentine’s Day and she asked, “Will you be my Valentine?” and he said, “Yes.” 

Time went by, and he was dropping her to the office, going for long drives. Like every year on the same day, she asked, “Will you be my Valentine?” and he said, “Yes, always your Valentine.” Then they got married and had two children. It was Valentine’s again. He dropped her to the office in their car with a promise to meet early and celebrate. Picked her up in the evening and took her to the market as she wanted to buy some clothes. He dropped her to the shop and, with ‘No Parking’ signboards all over the place, he went some distance to park the car. Then, he came to the shop to applaud her purchases and when she was done, went all the way back to get the car. The next halt was a men’s shop and as per the norm, he dropped her at the shop and drove around to park the car. By the time he walked back, the decision had been made. A pink T-shirt it was.

   It was dinner time, then, and it had to be something special. He wanted to get back home but she wanted to get out of the city. One glance from her and her favourite restaurant on the outskirts it was, the long, tiring drive notwithstanding. Almost by protocol now, he dropped her at the entrance and parked the car. They both ate and he smiled. She walked out to the car with him. He opened the door for her. He drove. She slept. They reached home and he stopped in front of the house. Woke her up, got down, opened the door for her and requested her to proceed. He came back after parking the car in the designated parking lot allotted to them by their Resident Welfare Association. She was waiting. He knew it was coming. Like always, she asked “Will you be my...” and before she could finish, he said, “Yes, always your valet.” 

Author:Sanjeev Mathur 

TIMES OF INDIA(14-2-09)