LIFE HAS TO GO ON. LIFE WILL GO ON.

Last week I have been visiting few places with my friends and I happened to meet an inspiring character. He was a 67 year old young man. Yes! You read it right - 67 year old YOUNG man. He was full of life. I dont know how we started speaking, but we just struck a chord. It was truly an amazing experience which taught me a lot.

Most of the times, we think something and we start believing what we are thinking. I dont know about everyone, but with me that is the case. And it becomes very difficult to come out of that uni-directional thinking. And that's where meeting people like these prove significant. It just refreshes your thinking.

He just looked at me and asked - " Is something wrong with you?" I just turned around and gave him a stare. What else can you expect? I don't even know him. Then he started speaking to all my friends and we were kind of enjoying his talk. We could make out that he wanted to share some 'gyaan' from what he has learnt from 'life'. He then started asking weird questions.

He asked me - "Are you tough?" I again gave him a stare and said , "Yes! I am".

Then he asked - "How can you say that?". I said, "I dont know how to justify, but I am tough mentally and physically."

He said -"Let me make things easier for you. What would you do if you go through a break up in a relationship?" It said "May be cry for months together, lose confidence, lose health, feel lonely etc etc...". He smiled and said - "Yes. I know you all would do that. And I know it's like living in hell"

Then he started giving his 'bhashan'(speech). It was more like what I call - 'a political speech'.He told so many things, but one thing he always stressed was - 'Life has to go on'. Soon we saw tears from his eyes and that is when we realized that he was not making a political speech. He had lost his parents in 1993 Mumbai blasts and his wife in the 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai. He had come to south India to visit his friend.

For the first time, I understood the meaning of 'Life has to go on'. I really din't know how to react. I was stunned and had tears in my eyes. This is when I realised that I was not mentally tough. This is where I told myself, "I will now become tough. I will not allow emotions rule me".

It's less than a week I met this person and trust me, he has changed my thinking and my life. It has made me a stronger person. Indeed! LIFE HAS TO GO ON. LIFE WILL GO ON.

The city of dreams which never dreamt of

I have injured my right hand and I am going through a lot of pain. But more than my hand, it’s the heart which is in real pain. My heart is crying for the people of Mumbai – ‘The city of dreams’. The city, whose dreams were shattered by few evil ‘elements’. The city which was brought to its knees in no time.

Ayodhya in the 80’s, the 1993 blasts in Mumbai, the 06-07 local train blasts in Mumbai, the Delhi blasts this year.. The list is big. And 26th Nov saw the worst ever terror attack on the financial capital of the country. When are we going to find a solution for this brutal state of terrorism?

Today I am really angry. As a responsible citizen, I am worried and concerned. I feel the city was brutally ‘raped’ and we were clueless. It was a complete breakdown of intelligence. How long are we going to tolerate this? I was always thinking that ‘roti, ‘kapda’ and ‘makaan’ were the basic necessities for surviving. But the most fundamental necessity has now become ‘suraksha’ (security). ‘Roti’, ‘kapda’ and ‘makaan’ will be meaningful only when there is ‘suraksha’.

The spirit of Mumbaikars will bring them back to normalcy in no time. But the question remains, how long are we going to take this? It’s time we raise our voice. Why should a politician be given a ‘Z’ category security? For me the security of people is more important. I want those hundreds of security personnel to guard the people instead of guarding the politicians when they visit a city for a rally. A group of 15 people cannot cross the waters and take charge of the most admired monuments of the city – The Taj and the Oberoi Trident.

During this worst moment of tragedy, it was a commendable job done by the Mumbai police, the army, the navy and most importantly- the NSG. I salute the 200 commandos who did their job with thorough professionalism. I salute Hemant Karakare, Vijay Salaskar and Ashok Kamte. These cops have laid their life for the people of Mumbai. Jai Hind!!!

Whom to blame?

Most of the people in India belong to the so called 'middle class' society. For the youth, the focus by far is on the most simplest way - get a degree and land up in a job which will earn them 'green notes'. I know those green notes are enough to survive in this 'mean' world. But I feel the race to earn 'green notes' has some where supressed the dream of the middle class youth.

Individuals who wanted to join the Air force or navy or wanted to become models are not allowed to pursue what they wanted to because there was a huge 'risk' involved in terms of their future. In most cases, they are forced to take the simple path - a degree followed by a job. We are restricting the creativity of a fantastic brain and the energy of the youth. Whom to blame? Parents or the situation ? I guess both.

I feel, "I am happy but not having fun". People feel when we are happy, we are also having fun. But I would want to differ.I want to make a distinction between being happy and having fun. Getting a degree, getting a job, being with parents is happiness for me but doing something 'unconventional' is fun. Doing something 'unorthodox' is fun. I am yet to discover what is unconventional for me.

Life is all about taking 'calculated' risks. Only risks can give you greater dividends. I am tempted to quote Steve jobs here - 'Stay hungry, Stay foolish'.

Best F1 season and the emergence of Lewis Hamilton - A loser

On 02 Nov,2008 - the best ever F1 season ended.

It was yet another cliff-hanger as was witnessed in 2007. Felipe Massa almost did a 'kimi' this year. Remember what happened in 2007? Kimi won though he had the least probability of winning the championship. A true 'master' - the 'ice man'.

But this year, Timo Glock made Hamilton win the championship. I will never give the credit to Hamilton, because he did not win on his own. For me he was never a great driver. He truly in all sense does not have the 'spirit' of 'sportsmanship'.Hence he does not deserve the championship, but we need to congratulate 'the born loser' for winning the championship somehow. It will anyway be considered as a win in the history books.

Nevertheless, it was a great season where till the end, the champion was not decided. It was the final two laps,that decided the championship.

Ferrari’s consolation was to win the constructors’ world championship but, ultimately, and in the most dramatic circumstances imaginable, this was Lewis Hamilton’s and McLaren’s day.

I have never witnessed such a race (Brazil 2008) in the history of F1. The most impressive driver for me was Sebastian Vettel. I see a lot of Kimi Raikkonen in him. Like Kimi, Vettel is a cool and an agressive driver. I see a world champion in Vettel.

It was truly the best F1 season with the emergence of a 'loser' - Lewis Hamilton.

In the name of religion

Do political parties or politicians prepare crime? I am inclined to say a 'yes'. We dreamt of a country where people will stay together in communal harmony irrespective of caste or religion. Then why is there a communal disharmony around the country? Why are people not sure of getting back home safely in the evening after work? This is the state of a country which once used to boast of itself being called 'sone ki chidiyan'(Golden Bird). Am afraid, today things have changed drastically.

What is happening today in Maharashtra is ridiculous. What is MNS doing? They have the right to hit people, they have the right to decide every individuals constitutional right,they even have right to destruct the governmental property.
They hit girls and say it was done to save the right of the Marathi Manus. Why aren't the politicians not held for all these things? Even if they are arrested they would be released within few hours of drama.

The country is heading towards a communal divide in identities. The BJP regularly plays the hindutva trump card to show the cultural injustice brought to the hindus by other communities. They blame muslims for driving kashmiri pandits out of kashmir in 1960's, for not allowing to build their beloved 'ram' temple in ayodhya, for terror activities among many things, christians for indulging in unethical religious conversions. But how can they justify the killing of 2000 people in the name of Ram.

No religion in this world provides for the killing of innocent people for a greater cause, raping of a woman for the sake of teaching a lesson or for that matter converting to another religion. Its a sorry state of affairs in our country where the citizens are even sorry to note that our politicians follow this unacceptable form of religion with their characterstic outrageous and ridiculous sense.

Is reservation the solution? - Its racism

I was reading an old article where Arjun Singh called 'reservation' in educational institutions as an 'Historic decision'. I really dont know how historic it is, but I feel its a kind of racism.

Is the indian society moving forward? The answer is an obvious NO!!! How long are we going to divide people based on caste? The recent verdict of supreme court has raised the reservation to 49%. It is like using a sword for sewing cloth. If a person is not equipped to make in to a premier institute , he(she) will not make it anyway.

Won't it create a kind of racism among students? A student who finds difficult to get into the college or to find a job, will obviously fly abroad to get his(her) confidence back. The government is just closing the doors for them. It's high time, people stop complaining about brain drain because it is the system which is to be blamed.

I am not even sure if someone from reservation category, who has talent and capability would be happy with this verdict. No matter how good they are they will be alwaysjudged by the caste.

There are multiple ways of solving a problem.It will a long time for the system to become mature. For the politicians,the desire to be on the seat is much more than the desire to do some good.

I feel reservation is racism.