For the Changing India

The Buddha says that one of the four truths is that everything is changing. Change is the only constant force in the universe, which can neither be stopped nor be avoided. The only way to sustain life is to change along with the changing times and the ones who don’t, perish. This is the very nature of the Indian demographic. The last one-decade has seen a formidable change in every aspect of individual as well as national life and this just seems to be the beginning.

From being known as nothing more than one of the most populated country, we have come to a point where even America says we are a very important part of their international policy and that they look forward to our corporation. The thinking, the lifestyles, the goals, the ideologies, the geographic make up, the economic standards, the value propositions, the science, the music, the movies, the man and the woman all are changing at a brisk rate. We are increasingly becoming more and more volatile in the way we live and things we want from life. And this is why I would say that ‘Change’ is what represents India to me, in the present scenario.

We are no more the people who reclined every evening in the drawing room watching television with the family to end the day, every single day. We are no more the families where the man was the one who came back in the evening from work. We are no more the unsatisfied and quiet consumers who had no choice and grunted our teeth if we didn’t like any product. We are no more the education system where marks and scores mattered more than intelligence and the options were restricted to only science, being the most valued and commerce being for the average. Arts was a felony and Fine Arts unheard of.

The days no more end at 10 o’clock in the night, outings are no more restricted to going to your relatives place, or for a once in a blue moon picnic. Girls are no more like a distant dream for guys and guys are always available for girls. There are more people to talk to, there are more things you can think about, there are more places, within and outside of India that have opened up for us. The airplane is no more a mystery, the phones have become a toy of a two year old, the computers are a part of our biological system so much so that we don’t excrete, we delete data from our stomach these days. Call it technological intervention or progress, we have come a long way and things have changed in a manner that was beyond imagination only till a decade back.

India has the largest youth population in the world and they, without any doubt, are going to build the future of the nation. Here too ‘change’ is at the centre of their existence. Its being called the ‘impatient generation’ that wants everything quickly. Its no more the bunch of young energetic people seen lost in the dreams of filmy, romantic college life. But its more to do with the fast pace running around in the pursuit of a better career. School kids have access to all those things that were once upon a time virtues of collegians.

The priorities have changed from neighborhood friends to online friends, from sports to video games, from face to face to facebook. Kids now know middle finger and a number of porn sites. Live-in relations and pre-marital sex have become legal, a concept or a word that would have got you locked in the bathroom by your dad few years ago. Marriages are no more on the agenda and even if they are people hardly bother which ‘gotra’ the girl is from, the region, the religion, the ‘kundli’ and all the so-called deciding factors are being shunned away by the modern minds. The Individual is what would matter at the end of the day. Of course there are contradicting views and raised eye-brows, but these are just small hitches in front of a wave that are soon going to get swept away.

The geographical boundaries are collapsing, slowly but surely. More and more displaced Indians are there to be seen any and everywhere. Some even have difficulty pointing out where they belong, they prefer calling them the ‘Ideal Indians.’ Australians, British, South Africans, West-Indians are playing for India. Bill Gates is doing charity for Bihar. Obama is looking forward to Indian corporation. Vietnamese are studying the Indian BRTS system.

And the list just gets bigger…

• Finally there are sports other than cricket in India.

• Railway is making profit.

• We have Young Politicians.

• Ministers are taking in stricter measures in curbing the violence in Maoist hit areas.

• Courts are giving verdicts in less than 25 year per case.

• Mein Kampf sells more than The Story of My Experiments With Truth

• Gandhi is cursed as he made one entire state a dry state, no offence.

• Movies have replaced Ishq with LSD

• People now hate love stories

• Luxury is cheaply available

• International is no more out of reach, its almost domestic now

• Bata is as good as Nike

• Ferraris, Lamborghini, Ducati and all the other names are not just names anymore


From the time I come to the college in the morning till the time I go back in the evening, something changes on the way. There is something new to be seen every time I re-visit a place. Whether it’s a newly constructed building or a deforested land, the change is everywhere.

I am not judging here or passing a verdict as to where we are going is good or bad. There are views from the conservatives that we are going to the dogs. The people who are changing with the world say it’s the only way and there is no problem with that. I don’t know which point of view is right or wrong, but I see India and I see it changing rapidly. There is a drastic shift from where we were few years back to where we have reached now.

Not just the national level, but also the individual level has seen a considerable change in every aspect of life. Be it the carefree nature of the youth or the acceptance of the elderly. Be it the disposable salaries or the need to do something more than just earning for self. The nature, the attitude, the minds, the hearts, there is change outside and there it is within.

Of all the things I think about

Of all the things I think about,
one that comes very often is the dark empty space,
a corridor that goes a long time back,
with memories getting hazy and blurred,
partly by time and partly by my memory,
darker and darker it gets,
there is no light at the farther end.

darkness where the life began,
darkness when the life will end,
in between is where we stand,
making it all worth,
trying to make it all worth,
wheeling in emotions and contradictions,
some from outside and some from within.

art of living,
art of surviving,
art of rising,
art of falling,
art of saying,
art of expressing,
art of loving,
art of knowing,
art of the endless search,
art of ending the search,
and the essence is the
art of searching the end.

The post ‘Tare Zameen Par’ Psychology

Haven’t we all loved the movie Tare Zameen Par. Call it one man’s hard work to change the ideological viewpoint of treating your children, bringing a broader spectrum of looking at streams other than the IITs and IIMs or call it being there at the right time as we ourselves are now willing to look at things differently, it has made an impact in our normal lives.

But what did it actually accomplish apart from generous accolades from the film critics, clean sweep in all the film awards and coming to age of an actor cum artist? It will difficult to pin point any radical change in the psychology of the people. But it can very easily be said; it did make a mockery of a lot of ideas the movie very well portrayed. And that’s the truth; we are masters at making a mockery of anything serious and consequential.

Now its fun to be an artist and a teacher. An artist can do anything, live the life his own way and be the anti-social, strange looking nomad dressed up in rags and still be considered a style icon. An art teacher can make all the difference in a child’s life and has the power to overshadow the parent’s role. And how have I seen so many painters become an art teacher recently. Well I am not blaming them, the market is really tough and tight, no one is ready to shell out money on works that are too experimental.

Percentages in an exam suddenly don’t matter. All the Rjs hailed the recent CBSE science results saying it didn’t matter how much you scored. If you did score well, you will get through anything, any exam, any institute. And so what if you didn’t, you can still become an artist, or may be a teacher. Hey! These professions are in fashion now.

this made me sad...

Came across a very serious, rather unfortunate side of a man today. A silent, mostly ignored, honest and a humble hard worker. Have seen him getting lost in his thoughts so many times, staring into the empty spaces, for long, and then all of a sudden as if he remembers he is still alive, comes back to the real world and then gets back to his work.

A victim of a well planned and listed out assault that crushed all that he had. Forced to leave the homeland, uprooted from his own house, deprived of all that he had made for himself from all his life’s hard work, gone in one day, left to be wondering for the rest of his life, “what the hell was my fault.”

And trust me, such strong emotions is not even his nature. Very calmly he narrated me the whole incident. One sentence each. One tragedy in each. One major loss in each. 20 buffalos butchered. 400 poultry dead. House crushed to rambles. Family left tortured, tormented and totally scared to even share what they had experienced. And there are many such people around us. Many such families who are struggling to make their ends meet, for absolutely no fault of theirs.

Reason? One man’s power, few deadly sins and a lot of greed and non-rational thinking.

“None of us drink tea at home,” he said. Not coz they hate it, coz they cannot afford milk anymore. “ I came to Ahmedabad coz I was left with nothing else,” was his last sentence before he put his thin brown frames on his dull, expressionless eyes and got back to work.

Mann Ka Ek Kona

Man ke kissi andruni kone mein ek darr sa laga rehata hai…hamesha…

Ek uljhan… jo sulajhti hi nahi…kahi main wo nahi to???

Aur agar main wo nahi to fir usse main na-pasand to nahi???

Fir chup sa rah jata hun… dil ko behalata hun…

Ki nahi… main to main hun… koi aur nahi…

Lekin shabd yahan saath chor dete hai…

Kuch sochta hun kuch aur hi bolta hun…

Is kush-ma-kush mein bolne ko kuch bachta hi nahi…

Fir soch ke ghode duadte hai…pankh faila kar nikalte hai…

Man ka ek aur pehalu… baareeki se dekhna…

Gaur se sochna… darr ko duur kar dena…

Na kuch samajhna…na kuch dekhna…

Bas… khud ko sambhalna…

Baat yahi khatam… mann ke darwaze band…

Aankhon par patti aur dill mein chuppi…

Na koi dekh sake…na koi sun sake…

Na andar asake… na main bahar ja saku

Deewar… aur sirf ek darwaaza…

Na baat… na mulakat…

Main hun…aur bas main…

Life of an iPhone Developer

Well, high price, chick names and ‘techy’ attitude is what constitutes an iPhone developer. But they are no less than laborers. Mind my condition and opposition I am going to face for calling them that, but hello, freedom of expression, I am sure you must have heard about it.

Now why the hell am I writing on the life of an iPhone developer of all the pretty things in the world?? My friend asked me to, so I am obliging. He asked for the bashing, and here it is, dedicated just for him. I am sure he is going to love this. Even if he doesn’t, I couldn’t care less, for I love bashing.

So let me explain what exactly is that these people do, for that section of my friends who are technologically uneducated. I don’t know. Coz I belong to the same group. All I know is their life is restricted to a white screen, some obscure looking language, code, long office hours, ass kicking work, life sucking clients, nose poking bosses, dreadful competition with handsome salaries and no time to spend. Well the last bit might not be true in each case. It can also be the other way round. Low salaries… still not time to spend.

Now for us, the non-technically gifted people, Apple might have done a world of good when they came out with the iPod, and I am sure most of us know only till that. But for these people it has wrecked havoc on their lives with constant updates of new products and life threatening features that are so bloody well sure to suck each and every single drop of your blood from your body if you try to integrate them in some random application for a random guy in some random corner of the world.

Not to forget that they already have lost the minute, more softer pleasures of life like watching a bug fly…oh did I say bug…. no that’s a crime…for this one word can take up their whole weekend for them set it free…I mean make the application bug free.

Sorry for being so haphazardly random jumping from one word to the other with no connection, actually I am just trying to show the mental setup of our much celebrated iPhone developer here. So I was saying as they have already lost the softer side of their nature, there is more to add to their misery… life is even difficult if you are born and are working in the State of The Man, Mahatma Gandhi. For Gujarat is a dry state. No ‘daru’ to have a pleasant evening after a long day of ass slogging. So in this case they have to go satisfy themselves, falsely, by having soda named ‘Beer’ at the local shop. And by the way, it is one of the most popular flavors here in Gujarat.

Litter India Litter

We are so territorial that the moment we get out of our homes we forget all the etiquettes, throw our simple common sense to the dogs and start LITTERING. Oh have I wondered so many times why the hell do we do that. Oh have I seen so many times people with sparkling houses, mirror clean floors, dust free atmosphere, icons of hygiene turning into absolute rubbish outside.

So why do we do that? Is your area not yours? Does the city belong to someone else? Does the country need to be tortured at each and every single step? Do we have to make ruckus every time we step out of the house? Am I the only person in this world? And this ‘I’ is for every one who has a sense of life in him.

Are we so unbelievably irresponsible towards normal day to day things that can make a huge difference in OUR own lives? Can we not be human enough, leave alone being social, and forget about sophisticated, that we care about people on the road, the cleanliness of our cities and our neighborhoods.

Blame it on the government when we see dirt and filth all around the place. But hold on a sec, do you do the same at home? Do you blame the kaam wali bai when you see dust on the floor and move to the other room? Do you make a disgusting face and abuse when you see chai spilled on the floor? Or do you just have a nice meal and leave all the bartans there itself, or get your food packed and throw the tin foil all over the room or have Gutkha throw the packet anywhere you wish to and design the entire walls of the rooms with colorful lovely looking pichkaris coming right out your mouth?

I don’t think so.

Well I have just been asking questions here, but that’s because I want you to ask them to yourself. I am no preacher, no social worker, no government employee or a WHO worker. I am just a thinker. I walk on the road and think of all these questions. I see people littering and I feel a pinch inside. I don’t wanna change people, because I possibly can’t. I just want to be the change. I know it’s a famous line, but I so agree with it the I had to use it somewhere.

A 'Cut' above the rest

What do we know Beckham for? While most of the people will say, Football, the rest of the most will say his daring hairstyles.

Have you ever wondered how much a hair cut makes a difference in how you feel and how people feel about you? Actually it does matter a lot and that is why majority of people spend a lot of time sporting a hairstyle, spend a lot of money getting one that will get them a ‘Cut’ above the rest.

I have also been sporting a hairstyle for last 7 months, and its still evolving. Don’t get shocked, I am growing my hair long. So out of excitement I though I will share some of the nice experiences I have had, some of the reactions I get from people. It’s like they love me for my long hair.

The best thing is that people remember/recognize you. All the dukan walas, galla walas, chai walas know me around the area I stay, the rickshaw wallas get into a fight to take me where I want to go, people come telling me that they stay in the same area I do and what not.

Although, many people give you such compliments as a petrol station worker told me ‘I like it’ while he filled fuel in my bike, well believe it he said it in English, there are very weird looks I get, especially from people who have grown up daughters and the society I stay in. People on the road have literally laughed their hearts out looking at me, kids, youngsters, mummies, daddies, dadajis and dadijis all have had their part of fun at my expense.

Not that I don’t like the attention, I do, but sometimes it’s a little too much. But then I think to myself, it’s nice to know that I can make people laugh without making any special effort.

All this and what not just because I have long hair. Well, not anyone’s fault. My hair is no less. It grows in a weird curly manner, overshadows my entire body, I look like a bush in my own shadow with curly furls at the top and a slim, sleek trunk till the bottom. I tell myself, in consolation, that I will make a good caricature if drawn, but otherwise too I look like one.

“Maggie” is what people have named me. Once my colleague told me a joke. He said, if you were stuck on an island, with no food, what will you do? I took a long pause, seriously thought of a good answer and said; well I will survive on nature. He looked disappointed, and then finally said it; you can eat your hair Maggie, and shared another hearty laugh with others sitting along. So much for just the mention that they look like Maggie. Amazing!!!

But the truth is that I am also in love with my hair. No matter how they grow, no matter how much they fall and what not, it just feels so nice when you walk on the road and they go all flairy with wind blowing across your face. Walk jauntly and they move with the rhythm of your steps.

I can go on and on with what I feel for them. So I think I am gonna stop here. Will jot down more of the experiences as and when I feel like, will wait till the time they have grown more. Till then, keep loving your hair, for those who have grown them, and for those who haven’t, be jealous.