Mr. NEO & Ms. Byrne v/s GOD & Destiny

Last week, I got an opportunity to attend one of those training sessions that you hope will dramatically turn your life around...its an arid habit of mine...I like attending sessions that don't leave you with something concrete...this way you can't be quizzed on it in the future ;)

Jokes apart, it had been a while since I had done any training...and I wasn't in a mood to participate in another functional lesson...so the choice was simple...something based on soft skills fitted the bill...CHANGING MINDSETS was the way to go...honestly speaking, I was more charged up by the fact that I was in Gurgaon after a while rather than being excited about changing my mindset!

Anyways, so there I was racing down from Noida to Signature towers at 7 in the morning...the location befuddled me but thankfully it wasn't a big deal to find it...hmm...45 mins too early for the session and I expected no one to be present...there she was sitting before anyone was there...

Social rituals dictated that we exchanged pleasantries...I introduced my self to her...and then she did the same...

The word "psychologist" has always had me running for the doors - imagine one with a MA, Phd with 3 published books and regular appearance on national television and radio!!!

Before she could completely strip me (excuse the pun, I intend to convey the idea that "before she could completely do a pyscho analysis on me and categorize me into one of the personality types based on the first four sentences I said" ;) ), some other people entered the hall...disaster averted...

As we commenced with the session, she asked each one of us why we were attending this programme...being slaves of the so called corporate culture, every one started giving what I would call superficially polished answers, praising it and similar jibberish...when my turn came, it had to be...well...different...(don't YOU judge me)...I told her that I wanted a break from my routine work...and that I was looking for something refreshing...(Wrong thing to say as I found after two long days)...

The first day was all about Mind dynamics - associations, deletion, distortion, visualizations for the major part of it...albeit all done through experiential learning to keep us awake...some matrix about competency and consciousness to catch our imagination too...and then she told us that the next day we were going to be watching THE SECRET (yes...the movie on which the book by Rhonda Byrne is based on...FYI..very few people know that the movie came first and then the book).

The next day came...buzz in the air...free movie after all... :)

The screening began..for good one and a half hour, it kept us engaged and the remainder of the day was spent on discussing learnings from the same...obviously there were a host of other activities which I am going to keep aside to get to the topic of this post...

The reason why I wrote this post is to discuss the two varying schools of thought...

The first one talks about what the Secret prophesized...the LAW OF ATTRACTION...the theory behind ASKING, BELIEVING and RECEIVING...the Universe being a genie waiting to fulfil your every wish...something what Mr. Coelho echoed in The Alchemist about the universe conspiring to give you anything you wanted (which was very unpolitely plagiarized in Om Shanti Om)...Positive thinking...and similar old wines being served in newer bottles.

In a sense, I think it lays stress in the notion that your thinking greatly effects the eventual outcomes...to a certain degree, I am convinced on one level that they do...I will take it one step further...to put this thought into action...summoning Mr. NEO aka Mr. Anderson from the Wachowski's Matrix...the dialogues between Morpheus and NEO (which is btw an acronym for ONE) where they discuss the eventual dilemma being the CHOICE - the blue pill or the red pill...even the theory of quantum physics suggests the possibility of parallel universes existing (leading to the concept of multiverses) depending upon the choices one makes....

So, in a way the above two when superposed on each other mean that your thought backed up in the physical world by means of choices of actions that you take will result in a certain outcome - that you are the dictator of your destiny...what you wish and choose is what you get...

The second thought talks about the group that subscribe to the understanding that everything around us is a clever devise by the almighty aka God to make us believe that we are in control - whereas in reality, he has already devised the outcomes of each of the thoughts and choices we think we make (and no, not the reality that we humans perceive -I am referring to the real truth). Its such a complex intertwining that we live in an illusion thinking of ourselves as masters of our fates where we are just playing out our parts (as Shakespeare referred to). Citing Merovinjian from Matrix: "Choice is an illusion created between those with power and those without". Then are we really Masters or mere Slaves?


So, what is the truth?

At times, you feel that you are in total control, the captain of this ship...only to be hit by the waves of this unsettling sea...and then to blame destiny for it...

I am sorry...I don't know...its a question left best to the Platos and Socrates and Aristotles of this world to contemplate upon...even Einstein remarked "God doesn't play dice"...probably to convey his struggle with this answer...

Feel free (if you can) to think about what you think about this dilemma...share them if you like.

I will head back to my vodka and the soothing tunes of Shriman Ghulam Ali...

संघर्ष या परिवर्तन

किसी ने सही ही कहा है - संघर्ष ही जीवन का दूसरा नाम है।

मैं नही जानता की इससे आप क्या तात्पर्य निकालेंगे। और मैं यह भी नहीं जानता की आज मुझे इस विचार पर विमर्श करने के लिए किसने प्रेरित किया है। अपने सामान्य क्षम के ऊपर जोर देने के बाद मैंने यह सार निकाला है कि ज़िन्दगी के पहले क्षण से लेकर अंतिम क्षण तक, आप कभी ना ख़तम होने वाली प्रतियोगिता मे एक और पयदे है।

जीवन के पहले नन्हे कदम से आपका येही मार्ग दर्शन किया जाता है। जो जीता वोही सिकंदर। अपसोस बस इसी बात का है की इस जीत की परिभाषा कोई नहीं जनता। व्यावारिक नजरिये से देखने पर इसमें विधि के व्यंग में कोई घोर असमंझस नज़र नहीं आती। आखिर इस समाज मे कुछ भी परम नहीं है, सब कुछ एक तराजू पर नापा और तोला जाता है।

विद्यालय मे प्रथम आने की रेस।
दफ्तर मे अपने सहकर्मी से आगे निकलने की रेस ।
घर पे अपने पडोसी, रिश्ते दारो, दोस्त्तों से आगे निकलने की रेस ।

कोई मकानों की होड़ मे है तो कोई हरे गाँधी जी की पूजा मे मग्न है।

और फिर आप पृथ्वी पर अपने कुछ लम्हे इसी मकसत को हासील करने मे व्यर्थ कर देते है।

शायद यह संसार की रचना का आधार है। परन्तु मुनष्य को प्रगति के पथ पर सारथि की तरह आगे बढाती उर्जा भी येही है। कुछ पाकर दिखाने की इच्छा, अपने को दूसरो से बेहतर साबित करने की चाह।

आपका अपना नजरिया होगा - कोई सही या गलत नहीं है।

बस आपसे येही गुज़ारिश है की इस १०० मीटर की दौड़ मे अपने जीवन के हसीं लम्हों को ना भूलना।
समय आने पर आपके जीवन का मूल्य आपका बैंक बैलेंस नहीं, आपके अपने, आपके दोस्त बताएंगे।

भगवत गीता का सहारा लूँगा -

तू क्या लेकर आया था, और क्या लेकर जायेगा।
जो पाया यही पाया, जो खोया यही खोया।
जो आज तेरा है, कल किसी और का था और कल किसी और का हो जायेगा
परिवर्तन संसार का नियम है .

शुभ रात्रि!

THE WALL!!!

Actually, I was tempted to write the following for this post:

"UNDER CONSTRUCTION"

But then, I wouldn't disappoint you totally...

Truth be told...plainly and as simply...its Renovation time...or as I call RE-INNOVATION time...

My crib is totally a mess - one more reason to keep me on the go...but getting your home renovated is an exciting affair...

Last time, I just got to choose the colors of the walls and the theme of the room...THIS TIME ITS AWESOMELY AMAZINGLY interesting...I not only get to choose the colors, I AM DESIGNING IT...wicked...ain't it...

The creative juices are flowing at full throttle...I have thought of a couple of ideas...I love 'em...so much so that the designer suggested me to change my profession...but then I am used to doing things differently...after all, I am ME...(ok...too much narcissism isn't good...hehe)

Though I have finalized the texture for the walls, the color combination, the furniture and design, basically everything ;) I would love to hear your views on what you would get done...as they say, there's always scope for improvement...

THE WALL...UNVIELING this WEEKEND...

Change of thought!

"These seats are so damn uncomfortable", my friend remarked as soon as we sat on the last few remaining seats in the AC bus of Himachal Roadways.

Last minute plans don't leave you a lot of room for options. Both of us had to make it to Delhi today and we didn't care what bus we would get. Used to the luxury of traveling in the pristine Volvo's on weekends, a small voice echoed inside me egging to wait for the next Volvo rather than embark on what we correctly expected to be a long journey.

On the face of it, the seats looked ok...obviously, I wasn't expecting the suspension of the bus to be even close to that of the B7R Volvo. But desperation, alas!!! I was disappointed by the fact that there was no power point on the ride, the battery of my laptop has been fully drained and I wasn't in a mood to fall asleep any time soon...

Being seated close to the rear of the bus, we were fearing the bone crunching jumps on NH-1. But we were also delighted to find that the last seat was totally vacant...this made for a perfect bed for at least one of us...All throughout, I struggled to find myself a sweet spot where I could seat myself in peace and doze off but landed up turning sides every two minutes...My friend kept on cursing the damn driver for putting the AC on chill mode and for driving so rashly that the bus kept on jumping...I was eager to get back home where I could lay in my comfy bed and have a satisfactory sleep. But when you are going down the hill, you really are on a roll...the bus driver drove so slowly that I seemed it would take ages to get back...Not a single thing went our way the entire journey.

Finally, when we did see the illuminations and lights at ISBT Delhi @ 4 in the morning, you could not even imagine the kind of delight both of us experienced - I said to my friend, finally the torturous journey ends...we bid each other good night as we headed our own ways and swore never to board HP tourism buses again...

Content with my decision and rubbing my sleep deprived eyes, I started boarding the flight of stairs on the overhead bridge to make it to the other side of the ever so busy Ring Road.

Life has its own ways of teaching you lessons, more often that not, it feels like a slap on your face...I couldn't have even thought of the sight in front of me...tens and tens of people laying on the floor, sleeping peacefully, covered in torn blankets - not feeling the heat of the early summer; been disturbed by scores of people who would rush to cross the roads like me making a lot of noise in the process. Most of them sharing the narrow lane of tiles that would give you an ache in your heel if you walked on it, leave alone sleeping...the picture became grimmer when I gazed from top of the bridge across the road. One could just see the entire fields and the footpaths covered with many more souls like I had seen moments ago.

My mind became numb, completely devoid of any thoughts...I felt like eating my words - all that cursing and complaining about how uncomfortable the seats back in the bus were came back to haunt me...all along the 40 minute auto ride from ISBT to back home, I tried contemplating on how used to worldly comforts that one becomes - including myself...this rat race, this tryst, this struggle so that we can improve our lifestyles...I am not against that...after all, it is all about aiming to achieve the next level...and then the next one and so on...but deep down inside, I felt that I should never forgot my roots, I should never become so detached, so apathetic to others not as fortunate as I am, and be thankful to those who have provided me this luxury...

Its been 14 hours since I had reached home last night...but that sleep continues to elude me...I had been wanting to talk to someone about this since then...probably, the fact that I have got this out of my system will ensure that the much needed sleep will ensue...but more than that, I sincerely hope and expect that this change of thought and attitude will remain with me forever...just in case, even if I get close to forgetting it, I have you to remind me of that.

I hope that you too have a goodnight's sleep.