Seasonal patriotism

We owe our freedom to the great deeds of our freedom fighters. We appreciate the efforts which were spent to make this nation what it is today. If cursing flaws of ones nation is termed as being inconsiderate then I doubt the very definition of the word “patriotism”. Finding flaws in existing social system and striving hard to correct them should be ideally the perfect definition of patriotism. Today is 15th aug 2010, we Indians “celebrate” this day as our independence day. Out of nowhere all the music channels start humming the tunes of patriotic music which was written by perhaps many of our freedom fighters. On this very day, I see people taking oaths to be the perfect sons n daughters of this very soil. Patriotism seems to flow endlessly in the souls n veins of millions of people. Words like “national pride”, “valor”, “dedication” are spoken a million times throughout the day. Nothing is wrong with all this! I honestly believe the day when we got our freedom needs to be remembered.
But why is it that on the 16th of august itself many individuals seem to forget all the oaths the proclaimed on 15th? Why is it that they don’t seem to honor the valor which they had just the day before? Where is the “patriotism” gone? I have seen people talking gallantry stuff when they are drunk, but when I meet them next morning they don’t seem to remember a single word they uttered the night before. After thinking about all these aspects, i don’t see a difference between those drunken men’s and these seasonal patriots. Forgetfulness is perhaps the biggest virtue of these seasonal patriots, “hypocrisy” being the second. A person who once shouted loud for his country in the streets seems busy with his routine lunacy, he effortlessly spreads garbage everywhere he visits and presents an epitome of the shameless litterbug. The students who swore that they would help the poor and needy suddenly get occupied with the thoughts of getting a job in a financially stronger country. I personally don’t see any harm in working for foreign nations, but i hate the people who laugh at me when I whine about the flaws about our society. That’s because the people who once designated me as a traitor are now dreaming wild about there job in USA and the people who once tagged me as a lunatic are now busy preparing for job interviews in UK.
I honestly believe that the human race should join its hands together and treat the entire planet as a single country. When I read about the orphans in some poor countries I feel helpless for not being able to help them. I want a world where people respect each other and love others. And this is how I believe the word “patriotism” will get a new meaning. That way, we wont need any visa to visit the North Pole and nor will our brothers and sisters in some poor places be banned from entering our vicinity. Let the peace prevail. May we all enjoy earth as a mutually shared planet without the existence of these national boundaries.

We are never free.

We often find society where we live a better place than the prison, but is that really the case? If freedom was the right to do things which one wants to do, then what’s the difference between a prison and the so called free society? Prison is a place where people are stacked for a common reason, a crime. Prisoners try to overcome their loneliness by keeping themselves occupied with certain fancies they cherish. These fancies keep them busy and hopeful about the future and more than anything else, it’s better to be occupied rather than suffering the securities of confinements. Occasionally, depending on the moods of fellow prison mates, the scenario might change considerably but the essence remains the same. To avoid any negative feelings, many people read books and learn new things, that’s how they entertain themselves. There is a daily routine which is predefined for the prisoner before the very arrival.
But is the society any different? Wat differentiates a free society from prison? No matter how the society is defined, it still remains a bunch of humans who are bound together for a common reason, just like a group of prisoners sitting in jail and doing few merry things which keeps them active and entertained. If anyone assumes the that he can let go all his efforts in the free society, he won’t be spared and would eventually land up in a jail where he would be forced to learn ways of working hard. This might get a bit tougher or even worse depending on the scenario. What would happen if someone completes his duties and is committed with his hard work? Would he be jailed? No! Why? That’s because if he was imprisoned for his life, his life would not change. He is already a prisoner of free society.

humiliation

I do bug you all a lot, don’t I? Well there’s always something great about writing and being read by few loved ones. So friends, I want to talk about the insane outburst of emotions which overflow when you get humiliated. A cold sweat drenches down your spine and u start shivering with fear, your forehead starts getting moist and you feel like you are getting choked. You try and avoid your tears, perhaps avoiding them flatters your ego. Sufferings seem endless, heart starts gushing blood in your brain and you get scared like a little baby who just saw the most deadly spider sitting on his tiny fingernails. Yes, the child inside you gets equally scared and feels like running away from the situation and sleeping right next to his daddy perhaps on daddy’s arm. Situations make you feel the worst living being alive in this entire universe and you get tormented by guilt, anger and sadness all at the same time.
Yeah, I agree every humiliation is not same and nor it is bound by any theoretical explanation or formula. But at least it humbles us, makes us see the world from a totally new perspective. Suddenly the world appears to have infinite dimensions and possibilities, there’s too much of data which our brain is unable to handle. This makes humiliation so great, it’s a great learning experience. And you have to pay your taxes in the form of shivers and trauma, but at least you learn something vital.,
Still not convinced? What are all these sufferings worth for? We don’t yet have an answer for this very question, don’t we! Look at all these sufferings and pains we get from a new perspective. I hope we all remember what happened to us when our daddy was driving as fast as he could to drop us in time to our school, we were scared! But we knew deep down inside our heart that we were enjoying the ride! Speed is everything, it kills your ego and tears away your complexes in a jiffy. This is what happens when you get humiliated, it might look a bit scary and fearful at that instance, but at least u enjoy laughing over it when you grow old! You cherish all those memories deep in your subconscious and feel elated. Adrenaline is such a crazy thing, it brings so much of excitement in your nerves, that you forget you were once weak.
So next time when someone is insulting you, don’t try to stop him. Look straight in his eyes and enjoy the ride, let your adrenaline break all the possible limits of excitement and then you will see the worlds new face.

1970's, i love this era

We don’t want to remember the lyrics of songs we hear these days. Perhaps they fail to make an impression on us which is deep enough to reach our innermost tissues. Liking songs and liking them more than anything else are two very different things. Ever wondered why this is so?
Songs we adored in 90’s were actually sung in 70’s and were written in 65’s. this gave singers n their musicians enough time to enhance their music so much that you feel like memorizing the lyrics the first time you hear them. This is quite rare now, every day comes with millions of blooming songs who come n go, they just fail to make the thundering impressions. I need classics, we need classics. Classics which are thundering with the wrath of perfection which was leashed for maybe a century. People have become more like tiny torpedoes, who don’t want to know why they are so ready to be blown to pieces. People don’t want to relish their journey but want to finish it as fast as possible, remember the days when adrenaline rush used to always fill veins and arteries with rage. But now?
Lets note deviate too much from our primary enigma, which was, “where are the classics gone?”. We need to understand the fact that every individual lives for a very short while and in order to make this time worth the effort, one has to put in more efforts. Efforts with the right scence of direction which moulds the society with its execution. Voices travel a lot, they reach places where light can’t pass and this makes music magnificent. I wish I could scream with my arms wide open “let those voices be amplified beyond your imagination, may they shake the earth and south our deepest temptations. Perhaps this is all for today.

Once you were kids

Tiny little nostrils n eye balls gleaming with grace,

Small fingernails , yes, I still remember that face,

Playing all day, caring for each other,

Screaming together and laughing forever,

Running behind her, everywhere she ran,

Trying to remember her face as much as I can,

Memories r like fire-flies, they set u on fire,

Burning every part of your shattered desire,

You love her, u wanted her back,

But now she is just a picture up your rack,

U keep on smiling at your fortune,

N smile at life's new tune.

see, he is laughing

What happens when you see a chubby little kid from your neighborhood? Don’t u run and touch the sweet palms and feel his little fingers on your thumb? Kids are always mesmerizing and beautiful, its when they grow up they cause the chaos. But why do we love these tiny little creatures so magnificently that it almost brings tears in our eyes when we watch them bleed? Few questions never had answers and few wont need answers, here is my question for you all.
It was the coldest winter morning in Pune. Shivering tissue tearing wind was like razor sharp edges scrubbing my skin n almost making me bleed. My tough skin was not to be spared today. I was wearing an inch thick jacket over my chubby skin and was still cursing the winter. “Thank heavens that it does not snow in Pune” I whispered slowly and generated a puff of vapor as I murmured. “Its not that cold uncle!” came a small cute voice from somewhere near my knees. I was shocked and I looked down to see a 6 year girl whose face still haunts me. “Why are these kids so cute?”, I asked myself. Before I could say something to the kid, she asked again, “uncle would you like a cup of tea with some biscuits?”. It was still too early for my so called punctual friends to arrive which spared a bit of time for the breakfast. Soon the tea arrived with a pack of glucose biscuits. Dipping every biscuit in the tea and relishing it all over my tongue was a bliss. Suddenly I sneezed, the kid was lighting his fireplace so that he could cook some morning snack. Every time he puffed in the fireplace, the fire became more visible and red. His eyes were covered with soot and started eventually coughing. I was moved, I went near the kid and asked him if he was ok. He gave me a “thumbs high” sign to relieve me from my grievances of the fireplace.
I went near the kid and magnetically we got attached. Maybe I saw my imprint somewhere in him. He said he studies in a night school and earns money for his family when he his not studying.
Why do few kids enjoy school so much that they want to go there even after a hard day at work? Who made these kids so willing to study? Whom should I blame for this kids sufferings? His parents? The society? Me? My ways of thinking? The government? Who? May be we all are to be blamed.
The kid was still puffing hard in the fireplace, and the fire was now a stable ball of flame. Perhaps so was that child’s heart, burning with the greatest flames. There was no healing hand above his head, no one was with him to wash the soot in his eyes. But why is he still smiling?

I hope I never get my peace

“What exactly is peace?”, I asked my colleague. He stared my face for a couple of seconds and went back to his work, this is what he usually does when I bump him with a rhetorical question. “If a person achieves everything he desired for, he is said to be living with peace with his soul, Bingo!” I screamed! This got my colleague all charged up and we had a mind boggling discussion for almost an hour. Let me summarise our talk for you all.

Both of us were very over expressive at that moment and our eyes were gleaming with pearly shine, as if we have discovered a huge universal truth. We had actually concluded that whatever the word peace might actually mean, as long as we are striving for it we grow stronger. “Eventually a day comes when we achieve our goal and the race is over!” said he. If we think properly, we might actually conclude the same. The pains and sufferings which are a part and parcel of every great event are not just breath taking but are actually the hammers which mould us for a better tomorrow. We often see people living a useless solitary life once they earn few thousand grand’s. “What exactly happens with such people then?”, we screamed, and looked at each other to get nothing more than a super puzzled look. I scratched my head and said with a big yawn “naah, they don’t survive a long time after that.” And friends, perhaps this is the truth.

Let me explain a bit more, before you actually lose track of our discussion. Every struggle has a feeling of excitement and a tinge of fun tied with it. The minute one experiences a strong urge for his romance, he runs wild and goes beyond his mental limits. This process is actually very entertaining and strikingly stimulating too. Getting stronger is just a by product, the actual fruit is this very thrill. I hope we all still remember words of our grand father when he narrated his experiences of bicycle ride in his mighty era, I still remember how he used to describe his moustache back then. He was young, stylish and had an aura of his boundless strength. He used to ride many miles everyday and used to enjoy riding his bicycle. Can we live such hardships? Ofcourse not! The reason is that we are not able to see the entertaining aspect of his struggle. We fail to comprehend what he must be watching on the streets everyday on his bike. This is the difference, he never achieved “peace” when he was alive, but every single day made him more magnificent and adorable for my grandmother. Later my father seemed to inherit some of my grand dads traits and resembled him.

I wish I never get my peace too. That will only make me stronger and harder to lose this race of life. “hey Krunal! You idiot! I think we have completely misunderstood what the word peace is even after such a long discussion!”, my colleague screamed, almost deafening me. What he actually meant was, every struggle has a hidden peace in it. It’s like a hidden signal in a telephone static. What we call “excitement” is actually the peace associated with a particular event, was our final conclusion.

Overtaken by her grace

“Male ego is bad”, this is what I often tell my friends. I never like to admit, but they do possess an unforgivable magnitude of this ego which has reached its paragon in these years. All they deserved was a tight slap over their cheek by the most ruthless hands of a giant gorilla. Here is one of my experience which turned out to be the tightest possible slap on their ego and humbled me. I often cried for not being able to enhance my creativity now I do have my answer, I was a complete jerk!
Few weeks ago, I was driving on the symbiosis college road. This road is one of my favorite turfs where I cut loose my instincts and drive as fast as I can. Habitually I shifted my gears to the finest rpm settings and started driving in the most crazy and reckless way I could. I was supremely confident about my driving skills and was the self proclaimed hero of motoring world. Out of nowhere came a frail looking lady, wearing a cheap orange shirt and a track trouser on her automatic bike. There was actually nothing attractive or appealing in her dressing sense, but I cant comprehend why I was enticed by her sheer innocence and casual expression. When I first noticed her in my rear view mirror I neglected her aura and continued cursing Indian traffic. Seconds later, she vanished from my rear view mirrors.
I was shocked deep in my subconscious. “Where did the lady go?” I asked myself. Before I could wink my eye, I saw her taking the inside line and overtaking me. The moment she passed me, I was horrified by her unbeatable talent and was bewildered by the sense of perfect path. Before I could recover from the shock, she overtook 2 big SUV’s. I decided to see her driving and learn something from her. In my quest of enhancing my driving speeds, I unknowingly started driving in the most dangerous possible way. But she seemed still out of my reach. The way she was driving reminded me of the dolphin which I saw over discovery channel few days ago. In-spite of her speed, she was not putting any stress on her engine, on the other hand, I was nearly slaughtering my machine.
If I ponder over this and think vigorously, what i deduce is, the lady was not only a great rider but was a responsible human too. She was not just fast, but was the epitome of simplicity too.
Finally she was out of sights and I stopped only to feel the deep rage and heat of my engine, perhaps it was cursing me for being so rude with the lady. My engine was breathing hot air like a rhino who was ready to charge me for my lunacy. “oh my my” said my spirit. I smiled and drove home smoothly and was happy for this new learning experience.