What was a crisis yesterday seems trivial today, what seems a hindrance today will cease to be important tomorrow!
As Major Kuldeep Singh Chandupuri (Sunny Deol) admonished Mathura Das (Sudesh Berry) in 'Border' - "zindagi ka naam hi problem hai, kab tak bhagte rahoge"
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Friday, July 27, 2007
My Experiments With Lies
I consider myself some sort of an expert at lying. Successful lying is actually textbook stuff:
1. Have a straight face and speak clearly
2. Say it confidently - with the true parts of the story with greater emphasis and lower your voice for the false parts
3. Reference to the above - no story can be completely false, do have some "universally true" statements within the story to make it believable - it needs to believably ambiguous
4. Most importantly, you have to believe in the story (for the time being) yourself!
Lying is very addictive. Seeing somebody believe a story you created has a very special thrill; making up something as you go along is much more fun (and riskier). Once I had discovered that I was good at it, I started lying about very mundane things, like,"what did you have for breakfast","which cricket team do you like" etc, just to see what limits I could stretch. The only thing I can say in my defense is that I never used it with an intent of malice.
Then there are those who are really good at catching lies. I have a lot of admiration for such people. I knew a girl in college who caught me the first time I tried to spin something by her (I was trying to describe my hometown), and I have respected her ever since.
I don't have a point to make here but I guess what I started out to write was that sometimes I feel incredibly guilty about lying and think about abandoning it altogether, and I am able to (atleast for a while); but life seems so trite and boring and mundane and uneventful, that I come back to it.
Therefore, lie but with care!
1. Have a straight face and speak clearly
2. Say it confidently - with the true parts of the story with greater emphasis and lower your voice for the false parts
3. Reference to the above - no story can be completely false, do have some "universally true" statements within the story to make it believable - it needs to believably ambiguous
4. Most importantly, you have to believe in the story (for the time being) yourself!
Lying is very addictive. Seeing somebody believe a story you created has a very special thrill; making up something as you go along is much more fun (and riskier). Once I had discovered that I was good at it, I started lying about very mundane things, like,"what did you have for breakfast","which cricket team do you like" etc, just to see what limits I could stretch. The only thing I can say in my defense is that I never used it with an intent of malice.
Then there are those who are really good at catching lies. I have a lot of admiration for such people. I knew a girl in college who caught me the first time I tried to spin something by her (I was trying to describe my hometown), and I have respected her ever since.
I don't have a point to make here but I guess what I started out to write was that sometimes I feel incredibly guilty about lying and think about abandoning it altogether, and I am able to (atleast for a while); but life seems so trite and boring and mundane and uneventful, that I come back to it.
Therefore, lie but with care!
Saturday, July 14, 2007
?
As sad as my life is, I sometimes wonder what it is like for others? Since I have been able to mask the pointlessness of my own existence so well with others, has the same been going on with everybody else too? Do we all lead lives of quiet depression?
I really don't know, and for the world's sake; I hope I am wrong!
I really don't know, and for the world's sake; I hope I am wrong!
Friday, July 13, 2007
Gold teeth and a curse for this town...
"Would you rather lead an unhappy life with a greater purpose, or an ordinary but pleasant and happy one?" I was discussing future career options with a colleague/friend, when he brought this question up. I thought some time before replying to it.
Like the well-worn cliche, my life has been a series of ups and downs. When I try to take a look back and see what it has been like, I remember being worried/sad/frustrated/angry through most of it. In hindsight, many things that I have worried about/been sad about have turned out to be unimportant in the long run. There have been flashes of happiness but few and far between. Most of them have been due to winning races, but since the race never ends but one only changes tracks, it has been mostly a sad journey.
On the surface, it shouldn't be so. I am a pretty successful person professionally. I have a great job at which I am not doing too badly and have good future prospects. My parents love me, I have a decent set of friends (many of with whom I don't interact as much as I probably should), and I have a set of hobbies that I can't spend enough time on.
But the fact remains that if I have to try and record over a sufficient period of time; the %age of time I have been happy v/s sad - it is a sad fact of life, that the answer weighs heavily in favour of the latter.
At some stage, I diagnosed that this was probably due to my own high expectations of myself, my fear of defeats and my constant pushing myself towards something more challenging, and that too not very healthily, not in a positive sense of trying to push my limits, but something more sinister; like a screw tightening the bolt to fit in a slot.
I have tried to turn the tide; most recently early this year; tried to bring myself to face with my strengths and shortcomings and make peace with my own self. It didn't really work out, and I don't really care too much about the details.
A part has to do with the fact that I am an incredibly lonely person. There are three reasons for that:
1. My family is not one that talks about emotions, feelings etc. From the childhood itself, I have never been able to open upto them about these things; and as things have grown more complicated, it has grown more difficult.
2. I haven't really had strong friends. My childhood was spent largely alone, mostly in the company of books, and most friendships I have made have been of a symbiotic transactional nature. The closest I have gotten to real friends was pretty late too - in college and even that was screwed by the third and the biggest reason.
3. For some reason (maybe due to my insularity during childhood or my incredibly competitive nature); I have had very cautious and suspicious instincts against people in general and my peers in particular. It was later compounded by my completely inability to converse in truth which reduced my trustworthiness among others.
My two failed experiments at relationships with the other sex hasn't helped matters. As much as I hope that I am able to get over things, I am too scared right now, and my self-belief in having and maintaining relationships is scraping the bottom of the barrel.
All this has now led to a belief that I am probably pathologically incapable of being happy; and conditions being such, I should probably find a cause/reason to live for rather than try to live a life for myself.
Thus, I replied to my friend,"If the cause is something worthwhile, as in something that affects the lives of people in a positive fashion, and not something like increasing the turnover of a company etc, I think yes, I would be willing to choose a life of purpose over a life of happiness".
As much as I wish my answer changes in the future, I don't think it will.
P.S. This is being written at 12 in the night in an airport while waiting for a 3 o'clock flight. Due to the lack of sleep and general mood of sadness all around me, things might look worse than they actually are. Or maybe as a friend leaving for London said in parting, "Just get a girl, everything will be all right"
For my own sake, I hope he is right!!
Like the well-worn cliche, my life has been a series of ups and downs. When I try to take a look back and see what it has been like, I remember being worried/sad/frustrated/angry through most of it. In hindsight, many things that I have worried about/been sad about have turned out to be unimportant in the long run. There have been flashes of happiness but few and far between. Most of them have been due to winning races, but since the race never ends but one only changes tracks, it has been mostly a sad journey.
On the surface, it shouldn't be so. I am a pretty successful person professionally. I have a great job at which I am not doing too badly and have good future prospects. My parents love me, I have a decent set of friends (many of with whom I don't interact as much as I probably should), and I have a set of hobbies that I can't spend enough time on.
But the fact remains that if I have to try and record over a sufficient period of time; the %age of time I have been happy v/s sad - it is a sad fact of life, that the answer weighs heavily in favour of the latter.
At some stage, I diagnosed that this was probably due to my own high expectations of myself, my fear of defeats and my constant pushing myself towards something more challenging, and that too not very healthily, not in a positive sense of trying to push my limits, but something more sinister; like a screw tightening the bolt to fit in a slot.
I have tried to turn the tide; most recently early this year; tried to bring myself to face with my strengths and shortcomings and make peace with my own self. It didn't really work out, and I don't really care too much about the details.
A part has to do with the fact that I am an incredibly lonely person. There are three reasons for that:
1. My family is not one that talks about emotions, feelings etc. From the childhood itself, I have never been able to open upto them about these things; and as things have grown more complicated, it has grown more difficult.
2. I haven't really had strong friends. My childhood was spent largely alone, mostly in the company of books, and most friendships I have made have been of a symbiotic transactional nature. The closest I have gotten to real friends was pretty late too - in college and even that was screwed by the third and the biggest reason.
3. For some reason (maybe due to my insularity during childhood or my incredibly competitive nature); I have had very cautious and suspicious instincts against people in general and my peers in particular. It was later compounded by my completely inability to converse in truth which reduced my trustworthiness among others.
My two failed experiments at relationships with the other sex hasn't helped matters. As much as I hope that I am able to get over things, I am too scared right now, and my self-belief in having and maintaining relationships is scraping the bottom of the barrel.
All this has now led to a belief that I am probably pathologically incapable of being happy; and conditions being such, I should probably find a cause/reason to live for rather than try to live a life for myself.
Thus, I replied to my friend,"If the cause is something worthwhile, as in something that affects the lives of people in a positive fashion, and not something like increasing the turnover of a company etc, I think yes, I would be willing to choose a life of purpose over a life of happiness".
As much as I wish my answer changes in the future, I don't think it will.
P.S. This is being written at 12 in the night in an airport while waiting for a 3 o'clock flight. Due to the lack of sleep and general mood of sadness all around me, things might look worse than they actually are. Or maybe as a friend leaving for London said in parting, "Just get a girl, everything will be all right"
For my own sake, I hope he is right!!
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Jawaan ho yaaron...
Two movies I can watch infinite number of times, and which make me happy, cheerful and hopeful of the future, movies which came in the early 1990s, and which I have seen so many times, and remain as fresh as ever - "Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar" and "Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa".
I am not going to analyze this too much. Last night, I had to make a very important presentation; I had to get up at 3 to work, because I ended up watching Shahrukh Khan (probably in the only performance which I unconditionally love) try and fail in getting Anna.
Similarly, the first song that comes to me when I get ready for a group song is always "Jawaan ho yaaron", and I don't know anyone who doesn't love "Pehla Nasha", the pure innocence of the youthful love never fails to send goosebumps through me.
Over the years, as I have become more cynical (reading too much Russian literature and watching von Trier movies hasn't helped I suppose :D), it is these kind of movies which can just make me feel good about myself/and the world.
P.S. The presentation went off fine, btw.
I am not going to analyze this too much. Last night, I had to make a very important presentation; I had to get up at 3 to work, because I ended up watching Shahrukh Khan (probably in the only performance which I unconditionally love) try and fail in getting Anna.
Similarly, the first song that comes to me when I get ready for a group song is always "Jawaan ho yaaron", and I don't know anyone who doesn't love "Pehla Nasha", the pure innocence of the youthful love never fails to send goosebumps through me.
Over the years, as I have become more cynical (reading too much Russian literature and watching von Trier movies hasn't helped I suppose :D), it is these kind of movies which can just make me feel good about myself/and the world.
P.S. The presentation went off fine, btw.
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Kisi Shayar ki Ghazal...
It is 5:30 PM. I have a flight at 6:30, and the airport is still some distance away. I am getting fidgety. My driver misses a traffic signal, I start fidgeting some more. Then it happens...
An auto stops to the left of us. I turn my head. The auto is slightly ahead of us, so all I can see of the passenger are the legs. She is wearing a red salwar kameez, and sandals of the ethnic variety, like the ones you'd get at Janpath - I never liked Janpath stuff particularly but I knew someone who did, so ended up going there and buying a lot. A few memories return but only for a fleeting second as curiosity takes over and I crane my head slightly. I can see her hands now, they are small, and she is drumming her fingers, fiddling with the phone.- she has the same Nokia as I do. And she is wearing brown nail-polish.
I am interrupted by a small kid who comes to the window, peddling tabloids. He tries a few times, but finding me uninterested, goes to the auto next. She takes one and then brings out her purse from the other side, and pays him. And then my driver inches slightly ahead and I get a look...
Golden brown, texture like sun
Lays me down, with my mind she runs
The light turns green and we speed ahead. I try saying something; nothing comes out, I mutter to the driver to rush, and he complies. I make it to the airport and fly back home.
The song is still running in my mind.
An auto stops to the left of us. I turn my head. The auto is slightly ahead of us, so all I can see of the passenger are the legs. She is wearing a red salwar kameez, and sandals of the ethnic variety, like the ones you'd get at Janpath - I never liked Janpath stuff particularly but I knew someone who did, so ended up going there and buying a lot. A few memories return but only for a fleeting second as curiosity takes over and I crane my head slightly. I can see her hands now, they are small, and she is drumming her fingers, fiddling with the phone.- she has the same Nokia as I do. And she is wearing brown nail-polish.
I am interrupted by a small kid who comes to the window, peddling tabloids. He tries a few times, but finding me uninterested, goes to the auto next. She takes one and then brings out her purse from the other side, and pays him. And then my driver inches slightly ahead and I get a look...
Golden brown, texture like sun
Lays me down, with my mind she runs
The light turns green and we speed ahead. I try saying something; nothing comes out, I mutter to the driver to rush, and he complies. I make it to the airport and fly back home.
The song is still running in my mind.
Monday, June 11, 2007
Megalomania
I have a dream...
I have a dream that one day this world will fall on its feet and cry out "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are not created equal. There are some born to rule and some born to serve"
I have a dream that one day this world will fall on its feet and cry out "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are not created equal. There are some born to rule and some born to serve"
I have a dream that one day on the steppes of the Americas and the plains of Asia, people will sit down together at the table and praise the Lord for delivering me to the world.
I have a dream that one day what I say will be gospel and the leaders of men will be in attendance to my presence.
I had a dream today.
And then, I woke up and went to office to continue making slides.
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