Musings...

Life. How do we measure it ? For each, his own ? A different yardstick for each of us.

How do we start ? We go a way. We find a crossroad. Roads to be taken. Roads to be left. How do we know which one to take ? Should we go left, or to the right ? We choose a way. We go ahead.

We grow. We feel. We make friends. A few great friends. Some talk to our soul. We realise we're not perfect. And find warmth in knowing that they aren't either. Or not. But that they accept you for who you are.

We work hard. At home. At office. Some dreams have to be left. Some visions shatter. We seek other things. Some opportunity lost. Some door closed. Some opened. Hope fills our heart. We move. Some hold promises. Some hold challenges. Yet we go ahead.

When you are old, do you remember the boss that hurt you when you hadn't worked on a saturday ? Or do you remember the time when you ran in the rain, ran with your swimming suit and a t-shirt, ran from the edge of the hill to the tea stand, to have a small cup of tea. With your friends. To finish the last sip. And then look at who's going to pay the bill. To find that we hadn't known that there wouldn't be an ATM on such a hill. 

We laugh. We live. We marry. We find that there are still things to learn. We still have to grow up. And we grow up and raise other little ones. They form the center of our world. Some forget to give their spouses the time they deserve. Some do. We go ahead. We keep walking.

We start our lives making promises. Every couple start their lives dreaming that theirs would be the ideal marriage. Some live up to it. Some don't. All part of it. Some promises are broken. Some such promises break our hearts. We still move on. Some die in the process. Some find more passion to keep things lively. Some sing. We listen to an old melody as we pass by a hotel. Reminding us of some things we could have done some other way. Only we haven't. Some remind us of the best times we had. And we smile. We come home from work. Suddenly there's a rose waiting for you. Beside it is a letter. "Darling, I'll be late". Simple things, they restore our faith. Faith. Spark. The candle that burns within. Illuminating spaces in our heart that are too precious. 

We regret. Only, the most precious things in life are never meant to be regretted. You preserve them. You hold them deep inside. When you go on, you find that some aren't regretted.

A Spark. The small thing that marks the difference between caring and loving. What is it that makes us see through broken promises, still keeping our love for each other intact ? You are dead angry against him. He did something foolish, something stupid. Some dust speck falls into his eye. You go over, to blow it off. How does our blood rush when you hear their voice? How do we still love with all our might ?

We fight. We love. Sometimes something is amiss. Some hollow in the heart. You miss something. You don't quite know what it is. You seek for answers. You drive your bike at a hundred. You aren't thrilled. You find chaos, when there's silence around. Its the peace. The peace that is sometimes lacking. The inner peace. You have to find it. You struggle through to find it. You have everything in your life, still you have to find it. You find it, then the others can be set straight. 

We have to find it. Find the inner peace. When you've found it, you'll have a solemn silence, when there's chaos around. Cause when you find it, you'll be. You'll live to the fullest. When you've found it, guard it. Its a small candle. The light of hope. The small spark. Our life.

Rs.2 extra for podi, babu

Tonight I went to watch "Orange" - second show. First day. You'd know how things would be on first days. Late night shows. Crowd waiting to catch their idol in video. Hero worship, you know. This is India. Well, Tollywood !
Anyway, I was too late. The line was too big. I already knew by yesterday morning that I won't be able to get direct tickets. It had to be something in 'black'. Black market. I hate to promote it. But I did. Rs.200 for Rs.40 ticket. Not even balcony. For a flop movie. So they say. I had to watch it on the first day. I wanted to do that. Long time, you know. First days, front rows. Never been there. Front rows on the first day, I mean.
Got out to have something to eat. The roadside idly/dosa/etc wallah was not too busy. I touched the Mysore bonda. It wasn't hot. Bad to eat. Had to go with my fav idly again. Atleast it was in a box with a lid. 4 idlys. Little chutney, and some masala powder (we call it podi in telugu). Two idlys later I had to refill the chutney and podi.
"Rs.2 extra for the podi", he said.
I have to agree I thought that the cost per plate of idly may be more, but extra charge for podi ?
"Extra charge for podi ?", I said laughing. I'd like to keep it cool.
"Tell me one thing babu. You don't look like you've got tickets to the movie by standing in the line. You would've got it in black. Very costly. You pay so much for that ticket and you can't give Rs.2 for podi ?"
I thought. No, wait a minute. I didn't. I laughed. "My friends got them for me", I lied. Both of us knew. He was about to start a lecture and spoke the first two words (I guess) when I interrupted him. "I didn't say that I won't pay for podi", was my reply. That stopped him. I gave him Rs.12 more out of an "its alright" funda.
Now that I think about it, that was really crap. The logic, I mean. His logic. The movie tickets were in demand and his idly/vada/etc were not. I wanted to watch the movie, its difficult to get the tickets. I wouldn't mind eating pani-puri (whose price wasn't hiked up. I know - I ate them too.) instead of his idly. Demand-Supply => price, right ? It doesn't matter how the movie was. It was packaged well, it had high demand. Marketing, direction, previous movie performance, etc., you know. His podi had to be worth the Rs.2 that he demanded.
I don't like giving charity when it isn't worth it. Be it Re.1 or whatever. That is why I think I won't pay extra again if it isn't worth it and when I have a choice (supply, remember?).

What i am listening to now

Lately I've been into Blink 182. Its a crazy punk bad. I absolutely love some of their songs. Yes, some have censor content in them, but some of them are really good. Something's different abt their music, can't point out what, but i like it..

1. Another girl, Another planet
Liked the energy and the line "I think i'm on another world with you".

2. I miss you
Liked the two different tones.. just blends in..

3. Always
Great one again.. nice energy and lyrics..

4. Down

Wanted to write my own adaptation to this one.. another one of my favs..

5. I'm lost without you

Awesome song ! Loved the slow build up plus the rock.. Great lyrics.. can't believe it isn't in their "Greatest Hits" album :(

6. What went wrong
Aha.. its a different take on the "hate your ex" songs.. liked the music.. though i don't approve of it, i really liked their idea of putting such a bold song.

I totally loved songs from "Ye Maya Chesave". Rahman never fails to fascinate my music senses. Especially liked the :
1. Ee hridayam
Its like a fresh breeze. Liked the way rap is brought in. Though the dance wasn't good, liked the way the director wanted it to be. Just liked the whole package.

2. Kundanapu bomma
I simply liked the title of this song. And the way its given sort of a western music touch to it. I have always admired Rahman's use of Shehnai and Tabla.. Shehnai's too good in this song.

PS: Happy to know that "Use somebody" won the grammy :) It was the song of the last year.. was in my What I am listening to... of the previous entry.

Business

(Just one of my stupid philosophical musing):

Technology is growing to speed up our life, right ? So it is basically to improve our quality of life by saving more time (things are getting faster because of growing technology). All this stuff (whatever we are doing, including our job, other's job, all the companies) is to do things faster so that we'll get more time. Of course, we'll get richer in this process. But whatever products / services that are offered will not be a hit unless they are faster than they used to be. ATM's came for easy access of money so that you get the money faster. Call centers came because you want your issues to be resolved faster. Doing things faster is the mantra of this century ( i guess i can take the liberty to say that). Sure there are other advantages like ease of use for customer, lesser burden on the customer also, but the fundamental quality for almost all the changes is : making things quicker.

Now, doing things faster is saving time. If it is saving time, how come we are not meeting more often ? Remember the generation before two generations were also in the same situation. Still they had time to do so many things and friends and all. Now, in order to go to Tirupati, we hav to make a schedule which meets everyone's availability. In order to meet my buddies, they should be free. I mean, what is happening here. What happenned to the "Time bachao" movement? No output of that ? All the new gadgets etc are supposed to save time right ? How come we are not meeting often then ? Ya i know the ans is more responsibility, new family for married couples, etc. But take ten friends from 1980 outgoing batch and any current batch. They had responsibilities coming out of college too, they married too. But i guess they met often. We do not. As a generation, are we slowly shifting towards busier lives? If so, Why ? Why are faster things not enough ? Does everything have to happen at the click of a button ?

Are we living for business or are we in the business of living ?

(there are always exceptions to the discussed scenarios. but I have my questions. Is this the question that makes ppl go mad and finally become a sadhu ? In that case, I am in for a diffucult time. Or lighter time. Just my musings. You need not be very serious abt wat I am talking )

Greatness is not an exaggeration

He stands as the perfect contradiction to the statement "Greatness is an exaggeration".

(This short piece is just a mention of a few aspects that add glory to one of the finest batsmen cricket has ever produced)

Let me begin by telling you this :

Indian audience indulges itself in hero-worship. That's a fact. You can see it everywhere. But we are ruthless too. When it comes to being worshiped, you have to keep winning hearts, keep restoring the faith, and the pride. There have been many whom I don't want to name, who appeared to be climbing those stairs, only to find that the junta has lost faith in them. You drop from a superstar to just a star who was once close to being idolized. To be in such a country and in such a state for about twenty years is, simply, superb. (Don't hold it against me when I miss some statistics. My piece doesn't deal much with it)

Sachin is someone who deserves such a worship. He has stood against generations of bowlers. Generations of those who analyze his every match, his every move, his every mistake and then come up with a strategy to constrain him. In spite of that, to come up to bat to the satisfaction of over a billion hearts, and to surpass the expectations each time, is nothing short of amazement. May be to come up to bat can be termed as a mandate. To play is what he is expected to do. But the difference is not in the decision to play. It lies in the way he responds to such expectations. He has to thwart the tricks of each and every bowler and their captain. His every analyzed weakness must be controlled, and not merely controlled, it should shock the opponent. It is not a case of "should" but it just has been. His weaknesses to some of the offside deliveries had to be worked upon to result in a boundary. Its not ordinary and its not common to outplay the cunning opponent.

Rarely do you see a player who is watched by so many. And mind it, success brings its own share of rivalry and jealousy. Every Henry Olonga, Andy Caddick or whatever their names are, come to the scene of international cricket stating that they would be the ones to send him to the pavilion, only to find that it was their deliveries that went there, faster than the time spent in running to deliver them. It is so common. They are flawed not in their bowling techniques, they bowl some good balls. But in assuming that they have the master all sorted out, that is foolishness. There's really a great difference between confidence and over-confidence. We hear too many dialogues about this in the movies. But its true. The master copes with his weaknesses, with the so many heads that try to out-think and out-wit him. That he has been successful in doing this is not just evident from his successes, but from the knowledge that the faith of those billions is only growing. Here is a man who is standing against all, constantly foiling their plans.

Here's a thing. Ricky Ponting is currently the man who is atleast in the vicinity of looking at the records that Sachin makes, albeit miles, or rather, hundreds of miles, away from them. But Ricky enjoys a rare advantage that Sachin does not. He isn't under so much of analysis. He needn't carry an onus of expectations. Sachin has to, every single time. While stating facts, it is important to add that Australians have been those who analyze their opponents to the highest degree. Its quite evident. The amount of tricks they come up with almost sometimes makes the game more of a kind of chess rather than cricket, but all's legal. Now, would Ricky have lasted so long had he not been an Australian? Would he have been able to deal with his weaknesses, some of them propping up as he gets older, if he were under the scrutiny of the Australians ? I guess not. Yes its true that he has come up well against his weaknesses to spin. But you see, his opponents are not as cunning as hist team were. Now don't get me wrong here. It's perfectly alright that they plan the demise of the opposition. Its essential. But I would only want to point out that Ricky just isn't subjected to the enourmously tiresome, gruesome tests that Sachin went through. That's a very big advantage, if you know what I am talking about.

Now there comes a talk about India not winning matches when Sachin scores. It would have been probably okay for a boy to state that the word "psychology" is spelt without the silent letter 'p'. We could have at least patted the boy who answered that a better-luck-next-time. It's just lack of knowledge, but not here. The comparison isn't apt. But that exactly is the point I'd like to make. It isn't appropriate to state that its bad omen for India when Sachin scores. Tell you what, if Luck had ever to choose an adversary to work against, it would mention that the name Sachin would be in the last ones in its list. This may be exaggeration. But we all need luck. Not just to play well. But luck to evade bad luck from coming up. Last time I heard was that Liverpool lost their match against Sunderland this season because a beach ball showed up just in between the ball and the goalkeeper, the result of which was a deflected goal to take up 3 vital points away from Liverpool, or rather 2 vital points. This is the sort of bad luck that you don't want to happen. Here in comes the importance of good luck. To stop keeping the bad luck from popping its head up.

There may be a certain amount of take-it-for-granted in the Indian team because even though the master has amassed half the 350 single handedly, the rest of the ten couldn't contribute enough. It's a shame(read pity). For someone who has fought so well, this is the sort of anticlimax that is least appropriate. Our team surely owes an apology to him. But he will still play. And will still outclass the opponents. And it wouldn't be much news when he does that, because that is what is expected. And he will still keep raising the bar.

This is one who stands out to let us know that greatness is not an exaggeration, but a virtue, which, though seemingly impossible, is actually possible.

Just to let you know, there was one guy who was holding a poster the other day during the 5th ODI between India and Australia. It was comparing the gold rates per carat to the number of runs Sachin has made and he usually surpassed the rates. That was an awesome idea of his to show that statistic up. :)