Lingering.

People often say,
When people die and go away.
Their words remain.

I have often doubted the claim,
For capturing a persona, words: seem lame-
and unimpressive.

People often say,
When people die and go away,
Their acts remain.

I have doubted acts remain unsullied
Acts in themselves have no mark,
Society ranks results more.

People often say,
When people die and go away,
Their soul lingers on.

I have doubted soul as a whole,
not because I doubt thee Holy,
but souls have better things to do.

I am more impressed by when
Some child wakes up from the sleep; rubs eyes
Says ” …saw grandpa in the dream again…
And he seemed happy.”

Criticizing all Criticizers

I have developed something lately; I will admit. I was a mediocre sort of patriotic person. I used to love my country. I used to celebrate Independence Day and Republic Day like any other person does. Watch the parade and the flag hoisting, celebrate the break from work and studies, sleep the entire day. But recently I have found myself remark on the sheer challenge that hour country IS. Its vast size, heterogeneous nature of problems, all types: economic, social, and philosophical. Any statement I make on the vast size of the problems we say is not enough.

Beautiful, ain't it?

Suffice to say, I have grown to appreciate our country more. I have grown to like it, fall in love, romance the idea of a perfect country. Yes. Any day now.

I was wondering what drew me into this so much. The answer was pretty simple. It was the Criticizers. I invent this proper noun because these people deserve a proper mention. All of us have met more than one. No?

“Our country is headed for doom” “The government policies are screwed up” “ The transportation services are ill maintained” “Noone cleans this place” “There is  absolutely no control over the trade” “The policies kill the small time businessman” “This policy kills the big business” “The education paradigm of India is archaic” “We can never be a developed country”

Yes. I am talking to all of you Criticizers. Whosoever of them  who are reading this.

First of all, Thanks a lot. You have made me more patriotic, more hopeful, and more respectful of my democracy. I have come to realize it is very easy to point fingers at our policy makers, their policies and their efficiency.

Secondly, I agree there is a LOT wrong with my country. But this does not give you the license to crib twenty four- seven-twelve. Try this. Try to see how much have the lives of people around you have changed. And I am not talking about those who were superior to you. See the lives of people who were inferior to you. The maid in our house who used to clean our floors is today a typist working in a small firm. Our dhobi has moved on to bigger business. Our gardener or maali now has two mobiles. Both of them better versions of my phone.  Our greengrocer or sabziwaala has an auto now.

Granted, each of the people listed above worked very hard to reach where they are now. But do you expect progress to reach those who do not make an effort? Do you want people to just give in to poverty: “No  we were, are and will remain poor”; and do you expect your government to feed people like these? And they don’t.

But the people I am talking about are people who worked day and night in honest jobs. You can call these jobs menial, but they are essential nonetheless. So our country has given opportunities to advance to all hardworking people, it has given better lives to all people who wanted it, now, tell me where is the ground to criticize the government.

The examples were just about people around my family house. There are countless, and I say it most emphatically, countless, stories of people making it into the 21^st century, alive and kicking poverty’s ass. Call it increasing purchasing power of the masses, increase in Per capita GDP, Net National Output, Food security or any fancy-shmancy economic term but this is DEVELOPMENT 101.

People criticize that the road is narrow yet buses still run on it. It may be of inconvenience to you and your sedan but think about the person who travelled the whole city for Rs. 5 , to do his job. What more do you want? Roads will come one day. Wait and watch you impatient little prick.

People criticize about the rubbish on the roads. Tell me honestly that you haven’t ONCE thrown anything on the road; a wrapper, paper, spittle. Hypocrites.

People say that the trains do not run on time. Honestly, in my humble opinion, Railways are the pure embodiment of the spirit of our country. Huffing, puffing, running late, overcrowded, smelly, hot yet running in profit, yet carrying everyone it can, and yet moving forward.

People say the government is corrupt. In spite of this they are managing to do some good. I say it’s a bargain. We have to keep looking for politicians who are cheaper to maintain. And well that’s what democracy is; bargaining and taking a leap of faith. Try to imagine being the captain of Indian team of eleven people. There’s so much pressure. Now multiply the pressure by a 100 million. That is the pressure the politicians, these supposed sleazebags, should mathematically face.

Life in India is good. There are a LOT of things we need to work upon. But sometimes looking only in one direction, forward, is not good for morale. And trust me, India needs morale. We need individuals to care for our country. Just do your part, please. And Stop worrying about every Tom, Dick and Harry. Oops I mean every Tarun, Dinesh and Hari.

So all Criticizers Listen to Mr. Cee-Lo-Green’s awesome song here.

To all hopeful like me.
 India Rocks! India Rules! India will succeed! And we will be the one invited to the party… not them.

Mom's Food: Why does it taste better?

We all know this fact.

Mom's food is the closest thing we have to near-heaven experience that we mere mortals have. One can always relate to mother for some things thing; nourishment, satisfaction with food and nurturing nature that she so embodies. I have often wondered, I have eaten in many places in India and outside India, why does there is a certain appeal that is only there in food prepared by my mother? Why is it that mother's food is the one which appeals to us so strongly? What does mother do to the food? WHY IS IT SO DAMN FINGER-LICKINGLY LIP-SMACKINGLY DELICIOUS?

The answer to this perhaps lies in the way humans have evolved. Food has always been a VERY integral part to our evolution. I do not need to quote sources, when I say this. But still. Food.

C'mon, FOOD.Yes. F- O - O - D. Nourishment. Something that well-off people take for granted. Food is the eternal hope for survival, the fuel of activity and a source of joy.

Man(along with Woman) realised it LONG ago, that Food holds ever important position for survival. That is why we (humans) were the first one to develop cultivation techniques.

Back to my original topic. Mom and food made by Mom.

What we taste when mom serves us hot food is not merely the mixture of delicate spices and such, it isn't her 100 year old secret recipe passed on by her great grandmother, it isn't even the new imported masaala that she brought last week because you were coming home. It is the taste of SECURITY.

Security, yes. Mother's food can always be trusted.

Try this. Whenever next time you go to a restaurant observe people around you when the waiter brings you food. There always is a cursory glance by the said person over the food. There is an evolutionary mistrust associated with a stranger serving you with food. This however NEVER happens with one's mother. Or even someone else's mother sometimes.

So taste that extra helping of food sprinkled with evolutionary security for the food. And Enjoy!

Travelling.

Travelling is something I have recently developed a great liking for. I mean not travelling to exclusive and exotic locations and spending time and money and taking pictures and ... no, no, no, not that. I mean just, travelling. Getting on a train and reaching your destination, taking a flight and landing on time (or not), bus, taxi, rickshaw; you name it.

Travelling is enjoyable most of the time. Sometimes it can get a little boring but always it gives us the chance to observe people from all around and note their particular way of being uniquely them. Everyone has a different perception and preference for a particular mode of transport. Mine is Railways. There are a lot of reasons for that.

1. Comfortable

We all know. Railways are WAY more comfortable than those seats in the airplane. In railways you can stretch your legs a little and move your arms and legs.

In the plane the best you can do is twist your neck a little and pray that the guy on the other side of you doesn't sneeze on you.

2. Food

Okay. The food on the train isn't great. But at least you have more choice eating on the place around. And I somehow prefer the railway grub to the pretentious little plate, that they serve you on the plane which sits snugly into the plastic grooves, smiles shamelessly at you and says " ...calories, Watson, calories... ".

3. Aggravated Snobbishness

Well I have always found people on the train to be more humane and helpful than the people on the flight. People on the flight are all so... we are elite... we travel on a 10k ticket... we are sitting on 19B... oh yes baby... oh yaaa... the pretty air hostess smiled at me when I came in... Ima gonna buy a 150 bucks sandwich... ooh this is the life.

It's okay, dude. Chill. I am at 19A myself.

Enough of lists. The basic fact is the people on the railways adjust better and are more humane. Just because you pay a few bucks more for a ticket which takes you less time, does not give you a slick snob license. Journey by railway is safer from a purely gravitational point of view. It's closer to the ground. People are nicer. what more does one want?

The thing is I am in love with Travelling. Which is a sort of a demoralized excuse for those so-called "adventure seekers" of whom I say I belong to. So be it.

           

Fear of...?

What is your deepest fear?

Most of the people fear death. Death; because it is the Ultimate Unknown. No - one has ever come back and told us " Hey folks. It ain't so bad. " . That is because no one has come back.

Why people fear death has always been beyond me. If in a mathematical equation one doesn't know a variable you just give it a value x  and move on. Assuming of course, in course of time we will get to know what  x  is. Why cannot we treat our lives to be more like an unsolved equation with many  variables. We will have to ignore a few to get to know others. We will have to ignore some, guess some, assume some and
outrightly reject some. In this equation put Death as x  and move on.

What is then the biggest cause of fear?

Fear of failure: Some say it is the most profound fear present in most people. Failure is a very subjective term. Optimists see Failure as a learning opportunity and Pessimists see it as the end of life. So somewhere in between the two for most people. In any case what is does failure have to do with fear? Both begin with the same letter. And that is the only thing I find common in them. Well; maybe if your failure can cause your death and you have a fear of death then probably you can find it fearful. No?

What is your biggest cause of fear?

Fear of being forgotten? Often people have told me. They fear being forgotten disappearing into nameless domain. Forgotten.Wiped off the annals of this earth. What is there to fear? There have been 106 Billion people that are or have lived on this planet. How do you expect to be remembered? Gradually your creations will get old, your theories will become axioms, your words will sound archaic, your sound will sound ancient, your movies will become too low definition and your children's children will remember only your children. It is inevitable.

What is then the biggest fear?

Well, my biggest fear is to be remembered.

It may sound odd. But I do not say this just to say " ...Two roads diverged in a wood and I-- , I took the one less traveled by...". Nor do I wish to shock and awe. But it is because I understand the very nature of how the human mind likes to think.

We often tend to remember the bad things done by people.
We remember more bad things than good things. We remember the wrongs, the unjust and the unpleasant.
We can't help it. It's human to remember bad things. That's how we have evolved.
We cannot control this urge to focus on the negative.

I know that I am not a perfect person. As it is; I do bad and good to people.
If people do remember me they will remember me more for the bad moments and not for the good ones.

They can't help  it. They can't change the  source code.

My biggest fear hence, is to be remembered.

I do not want to die in a world where I am remembered.

Because mostly I will be remembered for the worse.

It is a pessimistic point of view, yes ,  but pretty close to the reality.