Be "The Shiva"

They say every journey is unique. But is it absolutely unique? There is the same old cycle of highs and lows, fast and slow, turmoil and peace in everyone's life; Just the timings are different. I feel only the character changes but the plot remains the same. Maybe the timings are different edited to suit the needs. Whatever is happening to you today might have happened to somebody else 30 years ago exactly in same sequence and whatever is happening to them today might be your path 30 years down the line. Afterall the basic human emotions are always the same. Emotions create situations. We may be bombarded with situations. I can't help it, you can't help it but how we react to it is our choice. 

"Try to be The Shiva", they say. Let your head be as cool as was His. Drink the poison as He did so that "The World" can bloom. Ooze out tranquility as He did. But can we? Can we remain rock steady throughout? No we can't; there will be moments of despair and hopelessness. There will also be moments of ecstasy and jubilance. He too became mad in love, beheaded his own son, lost way, intoxicated himself and danced on happiness. So was he really rock-steady. No he was not. But what mattered was he could still "Keep calm and carry on". 

 You are bound to get affected and react. If you don't you are already dead. That's human. But not getting stuck in it should be the way of life. It came to everyone's life as it came to yours. They passed it, you too will. All you need is hope, patience and perseverance and an urge to get out; strive for excellence. 

 Strive and achieve but never yield

We are what we are

A  lot has happened since last. Kapil Sharma last time knew “Don't drink and drive, don't drink and tweet”; now he knows don’t drink and throw. His latest tweet might be along the kids, men and legends line – “Kids wear shoe, men buys them while legends hurl them.” Even Gaikwad knows that now. And speaking of politician where one is busy creating anti Romeo squad, and why not anti Ranjha or Anti Majnu squad ( that would had been more apt given the swadeshi karan), another one is busy giving logical explanation of why we are not racist and that being because “we are surrounded by black people.” Yes we are not racist, we just momentarily cross the line. Specially when we see a girl from North East India we just step over to say “Chinky” which is a clear reference to China. No wonder China says Arunachal is theirs. Its just that we think she will be easy to get. We just step over to say mallu or sometimes even kallu. We are just not racist to think –“ Punjabi hain toh peeyega hi”. We are just racist enough to think “Kashmiri hain toh Sahid Afridi favourite hoga”. We are not racist when we meet a blond girl even when the first image that pops up might be of Sunny Leone. We are not only racist but sexist and chauvinist and what not. Yes we are. As a nation we are. May be at different levels but we are and the plinth of this racism if the fake morality the fake façade, the difference of pardeh k aage and pardeh k peecheh. Will denying it help. No. We need to be open to discuss, open to change, open to criticism. But only if difference of opinion is allowed to flourish.

The sales guy, the politician and the driver

This lazy evening as I lay sleepily in my bed listening to Mr. Modi I can't but wonder what if he was not a politician but a sales man. I have come across a lot of person who can sell. But they are particularly good in selling one thing or other. They can't sell something which we don't buy. They can't convince us to buy. Irom sharmila couldn’t convince us to buy her honesty. Pappu couldn't convince us to buy his seriousness. Kejri couldn't convince us to buy his allegations. KRK couldn't convince us to buy deshdrohi. Even SRK couldn't convince us to buy Happy New Year. But if all these had Modi I feel we would have bought all these. Infact he speaks with such conviction that he could have sold anything and by anything I mean even an imaginary space in air. He is so good not only in creating a need but also in convincing us that we need that need and then convincing us that we need to buy that need. That's so much need indeed. But the bottom line is that he is good, even best maybe, because of his conviction and that cannot come until he himself believes in it. That tremendous amount of self belief is lacking in other political figures and that's why we are not buying them or what they say. And we won't not from the present lot. We need someone who has the same mojo, radiates the same energy, has the same amount of belief and is ready to stake one’s personal reputation on the altar of a brave decision. Only then we can find someone who can challenge Mr. Modi. And we need to find him or her soon because unchallenged figure is bad for democracy. A formidable opponent is necessary; it always brings out the best in someone. And if best comes out of Modi it will be great for India as a country. Until then this juggernaut is dependent on him; now its up to him if he makes this country run like a bullock cart or bullet train.

TEDX Talk :Inside the mind of a master procrastinator | Tim Urban

MR. X and ME

Recently I new member Mr. X joined my team. We were having the introduction and as soon as  I said I am from Assam his eyes shot up. Ahh its a beautiful place. The Bhoot jolokia (Ghost Chilly) is Awesome Man. He said with such conviction I felt he must have tasted the fire in the Bhoot. Being happy I at last met someone who knows Assam,  and not someone who said Assam with the huge open mouth as if its near Australia, asked him when did you go there. He said -'Nai re.Roadies me dekha'. I was awed. How can someone say with such belief. I felt thankful to Raghu and his team for once at least. But soon he, with a very confused look, asked but how come your title is Upadhyaya. "You should be from UP side na." I told him I was a Nepali and awaited anticipating the next set of question which I have come across often than not. 

Mr. X - "So you are from Nepal?"

Me - "No I am from Assam."

But you said you are Nepali! 

Yes I am Nepali, But I live in Assam

That means you are Assamese

No I am Nepali.

But how come you are Nepali if you live in Assam

My mother tongue is Nepali but I live in Assam

Okay, Okay.. So you are from Nepal but you migrated to Assam.

Technically Yes. But not me. My great grandfather came from Nepal

So that means you are from Nepal

I am not from Nepal. My GREAT GRANDFATHER came from there. My GRANDFATHER was born in India and my father and my mother and her father all were born in Assam. So my three generation have been in Assam. SO I AM FROM ASSAM

That means you are Assamese.

Where you are from?

Delhi

You live in Pune. So if your son is born and brought up here and settled here and someone asked his son where is he from what  will he say?

Mr X left looking perplexed and saying a long ACCHAAA.

The conversation left me thinking again like numerous times before how should I introduce myself. 

I think more or less like -"I am a Nepali speaking boy brought up in a Bengali speaking neighborhood in a Assamese speaking state which lies in the North East corner of India".

Procrastination Blabbering and the Cigaratte

Its strange that when I was thinking of creating a blog and which had been lingering for over a quarter now- Not the whisky quarter but the yearly one, I had these bunch of ideas each popping up like the Pop corns every second but now when I have it I have no idea where to start. So I start blabbering. Some skeptic equate it to trash but with due respect I beg to differ with you SIR. Blabbering helps. Surely it does help. It makes you start from nothing; When you have nowhere to go. The biggest problem that we lazy asses have is that we do not start. We keep on planning and procrastinating and weaving those dreams that we soon lose the track and end up doing exactly those thing which we should not.. Its just like leaving the cigarette every morning. We start the day with a choked throat and promise ourselves 'No More'. Once hour passes. Some might deny it politely when offered. The next hour we keep reminding -No NO NO NOOOOO. We seem to have conquered the feeling , burnt it to ashes  but let the clock enter the third hour it rises again like the phoenix. We start becoming restless and by the fourth hour  we are so attracted by the smoking beauty that we need to have a drag. Only one drag we think and soon that one drag goes to two and three and the one after food, the one for bathroom and the one before sleep. And again we wake up with the NO MORE promise. One of my roommate in a deep philosophical trance once claimed -"We are assholes". So true. 

The only way I felt to counter is start thinking about now. Now is the time. Start living in NOW. The hardest task can be achieved if we live in NOW. It ironical that to leave a Cigarette addiction all we need to do is procrastinate . No smoke now. Postpone it for Now. That same procrastination that was making us laid back is making us proactive. Postpone the smoking. All we need is to direct the energy into the right direction. Well look blabbering helped. I just can't stop. In fact I am so pumped up that I can go on to write one more. Its just like the beer. Once you start you can never stop at one.