Everything Fades......

I received a sound advice once from someone really close to me who said "Nothing stays forever"..... Of course this was in context to relationships and bonds that we have during our time here on the third rock from the sun (Yea Yea i know that it contradicts the DeBeers Tagline and philosophy....). At that point of time I had debated upon this ideology. Personally my view towards life is this....We have one life to live, so we better live for the moment.....live in the moment....& live it such that there is no regrets...

Even though I agree with the part that nothing really does stay forever, I don't see the point in thinking about how things would change rather than trying to be happy with the way things are. Perhaps this can at some times be loosely associated with being indifferent because when things change some people do have the ability to remain unaffected by it or at least act so. Relationships break....people fade away....bonds vanish....its all a part of life really. This i have learnt in my very own life. Recent enough i have lost some people that have been close to my heart....bonds did break....& it was always painful .........especially when friends go away. But we always live on......we pick ourselves from scratch...... Whenever such incidents occur, it is mighty helpful to take a deep breath and imagine it to be purging your soul and starting life afresh. Change is inevitable....it measures the true nature of man.....we all know that what we have at the moment will not be what we would in the future.....perhaps we might just loose it all......but when we hit rock bottom it is in some sense the greater achievement cos no matter what you do from then on, you would have nothing to loose and everything to gain. The secret lies in letting go. Its not as easy as it sounds....trust me.....I have lost quite a lot in the past few years....but the more you loose the more instinctive you become....and in some sense it give you sense and strength to see past what is to what will be.

Nothing stays forever.....nothing ever will.....no one ever will.......but we all try nevertheless..... we all try harder.....Change is perhaps the greatest constant in life.....the only part that never changes in this universe is perhaps change itself. As my blog readers would have noticed, my blogs have some or the other relation to music or songs. and this one is no different......The title is Everything Fades by the Poets Of the Fall......I bid adieu with the following lines from the song....

Silly thoughts of small deeds
Everything that once answered to your needs
The thoughtless but kind
The caring but blind
Everything fades away

Everything fades away, come turning of the tide
For your love I'm sorry
For your pain, don't worry
Everything fades away
Everything fades away

Silhouettes, false leads
That which drew you, like a crow to glass beads
Secrets spied
Wishes sighed
Everything fades away

Everything fades away, come turning of the tide
For your love I'm sorry
For your pain, don't worry
Everything fades away

We are one but not the same.......

Something has crept into my mind for the past few days which has kept me thinking.... To what extents can you go for the ones you love? and how far can you bend for them till you snap?..... Well these questions didnt arise out of nothing....obviously...... It comes from another thought which implored me to think about what would love really is.

I have very few whom i call worthy to be friends. Of them only two form the innermost circle of trust. Very recently one more got added to that circle of trust. To me, these three people are the core of everything i do. The bond i have with them is greater than anything i can ever experience. Perhaps that is what should matter to me. Still I somehow feel that something's amiss. Perhaps i am imagining things. Well coming back to the title of the blog, two of my closest friends are exactly similar to me. Well, sounds simple and common though. But what makes it all uncommon is the fact that they are exactly like me except for the fact that they are of an opposite sex. We eerily love the same stuff... to an extent that we know what's going on in the other's mind. This is perhaps where everything becomes blurred. When i asked if its possible to be friends in love this is what she (my closest friend) had to say "I place friends higher than love, because love comes and goes......friends are what stays forever....." I believe what she gave me was the true definition of love........ atleast that what i want to believe.

We're one
But we're not the same
Well we
Hurt each other
Then we do it again
One love
One blood
One life
You got to do what you should
One life
With each other

A Road Less Travelled.....

I just finished reading an article in the paper today. It was certainly one that did touch my heart and made me think. The article was about a guy who topped the class in IIT Kanpur (which is no small feat) and yet gave up all the offers that could have put him on the road to millions and chose to dedicate his life for a social cause. Now he teaches computer science to the poor n needy. I probably cannot reach that scale of dedication. The only thing i could learn from the whole article is that satisfaction can never be materialistic. This guy was the Topper of one of the most prestigious institutions in the country and even did his doctrate from there. Yet he decides to give it all up to take up something that will not earn him any money......but the one thing that he has definitely earned which we cant ever earn is the best job satisfation in the world.

I maynever reach that part either professionally but then i write this entry as a tribute to that guy and others who have broken the trends and have earned a pure form of respect from peers. A friend's status line comes to mind....'When every head bowed........' This was worth the mention in the blog and im happy that something like this came by that gave me yet another reason to write an entry. As far as my observations go, i have seen that the most respected of people are ones that havent been materialistically motivated... Baba Amte is another worthy mention.....Even in my profession field, the man known as the father of modern architecture, Frank Lloyd Wright, hasnt been well off financially. He has been on the verge of bankrupcy time and again. His life and work, Taleising West, had been burnt to the ground not once but twice. Yet he is the most noted of architects in the world. World shall bear a testament to such people and to the very least, my respect as well.....

Now you may ask if i would follow that same path....The answer is a bit murky for now...but yea i might never reach there......so the answer may pretty well be summed in 2 words-----Hell No!! (that was a joke by the way......duh.......I still havent found the answer....seriously!!)

An Ode in prose....

Yeah! I know the title for the entry sounds pretty weird but then i cant actually write an ode since it essentially has to be poetic to an exalting value. I suck at poems (no point hiding that...i couldnt compose one to save myself from a horde of drunken heretics trying to mutilate me...) But then again i had promised a very close friend of mine that i would compose an ode to her. The whole thing started when she shared a personal stuff she had written and asked for comments on the way it was written. Now, when someone as close as her asks me for a feedback i cant just give her a normal one can i?.....so here i am writing this entry that is dedicated to her and her writing..

It was a personal familial kinda stuff that she had written, so i wouldnt comment on the content. But for one thing it was a very very very long letter with the minutest detail thrown in. yet as far as informal stuff goes, it was one of the best that i have read in ages. Its great not because of the way its written but because what she wrote opened a window to her mind at that time. It also gave me an idea of what pre marriage activities are gonna be like. So there you have it---- a short review of a long letter....all in all a very nice one and a good read.

But apart from what the letter meant, what i really would wanna point out is that she found me worthy enough to read a personal letter of hers. That i truly appreciate and love. That action or emotion meant much more to me than the point of givin a review for the letter. I am honored. What more can i say?....I am blessed with great friends....better than the best (and a few very cute ones too......you know who you are). You guys are a part of my legacy, my world. So i hope you enjoy the ride...

More stuff later.......till then Adios Amigos!

A fish called Phelps...

The Olympic games is on and there is one man that is on a blaze of glory. This guy is none other than Michael Phelps from the United States. He has won a total of 13 golds in the Olympics till date of which 8 are from this season itself. He is now the greatest Olympian in history and is at par with Mark Spitz for winning the most golds in one season... He has nailed all the events that he has competed in so far n has come with golds in all of them. He has one more event to go and winning that will make him the unsurpassed champion of the water. Otherwise he will be at par with Spitz. He is making history anyway.
It is sheer pleasure to watch the guy swim. He has the agility of a fish. He is unbelievably lean and toned with a greater arm span than others that help him cover greater distances with lower strokes. He has some anatomical uniqueness too. His body creates lesser lactic acid which helps him swim longer without getting fatigued. He can keep swimming for a longer time even to the extent where other pro swimmers would cringe with pain.
And to think that this guy suffered from Attention Deficiency Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD) due to which he couldn't concentrate at school. His teacher even told his mum that 'Your boy is not special...in fact he does not have a gift....he will never be able to do anything great'
That teacher must sure be embarrassed now. Way to go Phelps.....Way to go!!

Untitled....

This blog entry is deliberately titled 'Untitled....' (talk about irony!!!).. This entry is dedicated to all who have waited patiently (and impatiently) for me to update my blog. My personal apologies to my regular readers for not having written a word for the last few months. Nothing much has changed since the last time I wrote. I am still pretty much what I was then (except maybe older & more edgy) Otherwise its more or less the same. Currently enjoying a long weekend.....so i'm pretty much laid back n chilled out, watching some great movies and some TV series. Its been raining quite a bit out here.
On a more global note, India has won its first ever individual Olympic Gold. Very much a reason for us to celebrate as also a reminder that we can get to the very top if we just make up our mind... I doubt whether this win will remain in our sentiments. We all are quite forgetful when it comes to such stuff. Sure there will be much fanfare and the dedication of all the trophies in the history of India to the guy who won the gold ...... he is bound to get a lot of cash prizes (at last count---4 crores)....but there is one thing that is not talked as much about the win.. The fact still remains that the guy is from an affluent family with training from the best that his money could afford. The guy has his own firm back home and it seems that his father was so happy about his win that he gave him a 200 crore worth hotel as a gift!! can u beat that....n he is much sought after these days with people willing to sponsor him n stuff n give him bharat ratnas. But c'mon guys, is this what it is worth?...Agreed that the guy gave his best and got his dues.... he rightfully deserved it and he made the nation proud. this is coupled with the fact that he has made history and nobody can erase that. But we really need to chill on all the flow of awards n stuff to him. He did what he had to. There are many in this country that can make us proud but they fail jjust cos they do not have the means to achieve it or there isnt proper funding to train them. Spare a thought for the other sportsmen, we should be trying to help them develop n be the best in their field. Hope the authorities get their facts straight n the priorities right.....
Nothing much happening otherwise....will post more when i get more to write on...till then....Adios!!

The Cost of Freedom.....

The entire nation celebrated the 61st Independence Day. This was ofcourse among critical and disturbing times, with the recent tumoil about the govt. that will rule the country and the crisis that has struck our beautiful country. How free are we? What exactly is the measure of our freedom? Can we be truly free? Can anyone be truly free? To me, freedom is a concept that we always strive or yearn to achieve. It is as much existant as it is not.....it might be a bit difficult to completely comprehend the meaning of that statement. It just plainly means that we are only as free as we think we are. We are simply celebrating the country's independence from a governing external entity (to me we are not free just yet)....We are very much a captive of greed, power and fanaticism as we were a hundred years back.

What is the point of all this bombings in the country?..... what point is it to kill masses of innocent people?... Where do we reach from here?....why fight within the nation?........why fight in the first place?.....People need to think about what they want to have. Anyone with the fanatic idea of killing people as an indicator that they want to be free is very much the prisoner of his own demons till the end of eternity... I hope we as the present generation try to put an end to this mayhem and maybe for once truly grasp the whole meaning of being free...

To set your minds thinking about it, I part with the lines that Bono once said, 'We were amazed when 50 years ago we put the man on the moon......but now it is time to bring a greater change........It is now time to do something just as great....more like putting mankind back on earth'