Changing Times

Times are changing for sure, else I wouldn't be writing this blog at 8 in the morning before even starting off with other things. Facebook & Twitter comes to my mind first. It started off as an almost innocuous little social networking forum but they are turning out to be one of the most powerful identities. Both have equally proved their worth in complementing media activism and gathering populist sentiments against unjust regimes and oppressive rulers. Facebook is proving to be a platform for the self propounded gods. It is an all new world parallel to the one we live in. It has its own microcosm and societal structure. But the problem I foresee is that Facebook is defining the new social strata that might then carry on to the real society. The popularity of a person on Facebook is a non linear function of many aspects such as sex, education, number of friends, time spent on Facebook, frequency of response to other's post, how opinionated a person is etc. And it is non-linear because there are many intangibles that add on to it. Twitter has a different meaning for different users. It is used as a very good platform for social/media activism. Some use it to post minute by minute update of their life. Maybe they find their life really interesting for others. But all said and done, both Facebook and Twitter shall just become more powerful in the coming years. After all it is the basic human nature to seek popularity and recognition to stabilize their atomic configuration.

My little tribute to GOD and his men

In these 28 years, our nation has come a long way. Today, as the first 30 minutes of Indian innings progressed, I found uncanny similarity between my first faint recollection of the 1996 match between India and Sri Lanka at the Eden Gardens. As our innings faltered and Kambli put up the sole resistance against the mighty Ranatungas and De Silvas, I sat at a corner and cried the night out. Today too the situation had an eerie similarity. The Ranatungas and DeSilvas were replaced by Jayewardene’s and Sangakaraas. The Indian chase faltered in a very striking fashion. Everything looked the same except for one thing, India and its Indianness. We have really come a long way. The coyness has been replaced by aggression. Optimism has replaced struggle. "Can we do it" has been replaced by “We can do it". No matter the initial fall of the precious wickets, we were witness to some of the finest innings in the history of cricket. What swept me off was the patience and mental strength that was displayed by both Dhoni and Gambhir under pressure. Many of us spend a lifetime to live up to the expectations of a single person. Imagine living up to the expectation of a billion plus people. For the 3 hours of Indian innings I was stuck to the same position without flipping. Almost petrified initially then later held back by the crept-in superstition about retaining the status-quo as our innings was built brick and mortar by Gambhir and Virat. How often have we discussed and written off Dhoni in this World Cup criticizing his batting. We often raised this question that, “Is it really that Dhoni is so good a captain or just that he has landed a very good team to play with?" Today, the most understated captain of all time simply silenced a generation by coming up the order and taking the responsibility on his shoulders. He took it on him and he did it in style. How often do we fail to see the genius of a person behind the veils of our ignorance? Today they proved them all wrong. Today they rescripted the World Cup Final history. Never before a team with a player's hundred in the finals have lost the finals. Today they did. In the end, I still cried, but this time and probably for the first time ever, I was happy to let my tears flow by. We have arrived. This goes out as a tribute to our little master. The GOD himself!!  

Life's Like That.

They, in fact all so called, self-declared greats and the actual greats, say that as you grow so does your clarity on life. But in my case, I find things getting hazier than ever or that my perspective on things has changed so much in the last six months that instead of getting clearer they are getting hazier. After all it leads me to think every time I compare myself with what I was six months back. Not that I have changed but my thinking has. Being born in a conservative Hindu family brings along a set of unasked baggage. Some of them worth carrying throughout your life and others best disposed as soon as you find a suitable place to. Naturally, things we learn in childhood are in black and white, either Good or Bad. It is only life’s experience that has taught me why some good things are bad and some bad things are good at times. This has caused all the blurring and with life's so called uncertainty which is fairly far from Heisenberg’s realm, things don’t get any sweeter. One thing that I have learnt and maybe one of the most intangible and yet valuable lessons outside my MBA classes is that there is no point trying to steer your life because no one can. The best we can do is to shape things up as things shape up.  I do not know how much sense it makes for am writing after a hiatus of nearly 8 months. With the sun outside shining bright and humidity getting the better of you in Mumbai, it makes sense for me to be indoors and revive my stupidity and the vestigial intellectual remnants through my blog. Will keep it updated.