India news... the good news!

India news... the good news!

The Rat Race

While driving to work this morning (and this is around 8am, pretty early around where I live), I noticed how everyone was desperately trying to get ahead of the other. Following the herd, I started driving like that too. Trying to get ahead, edging people out, only to realize that I was losing my peace of mind. I let myself feel threatened by anyone who would try to get in my way and got stressed out about staying ahead. And then I asked myself 'Why?' Why am I getting stressed out about all this? What's the big deal if I get to work 5 minutes later than I would if I drove like an idiot? I had no answers.

It reminded me, metaphorically, of my life in school, in university, and at work. I find myself trying to outdo other people. Trying to make gains at the cost of others when in fact it doesn't have to be that way. I've figured the best way to go about life is to set my own pace and compete with myself. That way less of my energy will go into dissipative channels. I'm a great believer in karma. What goes around, comes around. Nothing can stand in the way of a person who does an honest day's work. As Gandhi said, "He who acts, thinks and feels with God as his only witness has nothing to fear."

I want to be like that.

A Time for Change

Yet another day of introspecting has gone by and a new realization has dawned upon me (yes, how wonderful!). I've been in a state of unrest because I've been constantly thinking about what I should be getting when I should be thinking about giving. My focus has been too much on my self and my interests, just too much of me and I'm quite sick of myself. When I think about the happy times in my life, they are moments when I have completely lost myself in an activity. The problem now is that I think only about what I should get instead of doing what I should do.

I live in a country where 400 million people live on less that a dollar a day, millions go starving, few have a roof over their heads, fewer have any access to sanitation and even fewer have access to education. I have all of this and more, yet all I can think of is 'How can I get more?' Honestly, I'm ashamed of myself and my attitude.

Last night, I was reading the June issue of Reader's Digest. There was an article on Halle Berry's role in the rehabilitation of people suffering from diabetes and how giving has changed her life. That's what got me thinking about all this. That's why, it is a time for change, a time for a change in attitude, a time for renewal.

A beautiful quote I read yesterday goes like this, "To whom much is given, much is expected."

I'm not saying I'm going to be the next Mother Teresa or anything (actually I can't, I'm male) and be elevated to sainthood, but I'd like to do my bit and shake off this obsession with my self.

Something Amiss

I've been thinking a lot about what has been stressing me out lately and I've figured out one of the reasons. It's that I haven't been giving my best to everything I do. I was lying in bed last night, staring at the ceiling and trying to figure out what I was doing wrong. I realised I was annoying myself because of my laziness. When I do a bad, half-hearted job of something, deep down I know it's wrong, I know I haven't given my best and that's what kills me. I don't want to do a half-hearted job at anything anymore. I'm not saying I'll change overnight, but I really want to start taking up fewer things and do them well. The problem now is that I try and do too many things and do all of them half-heartedly. Now I've come to a stage where I'm saying to myself 'Enough of this shit.' I'm going to try and approach life with a new perspective, after all, as Mahatma Gandhi said 'Work is worship.' I want my work to be a labour of love, not a chore.

Your Seduction Style?

hey, I saw this interesting blogthing on someone's blog, check it out! find you're seduction style!!!! As you can see, I'm a natural ;)

Your Seduction Style: The Natural

You don't really try to seduce people... it just seems to happen. Fun loving and free spirited, you bring out the inner child in people. You are spontaneous, sincere, and unpretentious - a hard combo to find! People drop their guard around you, and find themselves falling fast.

What Is Your Seduction Style?

God-damned Internet Connection!

This is like my third attempt at making a post on this blog! Twice I've been disconnected from the Internet only to find everything I have written has gone into some data-hungry electronic monster in my laptop!!!!!! AAAAAAArrrggghh! Once is ok. But twice!!!??? Shit on my face! Freaking ridiculous. I'm pissed.

Life's like that sometimes isn't it? You build a real nice house by the ocean and there's a freaking tsunami that comes flattens it the next day. Yup, shit happens.

Of Monsoons and Traffic Jams

The traffic-jam at 8 a.m. on Monday morning is an ominous sign of things to come. The gentle showers of the early morning seemed to have thrown traffic completely out of gear and the police had lost control. It was a free-for-all! I did get to office, eventually!

Let's hope things pick up at work. I have been gainfully unemployed over the past week wandering about the office project-less. Rumour has it that we 'free resources' will be re-assigned this week. I think I have had my fair share of shooting the breeze. Time to get on to some serious business.

The good part about the weekend was that it ushered in the monsoon. The city has a washed look and the trees look a vibrant green (atleast around where I live). I actually enjoyed my drive to work, despite the traffic jam. Cloudy skies, good music and a comfortable ride. What more can one ask for?

Oh by the way, I'm going to buy my mom a clothes dryer. It feels good to be able to give something back to my parents. Really excited about it!

It's Saturday!

Such a strange feeling to get up and realise there's no need to rush to work. There's a lazy feeling in the air and the best part is that the Mumbai Monsoon finally seems to have arrived. It's my favourite season, the monsoon. It's got that romantic feel to it. And the best part is the smell of the first rain, the smell of the wet earth. It's a rush! It reminds me of the new academic year at school, with the new school uniforms, spanking new school-bag and the rest of it. Best of all, it reminds me of the my days at Campion School, Mumbai.

The monsoons, for me, are a time to reminisce about the past and introspect. It has a special place in my mind and I'm sure fellow monsoon-lovers will feel the same.

It's begun to rain as I speak (or more correctly, type.) Time to get the umbrellas out! Woo hoo...

Hang on, why did I call the post 'It's Saturday'?

Check out this photograph of the fearsome clouds and the turbulent Arabian Sea on the Mumbai coastline.

My First Post!

Yup! My First Post. Such a huge moment. Well, not really, but's it's just fun to make a big deal out of nothing . This blogging thing is a bit exhibitionist isn't it? Just weird having random people reading about your experiences. But it's cool in a way. Will blog my way around. Over and out.