Category: Philosophy

Making Memories!

How many times have we come across the usage of the following, which should be enough to make it to qualify as an idiom in itself: “I hate my job...”, “I hate my life…“.
My mind was pondering over our habit of hating monotonicity. How easily one proclaims that he/she is bored of life/job/workplace. The irony in the sentence really surprises me. The fact that we are here and breathing is itself such a culmination of rare events(that could have easily broken down), that has kept us surviving here.
We worry too much about the future which renders our present a spoiler for our upcoming dreams. It’s one thing to claim that we want one kind of lifestyle and whole other thing to try to get that.
I am really thankful to the internet, which has been providing us resources for so many years now. Although, on one hand, it is providing us with great stories, which should be inspiring us to do something of our own. But the other side of the coin is, it has made us really dependent on the entertainment factor. The fact that we expect so much entertainment or facts sugar-coated with entertainment, has made us a slave of it. It has a part to play in such a behaviour of ours.
Now, coming to the main point, why do we think that our current situation is monotonous. It could be because we see no/uncertain future ahead. It leads me to believe that we are not satisfied with our present. Something haunts us that throws our present off the track.
My theory is that, your satisfaction in life(apart from the big events happening around you), is mostly dependent on how you are spending time after your office hours. If you are getting your personal time, you can find happiness too. Now, let me try to define ‘personal time’. In general sense, ‘personal time’ for introverts could be reading a book, writing something, recharging themselves by staying away from human interactions(:P); while for extroverts, it could mean having their favorite people around, doing something social, etc.
The reason why people are very vocal these days, is because there have been an over-enthusiastic show of dreamy jobs. With the ongoing wave of standup performers, entrepreneurs etc, and the media actively covering their stories of how they broke the shackles of boring jobs to become what they are. Although the stories are very inspiring, but the stories getting mainstream has created a problem with the masses. Suddenly, everyone has started hating their current jobs, citing them boring and monotonous.
The problem is more accentuated in Indians because we are dreamy people, expecting drama in our lives, because of the way we are conditioned. So, these stories make a deep mark in our minds, and thus overhauling our current situations. Now, the current situation is, you are considered cool only when you are doing a job that you absolutely love. This mentality has created frustration in the minds of people. My point is, suppose you like painting, it shouldn’t necessarily  be a source of income for you. But the starry-eyed media will condition you to make it your profession. All hobbies shouldn’t be converted into profession. Our hobbies are fun because we enjoy it and there is no pressure on us. There isn’t anyone breathing on our necks to make us complete another painting or start another project.
So, it’s okay to be in a job, which is not your forte. We will learn it, because we are humans and that’s what we do best.
I will reiterate: In my opinion, life starts after you come back to home after job. I am not saying one shouldn’t enjoy their jobs, one should definitely do that if one can, but keeping in mind that there will be continuous ups and downs there.
Forgetting office work in office, once we return, that is upto us. Learning to enjoy the moments at home, its comfort and the soothness it offers, could be the thing to start with. Travelling really opens up the world to us. Having satisfying conversations does the trick for some. And if nothing works, partying is always there to help.
Jpeg
Courtesy: My camera

On a serious note , there are plethora of activities  that we can engage ourselves in, and make sure we are using our time productively and to also ensure that we are satisfied as well. Instead of fearing for the impacts of monotonicity, we can make the present memorable. After all, it’s the memories that will matter in the end.

Welcoming Hope

Wish you all a very joyous new year. 🙂

welcominghope

 

The thunderous blast from the past, engulfing me,
Pulling me towards their shore a little more.
Hands that were held tight, going a bit loose,
And the hopes dimming, tying a noose.
The moment that shone was the sign that I craved for,
Waking up to an experience, was what my way were paved for.
Now the lights are turned on, where the bliss is
And culminating it, is my key.
I reach out to the light with all my might,
Diving to the unbeknownst realms,
Into the abyss.

Air Guitar Rocks!


The worst habit that damages us is our inability to understand that patience is the key to a lot of things including early success.

We lose so many abilities in our lives just because of our impatience.
How many times in our lives we have taken a new thing and at the start we are star-eyed about it. The new thing is fun and brings out a lot of things out of us. Say, for example, coding; at the start, at the basic level, its all fun and easy. But, as soon as the challenges start to creep up, we start to lose interest in them. Although, it may also be the result of an unprecedented start, without acquiring necessary textbook knowledge, but my point is, impatience here also plays the same role. Instead of acquiring the necessary theoretical knowledge, we jumped on the coding section, without being equipped with the necessary troubleshooting knowledge.
Had we been patient enough, things would have been different.
Another example that we commonly see, is about joining gym. We start expecting as soon as the first bulge of tightened muscle we see.

What we need to understand that things don’t work that way. One must toil a little to achieve something. Although its known by all of us and we do keep it in mind. But somewhere down the line, right between joy and the first roadblock, this particular thought becomes blurry.
To look on the positive side, these acts of impatience sometimes define and prioritize our passions. There are some things in life, we keep coming back to. They keep crossing our path, until we accept or discard it completely.
It is only when we are too passionate about something that we give it all and achieve it. In my perspective, life is all about achieving milestones, however small it maybe. And the smaller the aim, the better. Small achievements or goal completion give us that something motivation to keep us going in our monotonous lives. Don’t we love it, when we have a small but surprising bonus, or the happiness to beat out our rival in a cricket match, or for the nerds, the completion of a level that had been a pain in the arse for so long. So, basically what I want to say is that patience is a key stakeholder and companion in our ‘Harvey Dent’ or ‘Two Face’ phase.
So, the actual and only roadblock that we face is our will to submit to the circumstances to give up or to dust ourselves up and keep up the fight. Even though it may become boring, but it won’t be fruitless.
In the words of Paolo Coelho
“You can think of yourself as a victim and suffer throughout your life or you can think of yourself as an adventurer who is always ready to move on and experience the best out of life.”
Image Courtesy: Google Images

Deciding Passions!


HOW TO DECIDE WHAT TO DO IN LIFE?
Someone recently asked me this question and it got me in a tizzy. Isn’t life supposed to be easy? Why decide on life’s rhetoric questions?
But as it turns out, the world is not too kind to accept a person who doesn’t know where he will be after 5 years. The world seeks visionaries who can command and take us forward.
I believed I accepted this too. But after a lot of thinking, I now have a different take on this.
In my opinion, asking this question isn’t the way to go. Finding what you want for real, is not an obligation, rather it’s a baggage. I would rather concentrate on seeking what I like. There are hobbies and there is passion. The difference between them and the importance they hold should be known by all.
Ideally, the thing that you are most passionate about should be the way to go (and an answer to this question too). But life is more complicated than that. So, a major prerequisite is to decide priorities.
If your priority is money and fame in future, then you may need a plan to move ahead. Strategy would be required as it’s hard to satiate since there is no end to the accumulated wealth.
However, if one’s aim is happiness, then there is no need for all the hoopla. Just rely on your passion, it will get you home.
Difference between aim and hobby in this context is that aim is one or set of hobbies for which one is passionate upto that extent as Johny Bravo was passionate about his looks.
Aims in our life keep us focused sharply while our hobbies keep us stable. A synergy of both is a necessary prerequisite to a happy life. Well, not exactly life, but they keep us satisfied while still wanting for more in a sweet way.
Seek what you like rather than answering a much vaguer question, finding answer to which is typically hard to find even for the mature ones, let alone a confused teenager.
Life is really full of possibilities, if you have the strength to believe so.

Intimacy… A need or just a hoax?

It’s a common conception that all human beings crave intimacy. It’s considered as one of the few important stuffs a human needs to experience… you know before they have their eulogies written. Everyone seeks this comfort, the comfort of human touch, the tingling pleasure of cuddling, the satiated state attained by holding hands, the mutual care for each other. I, being a human, also seek the aforementioned things as much, but I did something that always spoils these intimate emotions… I thought. I brought my brain into the arena that exclusively houses the delicate yet strong emotions. And the realities I discovered were so awesome that I thought everyone should atleast give this thought process some time. When I went into the depths as to why we seek intimacy that I got some answers. And it also got me asking these questions to myself: Should intimacy really be taking so much space in our minds? Does it really deserve the obsession and time we give to it? Isn’t intimacy over-rated? Isn’t there anything else that could fill up its place? Is intimacy irreplaceable?
 
Image Credit:: Sumaiya

In a perfect world; yes!

But, in the world we live in, a big NO. We have incorporated it so deep in our world that thinking of a life without it, is like a kid without a candy.
In my opinion, intimacy is just a part of life and shouldn’t be considered as something, which is as vital as breathing. If intimacy gets the place it deserves, the most apt analogy I can think of is of a very addictive parasite waiting for you to pass through it.
I believe that intimacy, like our other cravings is just an infatuation, which is fuelled up temporarily by our surroundings and should be given time to diagnose how much intensity is there. The most important element spreading such parasites are the movies that we watch, which are meant for entertainment, but are slowly becoming trendsetters. Everyone wants to incorporate the lives of our protagonists into our lives, the same melodrama, and the same level of connection.
It’s the movies that make every person crave for the physical as well as emotional intimacy. Not every person requires this stuff. According to my philosophy, every person has some tasks to accomplish, some goals to achieve and dreams to shatter. Some get intimacy in their lives, and some don’t. But what movies do is that they overrate these stuffs so much that getting a first-hand experience seems like a necessary thing to do.
For example, if a person craves, let’s say for something other than intimacy, then he doesn’t know how much that craving means to him because no movie has been produced that portrays/exemplify that particular trait. He would never know to how much extent he wants that unless he achieves it or ends up disgracing himself in the hunt. And if it’s just a slight appetence, he may lose sight of it in the wilderness of other desires.

 

My point is that some deserve it and some don’t. If one gets it, he should cherish it with all his might. For the “unlucky” ones, they shouldn’t forcibly try to explore that dimension, while they can actually be expending their time doing something that deserves their time. Going after something that is going to give them pain and hopelessness isn’t a great choice, especially when the world out there needs you and is calling YOU!

Make an appointment with yourself!

For the past few weeks that I became a morning person, I never seemed to enjoy the freshness that the morning used to hold, until last week, when I went for a solitude walk and boy!!! it was fun. Ya! I know we need to enjoy company of others and try to stay away as much as possible from/being a social outcast, but after such a long time I have felt peace within myself. I sensed calmness and serenity within myself which got me thinking about how in whole of my graduation life, I was never alone. One of the most prominent feature of college life is that you always have company. You don’t often get the peaceful time with yourself that you deserve.
Image Credit: Sumaiya

Though time spent with company, and I mean it in the sweetest of tones, is one that we cherish all our life and one mustn’t miss those opportunities, but here we are going to talk about the prospects that being solitude brings to the table. It’s sort of like a wisdom walk of ‘How I met your mother’ fame  and as Ted Mosby would say “I want you to go outside and simply put your hands on stuff that you interact daily, observe the beautiful rustling of leaves, feel the trees’ pulse, listen to the stories the streets are telling you.” I want you to do to the same, but with less dramatics and even less creepiness.

I have even started to look forward to such quality time with myself. The time gives me the chance to reflect upon my previous actions, think hard about a problem and take them down with well-thought out measures.
You can think of this as a modern day sibling of meditation. Meditation has long been known as a method to concentrate your mind and make it more focussed. And, since finding time specifically for meditation is a big impossibility; taking a solitude walk maybe a way to go.  I know that when I started doing this more often, it brought a remarkable positive changes to my whole attitude towards the materialistic world and its devised components.
 
Biggest perks:
* No risk of running out of topics.
* You can be 100% yourself.
* No one can judge you or your opinions.
* Hassle-free thought process.

 

The interesting part of this article is that I wrote most of the drafts whilst on the walks. Mornings are actually perfect time to have these conversations with yourself.  So if you ever need to talk about your problems, dig deep into them and actually need a solution, make an appointment with yourself.

Preimage

Today I am going to talk about a disease I like to call preimage.
Making out a person just by his first impression is a habit nearly every person has…be it the person working in an MNC, be it the neighbour, be it the shy girl at school, the glass half full guy, 
We all are the victims of this malpractice, and the evil users too…
The first impression of a person (especially a bad one) is stuck so strongly to our minds that even loads of positive work is not conducive of changing that clinging preimage. They don’t realize that humans learn from their mistakes and are worthy of a second chance.
Another common disorder that people have and that’s even gross is making a preimage on the basis of looks of a person.
When God, in his infinite wisdom created us, he wouldn’t have thought that the outer package that he is giving us, would heed so much of importance in the society…the better the outer package, the better the preimage.

A person who may have been your biggest foe may turn out to be gregarious at a later time of your life.
Your best friend is the one that you spent most of your time with and not the one that had the best outer package.

Considering and being aware of what all stupidity, humans are capable of; this one marks out as the most stupid and illogical.

Being on the receiving end sure sucks, and I can tell you by experience, that being on the other end (let’s call him Mr. X) doesn’t bring you any awesomeness either.
The biggest damage is done when you have a day-to-day interaction with the other person. Instead of keeping aside the feelings, X colludes his clandestine emotions with workplace ethics. The first impression image affects his judgement, polluting the thought process, and ultimately leading to inevitable fallout between the two, affecting both individuals. Why restrict this discussion to individuals? Infact forming preimage to a group, company, politicians etc, is a common practice that we all see around quite often. Although the image against present-day politicians is a vicarious feeling backed up by clichés, but it’s still similar to the point that I am focussing in one way or the other.
The solution…ha…well avoiding such an experiment and practising discretion is the first advice and secondly, remember the saying:
                                
                                     “Judging a person doesn’t define who they are;
                                                   It defines who you are” 

Think it over!

Read a quote today:
“I think
.
.
.
.
Therefore I am single”
And I was forced to think of the prejudiced thought about thinking. It’s not a covert fact that thinking does takes out a lot of fun of any activity. Instead of thinking it over and over again, if one does give a try to the challenge, it not only shows the brave attitude but gives the person a lifelong experience even if he fails to accomplish the challenge. My philosophy says a challenging life is much better than a risk-free monotonous life. The precious learning that one gets after trying to go for it, instead of holding back the ground is worthless. I have got a perfect example to accentuate my point: There was a friend of mine who liked a girl from his school. He used to see her everyday, but couldn’t muster up enough courage to talk to her or ask her out. It wasn’t as if he couldn’t talk to girls, but his clock stopped working when the girl, say X, was around. Now, the school ended, but there he was, still unable to convey the emotions to her. He still regrets his indecisive state at that time. Had he told X about how he felt about her, what could be the gravest thing that could have happened? She would have said “no” citing some random reasons. But atleast he wouldn’t have the repentness of not knowing what she would have said.
          Thinking is okay till one considers all of the possibilities and consequences of taking a step, but when it goes one-step ahead to a stage where procrastination peeks from behind the door, it’s time to follow the steps below. It’s not like I will tell you to make a pro and con list, but it sure looks like a textbook solution for most of the doubts, isn’t it? I am just kidding; here are some of the points to keep in mind when you are in such turmoil.
1.       Just do it: The best way; forget about the consequences and just step out. Future prospects are the things that stop you from taking a decision, so take it out of the thinking equation.
2.       Think the right way: Really think hard if you really want it and if it actually helps you in achieving your goals. If the answer is yes, then you know what you have to do.
3.       Ask your intuition: These kinds of confusions are really solved by following one’s intuition. There is a saying ‘Follow your intuition and everything will fall into place’. This is as true as gravitation theory. If you are indecisive about something, trying out your intuition isn’t the worst of options.
4.       Discuss with one: Taking advices is not really a thing that most experts would advice. But from my experience, there is a person in every one’s life with whom we feel comfortable such that sharing anything is as easy as slicing butter. Find that person that is most adept about the theme of your doubt and who is understands you enough to provide you with a better perspective. The person can be your lover, closest friend, college mate, hostel mate, parents, sibling or a school mate. And it’s better to take advice from a few individuals only. 

Imagination gone puff!

Read it somewhere on the internet, but it really paints the picture merely from words.
                “9 year old today have Facebook, Twitter, phones, and iPods.
                When I was their age, I had colouring books, crayons, chalk and imagination.”
Well, at first, it may sound absurd, but the truth is that’s what has happened with the human evolution after the introduction of TV’s, Computer and other digital devices capable of showing us what only our naked eye could have shown, a century ago. This may seem rhetoric, but you will realize that just how apt it is when you think about it seriously.
                There were methods to stay creative, knowingly or unknowingly, the brain in way of processing our daily activities found necessary ingredients that helped it stay fit and healthy. But the unhealthy timetable of a person nowadays is either so hectic or so ‘lazy-like’ that it is affecting the brain in a bad way.
We, as kids, used to go to the terraces when the electricity wasn’t there and certainly not worried about when will the electricity be back again…we would do all kinds of stuff, enjoy the calmness beneath the sky, the refreshing breezy air, succumbing to the Mother Nature and yet appreciating the beauty of it. There would be an open exchange of ideas, the thoughts pouring in on the open minds: that’s all you need to get an out of box idea, isn’t it? But, nowadays, the common trend is being engrossed in TVs, video games, playstations, PSPs, Facebook etc. With no time for building their thought process, the probability that they might contribute something fruitful to the society looks a bit diminishing. Why only kids or students, parents too aren’t impregnable by these activities. Nowadays, an average office-going person spends more than a third of his day at his office cubicle and when he returns home, is again entrapped in a bigger cubicle, only this time he has a television in front of him. Some even take their professional work to home.
I am not asking to put a ban on the television etc., it’s true that it’s a way creative people show their skills to the world via the daily soaps, reality gigs, game shows, movies etc but inadvertently they are putting the imaginative bird of the viewers to sleep. Yes, that is arguably true, because your brain can work as much you want it to be, but give it a hint of distraction and it switches itself off. These are acting like distraction and putting our mind away from the real thing for which the brain is made up for. Our brain is not compatible with such long viewing hours of televisions or anything of that sort.
 Now hours of thinking have been replaced with hours of TV sitting, talking face to face with friends has been replaced with communication via social networking. It’s not healthy; neither for any individual’s health nor for the society.  The solution to this remains an enigma.* But can be circumcised by a little awareness from the parents. Being aware of this problem is also a big success while working towards the solution. Giving a limited time to the digital Medias may help too. Earn some time for yourself, and think about who are you, how have you been living? Daydream about what you want. Daydream is actually our brain’s way of getting us to creatively focus on what it is we really want. These solutions may not be easy to follow, but will surely bring your life back to track.

Last night fighters

Let me make the definition clear to you, in case you get the wrong impression: Last night fighter is the name given to the students (generally engineering ones), that do not study the whole semester, and when the water level is well above their necks, they panic in to start from the start.
Unlike the name suggests, these are not real fighters, but I certainly won’t rank them below, they don’t have such deadly weapons, but pen and other stationeries. But hey! A pen is mightier than sword.
These are mostly and usually last benchers, who make a huge mockery of the teachers, by studying the whole syllabus in just 2 or 3 days before exams, when the latter takes a whole semester for doing that.
As once said by our ex- president Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam,
                                             ‘’ If you want to top in the exams, ask the front seators
                                             But if you want to succeed in life, ask the last benchers.’’
They prove their mettle as studies show that people that are respected were mostly these folks. The idea behind this is not you are right now concluding but I want to incentivize you to not go by the bookish knowledge, but forming your own thoughts, which personally I think is needed and appreciated worldwide…….this comes from my personal experience which I duly learned at right time.
              Now focussing back on topic, these students are real champs, and the fact that they score, if not more, not much less than their so called bright counterparts, make them special. They generally attend classes, get the basic idea and that’s it…they are done…..revising it one more time, will get that in their brains.
              Last night fighting is not always natural, but it an also be developed, but after its development, it is superfluous, and has surplus advantages. The best ones are the ones, that man-oeuvre the task on the last night, fighting for survival, and looking for ways (like important questions, ways of cheating etc.) to get the best marks. Well, engineering life is all about that. If you can’t, not a problem; but if are equipped, time to feel proud.
              I bow down to these masterpieces, to their precious skill, to the spirit, to the limitless stamina (Here stamina is defined a little bit differently from the general definition), to the prowess ability to form & execute their plans in a day.
Much is said about them, about the damage they are conceding, but they are adamant, showing that if the teaching system isn’t going to improve, they aren’t going to be either.

Fighters