I have heard a lot of buzz about extraordinary feats, extraordinary people. I have also known a couple of people who are working hard to attain the feat of extraordinaire. But yesterday I saw the struggle for being ordinary. I was waiting in this park for my friend. Listening to music and hardly caring for the hullabaloo around. After all it was election time in Kolkata. Lots of thing happening around...the discussions...but there I was sitting and just listening to music seeing the sky and the trees and of course waiting for her. I had a good half an hour of time and nothing to do but lazy around. I saw children playing with their parents around encouraging them. I saw old people walking and doing yoga.
But what could not elude my eyes was the struggle of a boy to keep pace with his friends. At first glance I didn’t notice anything ‘cuz I was too busy enjoying myself and a pleasant weather around. But suddenly I saw the whole bunch of children rallying around encouraging the guy who was struggling to match one of his own species in terms of pace. This is when I put down my headphone and looked with great curiosity as to what was going about there. That is when I saw the boy in crutches. I was taken aback. Such little tender soul yet so huge tragedy pierced through his soul. Such a gentle face yet so huge pain written all over it. I just walked up straight to the place where these children were playing and started pondering on the state of the child. At first I took pity on state of impairment for such beautiful soul. But the very second though that crossed my mind was why should I have such pitiful feeling for him. Here he is enjoying his life with his friends. Although he is not able to keep pace with them, yet he is trying hard. Although he is not able to keep pace with them, yet they are waiting for him to make up. His parents were not far away from him encouraging him for the slightest of effort put forward to resurrect his already fledgling footsteps. They were all smiles yet I know deep down in their heart they were very much worried with what future held in store for their kid. For that kid.
Although I was preparing myself to leave that place I did take a long glance at the kid. I knew he would be ready to face the world once he was required to. The same bunch of encouraging children around him will be replaced by a bunch of success hungry maggots that would never ever care for him. But I was sure he would overcome their devilish imprudence with élan. He might be surrounded with people who might despise him and never ever care for his feelings in future but always he will find much tender hearted soul who would help him, if he requires. The innocence written all over his face might be lost to time trying to position himself for future endeavours. But this innocent face will always be etched in my memory for I, till date, have never seen such pristine smile at the face of cruel fate. For I, till date, have never seen such struggle to be ordinary.
Monday 31 May 2010
Saturday 29 May 2010
Vitality of Life....
I had this friend of mine sending me a message. It read, “Far away in the deep jungles of Africa, every morning wakes a lion who knows it has to outrun the slowest gazelle to survive the day. Every morning in Africa, wakes a gazelle who knows it has to outrun the fastest lion to live through to see another morning.” How ironic for the species. But hey, they are just animals but for humans like us this has a far deeper and greater message. Fight and survive. Be timid and perish.
Now comes the ironical part. The very same day incidentally another great friend of mine sent me an article requesting the intended audience to live life at a pace that one is able to enjoy it. Her article was basically the one which taking an example of Swedish people tried to pass a message requesting for qualitative life rather than quantitative and materialistic one. For reference I have attached the article on the blog.
Now I was really in a fix. I was taken aback by the diversity of thinking among my friends. No two people think common is a known verse to me but such antagonistic thinking served on my platter was really difficult to gulp down. Going by my nature I always ponder for a while on such thought provoking mails and messages. And given the fact that I was sick and off office gave me an immense (read unwelcome) opportunity to ponder on such literary piece. I know i might sound quite vella out here but chalta hai yaar...once in a while you should always sit down in a corner, have a cup of coffee and ponder for a while. It just acts like a breath of fresh air in our so called corporate driven lifestyle.
My thoughts here might be totally contradictory to each other. Even I always have wanted myself to be part of qualitative and healthy living, although the thought process might be completely Utopian. The one most publicized by the Art of Living and ISKCON people or so many gurus and their shishyas. The one which provides a holistic view of life rather than presenting life in rather harsh perspective. I always wanted a life where there would have been a peaceful co-existences and healthy competitions amongst peers. Evenings full of beautiful views of sunsets and mornings full of energetic sunrises. A lifestyle where ideas could actually flow from one mind to another without any fears or apprehensions. A life where everything worth appreciating is given it’s due. And trust me when I talk about this kind of life I really don’t mean living the life of a sage marked by renunciation of all earthly materialism. Don’t confuse my words with that kind of living. By God’s grace I am still an atheist still loving all material comforts around and with greed to make my life plusher.
But having said this all I have also not forgotten my yesteryear's. How competitive and mind you ruthless competitive I have been all these years. My fight all started at a tender age of 3 when my struggle to in-script my existence in this place started with an interview for getting admission in a reputed city school. I still don’t remember the day vividly but what I remember the most is the tension written all over my parents face. My actual struggle started when I started seeing dreams sharing common aspirations with that of my parents. After all every parent want their children to be successful in whatever they do. Or rather whatever they are expected to do. The machine which I was built into was built to achieve. I wasn’t built to fall. I never knew what it meant to lose. My first loss was in the form of losing scholarship in middle school and tell you that made me more determined to achieve whatever I wanted. It gave me the nascent feeling of jealousness. Rather than commending my friends for achieving their feats I started conspiring for achieving mine. This created a platform for launching the dark side of my nature. Losing out on that scholarship was not just a stray incident of failure in my life. My existence till now has been marked by a lot of personal and professional failures. But each and every one of them inspired me to try harder. To overcome the losses I had to gain something somewhere. Nature after all believes in balancing act. I always thought this as the balance people talk about in life. Balance your failures with success. Here too, many people will plead indifference to my thinking. After all for many out here, life is never measured in the balance of successes or failures. But from where I come, I have never known any other way to measure one’s life. You are either 1 or 0. Going by the current situation around us, I guess every human is judged on the same parameter of success or failure, be it of anything.
Let me not sound very pessimist here. Even when Pandora’s Box was opened of all the things that escaped, the only thing left in the chest was HOPE. Let’s not forget that everything, however grey it may seem, does has a silver lining. I definitely feel sometimes that, one day, we all will realize what we are running after is and what are the retributions and losses in achieving it. We all will understand that achieving success is not always the best deal available. Sometimes even losing may provide so much exuberance that it may drown out the sorrow of losing out. Who knows? I definitely look forward for the day, that day, when going slow would be appreciated. Efforts rather than results would be given importance. When there will be genuine feeling within our hearts rather than malice. When rather than thinking about tensions of life, I would be enjoying it with a cup of coffee in my hand. I surely look forward for that day when I will be what I want to be, not what others want me to be.
Now comes the ironical part. The very same day incidentally another great friend of mine sent me an article requesting the intended audience to live life at a pace that one is able to enjoy it. Her article was basically the one which taking an example of Swedish people tried to pass a message requesting for qualitative life rather than quantitative and materialistic one. For reference I have attached the article on the blog.
Now I was really in a fix. I was taken aback by the diversity of thinking among my friends. No two people think common is a known verse to me but such antagonistic thinking served on my platter was really difficult to gulp down. Going by my nature I always ponder for a while on such thought provoking mails and messages. And given the fact that I was sick and off office gave me an immense (read unwelcome) opportunity to ponder on such literary piece. I know i might sound quite vella out here but chalta hai yaar...once in a while you should always sit down in a corner, have a cup of coffee and ponder for a while. It just acts like a breath of fresh air in our so called corporate driven lifestyle.
My thoughts here might be totally contradictory to each other. Even I always have wanted myself to be part of qualitative and healthy living, although the thought process might be completely Utopian. The one most publicized by the Art of Living and ISKCON people or so many gurus and their shishyas. The one which provides a holistic view of life rather than presenting life in rather harsh perspective. I always wanted a life where there would have been a peaceful co-existences and healthy competitions amongst peers. Evenings full of beautiful views of sunsets and mornings full of energetic sunrises. A lifestyle where ideas could actually flow from one mind to another without any fears or apprehensions. A life where everything worth appreciating is given it’s due. And trust me when I talk about this kind of life I really don’t mean living the life of a sage marked by renunciation of all earthly materialism. Don’t confuse my words with that kind of living. By God’s grace I am still an atheist still loving all material comforts around and with greed to make my life plusher.
But having said this all I have also not forgotten my yesteryear's. How competitive and mind you ruthless competitive I have been all these years. My fight all started at a tender age of 3 when my struggle to in-script my existence in this place started with an interview for getting admission in a reputed city school. I still don’t remember the day vividly but what I remember the most is the tension written all over my parents face. My actual struggle started when I started seeing dreams sharing common aspirations with that of my parents. After all every parent want their children to be successful in whatever they do. Or rather whatever they are expected to do. The machine which I was built into was built to achieve. I wasn’t built to fall. I never knew what it meant to lose. My first loss was in the form of losing scholarship in middle school and tell you that made me more determined to achieve whatever I wanted. It gave me the nascent feeling of jealousness. Rather than commending my friends for achieving their feats I started conspiring for achieving mine. This created a platform for launching the dark side of my nature. Losing out on that scholarship was not just a stray incident of failure in my life. My existence till now has been marked by a lot of personal and professional failures. But each and every one of them inspired me to try harder. To overcome the losses I had to gain something somewhere. Nature after all believes in balancing act. I always thought this as the balance people talk about in life. Balance your failures with success. Here too, many people will plead indifference to my thinking. After all for many out here, life is never measured in the balance of successes or failures. But from where I come, I have never known any other way to measure one’s life. You are either 1 or 0. Going by the current situation around us, I guess every human is judged on the same parameter of success or failure, be it of anything.
Let me not sound very pessimist here. Even when Pandora’s Box was opened of all the things that escaped, the only thing left in the chest was HOPE. Let’s not forget that everything, however grey it may seem, does has a silver lining. I definitely feel sometimes that, one day, we all will realize what we are running after is and what are the retributions and losses in achieving it. We all will understand that achieving success is not always the best deal available. Sometimes even losing may provide so much exuberance that it may drown out the sorrow of losing out. Who knows? I definitely look forward for the day, that day, when going slow would be appreciated. Efforts rather than results would be given importance. When there will be genuine feeling within our hearts rather than malice. When rather than thinking about tensions of life, I would be enjoying it with a cup of coffee in my hand. I surely look forward for that day when I will be what I want to be, not what others want me to be.
Slow Culture:- I liked this article origin of which is not known to me.It came as a fwded mail to me...
It's been 18 years since I joined Volvo, a Swedish company. Working for them has proven to be an interesting experience.
Any project here takes 2 years to be finalized, even if the idea is simple and brilliant. It's a rule.
Globalize processes have caused in us (all over the world) a general sense of searching for immediate results.
Therefore, we have come to possess a need to see immediate results. This contrasts greatly with the slow movements of the Swedish. They, on the other hand, debate, debate, debate, hold x quantity of meetings and work with a slowdown scheme. At the end, this always yields better results.
Said in another words:
1. Sweden is about the size of San Pablo, a state in Brazil
2. Sweden has 2 million inhabitants.
3. Stockholm has 500,000 people.
4. Volvo, Escania, Ericsson, Electrolux, Nokia are some of its renowned companies. Volvo supplies the NASA.
The first time I was in Sweden, one of my colleagues picked me up at the hotel every morning. It was September, bit cold and snowy. We would arrive early at the company and he would park far away from the entrance (2000 employees drive their car to work). The first day, I didn't say anything, either the second or third. One morning I asked, 'Do you have a fixed parking space? I've noticed we park far from the entrance even when there are no other cars in the lot.' To which he replied, 'Since we're here early we’ll have time to walk, and whoever gets in late will be late and need a place closer to the door. Don't you think?...... ......... ........Imagine my face.
Nowadays, there's a movement in Europe name Slow Food. This movement establishes that people should eat and drink slowly, with enough time to taste their food, spend time with the family, friends, without rushing. Slow Food is against its counterpart: the spirit of Fast Food and what it stands for as a lifestyle. Slow Food is the basis for a bigger movement called Slow Europe, as mentioned by Business Week.
Basically, the movement questions the sense of 'hurry' and 'craziness' generated by globalization, fueled by the desire of 'having in quantity'(life status) versus 'having with quality', 'life quality' or the 'quality of being'. French people, even though they work 35 hours per week, are more productive than Americans or British. Germans have established 28.8 hour workweeks and have seen their productivity been driven up by 20%...This slow attitude has brought forth the USA attention, pupils of the fast and the 'do it now!'
This no-rush attitude doesn't represent doing less or having a lower productivity. It means working and doing things with greater quality, productivity, perfection, with attention to detail and less stress. It means reestablishing family values, friends, free and leisure time. Taking the 'now', present and concrete, versus the 'global', undefined and anonymous. It means taking humans' essential values, the simplicity of living.
It stands for a less coercive work environment, more happy, lighter and more productive where humans enjoy doing what they know best how to do. It's time to stop and think on how companies need to develop serious quality with no-rush that will increase productivity and the quality of products and services, without losing the essence of spirit. In the movie, Scent of a Woman, there's a scene where the blind Al Pacino asks a girl to dance and she replies, I can't, my boyfriend will be here any minute now'. To which Al responds, 'A life is lived in an instant'. Then they dance to a tango.
Many of us live our lives running behind time, but we only reach it when we die of a heart attack or in a car accident rushing to be on time. Others are so anxious of living the future that they forget to live the present, which is the only time that truly exists. We all have equal time throughout the world. No one has more or less. The difference lies in how each one of us does with our time. We need to live each moment. As John Lennon said, 'Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans'
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