Whose opinion is it anyway????

My favourite past time – observing people, often leads me to some thought provoking observations. Every individual is different and possesses a different mixture of personality traits that make him/her unique. The most commonly sought after personality traits are charisma, good sense of humour, dependability, humility, intelligence and so on. In pursuit of these, the most striking trait – that of forming rational views, opinions and judgements of one’s own, is frequently lost. I do not know how much of our learning through formal education imparts knowledge or if I may add wisdom in us. However I firmly believe that a nation’s true progress can only be assessed by the thoughtful opinions its masses produce.  

It is widely accepted that the news reporting agencies in any country are responsible for setting views of people in the right direction. Freedom of press has been traditionally glorified because it is the sacrosanct liberalist views of the press that help us wade through muddy waters. However, the actual contribution of the press now-a-days towards their true cause is highly debatable. The focus is more on sensationalizing news and concocting views to influence and manipulate opinions. The consequences of such reporting - people cheating with others opinions as their own, using explanations that have been drilled into their cranium by dull and limited thinking.  

It would be unfair to rest blame only on one agency for such a subject of significant importance. An equal fault lies in our in-built attitude of pursuing conventional wisdom and learning in precise terms that limits of our understanding of the world. Next time you watch a famous correspondent giving opinions on worldly issues, just pause and think “Whose opinion is this anyway???” You may discover your own hidden rich opinions.

Mind your own English

I hear voices. Voices in English to be precise – that’s cheesy.. am pissed off.. screwed up totally.. catching up old blokes.. Oh my ghosh.. its rocking yaa.. awesome mahnn..blah blah blah WOAAAHH. I turn left or I turn right each day I hear people conversing in English. Undoubtedly, English is fast emerging as the lingua franca and over the years Indians have surely developed a strong liking or if I may say love for this global language. English has always conferred many advantages to the influential people who can speak it right from the time India secured independence. Well this is certainly not about bestowing English its impending glory but its unrivalled importance to Indians and the associated tasteless pride on their own spoken English. 

Each one feels that the way they pronounce words is the ideal and correct one and leave no stone unturned to prove it. They are so obsessed with the correct pronunciations and intonations that they completely jettison the situation and surrounding and jump at the opportunity to correct the other person. “Oh its not Photographer its (fo-tow-grapher)- with the British/American accent”. Absurd reasoning, justification and unapologetic ostentation go to the extent of their affluent schooling backgrounds – Convent, Military, CBSE board, State board and hence their enunciations are the right ones. Immature as it may sound this is absolutely true.

The fact of the matter is that in India how well one approximates British English often determines how well educated he/she is. From times when it was considered a matter of immense superiority if a person in the family could manage to write and speak English to times when a family was equated to being extraordinarily well educated if they conversed with each other in English to now where parents take pride that their wards don’t speak their mother tongue but only English, the transition has been painfully remarkable. I dread to predict what the future could be.

Not many of us know that what we speak in India is very less of British English and we have developed it in our own way influenced by our linguistic, regional and socio-cultural contexts. They are all mutually distinct varieties and I just hope that this uniqueness is valued and appreciated.

India and its God men

I was five when I first saw an addition to the existing number of framed god pictures in our home mandir. The 3 saffron garbed men with a stick in their hand and a gentle smile on their lips did not seem God to me. True to my ever questioning demeanour I asked my father “Who are they?” My father replied “They are our gurus” Not very happy with the answer I asked “Are they God?” A prompt NO came from my mother. “They are our gurus who lead an austere life and are considered most close to god” That was my earliest memory of holy men being considered equivalent to god and as I grew up I have only witnessed more and more of them in India.

As I grew up I read and saw the rise of many such sanyasis, spiritual gurus and self proclaimed gods. What amazed me was the huge(read huuuuuuuge) number of followers these god men had. The throng included not only Indians but Italians, Germans, Iraqis, Israelis and people from all over the globe.  Each one standing in endless queues to get a darshan of their god in the hope that their desires and wishes be accorded tatkal status in the cosmic scheme of things. Temples hanging their photos alongside deities, huge donations from the who’s who, educational institutions and hospitals opened on their names; these god men surely are amongst the most influential in India.

The recent demise of a self-proclaimed god and spiritual guru - his unique identity being the unmistakable halo of his jet black hair, got the nation mourning. From ministers to celebrities to the corporate biggies apart from the common man rushed to get a last glimpse of their god, to pay their last respects, to witness his Samadhi in the hope that it would wash away their sins.

Although the recent years saw many scandals and scams surrounding many god men India still largely is a country where even the most educated people willingly cloud their rationality when the subject is GOD!!!!!!

Words on Racism

We boast about this Generation

Of wit and Intelligence

Of success and patience

Sadly it could not reduce the decree

Or resolve the age old mystery

Of White and Black

 

White is a colour

Just like Black is another

What makes the whites superior

That gives them this right to injure

And discriminate

Is it the absent culture or the fair skin?

They need to be reminded even we are akin

 

Whites follow Christ’s teachings

And the Blacks swear by Christ’s preaching’s

For the Lord once said

All his children are one

Rich or poor

Menial or a Titan

Only good deeds and pure soul

Make us human

Colour and discrimination

Leave us with hearts broken.

Juliet on Romeo

A thousand nervous smiles

A hundred staring faces

I wandered aimlessly in the courtroom

Lonely and solitary

Like a sailor amidst a stormy sea

I bumped into someone

And fell on my knees

A hand held me

And helped me get back on feet

He flashed a smile and vanished in a whim

I froze at that moment

I knew it was him

His velvet voice

And hypnotic eyes

His soft sculpted face

And magnetic charm

His exuberant smile

And emperor like gait

Struck the chords of my heart

I inadvertently wished

He should never go apart

As moonlight spread its radiance

I pondered what did he do?

I realized in no time

He successfully tamed the shrew

                                          - Juliet

Romeo on Juliet

This is my interpretation of how Romeo would have felt when his eyes first saw Juliet. Have also tried to write Juliet's version when she first saw Romeo. So all Romeo Juliet fans enzoooyeeeeeeeee!!!!

She walked in as a soft scented breeze

Her warmth was such

That would put one at ease

Kohl laced eyes

Eyes like a pirate looking for his treasure

She smiled at me and bit her lip

My heart pounced

And I felt it flipped

Curly long tresses

The grace and the finesse

Made my heart confess

Bring the shackles

For I am her prisoner

For Life and ever after

                                             - Romeo

Dichotomy of learning

Just as we are getting back to the regular grind of lectures with assignments and projects piling up I happened to realize that when asked questions on the subjects that we were pushed to study last semester; uproar of answers come for questions asked on Economics and Operations Management. This observation further prompted me to contemplate in depth the reasons for such revelation.

I personally believe that an author’s greatest quality, and one which illuminates all his writings is the ability to talk to the reader and not at him. And Mankiw successfully links various economic concepts seamlessly ensuring continuity and grasping the reader’s attention with eloquent ease. Never thought demand, supply, equilibrium and competition would be so mind stimulating.

While one author did the trick in economics it is the absolute reverse in case of Operations. No one book was thought suffice to understand concepts and in the end we all ended up UNDERSTANDING the concepts from the power point presentations. Also brownie points for the manner in which we were provoked to think on our own and relate and interlink concepts; a relief from the usual mugging style of learning. Also the exam paper  put all students at par strictly testing the application of knowledge and not the “whoever mugged and reproduced scores best” archaic form of answering papers.  

And as I come to terms with the dichotomy of learning methods in MBA I wish in the end we all are blessed with more, correct and sufficient knowledge.

Wandering thoughts

Some wandering thoughts during Research Methodology lecture....

At the moment all hope is weak and small

Who could have said the angel is sad

Life feels lonesome

Heart feels empty

Umpteen thoughts cross the mind

Seeking meaning for the soul inside

What does this heart seek?

Is it true love that is hard to find

Or solitude that is harder to define

At the moment all hope is weak and small

A new beginning

Wake up!!! Wake up to see

The sun ascend from the mountains

And feel its warmth on skin

The fragrances in the air

Contouring the world with a new beginning

It’s just like yesterday yet it seems so new

Gaze the flowers and their smile

So infectious

So pure

Daisies, irises, tulips, jasmine

Dancing to the tune of morning robin

They are just like yesterday but still seem new

The birds that fly in unison

Clouds silhouetting against the setting sun

The calm sea and the wind’s whoosh

Like the unpredictable rhythm of life’s stir and push

They are just like yesterday but still seem new

So wake up to this new morning

Make a new beginning                                 

FINALLY here

After umpteen warnings and “when the hell are you gonna start it?”,  “what are you waiting for?” looks finally the day has come that I start my own blog. And what a better occasion than to start it on New Year. I am quite gung ho about this right now but I am unsure as to how much justice I will be able to do to this blog. And NO am not going to make any New Year resolution like “I’ll blog daily” because it would be a case of severe idiocy considering the lazy being that I have become lately.

Moving on its good to be back to writing which happened to be a fixation once –Writing Diaries, hiding it from everyone, wish list to Santa, complaining why does jerry have to win all the time?? Ghosh those were indeed the best days.

Ending on a note that I hope to write regularly now that I have begun... Amen!!!!