Attitude vs. Humility

The entire audience was giving a rousing round of applause...that is when I suddenly realized that it was the end of the speech. What a riveting speech it was..!! It certainly tickled my grey cells and made me think....not about what he was speaking but about the kind of personalities that exists in the world...so distinct...so contradictory...so delightful ....and yet so very effective! It was the inauguration of Entrepreneurship Cell (E-Cell) at my college and we had invited two eminent business personalities that had chucked their cosy careers to pursue their own enterprises and were very successful in their endeavour.

The first one had a royal air about him. He had a lot of attitude in him and spoke very enthusiastically. He did not mince words and was very harsh while explaining the hardships he had to face while he started his business. If at all there was a thin line between attitude and arrogance....that guy was certainly treading on it. The way he spoke gave me an impression that he has certainly used his attitude to his advantage and channelized his vigour in the right direction. I usually hate people with attitude because of all the people I have met they generally exhibit the negative implications of the word called ‘attitude’.  But this guy certainly made me change my perspective.

The next person to speak on the dais was an antithesis. He was absolutely ice cool and very composed. The first few sentences he spoke put the audience completely at ease and it was good enough to break the ice between him and the audience. The person was extremely humble and absolutely unpretentious. He managed to show us a completely different side of the hardships he had to face. He mentioned about the difficulties of starting an entrepreneurial venture which were pretty much in sync with the first speaker but he did it in such a manner that they appeared as challenges and which could be dealt with. At some points he used to contradict to the first speaker but he made sure that he puts his points across quite adeptly and at the same time showing respect to the other person’s view.

While the speech was going on I was amazed at the personality differentiations of both individuals. One very egoistic (though with a positive connotation) and the other very humble and yet both being so effective. Which one would I prefer...???

  

Sadda Haq...Aithe Rakh

Marzi se jeene ki bhi main 

Kya tum sabko main arzi doon 

Matlab ki tum sabka mujhpe 

Mujhse bhi zyada haq hai 

Sadda haq, Aithe Rakh 

Sadda Haq..Aithe Rakh

These are a few lines from the song that is currently topping the charts. The beauty of this song is a rebellious attitude with lyrics to boot - it’s a quintessential Rahman number (need to listen to it more than a few times to start loving it). 

In this current state of dichotomy that our country is going through, this song goes much beyond a mere item on a playlist. The dichotomy exists here because India is doing well in terms of economic & trade activity, meeting GDP growth targets and is touted to be the next super power. On the other hand, there are grave issues like the social disparity, illiteracy and corruption plaguing us bitterly. 

This is how the youth of this nation thinks about our present state and the song portrays our chagrin perfectly. The song also reminds us of our Haq: our rights that we have by virtue of being a taxpayer; by virtue of being part of the mandate that elects the government. By virtue of being the civil society! 

What we least expect – the first thing in the morning newspaper - is to read about millions of our money swindled away right underneath us and all we can do is feel as helpless as a poor semi-celeb judging a reality show alongside Navjot Sidhu. We toil hard, curb on our luxuries and read every article with the words ‘savings’ or ‘investments’ in it - hoping to save money. And where does this money end up? In acquiring a flat in some scheme meant for widows of ex-army men; not for us but for babus who are supposed to be the protectors of our money. What an Adarsh we set! 

Who am I to whine about all this?

What I would love to be...

“Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them and try to follow them.” 

- Louisa May Alcott quotes, American Author 

Well my story is pretty much similar to this adage....I have tried to follow my aspirations...failed....tried again....and failed again....! 

An aeronautical engineer....a cricketer....a doctor....mmmm.....and what not! I wanted to become everything and became nothing. I am still not sure where I am headed towards but I certainly miss not being any one of these. Though these ambitions were the result of the so called “Juvenile syndrome” where we always like to believe we would be one amongst the people we are fascinated with. We all fall prey to this syndrome only to be disappointed as we age. These fascinations were completely impractical....very far-fetched and often not well thought off...! 

Well that was my past for you.....!! I am still enthralled by certain professions and would love give these a shot.......

Once Upon a Time in Mumbai

“These rains won’t last long!” remarked the senile old man sitting beside me in a BEST bus on a rainy and thundery afternoon. “With all the deforestation and urbanization around, it won’t be long when the rains will desert us” he continued. I glanced outside the window and caught a glimpse of the mountain ranges that seemed to have picked up a few tricks from the Mumbai fashion gals and were sporting a size-zero look these days. I got lost in my thoughts...remembered my Class VI geography....’Mountains cause a reduction in the surface winds carrying rains and hence cause precipitation’. I could visualize the old man smirk and say “Elementary my dear Watson!”

If there are two things that catch the attention of new entrants to this city and leave them dumbfounded it’s the “Pace of the city” and “Mumbai monsoons”. What if the old man’s prophecy comes true?? Well considering the incessant rain we’ve received this season this is far from reality! However, right from the Dinosaurs to honest politicians...there are a lot of things that have become extinct in this country and city. But never thought the famous Mumbai-downpour could end up in someone’s to-be-extinct list. This triggered my mind to think of other things that Mumbai might be soon deprived of.

Here’s what I think will be things-of-the-past for good in Mumbai...

In the 'Fast' Lane

“Main karu to Saala Character Dheela hai……”

Anna-Baba Jugalbandi

It’s a song that is topping the charts not only Radio countdown shows but also in the by lanes of Haridwar where you would find a weak one-eye-winking Baba Ramdev sitting with hands on head and muttering to himself “What’s Anna got that I ain’t got ?” :P. The mid night crackdown at the Ram Lila has certainly grabbed headlines as Baba ventured to pull off an Anna-esque feat against corruption.

It is said that History repeats itself….well then so does ‘Fashion’ and ‘Revolutionary methods of retaliation’. The recent takeover of Libya by their countrymen and Anna Hazare’s attempt to revitalize the Satyagraha technique by means of ‘Fasting’ (effectively tailored to suit the modern democratic age) are a testimony to it. This technique of mauling the opposition into submission (which beats any of the WWE wrestler’s moves hands down) is a part of our blood stream. We have been using this technique to get things done our way from the times when we didn’t even know which is our way: P. We Indians ‘fast’ on every other occasions…..dedicated to one or many of the 330 million God’s we worship….Why??? Just to caution our God’s that we needs things to shape up the way we like it. Small children in our country threaten to skip meals until Dad doesn’t promise him a cycle very soon. I would go to this extent that we Indians have mastered this technique that silently kills the opposition.

The Maggi Generation

Let’s start this one with a game…Spot the difference between the two scenarios…

Scene I

Location: Khichan, a mere speck on the map of India - somewhere in Rajasthan (This place, on the atlas of birdwatchers, always assumes great significance come winter as it acts as a host to the migrating Demoiselle Cranes)

A flock of Kurja (local name for these migrating birds) were hovering above the ‘pakshi chugga ghar’ (birds feeding home) filled with grains…but no one seems to be landing. Then suddenly a one-legged crane musters courage, flights down and starts hogging on to the grains spread. None of the other birds seem interested to join him. In between a few birds try landing but the sight of the one–legged crane hogging below would be enough for them to hover back to the blue sky above. Once the ‘Langda Tyagi’ has gobbled much more than he can digest he looks up to the flock (as if giving a signal to come down for supper) and dashes off. Seeing this entire flock start to descend one-by-one on the ‘pakshi chugga’ and relish the delicacies laid for them. Soon more and more Kurja’s started landing until there was hardly any place for any more birds on the ground.

Scene II

Location: Any Suburban Railway Station, Mumbai

A crowd of middle class people were (I resist calling them gentlemen…read on, you’ll understand why) waiting eagerly for a train to come. Somewhere in the crowd there stands a Three legged (out of which two belonged to his crutches) short guy hoping to catch the same train that our not-so called gentlemen are preying upon. As the train makes its way you realize that even before it halts at least 5 have got on to the train. By the time it stops completely the door is chocker blocked with people and each trying hard to knock out each other to get one leg into the train. As the train starts at least 3 give up hope on getting into it and the others those managed to get one leg inside are either struggling to find space for the other leg or to find breathing space. Amidst all this chaos our 3 legged protagonist finds himself helplessly ogling all this in bewilderment as the coach (in which he tries to get in) zooms past him. All he can see is the signboard “For Handicapped Only” and people spilling out of that coach.

Dreamz unlimited!!!

How desperate can an entire nation get to see one man’s dream fulfilled? How often does it happen that more than a billion people have the same ‘dream’ as one man? (A concept that even beats Christopher Nolan’s novel idea of Inception;)) Welcome World Cup 2011.

A “What’s-on-your-mind” survey reveals that the top most thing that Indian public desperately want at this hour is ‘Sachin’s cabinet to be complete with the prized WC2011 silverware’. ‘Good hike in salary this year’ came a close second in this survey followed by ‘Relief form 24x7 incessant news channels’.

Too much is talked about the Cricket World Cup (nothing new about that)....right from News print coverage to surrogate ad controversies to innumerable discussion forums across the news channels. I just hope people don’t get bored by all this before the real thing starts! But one thing that differs this time from the past World Cup is that everyone is talking of winning the cup for Sachin’s sake and not for our nation…A bit unfair I would say...but who’s complaining…that man deserves it all!! Even the ‘critics of Sachin’ (If at all any such Homo sapiens have descended on earth) will pray that this last jibe at the trophy by the Master Blaster should yield the desired result.

It’s not just the so called common man that is upbeat about this whole affair, even politicians and famous personalities have joined this campaign of “Cup for Sachin”....