The third season of Big Boss is here on us now and apparently it has 13 'celebrities'. At some point in the past, celebrities included the likes of movie stars and cricketers. Now that term has been expanded to include the likes of Dara Singh's son and Rakhi Sawant's mother!
To add insult to injury, they say our smses chose them :) How many of us knew that Dara Singh had a son that looked like the one who is in the house now? And WHO is that gayish character?
Utter non-sense. Why not say that we are including 13 people in the house? Facade and farce.
October 5, 2009
Thinking
Who decides a man's worth? Himself? Family? Friends? The world around?
What decided a man's worth? Looks? Knowledge? Money? Contacts? Ambitions? Achievements?
What decided a man's worth? Looks? Knowledge? Money? Contacts? Ambitions? Achievements?
October 2, 2009
Desires are desires
Continuing from the question on desires I had put up on a recent post and the comments I received on that, I am motivated to add more on that point.
I feel a desire is a desire. There are no good desires and bad desires. Material desires and not-so-material desires. Desires, in a spiritual sense, keeps you away from God since your mind is pre-occupied with trying to fulfill those desires. Good or bad, the nature of desires, must not matter. In fact, the very concept of good or bad is man-made. God does not judge our actions. God does not tag our deeds and put them into separate good and bad buckets. He just watches them and smiles, perhaps. I strongly feel that the closest we can get to purity is by being non-judgemental. Judging things around us and classifying them as good and bad is humane. As much as it is difficult to avoid judging things, we must strive to get there I believe.
So, taking the same point ahead, desires cannot be tagged good or bad. They just are means of keeping our thoughts on worldly things. Ideally, if a spiritual leader is truly spiritual, I would think he would not have any wishes or desires. He simply observes and spreads rays of happiness to those around him. Happiness, not in a material way. Happiness, not by making poor less poorer. Happiness, not by giving out alms and charity. Happiness, by making people FEEL happy, joyful and calm. That is the essence of a true spiritual leader. Mind you, such leader could be your parent, your best friend, a cousin or a neighbour as well.
For me, a desire of not having desires is also a desire. For me, I would love to be just see things as they are. I would love to have a third party approach to everything happening around me. I would want to believe that I do not necessarily influence things. They just are as they must be. I would want to simply be calm no matter what happens around me. For others looking at me, that would imply laziness and lack of initiative. For me, I would choose to smile, perhaps!
I have just put down my thoughts on this point. This does not obviously imply that I do not have desires or I have already adopted a third-party approach to life. What I meant is to try and reach there somehow, someday.
I feel a desire is a desire. There are no good desires and bad desires. Material desires and not-so-material desires. Desires, in a spiritual sense, keeps you away from God since your mind is pre-occupied with trying to fulfill those desires. Good or bad, the nature of desires, must not matter. In fact, the very concept of good or bad is man-made. God does not judge our actions. God does not tag our deeds and put them into separate good and bad buckets. He just watches them and smiles, perhaps. I strongly feel that the closest we can get to purity is by being non-judgemental. Judging things around us and classifying them as good and bad is humane. As much as it is difficult to avoid judging things, we must strive to get there I believe.
So, taking the same point ahead, desires cannot be tagged good or bad. They just are means of keeping our thoughts on worldly things. Ideally, if a spiritual leader is truly spiritual, I would think he would not have any wishes or desires. He simply observes and spreads rays of happiness to those around him. Happiness, not in a material way. Happiness, not by making poor less poorer. Happiness, not by giving out alms and charity. Happiness, by making people FEEL happy, joyful and calm. That is the essence of a true spiritual leader. Mind you, such leader could be your parent, your best friend, a cousin or a neighbour as well.
For me, a desire of not having desires is also a desire. For me, I would love to be just see things as they are. I would love to have a third party approach to everything happening around me. I would want to believe that I do not necessarily influence things. They just are as they must be. I would want to simply be calm no matter what happens around me. For others looking at me, that would imply laziness and lack of initiative. For me, I would choose to smile, perhaps!
I have just put down my thoughts on this point. This does not obviously imply that I do not have desires or I have already adopted a third-party approach to life. What I meant is to try and reach there somehow, someday.
Another Oct. 2
One more holiday, this time more 'useful' as it comes a part of a longish weekend.
Thinking of Gandhiji always makes me wonder as to how on earth could one man be so influencing, so much followed and so much trusted like he was! Sure, we have seen the cult of SRK or Big B or Tendulkar or Beckham, yet these are people who entertain the world in one way or the other. MKG was just a man like any of us, wasn't he? When you are so popular, there are bound to be controversies surrounding your life. That's completely fine I guess if one is able to be the change agent in such a big way.
I will not claim to be the biggest fan of Gandhiji. Neither have I studied a lot about his life. But he surely inspires me in ways more than one.
Again picking from some Bollywood lyrics, I like these lines from a song in Lage Raho Munnabhai. The song's sung by the very talented Sonu Nigam. It goes like this:
Maati pukare tujhe desh pukare
Aa jaa re ab aa ja re
Bhoole hum raahein, humein raah dikha de
Aa jaa re ab raah dikha de
Ainak pehne, lathi pakde chalte the woh shaan se
Zaalim kaape thar thar, thar thar, sun kar unka naam re.
Kad tha unka chota sa aur sarpat unki chal re
Duble se patle se the woh, chalte seena taan ke
Bande mein tha dum, Vande Mataram
Bhai bhai ka dushman hain bana re
Nafrat ki aandhi behti re
Wehshi dilo ko bapu pyar seekha de
Aaja re bapu aa jaa re.
O jhooth ka badhta jaaye o raaj o bapu
Apne hi ho gaye dhokebaaz
Aaj hamein apno se bacha le
Aa jaa re bapu mere
Pai pai mein insaan bika re
Jaan yeh ho gayi sasti re
Soya zameer bapu phir se jaaga de
Aaja re bapu mere
Thinking of Gandhiji always makes me wonder as to how on earth could one man be so influencing, so much followed and so much trusted like he was! Sure, we have seen the cult of SRK or Big B or Tendulkar or Beckham, yet these are people who entertain the world in one way or the other. MKG was just a man like any of us, wasn't he? When you are so popular, there are bound to be controversies surrounding your life. That's completely fine I guess if one is able to be the change agent in such a big way.
I will not claim to be the biggest fan of Gandhiji. Neither have I studied a lot about his life. But he surely inspires me in ways more than one.
Again picking from some Bollywood lyrics, I like these lines from a song in Lage Raho Munnabhai. The song's sung by the very talented Sonu Nigam. It goes like this:
Maati pukare tujhe desh pukare
Aa jaa re ab aa ja re
Bhoole hum raahein, humein raah dikha de
Aa jaa re ab raah dikha de
Ainak pehne, lathi pakde chalte the woh shaan se
Zaalim kaape thar thar, thar thar, sun kar unka naam re.
Kad tha unka chota sa aur sarpat unki chal re
Duble se patle se the woh, chalte seena taan ke
Bande mein tha dum, Vande Mataram
Bhai bhai ka dushman hain bana re
Nafrat ki aandhi behti re
Wehshi dilo ko bapu pyar seekha de
Aaja re bapu aa jaa re.
O jhooth ka badhta jaaye o raaj o bapu
Apne hi ho gaye dhokebaaz
Aaj hamein apno se bacha le
Aa jaa re bapu mere
Pai pai mein insaan bika re
Jaan yeh ho gayi sasti re
Soya zameer bapu phir se jaaga de
Aaja re bapu mere
Beautiful song, Beautiful movie, Beautiful life.
Stay happy. Keep smiling.
September 30, 2009
Desire
Desires, I have read in many spiritual books, are to be restrained to grow spiritually and reach closer to God. The other day, I read this question in a newspaper and quite liked it for its intrinsic simplicity: Isn't a desire of not having desires a desire too?
I will leave it to you to instrospect on this.
I will leave it to you to instrospect on this.
September 28, 2009
Vijayadashami
Known to be the festival to celebrate the victory of good over evil, Dussehra is an extremely important festival in India. As much as we must celebrate this day, I see this as a day to introspect and cleanse ourselves as a person. As we keep celebrating this day year after year, we must attempt to grow as a person and purify our thoughts, deeds and indeed life overall. If we feel we are growing in 'real' sense as a person, we will be truly appreciating the spirit of Dussehra. Ram defeated Ravana on this day, as legends go. Ram is a metaphor for the good, and Ravana for evil. Applied to us, we must first strive to get closer to the good before we could wipe-off the evil around us. Let's start by cleansing our inner selves.
When I think of Dussehra, I remember a beautiful line in a song from the movie Swades
Mann se Ravana jo nikale, Ram uske mann mein hain...
Beautiful line. Very inspiring.
When I think of Dussehra, I remember a beautiful line in a song from the movie Swades
Mann se Ravana jo nikale, Ram uske mann mein hain...
Beautiful line. Very inspiring.
September 25, 2009
Sham
It is the season of sham these days. A sham they conduct and call Dandiya-Raas. I see lot of pandals around that 'enables' people to 'perfom' the traditional dance form called Garba and celebrate Navratri. Don't get me wrong as yet. I am totally for Navratri and Dandiya-Raas, but not for what many do citing this occasion. Typical bollywood tunes/songs are what they play for this magnificent dance form! Stupid songs, stupid people who dance as if they are in a discotheque. Highest form of non-sense is what I see on 'news channels'. I have no problem with what they do, but then my issue is that they call it Dandiya-Raas when it is not! This is a seasonal, open-air pub where people want to go and let their hair loose. Simple. But then admit it that way.
We have seen it all by now. Commercialization of arts, music, sports, sex, religion. All these are completely fine if people engaged in them are candid about their intentions and not create a farce and put up a sham to cover the underlying intention, that of making money. Making money, I believe, is a good thing. Only, do it the right way.
September 24, 2009
Ponder over this
It is amazing how we manage to miss the relevant points in life on so many occasions. Two small stories to drive the point home:
1. A couple went with their three children to the beach one day. The children were making castles and enjoying themselves. They saw an old lady in rags coming slowly towards them. She was bending down and picking up some things and putting them into her bag. As she came near the children, the parents shouted out to the kids to stay away from her.
The old lady smiled at them but they did not smile back.
A few days later they learnt that the old lady made it her life to pick up small pieces of glass from the beach sand so that children would not cut their feet.
2. One day a duck hunter went to the market to buy a bird retriever dog. To his amazement he found a dog that could walk on water! He immediately took it home.
He invited one of his friends to hunt the next day and took the dog along. When a flock of ducks came near, he took aim, fired and silently watched. The dog walked on water and retrieved the bird. He looked at his friend for a reaction but the friend remained silent.
He asked him, "Do you see anything unusual about my dog?". The friend replied. "Yes, your dog is unable to swim."
1. A couple went with their three children to the beach one day. The children were making castles and enjoying themselves. They saw an old lady in rags coming slowly towards them. She was bending down and picking up some things and putting them into her bag. As she came near the children, the parents shouted out to the kids to stay away from her.
The old lady smiled at them but they did not smile back.
A few days later they learnt that the old lady made it her life to pick up small pieces of glass from the beach sand so that children would not cut their feet.
2. One day a duck hunter went to the market to buy a bird retriever dog. To his amazement he found a dog that could walk on water! He immediately took it home.
He invited one of his friends to hunt the next day and took the dog along. When a flock of ducks came near, he took aim, fired and silently watched. The dog walked on water and retrieved the bird. He looked at his friend for a reaction but the friend remained silent.
He asked him, "Do you see anything unusual about my dog?". The friend replied. "Yes, your dog is unable to swim."
The stories have been extracted from the book "Living Enlightenment"
Me and the press!
Statutory Warning: This post has a lot of 'ME' written over it. I have given the 'rule of modesty' an exception in here! So, beware :)
As a part of my professional life, I have got opportunities of being quoted in the press, mostly financial media. Dealing with the press has always been tricky and exciting. Tricky, because a lot of times I said one thing and what was typed was technically same yet different in gist. Exciting, because I am being read by a lot and my name's on the news page! So here's a collation of some of my brushings with the press over the past:
As a part of my life with ING
My only interview - was with FE! The print edition had my photograph with the article. Cannot find it on the online version though.
Some of my views/quotes: Reuters, Yahoo Finance, Hindustan Times
As a part of my current professional start-up
FE 1, FE 2, Yahoo Finance 1, Yahoo Finance 2
I decided to put these things up on my blog for three reasons:
1. I wanted an 'artificial' feel-good.
2. I wanted to put these links up in my records and have it till they are available on the net.
3. It is a part of a 'deal' with someone.
P.S.: I know it is 'cheap' to put up these things up on a post! :) But then, I am human too :)) Happy reading
As a part of my professional life, I have got opportunities of being quoted in the press, mostly financial media. Dealing with the press has always been tricky and exciting. Tricky, because a lot of times I said one thing and what was typed was technically same yet different in gist. Exciting, because I am being read by a lot and my name's on the news page! So here's a collation of some of my brushings with the press over the past:
As a part of my life with ING
My only interview - was with FE! The print edition had my photograph with the article. Cannot find it on the online version though.
Some of my views/quotes: Reuters, Yahoo Finance, Hindustan Times
As a part of my current professional start-up
FE 1, FE 2, Yahoo Finance 1, Yahoo Finance 2
I decided to put these things up on my blog for three reasons:
1. I wanted an 'artificial' feel-good.
2. I wanted to put these links up in my records and have it till they are available on the net.
3. It is a part of a 'deal' with someone.
P.S.: I know it is 'cheap' to put up these things up on a post! :) But then, I am human too :)) Happy reading
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