Contrasting Lives!!

It took me about a week to regain my senses!!
The last week which I had, must really be somewhat different I believe which forced me to express about it in writing.
Just for starters, I get irritated very easily and the list of irritants seems endless and even surprises me sometimes. One of the most prominant irritant among them is 'huge crowd'. Let me be honest, I am of the kind who likes to be heard and noticed.
I wasn't sure of that real reason which made me start this post, but even then I started, I started with the belief that I'll surely find the one while drafting. This belief surely was developed from the course on innovation where I was taught to control left and right brain. This time, I decided to let my right brain do the job without allowing the editor (left brain) to play any role.
I am still not sure of the root cause of adrenaline rush which is exciting my right brain but the immediate cause of that seems to me the contrasting lifestyles which I observed last week during my visit to Pune and Mumbai.
JUst for recreation and relaxing I decided to visit Pune and Mumbai last week without a clue of what was about to happen.
Let me just keep the story short now. I must skip the part of Pune as it really was as I expected, where I spent a day at home and a day in nearby hillstations which by virtue of being hillstations were peacefula and not much crowded.
But the very next day as I landed Mumbai which is not more than 150km from Pune, the scene was completely different. I heard a lot about Mumbai but never realised that a city can be so fast and busy hat nobody bothers there what the next person is doing.
I tried hard to find an analogy but failed to compare the human crowd in the city. At the station (Mumbai local) you can't find even an inch of land where there is no one walking. I don't really know how can a city be so busy that for not even a single second people stop moving. It was to my surprise that that city made even me to move, if not faster then not even less than the lightening speed. I really DIDN'T enjoy that much.

I am not sure if I want to write much about it, but I would surely hope for reverse migration from that city. The city really is so crowded and fast that it made me realise that why is it important there to keep small children free. When I saw small kids playing on Marine Drive at around 1am in the morning,  I should have felt like that's life, people are free and enjoying. Kids are free and parents are not forcing them to stay at home which used to happen with me during my childhood. I was actually forced to sleep by around 10pm. But here I SHOULD HAVE been jealous of the time those kids were having but I wasn't. To me it felt like, they need it. Yes, the life there is stressed and they need something to relase that stress out. They need it for sure.
That very day, even I was stressed and I am not sure how much was the level of frustration and irritation when I borded local to Santa Cruz. I couldn't actually find words to describe my feelings when I landed safely on Santa Cruz, so I sketched it...

I am not sure where to end the post, but I must stop before I say anything to migrated population and tough life in Mumbai. One thing is for sure, if ever I am forced to settle in Mumbai in future, I will have to have a 1 on 1 discussion with God to grant me enough of strength to sustain I don't know what all but in short Mumbai.

It might be because of some other reasons that I feel I am not ready to settle in Mumbai but one thing is for sure that the city is overcrowded which makes very difficult for better road construction, transport, etc.
People must understand that life is just one and money is not everything. In a city like this, you might be earning but you surely are stressing yourself a lot. Take some time out for yourself. To the government I would say, it is high time to start focussing on a mechanism to help reverse migration or else I am not sure what will happen to the city or to the people livign there.
At last with the hope for better and relaxed life for people in Mumbai....


-Arian

'Har haath mein phone' may lead to Food Security in India

Yet again the south-west monsoon ditched the nation, took away all the moisture over it and we could do nothing more than worshipping Lord Indra. He too seems busy these days somewhere else and has not yet acknowledged that our prayers have reached him and he will soon take an appropriate action. The fault is neither his nor ours. He lives far far away in another world and the people praying to him are poor farmers who still use Indian Post as a means of communication.
On the one hand BJP led Karnataka government issued circular to nearly 34000 temples across the state to perform several rituals to bring rain, the Congress led central government on the other hand proved why they are at Union, took time to clearly analyse the problem and announced scheme called 'Har haath mein phone'. At first there seems absolutely no relation between monsoon and mobile but after thinking for about a week, to me it has started making some sense.
Every problem can be solved in thousand of ways but that solution will be temporary. The best way to solve the problem is to understand the root cause and fix that issue. The solution which Congress has proposed will do just that i.e. fixing the root cause. It can be simply understood as follows:
If monsoon fails----> crop failure i.e. less crop available
less crop available i.e. less supply----> inflation
Now, this inflation beacuse of being from the supply side can be controlled either by increasing the supply or by reducing the demand.
Question still remains the same i.e. How mobile phone can help in this?
Mobile phones can actually attack this inflation from both the sides i.e. supply side as well as demand side.
As mentioned at the beginning of the post, Lord Indra lives far far away in another world and our prayers will actually take a lot of time to reach them, hence Congress decided to give mobile phones to poor farmers with a talktime of Rs 200 so that they can directly call Lord Indra and settle the issue over phone. This is not impossible as 'Curiosity' has set up a network station on Mars which can establish a direct contact to that world where Lord Indra lives. This is how mobile phone may help in solving monsoon issue.
Now on the demand side. We all have seen the Idea 3G advertisement which shows that how people get busy in Idea powered 3G mobile phones. Congress I believe will put a 3G sticker on the mobile phones which will be distributed to poor, by the time they will understand what 3G is and understand how to use mobile or so, India, a nation where about 70000 children are born per day, even if these people take 7 days to understand that government has fooled him by handing them 2G mobile phones instead of 3G, India would be able to control population by about 70000x7 which is a huge number and will surely help relaxing inflation.
Now once the problem of monsoon as well as population is under control, Food Security in India will no longer be a dream.
Hence, this scheme may surely lead to Food Security.
Moreover, when there will be mobile in every hand, population is bound to be under control (just a thought, no explaination for that)

-Arian

Make you grandchildren proud of you-start thinking!!

Petrol prices are rising and they will keep on doing that and we all know that. Just protesting is not the solution and neither is letting them rise and suffer. We all live in the biggest democracy of the world. We all live in the country, the intellect of whose citizens is unmatched.They have proved their potential in every domain be it technical, humanities, or arts. We are gaining expertise in every field and we have managed to surprise the world around us. They surely envy us (if they care for intellect at all). We all are busy helping biggest of the organizations solving the problems they face. Everyone in India be it a male or female, none is lagging behind.

We all have enough money to buy whatever we need, and as we can afford whatever we need, we don’t even think twice. We don’t even care how much we need. We simply buy without even bothering that not everything is being replenished the moment we consume and this simply creates the supply demand imbalance.

We all know that in order to survive we all need energy. In our school level science, we studied about the sources of energy i.e. renewable and non-renewable. I believe, even if you had forgotten all that, referring them here might have triggered something in your brain. Yes, you are getting it right. Non-renewable sources of energy are those which can’t be used again and again. Petroleum, on the price rise of which we come out on roads even in the scorching heat, is also one of those sources of energy, which, if you are in your 20s or still single, I guarantee your grandchildren will read only in books as we do read about ‘Mammoth’.

We all know basic economics, we all know basic science. We all are aware of that as the supply reduces, the price increases. Let me be clear here, I am not at all backing the UPA decision. I am just trying to bring it to your attention that this problem will not be solved just by reducing the prices to everyone’s comfort level. That will, if at all ,escalate the problem.

Every country has started taking steps in order to reduce the consumption of petrol, or petroleum products. In China, there are certain days in week, when automobiles with certain number plates are fined if seen on roads. This is just to discourage the use of automobiles or reduce consumption. But in India, we all are aware that government can’t force, and moreover, we love doing what we are restricted to do. WE all go out on roads, protest, hunger strikes, blah blah.

The government of India also knows, rising prices is the only solution in order to discourage the consumption of a commodity here. But that is also a temporary solution. Every economic theory supports the concept of rewards. But even one of the greatest economist thinkers i.e. Dr. Manmohan Singh seems to have forgotten this. If you at all care for petrol and people, you need to take them together. You can’t handle this problem just by enforcing price rise and making an excuse of international price rise and weak currency.

In order to get some support from public, govt. need to show that they care. They must reward in some way or the other if public supports. I believe, in order to control oil consumption, cost depending on consumption can be a better solution. This will also cause a sense of responsibility in citizens too. We should centralize all the petrol pumps in India so as to track the consumption per day. We should restrict the filling of particular oil tanks (automobile) to 1 or may be 2 times a day. As well as, the price structure should be such that, the more you buy, the more you pay. SO that we can start thinking atleast , “how much do we need?”. Moreover, government can make this variable cost structure dependent upon international prices as well as currency value. Timely price fluctuations will also create a sense of how our actions or demands affect prices. We all will feel more connected to the resources we can’t live without. And hopefully we all will understand the true value of such resources.

The more we are connected to something, the more we try hard not to let them go. May be this will make us do something, that our grandchildren will be proud of us :D

-Arian

Presumptions of CSK and non CSK fans

The season 5 of IPL is almost over with the final between CSK and KKR due in just a few hours. Almost about 50% of Indian population which is interested in IPL of course is a CSK fan and no doubt they are sticking to all of their superstitious activities from the morning just to see their team lifting the IPL trophy for the third time in a row. Some people are switching their mobile phones off just to avoid the call of that person who whenever calls them, CSK lose, some people are sticking only to liquid diet, some are even avoiding the call of nature (obviously this causes shit to happen) and the list goes on. I am not exaggerating, this is the fact and I know such die hard CSK fans personally. Okay, now let me clarify the reason why I mentioned 50% of IPL fans are CSK fans. Obviously, I didn’t conduct any survey, I didn’t refer any stats, it is a simple observation as it is the 5th year of IPL and more importantly Facebook posts gave me this idea.

I myself have around 350 friends on facebook and I rarely see posts like Mumbai Indians rocks or Pune Warriors or RCB or any other IPL team rocks, etc. But everytime CSK wins, I see about 10-12 posts from my friends like yellow prevails, CSK rocks, CSK crushed DD or like that. My facebook friends even share some pictures like the one shown here (obviously from a CSK fan). Believe me this is the only reason I came up with the arbitrary figure of 50% here. But I don’t want to justify further on that as I have seen CSK fans feel that they are unique and only a few Indians who have the passion for cricket and its knowledge, admire CSK. They yell that they love Dhoni and CSK just because they perform and that too consistently perform and only CSK fans are true and impartial judge of talent and no one else in the world has knowledge of the game. Everytime CSK lifts the trophy or wins a game they yell and paint the walls (obviously on Facebook) with ‘Hail CSK, Hail Dhoni’ and they provoke the fans of other teams (the remaining 50%) just be tagging them in the post and saying that it’s high time, you should also start admiring Dhoni and CSK (I am referring only Dhoni and CSK because these are the only two trending topics, no matter if Albie Morkel wins a game for CSK, they say it was RCB who lost because of Virat Kohli and they love Dhoni for letting Morkel to bat at such crucial time, Dhoni rocks).

Oh yes, the final is obviously between KKR and CSK tonight and I am writing only about CSK and not KKR because I am sure only two class of people exist i.e. CSK fans and non-CSK fans. I believe I have done enough justice with the article considering the reactions of CSK fans whenever their team wins and they accusing every non CSK fan of having no knowledge of the game and moreover CSK fans presume a lot of things about non CSK fans like everytime CSK wins, we (as I am also not a fan of CSK) think it was fixed, we hate CSK because we hate Dhoni lifting trophy everytime, we hate CSK because we don’t know what a team performance is, etc.

At last, I would like to express views of the other side. I don’t want to justify anything but just a clarification to every CSK fan. No, we don’t hate Dhoni lifting the trophy, whenever it comes to India we are no different from you people and even we do some superstitious stuff just to see Dhoni hitting the winning six. SO this accusation is simply ruled out. No we don’t hate CSK just because we don’t have knowledge of the game. I can’t give an example to prove that (only a test can justify this). No, we don’t hate CSK just because they are dominating and we don’t love to see the same team win again and again. As we would just love to see the team we support winning the trophy indefinite number of times. SO, at last, don’t wait for the remaining 50% of us to become a fan of CSK just by provoking us that CSK is the team which performs everytime. I have seen it and I agree that CSK has been a consistent performer in the IPL for the last 5 seasons, I agree that the team is just great and has good finishers and yes, plays as a team and wins. But if it was just performance which had to be the criteria for being a fan, every year not even every year but after every game the fan following might have been changing. I am happy that it is not the case, we are loyal to our teams and you are to yours. Believe me, no matter how hard I try to convince my heart that be a fan of CSK and tell you friends that you too are supporting CSK this time (just because you know they will perform), I fail to do that. I believe sometimes, its just feeling and love that dominates and affects your fan following or decisions not the performance. Even after you know that your team has rare chances of win or they are not performing upto their potential, you get angry but you don't start hating them. Same as we do in case of love ;-) If it had been the case, every single guy would have been loving the single girl. SO believe me, its nothing more than just lack of feelings for CSK or yellow jersey or the name Chennai ,etc that we are not the fans of CSK. Its not Dhoni, its not performance, its not dominance.

Finally. if I say that Dhoni had been a far better Ludo player, it doesn’t mean that I hate his luck. It simply means that when he was given a chance to secure his place in playoffs, he should have done it like the other 4 seasons. This time they failed to do so, and I surely hated it when even after having the talent, you left it to luck for that to happen. If it had not happened, it would have hurt 50% hearts. SO, CSK when you have a fan following, don’t just rely on luck, don’t let your fans pray for the loss of other teams, they don’t want that to happen again.

P.S. CSK fans please if you have do not agree with the views expressed here, just think it as a presumption of a non-CSK fan and bear it like we do every time you presume something and post it on Facebook wall.

-Arian

Wandering Clueless in 20s

The twenties are an amazing time in life and no doubt confusing. You get out of college at around 21-22, and you’re geared up for life. You really believe you know everything. You’re “grown up now”; after all, you’ve graduated from college and you think you’re ready for the big world. You have dreams. You have aspirations. You think you know what you want for a career. For most of us it is the first time that we are truly on our own and free to choose our own path. It is an age where we essentially get to start with a clean canvas and begin painting the type of life we have dreamed of since childhood. It is an opportune time to try new things, new jobs, develop new habits and enjoy the lifestyle that comes with having little responsibility and endless amounts of energy.

No matter who you were in college -- whether you were great with women, a great athlete or the smartest person in your class -- you go out into the real world and realize that you’re at the bottom of the totem pole again. It’s like starting from scratch.
You get your ass kicked throughout your 20s. You get your ass kicked in your career. You have to learn to deal with people who are a lot smarter and more experienced than you -- people who have been around the block, and people who know the game and know how to play it very well.
In your 20s, you’re expected to know what you want to be, but unless you are a Doctor or a lawyer, u'll end up doing the jobs you never thought u'll have to do.
The twenties are the years of life where u don't have much of the responsibilities but enormous amount of energy to fulfill your dreams. The energy bursting inside you pushes you to achieve everything you have ever desired. You want to be a rockstar, a writer, an painter, and the things keep on adding depending upon whom you get impressed with. Thats not all. In case you are doing a job and you have no plans to make a career out of it, then another thing you worry about is- what the hell are you going to do in life and where will you get settled? That haunts you day and night as you need to decide it soon as you have to get married also. You will soon get responsibilities to deal with, you can't remain a kid for long as soon you will be having yours. 

You can't just exhaust your energy trying hands on each and every thing you want. In order to harness the energy bursting inside you, you need to learn how to make trade-offs in life. I heard it somewhere- 'sometimes its better to let it go'.

This is what I could figure out after a thought process of four and a half hours that we need to learn to set our priorities right in order not to regret wasting the enormous amount of energy we have in this adult adolescence phase of life.

Do let me know in case you have the solution for the problem which I believe haunts everyone of us in their 20s.

-Arian

Dream to dream

“DREAMS are not those which comes while we are sleeping, but dreams are those when u dont sleep before fulfilling them.”
― A P J ABDUL KALAM

Dr. Kalam must really be a dreamer and looking at his career success and achievements, I believe that he has also fulfilled them and might be having a good night's sleep somewhere. While me on the other hand,in desperate need of a good sleep, in the middle of the night, is writing this blogpost just because my dreams are still not even half the way of beingfulfilled. We all dream of success, love, respect, fame, etc. and yeah I ain't no different. But these are not the dreams which keep me awake. The dream which keeps me awake at night is- 'to never stop dreaming', with a wish to fulfill whatever it is. The world is full of dreamers, acheivers, successful personalities and we are lucky enough to have access to web where the story of success of your inspiration is just a click away. If your dreams are same as what others dream, life becomes easier, atleast you get some direction to move on. But what if your only inspiration is your mirror image where you can see the unfulfilled dreams in your eyes and get inspiration from them. They are still unfulfilled and just begging you to help them have a peaceful and successful end. These dreams themselvesdon't have clue how can they be rescued and freed, they are just crying in your eyes and praying for help. This is what that keeps me awake.

With the innocent dreams eagerly waiting for their rescue with a faith in my soul, desperately waiting for being fulfilled, in my eyes, how can they be closed for a good night's sleep?

Parying fr the strength to not let those dreams die in the eyes, and help them see the world outside and enjoy before they die.
Hope a night will come when there is enough faith of these dreams in my strength that they will stop crying and begging for help, instead they will just be happy that they are in the eyes from where their journey to be fulfilled is assured!!

-Arian

Being in a relationship with time...

So far my relationship with the time has been strong. Time has never left me alone no matter what kind of circumstances I was in. More importantly, it slowed down and felt like it has stopped to stay with me whenever I was down and my life seemed to be going nowhere. It has always speeded up itself while I am going through the period which I love to enjoy. It has never left me, and has always been like my shadow. I respect the type of bond which time shares with me, but sometimes I feel that time is being a lot more possessive then it should be.
It is not letting me being myself. Sometimes, when I feel like doing something good for myself, it sticks with me, stares as if I am doing anything wrong. It always wants me to adapt to things which are according to time, no matter what my passions are. This irritates and makes you grow old faster. I have always respected time; I have made a lot of tradeoffs with my passions and the demands of time. But this has always accelerated the ageing process. The more you fulfill the demands of time, the more it enjoys and accelerate. Looking at the other half of my life which is still unexplored and untouched, I feel I would love that half more if I can free myself from the love of time.
The time will surely find another partner, as the world is still full of people who just live because they have time in their lives. I don’t want to be among them anymore. I just want to live the unlived part of my life without any commitments with time. I have always respected your care and love, but I can no more be in a committed relationship with you. I just want to live the life I love, no matter what time demands. We will still remain friends, we will keep on having timely discussions, I will keep on taking your suggestions but I no more want to be bounded by your decisions. You have helped me grow old, now I want to grow mature and take my own decisions. I no more want to hold you responsible for any happening in my life. I just want to take my own decisions, being responsible for them and bearing the consequences alone if I have to.
You have always been a great support in my life and hope you will soon find a great partner for life. Wish me luck if you can, for the success in my life with you being just a friend.