Thursday, November 17, 2005
Wednesday, November 16, 2005
Betrayal
How're you supposed to behave or react or whatever when people who you call friends do lowly things like stealing your stuff, and also, think they've got away with it; and that I am a fool who'll not even notice and keep trusting the person blindly?! Some of it may even be true. I am actually going to let the person get away with it. I don't know what else I can do. I am not going to shrink to the person's level and put up a fight. And it is not about the stuff that the person took without my permission (basically, steal!), it is about the person who did it! And it is about what the person meant to me. I am in an awkward position now. The person should be feeling ashamed and guilty, but I don't notice any such signs looking at the person. Instead, I am feeling ashamed! How can the person act as if nothing happened, face me, and see me in the eye! But well I am gonna try to act as if nothing happened too. It is really not about what the thing stolen cost me. I don't care what the thing is, or what the price of the thing that the friend (do I call the person that?) stole is. It is about betrayal. Had the person told me that the person liked that thing, or asked for it I would have just given it to the person. This 'person' thing is getting to my nerves, I’d rather use he/she, but I don't intend to give anyone, or the person any idea of who I am talking about, and what am I referring to. I'd rather not create havoc out of this, nor do I want to make anybody think low of the person, coz the person still remains a friend, and I may as well write this off as a small mistake that happened.
But I am bugged and I am annoyed big time!
This is not done!
This is treason!
I feel besieged!
This is breach of the unwritten and unsaid contract that is there between people who know each other as friends!
I hate, loathe and am disgusted by such things!
"Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you".... But for god's sake don't steal!!!
Please... if you are my friend, be one.
But I am bugged and I am annoyed big time!
This is not done!
This is treason!
I feel besieged!
This is breach of the unwritten and unsaid contract that is there between people who know each other as friends!
I hate, loathe and am disgusted by such things!
"Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you".... But for god's sake don't steal!!!
Please... if you are my friend, be one.
Heavy-duty Childhood
This Sunday, the newspaper had a children’s day eve special column… actually... not a column… it was two whole pages. The articles were nicely done, no doubt; but they were disturbing. Not that there were sad or traumatizing news pieces, but thinking about them made me feel… I don’t know what word I should use here... Perturbing? Distressing? Disturbing? I don’t know.
There was this part, which had interviews of four children. An actor, a kid with two CEO parents, a 10-year-old girl, and a12 year old kid who works in a tea stall.
What caught my attention, were the interviews of the latter two.
The girl, at 10, says her favorite brands are Zara and Armani, talks about fashion sense, and doesn’t go anywhere without her earrings and lip-gloss!!! On being asked if she would like to remain a kid, or grow up, she says I like being a kid. Okay, good. That’s the answer I expected out of a kid. But why does she want to remain a kid? That is because this way she gets to socialize (!) and have her own space! Her favorite TV show is desperate housewives. Shahrukh khan is her favorite actor, but she doesn’t like him in the new lux ad, because… he looks gay!! Man! Either I just woke up from a very long sleep, or the kids are growing up too fast. At 10, I didn’t even know what the heck is gay! I mean at the most I must’ve known that it means happy. I really don’t like this. Kids should act like kids. Lip gloss! At this age! Alright, I cannot compare all this with myself, because it’s been a decade since I was 10 and the world had obviously changed, and moved on. But this isn’t exactly my idea of progress or advancement. The kids keep getting smarter… good, but learning should be at it’s own pace. All this makes them lose the innocence and purity that kids stand for.
Next to the interview of this girl, was another interview of a 12-year-old kid. He was also not very naive, but because of completely different reasons. Because of his survival instincts. He knows he has to take care of himself and earn for himself and his family too. He works at a Mumbai tea stall, works 12 hours a day, earns 900 rupees a month, and sleeps on the pavement. He never gets to watch movies or television; he only occasionally listens to the fm radio, which was there at the tea stall. His idea of a holiday is getting enough sleep. Happiness, to him, means meeting his parents – which he gets to do not more than once a year. His dream is to build a huge house with 4 rooms, in his village. He has no idea what children’s day is and has not heard of people called Mahatma Gandhi or Pandit Nehru. He doesn’t know who’s Sania Mirza, and can vaguely recall someone called Sachin as a guy who plays some sport.
I don’t know what I’m supposed to write now. I can’t explain what I think. But then again, I am just a part of a big crowd, which notices that these things happen, and stand there and watch it happen. There’s a whole bunch of kids who love wearing lip gloss, and who knows hair gel too; have favorite international brands, and ‘need space’… and then there are children who can just dream about living in a 4-bedroom house and being with parents.
We had compulsory moral values classes everyday in school, which were always conducted as the first lecture of the day. Of course, we didn’t really look forward to them, and actually found them boring and time wasting. But now, I and I’m sure the rest of my schoolmates too, understand that how important, and necessary they were. We as children do not know what we should learn and what not, but we learn when we are taught, and then retain it. Schools are for this purpose exactly... Education… Teaching. Certainly, parents are the biggest influences, but then schools play a major role.
There was another article in the same newspaper about the new generation of kids and schools. Pre-school kids are taken to McDonald’s’, Pizza Huts and Shopping Malls in the name of field trips. A particular school has Reebok shoes as a part of it’s school uniform. Kids are taken to departmental stores to show them what varieties of rainwear are available in the market. I can’t seem to make sense out of this kind of a course curriculum no matter how hard I think. The children in these schools are given Lays once a week, and something else on the rest of the days… so, I guess health food is out and junk is in!?!? The schools are actually teaching children that lays is food?
May sound hilarious, but seriously, I am already worried about my future kids! No kidding.
The average daily pocket money of these kids (I didn’t know pre-school kids get pocket money too!), is 50 bucks. I thought, at least parents should pay attention to what is happening, and put their children in better schools. Schools - which haven’t run out of things to teach children. But then, that hope fades away when I read a parent’s statement. Her kid says ‘I’ll not go to school in that car today!’ He’ll only go in a particular model of car… and… I don’t believe this… She just laughs it off?!
Wake up people!!!
There was this part, which had interviews of four children. An actor, a kid with two CEO parents, a 10-year-old girl, and a12 year old kid who works in a tea stall.
What caught my attention, were the interviews of the latter two.
The girl, at 10, says her favorite brands are Zara and Armani, talks about fashion sense, and doesn’t go anywhere without her earrings and lip-gloss!!! On being asked if she would like to remain a kid, or grow up, she says I like being a kid. Okay, good. That’s the answer I expected out of a kid. But why does she want to remain a kid? That is because this way she gets to socialize (!) and have her own space! Her favorite TV show is desperate housewives. Shahrukh khan is her favorite actor, but she doesn’t like him in the new lux ad, because… he looks gay!! Man! Either I just woke up from a very long sleep, or the kids are growing up too fast. At 10, I didn’t even know what the heck is gay! I mean at the most I must’ve known that it means happy. I really don’t like this. Kids should act like kids. Lip gloss! At this age! Alright, I cannot compare all this with myself, because it’s been a decade since I was 10 and the world had obviously changed, and moved on. But this isn’t exactly my idea of progress or advancement. The kids keep getting smarter… good, but learning should be at it’s own pace. All this makes them lose the innocence and purity that kids stand for.
Next to the interview of this girl, was another interview of a 12-year-old kid. He was also not very naive, but because of completely different reasons. Because of his survival instincts. He knows he has to take care of himself and earn for himself and his family too. He works at a Mumbai tea stall, works 12 hours a day, earns 900 rupees a month, and sleeps on the pavement. He never gets to watch movies or television; he only occasionally listens to the fm radio, which was there at the tea stall. His idea of a holiday is getting enough sleep. Happiness, to him, means meeting his parents – which he gets to do not more than once a year. His dream is to build a huge house with 4 rooms, in his village. He has no idea what children’s day is and has not heard of people called Mahatma Gandhi or Pandit Nehru. He doesn’t know who’s Sania Mirza, and can vaguely recall someone called Sachin as a guy who plays some sport.
I don’t know what I’m supposed to write now. I can’t explain what I think. But then again, I am just a part of a big crowd, which notices that these things happen, and stand there and watch it happen. There’s a whole bunch of kids who love wearing lip gloss, and who knows hair gel too; have favorite international brands, and ‘need space’… and then there are children who can just dream about living in a 4-bedroom house and being with parents.
We had compulsory moral values classes everyday in school, which were always conducted as the first lecture of the day. Of course, we didn’t really look forward to them, and actually found them boring and time wasting. But now, I and I’m sure the rest of my schoolmates too, understand that how important, and necessary they were. We as children do not know what we should learn and what not, but we learn when we are taught, and then retain it. Schools are for this purpose exactly... Education… Teaching. Certainly, parents are the biggest influences, but then schools play a major role.
There was another article in the same newspaper about the new generation of kids and schools. Pre-school kids are taken to McDonald’s’, Pizza Huts and Shopping Malls in the name of field trips. A particular school has Reebok shoes as a part of it’s school uniform. Kids are taken to departmental stores to show them what varieties of rainwear are available in the market. I can’t seem to make sense out of this kind of a course curriculum no matter how hard I think. The children in these schools are given Lays once a week, and something else on the rest of the days… so, I guess health food is out and junk is in!?!? The schools are actually teaching children that lays is food?
May sound hilarious, but seriously, I am already worried about my future kids! No kidding.
The average daily pocket money of these kids (I didn’t know pre-school kids get pocket money too!), is 50 bucks. I thought, at least parents should pay attention to what is happening, and put their children in better schools. Schools - which haven’t run out of things to teach children. But then, that hope fades away when I read a parent’s statement. Her kid says ‘I’ll not go to school in that car today!’ He’ll only go in a particular model of car… and… I don’t believe this… She just laughs it off?!
Wake up people!!!
Tuesday, November 15, 2005
The Best Things in Life
This is the list I said I‘d post here. I love this. Seems the best things in life aren’t things!
*Falling in love
*Accidentally overhearing someone say something nice about you
*Waking up and realizing you still have a few hours left to sleep
*Making new friends or spending time with old ones
*Playing with a new puppy
*Late night talks with your roommate that keep you from sleeping
*Having someone play with your hair
*Sweet dreams
*Hot chocolate
*Road trips with friends
*Swinging on swings
*Watching a good movie cuddled up on a couch with someone you love
*Wrapping presents under the Christmas tree while eating cookies
*Song lyrics printed inside your new CD so you can sing along without feeling stupid
*Going to a really good concert
*Getting butterflies in your stomach every time you see that one person
*Making eye contact with a cute stranger
*Winning a really competitive game
*Making chocolate chip cookies
*Having your friends send you homemade cookies
*Spending time with close friends
*Seeing smiles and hearing laughter from your friends
*Holding hands with someone you care about
*Running into an old friend and realizing some things (good or bad) never change
*Discovering that love is unconditional and stronger than time
*Riding the best roller coasters over and over
*Hugging the person you love
*Watching the expression on someone’s face as they open a much awaited present from you
*Watching the sunrise
*Getting out of bed every morning and thanking god for another beautiful day
*Laughing so hard your face hurts
*A hot shower
*No lines at the supermarket
*A special glance
*Getting mail
*Taking a drive on a pretty road
*Hearing your favorite song on the radio
*Lying in bed listening to the rain outside
*Hot towels out of the dryer
*Finding the sweater you want is on sale at half the price
*Chocolate milkshake
*A long distance phone call
*A bubble bath
*Giggling
*The beach
*Finding a 100 rupee note in your coat from last winter
*Laughing at yourself
*Midnight phone calls that last for hours
*Running through sprinklers
*Laughing for absolutely no reason at all
*Having someone tell you you’re beautiful
*Laughing at an inside joke
*Friends
*Falling in love
*Accidentally overhearing someone say something nice about you
*Waking up and realizing you still have a few hours left to sleep
*Making new friends or spending time with old ones
*Playing with a new puppy
*Late night talks with your roommate that keep you from sleeping
*Having someone play with your hair
*Sweet dreams
*Hot chocolate
*Road trips with friends
*Swinging on swings
*Watching a good movie cuddled up on a couch with someone you love
*Wrapping presents under the Christmas tree while eating cookies
*Song lyrics printed inside your new CD so you can sing along without feeling stupid
*Going to a really good concert
*Getting butterflies in your stomach every time you see that one person
*Making eye contact with a cute stranger
*Winning a really competitive game
*Making chocolate chip cookies
*Having your friends send you homemade cookies
*Spending time with close friends
*Seeing smiles and hearing laughter from your friends
*Holding hands with someone you care about
*Running into an old friend and realizing some things (good or bad) never change
*Discovering that love is unconditional and stronger than time
*Riding the best roller coasters over and over
*Hugging the person you love
*Watching the expression on someone’s face as they open a much awaited present from you
*Watching the sunrise
*Getting out of bed every morning and thanking god for another beautiful day
*Laughing so hard your face hurts
*A hot shower
*No lines at the supermarket
*A special glance
*Getting mail
*Taking a drive on a pretty road
*Hearing your favorite song on the radio
*Lying in bed listening to the rain outside
*Hot towels out of the dryer
*Finding the sweater you want is on sale at half the price
*Chocolate milkshake
*A long distance phone call
*A bubble bath
*Giggling
*The beach
*Finding a 100 rupee note in your coat from last winter
*Laughing at yourself
*Midnight phone calls that last for hours
*Running through sprinklers
*Laughing for absolutely no reason at all
*Having someone tell you you’re beautiful
*Laughing at an inside joke
*Friends
Garfield
Here are some garfield strips from my collection. I love 'em. I can't seem to post more than five at a time. so i'll post some more as separate posts
This one's here only coz garfield is saying the title of my blog! I loved it:)
Freedom
This is an image that i created quite some time back, but i completely forgot about it. A friend gave me some coins on a birthday. The one I liked the most had an eagle spreading it's wingson one side, with 'freedom' written above it; and on the other side was "No cash value". Both the sides had stars on the border. I really loved it, still do. They are one of my most cherished gifts. We take our freedom for granted. We assume that it's pretty normal to go anywhere we want to, dress anyway we want, speak about anything, say whatever we wanna, eat whatever we want... to us it does seem pretty normal actually. Not everybody in the world has the freedom that we have. Think about it.
Regards,
Me.
p.s. though there's nothing really great about the image.. do tell me what you think of it.
Karma Cola
I borrowed the title from a book I once saw in a bookstore. I do not know what that one was about, but this title seemed to fit this post perfectly.
I have often spent time thinking on selflessness. I have not been able to arrive at a conclusion. Does selflessness actually exist at all? Do not get the idea that I am writing this out of frustration and anger. However, a part of my mind is always thinking about this, or at least along these lines.
Now, what does ‘selfless’ or ‘unselfish’ mean? According to the WordWeb, selflessness or altruism is the quality of unselfish concern for the welfare of others; or, acting with less concern for yourself than for the success of the joint activity. Basically, without the effort doing you good, or helping you in any way whatsoever. However, my point is that I personally do not believe that such a thing exists. Or, maybe it does, but hasn’t come to my notice yet. Even the ‘genuine’ acts of kindness or benignity are done for the person’s own self.
Let us for instance take the very clichéd act of helping someone poor – giving money or something to a beggar, or a poor little kid on the road. Why should, and why would anyone do that, unless, he is gaining in some manner out of it. Especially in a country like ours – where there are numerous Gods and ‘Avatars’, and where the concept of ‘Karma’ prevails – things like these are certainly done to earn ‘punya’, because of the philosophy that karma or a person’s actions are what determine his destiny in his next life. Are the beggars by the road asking for your help? No. They are selling ‘punya’ to you in exchange of what you give them. Even in the simplest of thought processes, and if you are not too much into the concept of karma and stuff, you are probably doing it to get the satisfaction of helping somebody. You are getting some returns out of the act. Okay, even if you are giving the money to make the beggar go away coz he is bothering you, then too, you are getting freedom, relief or peace of mind. Quite often, people do this to show other people around them how generous and kind they are.
Alright, let’s switch to another topic. The beggar thing is a little external. Let us look at the mother-child relationship, which has always been looked up to, and respected. Why does a mother love her child? Because that is her own flesh and blood or a symbol of a cherished relationship or because he’s her own child…..I can go on using other terms to explain this, but I guess you’ve got a basic idea of what I’m trying to say. Does she love any other child in the whole world as much as she does her own? I’m not trying to degrade this ‘pure’ relationship, nor do I intend to offend anybody. This is just an expression of my mind – no reference to any particular person.
Most people love children. Why? Because little kids are a pleasure to watch, cute and cuddly, relax your stressed mind, bring a smile to your face. So, they are giving you something you are interested in getting, right? But, do you love all the children like a mother does her own? No, because they are not your own children.
Au fond, I just think that selflessness is a concept born of the human mind. It just does not exist in the world that I reside in.
However, this post, and might be some other posts of mine too have been thought about in too much depth, and sound philosophical too. Of course, I believe in what I have written, but generally, I too prefer to take things on their face value. That way you get more satisfaction and bliss out of life. Whenever you go in too deep analyzing and rationalizing the littlest things in life, you end up feeling unsatiated. The smallest things in life can give you oodles of happiness. Let us not frighten the mirth away. It is after all a wonderful feeling to bring a smile on someone’s face. I have a list on my bedroom wall, which is entitled “The Best Things in Life”. I will post it here too.
A friend once said – you choose to be intelligent, or you choose to be happy! Haha!!! What do you choose to be?
Regards,
Me
I have often spent time thinking on selflessness. I have not been able to arrive at a conclusion. Does selflessness actually exist at all? Do not get the idea that I am writing this out of frustration and anger. However, a part of my mind is always thinking about this, or at least along these lines.
Now, what does ‘selfless’ or ‘unselfish’ mean? According to the WordWeb, selflessness or altruism is the quality of unselfish concern for the welfare of others; or, acting with less concern for yourself than for the success of the joint activity. Basically, without the effort doing you good, or helping you in any way whatsoever. However, my point is that I personally do not believe that such a thing exists. Or, maybe it does, but hasn’t come to my notice yet. Even the ‘genuine’ acts of kindness or benignity are done for the person’s own self.
Let us for instance take the very clichéd act of helping someone poor – giving money or something to a beggar, or a poor little kid on the road. Why should, and why would anyone do that, unless, he is gaining in some manner out of it. Especially in a country like ours – where there are numerous Gods and ‘Avatars’, and where the concept of ‘Karma’ prevails – things like these are certainly done to earn ‘punya’, because of the philosophy that karma or a person’s actions are what determine his destiny in his next life. Are the beggars by the road asking for your help? No. They are selling ‘punya’ to you in exchange of what you give them. Even in the simplest of thought processes, and if you are not too much into the concept of karma and stuff, you are probably doing it to get the satisfaction of helping somebody. You are getting some returns out of the act. Okay, even if you are giving the money to make the beggar go away coz he is bothering you, then too, you are getting freedom, relief or peace of mind. Quite often, people do this to show other people around them how generous and kind they are.
Alright, let’s switch to another topic. The beggar thing is a little external. Let us look at the mother-child relationship, which has always been looked up to, and respected. Why does a mother love her child? Because that is her own flesh and blood or a symbol of a cherished relationship or because he’s her own child…..I can go on using other terms to explain this, but I guess you’ve got a basic idea of what I’m trying to say. Does she love any other child in the whole world as much as she does her own? I’m not trying to degrade this ‘pure’ relationship, nor do I intend to offend anybody. This is just an expression of my mind – no reference to any particular person.
Most people love children. Why? Because little kids are a pleasure to watch, cute and cuddly, relax your stressed mind, bring a smile to your face. So, they are giving you something you are interested in getting, right? But, do you love all the children like a mother does her own? No, because they are not your own children.
Au fond, I just think that selflessness is a concept born of the human mind. It just does not exist in the world that I reside in.
However, this post, and might be some other posts of mine too have been thought about in too much depth, and sound philosophical too. Of course, I believe in what I have written, but generally, I too prefer to take things on their face value. That way you get more satisfaction and bliss out of life. Whenever you go in too deep analyzing and rationalizing the littlest things in life, you end up feeling unsatiated. The smallest things in life can give you oodles of happiness. Let us not frighten the mirth away. It is after all a wonderful feeling to bring a smile on someone’s face. I have a list on my bedroom wall, which is entitled “The Best Things in Life”. I will post it here too.
A friend once said – you choose to be intelligent, or you choose to be happy! Haha!!! What do you choose to be?
Regards,
Me
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