The Death Prize

It is getting boring with each passing day; at least the monotonous job, which I am pursuing, is not getting me anywhere. I thought of the college days, then were the days when there were no restrictions, tensions etc; those were the fun filled days, with many friends around—we used to enjoy each moment. I wished that somehow I get a chance to meet those friends again. It would be very refreshing to meet them again. But, I knew, I would not be able to meet them since, except 1-2 friends, all others were either outside India or outside Mumbai. I wondered, “Will the days of my life will go as it is going now”! I desperately wanted some break from the office work—if I consider I am doing any work. A good break might provide me some energy to continue with the job that I desperately want to quit, since other than this job I don’t have any alternative.

To get rid of the growing frustration that I am undergoing daily at the workplace, I started to explore different avenues; started playing football, badminton, cricket—with the colony friends. These activities helped me somewhat but, what I actually was missing, was the friends that I had left during my college days. But truly God is very kind; He listens to us when we require Him to listen the most. Exactly the same thing happened to me; I was checking my mails after returning to home from my work, I was about to get a great surprise, it was the thing that I needed the most at that point of time, it was something that I would have not thought in my weirdest and wildest dreams. It was a mail from one of my college friends, and the subject was—2006 batch’s reunion. I was baffled and at the same time ecstatic. Ecstatic from the fact that I will once again meet my old friends and baffled because of the question that aroused in my mind –“how on such a short notice, people settled outside, can come to Mumbai in this short notice of 2 weeks?” From the above question it was clear that the reunion was after 2 weeks.

After the receipt of the mail, I gave up the question—“how people will come to Mumbai?” I started to channelize my thoughts towards the clothes that I would wear on the reunion. After contemplating for days and searching over 20 shops, I brought some great clothes with great price tags. I was happy with the shopping that I had done and I had the feeling that I should be in the best possible attire. Even I got to an extent of buying a new brand Samsonite’s shoe for Rs. 5750.

7th March came, the day, which I was waiting with a lot of eagerness and excitement. I wore the new clothes that I had bought along with the new shoes and used other accessories. I confidently went out of the home, but for the first time I wondered, how come I, without confirming even with a single person, was going to the meet. This thought made me look fool, I thought I would lend up alone at the venue, since there was only an email communication for the meet. But, since I had nothing to loose now, I went to the meeting place. To my wonder, here what I see? Most of the friends were already present at the venue, before time. It was feeling like a dream—from being an impossible thing it became possible within 2 weeks, I was thrilled to say the least. I started to meet my friends, one after the other; I wanted to meet all of them as quickly as possible—this just explains the curiosity that I had for this meet. Some of my friends came with their fiancé and some of them came with their girlfriends and some, like me, came alone. But in this process I just happened to notice the venue was decorated on a grand scale. And the most surprising part was the magic show that was organized on the stage, which was especially built for the occasion. I wondered, how could, such a grand event can be organized without any financial backup and that too within two weeks. I was very clueless and curious to know the answer. I raised this question to some of my friends who were beside me. They were too baffled by this question. After this, I forgot that I had come to meet my friends, the only thought that was moving in my mind at that point time was the background of such a large event.

But somehow, after sometime, I thought I should get rid of those thoughts and enjoy the occasion. At the same moment, the magic show started and the magician said, “ Let us begin the magic show with some startup tricks”. The initial magics that were performed were very mundane and boring. I thought that the magic show is such a nonsense, when considered that the magician was given such a big stage to perform.After some time my friends gave up the idea of watching the show, and we started to talk among ourselves.

Everyone seemed to enjoy the moment, except me, who was, it seemed, the only person glued to the magic show. I had the apprehension that there is something more to the show, something much bigger that is yet to happen. After some 1.5 hours of boring performances, the magician told us that let us play an interactive game. Now, I wondered, what he has in store for us. He said, “ let us play the statue game, and the last person who remains in the game will be awarded an exciting prize.” I was getting filed with an apprehensive feeling, I was very clueless about the game the magician wanted us to play. But my friends were excited about the game, they were curious to win. The game’s rule was that the magician will tell any color, and the people who will have that color on their clothes will try to touch others having that color. The person who gets touched first will become the statue. So suppose if the magician says blue color and say that 4 people have that color on their clothes, and then each one will try to touch the other 3 people with their fingers, this way only one person will remain, who will be touched, not first, by any one of the 4 people. After explaining the rules the magician said green, yellow, red, orange in the intial rounds. I was wearing blue jeans and white T-shirt. Due to which, I was safe till there were 3 players left. All other people were statue. No one was moving, everyone was acting like a perfect statue. The remaining three of us, who were safe in the game were having white colour on our clothes.


While waiting for the color that the magician was going to tell, I happened to see the time and it was 11.55 p.m. I was shocked to see that it was so late; it was almost 6 hours from time since I had come. But others were least concerned about this fact; friends who were acting as statues were happy in the statue’s role. The other two valid players were eager to win, they were too were unmoved by the time.

I just wondered and said to myself, “What is going on?” And one thing clicked to mind that some of the halogens were getting turned off automatically as the game was progressing. Now, I can see only two halogens that were lit. I could barely see the magician on the stage’s podium. I could just hear his loud laughter. I was very much terrified by his laughter; I wished that nothing bad happens to all of us. I saw around, moving head in a full 360 degree way, there was absolute darkness, except the two halogens. But it was shocking to see the other two friends, who just wanted to win the game. The magician’s words came in between in my thoughts. The magician said, “The game’s last colour is white”. On hearing white, I spontaneously touched the other two friends and they immediately became statue. I realized that I didn’t touch them to win the game but to tell them that we should go home, it has been very late. But, unknowingly I won the game. The magician announced, “Congrats!! You have won the game”.

I was nonchalant about the win and the prize, I wanted that all of my friends and I should go home. I told my friends that the game has ended and now they can come to their normal. But no one moved, it was unbelievable, I was not having the slightest clues. A terrifying feeling gripped, I just wondered, why other people are behaving in such an unconcerned manner and abnormally. I screamed and said, “ yaaron, game khatam hogayi hai, ghar chalo, ab natak karna band karo”. Then too no one moved. By this time I just made myself understand that there is much more to the events that are going on than I could see. The magician told me, “ man, you have won a prize, you should be ecstatic, but you seemed to be unhappy”. But anyways I should tell you that you have won a prize that no one could think off. “You have won a death”. On hearing this I was taken aback, I couldn’t make out any meaning out of the events that were going on. I pleaded to the magician, “Please make everyone normal and let us go home”. He said,” you take your prize and then everything will be normal, I have always given the prize whenever the game has been played and I don’t want to stop this streak, please choose the mode of death”. I wondered, “ how could a prize be a death”. I started to continuously plead him to let me go home, but he was having the view that I should take my prize. I could hear only the statement—“Your prize i.e death is awaiting, common come and take it”—and could hear after this statement a loud laughter.

Indiffirent Attitude

Things do change transiently, so do people’s attitude. It sometimes changes due to career moving up in the success path, or sometimes due to fortunes falling in even deeper disarray. But very few people remain the same either when things around them change in a positive way or in a negative way. This is human tendency, to bark in a success and lie low on a failure. Some personalities are in their own league, they more often than not remain the same. Greatness is not about doing great things momentarily, but it is the state that needs to be maintained, incessantly. Consider the example of the great Tiger Woods, what a great a sports icon he has been! But one incident changed his greatness, or you might say his stature in his fans’ eyes—sponsors went away, wife left and what not! He was unable to preserve his greatness, he lost it within few days—it was not due to his failures in his game, but his personal and social behavior that let him down. But look at the master himself, the great man—Sachin Tendulkar—he just exemplifies the “greatness” term. In last two decades he has sat at the pinnacle of the game, he has the same passion for the game as he had during his childhood—doing continuous trainings, workouts etc, to be at the top of his game. He never took things for granted and nor did he think that he has achieved too much. He just wants to love the game and enjoy it till his body permits. He acknowledges his achievements with so much humility; it feels that he has hardly achieved anything. Look at the “Federer”, he is another masterpiece.

I cited Tiger Woods, to show that if one has achieved a lot, it doesn’t entitle him to go and do any thing which he likes. He is answerable to many people for his behavior on and off the game. People will love and respect him, only if -- he meets their eyes. Sachin and Roger are the people who will always remain great. They have so much humility, and they don’t think much of the achievements that they have gained in the past, but continuously try to better previous achievements. When these people speak, it seems that these are people like us, who are yet to achieve a big thing in their life. Their humility just speaks the dimensions of their greatness.

If people who have accomplished so much in their life can be so humble and down to earth, then why can’t we? This question’s answer is very intricate for me to find out. People like us, who with a very miniscule success (for them) in life make them feel as if they have hit a bumper jackpot and behave in a very indifferent way. Their talks mostly have the arrogance of the small success (what they feel) that they have got. Even the normal Chaprasi/Gatekeeper doesn’t miss the opportunity to show his arrogance, and make us feel that he has some stature. The point is—people like success and power, and one of the qualities that makes people “great” or say more “human” i.e. “humbleness” goes on a decline. Due to this, people become self centered and selfish. People, who have power, can use it for better deeds, but mostly they use it in a contemptuous way. I am unable to understand the rationality behind this behavior.

This “indifferent” attitude has become quite rampant in our society. Hockey members are fighting for better payments-- which are dismal to say the least, inflation is on an all time high—government doesn’t understand that this kicks normal people very badly, government officials are doing their job in ever increasing apathetic approach; and you count it and the list goes on for the wretched things going on around us. Hockey sportspersons can be easily better paid, inflation with proper government policies can be brought down, BMC officials can do their job in a much more responsible way and honestly—but these things don’t happen. It seems, looking at these things that little power can change people’s attitude in a negative way; it feels that power makes people indifferent towards others. But as great leaders and sports people, who after achieving enormous fame and recognition, don’t change; so why do our attitude change when we get a small success or a little power? Why don’t we put to use the powers whatever we have in a better way, at least why we don’t care that our actions don’t harm others? We can see everywhere people misusing there so called “powers”, some teachers for their personal ego, can even destroy a child’s future; government officials as usual, doing their job incompetently and dishonestly; most of the politicians also fall in the same category; the bosses, who just think from a single point of view-keeping themselves first in every respect, add to the similar group of “unsympathetic” people.

Initially, it used to be people like the landlords, who used to get into such awful actions, but now they have transformed themselves into various roles. In such an indifferent society, people belonging to middle class can somewhat survive but what about the poorer sections of the society, they get beaten from every corners. Can anyone answer for the “indifference” people show towards others?

Contempt Can't But Vote Can

General category students have always been in opposition to reservation of any kind in any field. They think of being deprived of their opportunities due to the quota system. I just brought up the ‘reservation’ matter so that I can bring some points that I think are valuable in reference to our current political system. I believe there are two reasons for reservation to be adopted: one being the idea behind providing opportunities to the backward classes who have been for ages- exploited and other being to get votes from these factions (backward classes). One explanation that, seldom, anyone can deny is that the people from the backward classes turn out in huge numbers for voting. They believe their vote can, very dimly, change their fortunes. One thing they know is that if they don’t vote they will gain nothing, so it is better to vote someone and pray that the elected person does some good work. If they are fortunate enough then they get some of the pre-election promises fulfilled. Provision for free electricity for stipulated duration to farmers in Andhra Pradesh and highly subsidized rice for people ‘below poverty line’ in Chattisgarh- are some of the promises fulfilled by the respective state governments. But politicians scarcely bring issues that concern higher and middle class people because they know their vote share in elections is insignificant and in this way they don’t feel any threat from their thinking-whether it is positive or negative for their candidature.

It is more often than not true that we are in good health with people whom we think will be of help in future. In the same sense, politicians limit there campaign typically to the people belonging to the bottom levels of society because these are the people who will come out of their homes and take the pain to visit the voting booth and cast their votes and ultimately play a vital role in the election outcome that governs the politicians future. People from upper levels in the society think that they are not going to gain anything from voting, one reasoning I can attribute to this thinking that they have of politicians: of them being incompetent. If this thinking continues then their need for better roads, quality public transport; quality educational institutes, better healthcare, safety etc will always be the unfulfilled vision.

One thing we always forget is that politicians are also humans like us and very few of them have a good educational background unlike us-who are educated elite but for society we serve no purpose. To think that politicians, single-handedly, will change the fortunes is asking for too much. So it is obvious for them to be narrow-minded and think selfish, they will do things that will help them to return to power or get hold of power. They believe in number games and get drifted away to the place where they seek higher numbers (votes). If educated people like us start voting in huge numbers then our representation in voting politics will increase and politicians are bound to think of these numbers and come up with strategies to lure these numbers to their side. Believe me this will bring a huge change in our political system. To give a good example: the throwing of shoes on P Chidambram in a press conference by a Sikh journalist led the Congress high command to replace the candidates-Sajjan Kumar and Jagdish Tytler-the culprits in the Sikh riots, fearing the lose of Sikh votes in the constituencies represented by the candidates who got replaced. It is all about give and take relationship. You vote and you will be heard, if this is not true then I fear we don’t have any other option, but I believe this will work.

It is very simple if we want changes we have to communicate, if that things need to be achieved by someone else. There may be many conduits for this communication but I personally, as of now, can’t think of any way other than the voting right. We can witness on the matrimonial sites the characteristics that the individuals want from their future life partners, depending on the characteristics which the individuals mention they get reply. This is how our political system also works, what people want they should convey with their voting right and this will change the political parties thinking and bring about better changes in their functioning. One thing we should keep in mind, like us, political parties also think about their future, if they are not able to decoy people to vote for them they will get cleaned out in future elections.

I have a strong reasoning: if we have better alternatives to bring about some changes in the society we should affect it without giving a second thought else work out our ‘voting exercise’, it is not going to take anything from us but we can gain from it and most importantly our society. If we can’t do any of the 2 things then we should be happy in our present political state of affairs without lamenting.

The Cricketing Hope

In childhood I used to follow cricket very religiously. But in the last five years I have followed cricket in a shallow way. The reason for this anomaly behavior towards cricket is due to the monotonous nature of the countries taking part in the cricketing fixtures. The same, old, 8 countries (not counting Zimbabwe, Bangladesh Kenya) playing the game with the same set of players, for decades, with minor changes in the team. Major sporting Nations of the world even don’t know what cricket is all about. These factors repelled me to follow other sports like: football, f1 and tennis. Football and tennis are largely played by most of the sporting countries of the world. One reason that I can attribute for cricket- not becoming a success in the sporting countries of the world is due to the immense time it takes for the outcome. The passion which we (Indians) associate with cricket is not even 10% matched by any other cricket playing countries. Cricket is a one sided affair, for which, India has taken the responsibility for not letting the game to extinct.

But something, very exciting is happening, currently, in the cricketing world with the invention of 20-20. And with IPL coming into place, cricket has got a new brandish of life to live and stretch out to different parts of globe. This new format that IPL adopted last year, for its inaugural tournament, has brought a much needed change in the way the game is played; mainly the time factor that has got changed, has given a huge space for cricket to be successful. My strangeness for cricket got replaced with great anticipation and enthusiasm for IPL, last year, and this year also it is more or less the same. The quick results, the free flow of money in the tournament, the enticing cheer leaders, the association of film stars and business men, the involvement of multiple players from different countries in a team, the media coverage, the sponsorships, the Champions League (Football) type format, and the logos and jerseys: all these together have gone to make IPL a great success, not only in India but overseas also. It seems IPL’s success is here to stay, and IPL will permeate its success by changing other countries’ outlook towards cricket in a major way.

But for IPL to add over its current success, it needs to do lot of things. We can observe that most of the thrills in the match are brought by international players; domestic players barely make any mark in the final outcome of the match. If international players have a bad day then there is hardly any excitement left in a match. Domestic players need to contribute on a larger basis to make IPL successful on a grand level; and also to reduce IPL’s dependence on abroad players. For this to happen, there needs to be enhanced flow of money in the domestic games with healthier media coverage, and elevated crowd involvement. I am in full support of 20-20 cricket, and this is the cricketing format that will take cricket to other non playing countries. I think, having full fledged domestic league of 20-20 will draw in more crowds, and will lift up the cricketing experience in almost every match. And if India, by having better domestic cricketing infrastructure, is able to develop IPL into a domestic league, consisting of 16-20 teams, then this will compel other cricketing countries to go after and develop their own domestic leagues. This will generate a domestic league of 20-20 cricket in each cricketing playing countries. And then, 1 more tournament can be organized in the calendar year, consisting of top 20-20 teams of different countries: like the champions league format in football. This will result in startling fondness in people towards cricket, and this newfound love for the game will percolate in other cricket playing countries.

If apt planning of the 20-20 cricket is done by ICC then it has the potential to develop cricket in a major sport, sprawling to different parts of the globe in the years to come। I believe 20-20 cricket has got everything that a sport needs to become a successful international game, and IPL has given a great head way in this objective।If everything goes well then we are not far away from witnessing a 20-20 World Cup among 32 cricket playing nations having, comparatively, the same competence.

Feeling Beauty

Consider a big house consisting of luxurious, unique, decorative, expensive, lavish things। Considering these facts, can we say the interior of the house is beautiful? I think most of us will have the view that, having decorative and other elegant things adds to the beauty of the interiors only when there is proper blend among them. Now think a situation when we go for mobile shopping. The things which worry us at that time are mobile’s functions, cost, and unquestionably its look. We will esteem the mobile’s look that we purchase as long as it behaves as anticipated. If suppose, one of the functions stops working properly, are we still going to value its look? I think I will certainly not, my precedence at that point will be its proper functioning. If we have some of the attributes such as good looking face, fair color, nice hair, suitable height, and other attributes that we associate with beauty, will these things make us beautiful? I think definitely it will enhance our personality. But to be practical, very few people have these things in an apposite way, and even who have some of these attributes, not many do justice to it. I don’t understand why at one particular moment someone looks beautiful and at other point of time not so. The person is same on both occasions, but the feeling is different, why? Does the face changes, or the hairstyle, or the height, or some other attributes? I don’t know which attribute most impact this change of feeling. But let me figure this out.

I think people who are fortunate enough to get natural beauty on their side as a gift of GOD certainly have an advantage over others। Only having beauty features will not completely help to be beautiful। Other things also go into this to make someone beautiful, such as how a person carries himself/herself in the crowd, sense of humor, nature, enthusiasm, smile and many more things। But among these I think the most important aspects after virtual beauty is confidence and energy level one has। People who are gifted with nice look and other +ve attributes will definitely feel confident about themselves। So these faction people don’t have to bother about confidence. These individuals from childhood have been complimented for their looks, hair, and …….things. Confidence comes into picture for individuals who are not bequeathed with this nature’s gift. I think everyone has the right to feel good about their personality, and should be always confident about their presence. If one doesn’t admire himself/herself then who is going to do this? The first thing to feel or to be beautiful, one should think he/she is beautiful. One should feel proud to be unique then others. Nature has given every individual unique features, and we should respect this. We have to be comfortable with all the personal features we have got. If something is their that troubles us, say hairstyle, and then we should take appropriate steps to change it, to make us feel better. If we are not comfortable with ourselves then how come others will feel so? We have to try only those things that makes us feel better, say dressing in our own way, this will surely make us project ourselves in a positive manner. If we show confidence in us, people will certainly do this at some point of time. You might be wondering what the connection between confidence and beauty is. Let me explain, if we are not confident of our looks, we will project ourselves in an unsure manner. People will hardly find anything different in us. They will take us in the same way as they do daily.

We mostly appreciate someone’s beauty at rare moments. I want to know why the person is being cherished on rare occasions, and not always. I think the reason for this might be that on rare occasions the person might have the superior combination of dress, hairstyle, and looks (along with energy level on face, since looks are typically going to be the same), body projection , and some other attributes which we can think of. Whether other people think us beautiful or not is other issue, first we have to feel that we are beautiful with confidence. If we love our presence then only we are going present ourselves in an energetic way full of confidence. The main idea that I want to project through this blog is that one should best about himself/herself, and project their existence in the best possible way within their confines.

Stock Market: Adding New Dimensions To Life

Sitting in the bus waiting for Powai to come where my company is located. Again the same thoughts mingling in the mind, what to carry out today? Is there something on the net, which can make me engrossed for a few hours? What to converse with friends, the same old addiction of criticizing things around, or boast myself in the crowd, or some other obsession? But these thoughts are not unwarranted; they are occurring since my project has reached to the culmination, where very few things are left to be done. So, not much work, but the thing, which is common everyday, is 8 hours in office that has to be sent off. As my daily routine I take my seat, sit down, start PC, and then marvel what next? Means, what was next in the line up for today’s activities, before this thought takes the pinnacle position in my mind there is call from somewhere, “cafeteria”. On hearing this, feels like someone has quietly heard my inner call and came for rescue. So, the day goes like this from cafeteria to my seat and vice versa, sometimes via giving my time to the neighboring cubicles. But this daily routine irks me.
Along with the above-mentioned things, one more thing is common, that are the activities going on my friend’s PC, who sits next to me. On his PC mostly two things takes center stage, one is Siebel’s Tool and Client Application, and the other untried thing for me was Moneycontrol.com.
I used to wonder how he gets glued to the mentioned site whenever time permitted him. I thought that till now I haven’t encountered a site that fascinates me this much. I wanted to know the actual thrust that he experiences for this phenomenon. I thought to find out the reason behind the so-called phenomenon, and the most excellent way to find this was to experience this myself. So I along with my other friend, who sits in the cubicle behind mine, decided to open the DMat Account. Fortunately for him his account opened within 25 days. He also started behaving relatively as the same way as the earlier one. But ICICI bank wanted to test my endurance, so it took almost 40 days for my account to open.
Finally after long wait the day had come for me to experience the actual basis for the so-called phenomenon. But like earlier scenario except the culprit wasn’t ICICI, it was the sensex that hindered me from buying shares. Each day I would come thinking sensex will drop and I would get the opportunity to buy shares. But sensex was trying to show me how to motivate one to touch unimaginable altitudes in life by its display of achieving innovative heights. Sensex surged to 16000, 17000, 18000, and finally 19000 within a span of few weeks. I came to office with optimism and went back restlessly. Finally I thought enough is enough, and I am not going to wait as a spectator witnessing sensex to lay its hand on 20000. I wanted to be a part of this experience. And when the market was at its peak, within 2 days I procured shares worth Rs. 40000. Really in quest for finding one solution, I inadvertently indulged myself in interminable activity.
Within few days of my purchase, the market collapsed to a great depth as if it wanted to teach me an old lesson that everything in life has two facets. I truly wondered how to react to this unpredictable behavior of the sensex. But one thing, which I wanted to find out, what was distinctive in moneycontrol.com vanished from my thoughts, since I myself started to use this site frequently without knowing the drive behind it.
Earlier, the day went without any excitement, adventure, and ideas, but this new experience gave me new dimensions to enjoy life, along with its multifaceted distinctiveness. Although, I have lost around Rs. 2700 (momentarily), but this is a very small price to pay for the experience which I have witnessed and hopefully it will continue to bring the same enthusiasm in me in future.

The First Impression

Plenty of thought goes everyday in our mind, they usually depend upon our day to day activities. In these, we think how to tackle our problems, do analysis, and infer judgment. One of the thought processes which everyone is part of is First Impression. Our thought process is in constant build up to the existing one since the day we are born. Primarily they are reliant upon our family background, social interaction, religious faith, friend circle etc. When we come across a new thing, we start to gather our thoughts related to that particular thing, and then we start making connections between the thoughts that come up. Then organize them properly to generate a conclusion or inference that is known as first impression for that thing. It is unique for every individual. Identical thing goes when we develop our first intuition for different people with whom we meet for the first instance. It is a very multifaceted build up of thoughts and inferences.

I think it is very important in our life, since it decides how one is going to interact with the person after meeting for the first time. The manner in which we will present ourselves speak, show gestures, listen, and respond will all depend upon the initial impression which we have built. It all goes well if the person behaves as we think. But the predicament arrives when the person starts behaving in the inadvertent manner. And I think, most of the time this is the circumstance. Then, what is the conclusion for above explanation? If we construe the person in a mistaken way then we are definitely not going to have good rapport with him/her. Take the example of Shahid Afridi, in his first ODI innings he scored the fastest century (37 balls), and till now this records hold. After watching this inning most us might have concluded that he is going to be a great player. But, the people who follow cricket closely might have seen his technique of batting, his approach while facing different line and length balls. After that, they would have concluded that he treats every ball in the same way, and this not going to help him in a long run. And this is what it turned out. I have cited above example to stress out the fact that it is not true that our interpretation is always going to be correct. Since we always see things, perceive, and draw conclusions depending upon over thoughts, observations. Our thoughts are not universal that will hold true for everyone.

I don’t say we are incorrect, since we can’t interpret what other think, or articulating in a different way, it is out of our scope to do so. But we have to be versatile in our thinking. Once we make our impression for a person, then we must be ready to amend it after later interactions with the person. This will modify our inferences in a better way in knowing the person.