if Wishes come true

if wishes were horses,
i would have rode it all around, to know what to wish for
gallop the distances to know what is the best in the world,
and then wish for the same

if wishes were a flying carpet
i would fly over the world, the mountains and the valleys
the depths of green jungles, and the height of clouds
and see where is the heaven, and wish to be there

if wishes were an alchemist
i would touch all around me, turning it in to gold
and be the richest person ever, with gold all around me

if wishes were being together,
i wished all my friends would be with me
my family forever, all the pleasures in the world surround me

if wishes were to come true
i'll simply wish for you
and then together, we'll make all other wishes come true

The quest of happiness

beyond the mountains
and past that unsurmountable passes
there would be a place
which lies untouched

by the corporate liars that we are
untouched by the luxuries, we should live without, but cannot live without
where the air is not polluted by greed and one-up-manship
where the water is serene and pure

where the beauty is not measured by lowest deep cut blouses
and there's more to admire than skimpy business suits

where time is not dependent on blackberry schedules and outlook calendars
and you are not running for the next tight meeting

when all u meet is nature, beauty and a little bit of you
where the clear skies clean your views.....

Happiness - spelled for now as Sikkim, snow capped , in December....my next destination.....( the following pic made the decision)

Picture Courtesy - http://www.bcmtouring.com/forum/travelogues-east-north-east-india-f64/north-sikkim-switzerland-east-winter-t19019-2/

Together we fall

what we think is what we are,
and then there are those who think different
to each one's own, and we lived like this all the time

its like the rail track, together yet distinct
we base the high speed trains on us, holding the energy and force together
and yet, I was myself, and you were you'
and we were "together yet different"

we traversed the lengths and the world like this,
went up the hills, crossed valleys, and jumped over rivers

and then we decided to cross our paths,
force my thoughts on you, and your thoughts on me
and then it was disaster,
the beauty was in the togetherness, not being one.....

us vs them

what we think is what we are,
and then there are those who think different
to each one's own, and we lived like this all the time

its like the rail track, together yet distinct
we base the high speed trains on us, holding the energy and force together
and yet, I was myself, and you were you'
and we were "together yet different"

we traversed the lengths and the world like this,
went up the hills, crossed valleys, and jumped over rivers

and then we decided to cross our paths,
force my thoughts on you, and your thoughts on me
and then it was disaster,
the beauty was in the togetherness, not being one.....

the diwali celebrations of a different type

its the festival of lights, and the world around celebrates
its lit up all over, and the festive sweets are doing the rounds,
the new age wonders - SMS and emails, shower wishes upon you,
the markets are decorated like brides, and houses lit up like the suitable gooms
the smoke and light of fireworks light up the otherwise dark sky with a gray-red bloom

and there, just under the lit up colored showers from the fireworks
was this small kid, in rags, his hair strewn like a hairstyle of his own,
the style or being poor, and the style of being ignorant
ignorant of the festivities around, ignorant of the festival of light
ignorant of the happiness and cheer, since there was no cheer around him

may be he sold candles during the day, with nice packaging
and dared not to save a single one for him, lest it eats up into his profit from the venture

may be he was the florist selling garlands for the gods,
and there then gods had forgotten all about him

may be he slogged his day working for a tyrant lord, who underpaid him for overworking
and the sounds of crackers were just taking a toll on his tired, well deserved sleep

and then and cracker burst, and there was this momentary light, lighting up his face
and there was this small smile, a smirk on the face

the smile said it all - the smirk remarked to me.....
you just lit a match to a cracker which cost more than what i earn in many months.....
but good you did, since i ll get to pick the cardboard boxes you left behind tomorrow
and sell them for pennies, to earn my festivity....
the day when i would have a square meal, by selling the board boxes of fireworks

my diwali comes a day after you are done,
when you throw away the leftovers, i fight with the urchins and dogs to get a flavor of your sweets

loneliness

there are days when the sun shines bright, and the bees and birds chirp all over,
the colors are pastel, and the contrasts amaze;
the sounds of music and chit chats muse into the ears...
and its a world full of frentic activity, me being the center of the universe


and today, the darkness crept over
the birds and bees shied away to their abodes,
the sounds died out into an eerie silence, blach shadows outstripped the pastel colours....


and u realised, center of universe is just another point in the universe

the devil of procastinating

well, it all comes back to haunt you - really :(
the coming months are all about decisions, and the tilting factors are all those things which I have been pushing forward for quite some time - the decisions in terms of a job switch and possible relocation, decisions in terms of figuring out if I should get married (finally) and the decisions in terms of shifting into a new house!!! and now all these are so intertwined into each other that all these decisions are completely messed up, leaving no clarity:( and no decisions:((

Working with the industry has really been disastrous for me, simply because I simply could not adjust to the dramatic change in pace, may be i m not used to working with a Boss( though the superiors here too have provided ample headroom), and the concept of hitting a roadblock just everywhere you try to move, compare it to the consulting - where work was aplenty, and so was creative thinking and independent movement in all directions, here I am starved for work- its so long that good or bad work does not matter any more, and i am confused that people around seem to be able to remain content in such an environment - its important for me to leave this place before I too become too complacent and happy with being unproductive ,and this leads me to the confusion. As they say grass is always green on the other side, and thus I always wanted to get to the industry( like numerous other consulting veterans) to see how dirty can the hands get ( do they really get dirty??), and 6 months into it, i am dying to get out....so the pertinent question is - is the next jump gonna be into the industry or consulting, could not afford to get it wrong again:( the problem here is of plenty- since I have options available at both ends, complicating it further.

Next is Shaadi - Ma is after my life and may be rightly so( if i look at the kids/virility displayed by my friends) - My answer to my mom's emotional tirade - "Main pote ka munh dekhe bina chali jaongi" is simple and straight - "Pota to bina shaadi ke bi ho sakta hai:)" - jokes apart i guess its time to settle down on this front. and then s next set of issues- knowing myself and my ideas of marriage  and companionship - I am NOT cut out for a arranged marriage, and i guess I have little time to fall in love( love at first sight does not exist for me), so here's the moot question - do you procastinate further to find the girl for you, or you simply jump in.

OK - too much of crib for a session.....time to hang up on this sad line of thoughts....Diwali is around the corner, and so wishes to everyone....have a safe and happy diwali

the uncomfortable feeling

have pondered over this even before - what are we running after ( here and here ). and somehow this is the dominant question which is coming back to haunt me again for the last few days. I did talk to a friend a while back about this uncomfortable feeling this week, and somehow i feel that the 2 hour chat just made me even more chiseled off simply because it made me put the hard things in discrete words - in essence making me  accept the things or thoughts i always chose to overlook.

so here's my dilemma - i have managed to reach a coveted position in my life- something others look up to - both professionally (where things speak for themselves), and personally ( well things don't really speak for themselves, but still)...from a material world perspective have done well for myself, have reached a decent spot in career, consider myself one of the luckier people around when it comes to career choices and education. Managed to get a good salary, bought the material possessions - car/house/shares/financial stability - all that people look for, and herein lies the problem - i need a new target now, because in its absence the same targets get rehashed in a bigger way, and come back and haunt you- now i need a bigger car, a bigger house, more money, and an even higher package, i seem to be perennially feeling dissatisfied with my job, what with looking for a fourth switch over a couple of years, with the first seven plus years in just two jobs. the issue seems to be that - these targets have been achieved, and since i could not really think on a different tangent...i am looking at going further along these redundant dimensions. Constant job dis-satisfaction is leading to too much heartburn, the current job is just perfect from a worldly sense- pays awesome, very little work, and great brand and job description, and I AM NOT LIKING IT. when people around ask me- why are you planning to quit, i tell them i don't like it, but do I really know what do I want. perhaps not- which reflects in my next prospective job- I know i do not like the work culture that exists there, but I am still going ahead simply because I want a change and a break, and I am ready to take the risk knowing fully well that I'll quit in less than a year. I am doing this since I feel decently insured for any fallback option  after that 1 year. I know i have another job waiting for me, and therein lies the problem - i am too complacent, too relaxed and too full of myself. It may sound arrogant to the world, yet deep inside me- i know I am not liking it. This is not me, this is not the same relaxed feeling that I had in the first 7 years of my job, then I was at peace with what I was doing, now I am not at peace with myself. Then i knew exactly what  i wanted, now i don't know what am i running after. PERFECT MIRAGE!!!

On a more personal front, I always had a vivid social life- lots of people around, lots of social activity and some great fun in small things. I always maintained ( and close people around me have heard this from me) - i have a lot of acquaintances and a few friends, i use acquaintances and allow friends to use me.  that was my motto in life- always, and i was really proud of the friends league- things have subtly change - the top line remains the same - lots of people around, lots of social activity and some great fun- but the context has changed- the undercurrents different - now i really yearn for the friends i could spend just any amount of time , i can have so much fun with so many people, but I really miss the heart-to-heart easy conversations, lunches and dinners are abound, but i miss the simple "chhole kulche" on a cycle with those friends, all the barista's and CCD and Costa coffees could not add up to a simple "chai" at HCL Manak building or at the Patel Chest crossing chai wala -simply because we now have friends of convenience- put up a status or comment on facebook, forward bulk SMS and emails, and you are friends, whatever happened to endless talks all night, and mindless gup-shap. 

OK ,these are all generic rants- why am I presssing with these ? Simply because these are things or traits I always hated, and the irony is I feel I am getting pushed to becoming the same stereotype i painted above, i know its hypocricy but i am "blogging" these thoughts instead of talking it out to someone in person. and thats the machination in my life that I am not comfortable with, my life is fast becoming an ordinary life - i was not made for the ordinary life, I deserve something special, something exciting - and i have lived the exciting life all these years......call me arrogant, but i will find MY life back so till I find my LIFE BACK, this blog gets the dose of my mind

back after a while

well loooooooooooong since I wrote last, and it has been a real happening time, too many changes, and too many plusses in the last 10 or so months....

on a personal front- new house, new job(and a mind to get out of that too as well), new friends, and finally making up my mind to getting married(still to find the girl though:)- things that were on the plate for long...kind of coming true in a short time.....been one of the better years as far as i could remember....no major hiccups, and i guess i should shut up before "mujhe apni nazar lag jaaye"

I , somehow, have known a lot of people who had a roller-coaster marriage, people who looked like "made for each other" getting undone in no time- and this year added a couple of more very close friends face the music - reasons ranging all the way from extra marital relations to adjustment issues...and everytime i repeat to myself- this does not happen to everyone....some people recouped their lives post a turmoil, others are yet to do that....all i wish is that my friends deserve the best lives (by the virtue of being my friends :)) and their lives should include all those people who matter to them...including their spouses, and I hope I make the correct choice when i come to that , so that I do not go through this rut....AMEN!!!

i know this post is a completely incoherent lost talk,but i guess this is important since I have thought about blogging a lot of times in these days, and have never done that, so in some ways it is the beginning again, and so anything goes. Hopefully the blogging would be a little more regular- given the amount of time I have in my current job