There are good times and bad times. Good and bad depend upon how you perceive them to be. When you want to have a good time, you want your friend to get what he/she deserves. It eventually turns out to be for your own happiness because it may not be what he/she actually wanted but what you want him/her to have. Thus him/her having what he/she deserves gives him/her bad times which are though good times for you and in turn you get a bad time because your friend is not having a good time. So is it his/ her confusion or yours which falsely determines what should make him/her happy (in his/ her case) or what he/she deserves (in your case). And it is in this futile attempt to make him/her realize how much you care for him/her, you know if the person you are dealing with is good for your life or bad. If your good times cannot bring good to him/her then it is better to leave him/ her than to moan for him/her or with him/her and if the good and bad times match perfectly then congratulations…you win a good life irrespective of good times and bad times.

Good Day !

Saamir Gupta

Well cheers to 60 years of the longest written constitution of any sovereign country in the world, containing 395 articles in 22 parts, 14 schedules (or a total of 1,17,369 words in the English language version) and many amendments, but alas Republic Day celebrations this year would still fake around the qualms and tribulations which grim around India today under the pompous shows in schools, colleges, workplaces and of course New Delhi.

Growing up eating all 4 ladoos myself all these years at this day didn’t give me great plight. I know for sure the Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar did a very tedious job assembling all the good things to bind up people of India and run the country the way it is being run today and I whole heartedly appreciate the attempt but the question which ponders over me (now that I have grown up to an extend that my grey matter reflects the sensitivity of the society) is  “is aal well ???”

I tried to peep into the constitution and found the glorious words like sovereignty, equality, justice, secularism, fraternity… Needless to say that this self governing state has stood great tides of time defending the essence of the constitution but the satisfaction is nowhere to be seen.  Be it the Ruchika case, Satyam Scam, formation of separate states out of existing ones, and many more of such kinds, I really wish people could have tried to relate to the onus of being an Indian.

It is not an uncommon notion that basics of science and math developed here in India and we still produce many scientists and engineers for developed nations (those facts which you easily get as SMSs and behind your notebooks) but why have we stopped living up to our standards is the question that disturbs me the most. Why is it that we have lost the sense to appreciate the good will, the sense of justice, the righteousness or the godliness? I may sound a bit essayish here but why is it that our profit does come ahead of our nation’s prosperity and growth?

The world is shrinking to a dot and there is practically now 6 degrees of separation left so I am a dumbstruck who cannot even get out of the ages old political drawn lines. This may be the point of view most of the people have but from the way I see it, it is completely the other way round. When we cannot even come out of our state, religion, linguistic boundaries, how can we talk of skipping the national ones? Even if nations cease to exist in this globally united world, why is it that India has to spend billions of rupees just for our safety, a couple of billion for educating us and rest majorly on covering up our demits (building old age homes for our parents whom we leave, planting trees to give us air to breathe and what not), fights (over states, water, dams, religion), and scams?

There is only one possible explanation…the ugly, naked our beautiful (depending upon your eyes) truth. And that truth is we all make India, as it is, today. It is we who contribute money so that it can be channelized to benefit us, it is we who choose worthy people who can take the responsibility of making wise decisions, it is we who enjoy equal rights and opportunities. So why is it that we are stealing from our own thing, robbing ourselves, cursing ourselves for falling prey to such petty things, for not being able to prosper as it had been years before, brooding over petty issues and behaving as slaves of our own selves?

On this Tuesday, try and get up early in the morning to attend the nearest flag hoisting ceremony. If you succeed in doing so, throw a glance at the tiranga when the national anthem is played… I bet you would wish the flag to flutter with the wind continuously as your chest expands owing to the glory of the country and your eyes moisten with the beautiful relation you define with the flag in your very own terms. No question will remain unanswered and we would move a step closer to our definition of India.

Jai Hind!!!

Saamir Gupta

This is a strange world. Well strange may not sound to be an offensive word for the world but I want to raise my voice to the true offenders i.e. the constituents of the world, people and while doing this I want to be true to myself and you. That is why I am restraining myself from using a well suited word or rather adjective for the world to make my point more clear but am using the word which truthfully represents my perception of the world. And the feeling you are getting while going through these few lines are exactly what I perceive of being strange.

Sometimes you do not know how to match your pace with the world or why to go with it. You want to sit down, relax, mock at the rats and the ants, sip a few moments with your thoughts and that is what is actually coming to life for you. So what is the life (or some similar thing) which you spend with the other people in the world? Is it a responsibility of a person to socialize with other or just a management stunt for your life (even the textbook definitions of management = art of getting things done through and with other people) as in manage relationships, grades, jobs, finances, retirement and what not. So isn’t all this interaction superficial? Even the best of friends or soul mate can’t get into your thoughts when you do not allow them so is there any point in getting them so close and then shutting them off?

Man is a social animal and maybe animal is way to sober word for it. The rules of socializing being to pull back every single person overtaking him with all what he has got, to mock at every single thing he can’t understand, to prejudice against the unknowns, to favor the benefactor and shun the unknowns irrespective the potential, to bolster the boss and emasculate the underling, to eat the ripened of others for free and never attempt to aid torments, to be strange opposing the ancestral meaning of humanity.

Now what should be the true nature of a person who is surviving the worldly ways? Is a person bad just because he follows the simple path of modern life as we see it today? Is it good that he survives defying the basics of goodness bestowed upon us right from the very first lesson of moral education? Is surviving the true aim and can a person truly LIVE with others in this world? I don’t like strange things…

Saamir Gupta

Hello Friends !

After 3.5 years of murky hostel life, one moment really ticked on the bomb as if it was the instant at which enlightenment was imparted. Maybe enlightenment is too heavy word for the flash of thought in mind (in my vocabulary enlightenment = Buddha+43 days under bodhi tree). But after this jiffy, the heavy physique of mine, that to with an empty head (the icing on the cake) came to realize that petite voice of the tiny soul within me (tiny is actually when it is compared to my HUGE body) can sometimes make a point so valid that it can be woven into words for others to ponder on (my dumbness).

So here’s the moment, instant, flash, jiffy [no not the thesaurus] the event which led me to a reason to start this blog. Well my room like any other hostel room goes uncleaned, undusted, unswept for months (read ages) and its not usually till the end of days (spiders and lizards attacking on my pillows) that I tend to spare a thought to clean it. But this time I had to get it done because I had my parents visiting me in 5 hours. Hurriedly I located the sweeper of the corridor and gave him the offer of his life (perhaps my). “Rs. 50 for a room and balcony but you will have to sweep it up and then wash it up with phenyl”, I said in hurry still worrying if any of the termite colony had made holes in some of my clothes. He seemed way too happy and readily did what I had asked for. He also told me to keep him calling on weekly basis (maybe it is much more difficult to remove eons old dirt and dust which settles down as an integral part of the room, without which room looks more spacious and lively or maybe it would save him the cost of sandpaper he had to use to wipe off the artifacts of dead brave mosquitoes and flies who tried to sneak in my kingdom). Accepting his request I handed him the decided amount which I had kept in my pocket while he was working (too bad I forgot to flaunt my Gucci wallet in front of him).

Since then week after week, I would gather a couple of ten or twenty rupee notes in pocket (whatever would be the appropriate change available) and hand him over after he was done over with the room. It was interesting for me to note his face expressions while he counted the money he earned from me. The element of uncertainty attached to it was the prime reason that the situation would be worth studying. Sometimes his face would light up as if he had got what he desired and other times it would be like ‘I should not have wasted my time in this brat’s room’. I knew he would secretly wish to know what would be there in my pocket when I would call him for room cleaning, so that he could respond or act accordingly. 7-8 weeks had already passed by in this exercise and the wage he would earn was not by any means in proportion to the amount of dedication he would show while work or the trash he would generate out of the room but only to the left change notes in my wallet. This week, as was evident he had suspected a less wage, he rather came with a sad and bad mood, quietly and less enthusiastically did his work. I had two twenty rupee notes this time in the pocket but his half hearted attempt made me fish out just one of them for him. Was this his anticipation which made him loose another 20 bucks? Even if he had done his work as he did before would not he have got much happier?

This made me realize the importance of thoughts, what we think and how that affects our lives. No one knows how or with what one will be rewarded by what action of his. Only thing that matters is performing one’s obligations with utmost sincerity and honesty, dedication and dexterousness, patience and perseverance (and the list goes on… reason why Oxford has such long list of words) in other words to the best of one’s capabilities in whatever situation he may be in. If we presume that the actions will yield bad results, level of our output is bound to fall and we land up with the outcomes which we expected. Whereas if we put in our mind that we will get good results, then we actually are molding our actions in a positive direction. So saluting this great power of thoughts (though creepy it may sound but it is karmanyavaadhikarastey maafaleshukadachana coming from land of Kurukshetra in one form or the other) lets constructively design our thoughts for the benefit of humanity. After all philanthropy is the sweetest sin of all.

Saamir Gupta