Everything is good, everything is just right...

“Theek hai theek theek sab kuch theek hai

 Paas hai sab kuch rab nazdeek hai

Hey Rab ke hazur mein kasmein bhi kha li

Duniya ki auni pauni rasmein nibha li

Phir bhi na maane koi to dafa kar

Maane jo maane na maane to bhala kar

Duniya na maane khasma nu khaye

Khasma nu khaye marjaani”

These are the lyrics of a popular Bollywood number written by Gulzar. I tried to translate it as follows (I hope the translation is somewhat close):

“Everything is good, everything is just right

You’ve got everything if God’s in sight

We’ve kept promises to Him,

Followed the itsy-bitsy whims of this world

If people still don’t agree, shun them

They accept or not, it’s all well

If the world doesn't care, don’t dread

Let the damn thing go to hell”

I like this song a lot because although it has been comically filmed, has a loud score with exaggerated dances but it’s still philosophical and highlights a sad truth of life – How so ever hard you may try you cannot keep everyone happy. So the best thing is to do your best and forget everything else.

All that said and understood it pains me no end when people who have accomplished little in their own lives tend to question the greatness of people like Sachin Tendulkar and A R Rahman and criticize them. Just read the comments on the recent CWG song controversy or the chat logs of a cricket website when Sachin is playing, it will make you sick to the stomach for the way people tend to spew hatred, bile and total disregard for the accomplishments of these two. Not that Rahman and Sachin have been infallible, they have made their mistakes, but their greatness lies not in their mistakes, but how they have outgrown them and set new standards every time.

My concern is not just the criticism that these two have been receiving, their records and awards speak for themselves; but I am more concerned with the general cynicism and negativity that is engulfing our everyday lives. Just open any news website and go through the news headlines; even worse try reading the comments on the news items you will understand what I am saying. Is it that the common man suffers so much in his daily life – in his quest of getting the very basic things ( roti, kapda and makan) – that he is left with little choice but to vent his anger at public forums? Is that the only way he feels he will be heard?

For a nation that got it’s independence using Non-cooperation as a main weapon along with non-violence; probably the only way we know we’ll be heard is by not cooperating with the law and government – hence the pride in breaking the law in our everyday lives and a ‘band’ or a ‘hartal’ for every other non-issue (and of course, we forgot non-violence and discarded it as soon as we had milked it’s benefits). Sometimes I think Gandhi got us independence through ‘Asahyog’ or ‘Non-Cooperation’ which was great but in the event paralyzed the Indian mindset for ever. Now that is the only way we know of getting our demands met, add to that the general apathy that the administration has towards the issues/problems of the common man – you get what we have today- Chaos. In other countries they wear black arm-bands while working as a mark of protest or work over-time, in India we stop work, shout slogans burn buses and later brag about it.

So in a way it is good that we have so many News (Shout) Channels and the internet now, it gives common man a platform to vent out their angst and is way more preferable than burning public property. Public opinion is a strong force in any democracy and these are excellent tools that help us form, strengthen and propagate beliefs. And the media, as much as we hate it for sensationalism and cheap publicity, plays a very important role in the whole process as is evident from whatever little that has been achieved in the criminal cases against the rich and the powerful and of late in case of the urgency shown by the government to get the CWG preparations completed on time despite all the corruption and delays.

I understand the power of the medium and fully support and endorse it but still don’t understand when we act like thankless morons, when we try to bring down people who have achieved so much over the years, proved themselves time and again.

Let me know your thoughts on the topic?

Status, Status everywhere and lots of lines to think..

The title is inspired from Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s classic poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.

Status messages have become such an integral part of our lives. A substantial part of our time daily is spent on updating our 'Status’ on Facebook, Twitter, Gmail, Buzz, Orkut and what not?? We humans are social by nature (as I read in textbooks during school days J ) and not so long ago people were complaining that the internet is isolating people and killing the very social fiber itself. But, like all great things, internet did its own thing, evolved its own solution to the problem - the Social Media (SM) tools and right now is flooded by them. And at the very core of this SM phenomenon is the ‘Status’. People update their status, look for other person’s status, comment on it and love being commented upon. So everybody has something to say and everybody has a 'Status' message.

You'll find lyrics of popular songs, lines from some poem or famous quotes from somebody as the status for most people. I, myself often, use them to share the links to the new posts on my blogs apart from sharing other messages which can at times be "just utter nonsense". Then there are status messages that want you to listen to a song, watch a video or read some interesting article on some random website. Well, I like most of them, but what I find interesting is the way people use the status messages to share the mood or the state of mind they are in. I am pretty sure that most of the times the status reflects the mind frame of that person, even if it is not in plain words. The more artistic ones choose a line from a song or quote or poem while others just mention a few words and leave the rest to your imagination. With due respect to all my friends, sample a few status messages on Gmail chat for some of my friends at this time:

"On iPhone with IM+"

“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A38LH9JvkiI&feature=related”

“Time and Tide waits for none”

"RANJHA RANJHA kardi ve main aape ranjha hoyi" –lines from a popular Hindi film number.

"I believe I can fly....I believe I can touch the sky..."

"Work, work n more work"

"where the hell is my status message.........."

"There is no point in living if you cannot feel alive!!"

"ek simple si coffee bhi kick deti thi, tere sang..." –lines from a popular Hindi film number.

"Why is God after my life????"

Note: For all my friends whose status I have mentioned here, I took the liberty of using these without permission because most of them are not original in the first place J. And for the ones which are originals, they are meant to be shared.. right?? I just shared them with a few more people, knowing that you all are my good friends and won’t mind the "free publicity" a bit ;)

In my personal opinion and with all due respect and love, I like the bottom half in the list more for the simple reason that they generate a curiosity and prompt the readers to initiate a conversation. Conversation is what we crave for; the need to vent out the feelings. Just go through each of the status messages once again and try and figure out the state of mind of the person, I am sure you will make many interesting observations J

OK..so how many times has it happened that a simple status message on your Gmail chat window or your Facebook homepage has lead to an interesting conversation with a friend? In fact, most of the times I start the conversation by saying something relevant to the status message of the person. Recently I had one such conversation, most conversations are interesting but this one took an unexpected turn. It was simply innocuous and never intended to go in the direction it went and even ended abruptly but I wish we can pick up the threads someday and continue from where we left J. It has been mentioned below; I hope you find it interesting too. Also, please do share any incidents where you had a similar experience; I am sure it happens a lot of times to each one of us.

DearFriend’s Status: I am what I am.

me: I know  what u are J

DearFriend: you know me as **********. I am more than that

me: hmm.. for example

DearFriend: To you My “ I” could not be more than a friend. My "I" or close buddy but My “I” cannot be more to you

me: see there is nothing kept in these topics close your eye(I) and just remember God ;)

DearFriend: if ever get a chance i would like to recommend a book "I am That"

me: aur main kehta hun ki “that is me”. its all perception :)

DearFriend: perception is a term when we tend to look at others and compare...there is nothing more than I. so where this perception could exist

me: wrong! perception is what we perceive, it's “my” vision it has 'I' written all over it that's why i said that is me :)

DearFriend: :) so whats your me ?

me: The world is how I see it what I see is what I am :)

DearFriend: thats so true

me: If all I can see is wrong then something is wrong in me If I see good there is something good in me :)

DearFriend: but there is something beyond  that as well. who is judging ... right or wrong. to you .. drinking may be bad.. for me its good

me: there is no judging everything is relative, relative to what I am :)

DearFriend: i live by one word.. experience..whatever comes

me: correct!! when a child comes to this world he is blank, he has no sense of right or wrong, his experiences make him draw his line of reference from which he measures right or wrong

DearFriend: i asked a prostitute.. what is love.. she said. its fucking Rs 1000 per hour.

correct ? right or wrong??

me: depends who is deciding. what his/her line of reference

DearFriend: you just use experience to avoid what you have already faced and didnt like.  but accepting that its all experience and keep on moving, that is what brings you closer to your SELF

me: sorry..I am enjoying the conversation ..but need to take a break..getting a call

DearFriend: same here. need to take offshore call :( cya later

me: tc bye :)

Note: Due permission has been taken from the person involved in the conversation before mentioning it here.