1. A NATION OF A BILLION DREAMS
A land of diversities,
India,
My Motherland,
of fond memories.
It was here,
I grew up,
had friends,
got the love/affection...
of parents, teachers, elders...
But....
today my land of love,
is ravaged by divides of....
caste,
class,
and many more identities.
We have become pawns of...
vote bank politicians,
corporate greed,
capitalistic designs,
consumerist pleasures...
And what's more,
our Indian values too are
at their lowest ebb.
But still....
I dream of,
an India,
my homeland,
where one day,
growth will lead to happiness,
love will lead to kindness,
development will lead to harmony,
success will lead to wisdom.
And we will lead the world....
to peace and progress.
2. THE X-FACTOR
Having an extra appeal,
because of...
the things unknown...
some of us...
like to be,
in the mystery zone and
people look up to....
with awe/regard,
and imagine/wonder....
"How would they be moving,
breathing,
living,
speaking....
And on the flip side is,
a longing for
a little more...
privacy
and annonymity.
3. TUBELIGHT
Some expressions
we just brush away
during a tete-a-tete,
then....
think again of
them,
look up their meanings
and just wonder....
Oh...this was what the word had meant.
4. DIE HARDS
To be....
neither a die hard critic,
nor a die hard fan...
of someone/something
is like being detached
and attached at the same time.
And may be...
this is the right motivation
for actions.
The right inspiration for
constructive discussions.
5. BONDING
In sync with
thoughts,
words,
and silence too.
In harmony with
views,
vision,
and arguments too
In tune with...
attention,
reaction,
and fights too.
Such a Bonding.....
A blessing
6.OLD IS GOLD
We tend to romanticise
the past.
The music/movies/ melodies of yore,
past way of living/ values...
Past to us is an oasis of blessings.
and the mother of all Goodness.
Some even say...
"God was in His heaven.
And all was right with the world !"
May be, they are right.
Or...
May be,
time plays games on minds,
and makes past look so alluring.
7. A NEW INDIA
It is too far fetched
to think that....
the recent
judgements/policies will change
radically...
our society...
our prejudices....
our patriarchal mindset...
but certainly,
the seeds have been sown,
the thought process has begun,
the debates are on...
for the making of
a new India...
8. S.L.E.E.P
You tap its power
of consciousness,
Giving you the traction
to deal with any
eventualities...
Neglecting it
saps your faculties
of judgement and
discretion....
So it's a lever....
helping to live
the fullest.
9. pk
We watched him,
doing things...
speaking....
reacting....
and thought that we
were enjoying,
having fun
and getting....
our money's worth
but it was actually
he who understood us
better...
than ourselves,
had a good laugh
and time,
living in our midst
and finally exiting
with ample memories
of our silly fights,
debates and
divisions.
What a world
of ours,
to visit
and revisit....!
10. S.I.L.E.N.C.E
Speaking to the silence
within...
There is no creeping fear
of being judged/assessed.
In the woods of silence,
you are nothing but the,
YOU in you,
the unfiltered you,
and you talk till....
you outwit all your
doubting Thomases inside,
become ready....
to read the world
with more clarity
and vision.
11. WORDS
Be it a .....
a light banter,
a casual talk,
a silly chat,
some words
while,
clarifying facts....
may
hurt the hearts,
martyr the minds.
But...
live interactions
are unscripted;
so everything is fair
and it's all a part of
dynamic relationships.
12. E.D.U.C.A.T.IO.N
Up against a Himalayan range,
the mind looks up
in shock and disbelief....
How to gather thy self
and start the hard climb
with the inner burden of
a lost battle....
It's a grim task,
testing every nerve,
straining every cell
but to stand up, regroup
and being in the running
and finally,
recovering some ground
is what makes you
wonder "Have I really found....
my inner strength?"
13. DIS-POSSESSION
The forceful thoughts
in being dispossessed
of something....
is the hardest
to battle with.
You hear an ocean
crying inside
for a wave of hope...
for a star of faith....
And the depth of this ocean
roaring inside souls
of the dispossessed
is unfathomable.....
14. THE CLICK
A click
when you are lost
in action...
tells the truth
about your self
rather than a thousand clicks
when you pose,
keep control,
hold your breath,
spread a smile,
and wait....
for the machine to
click...
15. THE WORLD
Testing,
Trying,
Teasing,
Ways of the world....
Wants to see individuals,
always...
in its own comfort zone,
conditioned by beliefs...
customs...
systems...
and when someone
goes beyond the line
drawn by the world
it gets uncomfortable....
starts thinking....
worrying....
blaming....
and finally
ends up
accepting...
the change.
16. M I R A C L E
There are very many
different worlds
running parallel
within our human world,
made of people who
are so much varied....
in the type of life they live,
the type of thoughts they have,
their interactions with
their society,
their families,
their own lives.....
It seems like these worlds
have nothing in common;
the only thing that binds them
is that they share the same....
earth,
water,
air,
sky.....
Rest everything is poles apart
or worlds apart.
And when these worlds come
together,
albeit for a short time,
it is nothing less than a
miracle.
17. N A M E S
"What's in a name?"
The Bard himself had asked.
But think of some GIANTS' names
and you wonder.....
how much they might have been spurred on
by the power of their names
like Yesudas,
Rumi,
Ghalib,
Amitabh Bachchan,
Madhuri Dixit,
Virat Kohli,
Latha Mangeshkar,
Sachin Tendulkar....
So names do matter.
At least to the one who is called by it
a billion times in a lifetime....
If a name doesn't excite a mind
that rightfully owns it
nothing will.....
18. STRANGE TIMES
At a time when
the fossil fuel prices
go through the roof,
leaders practice
inaction....
leaving masses
at the mercy
of market forces.
The society expresses its
anger/pain through
fossilised methods like hartals,
diverting the focus
from the main issue.
Hartals become the
talk of the town and
make price rise
a lesser evil !
Strange times.
19. IF....
Some words,
if uttered....
could have changed
a life.
Some steps
if taken...
could have changed
a destiny.
Some visions
if had
could have changed
a world....
These "if" thoughts
never die,
living an endless life
in minds.
20. "SOLUTIONS"
At times.....
we "tie ourselves" in knots
not by
problems themselves
but rather by the
the solutions we "think" of
to save our skins/ship.
Solutions become the "real" problems....
So in a way problems are far better
than "solutions"
At least they help us....
to continue with our lives
without messing with it too much.
21. MEMORIES
There's a rule,
regarding memories about
something/someone
making us happy
or sad....and that is,
it is never a memory of them
in the remote past rather...
It should always be a memory
in the recent past...that gives happiness.
Why's it so?
Why this order?
If a memory of somebody/something
has given you
happiness at any point in time,
give it its due.
Is it fair ...
to discriminate
between memories?
22. AN IMAGE
An Image of his
Motivated.....
Inspired....
Fuelled....
Ekalavya to excel.
His student Arjuna,
became the best in the business.
He commanded respect
from all and sundry.
Yet reading between the lines,
he remains...
the master of Manipulations,
the one who made everyone
mere tools to achieve his own
utterly selfish/small ends.
He was Drona, the Royal teacher
of Pandavas and Kauravas.
But his life is as uninspiring
as a hillock without
the birds of compassion and love.
So in the ultimate analysis
he was nowhere near his
perceived Image.
23. HUMAN NEEDS
Humans had mostly physical needs
in the beginning.
Today most of our needs are mainly
emotional ones...
like fame/status/contacts,
possessiveness/control,
security/assurance,
to update/catch up...
Interesting needs indeed.
24. "A TRUE STORY"
Every story being
an imagined version of
a person's mind,
the phrase "a true story"
is an oxymoron...
Then why do we have to
fear imaginations and stories
of "super" minds...
So let's listen to true stories
also as stories....
without getting all worked up.
25. ...ISMS.
An -ism thinks....
of helping everyone
by giving solutions
in the form of things,
advice,
experience....
But there is just one rule,
be a follower
and make everyone the same;
in fact the whole world
should look up to it
for help.....
And that explains the life today.....
Consumerism/Capitalism becoming
the order of the day.....
26. S.U.S.P.I.C.I.O.N
It only loves itself,
making everything a mirror
of it's own image.
You see only what it shows,
You hear only what it tells,
and the glass-house, now
becomes your new home,
making you feel "secure".
It is the power of suspicion.
27. C-O-N-V-E-R-S-A-T-I-O-N
A conversation...
many a time,
is not to seek a solution
neither to find an answer.
It is to get a grip
on the emotions
that are trying to
throw you off balance;
so you share a
few words on
how you feel,
how you presume,
how you see things coming,
and you move on....
dusting off your self
and geting ready for the
future.
28. THE SILENT SYSTEMS
No questions....
Be silent.
WHY....?
Because that's how
things work here.
Follow the system.
And don't think....
Thinking is not allowed.
But you can criticise other systems
And please do that always.
But remember if....
you question our system,
i mean your system then...
you are in trouble,
so be silent.
No questions....ok?
OK.
29. A BIT OF TRUTH
A bit of truth:
We live our beliefs...
our identities,
our thoughts.
This is the truth
of all lives
and then we fight
over these bits;
we win,
we lose,
and we start again...
30. A THOUGHT
A thought needs
for its survival and existence
an actor who symbolises it,
it also needs an audience
and their attention.
Without these three
thoughts have no effect.
We become a thought
We seek an audience for our thoughts
and then we expect attention for our thoughts
from the audience.
31. ADMITTING MISTAKES, an ANATHEMA:
A world where people
admit mistakes with passion
as if it was their very nature
to do so.....
then there won't be so much
friction,
in relationships,
in organisations,
in families,
between parties,
between communities,
between societies...
So much time we spend,
so much trouble we take.....
defending an Image of perfection
building a self-image called ego
that becomes the driving force,
creating a world
of illusions/delusions
and free of evolutions.
32. C H-A-N-G E
With time, thoughts change.
With thoughts, minds change.
With minds, games change.
With games, players change.
With players, worlds change.
With worlds, truths change.
But still,
Life goes on....
33. FIGHTER
When the ground beneath,
starts to shake
and the mind cries to
to find a better place
to breathe and be....
Showing
an attitude of gratitude,
to all the things around
good, bad and worse...
and still holding on,
becoming strong
is nothing but.....
taking things
as they come,
head on...
like a fighter.
34. THE BIG QUESTION
It's easy to feel
motivated....
when you are in the shoes
of a person having a
white collar job
but the plight of those
under the hot sun,
hoping to earn,
just a handful,
or even a mouthful....
How to revive his/her
sagging spirits
is a big question....
that often the mind asks
and you look towards
the vast sky
and wait for
an answer....
35. L.EARN.ING
Rote learning....
we think of it as studying.
Writing answers....
not asking questions,
is passing the test
for us.
But....
What is learning, really?
To understand a concept
in such a way so as to
apply in a life situation
and feel self-confident.
This keeps the spirit
of learning alive....
This is what we miss
in our education.
And the thinking mind
dies....
in our classrooms.
So from born thinkers
we get re-formed to
rote learners,
believers,
supporters,
followers....
easy for the leaders
to lead....
towards their own
destinations.
So our classrooms
suit our social systems
but not the purpose of life......
36. WINNER'S APPLAUSE
Male ego,
a product...
of social conditioning.
Sensitive Intelligence,
a nature's gift.
The art of sharing
in bits and bytes...
with a larger group,
exploiting the potential
of a dynamic medium,
Not holding
or hiding....
your thoughts
but....
showing the courage,
acting with a novelty,
stepping out of
glass ceilings,
and creating a
demand....
fully on your own
deserves a
winner's applause.
37. A BELIEF.....
A higher power,
above us.....
May be....
a better version...
of ourselves,
who knows everything,
who can do anything,
who is everywhere,
omniscient,
omnipotent,
omnipresent,
who helps the hapless,
and those in distress;
to imagine that
you are in his control,
you are protected by him,
you are guided by him...
Such a thought,
when it becomes a belief,
it gives a power...
hard to comprehend
for a rational mind.....
May be that's where
the intellectuals and
the masses are unable
to understand each other....
38. SONG OF SILENCE
They met and talked....
and the talks lit their worlds,
The talks then
became fights....
and through the fights
they found each other again....
It was all a means to.....
re-discover the innocent self,
the pure self,
the real self....
And then....
they became silent,
with just a song
playing in the background....
the song of silence.
39. UNSTOPPABLE
Action with a vision...
short term and long term
that comes from...
creative imagination.
Every step making one
feel good about self.
A combination of...
action, vision and emotion,
makes the doer hard to beat...
hard to stop...
for any critic,
for any force,
He/She becomes
unstoppable...
40. A CULTURE OF REVERENCE
Hearts reverberating...
with reverence for the Deity,
prayers echoing...
His pious consciousness,
souls being sanctified by....
His Holiness,
Minds surrendering...
to the Sacred Silence felt....
deep within and...
Divinity dawning on the devotees!
Such a Communion...
with the Almighty,
where the Heavenly Grace...
is blessing the earthly beings,
is nothing...
but a cosmic Celeberation.
Here Devotion...
becomes a festival
of Oneness
with the Creator...
and His Creation.
41. LIFE ENERGY
When life meets life,
there's always a flow
of energy.....
The interactions with life
make you lively,
make you kind,
and to be in love with life.
42. THE COMPANY OF STARS
Never leaving you alone,
In the battle or the storm,
The company of stars.
There's always a hope,
And the hope never dies,
For giving your best,
For being with the best
You forget the rest,
And go for the test,
Everyday....
Coz' you know it very well
You are in the company of stars.
43. DISTILLED WISDOM
We need to move
beyond the past,
re-read the past,
become better than
ourselves in the past.
But not by
fighting with it.
belittling it.
disowning it.
de-glorifying it.
The past had its
good/bad elements
but what matters is.....
it conceals the
distilled wisdom
of the ages for us
to re-learn/ understand
life...
nature...
and ourselves...
44. SOCIAL BEINGS
When the social needs get
sold as personal needs
or luxuries....
by the business world,
the society/govt.
looks the other way...
The middle class then
takes upon itself to
keep the hiccups at bay...
So public transport gets
replaced by private vehicles,
cinema theatres by
personal screens.
For air pollution,
there are air purifiers.
And we keep saying,
We....the social beings.
45. SCREEN AGE
Moving from one
screen to another,
time flows...
The small screens,
The big screens,
The giant ones,
and the.....
the mindscreen.
Feeding our thoughts,
Seeding our dreams,
Designing destines,
the screens define the
minsdcape......
46. PATRIARCHY
With our systems
turning gender neutral......
patriarchy is apparently
on its last legs and
as nothing stays forever,
this juggernaut would also
roll into the ocean
of history....
never to be seen again.
Welcoming the dawn of....
a new world order where
every thought is heard
and where the gender
of the thought is ignored.
May the glass ceilings break....
May gender equality call the shots....
May the Truth have the last laugh.
47. TEACHING
Reaching out...
to the students and...
appealing to....
their intellect,
their emotions,
their dreams
and also being ...
actively entertaining,
unpredictable,
finding
creative sparks to improvise,
being on the toes and...
looking for brainwaves,
to make the activities
more meaningful;
teaching is like holding
an ace up your sleeves,
everytime,
all the time.
48. COURAGE
To treat all....
with respect,
equality,
dignity,
fairness
is courage.
To be selective...
To act selectively...
is convenience,
not courage....
because it suits our
thought systems.
Real courage is when
we don't care about
anything,
anythought,
anyone
and strive for
justice without
appeasement.
We
fear none
and dare to.....
walk alone.
49. EQUALITY
It's easy to
fall for it....
Romanticise this idea...
But in universe
there is only...
uniqueness.
Equality is another
idealogy,
created by mind,
...a dogma.
Evolution happens,
not because of equality
but...
because of diversity,
Nature doesn't believe
in equality,
Only minds do.
50. A SMILE...
Met a person,
while in a textile shop
who smiled....
seeing me
and told me
that it's his family business
and that he is a govt. employee,
on a year long leave....
and if the business runs well,
will take a permanent leave.
And the reason for his smile
was that I had been his teacher
once......
Felt good at entrepreneurs like him
who can usher in ....
the fresh waves of change
from being govt. employed...
to self employed.
51. LET GO
It's wise sometimes,
to let things work out
in their own way....
Too much of a haste
may not help our cause.
To be the best,
To be worthy,
To be happy,
may the trust never rust.
So let go.....
52. DISTANCE
Creating a space,
a comfort zone...
that
isolates,
protects,
from the
urge of
expectations to
do,
think,
say,
be,
have,
feel.
Life....
seems greener
when there is a
distance.
53. CHERRY PICKING
It's human nature
to question....
No doubt about it.
We should question
our beliefs.
Definitely.
The only question is...
Why only some beliefs ?
Why not all the beliefs...?
Why get selective?
Why get overprotective
when it comes to
some beliefs ?
Let's treat...
all beliefs equally,
in the same manner,
without being selective,
without cherry picking.
54. TYRANNY OF TIME
"It's already 10 mins. late.
Sorry I got a bit late."
This high regard for time
strangulates many lives,
After all how does it matter
so much,
in the end....
For being on time,
For not being late,
we lose so much
of our peace
and focus
and joy.
Time is of value,
no doubt.
But life too has
a value,
and so is peace,
and a pace that
comes naturally.
55.WALK TO THE STARS
Time, Trust
and Thoughts,
You make life,
a pleasant walk....
to reach for the stars,
in a moonlit night...
With lights all around,
With gifts at all the steps....
56. HONESTY/DIPLOMACY
Diplomacy is
the lifeblood of
all relationships....
Not honesty.
Honesty is no
good when it
comes to
sustaining
relationships.....
So thinking twice,
even thrice.....
and silencing the
honest voice inside....
helps in the cosmetic world.
57. MIND FREEDOM
Blind acceptance of
a thought pattern...
Blind hatred for
a pattern of thought.
Unfortunately,
both symbolize
the same attitude,
and that is.....
a fear to challenge
the
thought monsters.
And that is what
all ideologies do.....
creating monsters,
and opposing
the freedom
to think minus a
pattern...
To think like a
king having no
poverty/pattern
in thoughts
is freedom....
Mind freedom.
58. VIRTUAL REALITY
It is not
whether
something is
really good/bad
that matters.
What matters is that
we think
something is
good/bad.
And it is the same
with all things.
So it is not only
about things....
it is also about
our thoughts.
59. A TRAVELLER
Travelling through
thoughts,
truths,
roads,
rules,
skies,
minds,
you find.....
that all these travels
finally lead to
where you started....
the truth of self.
the child within.
the world within.
60. TYRANNY OF THOUGHTS
In following every thought
of ours.......
we accept the tyranny of
thoughts,
Instead of the bigger truth,
we get behind words and
thoughts,
"Who said what"
is all we want to know.
A better question would be,
Where is the lasting truth
in all these thoughts....
Just a game played by the mind
becomes so dear to us all.
And we run forever...behind these
thoughts.
61.INNOCENCE
A virtue
in its own way....
But when the
vices rule,
the goodness
is afraid to
show itself
and have its way...
62. THE SUN
Standing through
the hot sun,
surviving it...
facing it...
day in/day out,
bearing it,
with a smile,
head on....
With heat stretching
every nerve,
the mind sometimes
lets itself loose,
into a world
of fantasy,
the world of
make belief.
And...
the stories,
the gossips,
the shadows,
become dearer
than the facts,
the truth,
the sun
of reality.
