Something I was...

Love this song...Kisi Ki Muskurahaton Pe Ho Nisaar from the film Anari (1959) by Raj Kapoor. Always wanted to be such a person. Alas, as time flew realised quite the contrary.

Can we actually be so nice...I want to be. Being nasty or rude or scheming isn't me. I would rather be innocent (alas...) and honest and caring. Infact I was caring, really really caring. But not for long...

Without boring you further...here's the video of the song...sung beautifully by Mukesh for Raj Kapoor

Priorities in Life

An interesting anecdote I came across sometime back...
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A professor stood before his Philosophy class and had some items in front of him.

When the class began, wordlessly, he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full.

They agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full.

They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full.

The students responded with a unanimous "yes."

The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the empty space between the sand.

The students laughed.

"Now," said the professor, as the laughter subsided, "I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life."

"The golf balls are the important things - your God, family, your children, your health, your friends, and your favourite passions - things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full. "

"The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house, and your car. The sand is everything else--the small stuff."

"If you put the sand into the jar first," he continued, "there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life."

"If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you.

Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness.
Play with your children.
Take time to get medical checkups.
Take your partner out to dinner.
Play another 18.
There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal.
Take care of the golf balls first, the things that really matter.
Set your priorities."
"The rest is just sand."

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffee represented.
The professor smiled. "I'm glad you asked.

"It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a cup of coffee with a friend."

Questions galore...

This blog was written by me at CNN-IBN blogs on http://www.ibnlive.com/blogs/author/1388/2722/gujaratblogs.html

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Until the elections actually got over and I got around arguing with some friends why Narendra Modi aka "NaMo" should or should not be voted for, I actually never thought from the other side.

It goes this way. On a freezing Monday night, at Lucknow, sitting around a bonfire, I overheard some discussion about the Gujarat elections. Being known for my staunch anti-Modi comments, I naturally made myself part of the discussion. The group of 5 (plus 1-2 floaters) soon started on why or why not Modi?

Like most anti-riot supporters, my thoughts started and ended on one thought - that Modi aided the mass genocide post-Godhra and how all his positives cannot take that stain off him. The pro-Modi classmate of mine asked me one simple question: "Why did thousands of people come out and actually rallied against the Muslims? Is allowing riots to happen enough to actually make those Hindus come out in the open, to go and make them kill?" My answer remained the same, that it is in the innate self that every human being should find the answer. Every stone does not have to be answered with a brick. But the apparent, simple yet shocking truth behind his subsequent words actually had me hestitating for a reply. He asked me that "ofcourse there was this hatred inside those men, maybe not all, but atleast 80% of them, that drove them to riot. That decades of communal violence, killing of their families, neighbours etc had rooted deep inside them, a rage, that boiled over post-Godhra."

Not that he justified what happened, nor am I doing the same, but why this hatred? Or what is the solution to the ghettoisation that has happened in most corners of the country? How do we remove this hatred? Is minority appeasement actually benefitting us? Suddenly, there were no clear answers, atleast not practically.

Though we anti-Modi guys managed to make them concede their initial point and accept that as the responsibility of the state, and as an elected leader, Modi was wrong in allowing the riots. But the questions continue to linger. Is it enough to say that he is wrong? And that Congress leaders in 1984 also were wrong? Its too idealistic to say that ok, we should not kill in response to a killing. Apparently, and obviously, human emotions in these cases are too fragile.

Our politicians, cutting across party lines have been using the communal card for their vested benefits since a long time. Either in the form of Hindutva, or minority appeasement, the society has always been taken for a ride.

Ideally, yes, Modi should be punished. Yes, but after that what are the steps we take to make us Indians take as much pride in our social and communal fabric too as we take in our economic progress or our cultural richness. Anyone out there with an answer?