Do whatever you like

April 22, 2011 at 7:22 am · Filed under my mind

Off late I have been growing my hair. It has actually been 14 months since I last had a haircut. I looked up in the mirror recently and saw my hairs parting from the middle all by themselves. That brought up a conversation in my head that I had had with my Mom when I was around 13 years old and had expressed my desire to have long locks. She was of the opinion that if I intended to be perceived a “good” boy by my teachers I should cut my hair short because that shows discipline and that’s what makes “good” boys. At that age I did not have the argument powers with my mom, and was always afraid of one of her brutal statements: “Do whatever you like”. So I matched my mom’s liking with mine and moved on. As expected I completed school, went through engineering college and got a job all in short hairs. Now that I finally do get to do what I want with full support from her, no strings attached, I questioned myself whether I am a different me in these long hairs or it’s still the same guy but with a different look.

I still feel and react the same way as I had done before. Nothing in me has changed that wasn’t there when the locks were short. I still stand by my words, backup all my promises with action and effort and don’t do things just because I can do them. I am inch by inch the same person that was there 14 months ago. Nothing has changed and I am pretty sure nothing ever will change. Then was my Mom wrong? Was it just her own preference that she wanted her only kid to look a particular way, which had prompted her to make up that story about people and their perceptions? Was I wrong in blindly following what she said, did it speak bad about my character and will power? Should I have just grown my hairs long to see what happens and just don’t care what my mom had to say? After all facing consequences of his actions is what a Man is known for.

I gave it a thought and no matter how much effort I put, I could not justify that I was wrong in following my mom’s advice. Well in hind sight its advice but during those days, they were orders. I now realize that the mere fact that I understand the value of inner character and strength was instilled in those years and that it was the direct result of my upbringing. In fact the whole value system in me was formed because of how I grew up. It was a point in my life where I could not have afforded being wrong. Naïve as I was, that age wasn’t for making statements, it was about making yourself.  I had a lot of growing up to do, not just for me but also for my family. Their life was more at stake than mine.

Humans, no matter how open minded they think they are; they do follow set stereotypes more often than not. A fact, that I now understand much better than I did a decade back. So when she said that I would be perceived in a different way, she was actually making this point that I would be type casted and might not get the desired recognition. For a kid being good, is just a matter of how people around him think him to be. This fact, as simple as it sounds, did not make much sense back then. So to buckle down and do as told was not a bad decision on my part.

I always knew “Do whatever you like” means do as told! And once again this conversation brings the same feelings that had I gone my way it would have been a mistake. May be not too big on my part,  as I had the energy of the youth to take me through. But on their part as they would have had a challenging twilight to their lives.

I am glad I followed!!

Vikash

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Project for Awesome….

December 17, 2010 at 8:37 pm · Filed under my mind ·Tagged , , , , , , , , ,

Positivity really exists in this world and it portrays itself in most weird ways possible. Anyone anywhere is capable of hitting us with their positive attitude and it can really have a world changing impact.

Trending on twitter , moments ago, was a weird little topic called #P4A. To most of us it may seem like any other technical term being discussed by the enlightened souls of the planet earth who are adept at inventing amazing things in the computer world. And in all modesty it could really have been one.

But one click on the tag revealed a whole different world of discussion. It was not about bragging a new invention but just about humanity. It was about doing something to eliminate the suffering from our world. About helping human beings who need support. It was about wiping the tears from the faces of some of our friends and helping those in need. It was about being human.  It was about ProjectforAwesome.

Project for Awesome is in my opinion the real way of helping the unfortunate. People who are less fortunate are in no way different than us but life has played out for them a different script , that’s it. One should not feel guilty for their suffering and then help them, but just help them so that suffering can be eradicated from this planet earth. If we have an issue in life we work upon it to resolve it, its as simple as that. Suffering should be seen as an issue in our world and we should do what we can to remove it.

My heart felt thanks goes to the Vlogbrothers on youtube (http://www.youtube.com/user/vlogbrothers). They have come up with this beautiful idea about #P4A and we should all help them make it a success. Please check them out and search twitter for #P4A to check all the related videos.

And of course DFTBA.. that’s short for Don’t Forget To Be Awesome!

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What on earth is Success?

December 8, 2010 at 7:24 pm · Filed under my mind ·Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

What in the blue hell is Success?

This first thing that comes to mind is that Success is relative. Well relative it is. For the less fortunate out there, being able to put food twice a day on their family’s plate is success. For a soldier involved in active war, being able to return home unharmed to embrace his loved ones is success. For a baby being able to walk a few steps without falling is success. For a business conglomerate, to be able to buy another conglomerate at a price considerably below that of market expectations is success. For a con cheating someone is success and for a priest persuading someone not to commit suicide is a success.

Looks like, the path to be successful resembles the most contorted of networks, whose routing table has been embedded in a secure system, encrypted by algorithms tougher than SHA-1 to crack. As the civilization advances parameters and measures of being successful get evolved as well. It adds to the complexity of a problem when someone proclaims success by just digging wet sand and someone on the other hand falls aside trying to flat out mountains in life. Today’s achievements that might not ensure a bright future are also being represented as marks of success.

It’s an age of personal brilliance. People are so busy in doing their own good that they forget about the social nature of humans.  It’s become a norm that people move out of a less fortunate neighborhood as soon as their fortunes brighten up. Yes it’s true that you need a good neighborhood to really enjoy riding your Benz. But don’t we feel for the neighborhood, shouldn’t we give it an afterthought? Doesn’t it deserve a better treatment?  How can we call ourselves successful if all what we have done is added up our own fortune and now live in a better house?  Is your bank balance and living style the only mark of true success?

Yes it is true success, but only when you look at it from the perspective of living beings who have a very low intelligence level. How can just the ability to provide oneself with good food and living be hallmark of success? Unless we emancipate others, provide for them and help in the general uplift of the society to which we belong, how can we call ourselves successful?  True success lies in its universal recognition.  It should be collective rather than divisive. Success in its true form should bring us closer to others rather than alienate us into a particular society.

To me success is not in how rich I become, but in how much wealth I generate. It’s not about how people recognize me today but how people will remember me after I am long gone.  The day I become the person whom people count upon to put meal on their family’s plate, I will raise my hand in success. Until I achieve that, I cannot and will not proclaim myself successful.

Vikks

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A company called SATYAM

January 13, 2009 at 9:28 pm · Filed under my mind, Uncategorized ·Tagged

After all that we have heard and read about Satyam over the last two weeks there actually remains nothing left to be talked about the Company. Almost everybody on the streets and even as remotely connected to the Indian Software scenario as my boss’s vegetable vendor knows that the company is fighting for its survival and that its future seems bleak. By the media reports and speculations it has no money to pay its assosciates and it all seems to be over for the poster boy of Hyderabad.

But amidst all the din and bustle one important fact seems to have been lost. No body no where ever talked about SATYAM: The Family. The bond that the people of satyam share with one another and the bond that has seen them grow as fast as they have is still as tight as it always was. We the SATYAMITES are still the same. And continue to delight our stakeholders as we always have. A very unique feature of SATYAM is that it has never boasted of cre-de-le-creme when it comes to the academic excellence of the assisciates. When we were picked from lesser known colleges and towns all over India we werent the so called toppers. Almost all of us were mediocre students who had that burning desire to do something in life. There are many of US in Satyam who in our campussing days were rejected by so called big companies because they diddnt find anything good in us. We were given reasons as wierd as our dress sense for our rejecteion. But at that time we were picked by Satyam. A company which stood by our side and made us feel important. They imbibed in us the fighting spirit and the belief that we CAN. A company which had believed in us in those early days cant just go away. Rather it will never go away. They stood by our side when we had nowhere to go an now all of us SATYAMITES will stand by the FAMILY. This feeling of oneness is so strong in us that wierdest of media speculations just sail by us without we even raising a brow.
About the people who leave satyam at this point , its needless to say that they were never true SATYAMITES. They were the conventional hoppers who had hopped in to take an advantage and will hop out any instant. Its very clear in my mind that we as a FAMILY will sail through this phase with ease and come out a much more evolved organization. The phrase Every Satyamite is an Leader comes to the fore in this situation.

AS THEY SAY :: MIGHT OF SATYAM IS THE SATYAMITE !!

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Mumbai Attacks: Role of the Media

December 26, 2008 at 5:02 pm · Filed under My Country ·Tagged


 

In wake of the attacks on Mumbai , it has become almost impossible to avoid the talk of a possible armed conflict with our neighbours. Shivers run down the spine when one reads the leading Indian English dailies on line first thing in the morning. The rhetoric of an armed conflict rumbles across every links and articles on the subject. All the material we read tend to support an armed conflict as the only way to resolve the matter. Every comment and every statement made by some mindless “leaders” on the other side of the border are put on for the public to read as if they were coming form people with lesser mortal brains than ours. Cant we expect a little more maturity from the press and a little bit of direction from them . Rather than going into a mad rush of filling their websites with the insights of there unscrupulous creatures, can they not put some lines extra to it. Explaining , what the real intention of the individual is and why they are making such comments. These “leaders ” who themselves have fled their motherland in fear of death and punishment of what they have led their country give out comments in search of the limelight , which has faded even before it went for a full beam. Press in India can very well do to ignore them, or even if they want to quote them they can explain the REAL purpose of these comments.

Coming to the question of going for an armed conflict, we as INDIANS have a track record of never have gone into it FIRST. We continue to believe that, we wont harm anybody but would certainly give back to the ones who harm us. In this scenario we have to agree that previous attacks on our motherland were not dealt with strongly. Here I appreciate the role of INDIAN Media to have taken 26/11 as a cause and to have forced the Indian set of Power to be affirmative in their actions. But still I feel armed conflict is not a solution. Diplomatic way of dealing with it would be the best options. It would have the same effect of an Homeopathic treatment of a diseasewhen compared to the allopathic approach. Slow to begin with but a long lasting impact. 

We all know that our neighbours are very close to bankruptcy. In this hour of economic turmoil if they decided to spread terror in our motherland, it clearly shows their hapless approach of deviating the world attention on their pathetic economic progress report. What they really intend to do is take the two nations to armed conflict and then blame the same conflict as a reason to their Economic mess.What we as Indians should make sure is that we suffocate their economy , without actually going to a conflict. Put on diplomatic pressure on all their international ties, squeeze the supply of funds and brig them on their knees. Let them be taken over by UN and then they would realize the might of words over that of the sword. 

For the above to occur we need the Media and the Press. World wide consensus should be reached that they are the ones responsible for these heinous acts of crime. People should be made aware of what path is being taken and the prehistoric urge of mankind, the urge to fight for existence should be suppressed by this modern way ofresponse. A response so far reaching that our neighbours will be beggars for generations to come.

The act of writing all this gives me such a peace of mind , that i feel i have avenged the comment made by the former army chief of our neighbours stating that India wont DARE…..

Mr. ex (now a quitter) Chief, India is capable of things which your people can not even dream of. You should look back just 47 years in history to see our capacity and that of yours!!

 

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