Change

Seems like any other day
But you know it’s different
The silence is deafening
The noise inside your head unbearable
Escape seems almost impossible
A rat in a cage
Hurrying, Scurrying, Sniffing, Pawing
Sigh
You’re feeling woozy
You blank out what you don’t want to see
You see the world outside, not the bars of the cage
It’s a pretty world
You can almost smell the flowers and touch the grass
But not quite
You pretend you don’t know it’s not for you
But it could be
Open your eyes wider
Focus on the bars
There is a way to escape
There always is
There always is
The hard part is figuring it out
Finding a direction
A plan of action
Choosing not to accept what is
And then there’s always a way
There always is

What if....?

What would life be like if we could all always speak our minds? Never mind the consequences, or about being polite; assume we could always say what we were thinking. How long do you think a blind date would last? 15 seconds? 20? What about job interviews?
Imagine being able to tell your boss exactly what you think of him at the exact moment you feel it. Imagine being with your better half and being able to tell them their breath stinks. Or being able to tell someone on the 3rd date that you might be falling in love with them!
Imagine issues of national importance. If India and Pakistan could tell each other what they really thought of one another during one of those “peace talks.” What a world that would be.
And since the things we most often don’t tell people are the unpleasant ones, think about the number of unpleasant conversations that would take place. But also think about the transparency and honesty. Think about the acrimony and bitterness.
What would a world like that be? Would we want to live in it if there were no layers, no hypocrisy? Some might argue that it would take the fun and challenge out of human relationships, while others might feel that it would be a more pleasant, more open and honest place to be in. It might eat away at our confidence levels, or it might make us stronger. It might make us simpler or it might make us more complex.
I guess we’ll never know…..all we can do is ponder upon the what ifs.

Letters vs Rubber Stamps

Yesterday I went to view something called a photo-journal. An acquaintance from college, who is now a friend, invited us to view photographs he had taken on his trip to Ladakh. I went, not quite knowing what to expect, yet curious. It turned out to be one of the better decisions I have made. The photo-journal consisted of a slide show of some of the most amazing landscape pictures, accompanied by a narrative of the whole experience. It brought Ladakh that much closer to Delhi, and to people like me, who have never been to that side of the country. What made the trip more amazing to me was the fact that it was done on a Royal Enfield bike.
The narrative talked about varied things, like the presence of God that he felt up there, the discomfort he suffered as a result of leaving his anti-altitude sickness pills behind, the frustration when it rained, and the joy when he finally made it. It must truly have been an experience….of which I experienced only a shadow. He talked about not compromising his life anymore, and “never trading the letter for the rubber stamp.” That struck a chord somewhere, and I realized how many letters I and most people I know trade everyday for the rubber stamps. How many things we know of through hearsay without ever bothering to explore them for ourselves. Doing these things means that we are compromising on the quality of our lives; it means we will someday know of a lot of things, yet really know none.
Just taking the step of saying that we will no longer compromise and will always make the time to do things that are important to us, is taking the first and rather large step. But this, like every other first step, is the hardest. The fact that this person has had the courage to take that step doesn’t mean that he will always succeed in living life to the fullest. He may not, but even if he makes it to 50% of that, he will have lived a more enriched life than most other people.
My friend, who was sitting next to me during the presentation, said that he could hear soft whispers amongst the other bikers saying “Next year.”
I wish I could say that too!!

Cinderella Man

I watched this movie yesterday. It’s definitely one of the better films this year. The casting is perfect, the performances are great and the sets are mind blowingly detailed. It is set in the 1930s in New York City, right after the Great Depression. The film exposes the dire poverty that prevailed at the time, and the various turns that different people’s lives took due to the extreme poverty.
The film is the story of a boxer who is past his prime, and now destitute. However, pride and ethics are important to him, and more than that is his family. The story follows his struggle as he embarks on the increasingly uphill task of making both ends meet and providing for his family. Grit, determination and sheer necessity are the factors that make him bounce back and become a force to reckon with in the ring. What is touching is the fact that through his steady rise to the top, he never once loses his focus. Nor does he allow the success to go to his head. Essentially, the person he was never changed.
It is interesting to note how much a human being can achieve if he really pushes himself. Also interesting is how necessity pushes one to reach heights they had never dreamed possible. I find it hard to believe that the same man would have achieved the same things, had poverty and desperation not driven him to. Maybe we shouldn’t wait for circumstances to push us and strain our boundaries. Maybe we shouldn’t wait for circumstances to lead us to success. Can you imagine the things we could be and the things we could do if we went about our tasks like our lives depended on them? The possibilities are dizzyingly endless!

Count your Change!

There’s this cigarette waala who’s rigged up his little mobile cigarette and cold drink shop near my house. Consequently, I end up going to him pretty often for my cigarettes, and have been doing so since the past year or so. The man seems quite sweet and so does his wife. They have a couple of children who now recognize me and come running to say hello when they see my car.
Needless to say, when such a relationship is established between the vendor and consumer, a little thing like money does not seem of great importance. However, mistakes have been made, wherein I’ve ended up giving the chap more than I owed him, but then I figure, hey, he gives me credit…and what’s a few rupees here and there?
Yesterday, however, my illusion of this relationship was shattered, as when I went to buy my cigarettes, he charged me more than the retail price. I argued, he buckled, and tried to charge me a little less than his last quote, but still more than the retail price. Finally, I drove off in exasperation, with a bitter taste in my mouth. Obviously, he was a lot more pragmatic than me, and had been taking advantage of the fact that I seldom bother to count my change when I buy from him.
I don’t think I’ll be going back to him for my cigarettes anymore.