Are we just puppets?

Today, I heard the news of an accident in which two established Marathi actors – Anand Abhyankar, Akhsay Pendse passed away.  Along with Akshay, his 1.5 yr old son also passed away. On hearing this, the first thought, or rather question, that came into my mind was – are we puppets? Do we have no control on what’s happening?

Let me start with how did the accident happen. These guys were travelling in their Wagon R on the Mumbai-Pune express highway at night. They were heading towards Mumbai. A tempo (miniature truck) was travelling in the opposite direction (towards Pune). There’s a huge divider in between the two lanes. But still, somehow, the tempo driver lost his control, plunged over the divider and slammed into Anand’s car. How bad could the destiny have been for these guys? I mean how the hell did they know that the very second they were going past that point, a vehicle would come and hit them. Had there been a couple of seconds here and there, who knows, they might have been saved and have been living right now with us.

What does this whole scene indicate? I get a feeling of everything being pre-programmed. It’s written. Maktub. We’re puppets. If this is the real case, then why did god created us? Just for his own entertainment? Is it like a movie for him? Why does he gives us the brain to plan for our future, for our kids, for our parents? Why does he gives birth to babies if he plans to take them away when they are at an age of 1.5 yrs? Why does he shows hope and pulls us towards something good and then as soon we get a touch of it, he snatches it back? Is this fair? They say that – “you create your own destiny”. Does the 1.5 year old kid even know what destiny means? Why did not god give him a fair chance to create his? Imagine the catastrophic situation of the parents, the wife, the children of people passing away in such brutal accidents? What was their mistake that they deserved this?

This is how it has been happening and this is how it will happen. Someone up there uses us like a puppet. Whenever he wants us to laugh, he makes us laugh. Whenever he wants us to be sad, he makes us cry. If that’s how it’s going to be, then how can he expect us to be his devotees? How can he expect us to worship him daily? And why should we? Because he can go ahead and kill our babies?  It’s a mere puppet show going on here and we never know who’s time is going to come when.  Just stay positive and keep your fingers crossed!

The Wait, The Search, The Hope

Whatever stage of life you're going through, there is one thing common across all the stages - the wait, the search, the hope.
You can be a kid waiting for your mom to come to pick you up at the daycare; You could be a old man whose only wish is to see his long distant son near him when takes his last breath. You could be warrior hoping to return home and see your wife and kids. You could be a repenting man hoping to wipe off his past. Whatever it is, you always have hope. Your eyes keep looking for something. Wherever you go, we search for only one thing - hope.

Based on this thought, I wrote a few lines, trying my best to tell as many things as possible from these few lines. Here you are -

I look into the sky,

And search for god.

I look into her eyes,

And wait for a nod.

I look at the soil,

And search for my feet.

I look at the horizon,

And wish we could meet.

I look into my past,

And i search for a face

I look into the future

Hoping to win the race.

I look at my tired palms,

And try to read every line.

I look at the rainy cloud

Hoping the sun would shine.

Life and it's colors

EVERYONE in this world has some or the other problem in his life. There is no one who has escaped from this. The question is – do you want to die thinking of how my problems were or do you want to die thinking how I enjoyed my life in spite of my problems?
Some people die trying to overcome those problems, but as soon as one is finished, the other one pops up and their life goes on in the same way. On the other hand, some people live with it and accept the fact that NOBODY is perfect and they see the positive things and keep themselves happy. Who are you? What do you want to be? The choice is completely yours.

People come into our lives with their own package. What usually happens is that we love the person, but hate the package. But in a culture where we have been bought up, we have to accept the package. It’s a part and parcel of our lives. And what frustrates us more is – the person who we THINK we know very well, has a darker side that we have never seen. There is no human being in your life who will behave EXACTLY as you want and would do all the things that you have always expected. But still, there is one person with whom we get along very well. Being with him/her, feels nice, gives you solace. You sleep happily thinking that I am with the person who I love the most in the world. And believe me, it’s a best feeling.

If you're with your loved ones today, it's priceless. Maybe it's hurting you now, but in the long run, something else is going o hurt you. Maybe you are not realizing what you have right now, because you have not lost it. Life teaches us lessons in the exact same way – it gives what we want, and the moment we don’t start valuing what we have, it snatches it from us. That is when we get to know the real value of what we have in our lives. And trust me, you will be much more hurt when it goes away from you. Nobody is the world is flawless, so accept them with their bad habits. You too have some bad habits, or are you 100% perfect? But others are accepting you with them, right? So, why can’t you? There is not a single problem in this world which, if two people sit in front of each other, can solve. It’s just about how you want to approach it. Fear lets you run away from it. But the problem is – the farther you go, more hurting it is. Right now, you feel that running away is an option. But when you go ahead on your run, you will regret your decision.

One common complaint that most of us have is – He/She has changed. Let me tell you one thing – people don’t change overnight. It’s simply impossible to be a contrast person in just a few days. It is possible that there might be some gap between two people and that gap has increased over the years. Yes, that is quite possible. But has the gap gone so much that you are not able to see each other at all? And if yes, then are you happy when you’re not seeing him/her? I am sure you are not. If being in this gap is not making you happy, then is it a good thing? I have learnt one thing from my mentor and I diligently try to follow it; he says – “The goal of the life is to be happy and the ultimate destination is death. If you reach the destination without achieving your goal, what life have you lived?”. The motto here is simple – If you’re not happy, then something is wrong. And if it is wrong, you have to fix it. If you fix it and still you’re unhappy, fix it again. Continue this till the point you get happy.

Whatever the issue is, just show some faith in 2 things – your love and God. They never let you down. Show some patience and things will change. Maybe you have shown a lot, but going an extra mile for the person you love is not a big deal. I can bet my anything on the fact that the people who love each other the most can never stay away from each other. You will fight, you will cry and you will get angry, but at the end of the day, you will check if he/she is there with you. My 2 cents of advice to all of you is - hang in there and change things positively. For that, have a very positive outlook; try to make everyone smile and trust me, the gap starts narrowing. Let me tell you one more thing - people are not bad at heart. However stern they appear from outside, all it needs to melt them, is a bit of love.
 
One last saying that I love the most. “Lose the fight, not the person”.

Don't lose hope in tough situations..!

Don't look over your shoulder, as your past is gone,

At this very crossroad, you're all new born.

The road right in front, would be the easiest to take,

But the friends you make here, would all be fake.

From the bottom of your heart, you have a question to ask,

Which is the road on which, I don't need a mask.

Maybe on that road, all you will get is rain,

And as you look at others, your heart will pain.

But you keep going ahead, till you wallow your sorrows,

And then you'll know, this is the best of all the tomorrows! 

When love leaves

I thought of this poem when I saw a scene from a movie. This scene was of a military man to whom the nation was calling and he is now bidding goodbye to his wife....What must be going on through their hearts?

Hard to see him leave, she closed her eyes,

But her heart didn't budge, and made a plan.

Whistling down her cheeks, came two drops,

To catch a final glimpse, of her army man.

Walking away from her, her thoughts were pulling him,

Till he finally gave up, and looked back with fear.

He saw her dripping tears, and held out his hand,

Only to realize that, she is now nowhere near.

The farther he went, tighter she closed her eyes,

And she crossed her arms, feeling him very near.

The drops started rushing, as his face began fading,

But inside her closed eyes, his face was crystal clear.

Waiting for him to come, she stood in the rain,

Her heart is now sunk, but her eyes are all dried.

Gone far are her tears, but how will she let go,

The beautiful hope to which, her eyes are tied.

The globe is warming, but not with the warmth of love!

I was talking to a friend, and he was telling about his experiences in Trivandrum (he was working there for a few years).
He told me that his locality in the city was not best, but it could certainly be considered as a higher middle class locality. They had big houses, with lush green lawns in front of them. The exterior view of the house would certainly give us an impression that the happiness in this house is as big as its size. But here is what the actual situation is - living the huge houses, are a old couple, who are hardly able to walk. They keep wondering what's going on in the other corner of the house.
Here is the worst part - they keep boasting about their children being there in the United States/Europe etc. etc. The people listening to them are happy, but the real question is - are they REALLY happy in telling this?
If yes, how do you justify this: There are advertisements in newspapers, which say "Friends required - come to our house, talk for some time and get yourselves paid". Funny, isn't it? But, it's true. Such "rich" people are so much depressed, that they're willing to BUY friends.

What's more disheartening? Global warming or this lack of heart warmth?

The Real, or the Fake Estate?

Recently, after doing some research on Real Estate in Pune, I was transfixed. The rates are soaring by the day. It's just getting tougher and tougher for the common man to afford a home.

They say that Food, Clothing and Shelter are the basic amenities that one MUST have to survive. How on earth are middle class people suppose to get all these with the economy so much inflating. A 3 room apartment, located at the outskirts of the city, costs a whopping 20 lakhs. Mind you, this cost is just of a very basic apartment. If you go at some of the big shots in the construction industry, you'll find that EVERYONE is creating projects with amenities such as Swimming pool, club house, tennis court in them. Is it so hard for them to understand that the people over here need a home and not an amusement park? Moreover, giving all these amenities would have been justified if they had given options for the buyer to use/not use them and charge accordingly. But no! These amenities are compulsory. They say "buy it, or leave it!"

Where are we going from here? Great economists predict that India would be the super power by 2020 and would surpass the United States. Is this seriously getting better or we're incling towards strangling our own neck?

Here I am, back again :)

I am tired of keeping the count of my promises of staying on Blogger consistently! So, let's not talk about - "this  is the nth time you're saying this and all.....". I know all that already! :)

So, here I am, now...again determined to stay on blogger consistently :) Sometimes, I feel I am in the right company - Persistent. After all, I need some persistence..! :)
Hope to get it in 2012.

Cheers, take care. See you soon!