वैयक्तिक धर्म

- शार्ली हेब्दो च्या अनुशंगाने 

म्हटलं तर घडवते

म्हटलं तर बिघडवते 

लेखणी 

कल्पना-विलासात रमणाऱ्यानो  जागे व्हा।।

प्रेषितं घडवले त्या लेखण्यांनी कुणा अवलियाच्या 

जे लिहून गेले कथा रामायण महाभारताच्या 

ज्यांनी लिहिल्या संहिता कुराण -बायबलाच्या 

सत्य तेवढयाच त्या दंतकथा गतकाळाच्या 

कुणासाठी स्फुरण तर कुणासाठी मरण 

म्हणून म्हणतॊ,

कल्पना-विलासात रमणाऱ्यानो  जागे व्हा।

धर्म  प्रचारासाठी पुढे व्हा 

जीवन जगण्यासाठी  जरूर तो धर्म 

जीवन जगण्याचा मार्ग तो धर्म 

पुस्तकी नाही तो धर्म 

सर्वांचा वेगळा तो वैयक्तिक  धर्म 

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Collective failure

What can i say? Just wondering.
There is probably a lot in the print and media. May be i wont have anything new to say. Cause there's plenty of them writing with valor. Having said that, let me not miss one point. I just want to make my point.

Two of the finest men of our society shot dead in 18 month span. There is a lot to be worried about. Because it has been a collective failure of ours.

I never felt like crying or getting drunk, when my heart broke. It was a individual failure. But two of the finest men of our society get shot, in the middle of the street and the probe is going nowhere. This makes me have a NEAT, for our collective failure. When we fail as an individual there is always someone in the waiting, who can take our place. But if we fail as a team, there is very little space for replacement. It is a setback and requires time and energy in abundance to get back to basics.

The biggest concern is when we are stripped of our teams leader, for no reason whatsoever. Cause its hard to get the team off and running without him.

What makes loss of these two individuals a collective failure is, that they were spearheading a team. Having lost them, these teams are in a shock. By the time these teams recover and get back on track, ones who did this will be even stronger. They might keep on dealing such blows, never letting us recover. Strangling the teams agenda and motto in process.

There will be people who believe in the phrase, "everything is fair in love and war".  Murderers had the same thoughts, it seems, because they could not match the intellectual levels of these two individuals. Let me make clear that, war is fought between the equals and i am sure these antagonists are no equals on any front and these coward murders point in the same direction.

I am no expert, but i feel there should be a well structured and commonly followed set of rules in public life. Like the rules of war, which will help us protect our most valued assets! Besides that there is a law to punish the moles.

Religion - an imposition?

What could it be,religion?
A way! But sometimes, of being wayward and inhuman towards other people who don't follow the same one!

Did we choose our religion? Did anyone of us choose their religion? Did Havribibi, Gujarat riot hit woman whose both hands were cut just about her wrist, choose her religion? Should we be punished for the choices not ours? Did the punishers make their own choices? Did they punish her because she was just like them, unable to make her own choice? Cause that's what a people despise most, a powerless person just like them!

Most of us did not choose. But everyone has come to love and cherish the choice that was imposed on them, per say religion. Why? For it was religion that helped us be what we are. Most of the rituals are attributed to religion, right from the christening of child to the last rites of the deceased. All the traditions and festivities have religious significance, they teach a person to celebrate and enjoy the life through the prism of religion. People grow within the religious bounds, but without those there would be very little meaning to the life. People start loving their religion, because as they grow they become the symbols of the religion, rather they become the religion, now it is not what is written in the book.

There is no other interpretation of religion but us. But story does not end here. Now, that person has become a religion, the people feel compelled at personal level to symbolize religion in their actions.

It is a two way process of symbolization. So a point is reached where religion becomes a day to day necessity, a addiction may be. Sometimes the high of religion makes you blind towards the fact that there could be other ways of life. There are other ways that help you lead a life on the same lines, but the difference is significant. Sometimes this difference is the triggers the voilence, when you are high with religion, and people like Havribibi are victims of that.

I have always loved my way of life. I shall always keep evolving my way. For, if a day shall come where i find myself in the same shoes as her, i shall be able to make a bold statement - if not save myself. Religion is for us, for us to be better humans. If it does not make us better persons then the religion and us need to introspect and learn from the mistakes.

If Alan Turing is someone to go by, then religion is unending film-tape where life can be recorded. Then the events can be referred and modifies to make it better.

Where is Pune Going.....

Most of the articles about cities start with the statement,".... is a vibrant city".
Would i say the same of Pune, i may. Would i say pune is loosing its mettle, i may. Would i say Pune has been out muscled by other cities, i may. Would i say that Pune has become just another city in India, I may.

So what makes Pune stand out among other cities, you may wonder. It was the people of Pune. But now, is there a real Punery people in Pune? Or have they just moved, with time, to outskirts of Pune, leaving the heart of Pune exposed? They have. Has it been exposed, the heart? I may say yes. Can it be restored or be treated for that matter? i may not say yes.

what about the youth of Pune? What are they doing? Are they using Pune as a stepping stone, I may say yes? Consider this there is huge crowd of students aka aspirant of competitive exams. They are simply using Pune, once they grab some job or admission, they are gone. Just like that. Simply returning to collect trophies and rewards. What footprints they leave behind? I would wonder.
Look at IT people in Pune, most of them want to move to Bangalore. Only those who feel it convenient will stay here. Later leaving Pune Exposed.
I do not want to criticize these people, but want to ask them to give a thought to Pune. Pune would not stumble without you, but would you have been the same if not for Pune?

Is Pune showing same traits as Mumbai, will a shiv Sena happen to Pune? I may say yes. Consider this, someone comes to Pune, has the Mastani and ends up calling it a milk-shake with ice-cream in it. Will it be just to Pune's identity? I asked my friend, just for fun, can i stay over at his place for a weekend. He replied, "its ****** colony, Marathi logo ko allow nai karenge".

Just walk on the streets of Pune. talk to some people or grab some snack at some restaurant or gadi. You will definitely hear this line, "Bhai Hindi me bol na, Marathi nai aata". I have no or zero tolerance for regionalism. But i do not like when people say that to me. I always tell myself this, In European union footballers change clubs. They go from one country to another and have to learn the native language. It is a well followed convention. It makes life easier for the locals and the persons so moved.
We are a union of states, we have right to reside anywhere in India. But it comes with a cost, you end up affecting the local culture. Shouldn't you be learning the rules and customs and most importantly the language there? We try to learn these things when we are going abroad, should we not try to give the same respect and thought to our bothers and sisters i.e. fellow Indians.

There is lot to say, i shall not comment the politics of Pune. But i have touched base with the issues i really felt should be put forth. But i may not say one thing. Pune will outlive everything, i am sure about that, pune will grow and become best in world at some point. My only concern is, will it be the same pune i have come to know?

Happy wala bday

I get all too hysterical when my b'day approaches. It is normal this time of year and its has become a routine as well. But i keep asking myself so many questions and to add that are many anxieties that i feel like drowning.

Birthdays are always special and precious. The memories we cherish, the happening that become stories-  sometimes cliche. Like how i ran all the way and all around, just to save my bum from getting kicked.

Bdays never bring the peace you desire, even the most silent ones. There's this hype of going wild and crazy on bdays - which of course is practiced in friends rather families.
Bdays are about confusions, i remember it. One year, i was in 12th and lived away from home. It was my bday and i thought i will go home in the evening. I asked the doctor for lift. And we started home, it was 20 min journey to home. At the same time, my parents had decided to visit me. Of course, we had no means of communication. Doctor saw them crossing us and told me. I shouted 'Dad' and they saw us and turned around, and we all came home. I always remember this incident on my bdays.

Bday is everything, you name it. The only sad part is it comes once in a year, so we have to cheer - no matter what.

Smile:A continuous relay

This past week, on Friday evening i wrapped up my work and started home. As i was passing through the lobby, i came across a woman.  She was quite pale with days work, and was quite out of sorts with dressing sense. I looked at her, she looked at me. She looked down and away from me, and started to smile. I was amused at first and thought she had gone mad. But the thought of mad woman made me smile somehow. A teammate crossed me at the same time and started to smile as well.

How simple it is to spread something! You see it or hear it and do or tell the same to someone else. That someone will relay it forward. This relay is countless by countless one.

Although, they say the relaying can do bad things, it's up to us. We have to decide and choose, at the individual level, what we relay. In my case a simple smile made my Friday memorable in the form of this blog post. Choice making can be troublesome at times but asking ourselves some questions can help. Question can be about the purpose of the relay or its basic need. While the smile by the lady my day, if i had gone on and smiled at some other lady in the office, it wouldn't have gone down quite well.

Its always beautiful to relay, which most of us relate to gossiping. Good or bad, relaying is indifferent to emotional alignment of what is being relayed. I have become a big fan of a relay that smile has become and hope that it goes down well as a day to day life routine.

I am taking to other of means relaying, like relaying a book. Its still a work in progress. More on this later. Till then "Happy relaying".

Scientists in disguise - my Roomies

We cannot attend to every event or person around us – this is termed as ‘Selective attention’ in psychology.  That's how humans are.

If I go by this theory, I have found the answer to the biggest question posed to me - Off course - by my roomies. They have always wondered why I pay no attention while watching some movie or reading one of those hefty novels. 

There was this one incident when I was watching some movie with headsets on. They all gathered around me and started shouting at me – all the names they call me. I was not aware of it. I had seen them gather around me. I could see them talking but in flashes, as i was gripped by that movie. They started raising their voice and i could hear them calling my name.

In that moment i chose not to reply but listen to what was going on. They were shouting my name one by one with growing pitch and loudness, trying to merit a response from me. Maybe they had a competition going on.

I could hear one of them putting forward a theory”Indrajeet would respond to a specific roomy only”. So all other were out of competition and the one man was up and roaring at me. I felt the situation might get to screams via loud-louder-loudest. So I chose to shout back and ask him to shut the heck off.  There were loud cheers accompanied by the victory dance.

Rohit who won was happy for the victory. Rohan was busy manipulating people into thinking that it was his theory that had won. The other Rohit was busy contemplating some sarcastic barbs and i was wondering “what’s wrong with these people, why can’t I enjoy one good movie?”  In that moment I was awry of their little adventure.

While i sit down read experimental methods in psychology, i get the feeling that my roomies are scientists in disguise. Why i say this is because the psychologists do the same experiments with so called ‘natural’ setup. I am the object of roomies’ experiment. While i feel proud of their scientific approach, I am little disheartened that i was  not one them in this experiment! :( So I could call myself a scientist in disguise! :)