A Difference in Ambitions

Absence of a worldly ambition doesn't mean an absence of ambition. Ambitions are different. Some people want to be rock-stars  and some, choose to stay happy and peaceful. Too bad personal happiness and peace is misinterpreted as ‘no fire in the belly’ or being ambition-less  This materialistic world loves ‘go-getters’. And that’s the problem with this world; there’s too much of going and ‘getting’ things for yourself. Till the time one doesn't ‘get’ things, one is not an ‘achiever’.

To this world I ask, “Why do you label ‘go-givers’ ambition-less,  weak, under-achievers or failures?” Is it because they don’t fit a bill accepted by the majority? Or is it the fear that this minority of an aberration will shatter your illusive world? 

It hurts that go-givers are never noticed. It hurts that go-givers are considered ambition-less  It hurts that go-givers are sidelined.

Very few times the go-givers are forced to show their truth to the world. But I say, it is worthless do so. Because the world has blindly, voluntarily and without offering any thought, castrated itself to incapability to understand their stance.

When the focus is on getting, giving becomes an unviable option.

A deviation exists to question the majority of its conscience and thought. There is no way it can be silenced. Anomalies are wonderful. If you can’t celebrate anomalies, at least don’t squash it.

And to the world, I dare say, the go-getters are remembered when they pass away, but it’s the go-givers who are missed. 

- Aamir Ayubi

Are You Really Awake Or ... ?

You get up in the morning and you don’t know the reason why you got up.

You know what you need to do. You need to go to work, punch in the hours to keep the meter running. You finish work and you return home and stare the idiot box trying to find your life in that pretense. Or you might socialize with friends or family. Or if you consider yourself distantly enlightened you might spend some time with yourself. Or if you have are remotely connected to your true human side you might indulge in a hobby.

These are the WHATs of your lives which are lived in the WHENs and WHEREs and HOWs. Your lives are defined by the WHATs, WHENs, WHEREs and HOWs of this world.

Where were you born? What do your parents do? What education you have? What kind of a job you have? How did you do get into a relationship with that person? How could they do something like this? Etc. etc. etc. etc...These questions will only be answering the frivolous.

The real question you need to ask yourself to get a true answer is WHY.

It will answer the simplest to the toughest questions you have.

For example you want to buy the latest cellphone. Most of you will say it’s the best phone as it has the best OS or it’s an Apple/Nokia/etc. product or  it’s the ‘in thing right now’ or I have the money so I want to buy it. These answer s satisfy the WHATs and HOWs. If you want a true answer ask why you need the latest cellphone? Try it!

The humble yet insightful WHY is capable to answer a life altering question of something as important as the future of your relationship. If you’re with someone for   their looks, sex, money, fame, societal status, etc., you are fooling yourself and the other person. Ask yourself the question, WHY do you need to be with the other person? Ask this sacrosanct question in solitude and listen to the true answer. Try it!

If you take a moment and recap the questions that Life has posed at you, by now, in all likelihood, you would have realized that most of your dilemmas can be answered with the WHY.

The WHY will truthfully answer all your questions but you need courage to ACCEPT them and ACT upon it.

It’s not at all easy to act upon the answers. 

Deep inside you all know that the WHY will answer all the questions that your life has ever thrown at you. Perhaps you also know that the path you need to take. Then why won’t you tread ahead?

You do not act upon the answer because you are afraid to fail. You fail to act upon the answer because you are afraid that you won’t know what would happen if you succeed!

Humans need courage not only to rise up from failures, but also to embrace success.

The day you gather this COURAGE to act upon the answers to all your WHYs, will be the day that you will WAKE UP and not merely get up.

Miss Those Days...

Miss Those Days...

When I slept without thoughts
When I woke up with a smile
When I played in the sun
When I ran in the rains
When I loved school
When I hated holidays
When I never knew what worry was
When worry was just a word in the dictionary
When I never fretted what the world would think
When I didn't need to explain my actions
When I lived for 'today'
When tomorrow was the next 'today' I eagerly waited for
When things were simpler
When nobody had an agenda
When pocket money was always enough; always
When sailing boats in the gutter was the best thing in the world
When the word 'sex' meant gender

When going to the park was the 'greatest desire'  

When I wiped the fallen-on-floor candy with shirt and ate it 

When my friends snatched and ate that fallen-of-floor candy 

When friends were real and just cared for candies

When we all just cared for candies.

When We Were Growing Up

When We Wanted To Be Grown Ups

But We Didn't Know That When We'll Grow Up

(We'll) Miss Those Days...

Life, in Apple Style

iBorn

iCry

iLaugh        

iEat

iDrink

iFart

iBurp

iShit 

iWalk

iSmile 

iSpeak 

iSchool

iWrite

iFriend

iPlay

iEnjoy

iDirty

iClean

iStudy

iHate

iTry

iWin

iLose

iPuberty

iHorny

iLove

iMiss

iSad

iLove

iHit

iHappy

iDream

iCreate...iHuman

iKnw

iUnderstand

iDream

iGraduate

iListen

iDream

iWork

iMoney

iRest 

iDream

iHope

iMarry

iSex

iKid

iDream

iHope

iWork

iMoney

iWork

iMoney

iWork

iMoney

iBored

iRemember

iVacation

iDream

iHope

iWork

iMoney

iWork

iMoney

iWork

iMoney

iHope

iOld

iForget

iPray

iCry

iDie

In between all this, you forgot the most important one

iLive.

Why Growing Up In 80’s And Early 90’s Was Cooler Than Growing Up In Noughties?

I am a child of the mid 1980’s and early 1990’s. Things were much more serene then. In our summer vacations we just used to go to the ground and get ourselves dirty by playing cricket, football, hopscotch, kho-kho or the Indian favourite gilli-danda. We actually ‘followed’ cartoon shows religiously because they used to be aired only during the vacations! Yes, that era of bland programming of Doordarshan  when ‘Fun-Time’ at 11 a.m. was really some fun, when Duck Tales and Tale Spin ruled the roost. Giant Robot was much cooler than Optimus Prime because he could be summoned by a kid with a simple ‘Come on Giant Robot’!

But nowadays, there is a cartoon overload on television. Tom & Jerry, Pink Panther and Scooby-Doo are long forgotten and the new, ‘full of crap’ cartoons have taken over. The only violence that we saw in the cartoon was thrashing of plates and cats and dogs chasing each other in some healthy natural banter. And now we have 10 year old characters 'fighting’ with weapons!

I'm sure we all lived with Mario of the Super Mario Brothers fame to save the pixelated princess and despised to see this again and again!

Eighties and nineties were the days when corporal punishment was existent and practiced in all schools and homes. When I meet my school friends or reminisce about my school days, apart from recalling our teachers whom we had a crush on, we remember how a certain teacher thrashed us or thrashed a friend.

I remember my Art & Craft teacher Mr. Maher thrashing me almost black and blue in the fifth grade; the funny part is neither then nor till now, do I know the reason of the thrashing! Maher sir was a brooding dark fellow over six feet tall with a soft voice. I think God installed his baritone into Archana Puran Singh or Lillette Dubey!

I remember, this one time we were all set in our school bus on way back to our homes and my friend Muzaffar was lame enough to yell “Aye Kaalu” (Yo Blackie!) to Mr. Maher who was passing by. He didn’t intend it to be audible, but then a yell is supremely audible, isn’t it? And then Maher sir entered the bus and we all cornered up into our seats and he smelled the extreme fear that was oozing out of Muzaffar’s face. Muzaffar was, and is, a very fair guy and he had turned red by the time Maher sir had finished thrashing him. After he left, we did not know what to do, whether to laugh our asses out or to console Muzaffar! We settled for gulping down the vision of the battering and telling Muzaffar that “it’s OK’, at least he didn’t call his parents, which would have earned him some more red marks at home, if you know what I mean.  But today, we ‘laugh our asses off’ over that incident.

Those were the days when parents too spanked us, when required. I think they raised their hands only to correct us when we were wrong and never to curb us. Today I look at kids, yelling in the malls and black mailing their parents for buying the seventeenth ‘Ben 10’ toy in 3 months and the parents trying to reason with them how they have sixteen at home and how a seventeenth wouldn’t help. And like the previous 16 times, they fail to ‘win the argument’ and buy the toy. At times like these I feel like going and telling them, “Beat that kid, the prick needs some spanking and he’ll shut his mouth and behave!”

I’m not ‘pro-beating-your-kid’.  I’m ‘pro-beat-that-kid-when-he-is-unreasonably-demanding’ (I remember Russell Peters's stand-up comedy act of Beating Your Children as I write this) 

These are the two things that I’ve noticed. I think you value things when they are scarce. That’s why we loved cartoons and I still go gaga over Tom and Jerry watching it for the 649^th time and still laugh. That’s why my generation knows the value of money and is not as materialistic as the current generation kids who are growing up. That’s why I still kept my He-Man (click & enjoy the opening theme) action figure for over 2 decades, and parted only when it broke and could not be displayed upright in the glass cabinet. We love our parents for beating us at the right time and that’s why we are reasonable and not demanding and will never be demanding with our peers, friends, families, spouses and children. We love our teachers for being imperfect and yet showing us the way towards excellence.

There was something magical about growing up in the eighties and the nineties.  

Monsoon's Arrival...2011

So I finally arrived in Mumbai on Thursday, 2nd June and caught everyone unaware. And like every year no one was prepared for me. And yet like every year the people thanked me for coming.

There is something magical about my arrival. When I touch people on their heads I can read  their thoughts. And I read this guy's thoughts...

This was after years that he strolled on my arrival without the fear of getting wet. He enjoyed my company like he used to when he was in school. He simply did not care! He was glad that I touched his face. So many times he looked up.

Oh how I loved his smiling face, 
His shoes all wet, he didn't care a damn.


For once he forgot time's race,
And turned a child, from a man.

Also on the other hand there were many who were cursing me for my early arrival. Why is it that the people love me and then hate me as the season progresses? It's not my fault that there are traffic jams, water logging, dilapidated buildings tearing apart, etc.

Blame thyself oh human beings! I bring life with me, and you find devastation in life too...

Thank You God For…

• Giving me parents
• Blessing called a sibling
• Giving me life
• Letting me live till NOW
• Blessing me with a fantastic working condition human body
• Never having to struggle for food even a single day
• A wonderful home
• My education
• Giving a mind that is continuing my education and will not cease
• All the experiences
• A few, but good friends
• The teachers that came in my life
• Keeping me safe from major sins (the minor ones, I don’t blame You ;) hehehe…)
• A job for sustenance

I don’t know whether you take requests like the local city RJs on the crappy radio stations, but I would be obliged and even more grateful if you just bless me with another thing; then it would read,

Thank you God for… Peace of Mind

[This is a request that the most human kind play on Radio GOD; it surely reaches You, but I think while returning, Your message gets messed up! I hope that when You answer this time, the frequency reaches my channel ;) ] 

Why Do Women Remain in Self-Detrimental Relationships?

Few of us were having a conversation about relationships and why do some girls/women end up in not so loving relationship. For my post, the relationship (partner) to be considered is between a woman with her boyfriend, husband or live-in.

These were a few questions and some general statements that we discussed:

• When in a relationship, how and why do they (female friends) change so much?
• Are we right being perplexed, yet concerned for our lady friends?
• How and why do head strong ladies, too, get marginalized in a relationship? (Assumption being most women do)
• Why do girls (head strong too) fall for complete jerks? (Jerks here are selfish and manipulative bastards, hell bent to marginalize women)
• Why do jerks land up with good women?
• Nice guys finish last but they do get nice girls. (I felt this could be a self soothing and hopeful statement)

This was my my insight for these not-so-grave, yet solemn questions.

I usually am good, at observing human behavior and supplement myself, sometimes by reading about it too. We human beings are complex creatures because of our complex brains which is a self destructive combination of logic and emotions, which are never perfectly balanced. I believe some of us are balanced, but that too, only few instances in a day.

The questions had no single answer. The answers are very subjective rather than being objective; subjective not from my perspective, but from the perspective of any lady in the above given questions/situations.

• When in a relationship, how and why do they (female friends) change so much?

How can a person change so much? I really don’t know! Human behavior is unpredictably irrational at times; which, the person realizes, only in retrospect.

• Are we right being perplexed, yet concerned for our lady friends?

Yes.  But I think one may be over reacting. What they do as a couple is their business. One is not trying to find faults; one is just being thoughtful as a friend who genuinely cares and concerns and hence one may be noticing her too much and trying to find out answers. But frankly my dear, don’t give a damn! 

• How and why do head strong ladies, too, get marginalized in a relationship? (Assumption being most women do)

There can be an unending assortment of reasons spread over the table of difficulties of women! But in Indian context, it could definitely be the concept of ‘sacrifice’ for the good of the husband/family.

• Why do girls (head strong too) fall for complete jerks? (Jerks here are selfish and manipulative bastards, hell bent to marginalize women)

As far as settling for jerks as husbands, the only good reason I think is that they maybe ‘better’ bread winners. ‘Better’ in financial terms and the kind of social standing their ‘family’ has in the ‘society’! Apart from this I see no sense. This is surely a fact, which probably, none of the women will express openly. And if there is, I still haven’t found it. 

• Why do jerks land up with good women?

A woman will not settle down with a jerk boyfriend but there is a high probability that she may settle down with a jerk guy via arranged marriage due to at least, the one reason, I cited above.  (There maybe more reasons) If she remains (bf/husband/live-in) with a jerk she knows, then surely something is wrong with the lady, emotionally! Or maybe the sex is just so great that rest doesn’t matter!

• Nice guys finish last but they do get nice girls.

Read the statement again. Read!!! Have you read it? If you’re a nice guy, you would know that you finish LAST.  But as the world says and is trying to condition us by saying positive things about blah blah blah blah blah… yes you’ll get some nice girl and eventually settle down and blah blah blah blah… Got it? So feel what ever you want to feel. (My perspective)

The concern with guys like us is that we think a lot, are well read, socially aware, don’t have standard opinions, will always go with the right side as we don’t follow factions of thought processes and hence choose to believe and more-or-less stay balanced in spite of the observed prevalent irregularities which highly perplexes us.

Thinking is something that is deep rooted and we’re a rare kind in today’s society which just doesn’t think. I don’t know if I’m too bold to acknowledge that we are the last league of ‘gentlemen’ in our times, at least in the immediate society we stay in.

I’m not an anti-feminist, pro-feminist, male-chauvinist, or any other god forsaken adjective used to describe men or women. I’m just plain-fucking-nice!

Yusuf Pathan - A Humble Encounter

Today, at Vakola Masjid in Santacruz (East), Mumbai, Yusuf Pathan walked in for the Friday Namaz. He was dressed simply, in a white shirt and a blue pair of denim. He looked peaceful in his newly grown beard, Mashallah! There was no air around him. He walked in the mosque like a common man looking for a place to sit. He sat 2 rows behind me. 

As soon as the prayers got over, he decided to leave. No sooner did he reached the gate and wore his shoes, than a few men surrounded him for an autograph! "Yusuf bhai, one autograph please." "Yusuf bhai, please step out and click a photograph with us." The requests poured in with a Dolby surround sound effect!

And Yusuf replied, "Please let me go!" Now when I looked at him uttering those words, they were only out of humility. He was visibly embarrassed as if the paparazzi caught him with his pants down! His 'please let me go' actually meant, "I have come here to pray just like you guys. Why are you acting so strange. Did you forget we are in God's house?" 

He hurried away to the Toyota Innova waiting a few metres ahead and jumped inside. Little kids started knocking the window and grown up men waved their hands. All Yusuf did was, bow down to tie his shoe laces and embarrassingly lifted his hands up without looking at the crowd.

This was indeed a humbling experience. Why? I have seen minutely famous personalities acting like superstars when they are around common people. Forget them, when we ordinary common folks achieve something, we act like royalty. And here was Yusuf Pathan, arguably the greatest Indian hard hitting batsman, showcasing the class associated with real gentlemen.

All I did was, see him walk, read his face and look at his eyes. And the one word to explain his personality was - HUMILITY. 

I wish we common folks could learn a lesson from a sporting superstar of this nation. 

A Beautiful Antithesis.

A few days ago, on GTalk , I was chatting with Faiz, my friend from Rizvi Academy of Management. In general we were grumbling about our jobs. (That’s our favourite past time…all the friends….hehehehe)

Now, Faiz is a very funny guy and is know as an ever jovial fellow. Rarely serious type kind of guy.

Our conversation was wavering from jobs to work life and ambition and hobbies, etc. etc. At the end of our conversation Faiz mentioned something and I want to leave you all with the intense thought he shared.

The words haven’t left my mind and probably will stay with me for a long time because it is philosophical, yet realistic. A beautiful anti-thesis!

Guzar aur guzaarish mein kitna fark hai!

(There’s such a difference between what we have/go through and what we desire!)

How To Create Luck.

How Can You Get ‘Lucky’?

Luck can be ‘created’! Don’t think that everyone can win the jackpot lottery. That is just pure luck-by-chance or ‘dumb luck’. The luck which can be ‘created’ is something different. It is when you are at the right place at the right time and with the right person when luck can be created. It is circumstantial. When you are at the right place at the right time and with the right person, you may get an opportunity upon which if you may act, will lead you to a path which may make you happy or you may gain something fruitful, and in retrospect, you’ll say, “I got lucky”!

Want to know how. Let me give you some examples from my life.

• In 2003 (right time)I took admission in Smt. MMK College (right place) to pursue BMS. During that time I was a shy teenager and on the first day was looking around for people I could befriend. Mihir (right person) was the first person who looked at me in the eye and smiled. I smiled back (Action/Interest) and we got talking. This is how I gained a best friend for Life. He teaches me a lot by sharing his experiences and has broadened my world view and contributed immensely to my personality. I have a better learned man as my best friend. I GOT LUCKY!
• After graduation, one of my friends, Sonil, got a freelancing writing job. He (right person) called me and asked if I’d be interested. I replied in the positive. (Action) This is how I got my first job ever as a freelance journalist and more importantly stumbled upon my hidden talent of writing. I GOT LUCKY!
• In 2008, I missed the MBA MH-Common Entrance Test (right time). A friend (right person) told me about Rizvi Institute of Management Studies (right place). I applied (Action) for the autonomous PGDBM course and got through on merit. I GOT LUCKY!
• In 2008, my cousin Mustafa graduated and wanted to pursue MBA in Mumbai. I told him (right person) about Rizvi Institute of Management Studies. (right place) He applied and got through on merit. In this course of time I befriended (Action) him by breaking all the awkward ice between us and my cousin became my best friend. My brother is my best friend. I GOT LUCKY!
• An acquaintance of a Professor (right person) told him about an opening for a business writer in a company. He remembered that I used write. In April 2010, during placement season, (right time) he told me about the job. I went for the interview (Action) and got selected. That’s how I landed up my first job. I GOT LUCKY!

The above events of my life may seem insignificant to the reader, but the magnitude of these events do not matter to explain the concept that I’m insinuating. The important thing is to note that had I not been in the right place at the right time and with the right person, my luck would have been different! YOU & me, yes, WE could have never been acquainted! Let me elucidate the above list.

Had I not skipped my 2002 HSC exams, I might have taken admission in the same college but I wouldn’t have met Mihir! But, I passed in 2003, got admitted to Smt. MMK College on the last day of admission and that’s how luck transpired!

Had I not acted on Sonil’s offer, I wouldn’t have been writing THIS and YOU wouldn’t have been reading this!

Had I not missed my Entrance exam and been in Rizvi, I wouldn’t have had the wonderful experiences of making friends, a family member as a best friend and my first job would have been different!

So how can you create luck? What is the difference between a lucky and not-so-lucky person? I’m quite convinced that there is a lot of difference.

1. The simple differentiator is taking ‘interest in the other person’! 

I took interest in the other person and that’s how it led me to various ‘achievements’. There must be a deep intellectual curiosity that one must have, or need to cultivate.

We must have the humility to be interested in more people and the above illustrated luck will come our way. 

You Need 2 Things To Succeed In Life, Ignorance and Confidence.

I never really understood the meaning of the quote ‘Ignorance is Bliss’ until recently.

Before we could utter identifiable words, we became part of the education system. Most of us attended kindergarten school by the time we were 3 years old. Most managed to graduate, i.e. 2 years of kindergarten and 15 years of formal school and college or university. Some of us were courageous enough to attend a post graduation or Masters, so add another 2 years. Some rare bright minds manage to pursue a Ph.D. which is another 3 years. So this is where most people fit:

• Graduate: 17 years of education
• Post Graduate: 19 years of education
• Ph.D.: 22 years of education

Assuming that most of us are graduates, it’s a really sorry situation to be in! Our minds have been ravaged and distorted in these 17 or more years. We have been told so much about everything, that we have stopped thinking for ourselves.

Unfortunately, whatever we are today is not because of us, it’s because of what we are told. And making that a base, we acted. We never knew or questioned about the things we were told. Did we? Did YOU?

Our mind is filled such elaborate, convoluted, highly structured and sophisticated GARBAGE that we have become victims of our ‘education’.

Why do I say so?

Tell me, how many of us ‘highly educated’ people of society really realize our true human potential? I can’t even give a percentage, but it’s a handful out of millions of us.

Who made it really big and make really big? Or to put it eloquently, who really come close to or achieve their real human potential? IGNORANT people!

Yes, Ignorance is bliss!

When you are ignorant, you don’t know the rules of the world. When you don’t know the rules of the world, you make your own rules and follow it. When you make your own rules and follow it, you are the master of your ‘own world’. And that’s how you achieve for what you were born.

Ignorant people are fearless. Why? Because they don’t know the rules. And when you don’t know the rules, you are not afraid to break them. Simple!

Let me exemplify. You stand in a long queue at the railway ticket counter because that’s the rule and that’s the ‘right’ thing to do. An ignoramus walks to the counter, shoves his hand with some currency and walks away and hops that train. And what do you do? You stand there and stare and do what? Most would gulp their anger. Some would sigh audibly. And one of you might shout! And by the time you buy your ticket, you missed you train, but the ignoramus was already ‘ahead of you’.

That’s true in life too.

Many of you would argue that education is the means to a content life because the learned men said so. These learned men who have passed away lie dead in their graves and are quoted in universities! Had they been practical, they’d been entrepreneurs and their names would have been alive on the things they made which helped humanity!

You need two things to succeed in life, ignorance and confidence.

– Mark Twain

Read the above quote once again. What are you watching? Read again!

Now, in context with Twain’s quote, think of every entrepreneur you know. Billionaires, millionaires or even the happy small time entrepreneur we all know in our societies. The two qualities mentioned by Twain are the heart of fearlessness. And I quoted the example of entrepreneurs because they are the most fearless people that the world today knows and respects.

Did that quote give you goose bumps? It would, if you are dissatisfied with what you’re doing after being ‘educated’.

I believe the ‘education system’ does more damage by instilling more fear than confidence.

Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore knew the essence of education. 

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high

Where knowledge is free

Where the world has not been broken up into fragments

By narrow domestic walls

Where words come out from the depth of truth

Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection

Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way

Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit

Where the mind is led forward by thee

Into ever-widening thought and action

Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.

The education we wanted was ‘where the mind is without fear’. And look what we got? We have lost reason and we are lead forward only by our fears, not into the heaven of freedom, but shackled in restraint, enslaved by the false rules, only to be searching for true guidance.

Due to the ‘distorted education’, you just know a lot.  When you know a lot, you think a lot. When you think a lot, you develop fear. When you develop fear, you fail to act. When you fail to act, you are stagnated. When you’re stagnated, you don’t grow. When you don’t grow, you DIE!

The damage is done. We all have to unlearn the false ‘facts’ and ‘rules’. That’s what I mean by ignorance. Probably that's what Twain's soul whispered in my ear! That’s how Ignorance will save you.

Thank God !!!

This New Year started at a very good note for me.

On the 8^th January, It was my MBA convocation and all of us at the institute were bestowed with our diplomas. I stood third in my batch in my specialization and surprisingly, was awarded the Best Student of the institute award, which I shared with another worthy batch mate. The final lap of my academic journey ended on a high note.

I never won any accolades in my life, despite being a good student and a decent person. This was a welcome gesture by God. Thanks BIG GUY! *wink*

The people who know me or think they know me have this assumption that I am a very bright fellow. The assumption is true. Hehehehe… Jokes apart, yes I’m a seemingly bright, happy-go-lucky guy but whatever little I have achieved is without any apparent hard work. These achievements are in terms of my personality, and social credentials in the form of academics and bare minimum social skills. It’s quite less but, hey, at least there is something on the platter. I have existed in the society without any difficulty and hardships.

I really need to thank God and his representatives below ;) , in the form of parents, to take care of this kid who fails to acknowledge God’s support.

Upon introspection, I have come to the conclusion that I haven’t taken enough risks and never listened to my gut. Fear has been my bad company and is slowly taking control of my ship. That’s why I have not achieved what I’m truly capable of. But I think everything happens for a reason.  

The aim for this year is to conquer my fears and find my passion.

Here I am, praying to Him to help me and all of us to find our paths. Amen. And most importantly keep thanking God for being there and watching over us, in spite of our ungratefulness.

Things To Do Before The World Ends In 2012

We are very close to 2012. According to the beliefs of the Mayans or the people of the Maya civilization, there would be a cataclysmic event on December 21, 2012, which is said to be the end date of a 5,125 year long cycle in the Mayan Long Count calendar. It suggests that the world would end on 21st December 2012! Hollywood produced a film on the subject with a very obvious name - 2012. 

Wow, so it means we have less than two years to live. Even if anyone is lame enough to believe this, what should they do? Here's a list of suggestions.

• Take maximum possible loans and splurge the money on traveling,cars, luxurious pursuits, etc. (When the world ends, the banks too would perish, so no need to worry about EMIs)
• Quit your jobs and do what you always wanted to do
• If you already are a multi-millionaire or a multi-billionaire, become a philanthropist now. Start with ME :p
• Go and spit on the faces of people who bugged you. (I suggest do this during the last week before the apocalypse, they will be ok about the whole thing!)
• Start a fight, get into a fight and finish the fight
• Steal a car, wear a seatbelt and go on rampage banging every obstacle on the road, excluding humans and strays. AWESOME fun ;)
• Do some illegal stuff
• The boy/girl next door or on the bus or in the train or in your office or anywhere whom you secretly like, go and tell him/her that you are head over heels over him/her
• Get Laid
• Get Laid as much as possible ;)
• People of the 'Boring Kind', go for a spiritual pilgrimage
• Yeah, wear completely wacky clothes. So wacky that Lady Gaga would think, now why didn't I think of that!
• Get a Macbook Air, iPad and iPhone and start a cult where Steve Jobs is made a god and the religion is called Apple :)
• Whether you're fat or a supermodel, binge without a reason. Let the gyms shut shop
• Thank every single person who believed in you
• The people who said that you are a failure and cannot make in life, go out and find them, and do either of the two - Forgive them or Tell them you feel sorry for them
• Guys - Pee from the terrace of a really tall building
• Girls in the building - close your windows if you see unexpected drizzle :p
• Gatecrash, in a crowd of thousands, when the Parliament is session. And do what you always wanted to do as citizens. (I think I know what we would do!)
• Gatecrash every possible hi-profile party on the planet
• DANCE anywhere and everywhere 
• Find some one and fall in love. Sweeeeet!
• Throw your TV sets out of the balcony
• Disconnect from the internet, especially facebook and connect with real people
• Vegans and vegetarians, please eat meat. We don't wanna waste so much sumptuous meat on apocalypse day :p
• Remember GOD
• If you're an atheist, ask for forgiveness from GOD and join some religion you moron because all religions have a ticket to heaven ;)
• Spend Dec 21, 2012 with your parents and your loved ones.

I'm sure you would have few more dozens, ADD them in the comments section. 

What Did You Do In 2010?

Here it is. We are at yet another new year’s eve. We all are looking forward to partying. And this is the time where we make resolutions for the coming year. It’s a different case altogether that most of us fail to follow it.

I thought of no resolutions as such because I never follow any resolutions. So, this time I decided to do something different which is measurable.

What did I do in 2010?

• Completed my MBA
• Made new friends and acquaintances. This is important because prior to my MBA, I had very few friends and no acquaintances at all. And I collected these gems only during the last few months of MBA.
• Got a job
• Purchased a bike
• Let go off a few people. And after they left, I realized that they weren’t friends, but just acquaintances.
• Read the Quran’s translation.
• Started blogging. Personally speaking, this is the most gratifying personal achievement.
• Started consuming knowledge and information from the internet. Prior to this year, I just read newspapers and a few books. But, internet has been a new fountainhead of knowledge for me.
• Spent a hell lot of time watching sitcoms. Saw ‘The Fresh Prince of Bel Air’ and still watching ‘How I Met Your Mother’. (This may really be not an achievement but a waste of time. For me it’s an achievement because for once in my Life I wanted to watch an entire series in it’s entirety)         
• Converted family to friends. My younger brother Saaquib is much cool with me now. I think the ice has melted between the awkward elder brother – younger brother relationship. Shortly, the ice will be broken. And Mustafa, my cousin, now, is a friend first.

You see, the problem I’m facing here is, that I have very few concrete or measurable things to put down as achievements. This has made me very, very uncomfortable. I’m thinking, I need to be ANSWERABLE to Myself. I have to do better. Even though I have made no New Year resolutions, in my mind I know what needs to be accomplished in the coming year.

We all are a bit hesitant to speak out of our achievements because we may not want to sound snobbish. Equally we would not like the world to know where we lack and where all did we screw up.

I say, make your own list and share it with your friends. See you soon.

The Fortnight That Wasn't

Okay. It has been 2 weeks that I've not blogged. Is that why I'm cranky off late? Maybe!

So the last fortnight was nothing great. Why? Because I have been PMS-ing. (Nupur said this, I liked so I'm using the word) Male PMSing is mental/emotional compared to females' physical/emotional.

Every few weeks I get weird thoughts about this thing called career which we all are trying to 'make'. A stupid illusion!

So I'm thinking, what am I doing? Is it the right thing I'm doing? Should I continue with what I'm doing? Should I change? Should I look around? So many shoulds, woulds, what ifs and whys, that I don't want to mention a lot.

A good things happened last fortnight. I wasn't Career PMS-ing alone! There were 2 other very dear people who were Career PMS-ing like me, viz, my cousin Mustafa and my best friend Mihir.

It's a good thing because I wasn't alone in my cribbing. I had to rant out my frustrations and so did these 2 gentlemen. So I did what I was supposed to do; met them.

Spent half a quality day with Mustafa over Domino's Double Cheese Burst pizza and a lot of talking and a lot of silence. (It's a guy thing, you know, if 2 men are sitting and not talking, it's as good as they are listening to each other. Telepathy!)

And on a Tuesday, met Mihir late evening. Had an awesome KFC bucket, with Mihir reminiscing  his experiences in the USA. Learnt a few interesting things about food. (What else!) Then a lot of career talks which lead me to an interesting experience.

Mihir told me that he had visited his family friend, a lady, for a tarot consultation. And like any other new thing waiting to be tried, I visited her along with Mihir.

I must say, it was a pleasant experience. Tarot cards don't predict your future, they are like a guidance tool. One has to ask a specific question and then pull a card and the tarot card reader will interpret the card for you. I went as a skeptic and returned, convinced. Convinced, because most of the readings were true to a large extent. And trust me, the damn cards speak!

Over all it was a new experience and if one is open to trying new things, it should be fun.

I'm not rejuvenated or anything, but I'm back to blogging. Cheers!

It's Good To Be An Asshole.

David Fincher telling Mark Zuckerberg’s story was the only reason I watched The Social Network. David Fincher is the man behind superb films like Se7en, Fight Club and Zodiac. All his films have a great screenplay and precise editing which makes the whole experience almost error-free.

The screenplay has been adapted from a bestselling book called The Accidental Billionaires.

I haven’t read the book, but I did watch the movie. Jesse Eisenberg has brilliantly enacted Mark Zuckerberg as a sly, shrewd, heartless and a con man like entrepreneur. Zuckerberg is portrayed as a loner who has just Eduardo Saverin as the lone friend at Harvard, whom he allegedly cheats.

As the film ended I just couldn’t stop thinking about Zuckerberg.

•        He is the youngest billionaire in the world and has no ‘friends’ and owns a website where people have hundreds of ‘friends’.
•         He was ruthless in his conquest of making facebook the biggest social network in the world.
•         His idea taking shape in reality drove him to work day and night.
•         He didn’t mind being in the grey area.

Unfortunately, most of the people will end up believing that he was an asshole and crossed every limit to achieve his dream.

The Winklevoss twins and Divya Narendra alleged that Zuckerberg stole their idea from their concept of a Harvard.edu social network. I don’t think so. It was a lame idea! Like any other cry babies with no substance, they managed to get a US $65 million payout.

Zuckerberg allegedly cheated Eduardo Saverin off his equity stake in the company. Today Eduardo owns 5% of facebook. Most people label Zuckerberg as an asshole for this precise reason that he back stabbed his lone best friend by cheating him. But going by the portrayal of Saverin in The Social Network, he was a worthless CFO and did not deserve the original 30% stake. His only contribution was the start up money. Zuckerberg was a visionary, not Saverin.

Why am I ranting about Zuckerberg’s antics? The answer is because we need to give a little thought to the underlying philosophical question of good and bad and right and wrong.

We need to understand that good and bad and right and wrong are relative terms. There is no absolute. There are some obvious wrongs like, murder, but sometimes murder can be relative and can be termed good. It all depends which side of the fence you are sitting. For example, a policeman killing a terrorist is not considered a murder by the law. Similarly the terrorist organization killing a policeman is not a murder. For both the party, it’s good riddance of the other ‘bad’ party. Did you get my point?

So this way all good and bad and right and wrong is relative.

And then there are people who are perpetually in the grey area. For them nothing is right and wrong. They are the rebels who cannot conform and can point out the whites (good) when the society tells them that it’s black (bad).

Right at the start, Zuckerberg is shown to create facemash.com, where he hacks into girl students’ profiles and asks the viewers to rate them on their ‘hotness’. Eventually when he is presented in front of the disciplinary committee and is asked to make an opening statement in his defense, he says that he has already apologized to all and he would like some recognition for his work. He says that he has pointed out some gaping flaws in Harvard‘s security system.

That’s what I’m talking about.

Also, Zuckerberg is shown to be a very hardworking, diligent and passionate guy. This is a very important trait that a lot of people missed. It was probably suppressed under the weight of  the display of his asshole-ness.

Every great entrepreneur has a similar ‘My way or the highway’ attitude. Other tech entrepreneurs like Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Larry Ellison to name a few are known to be ruthless since their young days when they weren’t world changers. They just had an idea to change the world and their attitude that got them where they are today.  And yes, they were and still are hardworking and passionate about what they do. 

The world is a worse than the jungle. These people know that they need to be ruthless to stay ahead in the game. They want to change the world with their idea. If they really gave a fuck about what would the world think, then they wouldn’t be the people they are today. As Nike says, ‘Just Do It’, they did it and we just keep on thinking…

Had they been thinking about rights and wrongs, they would have been writing some blog or reading it! (I just couldn’t help slapping myself here!)

Metrosexuals Are Gay!

Before I start, I would like to enlighten the reader with a few definitions. The definitions have been sourced from Wikipedia.

Heterosexual

Heterosexuality consists of sexual behavior, practices, and identity predicated on exclusive preference or desire for the opposite sex.

Homosexual

Homosexuality refers to an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual or romantic attractions primarily or exclusively to people of the same sex

Metrosexual

Metrosexual is a blend of the words metropolitan and heterosexual, coined in 1994, describing a man who displays characteristics associated with homosexual men (such as a strong concern for his appearance), although he is not homosexual. Debate surrounds the term's use as a theoretical signifier of sex deconstruction and its associations with consumerism.

I feel that there are only two kinds of people, heterosexual and homosexual. I’m a heterosexual male who feels that homosexuals deserve their rights. But I feel that these metrosexuals are robbing our homosexual friends of their identities. How?

I want u to read the definition for metrosexuals once again, especially this part - who displays characteristics of homosexual men.

So, if there’s a straight, heterosexual man who displays characteristics of a homosexual man, is he partly gay. YES! Then that way, a metrosexual man is partly gay!

I really don’t know, why do some heterosexual males want to be metrosexuals? The definition (and if you have common sense) will tell you that it’s a cleverly disguised ploy to get a hell lot of money out of your pocket to make you,  partly homosexual (the consumerism angle). And you know what? There are men who fall for it!

Yes! You are paying your own hard earned money to be gay! (Well…partly!)

Now the men who say that metrosexuality is not being gay, I say, screw you! You’re morons who don’t think for yourselves.

In 1994, a British journalist called Mark Simpson coined this term to sell some glossy magazines to men. This fucker told you that you need to get a manicure and pedicure, to get your body and your ass waxed, to get facials, apply cream on your face, colour your hair, etc. etc. etc. And men listened. Rather, men, with money and a lot of free time, listened.

Over the period of years, marketers have convinced men that they need some cream before they get out of home. Salons are catering to men for manicure, pedicure, body and ass waxing! (I can’t tell the yucky feeling I’m getting to write all this)

With all due respect, let’s leave the above, obviously incomplete list of things for the ladies. (I’m not saying homosexuals because they are actually emulating the ladies)

The argument that I’ve heard is that metrosexuality makes a man, CLEAN. I say, fuck you! It makes a man, a sissy!

Imagine you have your kid playing with some guests at home and they ask him or her, “Where is your daddy?” And your kid replies, “Daddy has gone to the salon for a manicure and a pedicure!” How lame is that?

Marketers have filled garbage in men’s head that we men need to be ‘clean’ in a ‘metrosexual’ way to attract women. There’s a difference between cleanliness and being a sissy.

If a man takes a bath every day, (and if you sweat badly, bath twice) he is clean. If a man cuts his nails once a week, he’s clean. If a man cuts his hair once a month, he is clean. (and presentable) If a man wears washed, ironed clothes, he’s clean. If a man trims his pubic hair regularly, he’s clean. (Sorry for the last one ladies, I need to drive the point into the minds of my kind)

All I’m saying is that a man needs to be clean and hygienic. We men don’t need some company to tell us what to do and how to live our lives! 

If I’m not mistaken, looks are important for women too. But most women give more importance to other, more concerning attributes, like the man’s intelligence, his ability to hold an interesting conversation, his etiquettes, etc. (and his bank balance too :p Not always I know!)

Ladies, tell me if I’m wrong.

And if there are women who want their men waxed, I say, they are lesbian’s in their head!

There is a clear demarcation of things that only women do and should be left to them. If homosexual men do it, it’s cool. Why? Well, because they are homosexuals! But if straight men do it and proclaim that they are metrosexuals, they are definitely faggots in their heads!