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Wednesday, February 21, 2018

1-2-3-4-5.


Why
Do you
Allow someone else
To dictate your happiness?
Take control of your happiness!

How
Is it
Possible for someone
To decide your choices?
Take control of your choices!

Who
Can decide
What you do
With your personal life?
Take control of your life!

What
Is the
Need for worrying
About another person’s problems?
Let go of needless control!

Who
Are you
To decide what
Is right or wrong?
Learn to accept your limitations!

Age
Is just
A number! Not
An indication of wisdom.
Learn to learn from youngsters!

Ego
Has destroyed
More relationships than
You can probably count!
Let go of your ego!

Where 
Can you
Find peace, if
Not found within yourself?
Stop looking for peace elsewhere!

Is
There a
Greater pleasure than
Giving to the needy?
Find the pleasure of giving!

When
Is the
Best time if
Not the right now?
Stop waiting and start living.

Never
Wait to
Say that you
Love someone. Do it
Before you realise its late!

Be
Generous in
Showing your appreciation.
And miserly when it
Comes to, even justified, criticism.

Show
Your children
The right path
Not by preaching, but
By action, as an example.

Class
Is not
How rich you
Are. But how strong
Are you when facing adversity.

Character
Is when
You can resist 
An easy way out.
And staying firm with scruples.

Let
No one
Find a reason
To ever curse you.
Not easy. But certainly possible.






Saturday, February 17, 2018

Prayer - A waste of time.

I vividly recall the morning routine of mine as a child.

After the morning ablutions, get dressed, have your forehead smeared with holy ash and stand in front of a wall covered with a cornucopia of gods and goddesses.

And recite the prayer – “Hey God! (this casualness to someone apparently so omnipotent was an aberration that I never solved) Give me intelligence! I should study well, pass with good marks and get a good job”

Over!

The single prayer captures the ambitions and dreams of middle class aspirations.

Looking back, now I feel ……….. Damn it! 

If the prayers were really going to be answered, was this the best I could have come with?

Frankly speaking I was just reciting what was taught to me by a well-intended mother and grandmother, the former a timid soul who was almost a slave to the family she married into and the latter an illiterate, wise nevertheless (or because of it, in all probability 🤣)

Today 3 members of my family are atheists and my wife more than makes up for the rest of us.

Without getting into the religion part of it, let us just address the prayer part.

Prayers make you lazy, incompetent and lack in confidence.

If the original act of prayer was to send you in a meditative state, where you calm down, take a step back and think about the problem at hand dispassionately, then I am all right with such a prayer.

But the normal kind I had encountered, still encounter, is stuffs nightmares are made of.

When faced with a problem, the common sense makes a quick exit through the nearest door, panic sets in, rationale is conspicuously absent and hands are wrung, at times the necks of a hapless soul and instead of calmly, analytically addressing ways to solve the problem, we turn to irrational and chaotic prayers.

And most prayers are of a deal making kind, reducing, the almighty, should he exist (I say He, because of my complete agreement with George Carlin; If things are this bad and someone up there is responsible, it has to be a HE – only a man is capable of such screw-ups) to a broker on wall street. 

Oh God! Please let this come through and I offer you …. (Fill in the blanks, the bribe varies according to the size of the problem)

Once prayer becomes the natural reaction to any distress, the prayer starts losing its importance too; the prayer is invoked from the most trivial to the extreme grave.

On the assumption that there indeed is a God, listening to your prayers and taking time out to address each of them, imagine his mental makeup when the list from you is something like this, over a period of time.

Please let me clear “Strength of materials”
Let her look at me and respond to my proposals
May he break his leg
Let Ronaldo score the goal!
May Sabatini defeat Graff
Let me win this lottery
Get me this job!
Let the delivery not be a caesarian
Let my visa be processed
Get my children’s college admission
Please make this taxi reach airport on time
Let this not be a fracture please

Already tired?

This is just the tip of the prayerberg!

If he has to address all these (and it is just one from 7+ billion people and counting) then he must be a

Kind examiner
Extraordinary matchmaker
A thug on hire
Match fixer or a poor goalkeeper
A tainted referee or a cook who will poison Graff
Organizer of the state lottery
HR director of a firm
An honest obstetrician
First counsel in an embassy
Principal of the said college
A skilled cab driver
A magical orthopedic

Phew!!

He will probably do this!



Instead of rolling up your sleeves and getting to work, here we are wasting our time on an absolutely meaningless exercise addressed to a person whose existence has so far been proven only in negation.

And when a prayer is answered, certainly because someone had worked instead of you, or a chance threw things your way, what is simply known as probability, the lazy gets lazier.

The next time around the prayer is offered at the first sight of the troubles.

No efforts at all!

If I am designing a steel structure, I calculate the load, wind, height, soil quality and trust my calculations. I do not sit and pray asking Jesus to send me a solution via “we transfer”

If my unit is making losses, I study my cost sheet, analyze the purchasing strategy and study the market before I decide on the strategy. I do not wail and pray to Allah to send me the business model excel sheet with market demography.

If my son is seeking admission to a college of his choice, I am supposed to research, apply to the college, apply for his visa, help him prepare for the interview.

For his visa, I am supposed to make an application and submit the required papers not visit one of these places

It is real, do not laugh!

Prayer is the dumbest thing we have been taught.

We have been hoodwinked to believe that this is real.

It is easy to embrace this, becaus

it is voluntary (in most case it is a reflex)

it is free(the bribe that you offer is of your own volition)

it is an easy way out, you do not have to sweat and toil 

and over a period of time this is converted into a standard barter system – like going to the supermarket and looking for the price list of products that are out of stock.

In reality it is a tool designed to make you lazy and lose your self-confidence.

Stop this meaningless and inherently corrupt act of “the prayer”

Stop praying. Start working.



Wednesday, February 14, 2018

Stay Grounded


Humility when riding high
Honesty in the face of temptation
Servility to the one you love
Temerity in the face of adversary and
Open minded to opinions

Maturity in tumult
Thoughtful in deliberation
Considerate when it is easy to be arrogant
Earnest in the spoken word and
Reasonable in discussions

Courteous to a fault
Tactful in difficult situations
Respectful to all
Helpful expecting no returns and
Ethics that are non-negotiable

Tolerant to stupidity
Attentive to the speaker
Diligent in follow up
Proficient in your chosen skill and
Gracious in defeat

Curious about life
Passion for the written word
Discreet in the secret shared
Consistent in morals and
Precise in communication

Serious about relationships
Quick to accept your mistake and
Subtle in criticism

Extravagant in praise
Dissatisfied with mediocrity and
Loyalty to your friend

Follow these and
I promise you no
Fortune or Fame.

But peace of mind is yours

For eternity

And beyond.









Saturday, February 10, 2018

Take care of ordinary things


Is there a greater pleasure than
Eating sweets when you have diabetes
Consuming food that your doctor had forbidden
Getting the last ticket to a show
Being the first to arrive in a cinema hall
Tricking your daughter into watching “The Shining”
Smelling the pages of a new book
Discussing books you had read with another person of similar interest
Discovering new authors
Watching episodes of Just for laughs gags
Watching people huffing and puffing on their way up when you are getting down from a peak
Watching drunk people while they think they are sober 
Catching the expression of people when they receive your surprise
Watching The Life Is Beautiful
Installing a gadget and starting it for the first time
And when it works the first time around !!
A simple meal at home after weeks of travel
Watching this ad
  • I have been one of those three friends on many occasions 😊

Having your face licked by your dog.
Striking out an item from your bucket list
Listening to the baritone of Morgan Freeman
Listening to Harry Belafonte live at Carnegie Hall on a long drive 
Enjoying a song in a language that you don’t understand 
Attending a concert where your friend plays
A beer after your lawn is mowed
“Across the universe” playing on your system before you go to sleep.