Sunday, December 28, 2008

Flexibility is your strength.


This sentence has been running in my head since the day I first traveled in Singapore Metro.I noticed that most of the daily commuters don't need any hold to support them during; though very little but bumpy ride of Metro, then why do I need it so much?

Seat in Singapore Metro during peak hours is a rare commodity, and I hardly been so lucky to get one. But then without a seat, I had to look for a safest zone, where I could at least had a good hold of a "Rod" or "Support Belt" hanging at the ceiling of the compartment; without these support I used to feel so unsupported because of innumerable scary questions popping in my mind, like what if I fall on the girl/lady beside me? Slap Slap Slap.....

But I was literally amused to see all these "Serious Singaporeans" busy with books, newspaper or the game of their life "The Video Game", without any need of any such support, which I thought of more than compulsory to have a safe ride. Even though Singapore Metro was not very bumpy as our Local trains. but still, how can you just be comfortable standing on your feet, without any support, inside something running at 80-100+ Kmph.


It did not took me long to find out how these "Serious Singaporeans" were comfortable and why I was so uncomfortable without these supports. Reason was enough to amaze me, as it was not that they knew some kind of magic or had some special training "How to Ride in Metro without Support!". Many of you will reason it as they had been traveling for long and were in practice.But let me tell you, one of my friend had been traveling for around a year but still needed the support. And even if it was because of the practice, I wanted to dig out the difference between someone who had the practice and someone novice like me.

Soon I realized that its all in my mind. Thinking that I might fall, makes me more prone to fall.The fear factor within was good enough to make me extra conscious and hold me tight and rigid and not let me free float with these little bumps, during the ride. So, I experimented with a bit of risk that I might fall but I wanted to learn this magic. So, I started to travel unsupported and allowed myself to bend a little forward-backward-or-sideward :D. Yahoo! And here I was, with in next 2-3 days I was one of these "Serious Singaporeans" enjoying my ride without any support. huh! I was proud in front of my friend, who had been traveling for year and still needed support.

Later in my life, I experienced that such flexibility has always been of great help. And Now, I feel that things in my life should be trusted to an extent and I should be a little flexible with the bumpy ride of my life, if I really want to enjoy this ride of "Life in a Metro!".





Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Do the right thing!

This is in response to one of the Aamir's blog("From the ashes rises the Phoenix.") which he posted after Mumbai Terror Attacks.Before reading my response kindly read Aamir's blog about Mumbai terror attacks, pasted at the end of the mail(or at www.aamirkhan.com).

Hi Aamir.
You are truly amazing. I mean this wud be your best blog. The way you have written it clearly shows all that is going in your mind. And thats what a personal blog is all about.

I agree to all your points, sply. the last part where you are talking about the way love should spread in this moment of chaos and not hatred or arbitrary ideas.

I am an Indian just moved 3 months back here in New Zealand, and during a training session today when I got to hear that "Most of the People in NZ follow rules because that is the right thing to do, and not because they are scared of ending up in jail or paying fine.", and thats when I realized , why everything runs so smooth and peacefully here in NZ and not in India.

Because as an Indian, I think we inherited this from the time of British i.e. to "BREAK RULE". I don't understand why we are still carrying the same mentality of breaking rules, burning things, killing people around etc. and why not we can think of doing something which is called "Do the right thing.". The day a new rule or law in passed in India, we as a citizen always try to find the way to sneak out of it and find the loopholes and the ways not to follow it.

After all of this crap filled in our society at individual level, how can we even think of having a great country. Country is what their people are like and not as their leaders.

I am very sure like me many would agree the way these leaders come in public only to declare the official figure of people killed in an attack or accident or blast. Do you notice, they don't even think that their voice should at least show some gratitude or respect to the family of people who lost their life?

I saw Maharashtra CM talking to TV crew, and the way he was talking didn't show any feeling of sadness or any sincerity to the people around. And then again I asked myself that all the good educated people NEVER choose politics as an option, I personally hate it to an extent that I might choose to be a beggar on road or serve for free around to get money rather than ending up in politics. Then how do we expect that we need somebody as young & dynamic as Barack Obama or John Key(NZ PM). It never gonna happen this way. Majority of our leaders are ill and un-educated and local gundaas (I come from Bihar and we all know how it works there:D) .

It was first time in my life that some terror attack has actually shocked me to this extent. It never happened even when Delhi (where my parents stay) was bombed several times. but this was terribly shocking...

I have many of my friends who just say that bomb Pakistan do this.. do that .. hate Muslims. .etc..

They don't even think that does Pakistan have any control over these terrorists.. No.. if that would have been the case they wont be bombing themselves every fortnightly. And they don't even think that these terrorists have no religion, if they were here to support Muslims, they killed 40 Muslims, if you are good at numbers 40 out 180 (not sure about the official figure) is not a small number (22%).

I Think its the time to think and correct our basics. We need to act more responsibly and should teach our kids to follow rules not because we are scared of getting caught, but because that is the right thing.
We all need to affirm ourselves to "Do the right thing whether its by law or not!"

Cheers,
Ratan


/*------------------------------------------------------------*/
Aamir Khan blog @ www.aamirkhan.com
/*------------------------------------------------------------*/

From the ashes rises the Phoenix.

Dec,02,2008

I am here in Chennai to meet Shridhar for the last time. Went to his house last night to meet his family who are in shock and grief. As he lay in the centre of the gathering he looked peaceful, almost as if he were just asleep. I met his parents, brothers, wife and sons who were all very dignified in their moment of deep pain.

Shridhar was one of the finest technicians of our industry and a dear friend. We have worked together a number of times, and very closely during Lagaan. He did the final mix of the film, which is the last and most crucial creative process in film making. A close associate of A.R., he has worked together with him on a majority of his songs and background scores. In fact he was in A.R.'s studio until 4am yesterday morning working with A.R. and Murgadoss on our film. By around 8.30am he had passed away in his sleep.

The sudden news of his most untimely death came to me yesterday morning when I was still trying to pull myself out of the depressive state of mind I had slid into post the attacks on Mumbai. It left me shattered.

As I had expected various politicians have tried to use this traumatic and tragic attack to their advantage. I only hope that people see through them this time.

Quite clearly both the major political parties have failed to tackle terrorism. There have been repeated attacks on us during both their reigns which neither has been able to either anticipate or deal with well. While what happened in Mumbai recently clearly exposes the incompetence of the Congress, the hijacking of the Indian Airlines flight 814 during the BJP rule shows them in even worse light. They actually NEGOTIATED with the terrorists and RELEASED 3 dreaded terrorists from Indian jails. All the 5 hijackers and the 3 terrorists released from India by the then BJP government were allowed to escape to attack us another day.

I think the first lesson to learn from this is that we MUST NOT NEGOTIATE. No matter what, the next time round around, and lets not fool ourselves we must be alert and prepared for more attacks, we MUST NOT NEGOTIATE. All potential terrorists must get a very clear message that INDIA DOES NOT NEGOTIATE WITH TERRORISTS. What that means is, that in the future if there is a situation where me or my kids are held hostage by a bunch of terrorists then I must be prepared to tell our government - to hell with me and my children just go in there and kill the terrorists. I am prepared to sacrifice myself and my loved ones for the larger safety and security of the country but DO NOT LISTEN TO AND NEGOTIATE WITH TERRORISTS.

I personally hold both these political parties, and in fact other regional political parties across the country, responsible in one way or the other, for fueling terrorism in the first place. And please remember that the definition of terrorism is not restricted to AK 47 toting maniacs. It includes the spread of terror by other means like stone throwing, beating up of innocent people on the roads, and rioting, etc. Any means, in fact, to spread terror in the hearts of ordinary citizens.

The other important thing we need to remind ourselves in this time of anger and hurt is to stay calm and take sensible steps, and not give in to thoughtless knee jerk reactions. I heard someone say on television that we should all stop paying our taxes as a show of protest. Haven't heard of a more silly idea than that. If we stop paying our taxes then we won't have an army and NSG to save us next time around!!! Instead we should all START PAYING OUR TAXES. We demand so much of our leaders but are we fulfilling our basic responsibility? Can we say with honesty that as citizens of our country we are all honestly paying our taxes? If we are not paying our taxes can we blame the government for being inefficient? If we are corrupt then how can we expect our politicians to be honest?

I have a very important thing to say to all the various people going around arbitrarily throwing accusations at the politicians. These politicians are not from Jupiter or Mars, they are one of us, from our very own society, selected by us through a democratic process. So now think for a moment, who really is to blame? We can only blame ourselves guys. Half of us don't go to vote. The half that does vote has selected these guys.

In my opinion, you really want to change things? Change yourself. Each one of us needs to take a very honest look inwards and rectify and work on what we think is wrong with us. If each one of us does that individually then there will be a sea change in our society at large. I have to promise myself that I will not be corrupt, will play my role in society with honesty and sincerity. Doctors, lawyers, judges, people in the IAS, police force, media persons, businessmen, job workers, labour force, everyone. We have to stop thinking of our own individual gain and loss and do what is honest, true and right, and think collective. It calls for personal sacrifice in this time of chaos but from chaos will emerge clarity. Even if we don't manage to achieve this for ourselves we will achieve it for our children.

What I would really like to see emerge from all this is the youth of this country starting a political party. A group that stands for strong, clean, honest and fresh leadership. A group that we can all support.

And finally, if we really want to make sure that terrorists fail in achieving their end, then these terror attacks should not take us towards hate but instead towards love. If we react with hate we are succumbing to these terror attacks, and if we react with increasing love and peace in our hearts then we squarely defeat the terrorists. Allowing love, peace and trust to grow within us is not a sign of weakness but a sign of immense strength.

With appreciation and gratitude to the security forces who acted with courage, and with a prayer in my heart for those departed.

Faith.