ZERO

The feeling of nothingness so intriguing
Transcending from deep dark thoughts
To the sound of melancholy
How the light within a clear mind
Gives way to darkness
Seeping in... engulfing the wits
Like the cold winds that blow off the flickering lantern

Closing your eyes you realize
Nothing that meets the eye is true
How delusional could you be?

Nothingness resides deep within
Disguising itself in half unmindful smiles
And lost expressive eyes
And the spirited greetings
A part of life it is…

It ain’t a shadow that follows me
Coz it won’t wane when the lights go off
Its hidden all around
Perhaps shy to reveal itself

But I trace the Zero in numbers
In objects, emotions and thoughts
Does it walk with me
Or I carry it along?
Or was it meant to be
...a part of them, you and me

Profound Realizations II: Life After Death...

Was counting my sins today, wondering if I’d be seated amidst clouds and playing the harp or getting boiled in sweltering hot oil. Although the difference between heaven and hell these days lies between delivering the project for a client on time and missing the deadline…One would wonder what happens once we are physiologically dead.

The silent observer believes in a certain theory as original as himself!!! Human soul is a mass of cosmic energy – the bond that unites the universe, its galaxies, the planets, human beings and every little molecule. The world and the million other fictitious or real worlds that exist within the universe act as non-stop production plants, producing Souls. All the stray energy (other than the ones acting on binding certain physical entities) is sucked into the wombs of mankind and animals continuously. Here is how the galactic shop floor works:

Energy from the tsunami, the volcanoes, other natural phenomenon and even the slightest traces of free energy get assembled in discrete packets. These packets structure themselves in the various layers of the atmosphere – let’s say between the Troposphere (being the closest to the earth surface) and the Thermosphere (which is over 90 km above the earth’s surface). The closer the packet to the earth’s surface, the more the probability of it being pulled into one of the embryos growing inside the wombs of expecting mothers. The soul then enters this embryo which was nothing more than a fertilized egg, giving it what we call Life.

But since the idea of the blog was to write about life after death, here it goes. As the embryo takes the shape of a little baby that gradually reaches adolescence and eventually old age, it makes several choices and executes numerous actions throughout its life. All the actions - physical, moral, psychological or emotional influence the energy within the soul. The impact of these actions on the energy is either positive or negative, thereby affecting the overall magnitude of the soul. As death approaches, the soul reaches its end-point magnitude of energy. Once physiologically dead, the energy is released back into the atmosphere. Based on its magnitude of positive energy, the soul moves up the atmosphere. The higher the energy level, the farther it travels away from the earth’s surface.

In short for all laymen like me, the more sins you commit, the lesser your soul travels away from the earth surface. This increases the chances of the soul being sucked back into the painful cycle of life again. The more the good deeds, the higher the soul travels allowing it to achieve Nirvana or Mokshya. So start doing something good today…Begin with nice encouraging comments for the blog!

Profound Realizations I – The Romantic Remains a Loner

What Meets the Eye - He romances with a person, an idea, an artform, the nature or perhaps even the most ignorable petite creations around. He is a romantic…one full of passion. He finds beauty in the most unusual places…searches for love not only in people…but even in concepts, beliefs and philosophies. He is compassionate and can relate to the happiness, sorrow or anxiety of everyone around him. He is one full of zeal and is obsessed and dedicated. Day in and day out, he is driven by one word…and one word alone – Passion.

He is the one who made some of the greatest things happen to mankind. He is the scientist whom one thanks each time one flies; He is the musician one applauds each time a symphony stirs one’s soul; He is the architect whose work of art makes one to travel far and wide only to marvel at the structures hundreds of years old. He is the one different from the masses…the one whose mind never stops wondering and traveling several light years while the body may seem static. He is the one who made such a huge difference to the planet we live.

The Flip Side – Such is his passion; he’ll dive deep into whatever he chooses to romance with. If he finds romance in study, his inquisition will take him to the greatest depths of the subject ever known. The depth, to many would seem like a dungeon and the scholar a lunatic. If he loves a person, he’ll grow completely into the other only to attain perfect resonance. But once the passion dies down, he’ll grow out of the person too. We’ll then call him an escapist or perhaps one who isn’t trustworthy. His single minded endeavour and intent will also make him a stranger, an alien in front of the crowd. He’ll choose his own audience and selectively open up in bits and pieces. We’ll call him a snob.

The Realization – The romantic has to be a loner. His love and passion for everything around will force him into associations, relationships and bonds. But he has far too many questions he needs answered, far too many miles he needs to trek, far too much of love, compassion and beauty he needs to discover. He perhaps cannot undertake his voyage with strings attached. Misunderstood, sometimes admired, loved, sometimes loathed…he’ll walk on….

Waking up to a Musical Note...

Its enthralling how music follows little or no laws of science. The theories of physical barriers, distance and space do not impede the way music travels and reaches the deepest corners of our soul. Its riveting how music is omnipresent absolutely everywhere.

I wake up each morning with a certain musical note in my head. I just know what it is the moment my subconscious gives in to the chirping of the birds or the hum of the world that’s getting ready to settle into its daily chores. Though fascinating, it’s a routine business and looks very normal when I wake up to a certain chord each day.

This morning I woke up to a D-minor. Wasn’t absolutely sure what it meant but it wasn’t long before I realize how it would shape my mood and behavior for the entire day. I actually woke up pretty blank, the way it happens quite often. There’s an emptiness within that seems innate and eternal. Little things that look meaningful and deep otherwise look bland on such days. The air looked still outside, not a leaf moved; the cows grazed quietly, and people exchanged empty glances while Dm kept playing on my mind.

I also wake up to an E-major chord on certain days which later transmutes into a feeling of celebration and sheer joy. The feeling you have on most Christmas eves or Diwali nights with bright light all around. I wake up to an F-major which makes me find things charming and beautiful throughout the day. I tend to appreciate the beauty attached to every living mortal or synthetic entity throughout the day.

There are days when I wake up to an A-minor which turns my mood from sad to being depressed. E-minor on other days wakes me up with a feeling of guilt and a heavy heart. There’s this C-major that makes it a rather lazy and relaxing day where I tell my clients and bosses – bring it on!!! I have literally woken up to almost all the basic chords that we create mesmerizing music with. I am waiting for the day when it gets absolute crazy and I wake up to Augmented, Suspended and 7-chords.

As predictable as it may seem that these musical notes reflect what I am going through in my life, it isn’t always true. There’s no trend or pattern that these notes follow, not that I have been able to trace yet. There are phases when the notes are extremely contrasting each morning and they have no resemblance to my previous day. There are days when I wake up to the same chord for consecutive days while in reality there may have been a striking difference in the quality of each day.

Its alluring how music shapes our day and eventually an entire lifetime…. I wonder and get ready for another day as Dm keeps playing constantly at the back of my mind

Reverse Engineering Their Way to Glory

It was the offshoring industry that gave us the sweet taste of Reverse Imperialism to begin with. Sitting in one of the Indian metropolitans, we would snatch away jobs of hundreds of Americans or British. All the wealth that was once drained out of the subcontinent would now gradually come back to where it belonged. This taste is indeed very sweet and no wonder most Indians just loved it. As one of my friends had put it- “Its payback time!!”

Just when we thought that the west would now guard themselves of any complacency and take strict steps discouraging offshoring, we see a striking new development. The human race, just like any other species on this planet is evolving continuously. But it’s the Indian people who seem to have invented a way of being the champions in the race of evolution. Since our reverse imperialists must ensure that the show goes on, we have now come up with a new breed of warriors for the cause – The Indian Entrepreneurs!!!

Whatever happened to the Tatas, Birlas and Ambanis? Were they not the first few entrepreneurs from India who really made it big? Well yes, of course they did. But this new class of entrepreneurs that is being referred to here is completely different. They are similar to the few great entrepreneurs mentioned above only in that they are innovative & have lots of guts and self-belief. How they differ from those great names is in their approach. Their tools to fight against all odds and reach the top do not consist of morality, ethics, original ideas or perseverance. Most of these are mere adjectives to them best suited to books. Their tools instead are being smart and assessing what is needed and how to create that either by replicating the best practices from west or by Reverse engineering.

More than relying on their conviction and instincts, these entrepreneurs focus all their efforts upon gathering competitive intelligence of other new innovations. Motivated to win under all conditions, our entrepreneurs are busy searching for all legal loopholes to ensure that their ideas click. Whether it is replicating a new concept of an automobile, cell phone or a brand new software or use of proprietary information, these men are bang on. It’s just a matter of time before Indian proprietorships start dominating all the global markets including application software, car engines, market research or any other sector that one could think of.

The answer to whether our entrepreneurs are right or wrong; morally or legally correct is elusive and shall always remain debatable. However this trend of entrepreneurs copy-pasting stuff and making it big has been influenced greatly by the conditions that the youth of this country live in. Most of them have incredible ideas but do not have enough power to convince VC firms to invest upon them. They spend their entire lives pleading for an opportunity to implement their ideas but fail. Most of them give in to their fate and lead a rather “common” life. The ones who do not know how to give up, resort to such innovative means.

What is interesting and more importantly refreshing though is to see a whole new wave of entrepreneurs coming out of the huge herd of the Indian population to take up new challenges. A country whose entrepreneurial capabilities had been deeply wounded psychologically during the long drawn imperial rule as well as the era that followed is now determined to succeed. Hopefully India will soon be more than just a center of low cost products and services.

God is Bengali!!

Unless you are a Bengali, $100 says you didn’t know this!! As a kid born in a Bengali family, this would be amongst the first few things taught to you. God especially the Hindu ones including goddess Durga, Kali and to an extent Lord Krishna were Bengalis. The logic isn’t pretty clear – who cares by the way. Most Bengalis irrespective of their age and location would be convinced that god wasn’t a north or a south Indian but a Bengali.

Ask them about the rationale behind and you’ll get remarkable answers. 'She looks Bengali; just look at the idol – her eyes, cheek and facial features are so Bengali'!! 'It’s a Bengali name, don’t you see?' 'It’s only we the Bengalis who celebrate Durga puja and Kali puja every year'. As earlier, these replies would make sense only if you were a Bengali. How else do you justify the continuous 4 days of pandal hopping, the long restless count for Durga puja to start and the sad faces during the final day of idol immersion?

Coming back to the fact that god is Bengali; it indicates one strong trend – regionalization of god and faith. Every little region of the world (at least the ones that follow idol worshipping) has tried to create its own version of god’s origin. The idols worshipped in southern India resemble the physique and looks of people residing in those parts of the country; the characters of Ramayana in Indonesia look like native Indonesians. The question is: whether it is good? I guess yes. An employer can derive complete dedication from its employees only by instilling a sense of ownership in them. This is how people over the ages decided to keep themselves close to the superior power (plural for some) that they both love and fear- By propagating a belief that god is like us, amongst us and very much a part of us.

Hmmm....

Memoirs of a Rich Man…

What is it that differentiates one man from the other? Is it the wealth that he carries, the surname he bears or the designation he uses in his e-mail signature? Well, he is a “poor man”, Poor first and then a Man. He doesn’t deserve to be addressed courteously or to be made friends with. He must be humiliated as often as possible, preferably in public. He mustn’t be accepted amongst the dignified and the elite. He doesn’t deserve esteem since he cannot afford it.

It may be your maid, your driver, the waiter at a restaurant or the house-keeping staff at your office. Rule 1: Never look into their eyes…they just aren’t worth it!! Just make a brief glance as though you could see through them. As if there was no one there. Rule 2: Make sure you do NOT remember their names. For god’s sake, there are a godzillion number of things to remember on this planet. Call them Oye; Chotu; Boss (with the loudest sarcasm on your face) or even better…just make a slight noise; the way you would call you pet. Rule 3: When they are around, talk about the great man you are, your material possessions, your dad’s contacts and all the good looking ladies you (could) have had.

Now let’s customize the above rules for your subordinates or junior colleagues at office. Rule 1: Do not always look through them (might not be a good idea if your appraisals are based on 360 degree feedback from all employees). But when you look at them, try looking at their shirt or the ground beneath or the ceiling above…you are busy after all and also a visionary. Rule 2: Remember their names you must. But do it in a manner that the other person feels like showing his true gratitude to you for retaining so much about an insignificant being. Rule 3: Talk of your past laurels, and how you rejected the offer of a Senior VP to take up this crap job. Try and sound knowledgeable…and even if you can’t (your mind isn’t a computer after all), try ridiculing the facts and expertise your colleague showcases. Also in case your subordinate is too much of a focused man, too strong to be intimidated by you, try hinting about the huge salary you draw every month...this would surely weaken his conviction or faith or whatever they call it. Corporate rules are strict these days; you can’t quote your salary to your peers. So what? You could always play around with words can’t you (you must be smart…after all you marketed and then sold yourself so well to the HR!!)

Do not feel embarrassed if you are already practicing all these rules. We need an open society now…so try and make sure you pass on these tricks to your kids as well…You never know, you might have a stupid child back at home, whose heart cries out for the poor and the powerless…