Monthly Archives: May 2010

Living your life with someone else’s idea

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arkansas-981813_1280Did you ever notice that most of us live a life borrowed on someone else’s idea and we don’t even realize it? Say as a kid, your father is in a particular profession or you take a fancy to something. You want to be that without realizing what it’s all about. You grow up with that as your sub-conscious.

You adopt that idea and cling on to it for your dear life. After that your whole education and development revolves around that very idea. If your inner self tries to stray away from that path, you brutally stop it. You might think those who pass out of IITs and IIMs are the coolest people around and strive to be like them. Or you decide it’s just money or doing what society thinks is hot or right.

That way most of us succeed in doing what we set out to do without realizing that our inner self never wanted that in the first place. It’s like that small boy in the car ad who knows at what age he’s going to become vice president and what age he’ll be CEO and the car that goes along with it. That’s a pretty sad life. Growing up is all about knowing nothing and discovering who you are, what you want and your place in the world, one bit at a time, one layer at a time.

We usually realize pretty late in life that we are on the wrong path and then think nothing can be done. You’re already climbing up the career ladder. There are bills and EMIs to pay and at this age it’s too much of a risk. Then life becomes drudgery, everything is a routine and only “duty” that has to be done. Desires kept getting suppressed till they reach the bottom of the soul. On your deathbed you say, “If only I had done that…” and you die with unfulfilled wishes. Do those unfulfilled wishes lead to another life which leads to another death with unfulfilled wishes ad infinitum?

What stops you from doing what you really want deep down within right now?

That way America, which many Indians see as morally bankrupt, is really spiritually enriched. There people keep asking themselves what they really want and keep trying newer and newer things all the time. It’s common for people to have changed their careers 5-6 times in their lifetime. It’s common for people to just quit and backpack for 6 months. People do crazy things and become legends. That’s why America is the most successful nation on Earth. A nation that does what it really wants.

When I hear for the umpteenth time “I would do exactly what I wanted to do if I had more money…” I ask a question.

“What would you do with your life if you suddenly inherited Rs 10 crore?”

“Buy a swank house, buy a swank car…”

“That’s fine, all those are material things… what will you do with the way you lead your life?”

Then the answers I get are: Do social service… start a business… travel lots… take a sabbatical… teach… start fresh at the bottom of another career… write a book…

Nothing usually beyond that…

Then I ask them again, “So what stops you from doing that right now? You don’t need Rs 10 crore for any of that!”

That stumps them.

Sometimes I think we are more scared of success and fulfillment rather than failure and nonfulfillment.

© Sunil Rajguru

Pigeon Power

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rock-pigeon-4884627_1280I battle with pigeons almost every day of my life. All they want to do is build a nest in my balcony. All I want is a clean balcony. I keep chasing them away. They keep flying back and I can’t jump off the balcony to fly and pursue them like an eagle.

When the coast is clear, they return. When the coast is really clear, they come with twigs and start building a nest.  I chase them again. Hundred of times! They don’t mind and they don’t care. Once they managed to build a nest and lay eggs. I relocated the nest. But soon they were back again. They keep trying any time in the day 365 days in a year. No matter how many times I chase them or scatter their nest, they don’t give up.

The pigeons are familiar now. I can recognize every one of them. They all looked the same to begin with but not so now. Some are fat. Some are thin. They have different colours near the face and some have albino patches. They are like different people. I feel like naming the pigeons but that would be getting too familiar to them. Too friendly and too attached… And my job is only to chase them from my balcony, right? And their job is never to give up. They are almost machine like in that aspect.

Ah! To be as persistent as pigeons!

Pigeons and doves both come from the Columbidae family. They have managed to survive in whatever habitat the planet has provided them: urban or rural. They share a long and lasting relation with the human race. To find out whether the waters had receded after the Great Flood, Noah sent out a dove to check. Even today the white dove is a symbol of peace. Both the Egyptians and Persians used carrier pigeons 3,000 years ago. They also carried messages announcing winners in the Ancient Olympics. (In the 1948 Olympics as King George VI declared the games open, 2500 pigeons were set free)

In modern times, Paul Reuter used homing pigeons to deliver messages between Brussels and Berlin, a major news breakthrough in that era. The pigeon was also quite active during both World Wars. They delivered secret microfilm images and hundreds of other messages. In fact, 32 Pigeons have been decorated with the Dickin Medal (The British medal for animals). Racing pigeons have raced distances up to 1800 kilometers.

During research, scientists also found that pigeons could be trained to differentiate between the paintings of Picasso and Monet. In On the Waterfront, Marlon Brando was more distressed by the killing of pigeons than of humans.

All this makes me feel guilty chasing away the poor defenceless pigeons. In fact I even feel some vague karmic connection between them. (But I can’t have a stinking balcony, can I? Ah! The vague shallowness of it all…)

But they say everyone can teach you something. That goes for animals and birds too.

I think I’ll adopt a new mantra.

To be as persistent as a pigeon!

© Sunil Rajguru

Status Updates April 2010

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· There will be less ads and sponsors and money in IPL4. Yippee! That means more cricket time, less breaks and lesser distractions.

(April 28)

· Secrets of long life: Yell in office. Keep walking out of office. Be corrupt. Promote your family (Nepotism). Drown your country & save yourself. (Reference: Indian Politicians)

· Hamam me sab nanga. Par Modi gaya to sab changa?

(April 27)

· Lead: First Semi-final: Modi thrashes Tharoor. Second Semi: Manohar overcomes Pawar. Final: Manohar vs Modi. Analysis: Bookies say match-fixed, Manohar sure to win. Filler: The “Other” Final features CSK vs MI. No-one in the world of cricket bigwigs gives a flying fig for that one.

(April 22)

· Lalit Modi refuses to quit. That’s because thinks he’s a one-man Independent Power League…

(April 20)

· If Tharoor was computer illiterate, like most Indian politicians, he would have still been in office today…

· Statutory Warning: Tweeting May Be Injurious to Your Profession

· Looks like the raids will continue, so let’s just call him Lal-IT Modi of the Incometax Premier League.

· Cong High Command on Tharoor: Ye bechara controversies ke bhoj ka maara, ise chahiye chutkaara…

(April 19)

· Round 1 of Indian Political League: Modi’s Moolahs beat Tharoor’s Twiterrers.

· Behind every successful man is a woman. Behind every notorious man are many women.

· Kabhi Kabhi Ash aur Abhi Indian news channels pe chha jaate hain, Par Abhi Abhi sirf Ash hi Ash hain foreign news channels par…

· People who live in glass houses should not change their Franchisees. People who have Sweat problems should stay clear of public forums.

(April 18)

· PJ Catchlines. Modi Rubber: Tyres that last. Narendra Modi: A communal past. Lalit Modi: Controversies thick and fast.

· It’s a Royal Cyber War between Cricketing-Tweeter-in-Chief versus Indian Government’s-Tweeter-in-Chief. Some simply call it the Battle of the Twits.

· Obama’s treaty is bringing down the US-CIS nukes from x000 nukes to 2/3×000 nukes. The Nobel Committee old fogies must be sleeping much safer now thanks to that. Encore! Nobel! Nobel! Another one please…

· Who’s been viewing my profile the most? It’s you yourself, you narcissist nut! Mr Rajguru, you have 90% page views and the remaining 10% are shared by all your other friends.

(April 15)

· From now on Mirza Ghalib will be referred to as the Other Mirza…

· All 8 teams have been disqualified from the IPL. The finals will now be played directly between Lalit Modi and Shashi Tharoor.

(April 14)

· It’s funny how the most trivial of issues inspire TV Channels and Status Messages.

(April 6)

· Till yesterday the Indo-Pak match that received maximum media coverage was the 2007 T20 WC Final. Now that’s been beaten 10-fold by the Sania-Shoiab one.

(April 5)

© Sunil Rajguru