Inner peace…. Inner…. Inner peace…..

I was recently watching Kung Fu Panda 2, again. And I recall here, the one scene where Master Shefu is trying to attain inner peace. In the movie, they show that to attain greatness and satisfaction from one’s life, you need to attain inner peace. Seeing it, you think, oh come on, I am at peace with myself. But when you really look carefully, you will question, are you truly at peace with yourself?

Life is a collection of moments, good and bad - involving relationships, friendships, acquaintances - and how you are able to cope with them. Many instances are witnessed, when the human brain conks off because of expectations from these interactions. Expectations are good but sometimes, they can be the deadliest killers.  What do you do? It is all but natural to expect. It is human nature. And let me tell you, we all are the same. Nobody can live without expecting. What is necessary is to understand what to expect and what not.

Each and every person you know is like you, going through good or bad times at a given point. So, expecting them to be there with you every single time when you need them, to celebrate your happy times or share your sorrow, is asking too much from anyone. Don't you sometimes feel not to be a part of someone else's good/bad times, just because you are not up for it? The same applies on the flip side of the coin as well. It is better not to expect, as then you will not be left in the lurch, or left disappointed.

It is difficult to master this. What you need to know is if there is someone from whom you can expect anything, it is YOU.  For this, you need to understand yourself totally. Give yourself time. It is good to mingle with friends/acquaintances, but more important to give time for yourself, away from everyone. It is imperative to introspect. You need to make your best friend (your inner self) understand you totally. 

Believe me, once you do this, then you will not need anyone at any point of time. Yes, of course, if you have someone with whom you can share your feelings, it is very good. But even otherwise, you always have your best buddy with you, who will be there at every second of your life. That person will come with you, wherever you go, be it work, play, lunches, dinners, movies or just a nice relaxing walk. You are then, never alone. Sometimes even shadows fail to follow you, but he will always be there. You always have a constant company, and since you are in constant contact with your best friend, you attain inner peace. It becomes so relaxing..

It took me time to get to this situation. I was always trying to make sure that I keep the people around me in good spirits. I felt it gave me happiness. But slowly, I started to realize, am I really happy? Is my inner self happy? I realized I had almost neglected my best buddy in the quest of keeping others happy. It did not go well with me. I worked on it and made sure I regained myself. Of course, my two other close companions were there, supporting me, my iPod and my Camera. What started off as an occasional thing, turned more into a routine, and believe you me, I no longer yearn for any company. As I said, if I have company, well and good, but if I do not, for whatever reason, well and goodJ. Now, it gives me happiness that I am able to get through days without much ado. I am at ease, being with myself, able to do what I want to do, how I want to do, where and when I want to do. And I know that come what may, I have my best buddy with me as well as my close companions. What more can you ask for!

Life definitely is beautiful.

I have Inner Peace… Inner… Inner peace….

My True Companion...

It has been sometime since I wrote something.. It is not because I did not have the time, it is probably because I was in need of a good thought.

The last few days, I have been thinking... Has it always been that whenever you wanted to share something with a particular person, you have been able to? Has it ever occurred to you that sometimes there are things you want to share with that one person and at that opportune moment, he or she is not there for you?

What do you do in such situations? It is difficult to control your emotions for long periods of time. The body does not recommend it. It feels strained. You need to get your emotions out of your system before it crashes. And don't get me wrong here. I am not talking about the sadness in you. Even too much of happiness is not too good. It needs to be balanced as quickly as possible.

How do you do it? Well, the learned and the experienced say that this is the time you need a companion, who is there to share your feelings, your joy, your sorrow, with you. A companion, in the true sense. It need not be someone of the opposite sex. It can be your parent, your sister, your brother, your best friend, it can be anybody who is willing to listen to you, just listen to what you have to say, to make you feel better, ease your mind of the adrenaline that has been pumping in. But what if THAT person is not in the mindset to listen to you, just because he or she is having their own set of emotions going through their mind? What happens then? You cannot force yourself on them, can you?

I am sure most of us have gone through this phase sometime or the other in our lives. I wonder what people do to get over it. Different people have different ways to handle this situation. Truly lucky ones will find their true companion in a person with whom they can share anything anytime. 

I, for one, have a unique 'person' whom I call my true companion. She is a wonderful creation of God. I wonder what was going through His mind, when He created her. She is one person who has all her emotions in the balance at all times. And I do not have to tell her anything. She can read my mind and understand what I are going through and accordingly she reacts, making me feel so much better, within minutes. She shares all my happiness, making me sing and dance with gay abandon. She makes sure that my sorrow is short-lived by enlivening me with her beautiful and melodious notations. She is there always for me, whenever I want, wherever I want. There is never a moment where I feel I can do without her. She never leaves me, even if I want to get rid of her, I cannot. 

MUSIC!!! The most wonderful creation and according to me, my true companion. For me, music is a part of my soul and so, reflects a person who understands me like no one else. Music is someone I cannot live without. She gives me solace, relaxes my mind and sometimes even energizes me. The feeling within, which music brings in me, is enthralling. Irrespective of what I hear, I am in a trance. I do not feel as if I am alone. I never feel, as they say, 'bored'. There is never a dull moment with her playing around in the background. My work happens with an effortless ease. Aren't these the qualities you look for, in your true companion? 

I am not a poet who can give a poetic touch to my thoughts, but I quote John A. Logan "Music is the medicine of the mind". Feel it, enjoy it, admire it, live with it as if it is your true companion.

Living your dream!! Been there, done that...

When I was a kid, I had always wondered about one of the largest parks in Bangalore. I was thrilled to know that people live in such a serene atmosphere, with large spaces to play around. I was envious of all the people who were residing in this beautiful "resort", in the heart of Bangalore.

As I grew up and entered college, I realized that the park I was referring to was none other than the premier research institute of the country, Indian Institute of Science. I was told that the best brains of the country were working here and that most of the country's top notch research happens in this "park". I grew up with one dream in mind - to get into the top research institute of the country - to get a Ph.D from the Indian Institute of Science. Well, like all other boys from India, I also dreamt that I will play for the Indian cricket team one day. At that point, these were two unrealistic dreams. I had no choice. I had to achieve one of them. I simply had to. When the choice was made, it was a simple and a straightforward one.

Thus began the journey to get into "The Institute" of the country. The path, as it is for all those who get into this lovely campus, was not easy. There were a lot of negative vibes and criticism. But there was always the love and support of all the near and dear ones too, which pushed me on.

The first few steps I took on the roads of this wonderful arena of scientific brilliance gave me my goose bumps. Here I was, one who had envied these people as a kid, now becoming a part of their family!! Life at the Institute is way different from that on the other side of its gates. Here, at times, time ceases to exist!!! The chaos of the outside world is somewhat lost inside the "campus". Yes, we do go out to have our share of 'freaking out', but mainly we are in our coccoons. The Institute teaches you and moulds you into a person who can strive to achieve, whatever you wish to, in life.

I landed here, at the institute, in 2007, to pursue my dream. Here I was, a naive, inexperienced lad, just out of college right into the thick of things. I had no experience or knowledge of research. Very soon I realized that what we did in college were hardly in the category of 'experiments'!! But this phase was shortlived. Soon, I began feeling that I was one among them. I was made to believe, by people around me, that I was capable. So started my exploits with the real experiments!

Working at the institute is like acting in a play!! You get to express all your feelings. You have your happiness and your sorrows. You have your tempers flaring up, and at times, you are so depressed that you want to be away from everything and everyone. But at no time does the life at the institute let you linger in such emotions. You are never in inertia here! There is constant variation, which is phenomenal.

The last few years have been the best years of my life. I have had such memorable experiences and they were possible because of all those nice, kind and wonderful souls that made sure we never had a dull moment. Although coming from different parts of the country, science and research united us. We shared our happiness and sorrow and the friendship was fantastic. I never realized how a time span of 5 and a half years went by. After 5 years of diligent work with a lot of help from scores of people, I have managed to live my dream - get a Ph.D from IISc - and the day I got it, it was a sense of finally achieving something substantial in life. It was a feeling indescribable. You need to experience it to understand.

Despite the happiness, there is a tinge of sorrow attached somewhere. The fact that in the near future, you will be parting ways with the place and the people who made you the person you are, is a difficult pill to swallow. But the separation is only physical. I am sure all those who have been a part of this institute would have, in the past, had similar emotions attached to this campus. For all of us, it is a real feeling of living our dream. As for me, its now time to start dreaming again, to set a bigger and better challenge, and try to achieve it. But one thing is for sure - when my kids look at the campus in awe - I can proudly tell them "been there, done that"!!!!!

Certainly, coming here, and experiencing what I did, I can say that I did live my dream to the fullest and it was a memorable dream and hardly a nightmare!! It now time to start dreaming again !!!!!

Agony in ecstasy…

It has been 28 years, 28 long years. The whole of India had waited for the moment, and when it actually arrived, on the 2^nd of April, 2011, the whole of the country rejoiced in unison. The reason, as all are well aware, India had won the 10^th edition of the Cricket World Cup.

The celebrations on the streets all over the country were seen by one and all. Each one was congratulating the other irrespective of whether they knew one another or not. There was no discrimination based on caste, creed, economy etc. It was INDIA celebrating.

Everyone was appreciating Dhoni and his Men in Blue and Gary Kirsten. But most of them forgot what was achieved by the teams of the past. In my opinion, the people who also deserve credit are the likes of Saurav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble, VVS Laxman, Javagal Srinath, all of whom were a part of the Team India of 2003, that went to the finals. They were all responsible for infusing the self belief in players like Virender Sehwag, M S Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh, Zaheer Khan, Suresh Raina, Ashish Nehra, Harbhajan Singh, all of whom are now World Cup winning cricketers. Even Sachin Tendulkar improved mentally in their era. Also, let us not forget one Mr. John Wright. He was the one who indeed got the team on the right track. He did infuse a lot of self belief in the team and all the hard work of these past greats has helped India reap the fruits.

Well, I am not here to praise anyone or degrade someone. I am as happy for Team India as everyone else. I can now proudly say to my grandchildren that I saw India making History in 2011.

But I am sad to see the discrimination prevalent to a great extent in our country. And we can see two great extremes when it comes to cricket versus all other sports. Cricketers, I am sure, are Gods to all sports lovers and whatever they do, gifts pour into their pockets. They are the richest paid sports persons in our country. But still they are awarded money in the crores, given free travel both on rail and on air for life, given sites for accommodation, and what not. You score a century against Australia, you are assured of at least an Arjuna Award, if not more.

But sports in India is not only about Cricket. We have various other Sports. There are a great number of other legends in our country, who have not got what they actually deserved. Let me quote some examples here..

Prakash Padukone, the ace badminton star of India. He was the first Indian to win the All England Badminton Championship. Saina Nehwal is following his footsteps and is actually doing better than him. She is World number 3 at the moment. An achievement the whole of India SHOULD be proud of and celebrate. But did we? I guess not..

We have Narain Karthikeyan and Karun Chandhok who have done the country proud by racing against greats like Michael Schumacher, Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton etc. They have also had their share of victories against racers tipped to be far better than them.. Are we celebrating this fact?

We had Abhinav Bindra, who won the first Individual Gold Medal at the Beijing Olympics in 2008. Did we come out on the streets with the national flag or at least burst crackers the way we did on April 2^nd?

We have had a very successful Commonwealth Games, where we bagged medals by the handful. We had Shooters, Athletes, Weight-lifters, Boxers all of whom did exceedingly well, getting a record 101 medals in all. We were number 2 there, behind Australia. And even in the Asian Games, we did quite well, though not as good as expected, but  still, our sportstars did create a record for the country, with the number of medals they managed. What did we do when all this happened. Instead of saluting the stars, we were worried about the fiasco of the Commonwealth Games village and were more keen to see who went to jail.. Terrible !!

Who can forget what Grand Master Vishwanathan Anand has achieved? World Champion, I do not know how many times, and has even been the World Number 1. And his is also an individual effort, with no support from others. What have we done? Well, we definitely have pissed him off with our attitude and so, he is not even staying in this country, where sportsmen apart from cricketers do not get their due. How many times have we seen him on the front page of a newspaper? Compare that to the cricketers.. We see them almost every other day. Sad indeed.

Cue Sports.. Have Pankaj Advani and Geet Sethi done the country proud? We talk about what Sachin Tendulkar has achieved when he was 16 years or so. How many of us know that Pankaj advani is the youngest WORLD CHAMPION in Billiards. He was 18 when he became the World Champion. And Sachin became a WORLD CHAMP at 37 years!!!! Did we get to the streets supporting Pankaj. Hardly did we even acknowledge him.

Come tennis and we have been doing well in tennis for some time now. We had Ramesh Krishnan, Vijay Amritraj, Sania Mirza, Rohan Bopanna and Somdev Devvraman, who have done quite well in the international circuit. But tennis is synonymous with two names in our country… Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi. What have they not achieved in the world of tennis ? Together, they have about 23 Grand Slam titles between them. Paes has an Olympic Bronze medal in singles as well. They reached the ATP number 1 ranking for doubles in 1999, 11 years before Team India became number 1 in Cricket. What did we do to celebrate? Well, we were more interested to know the reason for their split, who was behind it and all. We did not get even 1/1000^th close to celebrating the way we did on 2^nd April.

The irony is that when the Government is giving money in the crores to all the cricketers for winning the World Cup, all the athletes who excelled in the Commonwealth games got money in the lakhs, where most of them were individual sports and the difficulty is far exceeding a team event. And when the entire country was shouting for Team India, on the 2^nd and 3^rd of April, during and after the Cricket World Cup Finals, two gentlemen silently achieved a phenomenal feat.

When gifts were pouring for Team India and its support staff, the Indian Express of Leander and Mahesh went about their business of achieving what they had set out to. They won the finals of the ATP World Open in Miami, and in the process, dethroned the Bryan Brothers of the USA, to regain their status as the number 1 ranked doubles pair in the world. The pair they dethroned had held the position for some 6-8 years now. We were so happy when India beat Australia in the world cup. What did we do when this pair did the same in tennis? Just a scroll in all news channels; a last page news about it in newspapers and a cheer from few fans. THAT’S IT !!!! I sure did fly the National Flag high seeing their achievement, when they have nothing left to prove… I am proud of each and every sportsperson I have or have not mentioned here.

But I am hurt by the discrimination shown by the country towards those who are not cricketers !!!! It is indeed Agony amidst all the Ecstasy of winning the World Cup. I am as happy for Leander-Mahesh and all the others, as I am for Team India.

This article might seem a bit too long and boring to some, but there are so many such instances that I have not quoted here, which, if I do, will take up a hell of a lot more space…. So, come on India, let us strive to drive away this discrimination and celebrate each and every success of not only of our sportspersons, but each and every Indian who achieves something that deserves a celebration, irrespective of his caste, creed and region.

Let us celebrate the achievements of all those individuals who have done the country proud in one field or another. I SALUTE THEM ALL !!! 

Time.. The magic potion !!!!!

It has been that kind of a period that I have not got the time to sit and reflect all thats been happening around me. It has been sometime since I sat down and penned down anything. Life has been very very fast paced of late with so many things to do with so little time. Time is something so precious.

Ever since the year began, things have been very different. It has been good at most times, but bad too at times. The beginning of a new decade (or you can say the end of one, as it is 2010 !!) seems to be the beginning of a new chapter in life, as well as the end of an old one.

With every action you do in life you learn something new. Sometimes, you learn instantly, but at most times, you take your own time. The time since the beginning of 2010, as I said has been different for me. I have learnt a lot from all the mistakes I did, swallowed all the bitter pills I had to when it comes to certain circumstances but also had enough time to get over all those things and enjoy life the way I want it to.

I have had my share of movies, sports and also, travelling, though I must say, I long for a trek for sometime now.  

But there are instances where I have felt as if I am unfit to be in the surroundings that I am in right now. That is when time comes to my rescue.... I just go away from everything and everybody and give myself enough time to get over these things.

It is amazing how things heal with time... Even the most bitter rivalry can be healed if given enough time to understand the situation. It is like a magic potion where it suddenly hits you, BANG!!!!!!, and that is it, you get over all the negative feelings and are back on track with more positivity and a fresh mind.

Even when something good happens in life, you need time for it to get into your head and for you to realize that something of this sort has happened. Again here, time acts as your buddy, your buffer, which will make sure the news goes in smoothly.....

I do not know why I am writing these right now, but I feel the fact that I have some time in my hand to spend, it is making me write something to get back into my old habit. Again, time !!!!!! my best friend, my buddy.....

So, whatever happens, just give it time. Am sure it will be taken care of in the right way possible. It is indeed a magic potion, a tonic in life.