A Drop in the Ocean…

Its 9 AM;  time to leave for office.  On my way to office I notice the traffic jam on the road. An endlessly long line of cars and buses, with bikes trying to take up whatever little space remains on the road.  The road is filled with people who are in a hurry to reach their offices, attend client calls, start their daily tasks and meet the deadlines. I too am one of them.

I’m rushing towards the goals set for me, just like everyone else.

I’m running along the road to success as defined by society, just like everyone else.

The run seems never ending, day after day, month after month and year after year.  Everyone is running.  Most of them are unaware of the fact that they are running.  Some are running because everyone around them is.  They are scared that they will be left behind if they stop.  Some don’t know where they are going but since they have been told to follow the crowd so they keep moving.  I am not sure under which category I belong.  Does it really matter? After all I am just a drop in the vast and gigantic ocean of people in the world.  But what if this drop wanted to stop and think about which part of the ocean it belonged to.  What was its purpose here on earth? What if there was a bigger plan for its life? What if the Divine was carefully orchestrating the events in this drop’s life?  Well, that is something too deep.  A drop is not supposed to think so much. Most of the other drops would say…”You are insignificant; you are tiny; what purpose can you have? Just be a drop and move on..Follow the other drops”

But I choose to think differently.  May be each one of us has a purpose on this planet.  Some of us are aware of it, some of us are not.  And most of us are somewhere in the middle.  We know we are put here for a reason, but we are not quite sure why.  Our life is like a puzzle.  We have to get it all together and try to solve it based on the clues given to us.

All of us are busy with the duties we have– at work; at home; in life.  But if we take some time daily to just try and solve the bigger puzzle of our life, then eventually we might get to know the meaning of our life.  We might discover our passion and true dreams and the direction in which we should actually be running.  That tiny voice within us, also known as the voice of our heart or soul can also give us important information about our life.  This voice never lies.  It’s subtle, yet powerful.  If we are not able to hear it, it’s probably because we are too busy trying to achieve goals the society set for us.  Sooner or later the guilt of not following our heart will catch up, and drown us. 

Our true purpose might be to be a counsellor and help those in need, or to be a lawyer and fight for the rights of others.  It could be to make a difference in a child’s life, or to inspire the world through music, drama, art and other things.  The list is endless and varied. May be we should all take some time to reflect and get to know what really makes us feel alive.  It might not be possible for us to leave what we are currently doing, but spending some time doing what we feel is our true calling would greatly benefit us and the world we live in. 

What is that one dream because of which you are here? What is your passion?

The answer might be a scary one but at the same time a beautiful one. ‘Scary’ since it might make you realize that everything you had thought was right for you might not make sense anymore; and 'beautiful' because this answer alone will set you free………….

60 Days more………

A few days back as I was traveling home from office, a random thought came to my mind.  What if we all had 60 days left to do all that we wanted to do…how would we spend this time? How would our perception of life change?  What would matter and what would not?  How would we make a difference to the world?

It’s at times like this, when encountered with such thoughts that we should reflect on what we really want to do.

So I decided to create a 60-day-wish-list, and this is it:

1)      To spend more time with my family, and tell them how much I love them.

2)      To travel as much as I can, and see as many places as I can.  To learn the culture of the place I’m visiting, try out the local cuisine and click lot of photographs.

3)      To realize that it’s ok to not be perfect.  No one is good at everything.  Those who appear to be are just faking it.  None of us were created to be perfect, because being perfect is unreal and boring.  It is our imperfection and being able to accept the fact that we are imperfect that makes us truly unique.

4)      To write about what I feel and touch people’s lives with my words.

5)      To visit Singapore and get lost with my friend Rukmani.

6)      To visit a wine-yard, try out the various kinds of wines and see if I can find any difference among them

7)      To sleep at the beach, watch the stars and the moon. To feel the wind through my hair; and to wake up at sun rise; see the first rays of sunlight and hear the sound of the sea gulls in the morning.

8)      To walk along some colorful unknown street aimlessly.

9)      To take a break from work

10)   To listen to someone who wants to talk, without judging them.

11)   To free a bird from a cage and share its joy of being free.

12)   To get angry without feeling guilty about it.

13)   To learn a new language

14)   To fall in love

May be there are many more things that would be added to my list.  All of us have lists….so if I had to ask you to make a list for yourself, what would be included in it?

Piku - The story of Piku-Land :-)

This is the first movie review I am writing.  I am not sure how well it would turn out but then why not give it a try. . I won’t be making this review a spoiler, since there still might be people who haven’t watched the movie. 
So, this weekend I watched Piku, a movie directed by Shoojit Sircar. On watching the trailer, my heart had told me that this would be a nice flick.  My heart wasn’t wrong....

The movie is based on the day to day life of a Bengali family, comprising of the father Bhashkor Banerjee played by Amitabh Bachan and his daughter Piku played by Dipika Padukone. 

The most beautiful thing about this movie is its simplicity, and the way it manages to touch our hearts without any Bollywood Masala, item numbers, etc;  There is no big plot or story as such, but we don't get bored. That is what is refreshing about it.  It’s as real as life!  Juhi Chaturvedi deserves an applause for creating such awesome characters who make us laugh, cry and think, all in the same movie.

The movie has a great sense of humour, but at the same time it isn’t the rude and loud kind.  There are no explicit jokes as such, but laugher comes without much effort.  Every actor in the movie has contributed to making it a success.  The lead characters, the servant, the relatives, the drivers, the doctor, and all the others are just perfect.

The movie depicts the fact that we love our family unconditionally, even though it’s not always perfect.  We can see anger and irritation and love and affection all at the same time in the story.

Apart from the funny side of the movie, the way Shoojit Sircar has brought out the emotion of romance is remarkable.  In real life, you sometimes feel a connection with another person, and you don’t need to verbalize it. It just happens. He has focused on this ‘connection’ between the characters.  Neither of them try hide anything about themselves.  They are both open about how screwed up certain parts of their lives are.  Again, there is no drama, or fancy dialogues in the movie about love. Not once do we hear anything like ‘I love you’, or ‘I miss you’. No sad and over-dramatic background music.  Yet, the love story between the characters of Dipika and Irrfan is cute, innocent and natural. There is a level of understanding that is beautifully portrayed between them. On a personal note, this pair is nice together!

Juhi Chaturvedi and Shoojit Sircar also bring certain deep messages to the audiences.  For example, the fact that it’s important for a girl to not lose her sense of independence and individuality even after her marriage.  Or that love can happen anytime and anywhere with someone totally unexpected. The importance of the parent-child relationship is also depicted well.

For those of us who wouldn’t mind a movie that doesn’t come as a complete Bollywood package, Piku would be a nice watch.  But for those who expect a movie to have dances, villains, loud jokes, over-dramatic emotions, action, and intense dialogues, Piku might not be your kind of thing.  My personal opinion is that it’s worth a watch anyways.

Piku is added to my list of personal favorites after Queen, which tops the list.   These are movies that came, made a tiny difference to my life, touched my heart and left me with a smile!!

New Year Resolutions!!

It’s that time of the year when everybody has made their list of resolutions for the New Year.  I have always loved the concept of making resolutions.  They make me feel motivated and enthusiastic about the New Year.  Every year, I write down my resolutions for the year. Following or not following them is another story which I don’t want to get into in this post.  This year too I have a few points in my mind, but I have not written them down anywhere. 

As I mentally go through the list of resolutions I’ve made (Don’t worry, I won’t bore you with them), a random thought comes to my mind.  What if I had to make a list of resolutions for the advertising companies? Which companies would be included in the list?  What would be the resolutions?  This thought is a new one, and needs some serious reflection.
I realize that deciding whom to add to my list is not as difficult as I had imagined. Most of them are pioneers of ridiculous advertisements.  So here are some of the advertisers I’d wish to consider:

 The Golden Tales - Jewelry Companies
'A Diamond is a girl’s best friend.’ Well, I wonder who created this saying, because I personally find it hilarious! I mean, I agree diamonds are beautiful, and I don’t have any personal grudge against them.  Neither do I have a problem with Gold or any other metal, for that matter.  But calling metals and stones as friends and equating them with relationships seems to be a little ‘over-the-top’.  If I had a problem, could a diamond sit down, listen to me, and offer me a solution?  Certainly not!  We get to see ads which tell us that the number of gold chains a girl owns decides how happy she is, or if you want to find the way to a girl’s heart, gift her a ridiculously huge bracelet or necklace (which she probably would never wear).
These advertisers should make the resolution to not weigh emotions with jewelry.  Jewelry is awesome, and it’s also essential, but at the end of the day, this is what it is – “a Non-living Metallic and Stony Object”! 

The Whitewashers – Fairness Cream Companies
Without much effort, the range of products that comes to my mind now is that of fairness creams.  The advertisers of these products should resolve to make more sane ads. They tell us to buy the product and use it daily, or may be twice or thrice a day.  Application of the cream would make us fair and beautiful/ handsome and land us an awesome job offer, a super cute, loving and caring guy/ girl, a huge fan following, confidence, success and everything we can ever dream of. According to them everything in life is related to our ‘external beauty’. 
Let me mention an example of the insanity. A girl who is rejected by an interview panel, goes to the shop, buys a tube of the fairness cream, uses it and then? Well, weird stuff happens! As she walks down the road, it gets real windy, papers fly off from onlookers’ hands, tunes are in the air (Bollywood movie style), some people fly away due to the beauty wave, and others are just left in a state of shock, with their mouths wide open! “Drama, drama! Lots of it!” On the second visit to the interviewer’ office, she gets her job back. How? Well, I don’t know! May be it’s too windy, and the interviewers don’t realize that her interview was already over.  So making a resolution of creating ‘More Sane Ads’ definitely makes sense, right?

 The Fresh Times - Deodorant Companies
A person is sad and lonely.  He is spotted by a famous celebrity who stops by to ask him what the matter is.  The sad person narrates the story of his life, and the celebrity flashes an ‘all-knowing’ smile, places a deodorant bottle in his hands, and next we see that the person is happy, famous and surrounded by many good looking people who are mesmerized by him. ‘Logic’ would have felt so ignored by all this, that It would have probably gone on a solo trip to the Himalayas! If I had to write a letter to the deodorant ad makers, it would be a tiny one.  “Please resolve to spare us the lameness.”

Tooth Fairies – The Toothpaste makers
Since the time I was a kid, all the doctors who appear in toothpaste ads have looked alike.  A white coat, a serious look on their face (which is sometimes visited by a wide and wise smile), a tube of their favorite tooth paste in one hand and a pen or a stethoscope in the other hand!  May be its time for a resolution to change the look of these doctors, and make the ads a little less boring. Apart from boring ads, we also have hilarious ads where they say that if we use a certain toothpaste, we can bite through sugar cane stems as if we are having Maggi or Top Ramen(for those of us who don’t like Maggi), break walnut shells with our teeth, like eating an Éclair! Well, I would like to tell them, “Please don’t give people such ideas!”, or else there would be such a long queue at the dentist’s clinic that he would be forced to quit his profession!

Corn flakes and Oats Makers
This is the 21^st century and we are all busy running the race, trying to meet our goals, achieve targets, etc.; In the midst of all this, cornflake and oats manufactures try to make us feel that it is cool to be in a hurry all the time, it is awesome to be so busy that we don’t have time to eat a proper meal.  So what is the solution they provide? Corn flakes with zero fat or some such similar product! This is the one power food that will make us look like models and all keep us fit and healthy.  A resolution they should make – Please don’t encourage people to skip their meals.

There are many more companies which might need to make some resolutions to improve their ads.  The  Paan Masala company which portrays a rich businessman who eats some Paan Masala and impresses the clients during a presentation, or the bike company which mistakes a bike to be a stage to perform Indian Classical dance and promotes the idea that buying a bike could help one find girls who don’t have anything better to do in life than dancing on bikes. 

Let’s hope 2015 brings some change to the kind of ads we get to see, and we get to see more meaningful ads ! :-)

Make A Difference

It’s 6 am in the morning.  My alarm starts ringing.  After a brief struggle, I finally wake up at 6:15.  It’s cold. Very cold.  I open my window to get a glimpse of the outside world.  It’s still dark.  The birds are awake though.  They have started chirping to celebrate the arrival of yet another new day.  I hear the voice of a man coming from the streets. He is singing loudly, enjoying the song as he sings.  There is a depth in his voice.  It has the power to touch the heart and soul.  Who is this person? Why is he singing so early in the morning?  Why is he on the streets?  Many questions flood my mind, the answers to which I don’t have.  I know I never will.  But there is one thing I seem to know about him just by hearing his song.  His song is his contribution to the big, dark world.  It is his attempt to make it better, to set a tune free in a place which could swing from extreme noise to deafening silence. 

It’s around 8 am now.  I’m walking towards my bus stop.  It’s quite sunny now and I’m enjoying walking in the sun.  As I walk, I notice that a little away from the place I stay, there are two people planting saplings along the side of the road.  Dressed casually in tracks and tees, they have a few saplings placed near them, and some water.  Instead of complaining about the pollution, global warming, traffic and fumes, they seem content in doing their little part to make the world better and greener.  This is how they contribute to the world.

I’m waiting for my bus now, when I notice an elderly lady across the street.  She is surrounded by many stray dogs, who are looking at her with the anticipation of getting some food.  The lady has a bag in her hand, and I believe it’s filled with food for the animals. As the dogs eat, they also look at her and wag their tail as a token of gratitude to her.  This lady doesn’t make any profit by feeding strays.  No recognition. No monetary benefit.  But that is not everything. Just a small act of kindness for someone who needs it brings joy to the heart, and she appears very joyful.  This is her contribution to the world.

What appeared to be just another morning brought me to witness three small incidents.  It brought with it a message that each of us can make a small change to the world in our own way.  We never know whose life we might change until we give it a try.  A smile.  A hello. A cup of tea.  A listening ear.  A word of advice.  The list is endless.  There are so many things we can do to make the world a little better.

The world is an ocean and we are all drops of the ocean….

Follow Your Heart!

I recently came across an article about the life of a traveler.  It was written by a person, who had travelled the whole country.  He practiced law for fifteen years, and then moved on to become a full time traveler and explorer.  Here was a man who had dared to follow his heart.  His article managed to leave a mark on my mind.

When we are children, we have infinite number of dreams.  We dream of traveling to space, becoming painters or sculptors, etc; As years move on, we reduce the amount of time we spend dreaming, for obvious reasons. We have exams to clear, colleges to apply to, companies to work for, houses and cars to buy.  It’s not a certain age group that is affected. Students, working professionals, house wives, old people, everyone seems to be going through the same situation.  We no longer have time to think of our passion.  We are not even aware of what it is that would make our heart happy.  I remember speaking to a friend recently. This person has been a football enthusiast throughout his life. During the course of the conversation, I asked him about his interest in football.  To my shock, he told me it has been long since he played or watched a match being played.  He said he didn’t have time for it anymore, and it didn’t interest him anymore. He said he didn’t really have many interests now. He never took time to think about what his hobbies were.  This is just one example I’m quoting.  There are many such people I’ve encountered over the months. I too have been through such phases in my life.

Life has become very fast paced today.  Mornings usually start by checking the ‘Smart Phone’, to check our’ WhatsApp’ pings or social media notifications.  Most of us don’t hear the sound of birds celebrating the onset of a new day.  In some places, birds no longer chirp in the mornings.  In other places, there are no birds.  People hurry to schools, colleges or offices.  No one really remembers what they ate for breakfast. Many people don’t have time for breakfast. Life is being lived mechanically. In a disinterested way.  We are becoming similar to robots.  We have our ear phones plugged in most of the time while travelling, but no one is really aware of which song is being played.  We listen just for the sake of it.

As I reflect on this, I realize how important it is to take some time out to at least know what our interests are.  We might not have a lot of time, but it’s our duty to ourselves to find out what we enjoy doing.  It is not practically possible to leave our current job or study, but a few minutes of contemplation would definitely help.  Once we are aware of what our passions are, we should try and spend some time in pursuing them. We should follow our heart, for a few moments, if not for a long time.  The voice of the heart is a tiny voice within us.  It is a knowing of the truth.  Of our truth. The heart never screams like the ego.  It is gentle, yet firm. 

It wouldn’t be a good idea to reach the grave with regrets that we never tried to follow our heart.  Those regrets would weigh heavily on us.  So before it’s too late, let’s try to make small changes in our lives, and bring in some time for what we truly love doing.

As I conclude, let me share a beautiful quote I read:

“You know all those things you’ve always wanted to do? Go, do them now!” – By Unknown

The Fair or the Unfair

‘Fairness Creams!’. This range of products seems to have captured the hearts of many innocent consumers today.  Every form of media has been used by the companies to reach out to the public.  People from every walk of life have been targeted by these companies.  While the ladies are told that if they are fair, they become lovely, the guys are made to equate fairness to handsomeness. This makes me wonder, how the advertisements propose  ideas which make no sense in reality, and many of us actually believe them, and go ahead and buy the product!

Though I have always known about the existence of these products, I noticed the intensity of the marketing by the companies only recently.  It was a weekend, and I was at home watching TV, when a plethora of ‘fairness product’ ads presented themselves before my eyes.  What I observed from all the ads made me question my reasoning ability and COMMON SENSE.

Let me share a few such observations with you….

A girl, probably in her 20s, doesn't have a job.  She is upset and depressed about it.  As she is sitting in her room thinking about the sadness in her life, her friend breezes into the room, with a plastic smile and a tube of the magical fairness cream in her hand. The friend consoles the girl, and advises her to use the cream day and night, for a few weeks.  The enthusiasm on the friend’s face makes me feel she will probably tell the girl, “Even if you forget to brush your teeth, it doesn't matter, but don’t forget to apply the cream the first thing in the morning!” I’m horrified by my tiny imaginary train of thoughts. Thankfully, the idea of forgetting to brush, but remembering to use the cream is not proposed by the friend!  Getting back to the girl, a few days pass, and we see the shade of her skin changing like the weather of Chennai.  The girl’s face is ’fair and shiny now’ and she takes on the world.  She is surrounded by many job offers.  Innumerable companies, from all over the world, want her to join them.  They give me the impression that they will shut down if she doesn't accept their offer. This is a moment when I want to know who the HR guys of these companies are, and makes me want to ask them if they really hire people this way!  Moving away from the job front, the other parts of the girl’s life have also dramatically changed.  The media now wants to take her photos and interview her, since she is a ‘STAR’.  Her family is proud of her now. Guys who never noticed her before, seem to be mesmerized by her new look.  They learn musical instruments for her, sing songs from SRK’s romantic movies, dance to Prabu Deva’s steps, and even stand in a queue to meet her, with flowers in their hands. Quite a hype? Yes, but it’s not the end of it..

It is not just the ladies who are targeted.  The guys have equally dramatic ads. As an example, let me talk about a famous Indian sportsman, whom I liked a lot, before I spotted him in a ‘Fairness Cream’ ad. This sportsman is not fair, but is extremely good looking. Even today, when I watch him in the ad, I feel sad that he endorses the product and I’m left cold by the shallowness of the ad. Anyways, this is just my point of view.  Coming to the ad, the player uses the cream; and we see his complexion changing from his normal skin tone to some tone that is close to white.  The ‘vampire look’, according to me. We then see how the player becomes famous, confident, and has many girls dancing around him.  I doubt that the advertising guys make him use a pale pink lip color in the ad, probably to celebrate the happiness of turning fair and having girls dance around him!  And I’m here, most certain of the fact that this player is out of my list of ‘CUTE GUYS’. Sob sob.

Then there is the whole range of ads which talks of the power of Ayurveda to make us fair.  A girl is rejected and humiliated during a job interview.  Her father takes the plunge to take revenge from them. And what does he do? He does intense research on the herbs which make a person fair, and creates a cream for his daughter. She uses it for some days, becomes almost white (like the player I spoke about in the previous paragraph), goes back to the company where she was insulted, and gets the job back!  The world is at her feet.  And I’m here wondering, “Really? You’ve got to be kidding me!”

There is another ad that comes to my mind now, where a man has no time for his wife.  He is busy with work, and the lady is sad.  She uses a fairness cream for some days, becomes fair and her face glows like a bulb.  When the man sees the new look of the wife, he decides to make more time for her.  So what the company indirectly tries to tell us is beauty is only external.They try to sell the idea that relationships depend on how good a person looks, and how much his or her face glows and shines.  It’s chilling and sad that many of us unknowing fall for the tactics of these companies, and become their faithful customers.

The ads have made a place in many people’s minds, and the products have started controlling the lives of many people, just like the black creature that caught poor Peter in Spider Man Part 3 and which he had a tough time letting go of.  Many people have made ‘Fairness’ a mandatory criteria while looking for a life partner.  Why? I don’t really know.  People post ads like, 'Looking for a fair to extremely fair, beautiful girl. Caste no bar, age no bar, etc etc..' I really wonder, would the guy agree to get married to an 80 year old FAIR woman, as he has specified that age is not a factor? Another ad I once came across said ‘Extremely fair girl, 26, MBA, looking for good looking, fair MNC boy. Kindly contact….’.  This ad made me wonder what if the girl for whom the ad was posted gets engaged to an extremely fair guy.  This guy happens to get tanned a few days before the wedding, due to some unforeseen circumstance.  May be the guy is a big fan of the sitcom FRIENDS, and destiny makes him watch the episode ‘The One With Ross’s Tan’.  The guy then marks his respect for the sitcom by getting himself tanned!  Would the marriage get postponed or cancelled? Who knows! Let’s hope not.

The print media is also equally affected by the ‘fairness mania’.  I find it risky to open the newspaper early in the morning, when I’m still half asleep. Why? A face, having shiny white skin and shiny white teeth will be grinning at me.  Neatly placed, on the same ad, would be a big picture of the cream that caused so much whiteness.  The expression on the face will then make me want to ask the face ‘Why are you grinning at me like a maniac, early in the morning?’ and say ‘Go, get a life, and let me read the newspaper in peace!’  I remember having accidentally watched a scene from a Hindi movie, where the villain kidnaps the heroine, and drives away with her in a car.  The hero then follows them on a horse. The poor horse is made to run so fast, so as to reach the villain’s car, that I think he would have silently cursed the hero for many years after that.  The hero now jumps from the horse, and the horse turns around and goes back. The hero runs alongside the villain’s car.  The villain is quite scared now.  He still manages to drive.  The hero reaches the front of the car. The villain is really frightened.  The heroine is thrilled and somehow manages to blush in the midst of all the confusion.  The hero stops the car with both his hands, and lifts it up.  The heroine jumps from the car, to the arms of the hero.  The car falls to the ground; its wheels touch the road.  The villain freezes because of fear.  The horse, who ran away a while ago, and who I thought would have silently cursed the hero, comes back to him.  The hero and his lady love climb on to the horse and disappear. What happens next? I have no clue.  This whole scene, in itself made my brain almost remove the word ‘sanity’ from its dictionary.  Seeing a fairness cream ad early in the morning brings the exact same feeling to me.

I could continue writing on this topic for a long time. But would it really make a difference to what is happening? No. So as I conclude this write-up here, I pray that the advertisers make ads that make more sense, and that people choose what they buy wisely, instead of falling into the ‘Whiteness Trap’.