How much is "too much"?

The title “How much is “too much”?” was a prime time theme of a leading news channel recently. Yes..it aptly fits in the current context and beyond. There is so much of thought, anger, and helplessness in me that I don’t know how to condense it to a write up. But still I would give it a shot because unfortunately this is the only thing that I can do.

India, as a country getting attacked is not at all a “breaking” news. Time and again, we have made sure to project ourselves as lame ducks and the easiest possible target. Starting from Air India plane hijack, Parliament attack way back in 2001 to the recent Mumbai mayhem, I am yet to see a comprehensive list of people responsible for it and steps we have taken to counter it.

We keep watching the attacks, riots and read ridiculous headlines like “The spirit of Mumbai” the next day. Every time I read such cover stories, my blood boils as an average Indian has to go to work the next day to keep his livelihood moving. Going back to work is definitely not the spirit that is being projected but the mere compulsion of an Indian. So seriously this is the moment when each of us should question how much is too much? How long we are going to be a mute spectator of these barbaric acts? When will we start taking actions to those countless small-big injustice like Mumbai occurring almost every month in India? Sometimes it is a nun raped, sometimes it is a blast in Assam, sometimes forceful bandhs across cities…the incidents are just countless.

One of friends in an obvious state of distress said that why don’t the terrorists blow up the Parliament..atleast we will get rid of the inept bunch of politicians. With the home minister of the state of Maharashtra saying “These kind of incidents happen” to the total reaction time taken by our entire security forces, it looks like there is no accountability anywhere and a reaction as aggressive as my friend’s is not at all a shocker. I do not see a reason why millions of unemployed youth are not getting trained as some anti-terror force or some intelligence agency or why police constables are still expected to fight with wooden “lathis”? Why the tax payer’s hard earned money is going to be spent on buying Russian submarines and other fancy war ships when our Navy along with special Coast guard forces is not able to detect the vessel containing explosives? Random questions like these end up nowhere.

I feel incapacitated in these troubled times as I don’t know how as an Indian apart from doing my job dutifully, never breaking a law, paying tax regularly can contribute in alleviating our situation. I know I don’t have any right to be foul mouthed about politicians when I am doing nothing. But the current political and administrative system has no room for people like me. I don’t even have the right of vote because I do not have a place of stable residency. In my 24 years of life, I have shuttled six different places which makes me disqualified to vote for a place. And I know there millions like me in India who want to contribute but don’t know how. Even suppose my voting problem is sorted, what do I do next? Voting for Congress or BJP is like choosing the lesser of the two evils. While one fractured India on the basis of religion in the recent times, the other has been a constant divisive force who chooses sometimes caste (read reservations) or pseudo secular acting to split the country. Regional parties are no better. On regional parties like the ones owned by the Thackeray clan, who were chanting slogans “Mumbai for Marathi” just a week ago, I want to ask a simple question. Will they ever ask a NSG commando, risking his life to salvage Mumbai, his state of birth? Let them stop the non-Marathi men in uniform from entering the burning “Taj” the same way they had stopped Biharis from attending the Railway exam. And what are their so called “sainiks” doing in this moment of crisis? The more I ponder on all this, the more agitated I become.

If you turn the pages of history, starting from Moghuls, Turks to the British, every one of them has successfully executed their plans to slaughter people of our land and walk away casually. I don’t see any instance where Indians have fought for their rights and protected their country. Let’s do something to prove that the fight for independence was not an oddity to the sequence of events. Let’s please define how much is “too much”?

The Pursuit of Happiness

“The Pursuit of Happiness”- these famed words were of Thomas Jefferson spoken for United States Declaration of Independence. Long since they were said in 1776, these words continue to inspire people across the world. In 2006, a movie based on the life of entrepreneur Chris Gardner was released with the same title having a letter intentionally misspelled. Ever since I had read those lines and then seen the movie, it had stayed in my mind. But recently, I was able to truly read between the lines and appreciate its meaning.

Recent solitude in my life has lead to many probing thoughts.
One of these is a basic question..”What makes us happy?”
Happiness is a state of mind and it is very relative..Sometimes it oozes from professional achievements…sometimes it is personal bliss..etc.
In this highly competitive world where your every success can be dwarfed by somebody else’s achievement, it can be hardly concluded that academic or professional achievements are a measuring scale of happiness.Similar is personal bliss which stems out from your equations with everybody around you. News of break up of “oh-so-perfect” couples poses a serious question about the authenticity of their seemingly perfect happy days.So what in a day makes it look happy & different from other?Well my cognitive mind says it is the pursuit or the chase.

If you observe relationships which we develop, whether it is with friends or with a special someone (excluding parents because those are purely unconditional & not sublime) the initial days are pretty interesting because we put in some much of our energies to know other’s likes , dislikes and then nurture it. It is always a pursuit of understanding each other and finding ways to impress or share anything & everything that we know or have experienced. Slowly the process gets over and when you think you have totally conquered other’s mind and behavior, the person becomes predictable and irksome.

Same analogy can be built in professional life as well. When you first join a company or start a project, you are all starry eyed having a patient ear and a receptive mind. With the passing days, you become acclimatized to the environment and the work becomes drudgery.

All of us need to understand this unavoidable cycle and learn the art of interest sustenance. Happiness always lies in pursuit. For only minutes of a completion of a task, the sense of exhilaration and contentment prevails. After that the restless mind craves for more. So within the same mundane, we should try to create & chase certain goals, interests to keep the fire within us alive. On the personal front, go and follow your hobby or surprise your near & dear ones with something you haven’t tried before. Professionally, keep learning from every conversation and every thing that we do in a single day. Make realistic goals for yourself and wake up with a sense of purpose.The experiences that we gain while doing a task is much more enriching than accomplishing it. So the bottomline is that there are illimitable things that can be pursued and the simple fact that “Chasing is more fun”.

Let's Play !

Empowerment in India manifested in more than one way in these recent days.“Chandrayan” zoomed into the skies and the ISRO scientists rejoiced.While some of my countrymen were busy exploring the unexplored..surpassing all limits and reaching Moon…some thought it would be wiser to restrict their energies within the man made boundaries. Gone are the days when Indians used to debate and fight for their borders shared with their troublesome neighbours. The peculiar focus these days are on the lines drawn within the country i.e. states. People like Raj Thackeray continued to capture the Page 1 of all newspapers and performing Indians like Viswanathan Anand (who is marching ahead again in the World Chess Champonship) found themselves in the remotest corner of the paper. I saw some videos of burning taxis of people (who struggle to make their both ends meet) by people who will themselves be paid a meager sum for this act and will head back to a small chawl in Mumbai in the night. Cases in Bihar were filed against the MNS head and the “Maximum” city (as described by the author Suketu Mehta) was under curfew. The status message in “Gtalk” of one of my friends living in Mumbai was “Riots in Mumbai :(” .

Any man who is young, capable of demolishing property using no more than a steel rod or a stick, having a group of like minded destructive friends is unfortunately the most empowered citizen in the country. Such is might of this bunch of people that a government having all access to state police forces, paramilitary forces and even when necessary central armed forces could not stop the hooliganism. Slowly but surely seeds of hatred were sowed by the polarizing forces and the government enjoyed the drama. This is just not about Maharashtra, similar events happened in other parts of the country as well but in different context. Unfortunate riots and brutal rape of a nun occurred in Orissa. The poor people of Singur are languishing in their now infertile land as Tata’s concrete for Nano plant has penetrated deep into its productive soil. This chain of events is surely alarming and puts a serious question mark on the fate of a young nation like ours. Just analyze slightly on the reasons rooting the events. Didn’t people migrate before in search of jobs and better opportunities? The dawn of our great civilization occurred by the footsteps of Aryans (a clan from central Asia) on the Indian peninsula. From Aryans to the New Age Indians who are excelling in offshoring business, it has been always survival of the fittest. Didn’t we learn from our constitution that India is a federal nation where everyone has the freedom to move and settle anywhere he/she likes? Why are the people (who are busy vandalizing) not creating job opportunities, open schools, do community work to uplift their brethren? Didn’t factories were built before? Why did the West Bengal government prefer to give acres of fertile agricultural soil without public participation to a corporate house? Even thereafter, why there were no peaceful negotiations? Why are the unfortunate people left in the lurch now? Unfortunately, it seems that questions like these don’t have answers in the recent times. It always makes me think don’t these people have any other work? Well answer to this question is fairly simple…NO ;-)

Well my idea to resolve this mess might sound odd to many. But here is my novel solution. Most of the antics by these politicians are arranged and focused to grab attention to them. Their stupid one-liners become the thought for the day and unemployed youth easy bait. It might have gone un-noticed but they will never launch an agitation if IPL finals are scheduled that day. This is because their main motive to hog the headlines would not be served. All political agitations are perfectly timed to leverage the maximum.

The bottom line is to create enough occasions/reasons in our country to be together for a cause and to create enough events for the youth to participate than those silly riots. So when did I see the last time our entire country rejoicing together? Hmmm….Honestly, I think Chandrayan’s launch would bring a smile to a few..but yes winning Twenty- twenty World Cup was surely a reason to party for the entire country.
Seriously the enthusiasm that cricket creates in our country is unparalleled.
Imagine, if we become from a one-sport country to a multi-sport country…how eventful will our lives be? Like USA has distinct sporting seasons..first half of the year people are hooked into NBA and second half citizens rejoice NFL. This is skillfully punctuated by baseball season, swimming championships, NASCAR, athletic meets giving opportunities to many and entertainment to millions. Ever wondered why there are so many African – Americans in sports and not much in academia. This is because they have deftly channelized their strengths into fields where they can excel the maximum.
Ever wondered the outcome if we encourage our tribal people who are genetically more strong and sturdy into sports? If you carefully analyze, the parts of our country inhabited by the tribals like Orissa, Jharkhand, the north-eastern states are plagued by naxalites or their own terrorist outfits like NSCN, ULFA etc. Recently, I read from a news site that the meetings between NSCN (the chief separatist organization of Nagaland) and our central government are resumed and is going to be organized in Netherlands!!!!
Imagine the same amount of money (which will be invested in organizing those futile meetings in a foreign country) will be invested in building a sports complex. I am sure all those people who run daily in those difficult terrains to either train themselves or stay away from army won’t mind running on synthetic tracks with a renewed sense of purpose. From athletics to archery, there can be 101 career options.

Also the logic says the political parties will have enough days in their calendar ( Superbowl like event for Cricket, hockey, soccer etc) not to start their agitations or create nuisance because firstly there won’t be much people watching it and also not much people participating into it. There will be different teams for different sports having members from different parts of India. We will be creating unity, jobs and reasons to celebrate.

May be this can sound frivolous to many that we can solve problems as complex as ours by playing. But we need to think laterally to streamline our strengths and to minimize the negative energies around us. This approach might not wipe away our worries..but still would provide hope and ambition to many and of course help in keeping the socio-cultural fabric of India intact. So I would just say “Let’s Play!!!!”

A starry night

A starry night…a million stars beaming bright..a crescent moon..and a solitary girl enjoying the celestial configuration. Well…that’s me sitting beside the poolside accompanied by a million emotions, ideas, questions. I was busy trying to spot the seven stars forming a question mark pattern on the sky. My father used to tell me how the seven stars were named after the seven sages in Hindu mythology. This lead to one thought followed by another. The human brain works relentlessly searching for memories, details etc. Wonder sometimes how fast and accurate it works…what algorithm must be powering it. As I started analyzing I realized, we are almost 99% of the time searching for something. Day begins and I search for the mobile to switch off the alarm..then search to know the accurate time (based on which I can sleep sometime more)…then searching and scanning the road to spot the bus…then searching for information at office …coming back home and searching something to eat, etc..The search never ends….what ends is Time.

Moving fast from this thought…I jumped to another…recollecting a song which suited best in that ambience i.e. “Yeh Tarra woh tarra” from Swades. The movie was brilliant, real..so positive. Positive should be underlined because half of the movies these days are either highlighting crime or the other half moving away from reality. Recent release like “Welcome to Sajjanpur” deserves kudos because it touches all crucial issues in such an entertaining tone. Without being preachy, it tells a lot about the issues plaguing India.

My busy mind maneuvered again and started analyzing the recent news flash which I had read just a couple of hours before. Stock markets crashing and recent communal violence in my state were the only pieces of information which managed to stay back after I had read them. The news website was flooded with images of faces in despair. Looking at their faces and the figures that markets are losing each day, I thanked my stars not to have invested in stock markets. I recalled my dad’s favorite poetry “Miller of the Dee” where the king questions his subject ….a miller what is the secret behind his happiness. He answered politely that he has hardly anything to loose and explained him that “Uneasiness lies in the head that wears the crown”…I felt like the miller that night and was strangely contended with my limited materialistic assets. My happy self suddenly realized if I am too selfish to be limited in my little world and ignoring the bitter truths. The part of the world which I call my home is being ripped apart by communal petty people. Uneducated, misguided people are becoming pawns of the evil political powers. It made me think if it was the same place where I grew up.


Perturbed by these thoughts, I preferred to rather focus on the sky above and for the time being ignore the trivial things happening on earth. The heavenly arrangement always made me ponder over how infinite it is. Like I am currently in a country which is in North America continent, which is in Earth, which is again placed in solar system , which is again in Milky way which is again in Universe.Then…..what holds the Universe…how illimitable can things be. As the nature shows, everything has a boundary. Then what is the limit for Universe?

The more you reflect, the more you will realize how insignificant you are in this spatial array. How little are our worries…how trivial are our fights. I don’t know why is the earth and other planets are revolving the sun from time immemorial or why is the stock markets plummeting ..why I and others like me work day & night. But one thing is clear…We all are a part of the same ethereal design! We are all playing a part in this cosmic drama.This cognition made me feel so connected to the stars above and felt as if they were scintillating in affirmation. I too smiled back at them and decided to give my busy brain a break and quietly headed towards home.

The Trip!!

After almost 100 days of relentless work & solitude, I geared up myself for another trip.This trip was special right from the day of its conception. More than the joy of visiting some spectacularly scenic places, I was enthusiastic to meet new people, making new friends….. I was supposed to join my friend and her friends from Kansas City.Last 3 days of work before the trip was hard. I felt like procrastinating everything to the day after I come back. Finally on a Wednesday afternoon, I started my journey.

Burbank airport was interestingly small and friendly.Our Indian ascent is hard to hide. So a young guy at Delta airline counter asked me if I was a “North” Indian. After I politely refused, he became confident that I was a “South” Indian. He gladly introduced himself as an Indian-American whose roots could be traced to Kerala. When I again said “No”, then he apologized to have mistaken me as an “Indian”. I smiled and made him remember that there is also “East” and “West” to a place which has north & south.

I took my flight to Salt Lake City. I had to wait there for an hour or more before the rest of the gang came from Kansas. The wait was too hard as I was excited yet skeptical about meeting new people. After an impatient wait for 2 hours during which I went to all bookstores around, went to restroom more than thrice and reading more than 70 pages of the novel “The Kite Runner”, rest of the gang arrived.We were supposed to start immediately for Yellowstone National Park which was about four and half hours drive from Salt Lake city. But the airlines misplaced some of the baggage and we were stuck in the airport trying to sort out things.After this initial confusion, we started one of our many long drives which we made during this holiday.

Being a total stranger to almost all, I observed a lot and spoke only when necessary.The car zoomed and FM blared. With occasional conversation and sandwiches in the stomach from subway, the crowd in the car was invariably quiet. Gladly, the ice broke when we were out of the radius of FM stations and there were no more songs to be played.Somebody started singing randomly and somebody else followed. Within minutes everyone was singing or contributing lyrics etc. After non stop singing, laughing for 4 hours and one ticket for speeding (Courtesy: Idaho cops), we reached Yellowstone. For people living in southern California, any place having temperature lower then 65 is an awfully cold place. It was a cold starry night when we checked in “Three Bear” Lodge.The place was cozy and neat. Without wasting a minute, we slept to wake up under the serene skies of Yellowstone.

We started exploring Yellowstone after a brunch at the lodge.
The first and perhaps will be the everlasting thing in my memory will be the colors that I saw in Yellowstone. The azure color of the sky with floating puffs of mist, the different shades of green spreading across the terrain, the sparkling crystal clear water which came gushing out of streams mesmerized me. Every nook and corner of the woods looked a picture perfect. Everybody brandished their cameras and started taking photographs.

The “Faithful” geyser spurted out timely as if it was manually timed like our artificial fountains. The beauty of it was no less than the man made dancing fountain of Bellagio at Vegas. Some geysers and mud pots oozed out the pungent smelling sulphur gas and some spitted liquid which looked like molten lava. The entire pallet of natural colors was breathtaking. The exploding geysers kind of belied the innocence of the ambience and subtly reminded of nature’s might.
Everybody at my workplace had told me about the grizzly bear and asked me to take pictures of the wildlife. Well only some bison, deer and ducks obliged us and allowed us to see them. Till the very day I was supposed to leave Yellowstone, I was hopeful to see atleast one grizzly bear. The bison were the friendliest and posed in front of the numerous cameras of over enthusiastic travelers. Some of my friends commented it looks like our buffalos just with some fur. Some ridiculed others who were taking snaps of bison because they said in India you open your door and you are placed in zoo. Bison like creatures will be harmoniously roaming on the roads with cars, cycles, rickshaws etc.The trails were beautiful and you felt like missing none.

Some taking you to geysers, some around the lake showing craters ….Everything seemed so inviting. After walking for around 10 miles and exhausting all our snacks and water, we realized that sun was saying a bye and moon saying a “Hi”.

The next day was an 8 hour drive to Arches National Park after crossing Grand Teton National Park. The majestic mountains of Teton were clothed in different shades of blue.Mountains of different altitudes were harmoniously aligned. I was comfortably seated in the car enjoying the scenery, the revelry with co-passengers and my book.

Moab was again a very interesting place. It was dry, hot but with awe inspiring formations of rock. It was a large territory of rocks. All of us had let our imagination go wild and were trying to picture the rocks like a boy with glasses on, as a modern art painting, a chariot and what not. But it was very hard to comprehend how could the air and water alone could create such huge flawless pieces of art.

The trails were slowly becoming difficult and tiring because of the heat.
But the different rock formations like the balancing rock, the gossiping rocks , the eye, numerous arches were simply hard to miss.

Inspite of the scorching sun, we decided to take the most difficult trail called the “Double O Arch” which was around 9 miles long. The trail was truly difficult because of its uneven topography. It was already evening and I had exhausted myself. So I and my friends after going half way decided not to go ahead and wait for two other guys who decided to go.

The trail was such that after a certain point, you could not see where is it going or far is it from the Double O arch point. It suddenly became cloudy and dark. Slowly the number of people who were coming decreased. We slowly started getting worried. Suddenly, two of my friends decided to go and find the rest. Within minutes, no body was visible. With dark clouds looming the sky and no cellular network, I slowly started getting worried. We were just 2 people standing on the bottom of the rock waiting for our friends to return.After a good wait, I realized that it was too late and the weather is becoming inclement.Impulsively, I decided to trek alone and find rest of the people. With sand under my shoes and slippery rock I had reached quite a distance. I was myself not sure how and where exactly I am going. I slipped twice but balanced myself. Suddenly, I heard some voices from down who requested me not to go alone and come back. I saw an old couple of Chinese origin warning me not to move ahead as it had started raining.I told them the reason why I was going up. In the meantime, I asked whoever was returning from the hike if they had seen my friends. Some said yes and some refused. I was really terrified. How strange is the fact that the same terrain that looked so lovely now was looking scary? The couple assured me to take me to the entrance and call the rangers. The walk to the entrance was a good 20 minutes long and by the time I reached there, it had stopped raining. I prayed hard and kept a time frame of another 20 minutes after which I am going to take help from the locals to call the rangers. Every second seemed like an hour and finally when I was going to ask for help, I saw my friends coming. The feeling was inexplicable. I had such a motley mix of emotions that I was numb for an hour or more. It was indeed one of the most nerve wracking experiences of my life. After a hearty dinner, we again started our journey to Bryce canyon.

Bryce was equally ravishing with temple and castle like formations of rock. It was at a higher elevation of 8,600 feet or more. It was slightly cold but beautiful. Some part of the Canyon looked like the remnants of ancient monuments having a story, history of its own. The uniform and gradual shades of orange, white, brown looked so unreal as if someone has intentionally painted it. After 4 days of constantly traveling and hiking, we were no more ready for taking another trail but still we took two trails.






The day ended and we headed to Salt Lake City again to board our flights the next day. It was Labor day and every billboard showed up interesting deals and offers. We shopped a lot in an outlet mall in Salt Lake City after having lunch in an Indo-Nepal cuisine restaurant.

We reached airport and it was the time to say a bye……a bye to the continuous drives, hikes, loud laughs, songs and most importantly friends. People whom I didn’t know at all had became a part of my lives..After exchanging phone numbers and promises of exchanging pictures, I said adieu to all.

Life is strange but beautiful…Journeys like these definitely changes your perception and rejuvenates your senses. After undergoing through a gamut of emotions during and after this trip, I am back alive and kicking like never before.

July 4th

The holiday list is an integral part…actually the most pleasant item that I have pinned on my cube’s board. My eyes scan them very frequently to find the next holiday.

So finally another holiday has arrived…July 4^th which US celebrates as its Independence day. The feeling that there will be a 3 day break from the mundane of office was ecstasy to say the least. In such a blissful state of mind, I was reading some random articles from National Geographic magazine.
It said that the last country to win independence in the world was East Timor in 2002 when the country broke free from Indonesia.Since then no territory has achieved self-government.Nearly 50 years after the UN said colonialism must end, the organization lists 16 places and 1.2 million people, still under foreign rule. Two colonial powers, the US and UK refuse to co-operate with the UN. France will let New Caledonia vote next decade. And New Zealand urged Tokelau to choose equal partnership, but a 2007 referendum failed by 16 votes.

This nugget of information made me thank god that I am not one of those 1.2 million people. My cerebration was suddenly broken by sound of crackers. I rushed to my balcony to check if I could see something. There I saw people gathered in large numbers on the other side of the road. They were all out of their homes and had settled comfortably on the grass beside the road...as if waiting for some kind of show to start.
Without a thought, I rushed there to be a part of that crowd. Then started the fireworks which is a customary event on July 4^th. The sky got illuminated with bright colorful patterns in every few minutes. The bigger the explosion and formation…the more kids shouted in enthusiasm. I was looking at those amazing short lived art being formed on the sky.

Within seconds I was transported to atleast 10 years down the memory lane and the sky became a 70mm IMAX screen. Without a doubt, the scene was a Diwali sequence where there were “dia” lighted homes, plateful of sweets…Motichoor ke ladoo, kaju barfi, rasogolla, aunties exchanging pleasantries, uncles talking but yet keeping a strict vigil on children around. Children used to hoard some of their allocated crackers because there was a un-declared competition that who ever has crackers till the end gains the maximum respect and envy of others. I have no qualms in admitting that when children lighted their rockets or fired their mini bombs, I was right there in the far most corner of the house with my eyes closed and hands on my ears. I enjoyed looking at the fireworks but was too scared to light any of them. To be honest, I graduated from phuljhari to chakri, kumpi only when I was full 21 years old.

Then my thoughts were a bit fast forwarded to my college days where the annual fest “Vibranz” ended with such firework extravaganza.

Suddenly, some commotion pulled me back to the present.
I looked around to find what has happened.

The pipes camouflaged in the grass had bursted to water them and all those people who were sitting on it were startled initially as they got wet.Some kids who were not even sitting there ran towards them to get wet and started playing. The ruckus ended up in laughter, smiles and everybody enjoying the water splash on a hot day. This turned out to be a truly spectacular sight....Fireworks on the sky and fountain on the ground.

The fireworks lasted for a good thirty minutes and then the crowd started to disperse.Well being a proud citizen of a free country…I saluted this feeling by wishing all such free spirits around me “Happy Independence Day” and went back to my home.

Oil…Ozone…and an Optimist

The speedy car having me inside crossed a petrol pump…oh sorry Gas station (7 months down in this country but still not convinced why petroleum being a liquid will be called “Gas”…well they say its an acronym for gasoline) To be more generic, I will use the word "Oil" throughout.

Since the time I have came here in December, the price has hiked from a 3.4$ to 4.6$ a gallon. US throughout its history has been successful to muscle its way and kept the prices very affordable. A colleague of mine at office said that always the price of a gallon of milk and oil has been the same here.

Statistics say the United States consumed in 2007 about 22 million barrels of oil each day, about 25% of world consumption of 87 million barrels of oil per day. Where does all of that gasoline go? When it burns, it turns into lots of carbon dioxide gas. Gasoline is mostly carbon by weight, so a gallon of gas might release 5 to 6 pounds (2.5 kg) of carbon into the atmosphere. The U.S. is releasing roughly 2 billion pounds of carbon into the atmosphere each day. Even a fifth grader knows about how carbon dioxide eats up the Ozone. These statistics from a news website amazed me.

I reached back home still concerned about my spiraling costs (having a rented car) and finally decided to relax.

Opened up the laptop to read the news, check mails etc.
Well the headline didn’t surprise me at all.

Timesofindia said that in the first time in human history, billions of years formed ice is going to melt away in North Pole.
Well the statistics I had read last day about the carbon being sent to atmosphere each day explains the fact.
I had read in my school the importance of ice in North & South Pole. My geography Sir was a doctorate and despite his very soft voice (for which he was ridiculed all day) had explained with lot of enthusiasm that those ice actually behaves like an air conditioner and helps to keep the temperatures moderate. Ice locked there if got melted could create havoc in the world …eating up the coastal cities etc.

But the irony is …what seemed to be a concern for a normal person like me …was an opportunity to some. The article progressed with the idea that now when there is only going to be water in Artic, it is going to be much more accessible and the rich oil reserves, mineral deposits can be exploited.

I was now shocked..rather than thinking of something to mitigate the forthcoming disasters…we are conjuring to rip apart the planet. Slowly but surely Artic and Antarctic will melt away ..flooding the cities …Mumbai…Venice…San fransisco might be wiped away from the maps.

Visualizing the destruction made me more sad…But suddenly the optimist in me took control of my psyche. The optimist could picture vehicles running on solar energy, coastal cities harnessing wind energy, governments around the world making tough and a tad less selfish decisions ,people being more inclined to do their work virtually like managers relying on video-conferencing instead of flying in those oil guzzling jets, …in short “A world where ambition and nature can co-exist”. I said “Amen” to my thought and said myself a “Good night”.

The Old Man & the Dog

Sun smiled again on earth and the city woke up.
I played the same game with my cell phone ie. snoozing the alarm for atleast an hour in a semi-conscious state..
Finally responsibility dawned in me and I was up and running for another day of my life.

At the bus stop, there was an old man sitting with his dog.
The old man had an adorable paunch and a blissful smile on his face.
The dog seemed very tired and had curled up at one corner.
I like observing dogs from a distance but the moment they approach you to build in their brain a customary identification report by sniffing, I get extremely uncomfortable.
So looking at the dog, I decided not to stand under the shade of the bus stand.

I stood outside and pretended to be brave…look occupied by checking the schedule etc.
The old man was observing me for quite some time.
Then he started the conversation by saying “Come here lady..My dog doesn’t bite…Neither do I...”

A single humorous statement put me at ease and we started talking about weather, the upcoming market complex near the apartments etc.
Our fun filled conversation lasted for about five minutes but still it was so refreshing.

Humor is the best trait…It can make merry situations merrier and tough situations just pass by with a smile. You can make best friends out of it and turn worst enemies into friends.

Everyday can’t seem equally exciting or promising. Today seemed one of those days…But a five minute talk with an unknown person in an unknown part of the world could make a difference in my life.

The bus came on schedule and the old man wished me good day.
The dog still sat lazily rounded on the corner.