Isn’t Ambition same as greed??

 ‘Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.’ A line of thought that did rounds in 2011 centered around the death of iconic Steve Jobs. Quite a fillip for the ambitious crowd! But another line of thought, a rather spiritual one, has always focussed on contentment. To stay satisfied with what you have and bask in its happiness. As I write now, the fine line that separates ambition and contentment remains the perplexing issue.

If being content is suppressing ambition, not wanting more-then contentment is futile. And if contentment is mere suppression of greed, the question that arises is- how are the two entities AMBITIOUS and GREEDY different. Just that the former is seen in good light and the latter is an evil cousin? Or that being ambitious is having bigger aims and having greed is having bigger fantasies? I see no difference. The literal sense only obfuscates the issue. Both are quite synonymous with their intents- attaining A GOAL.


So, What one  should be? Content? Ambitious?For me, one can’t be both content and ambitious at once. If you are content with the present scenario, you will never be that hungry (read: ambitious) for your future goals. As the whole world propagates to strike a balance between the two, I am skeptic if such a state exists.

Its a tough call to pick one. Its infeasible to pick both.
Dilemma remains.

Two ways

Two ways
We end up with always
A barbed wire
Or some roses.
A wily smirk
Or a little grin.
A little cautious foot
Or a plonk down the track
An open confession
Or a concealed truth
A little weak dab
Or a strong knock
when in doubt between the two
Chose the one that opens gates.
Yes. A flood ain't wise
But a drought cowardice.
We die both ways
Why not then the bolder one anyways
The rain is what we wish for not
As the fear of flood makes us bear the drought.
The fear of flood makes us bear the drought.

Movie Review: No One KIlled Jessica

After an excellent debut as a director in poignant Aamir, Rajkumar Gupta 's second flick No One Killed Jessica was bound to have expectations. No wonder, before entering the hall, I too had my own load of expectations from this movie. NOKJ accounts of the Jessica Lall murder case in 1999 and the abominable series of events that ensued, till the people and media plead for the missing justice in our judiciary and life imprisonment was handed to the alleged. The movie is actually a dramatized version of events and not leaves any stones unturned to add bollywood masala to the real case.

The first half of the movie retells the murder of Jessica Lall, a bartender, by a affluent politician's son just for refusing him a drink. This seemingly open-and-shut case morphs into injustice for Jessica despite the presence of 300 witnesses. The gritty Sabrina loses her mother in the battle for justice and almost gives up hopes from the corrupted system. Meanwhile, Rani portrayed as a cussing renowned journalist, makes a strong impact on the movie right from the first scene. Her palpable temerity and aplomb is even jaw-dropping in some scenes.She owns the second half, by spawning a series of sting operations on hostile witnesses and rejuvenating this closed case. The India Gate march in the dying moments of movie is another factual event associated with Jessica Lall case. In a nutshell, For me-the movie indeed deserves applause for sheer choice of subject. Although this moving account is very familiar in country but such a battle of truth against political advantage was worth revisiting. Newcomer, Myra, too does a good job and is shown as a girl who's not afraid to publicly swear at a guy  who eve-teases her sister Sabrina. Although her role is limited and is shown in only flashback glimpses-yet catches eye among seasoned actors.My only grievance is from Vidya Balan who fails to impress by her wan expressions and that only becomes more perceptible by Rani's imposing screen presence.Although her character of Sabrina demanded that but still she fails to deliever according to the standards she usually sets for herself..

I go for 3 and a half out of 5 for NOKJ-will surely bag some awards at end of 2011...
PS: The title of the movie first appeared on the front page of The Times of India five years back...also shown in a movie scene....and I too, have faded memories of reading it...

Strong, Livestrong and Armstrong

Armstong's Livestrong made people Strong; inspired them a lot,
After all, the 'cancer hero' had  won seven titles on the trot.

For many, he made sports more than a game.
Until one day, the gallant took the blame.

"It isn't humanely possible", he admitted he had lied.
Across the world, for millions, a hero had died.

We seek our heroes in the ones who stand out among rest,
Maybe, most of them, never went dope test!

No, No ! some outstanding athletes aren't  that strong.
The fan who makes them GOD, is equally wrong.

Asmanjas

Language is a medium. My first attempt at a poignant Hindi poem.

 कुछ हवा का रुख उल्टा था
कुछ हमारे कदम थे डगमगाए
कुछ मंजिल से ना था नाता सही
कुछ मन था बहक जाता कहीं
राहो में चलते बस चलने के लिए
मंजिल की तरफ बढ़ते थे बस बढ़ने के लिए
आज मंजिल ने मुह मोड़ा है
तो मझधार में छोड़ा है
मुड़े पीछे या आगे चले
असमंजस ने घेरा है
जाने ये नयी बात मुझे कैसे रास आएगी
जब जानी पहचानी राहे ही नयी मंजिल पर ले जायेंगी ।।
जब जानी पहचानी राहे ही नयी मंजिल पर ले जायेंगी ।।

Of the park and my groggy morning jogs

For slothful people like me, it is quite an achievement in itself to wake up early morning and jog along the perimeter of my neighbourhood park. And believe me it is an ‘ask’ for me, as I have always been a bit groggy and un-athletic, balking at even the slightest idea of running , that too in morning!!

But against the status quo, I am waking up early morning this summer if not at the crack of dawn and trying to grease my rusty bones which have not been engaged in any active physical activity since my class 10^th days (I am 21 years, mind you!).So it is a welcome induction into my otherwise passive daily routine. And it’s not that I have never been to my park before. It’s just that I have never been this consistent in the past. Perhaps motivation is the best fuel for any activity!

This post, however, was cropped up in my mind not because of my grogginess but because of the world I see in that park during my half an hour jog. The park at around 6 p.m. is an iridescent sight to put in a word. A refreshing air of enthusiasm pervades in the park that can bring a spring in the stride of the laziest. To begin with, there are a few steadfast brisk walkers who are regular as clockwork. Perhaps these have eked out precious time from their hectic schedules to devote it to few minutes of walk. They usually vanish in thin air in about 15 minutes. Then, there are noisy boisterous bunch of children and adolescents, relishing their summer break with morning cricket dose. Not to forget few aunties walking peculiarly yet briskly, blabbering along, looking so determined as if they are here to stay till eve but generally fizzle out when I confront them after minutes. Another set of walkers are the middle aged chubby men, flaunting a paunch, running to end the scourge of obesity! There are fresh faces who chip in everyday and add to the novelty of the motley crew.

For the last two categories, I have kept the people from which I draw inspiration to jog! No, I am not talking of Usain Bolts of park but about the septuagenarian looking men and even older, persevering to carry all agile-suited tasks-exercising, laughing, gasping for breaths, and again recurring to exercising and heartily laughter. There is no panache and flair in the way they do this, some even look weird. But it’s the courage and determination to be healthy which awes me. I wonder if I’ll be able to convince myself to even come to the park 50 years down the line, let alone exercising. Despite their laughter being drowned in the exasperating din of children, they stand out as the real SUPERSTARS of this morning for me! Another set of elderly people scattered through the park, stand lonely at one side of the park and imitate the exercizes done by the central group of elderly ones. Perhaps, they have a fear of interacting with the group or think that others might mock at their not-so-supple exercizing abilities. Whatever the case-everyday these people come alone, stand or sit in a reclusive corner and imitate the exercizes( to some extent) and go away. The scene almost draws pity from me. May be that's what lack of gregariousness can do to people!

I am not sure till how long I’ll have a rendezvous with this park and its changing faces. But I am sure that this ‘park’ experience is ethereal and has made an indelible mark on my bland ways and days...

The two sides of power cut

Image source:  4tvhyd.com

Almost every speech of an aspiring politician in India mentions the promise of electricity supply service, accentuating the erratic power supply problem in our country. The cuts however are mostly for an hour each day and habitually people don't complain for such limited power outages. Last week, the little devil however turned into a hideous monster, showing its extreme nature.

The week saw two power outages back-to-back  that blacked out almost half of the nation and even made it to the front page of  UK and US leading daily .Normal life slipped out of gear as people were stranded at railway stations, metro platforms; the roads got clogged with traffic and states came to a standstill. Several water treatment plants were shut down. Technically speaking, the entire Northern grid had collapsed due to one or more states drawing more power than they were entitled to, on July 30 and 31. Naturally, this is an excuse of a lax power department. There are load dispatch centers (LDCs) which are supposed to look after evading exactly this situation. When the power demand exceeds supply, the power is usually cut-off for a limited period  For this, circuit-breakers are used which cut-off the supply, which obviously didn't happen on  two consecutive days. This is sheer carelessness on part of the people responsible for overseeing this process. The blame-game will start as Shinde saab sits for long meetings for digging in the problem. The deficit naturally can't be fixed up with a magic wand but surely we need a fail-safe circuit-breaker system that checks overloading and takes measures. Perhaps more power plants need approvals to bring down the deficit ! No doubt, politics and technology both share the bib of culprit.

At the very rudimentary level, we Indians are extravagantly consuming electricity in summers with unfettered usage of Air conditioners and other high power-drawing appliances. In a power-deficient country, this deep-rooted habit hits us back in summers.

On the lighter side of power cut, the 10-hour power cut gives families usually engrossed in facebooking and televisions to sit together and spend some precious time together, away from the virtual world. Children on these days go out to play real football instead of eye-gluing FIFA . Ah !The hard-working laptop also gets some time off. On second thoughts, power cuts aren't unbearable if we think of how the poor section of our country have grown used to such misery and how the Indian farmer thinks of nothing besides work when he toils away on a sweltering day.

And when the indispensable thing which we have grown used to, parts away even for a day, we come to know its importance Perhaps, the Government is not having the right people in the power sector. Perhaps, our  plants are inefficient and few. Perhaps, the technology is outdated .Perhaps, all of us are responsible in our own little ways. Whatever be the case, this issue will be subdued until the next big outage.

And you, while reading this article must have forgot plugging off your charger even when your battery was fully charged long before! ;)