Perceptions of a world engaged in schizophrenia..

Ive always wondered if every tiny action on earth was preplanned. If that is the case our pretense at decisions and thoughts must be  quite useless. So does that mean we are all acting like zombies, acting out in a skit with rehearsed dialogues? It sure doesnt feel like it though! If everything even your success or failure or even what you are going to talk is pre planned and pre ordained where is the concept of your indivudual personality/soul/mind whatever you may choose to call it in the picture? Let me mix a teeny bit of Hinduism in this zone which propogates the concept of Karma. In laymans terms and also trying to be terse about teh definition here,Karma is what you bring upon yourself , so essentially you at the end have the right and will to make decisions and live the consequences of it. If thats the case doesnt the concept of "Fate" take a beating?

You can change your destiny they say ....and how do you even begin to do that?Who even knows what their destiny is!

Isnt the very word Destiny rigid? It echoes of something you cannot alter and something that is already in store for you. So who are all these people who claim to have strived and altered their course of life? If that's possible for one man why isnt it possible for another or was that pre planned too, that this person is going to change his/her destiny .But hold on now,when you have the power to change something arent you also indirectly telling that nothing on this planet is written on stone and eveything is transient?So doesnt the concept of Fate take a beating there?

Should we live on optimism and hope that eveything we want will happen because its all in our hands or should we live on the pessimistic despair and hopelessness that no matter what you do your "Fate" always has the last word.

Is the Journey in your hand but the destination your fate? If thats the case how many different paths can you take to one destination, however much you alter the journey if your path is always going to drag you towards one destination which fate has ordained for u, where is the thrill in calling it "I changed my FATE!!!" No you didnt, maybe we all just happened to take a detour and reahed the same point.

FATE,DESTINY,KARMA whatever word we give it, it raises hopes for some and squashes hope for another.Looks like we are living in a schizophrenic world which presents a different persona to each being looking at it, its core being the same. 

The search for the core still on.......

And the winner is.........$$$$$$$$$$

Welcome aboard to a world where the winner is declared on the basis of the bank balance.Have you ever looked around and felt like the world is getting a crazier place to live in simply because you have to do a lot of unnecessary things just to fit into this world?

Success is equated to the amount of money you make.There is a crazy rush for people to buy/invest in huge properties and flats and et all...Now this one always stumped me why would you kill yourself with a huge loan to be kept paying off till you are ready to drop dead so that you can buy multiple properties??? Hey buddy isnt one gonna be enough for you to live in? The last time I knew/saw we can exist only in one place at one time... whats the mad rush to kill yourself for then?

Im not against ambition and love for materialistic pursuits, but im definitely against a pursuit just for the sake of it or for the sake of others. Sometimes I think people buy /expend themselves only to stand upto a particular level in a society which will judge them based on the property/assets they can show . Whats surprising is that you talk to the same people and they will give you a sermon on how their parents had an easy life and how life in the villages and the 'old days" was better.. Well ,excuse me... but aren't you the one complicating your own life by living upto someone elses's standards and confusing them to be your own?

I guess we are living in a planet which has been zombied out by "Success" criterion that revolves solely on money and how much of it you can churn out. Everything has become a basis and standard for how much you earn.It scares me especially on how we are influencing the coming generation.We no longer dare to encourage our children to go and find their calling in "alternative" fields simply coz the monetary benefits are perceived to be less. Are we doing the right thing here? We are stangling true talent and making our children Factory products.Each one sounding and looking the same. All in the name of competition.

Hmmmmm......

When you have just shifted out to a new City /Town /Village /Country or even just moved out to a new street the one ubiquitous question you are faced with is "so how do you find life there?". First and foremost isn't life the same everywhere? "Yeah Scotty!the life form here is different,the human species here has actually found a way to generate 6 hands!". But seriously it got me thinking and I started noticing all the things that truely felt different or weird in some cases compared to the place I have lived in all these years.

1. The moon always appears bigger than back home .Its almost as if you can stand on a hig rise building and grab the moon!Hmmm The moon was a far away object of fantasy in my land but here it looks enormous, takes on a more scientific approach when you look at it not a poetic one. Maybe thats why song writers back home sing songs praising the moon whereas here it is just "THE MOON."

2. Certain highways have deer crossing symbols,now I know its not unheard of.But here's what tickles me ,its a straight highway ,no turns or twists and the symbol pops up saying "Deer crossing next 1 mile". Wow! How the hell do the deer know that they need to cross the road right about here? I mean they are deer for heavens ,cant they just prance about and start crossing the road even before the symbol????

3.I find it extremely weird that you can actually walk upto a theatre 5 mins before the latest release and still get tickets for it.Doesnt matter even if it is "BatMan".Now this just depresses me, its almost as if you dont need to plan to watch a movie. Miss the hulaboo of getting tickets for new releases 2 days in advance.Booking tickets for the latest releases used to be like a festival celebration.

4.The foothpaths or the so called pedestrian walkways are not accesible to vehicles from the main road!!!. I mean, come on what if I want to ride the bike on the walkway to beat the traffic? Creativity on the roads is stifled in this part of the world I tell you.

5.People log onto weather.com to religiously know about the weather and only then leave their homes.And what's weirder is that the forecast is true more often than not.Now where is the fun in going out prepared for the rain?How the hell are you supposed to comprehend songs like 'Barso re' if you are always preparing to stay dry!

6.Brocolli in Pav-Bhajji in Indian restaurants.This is not just weird and depressing ITS SACRILEGE!

7.Buying Milk in cans :-(

8.There are 'Stores' on one hand and then 'Indian stores' on the other hand.

9.Sarees ,Salwar khameez ,kurtis and kurtas etc are no longer called clothes but they are called "Indian Costumes" (even by Indians).I always felt costume was a word you used for the kind of clothes jokers wear or probably something you would pick up for a fancy dress party.Why call clothes you wear in one part of the world on a regular basis a COSTUME? Ive never heard of Trousers being called "Western Costume" in India.

10.There is an election going on in this country and you dont find a single poster anywhere! I mean c'mon whats the point if you cant print posters and throw/Park them all over the city? Thats what is fun about elections!

180 DEG of separation makes a pair of opposites...

Welcome to a world where it seems like birds of opposite feathers seem to prefer to flock together...

Haven't you ever wondered how you can have two contrasting statements like "Birds of a feather flock together and opposites attract"?

Come on...It makes no sense to have such contradicting statements existing on the same plane!I've been thinking about it for quite some time now,rather trying to figure out which one actually substantiates the world we live in and which one is more apt for today's day and age, and I must say that no two birds of the same feather are preferring each other of late by the looks of it.

Lets consider books for example,Ive seen 'N' number of my friends appreciate and swear by certain books and characters they admire idolise etc etc.. now what would you expect from someone who shows an appreciation to something.. well as a normal person i would expect them to either imbibe that personality,if not completely at least a bit of it or at least not show opposite traits in their life style...well surprise, surprise they act exactly the opposite!
I have come across almost everyone who claims to love Fountainhead and is bowled over by the character of Howard Roark,but why isn't anyone who insists
that its their fav work of fiction or literature(which ever way you chose to view it) ever want anything to do with Howard Roark or with John Galt(a character in Atlas shrugged-again by Ayn Rand) in their real life?

Is appreciation only meant for the mouth not for imbibing in real life?Don't people ever aspire to be like something they admire?Why does it stop with just an empty praise?

We never exhibit the similar attitude to materialistic likes do we??If I like/ love a dress i would immediately make it my own.What stops us from making characteristics we admire our own?Maybe it is because we no longer know the means.

I still need to fathom this incredible behaviour where we would prefer to stay far apart and admire and expect something better and good but would never aspire to become that beauty which we praise.Truly Opposites attract but its just that.. pure attraction which can brushed aside but never be made good enough to make it a part of your flock.

Missed the TRAIN...

The Bangalore-Mangalore train finally chugged into place and i thought, Damn....Missed the train...
Not that I wanted to be on its maiden journey after 'N' long years, the train I missed here has nothing to do with 'THE TRAIN' rather I missed going on a trek on the Sakleshpur route which will now be completely taken over by the train.

For everyone who has no clue what the route looks like here it is:

I have never gone on this route for one simple reason... I'm ruddy scared of heights and this track though it inspires a lott of trekers, doesnt do anything to alleviate my acrophobia.Not that I never wanted to go on this route, but I have always been waiting for the right time when my fear would be on more tolerable levels.

Anyway looks like the lovely sojourn into paradise has now been replaced by a train and I'll never really get to know whats its like to walk over that track.

This incident forced me to think about the number of 'Trains' I have missed in the past. I must admit, I could almost give Southern Railways competition with the number of trains that popped up.

Why is it that we all fail to live for the moment? Certain things are better experienced now than later.You never know, they might just bite the dust of time waiting for us forever...

I’ve seen it in so many people, not doing things at one time thanks to a common stunted opinion of waiting for a better time in the future... I guess we have come to an age where missing 'Trains' has become the mantra of the day.Where is the fun in doing something at an age where you dont experience it the same way you would've at an appropriate age? Take traveling for example, I don’t care how many people tell you to believe that you can always travel the world when you are old,but trust me and I’ve seen quite a lot of old people, something gets into you when you get older, its a gooey sticky thing that makes you scared of everything and makes you dread change and of course to make things even better old age is synonymous with all kinds of ailments and who wants to carry truck loads of medication to stay alive when you would rather just carry a camera!

It’s the destination sadly all of us are focused on, but as the famous quote goes; for an ideal traveler it’s the journey that counts and not the destination... And anyway our destinations have already been scripted for us, so why miss the journey which is so breath taking?

Come to think of it, our so called journey in life is quite similar to a train ride. Here you are sitting by the window and looking at the lovely scenery whiz by. There is no coming back unless you travel on the same path again and you never know time might have sniped the scenery in your absence...

The devil called CHANGE...

Change is ineveitable but is it desirable?

Aren't certain things in life just nice the way they are? Why do we insist on change?Im perfectly happy when i react the same way as a 3 year old to a chocalate ice-cream or a surprise gift from a friend .Why do i need to be dignified and calm when i dont feel like it at all!!!
You would say i missed an important lesson in changing over from a kid to an adult over there...
But whats the big deal with this change anyway , why would you want to slowly kill a part of you that reacts perfectly normal to fit certain standards of society?

We call change a measure of growing up... is it really growing up or is it growing the inhibition within ourselves?We surely have changed a lot as children but there is no growing up here, its just a matter of altering yourself to behave as society does...

Can't we ever live life like we did in the past? Why does our present and future have to be different from the past? Why do we need to behave differently with the same people and situations in a different way, especially if the initial way was good?

I guess change is desirable only if it transforms you like it does to a flower bud and turns it to fully bloomed flower,doesnt alter your essence just enhances it.