Thursday, December 31, 2009

Fingers Crossed

Which is a more powerful driving force of a man’s actions? Addiction or Emotions? Temptation or Faith? Sense of impunity from emancipation or freedom from compunction by a harbinger? Which force wins when any of these conflicting force pairs come into action at the same time? I am going to witness one of my most awaited such confrontation in recent times. The stage of the drama is none other than one of my very good friends and the struggle begins this new year.

This friend of mine is a very nice person, pure at heart, cares for others, humble, helping, always tries to win, intelligent and a jerk! Yes, he is. In a very short span of two months he has developed a very well known addiction. He has become a smoker. Not just 3-4 cigarettes, he unloads at least a pack everyday. I know that won’t seem much to many people. So let me explain. This is after he has constrained himself to a great extent. We were all surprised by the drastic changes we witnessed in him. That was shocking. At least for me, it really was.

I really hate people who smoke and I don’t even like talking to them. This might offend some people but this how I am. But now the problem was that my good friend was into this habit. I used to warn him of where this was going. He used to ensure me that he was not going to be addicted and that everything was under control. He even warned me many times that I shouldn’t even try that thing. Slowly and steadily, his occasional smoking turned regular, then into a habit and finally an addiction. As I said, he loves to win. But I could see him losing. I couldn’t let happen. I tried to warn him many times. It even worked sometimes, and before I could allow myself a little celebration, he would be back to square one. As a last attempt, I made a sincere request. I requested him to quit. Unfortunately, he couldn’t understand the gravity of it. A couple of days back, we were coming back from lunch at a restaurant and I saw him coughing and staggering. At this point I had a conversation with him that set up the stage for the struggle mentioned before.

Me: “It doesn’t feel good. Why don’t you quit smoking?”

Him: “This is who I am.”

Me: “1 pack of cigarette costs 50 bucks. That’s too much. You can have good food with that amount.”

Him: “Never mind.” After a while, “Dude! Why are you stopping me? What’s so bad with that?”
(I smiled at his question)
Him: “Why are you smiling?”

Me: “Why did you use to say that I should not dare to try smoking. Should I tell you what’s so bad with that?”

Him: “Yeah, but…..”

Me: “I had once made you a very sincere request. To quit smoking. But you didn’t. That’s really disappointing.”

Him: “But I can’t leave it now. I am addicted”

Me: “It’s really very surprising that one can prefer addiction over a good friend’s advice and request. I hoped that you cared about the feelings of others. But now I know you really don’t and that is really sad. I had made the most sincere request to you.”

Him: “No. It was never was this way. I really care about good friends. But, no offense, it is effecting me. It’s not effecting you. It’s all about me. Why are you bothered about it anyway?”

Me: “It doesn’t effect me? If it was something that effected only you, that might not have mattered me. But it is badly effecting one of my best friends. So, it’s effecting me. It’s was never only about you. If it wasn’t so, why I am telling this only to you? Why don’t I say (*****some ABC****) to quit, or request (****some XYZ*****). I told you because it mattered to me and I thought you might care about the feelings of your friends.”

Him: “Ok, let’s say I quit for now. What happens when you go after 4 months. Maybe we won’t ever meet again in life. What’s the point in stopping me?”

Me: “I consider you as my good friend. It doesn’t matter me whether the friend is with me for 4 months, 4 years or 40 years. When I consider someone a friend, I care about him and I’ll try to stop him from any way that is wrong. This is who I am.”

Him: “What about after 4 months? Who will be there to stop me? I will start that thing again. So, what’s the point?”

Me: “Exactly, this is exactly what I meant to say. I can’t understand how is this possible that one can prefer addiction over friendship? This is where your conscience and preferences come into play. You have to make a choice. Whether you care for others’ feelings or you prefer your addiction. Are words of a good friends, those who really care about you more precious for you or your smoking”

Him: “It’s always good friends. And it will always be. But then it is probable that after you guys are gone, you people won’t be around. So, you might be out of sight, out of mind. Then it will be the same again.”
(This is where his addition was talking.)

Me: “Why is it that only we will be “out of sight, out of mind”. Why is not your smoking that can be “out of sight, out of mind” if you quit for some days? Whatever excuses you give, whatever argument you make, everything comes to the same old central point. What do you prefer? You do you choose? Friends or addiction.”

Him: “I choose friends. I promise that I’ll quit smoking completely from 1st Jan.”

I have very much clipped the conversation to keep it short and simple. One of the very obvious question that can come up in your minds is that why am I writing all this here? Let me make this very clear that this is not just another subject matter for my blog. I have written this so that when we are “out of sight and out of mind” this might make him remember his promise. This might help him to remember that he had some friends who really cared about him.

So, the battle of the two forces is to start from this new year. I am holding my breath. I am waiting for the result. I just want him to win, again!

Monday, December 28, 2009

Woolgathering

Is there anything new to this morning? Why am I feeling a bit different? Why is that whatever I did last night, most of it, is out of my mind? But it's good. I am feeling light. Oh yes! I had a dream. A long dream. That is why I am feeling like that. What was it??... let me remember..... God! I forgot! not again!!

hhmmm.... interesting!
While I recall my dream, here is something to think about.

Are the dreams powerful to shock the world when come true or they are weak enough to get destroyed ridiculously easily? Are they too arrogant to come to us whenever they like or they are too shy to stay in our minds?

It was an event that has changed my morning, and so maybe it can change my today. Oh yeah! I remember that. How powerful the dream was! I’m willing to tell you. But before that, let me “type down” what I believe. Dreams are not only those that you have when you are asleep but also those that you have when you wish something. They can change the way of thinking completely. One dream, just one dream, it may last for a few minutes or even mere seconds, and it has the power to change your day, your thinking, your life! The world of dreams is just amazing. Filled with much more fantasy than any Harry Potter book! Whenever we try to take a break from our present world, these dreams creep in our mind slowly, easily, unnoticed... After our captivation, the journey begins!

Where do you want to go? Paris, New York, Switzerland, Shimla, your home far away or even another planet, no problem! You are just a snap away! Your dreams will take you to wherever you may wish to go. No visa, no passport!

Whom do you want to meet? SRK, Sachin Tendulkar, Barak Obama, "Osama bin Laden"? Or do you want to meet the dead ones? Michael Jackson, Mahatma Gandhi, Hitler? Or maybe your parents? Or maybe the girl you always think of and always try to be around in an attempt to get her attention, doing different things which often get screwed and project you as an idiot!!! Again, you are just a snap away! You are just a nap away!

What do you want? To be the richest person on the planet, have the largest and the most expensive house, be the CEO of the biggest company, have a Limousine, be an astronaut and wander in space, to be a painter more celebrated than M.F. Hussain (so that even your crap sells off for millions!!), compose music better than Rehman, hit more centuries than Tendulkar, hack into Ankit Fadia’s computer, to be the lead actor in a Hollywood movie with Brad Pitt in a side role (any actress must be only opposite to lead :P), win a Nobel and an Oscar, have a beautiful tree house along side a quite lake, top your class, not to be late again, not to sleep again in that boring bald proff’s class, get all the clothes washed and room cleaned, ride a Hayabusa, not to scolded by the parents again, propose “that” girl (this one was obviously for boys! yes boys, you can do that. Even I have done that 2-3 times, of course, in the dreams :( Yeah, it can be very disappointing when you get up :) ). Again, you are just a nap away!

So, all in dreams? How amazing it would be if all this come true! Isn’t it? But it all happens in the fantasy world of dreams. Why do these dreams come? Why do they take us for such a ride to their world? Of what good is that? In fact, these dreams are all that we want. Whatever we wish, we feel deep inside and can’t express, feel or agree to be real is made true by these dreams. Of course some are just a reflection of desires which can’t come true, like meeting the dead ones. But most of the time they are nothing but our wishes and a world where we can make them happen the way we like. They are just the reflection of ourselves. These dreams show us that whatever we think of can be true. Dreams don’t lie. They are so powerful that take us into a world where we can try and see our wishes getting fulfilled! They show us how our world can be with our “dreams” come true. They try to make us believe that they are true and we can make them happen. They are the only things that convince you of something can be true that has not happened before. Not convinced? Look at some the desires listed, if you think that they are not possible, think again! Many of them have already been made true by some people. For example, Richest person – Bill Gates, most expensive house – L N Mittal, CEO of biggest company (Royal Dutch Shell on this date) - Peter Voser, having a Limo – many, win a Nobel and Oscar – George Bernard Shaw, proposed a girl – many (boys and girls both!!!!) and so on…. So why am I writing all this? This is because whatever we see in dreams and whatever we dream of can be made true. Some of them have already made true. Rest of them are there for us.

I strongly believe in dreams. They are the panorama of possibilities. They do their job by carrying us to their world. Now it’s our job to carry their world to ours. The overlap of these two different worlds is the real magic for me ! Whenever someone does what we dream of, we get stunned! Isn’t it true? We begin to ask ourselves, “How did he/she do it?”. The reality is, all of us, “the dreamers” including the one who made it happen, had taken the fist step successfully. We dreamt!! We all were at the same step. But the real difference came along the way. When rest of all ignored their dream, he believed in it. He knew that the two world are not separate. They are just unrealized!!!

And now it’s the turn of the dream that I had this morning. I dreamt that I have written a blog in my long dormant space and I am regularly updating it from now. I told you, I believe in dream and it was powerful. It has changed my morning because otherwise I would have done something else. It has also changed my today because everything else has been delayed :P. But, I have made my today’s dream true. I have overlapped the two worlds. I am very excited. This is magic for me….. This is the power of dreams for me…..

हर पल में अवसर

समय का गहरा नीला सागर
तल में छिपे हजारों सीपी,
आओ एक नन्हीं बूँद को पकड़ें
और उस पल को मोती कर दें

विजय का भार

हार के उल्टे पथ पर मैं
भूले शस्त्रों को खोज रहा हूँ,
फिर उगा सके उस कल्प वृक्ष को
उन बिखरे बीजों को ढूँढ रहा हूँ.

झड़ते पत्ते, ढकती राहें
हर बार नया पथ खोज रहा हूँ,
जलते सूरज की आग को रोके
ऐसा एक वट ढूँढ रहा हूँ

नहीं पराजित, नहीं विजित मैं,
नित रोज़ नया रण खोज रहा हूँ,
जब हूंकार उठे बिन बख्तर मैं
एक नए किले पर चढ़ता हूँ

हैं नियम पता, है पता खेल
हैं पता इस रण के उलटफेर,
फिर भी हर बाज़ी में लग जाते
क्यूँ टूटी तलवारों के ढेर?

क्यूँ हुआ यही? क्यूँ हुआ गलत?
हर तिमिर यह आग सुलगती है,
इस आग में हो जाऊं जौहर
हर इच्छा यही कसकती है.

नए मौसम की मद-मदिरा में
माली जो एक पल भटक गया,
उस मौसम के ही ताप में देखो
बरसों का उपवन झुलस गया.

हर शस्त्र का अपना अपना मान
हर वृक्ष का अपना अपना ध्यान,
क्यूँ भूल गया यह सीधी बात?
अब ढोता पछतावे का भार...

Shift to blogger

Hi all!
Though I have a blog on Windows Live (here) I had to move to blogger. Reason? Not a pleasing one. I liked the Live blog but people could not comment on the posts as it required Windows Live login to do so. Most of my friends don't have a Windows Live id and also they are unwilling to make one just to put comments/feedbacks. I need your valuable suggestions and comments to improve which I was lacking in Live blogs. As, I guess, most of you have a Google account, I hope to get the comments here!