GOasapKARN

'35-55-45'

No, the title does not pertain to the figure dimensions of an obese human. Kleptophilic acts again, there was this theatre act I went to watch quite a while back and it was titled so, from where I indulge in thieving it. The act was enthralling and impressive enough to put me to thought for a week or two. This post would not be comments, critic reviews or narration of the play but more of a crux, some food for thought.

The story revolves around three unmarried women of 35, 45 and 55 respectively, with different philosophies, ideologies and ways of living, to some extent due to the difference in age and more because of what they went through and how they adapted to their past.

The pursuit of inheritance of the ancestral house, force the sisters (the elder ones) to stay together for an year as per the will of their mother, who in turn get a tenant (the youngest) to decrease the financial burden on themselves. Their social, religious, political, professional life's all at different ends of the polygon which could ve taken shape because of their varied interest. Their frame of mind, personal life, more so because of their bragging and living in their past. The eldest and the youngest lived their life cursing and blaming someone for their state of unsatisfactory survival where as the one in between lived, not trying to justify her acts for which she was cursed and blamed, indeed trying to get on terms and pleasing the ones who were cursing and blaming her.

Life could be lived and experienced from a varied array of perspectives, it wholly depends on an individuals outlook. There are various incidents one sieves and preserves from his/her grey cells membrane, some good, some not so, and finally it falls on the individual to live, with what in mind. Life, so takes shape with how one wants it to be, LIFE..

Interests for Life or Living..

Quite often that not, it is adviced to earn one's livings in line with his/her interests. Interests varying from academic, cultural to literary are told to be made the tools to earn your daily bread . 'Do what you love', 'Merge your interests and work', 'You'll prosper if and only if you do something you are naturally inclined to' these lines are heard often while one's just about to begin his carrier. Like I read somewhere 'The marketing mix of life'...
Then the big question mark, would commercializing one's interest grant him/her the satisfaction he/she was enjoying when the interests were treated as mere interests. The feeling of someone coaxing you to force yourself to pursue something you would love to but don't want to, at present. Interests would rather turn into liabilities compelled on you, to survive. The pure, innocent love would transform to a commercial piece of act, for liquid assets. Natural and keen indulgence, now mandatory participation with an exhausted, over worked and unwilling mind.
Recognition remains as a 'must' compliment when pursuing such interests because of their not so specialised and not very unique nature. The run for acknowledgement being tougher than the sperm race, stands as a big dilemma.
Hmmm.. where does one head, try to satisfy one's mind and get entangled in the web of commercialising his/her interests or live the mechanical, pseudo life in the quest of materialistic joy and try to squeeze time (idealistic) to pursue what one would rather do, when free (again idealistic).

menWHOpause..!!

Gloria Steinem, a feminist writer framed an article 'If Men Could Menstruate', amazing peice of work.
An Excerpt

So what would happen if suddenly, magically, men could menstruate and women could not?
Clearly, menstruation would become an enviable, worthy, masculine event:
Men would brag about how long and how much.
Young boys would talk about it as the envied beginning of manhood. Gifts, religious ceremonies, family dinners, and stag parties would mark the day.
To prevent monthly work loss among the powerful, Congress would fund a National Institute of Dysmenorrhea. Doctors would research little about heart attacks, from which men would be hormonally protected, but everything about cramps.
Sanitary supplies would be federally funded and free. Of course, some men would still pay for the prestige of such commercial brands as Paul Newman Tampons, Muhammad Ali's Rope-a-Dope Pads, John Wayne Maxi Pads, and Joe Namath Jock Shields- "For Those Light Bachelor Days."
Statistical surveys would show that men did better in sports and won more Olympic medals during their periods.
Generals, right-wing politicians, and religious fundamentalists would cite menstruation ("men-struation") as proof that only men could serve God and country in combat ("You have to give blood to take blood"), occupy high political office ("Can women be properly fierce without a monthly cycle governed by the planet Mars?"), be priests, ministers, God Himself ("He gave this blood for our sins"), or rabbis ("Without a monthly purge of impurities, women are unclean").
Male liberals and radicals, however, would insist that women are equal, just different; and that any woman could join their ranks if only she were willing to recognize the primacy of menstrual rights ("Everything else is a single issue") or self-inflict a major wound every month ("You must give blood for the revolution").

Men would convince women that sex was more pleasurable at "that time of the month." Lesbians would be said to fear blood and therefore life itself, though all they needed was a good menstruating man.
Medical schools would limit women's entry ("they might faint at the sight of blood").
Of course, intellectuals would offer the most moral and logical arguements. Without the biological gift for measuring the cycles of the moon and planets, how could a woman master any discipline that demanded a sense of time, space, mathematics-- or the ability to measure anything at all? In philosophy and religion, how could women compensate for being disconnected from the rhythm of the universe? Or for their lack of symbolic death and resurrection every month?
Menopause would be celebrated as a positive event, the symbol that men had accumulated enough years of cyclical wisdom to need no more.

brain drain OR easy gain

Not long before, it was feared that brain drain would result in a multi-folded loss of quality human capital to our country. The pace at which young Indian minds were being auctioned to the world was worrying the intelligentsia of the country. The ignited brain after years of value addition in our country was working for the benefit of another, it was foreseen that we would live in an era of no-return from the educational skills imparted all through the student life of our countrymen. The cream of the crowd was picked, by international entrepreneurs to back them with the human resource for a bright future, in lieu of massive financial remunerations.

A lot has changed with time, travelling across the globe to get equipped with the best know-how techniques has become the easiest way to do so. The brilliant brains which were transported across the sea have been replaced with the incapable and non competent ones. With fierce competition levels in our country and the ratio, of the lads seeking education to the seats available at moderately rated institutions being inanely high, a big chunk of the youth is seeking easy alternatives, studying abroad being the most sensible of them all, if one has the financial maturity to do so. From leaving the shore with the intention of gaining financial happiness to only the financially happy going, things have taken a definite turn.

Today, majority of the students venturing outside the country for higher education have no clue even as to the curriculum of the course. If one has the money to invest and not think about the kind of returns it would fetch, the preposition of getting a degree on ones resume sounds quite enterprising.

P.S. My friend, who is to go to the States to study soon, differs to agree with the generalisation and argues that there are people who do complete research before going. I totally agree, there always lies a space for the minuscule percentage who do differently, EXCEPTIONS..!!

Hard Rock; Mumbai

Hard Rock Cafe has its own style and assets. Mumbai sports the only one in the country, paradise for music lovers.

amchi Mumbai..!!

Clicked from a moving taxi in mumbai the day before the legend (Roger Waters) was to perform.

An Escape to idealism...

Life in these crucial years could very often result in a debate, with pragmatic ideology and idealistic thinking being the two fronts. Living in idealism could grant atmost instantaneous gratification and joy though it may be short lived, on the other hand a realistic approach might be complimented with monotony, hardships, forcefull acclimatization but with far sighted success. The line between constructive dreaming and unconventional idealism being very bleak, it quite often possess a threat.

After months of living in a fiercely competitive society, an environment where one man would kill his counterpart for luxurious survival, a huge world made to seem like a small society with the technological findings, no time to think of nothing it felt amazingly great to get back to my shell, with no happenings in the outside world bothering a bit, with the state of mind being respected more than the state of survival, with socializing only with the handful and refraining from being puppets in the hands of the society. My few days of idealism, few days of permitted and uncontrolled thoughts, few days of living my life for myself, few days of escape from reality...

Reason behind Action

With times changing it has become a compulsion to amend certain phrases and anecdotes of yester years, "Do good and do not expect anything in return" was taught, as the policy with which life had to be governed, today, even "Do good to expect it in return" looks bleak to abide with.
'Do unto others what you want others to do unto you', may it be good or bad. There lays a drive to every action made by man, a reason for everything man does. A layman lives, reacts or acts, the way he does, expecting the same in return. A human has different facets of relations, various behavioural instincts towards different individuals, he acts in the same or similar way he wants the counter part to deal with him. The driving force of life's actions is the expectancy of the same in return.

Why Intoxicate..??

From the very day God proclaimed "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness", the man of his image and likeness has been living in the quest to satisfy his mind. From the early days of natural intoxicants till this era of chemically structured ones, man has been quite successful in the search for his mind's gift.

The reason for intoxication vary from an individual to another. From what I think, the basis of intoxicaion is a battle of a human mind and a natural or artificial suppliment. The human mind in a subtle way wants to prove its superiority over the external suppliment. Its the ego of the human mind that does not submit to failure. The crave to find substances which could take him to a higher alter is in the expectation of the day on which the mind could tame the above. If there are things which do not end, I would account this battle to be one of them.

P.S. One particular trip when I was battling and I made my mind proud of myself.

Time to RATE Indians..!!

Following the west, for the good or the bad, there is a considerable change in the lifestyle of Indians. Like the developed countries, we are also living our life on financial credit, attribute it to the growing banking system in our country or the regular flow of liquid assets. The plastic cards, the signatures of ink can grant enough money for a lifetime with the present scenario of credit grants. The creditabilty of the individual to pay back the credit lays on the discretion of the institutions granting the same, not a very transparent, rigid and fair criteria exists for the above though.

In the west for the same there exists credit rating agencies who rate incorporations and individuals on their ability to take credit based on their history from inception/birth. 'Standard & Poors' and Moody's are the global players when it comes to credit ratings, not denying the existence of ICRA (Indian Credit Rating Agency) and Crysal on the Indian grounds, ICRA and Crysal only rate corporations though it's high time the individuals also start getting rated. We have to sooner or later start the credit ratings to make things easier and smoother to attain credit instruments in terms of loans, Credit cards, certificate of credit and so on.

It could either start as a PSU (it would be difficult to trust their transparency then) or a private company which could tie up with the income tax department and other financial service providers to get the historical background of an individual on the financial grounds. Their could exists a chart of credit ratings with the amount of credit attainable for the same.

Quite often there are times when a a worthy individual is denied credit and there are times when individuals flee away after recieving such credits, its time to bring efficiency in this system and start a centralised agency to give the first green or red flag to indiviuals looking for financial credit. These ratings could be the next status symbol and directly or indirectly it would coax individuals to be more transparent with their financial dealings and tax returns.

Omlette Intoxication..!!

It was after a long time, ages (relatively; after the sweet yrs in college) that I indulged myself into the 'irresistable pastime' last afternoon. The esoteric feeling felt great. Out of the blue, I wanted to cook myself something, wanted to try something new, make a dish of my own and so I did...

I call it

'Omlette Intoxication'

Monotony of Life..

Monotous, Everything seems to get monotonous. Human mind craves to do something, not for a very long time. The monotony, the same routine, the usual lifestyle gets to you at times.

Monotony defines the way one's going to live his next day. There is no sense of eagerness, every question seems to have an answer, there ceases to exist any reason for expectance. With everything one does, at every phase of life there's this stretch of time when your routine of life gets static. The everyday life seems to be defined by a set of paramters, the mornings, the days, the evenings, the nights all have a schedule which is hard to get out of.

The conventions of life force's one to stick to a systematized way of living. 'Same is boring', I had read somewhere but is there a way out? The stark reality is everyone is bound to live a monotonous stretch. There is no escaping out of it. Even the satisfied man who does what he really likes to gets tired of doing it when he's forced to, to live.

Somethings are impossible and getting away from the monotony of life is one of them.

Priced 'POSSESSION'

Durga Maa..

Festive season yet again.. In a so-to-be secular country of ours, its festive season all round the year but if one s in the northern region of our country this time of the year is the most celebrated. With Rama killing Ravana, preparing to get back from the exile and Durga being honoured the capital city is full of thrills.
It's been a while I ve seen Delhi celebrate these occasions, 3yrs of college kept me away. It was after school days I visited the pandals of CR park, the bengali dominated residential area in the city, to see the grand idols of Durga. I was awe-struck as the yrs before, apart from the idols getting more decorated and growing bigger there was not much of a change. Ofcourse the mulla spent would ve quadrupled to arrange such a big show. Only if Durga would be pleased proportionally to the money spent, CR park would be Heaven on Earth.
After the grand nine days of prayers, celebrations and joy the idols would be floated in the holy waters of Yamuna. Holy or not, m not sure but filthy( in the literal sense) for sure. The Yamuna and Ganga would curse their holistic existence, keeping in mind the amount they are polluted every day on that account. The huge idols with the holy powders smashed all over them definitely help increase the level of the river bed if not shower blessings. No offence to the traditions of a particular clan, all ancient traditions of every clan in our country are no better. If all the money floated in a river or burnt to celebrate the festival of light could be used to uplift the not-so-blessed sections of the society the economic gap in our country would be far less.

God Bless.. MAHATMA

A monday off is possibly the best thing one can think of after a heavy week. 'Monday off' does not only grant one a long weekend but also lets one contemplate the short 4 day week ahead. Hail Mahatma for this awesome day, or should i thank Karamchand Gandhi and Putlibai??

Those were the days...

Early morning hours in college, after our long nights of getting wasted.. The days you are hardly bothered about anything other than your state of mind..!!

Negative Advertising

With the world being consumer driven, the consumer enjoying the status of a king, the advertisors are trying to please all, with their idealistic ways. Today with the media shaping an important part in almost everything one does, the advertisers don't fall back on trying to sell their product. Impossible, idealistic, not relevant commercials can still be accepted but the ones throwing a negative streamline of thought are to be strictly prohibited.
The commercials are basically designed to please their target crowd but it being easy to manouver a childs mind, who plays the key role in the purchase of the FMCG s in a household, the ad-man lays prime focus at them. Last night I saw a commercial where a kid shoos his friends away from his lunch box by telling them that his folks dont use the washing powder which kills the germs on the vessel coz he did'nt want to share his food, now indirectly the message sent across to the vulernable minds is not to share one s food with his/her peers. Likewise all the virtual superhero characters who appear soon after one consumes the product to fight the kids enemies motivates the small hero to encourage violence. Agreed, a capitalist only thinks of his returns but this is not the way one promotes his line of products.
If there can be a panel to review a motion picture and a censor board to make sure it does'nt violate the preset rules of not displaying too much skin, not encourage bad( I disagree) habbit like smoking, not second the notion of violence why can't their be a board to put a check on the commercials. One should not only seive the advertisements by what is displayed but by the message it indirectly sends across to the youth.

Ah Finally..

...Weekend again.

It was the good old schools days, last, when I used to long for my weekends. The anticipation and eagerness for weekends had almost died in the last few years maybe coz, no actually coz, every day of the week was treated the same. From the half week days of constructive work in school, with an infinite number of loops in them, to the full week days of work, with no escaping a minute, the wait for the weekend has grown manifold.
It is only on weekends that I get to post, I mean who ll ve the energy to post after 9 straight hrs of work in which u got to sit all the hrs infront of the intellegent box (computer, I call it so coz m doin research, its my religion for now).
Weekends, like the oasis u find after every five days of walkin in the desert. The oasis of alcohol I so love to drown myself in it.

May God bless the weekends.

PRICY VAMPIRE

The day you left I tried to hold back my tears
Suddenly I could see everything come true out of my fears
Needed to say so much to you which I couldn’t say
Wanted to hold you close and ask you to stay
Needed to tell you that you’re like the friend I never had
You always seem to make me smile when things went really bad
If I got to tell you, I got to tell it all
It’d keep you with me if you with were 3 inches tall
The vampire smile is a complete turn on
It’s something I always think about every time you’re gone
Never been so weak in the knees
Felt intoxicated, like I’ve had a dozen long island ice teas
Grinding and dancing the night away
Some memories will ceaselessly in my mind stay
My frequent trips and the looks no one else understands
I wrote my piece and it got washed away in the Mahab sands
Some things good or bad just don’t ever change
Some thoughts just go out of range
The head massages that would lead to something finger licking good!
I’m the innocent convent school girl from the hood!!!
Long walks that cease to end
Kiss me quick, no one is looking from around the bend
Seeing you again won’t be possible for a while
It’s funny how some people’s numbers you know by heart and don’t need a speed dial
Don’t want no branding
I’ll be there for you even if I’m the last woman standing
I’ve found anyone else who understands me without me spelling it out
Who answered all my unasked questions every time I was in doubt
Just want to tell you that never did I once believe the things they said
And that my feelings for you aren’t entirely dead

Written by someone i shared the best of my relations with.. She s going to UK and i ll miss u friend..

P.S. We were literally 600 kms away from each other... IT ONLY TAKES YOUR MIND FOR A RELATION TO WORK..