Dare to dream different !

Place de la Renaissance  Bois Colombes, Paris    15 May 2010     01:06 AM     Saturday

It happens. And that too automatically. Quite a lot of times, you get that drive running with your adrenaline rush when you are stuck deep in an ineluctable shit. A stimulation to prove that you can get over it surely if not shortly, and that it is not the end of the world ! Somehow or other, you get to see that feeble light of hope at the end of the tunnel. You just need to wait, watch and then act. Smartly, cautiously and confidently !!!

Yeah, this nostalgic wave struck me today this evening while i was having some informal and cosy chat with one of my mates in his apartment. We both went too far in our discussions realising a few bitter aspects of our lives which we both had wished to govern, but just couldn't decently control in time. And we concluded the following:

A teacher teaches the lesson first and then takes the exam. Life takes the exam first and then teaches a lesson.... So, always keep learning !

 

Thinking about these troubles remind me of my early fresher college days, ten years back. Our college had been pretty consistent and active in all the possible ragging activities. Back then, going back to the hostel rooms from the college in the evenings wasn't an easy task for us. It used to be the longest and most dreadful walk in front of the "Laxmi Bhawan" (abode of all those reckless seniors) when we always preferred to stay in the bunch, each trying to hide behind the other, everyone consciously trying to dodge those big and brutish eagle-eyes eagerly waiting to feed their latest puckish desires to wreak havoc on us. But not all of us were getting used to this, and neither all of us were going to accept this.

A few dared to break this bunch and walked in to their eyes dauntlessly. They did what they were asked to do but with pride and joy, enjoying their orders and dictates rather than swearing them, leaving all their fear and anger behind. This is what i like about those people who dare not only to dream differently, but also to Act differently. Nobody could have changed the situation. But they did manage to change their environment.

An environment free from any fear, disgust and contempt. While rest of the guys chose to avoid or avert the inevitable, they decided to chase it themselves. And they were rewarded. They got the biggest contacts within the alumnus, got extraordinary exposure to the college's political and administrative environment in the very beginning, had their first hands over the most crucial and confidential leaks, and not to mention getting a permanent godfather for sponsoring their suttas, daru, parties and even boastful power. And most importantly, they had that coveted confidence and authority in abundance. And few leaders were straightway born !!!

Such is the power of responding proactively to the situations and opportunities around your life ! But such is amount of positive attitude, vitality and audacity in turn that you would require !!! Ha !!! Past, Memories, lessons, so much to think of !

Coming back to present, coming back to our evening discussions,  and coming back to him, I shall only say the following:

The moment has come, of killing the past and coming back to life...

Ta

Gaurav Gupta

Appraisal Time

Place de la Renaissance  Bois Colombes, Paris    04 May 2010     09:20 PM     Tuesday

 

It's performance appraisal time. It's the time when we apprehensively wait for a communication from our managers, who we normally desire to ignore rest of the whole year. But now, we all wait for that special moment to see that special e-mail in our inbox for which we toil all year long. All kinds of rumours and gossips spread like wild fire but burn out quickly. Lunch, tea and snack breaks are used to their utmost potential by chatting incessantly about all sorts of things - promotions, salary hikes, ratings, politics, managers, work culture, etc. Some querulous individuals don't miss out this opportunity to start whining over their luck :

" Yaar meri to kismat hi kharab hai, is baar to promotion pakki thi, aur saala isi baar recession aa gaya ! "
 

" Nai yaar, meri to recommendation 6 maheene pehle hi chali gai thi (as if he himself forwarded his recommendation), but last moment mein project change ki wajah se kat gaya mera ! "

Some guys who are desperately expecting the role enhancement, but are low in confidence, would intentionally embark this conversation to get the desired assurance and confidence from the listeners in this way:

" Jo bhi ho yaar lekin, kisi aur ki ho na ho (yeah he's pointing to himself, poor him), is baar Nayar ki pakki hogi ! " , hoping in his heart that the others would counter argue by saying :

" Are nahi yaar, tere bhi poore chances hain. Agar Nayar ki hui, to teri to usse pehle hogi " - and he's relaxed big time, as if he's already got the promotion letter. Yeah, it really feels good if people around you keep assuring that you are the one, a definite one this year... And you need to get this assurance again and again and that too quite often.

The ones who are least active in this conversation have been either recently promoted, recently joined or recently resigned. But nevertheless, they love it. Everyone loves it. After all, this can either stimulate or sedate your complacency towards your career growth. You look at your peers, your supervisors and even your subordinates. And you rightly so, because you get the opportunity to paint this career graph on a canvas called life against age, experience and money. Everyone gets distinct graphs with different shapes, and everyone takes it differently. It's a matter of pride and joy for many, whereas sorrow and disgust for the rest. But then, you can always paint it better the next year. You always have that power. That luck !

And so may you get the best of that luck this year. And so do I :)

Ta

Gaurav Gupta

I am back !

Place de la Renaissance  Bois Colombes, Paris    27 Apr 2010     10:40 PM     Tuesday


I am back. Rather, I hope I am back. Back after being completely lost in the silly and perplexed intricacies of life. Lost in the delusions of being supremely busy and socially active, whereas the matter of fact is lately i've been just a slothful slug. 


A slug, who's just happy working 9 hours in the office, come back home, either watch IPL or play cricket / squash, stuff the food, listen to musik and sleep ! Or just is too busy speaking to friends over the phone and internet, go out places to relish the warm weather or partying at different places with never ending chats and banter! Day 2, Day 3, etc. goes similarly on and on and on... 


Where is that day, that hour, that moment you need to give yourself, to your thoughts and most importantly to your life ! where is that? Where are those books that i started with exuberant enthusiasm, and can now hardly find myself turning over even a single page... Where are those plans and resolutions that i vowed a few months back to accomplish and can now only see those in a distant memory or stored in a text file lost somewhere in my PC... Why do i lose track so easily, why I am so susceptible to fall in to this delusion, so easily and so quickly and that too over and over again... With so many questions and puzzles wobbling in my head only to conclude this one thing - this is life and that's the way it is! And it's not perfect and neither am I. And more importantly, there is nothing wrong in it...Does this happen to everyone? I reckon not. But shall this bother me in future. Probably not.



We all say "Time just flies.." Does it really fly? Or does it mean we din't have enough significant moments to capture in our lives, or may be we dont' even have enough good memory to hold them on. I dont' know. I know i think rubbish sometimes, if not most of the times, and write even more rubbish. But great people don't speak rubbish and that's why I would like to mention two lovely quotes that i've had read recently:

1) Life is half spent before we know what it is. - George Herbert

2) You can have it all. You just can't have it all once - Oprah Winfrey.

So true, and so rich. And so impressive. I wonder what positive influence great people can actually have on society. If at all, they try to ! They are the people to whom God has given some extraordinary powers and luck. I believe that they shall not only recognize that, but shall respect that. How often do you get a chance to change the world by uttering a few words out of your mouth? How often do you see people worshipping you more than the eternal God? How often do you realize that you are the most powerful man on the earth or for that matter any part of it? But as the irony has it all, not every great man realizes that. And not every great man who realizes that, respects that.



That's why it's often said "With great power comes great responsibility"


And we see people being misguided and misled to result into damage to all humanity. And we all suffer. I am sure you won't find it difficult to think about sort of the people i am pointing to. There are everywhere - every country, every city, every town and every house ! Everyone has got a command in themselves. A power to influence the others. Only the intensity and the circle of influence varies with person to person. So, why not start with making a positive mark on the immediate ones who admire us, who respect us and love us? Why not sorting somebody's life out of the shit just by lending a helping hand? Isn't this power of changing  someone's life worth exercising? Isn't even this whole idea of positivity too exciting?



Or probably, I am just thinking too much sitting in my new room in a new city in a new country !


Ta
Gaurav Gupta