All I can hear around is…ANNA

It has already been 10 days now and all I can hear everywhere around is “Anna”. Although we are very well familiar with various incidents whose fervor comes up and stays for a while, keeping people and media occupied with their updates; sometimes it is Cricket World Cup or the terror strikes, Commonwealth games or the never-ending scams, train accidents or the ever rising food & petrol prices. Things keep coming, staying and going away, leaving their own mark.

Spreads of corruption

This time it is Anna Hazare and ‘the indefinite hunger strike’ against the evil that has plagued every nook and corner of our system. This time voice has raised again and I must say-it’s loud, quite loud.

And why should it not be? It’s so pervasive, so well-spread. All of us know, how things function, right from the bottom-most till the topmost level, but that is all ‘off-the-record’. A cop might be getting bribed with a hundred-rupee-note, but what about those Swiss bank accounts and massive scams in the name of our politicians, whom we select by casting our precious votes. People who have spent more years in this system than me, might be able to explain better, might have seen this more closely.

It’s all about the difference between ‘on-the-records’ and ‘off-the-records’. On record, it might be a polished and world’s largest democracy,  a developing nation making leaps of progress, with its properly organized Parliamentary set-up. But off the records, tell me, who does not know that it’s far easier to bribe off the cop and move on rather than standing in long queues and paying challans. And if, in any case, you don’t know that, they’ll themselves apprise you of the fact when you’re caught guilty on road. Instead of getting your projects stuck in everlasting pipeline, it’s fine to pay under the table and get approvals. People shy away in getting FIR lodged and getting into legal matters because getting into circles with the system, it is much more convenient to compromise there and then.

So it’s right when they say, “our system is corrupt by design”. That is one of the major reasons why people leave India and settle abroad to live a better life-standard, to get rid of this mess, where life is tooooo difficult.

It is all so disappointing, so very depressing.

The Anna debate

In this scenario, it is no wonder if organizations come up and proposals like Jan Lokpal come up to fight away the bug of corruption. After all, people are either totally  infuriated or profoundly frustrated by now. They have well understood that they cannot get the things done in a straight way. But because they don’t have as much patience to keep fighting, as Mr. Hazare has shown, hence this bug is spreading much exponentially.

All through these 10 days, India has witnessed so many opinions for and against the “so-called movement”. On one hand, there are masses who have struck the roads to show their  support to this anti-corruption move. There are discussions going on everywhere; whether it is news channels, newspapers, magazines, blogs or even people live, applauding Anna Hazare and his team. On the other hand, we come across some poignant other-side stories, viewpoints that totally criticize the whole stand taken. Above all, people are coming up with their respective viewpoints and suggestions. That is why they are calling it a revolutionary movement and at the same time, an ego-fight too.

I fail to understand how a mid-way will be arrived at when every person has some different opinion. If Janlokpal is not a magic wand to remove corruption then this is also obvious that decision makers are going to let it be their way, at least keeping scope for the loopholes from where they can keep working, keep running their lavish households.

It’s difficult to say what it will ultimately result into but one thing is sure-it’s becoming a patent Indian style-delaying things, keep them lingering on, so they may settle down on their own, so they may fade away.

What is the way out?

I don’t know about other people, about other nations, the only thing I m feeling at the moment is-a pain, a stress-of all that is going on. All the hullabaloo that’s getting created, the way things are getting more and more sticky and hopeless.

Being a common man, what all can you do? In the current system, it’s only the government, you can look up to. And right now, my question is: if this is not the way, then what else? What else could be more powerful and if it is possible, then why it has not come up till date?

Don’t need to do…still they lie in my to-do

Okay, let me clarify this even before starting…this is not a bucket list, nor it is any set of resolutions. It is simply a recognition; recognition of some facts that have amassed in the recent past. It’s just the cognizance of the idea that devoting some more time or at least, a little time on regular basis, on certain things will emerge me into a more contented individual.

How come? What explains that better, follows:

Cooking

I am a born “good-food-relish-er”, I can mention that as many times as possible. But I never had the slightest idea, earlier than the past 2 years that cooking food, that people relish, is far more gratifying. It gives immense pleasure, especially for new-comers-in-cooking like me, when something-even some regular food item, tingle your taste buds. So I truly madly deeply crave to move on, in this: cook food more often, more variety of recipes and try some innovations as well.

Writing/Reading

What bliss it is-writing things and reading them over and over again-only those who love to write, or simply write often, can apprehend. But forging ahead, from regular personal-diary-writing to writing-for-a-public-blog, is altogether convalescent. Above all, it gives so much impetus to write things, that make some sense. And then reading how others write, what attracts and what does not-all this, gives you a fresh vision.

As I often state, architecture has given me a distinct vision to see this world, it’s much captivating and striking than before. Similarly, blogging has given a new essence to READING, a new drift that I want to drive it further to a regular practice.

Gardening

Why the herbs grown in your backyard taste so exceptional, why the flowers blossoming out of your own plants, look so delightful? I couldn’t infer unless I saw those lovely buds coming out of a wild rose stem or those mint leaves adding so much flavor to the Pulao, I prepared. Now I don’t even mind creating those soil beds or de-weeding the garden or anything else that makes it more appealing. So now I aspire to convert my backyard into a neat and clean kitchen garden consisting of home-grown herbs, flowers, decorative plants and a little more.

Jumping back to the basic requirements is but natural in daily routine-performing tasks that we are required to do, by any means. They don’t comprise, any of the above, at least for me. But stretching myself a bit, out of my comfort zone, can be quite satiating, quite fulfilling. I am not sure how much of the above, will I actually do but as they say ‘writing things down gives them more weight’, I expect this post too, will surely propel me to devote some more time than I normally do.

What about you? Are there certain things that you also want to work on, just like that? Is there some desire, that you don’t get time for? Share your views…may be I recall some more, as well

What’s your plan for the weekend???

And here comes another weekend. So are you ready with your weekend plans (as if that’s another task on the to-do-list)-plans to hang out with buddies, plans for a road trip, plans for a movie or a number of movies, plans to finish off the pending chores, plans to see friends and family, plans to do e-n-d-l-e-s-s number of things…Phew!!!

I am dead sure-this ‘Plan’ thing was not so ‘in’ with our parents and their generation. Anyways, I am not at all in a propensity to cite any comparative analysis of prior generations to the Gen-X or Gen-Y. It’s merely the hangover of the movie-Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, although I watched it a month back and I don’t even want to get over it.

Hritick’s deadly plan of working like a money-making-machine till 40 and then retire with bangla-gadi and all, to do all those things he wants, is itself indicative of how plans govern our lives today. We keep planning every now & then and plans are always perfect!!! But they have a bad habit, they don’t turn out well, somewhere something happens to them when it comes to getting materialized And even if things go as planned, then WE do change.

As far as I can fathom this phenomenon is: we plan with a highly practical mindset and when it comes to actually live them up, it’s the deadly combo of head and heart that comes into play. I mean who knows, how you will be perceiving things when you turn 40? Your journey through all those years is bound to introduce changes, it’s bound to define you further. Have our feelings and viewpoints been the same even since past 5 years, let apart 20 years or so.

And above all, who knows, how long are we going to live? Now don’t get me wrong. It’s not me who’s saying that; Katrina Kaif herself said so when she was teaching Hritick some other ways of living.

Undoubtedly, I simply loved the movie. I don’t put in much brain in analyzing them, that’s why not writing a review for the same. But yes, the entire storyline, amazing star-cast (now should I again mention that I mean Hritick and Katrina in particular, by that), the message conveyed and comic punches at regular intervals-all this has not let the hangover fade away as yet.

I wonder how we keep running after daily routines every hour, every day-with some plan in our mind, to balance the things that exist around us, that matter to us-keeping our joys at the mercy of some particular material accomplishment.

I will be the happiest when I buy my house. I will treat myself when I become the VP. I will go there when I get married. I will go for a family dinner when I get this much profit and so on…

Our days, our months, our years keep passing and we keep on living mindlessly. I have written several posts on this same message, perhaps it is so important and simultaneously so difficult too. It’s easy to say “live in present”. Of course one should pay attention to where he’s at the moment but is that actually so? Are we actually enjoying while driving in those traffic jams, or while leaving home on a Monday morning or other moments we are living in? It’s only when we get rid of those routine things, somehow, that we realize their worth. Even a view of sunrise seems such a reward when Lara Dutta gets detoured in Chalo Dilli. It’s in such situations that we recognize what all, we miss every moment.

So guys!!! it’s true that the ‘balance thing’ is too tricky. One has to plan in any case and still keeping it flexible-is not an easy game. Things keep coming in their own way, sometimes even annihilating our plans and at others, bringing much better pleasures to us. Getting along with them adroitly is the trick-that is the way to keep ourselves alive, till we are alive. A violin too doesn’t play well if the strings are too tight.

Hence do plan-rather plan a great life and as-of-now, plan a great weekend but above all, enjoy it…Wish you all a wonderful weekend