Time Tales

“I want to do blah-blah-blah, but I don’t find time.”

“So much to do, so less time.”

“I wish I had 48 hrs in a day.”

Have you heard these on a daily basis? If not, listen to yourself.

Let’s face it. We were all born into 24 hr days. Now how we use it is totally our prerogative. If we are blaming someone or circumstances for stealing time from us, then we better put our life under the microscope.

One need not go to a time-management course and study Stephen Covey’s 4 quadrants of time nor download & maintain a time-log app to spot the pilferage of our time. Just a simple question asked constantly to ourselves will do the trick: “Is this the best way to live my next one hour?”

Let’s introspect this: We get plenty of time to read & forward Whatsapp messages? We don’t miss out updating our status (usually pictorially) on FB. We take the liberty of naming those 15 min breaks for a smoke & gossip as stress busters. We love to oversleep and console ourselves that sleep is an important member of our daily schedule. We let our fingers frantically tap (or is it swipe these days?) the smartphone well into the dark hours, flirting with girlfriends. We also spend hours calling up friends to bitch about the horrible boss and the screwed up work life. We spend weekends loafing around the malls or cooling heels in the multiplex. We go on long blind drives and call it the liberation of self. We pour over our computers figuring out which movie is hitting the 100 cr mark & who is dating whom these days. Oh yeah, we also day dream for eternity & silently pass it of as meditation or self-time.

Now get out of your body. Stand back and watch your body go through the routine of life. Is it spending time the way it is to be spent or is it just flowing along the river of life? Just running the rat race not knowing what we are running from nor what we are running towards? Is there really work to do or are we acting busy to please our bosses, or for showing off at home? Are the chats & Skype calls productive or is it just being used cos it’s there. Are we browsing & downloading crap just because the wi-fi is free? Have we fallen blindly in love with being busy? Are we getting uneasy when we have to just sit in one place doing nothing: our hands crave for the phone? Our lips twitch to start a conversation? Our eyes search for cues? Our minds race towards wild thoughts?

Have we side-lined relationships in the pretext of time crunch?

Are we embracing restlessness?

Have we ceased to live in the moment?

Are we slowly getting sucked into the black hole of busyness?

Remember: black hole is a one way ticket…and so is the ticking time.

We - the people

Anything… Anything… Anything for money

Would lie for you

Would die for you

Even sell my soul to the devil

-          Michael Jackson in “Money” from History: Past, Present & Future (1995)

We prefer movies to books. We spend weekends in malls & cinemas rather than the study. We loathe love stories… we love violence. We love brutality. We love blood & gore. We love vulgarity. We look forward to obscenity & seduction. We ogle at soft porn. We whistle at abuse & filthy slang. We worship sports-stars. We ape screen-stars. We adore rock-stars. We fantasize porn stars.

We take our date to movies & pubs before family & friends. We seek bedroom & sex before parks & pleasantry. And we want to blame it on the age & hormones rather than the lust & crooked mind. We make master-plans to get her into bed rather than get her into our family. We seek one night stands. We run from life-long commitments. We choose separation & break-ups. We tire of nurturing relationships.

We eat junk, crap & crispies. We drink fizz, alcohol & sweetened acids. We skip work-out and long for good health & toned body. We like couch potato. We scorn the gym or the pool. We prefer popping pills to shedding sweat. We deal with tension by eating more crap, smoking more tar and drinking more poison.

We tease the teetotaller. We glorify the drunkard. We fly on drugs, go high on grass. We feed good is boring. We feel being bad is cool. We think loyalty is ordinary. We seek thrill in adultery. We detest family get-togethers. We long for rave parties. We make plans to kill time. We don’t ponder on killing boredom.

We uphold the criminal. We side line the law-keeper. We market sleaze. We hush up scams. We debate on page 3. We remain silent of burning headlines. We spend on gadgets. We hoard in times of calamities. We stock black money. We stage strikes. We pelt stones. We burn buses. We trigger explosives. We bring nations to a grinding halt.

We pour over phones. We communicate on chat rooms. We run around like crazy. We get crazy when there is no running around to do. We get tensed when nothing’s happening. We get tensed when things start happening. We want others to fail, rather than our success. We please bosses. We fire subordinates. We promote boot-lickers. We ignore the talents. We prioritize jobs and remuneration. We de-focus our Spouse & kids.

We screw the language. We cut short words. We thrive on slang. We praise the foul-mouth. We support the bad-ass. We sympathize the guilty. We traumatize the victim. We build places of worship. We demolish huts of the poor. We kill livestock. We let terrorists go free.

Our lists of dos & don’ts go endless… We are the Generation Next. We are the world. We are the present. We shape the future.

Man on Woman

It was woman’s day last month & what better topic will be apt than women themselves... But the balancing act is tricky. If I write a man’s point of view on woman, I’d be inviting trouble; might even be outcast as a male chauvinist. If I just go ahead & praise woman, my male friends would find me odd & may suspect me having some sinister intentions. Staying silent is safe…

…but how long can you stay silent on the ones for whom battles were fought, kingdoms were squandered, lives were sacrificed, epics were written, melodies were sung. You would be amazed by the amount of instances when woman was the epicentre of most happenings. I wouldn’t be all wrong if I concluded that women shaped the course of our history.

That bewitching beauty, those deep dark eyes, the flowing mane, the full lips, the curves, mounds & valleys – only a woman can attract the enormous list of adjectives defining physicality.

The mother’s love, wife’s faith, sister’s concern, the daughter’s care are all essentially feminine in nature.

She holidays in outer space, she heads giant financial institutions, she was instrumental in keeping the cola giant alive, she has a whole state calling her “amma”, she’s the queen to her British subjects, she wins medals at the global meets, she creates one of the most popular fantasies ever, getting rich overnight, she has the whole industry dancing to her tunes, her screen presence leaves few men gasping for breath..

Why is such a beautiful, unique and powerful creation not getting its due?

Probably the un-fairer sex (if that is the antonym) feels threatened by the emergence of a parallel power. Traditionally in the Indian “culture”, the families have largely been patriarchal. Women are usually the ones who take care of the household & bring up children (which by itself a full time job – only thankless & unpaid for). Over centuries this practice has become a kind of an unsaid mandate. Now, the question is whether the woman is still willing to succumb to this, or does she have it in her to break out of the shackles and prove her worth…

Being the weaker sex or worse – being the object of sex is how the society has perceived woman as – fueled greatly by the media showcasing cases of assault, rape and domestic abuse. The options to choose in such an environment is a) lead a subdued life full of fear that you will be the next victim b) take on the matter full face, equip yourself on self-defense, drag the assaulter to justice, stand for your right and see that it is delivered.

Somebody said “behind every successful man there is a woman”. A cleverer fellow said “behind every unsuccessful man, there are two women.” Both the statements glorify woman-power: to make or break the situation.

They say that an elephant needs to be chained only initially. It grows up believing that the chains still exist. Now even when the full grown elephant is not chained, it behaves as if there is an imaginary chain keeping it tied.

Similarly women.

Yes, you have grown up listening to “moral responsibilities” of women, being the “family” types, always ready for sacrifices, caged within the four walls of the house, subjected to domestic violence, eve-teasing, “favours” to get work done, shackled to the old world philosophy, restricted from the so-called manly attributes…

Do not wait for the prince charming of your dreams to come & alleviate you off all your miseries. You are not living a fairy tale. This is a battlefield & the only way to survive is to fight… fight for your rights, fight for your life, fight for your freedom, fight for the respect, and fight for liberation. Fight such that it becomes a way of life. Nobody will offer all these on a platter to you. Men are happy the way you are… if you are not, you better wake up & start acting; for the more you rest in such a state, the more will be the inertia building up.

You are only limited by your thoughts. Now you decide what thoughts do you want to nurture for yourself.

The Ultimate test of endurance

The plan of cycling to Lonavala was made even before I left Bangalore. This was my first weekend in Pune & my cycle had just arrived by cargo.

When you don’t have your family around, it is painful to kill time on the weekends. Especially for people like me who don’t get the kicks by loitering around malls or watching sub-standard movies in theatres or a pint of beer for that matter. That left me with little choice but to take my only soul-mate in Pune out on a date – my BTwin Riverside hybrid.

I rode to the only Decathlon available in Pune at Wagholi, traversing the entire length Pune from west to east, just to make sure all the minor tweaking on the brakes are gears where in place; while on a long road trip, efficiency of your cycle matters a lot. And I was about to learn efficiency in a whole new dimension the next day.

While at Decathlon I enquired if there were any riding clubs around. There was a BTwin club, and then there was another. I immediately got into their forum & expressed my desire to ride to Lonavala the next day. Finally Ankit & Jyoti decided to tag along.

Jyoti was the first one I met as she rode by my house on her Firefox at five in the morning. It didn’t take me long to develop a respect for her, when she stated that she won the Enduro National event last year- that included 160 kms of cycling! I had never crossed 80 kms in a day. So today was going to be a record of sorts for me. Ankit joined at Chinchwad & then we set out on the Old Pune – Mumbai highway.

The ride was eventless & not at all tiring as we were getting to know each other as we cycled along through pleasant dawn. We reached Lonavala at 08.30 and then decided to straight away head towards Bushi dam. We had gone about 4 kms ahead, when my friends decided that its better they return as it will be difficult once the sun is up. So we rode back to Lonavala and had breakfast. It was then that I decided that, having come so far, why not do some sight-seeing. I expressed that I’d like to stay back & try to cover up a few more places. They warned me about the sun & left to Pune.

I opened Wikitravel & made a list of places to visit. A passer-by gave directions & then I headed back towards Bushi dam. There was hardly anything to see at Bushi dam or the Lonavala lake as it was summer. I proceeded further to explore the Tiger’s leap & Lion’s point. After sometime, with the sun going up, riding uphill became tougher. As I approached the hair-pin curves, I had to get off & push the cycle up the road. I did not want to give up for three reasons: 1) the sight from the top was supposed to be amazing. 2) I could see a whole crowd going uphill 3) I knew that the more I climb the more I get to zip down the hill. The 9 kms downhill ride at 60 kmph at Italy had been an exhilarating experience.

I saw the Harleys, Hondas, Ninjas and Yamahas with fifty plus horses on two wheels scurry up as I inched my way on foot. Surprisingly I never saw a cyclist anywhere around. After 3 kms (which felt like 30) of pushing the cycle up the hill I could ride again. I crossed the Lions Point. I don’t know the reasoning behind the name, but the view was good; so was the masala lime soda which I consumed so thirstily. I proceeded further towards Aamby Valley. Then somebody said there is hardly anything to see in there. So I decided to return. But it was noon & I was too tired. I was carrying 3 litres of water in my back pack & all of it was empty. I went off the road & found a shade of the tree to rest. Meanwhile I checked on Google Maps & was surprised that I was 81 kms and 1 hr 43 min away from Pune. Little did Google know that I was on bicycle.

After 30 min of shut-eye and some photo session I hit the road again. Going down the hill into the breeze, as expected, was a memorable experience, although I had to slow down at the hair-pin curves.

It was 2 by the time I reached Lonavala. Lunch time. I had to rest a bit before eating and so I decided to shop for the famous Lonavala Chikkis. The transaction was simple. “Bhaiyya, Give me one of every flavour.” When he packed everything and it went into my bag I realized my mistake – 2 kgs additional weight on my back and I had 60 more kilometres to go.

I went for a Gujarati Thali . On a normal day I’m a good eater – especially when it comes to unlimited thalis or buffet. But today I was not able to eat much of solid food. That was one revelation I had about a tired body. I took as much of liquids as they had on the menu – chaas & aamras and left.

It was 3 when I started my return. And that was the biggest mistake of the day. It didn’t take me long to realize the seriousness of my friends advice – cycling under the scorching sun, that too on an open highway, was no kids play. I was soon like an overheated engine, wanting to shut down. 8 kms was all I had covered when I saw the signpost of Karla caves. I remembered the name from the Wiki travel browsing in the morning. I decided to go there and rest for a while. The place was 2.5 kms off the highway – the last 1 km was a steep climb to the top. Sometimes I wonder why do all good things have to be at the top.

I locked my cycle to a pole and started climbing. The chikkis and couple of bottles of juice in my bag was feeling like a huge burden – and no, I’m not exaggerating. It felt so heavy under the hot sun that I couldn’t drag myself up the hill. I had to sit beside the road for a whole half an hour so that I could muster enough strength to make it to the top. Once at the caves I chose a quiet corner and just collapsed. I decided not to cycle with the sun up, ever in my life.

I must have rested for an hour when I saw the intensity of the sun was receding. Time to leave, lest I get rammed by a speeding vehicle on the dark highway. The descend was easy – with some sugarcane juice to pep me up.

Once I started riding I never stopped until I reached Pune – that is the difference, I reiterate, between riding with and without the sun.

I took a cold bath & lay spread-eagled on the mat. The next thing I knew, as I got up at 3.30 am, was that the lights were on, the music was still playing through my earphone (I had started it when I left Karla caves), the fruits I had brought for dinner was still packed and I had not even bothered to get into the bed.
Now that is what I call the ultimate test of endurance: 180 kms of riding over 14 hrs, 10 ltr of water consumed, fully tanned, and with salts deposited on gloves & cap after evaporation of sweat.

TRAFFI(C)EASE

We have spent enough time and energy reading articles on how Bangalore traffic is going bad to worse, blaming several departments, cursing other commuters & sometimes our own destiny for having to deal with this tyranny every day…
…and we have noticed that none of the above has yielded any measurable results. So is it not time to set our think tanks on fire and take the horse by the reins rather than sit back & wait for others to clear up the mess for which even we are party?
Everyone can play the blame game. For once can we zip our mouth & try belling the cat? To begin with, we can take up the action path instead of being lame spectators while traversing through the city. We can start collecting details at traffic congestion areas to arrive at the root cause of it – photographs, a write-up on the reason, what can be changed for the better etc... can be documented & shared with Bangalore traffic police, so that they take necessary action which may lead to easing of the congestion, at least to some extent. Please note Bangalore Traffic police are easily reachable & are net savvy – search for Bangalore Traffic Police on Facebook. You can share views, post complaints etc.. And there will be response. But permanent implementation of solution requires some on the road action too..
Following are some of the common practices which we can plainly & regularly see as causes for traffic congestion, without having to peep through a microscope:
- Busses are by far the most detrimental. Although public transport is good, & commuters per road space occupied is highest with a bus, there are many loose areas to be worked upon. There are bus-stops at traffic signals & just before or after flyovers. These are sure to create bottlenecks, more so when two or more buses pile up at the stop & instead of queuing behind one another, they tend to stop beside each other with an aim to overtake & thus gather more passengers. This is a perfect recipe for a jam, as two busses side by side are enough to block the entire road. Also we notice most of the passengers at the bus-stop are waiting on the road rather than on the foot-path or the bus-shelter. Accordingly the bus stops in the middle of the road rather than the side, which again blocks most part of the road. Mind it, it hardly takes seconds for traffic to pile up on such a blockage.
o Shifting the bus-stops from potential congestion areas mentioned above by 50-100m can go a long way in controlling traffic pile up. Some examples of such areas are Hebbal flyover, HAL signal, Mekhri circle.. The only inconvenience to passengers would be walking an extra 50 m, which is not a great deal when compared to the benefits
o The bud-drivers can help by stopping as close to the pedestrian walkway as possible thus giving enough rooms for other vehicles to pass by. Constructing bus-bays would be a great idea, but not practical where there is no room for expansion of the road.
- Auto rickshaws can be a big nuisance. Although the space occupied is less, their actions are highly unpredictable – they can slow down, turn or stop at the drop of a hat on spotting a potential client. When this is inadvertently practiced on congested roads, the consequences can be disastrous. Autos parked at bus-stops & traffic signals where the probability of getting a passenger is high is common sight. This makes things worse for the traffic.
- All other private vehicles can contribute to easing the traffic by resorting to car-pooling, following lane discipline and by not blocking free-left turns. All that is required is a good traffic sense.
- Of course there are other parameters which are under the control of the authorities and not the commuters
o Synchronizing the traffic signals so that there can be free flow
o Maintaining pot-hole free roads; The amount of congestion that a small pot-hole or a hump can cause is difficult to fathom.
o The drainage, OFC laying or the recently in news footpath widening activities are good as long as it is completed on war-footing basis. More the delay in completion of such projects, more the torture. The current state of St.Marks road, Cunningham road & Commissariat road are glaring examples.
o India (and Bangalore) benefited by following the PPP way for road construction. But the failure was in the method of toll collection. What is the point of cruising at 80 kmph to reach the toll plaza a few minutes early, only to spend double or triple the time saved, waiting in a queue?
There is nothing radical in any of the points stated above. It is all common-sense. Also some of these are suggested by traffic cops themselves on their Facebook page. But what can make a difference is we taking a stand to do what it takes to ease the traffic & living by it. It can begin as a pilot project by a bunch of motivated people. But taking the benefit to the masses requires the involvement of passionate volunteers, traffic cops, minor changes to rules of the roads, lots of signboards and most of all a drive to inculcate the awareness among the commuters.
Aristotle said “Given sufficient leverage, I can move the earth.” Although the task sounds Herculean, when the whole city is enrolled towards the common cause, nothing is impossible. Everyone sticks to their comfort zone and gives advice. It’s the easiest and the most obvious thing to do.
For the rest whose blood boils at the sight of an avoidable congestion, let’s cease waiting for a revolution to brew up – Let us be that revolution.

My vision of Modern India

India.

For ignorant scrabble masters it is just a word. For superpowers it is just another country. For Pakistan it is a nightmare. For NRIs it’s a horrible past, hard to forget. For former freedom fighters it is one word provocation. It is a politician’s paradise. An archeologist’s heaven. Battlefield of different religions, homeland of natives. For me it is like a one stop shopping center.

Ask for rich- you get it. Poor- the majority. Culture- there’s a treasure. Communalism- there are places of religious seismicity. Family- the best in the world. War- in every house, everyday. Terror – top to bottom. Underworld- Mumbai special. Humanity- sure. Secularism- scarce, but still there.

One complicated structure our country is. Simple-minded people, yet hard to define. Understanding what is modern in modernized India becomes easier when a comparative study with the past is accomplished.

The Rule: Yesterday, today, forever

Shining armors clashed in those days when a war was declared. The outcome was the armors stained red and a transfer of property between rival kingdoms. Now the fight is for constituencies. In place of armors the traditional white khadi is stained beyond recognition. So is the character. While the kings kept their coins in hidden dungeons, the new the trend is Swiss banks.

Not much reforms regarding the administration. The solution- dissolving the whole political system- is highly impracticable. Its better to seek the grandeur days of Asokas and Akbars.

The diversity

Colours looking neat on a freshly painted canvas fail to sooth the eyes once they get too friendly and interact.

Different religions, customs, traditions and languages all look good on the live telecast of the Republic Day celebrations. But facing the reality is a totally different game. There is always the struggle for supremacy- of one God over the other. There are many more on the likes of Ayodhyas and Godhras to bloom over the scarred body of Mother India.

There is only one God sounds good. There is no God sounds better and might possibly be more effective. Science categorizes Homo sapiens only into two: Man and Woman. But in India Homo-sapiens are categorized beyond just physical features.

Economics

India is a rich country with poor people… and a poor government. Obviously. What with so large a population to control? So many disputes to deal with. Culprits? Public sector is one for instance. Large investments imply large risks. Once risk factor is announced big companies back out of the bid. That leaves the government to take up the task. Be it sheer madness or suicide. After all, the mother can’t desert her own children.

Take for example the mining sector. When the industry needs minerals you just can’t stretch your hand before sister countries. Prospecting, exploration, feasibility study are capital intensive and consume hell a lot of money. And when the result is not affirmative then the government is in for doom. Of course a diversion here and there along the inflow of revenue to fill appropriate pockets is a different topic and is too unholy to be dealt with.

And when a full-fledged integrated firm like Kudremukh Iron Ore Company Limited, easily the best mechanized opencast mine in India and the largest investors on reclamation and environment protection, is plagued by environmentalists, it’s simply the worst of destiny’s wicked games.

Another place where revenue drains is for military causes. When your home is being targeted from all directions you just can’t sit with your legs crossed. As for the never-ending Kashmir issue its better to keep a missile aimed at Islamabad or Karachi and declare “One false move and we show it the way.” After all war is the only means of bringing peace and blood is the only means of quenching thirst. The aftermath- uninterrupted flow of bitter tears from the kins of the holy spirits is heart breaking. But it has been tears all the way for Indians; through four centuries of slavery and four decades of confusion as the country tried to recover against neighbors’ resent.

Might is right

May 13^th 1998 is probably a rebirth of India on the world map when India turned nuclear. It stood sixth behind USA, UK, China, Russia and France. Now that India boasts of Prithvi, Trishul, Akash, Agni series of ballistic missiles as messengers of death, even super powers have to think twice before execution of casual statement.

The reach

IRS and INSAT range of satellites have literally proved that space is the limit for the reach of success. With ISRO masterminding Indian Space Programme, there are more milestones to adorn the technological development of India.

The show world

India is known for entertaining others- be it curious foreigners or the rival prime minister. Indian movies and movie stars are liked by the masses that include even the Taliban rebels. Several Indian names in Oscar nomination list have promised a better quality of pass time.

Such being the prosperity of the vast Democracy what is keeping the country on the back foot? The way of life. There is nothing-called free living or liberalization in India. Everything and every task have to have several prejudices. Beginning a task asks for an auspicious time, a muhurtam, and there are several taboos to be kept at a distance. This and many other parameters have influenced our citizens so much that top IT professionals wish to migrate to the States seeking better status of living. Now that the gates are closing even for them is a different matter.

Thirty years from now I can see a self-sufficient India. The neighbours have grown extremely friendly. We’re exchanging Ayurveda and acupuncture with China. Pakistan has repented for its mistake. There is virtually no border between the sisters and the Kashmiri folk don’t know their nationality. And they don’t care for there is continuous transport, communication and interaction either way. 

India has oil wells along the west coast. Following the tenth five-year plan, thermal power plants have sprung up like mushrooms. Indian satellites are helping communications throughout Asia. A new religion-Indianism-has been adopted and accepted.

Aerial photography of India shows lush green patches covering a majority of area. Everyone is busy working for himself, for his country. There is a transition from the third world to a superpower…

…and then I open my eyes.

Black, White & Grey

Ever heard the cliché “Nothing in this world is black or white. It’s all shades of grey…”?

White is supposed to mean good. Black is associated with bad. And grey is for those who vacillate between good & bad depending on the circumstances.

Good & bad are relative terms. All of those whom we can categorize under “bad” will have a perfect explanation for being so. Even a heinous crime as a murder might have a very genuine justification in the motive of the murderer. The act is fair in the animal world, where the question is of survival. Unfortunately mankind is bound by a rule book that bifurcates good from bad.

A good deed done with a just motive may prove to be a disaster for others. Exposing a scandal will be viewed as a bad act by the guilty, so much that they are willing to impart a punishment as severe as death.

The above examples might sound crazy, more like extreme. But if you remove the element of morality it perfectly fits the logic of relativity. Morality is not a ubiquitous phenomenon. As mentioned earlier, apart from the law book, there is no other entity judging action based on morality. (We will avoid wandering into the world of Heaven & Judgement day as nobody has been there & returned to narrate a first-hand account of what exactly happens) And as we know some laws can be bent & others broken. Anyways the so called long-hands-of-the-law have limitations in reach.

Of course, there is one more obscure body which has a say in a person performing “black” or “white” deeds – the conscience. But then the conscience is something which is contextual – that inner voice is so volatile that it keeps shifting stands depending on the external stimulus. One’s conscience may not be sharp enough to be capable of making a person uphold his principles…

Now then, who falls in the category of grey?

The people who do not have a stand. Those who wear masks. The ones who commit a crime & then try to hide the deed. Or the ones who do good in order to earn brownie points in the eyes of people, but when given an opportunity don’t fail to capitalize on their shortcomings.

Thus when conscience is unreliable & morality is not universally accepted, the real distinction of black, white & grey can be made only on the basis of Integrity. This simply means taking full responsibility of your deed or action. If you have done something, be it good or bad, & you are not comfortable with people pointing fingers at you, it is a clear indication that you lacked integrity in whatever you did. When the Taliban takes ownership of bomb blast, it simply speaks of their integrity – they stand by what they believe. Please note that we are not diluting the concept here by bringing in morality; which may take the discussion into a totally different avenue of good & bad.

When you start inculcating integrity in your life, you automatically refrain from doing things which may put you in an awkward situation sometime in the distant future. In short, it will empower you to deal with the things in a much better way than just going with the herd mentality or giving in to the trick of the mind or hormones - some of the poor victims we tend to put the blame on for our misdeeds.