I was still rolling on the bed debating if I should get up or not. All the things I scheduled for that day popped up in my mind – I had a busy day ahead. I switched on my cell phone and went through the twitter stream and rss feed. My eyes refused to open, so I put my cell aside and pulled back the blanket. The phone rang as soon as I closed my eyes. It was Sundeep, “Ajay passed away” he said.
Responsibility
Do we need bosses to remind us to do our work?
Do we need cops to monitor our traffic?
Do we need invigilators to stop us from copying?
Do we need anti corruption bureaus (ACBs) to stop us from corruption?
Do we need police to stop us from commiting crimes?
Do we need revolutions to push change?
Do we need guns to bring us peace?
Do we need strong borders to make good neighbours?
Do we need bloodshed to remind us the futility of war?
Do we need heinous crimes to wakeup our humanity?
Do we need a “Damini”* to make us more responsible?
- a tribute to the girl who was brutally sexually assaulted in Delhi
Wakeup call
I witnessed a death couple of days back. It made me sad. Made me wonder, isn’t it the end for everybody? All marching towards the same dead end? We all know this, but we still toil all day long to amass toys and trinkets to be happy. Is this ‘smasana vairagya’(a detachment all experience during a funeral) I’m speaking out of? even if I am, isn’t it true? By the end of that day I was back to normal life – talking to friends, planning the future, worrying about the past – I had moved on. But, the uneasiness remained, unanswered, lurking behind my hopes and dreams shrouding them in a veil of vanity, ocassionally questioning me, what for do we toil? what for do we struggle? “Dust thou art, to dust returnest” isn’t it? but, I pushed the questions back into a remote recess of my mind hoping it’ll not be my fate, hoping it’ll not be my end.
I have learned
I’ve learned that you cannot make someone love you. All you can do is be someone who can be loved. The rest is up to them;
I’ve learned that no matter how much I care, some people just don’t care back;
I’ve learned that it takes years to build up trust, and only seconds to destroy it.
I’ve learned that you can get by on charm, for about fifteen minutes. After that, you’d better know something;
I’ve learned that either you control your attitude or it controls you.
I’ve learned that no matter how hot and steamy a relationship is at first, the passion fades and there had better be something else to take it’s place.
- Anonymous
Mahatma
LTTE, Al Qaeda, Taliban, Mafia, Naxals, various right-wing extremists/hard-core fundamentalists – violence is in vogue everywhere. Hate of all accords burns us. Some cause violence to defend/propagate their ideals – for what they believe is true/correct – the only right way to live, and for some, violence is business. It is easy to eliminate than change. Someone in your way? terminate them. ‘Civilized’ discussions are for who can’t fight. Peace is for the weak. Once it was said it takes a greater man to walk away from a fight. Today the same man is considered a sissy. Arnold in Terminator says, “it’s in your blood to kill eachother”. So true. We bay for blood.