Ethics

This is a so-very-common word we come across in our lives. So many other words have been built around it too like conscientiousness, conscience, values and value systems. It is a tragedy that we have such a rigid structured system of ethics that even the slightest perception of anyone deviating from it is considered a social faux-pas in the least and a crime in most cases.

Ethics have been ingrained in us since our childhood. We are supposed to imbibe ethics into every walk of our life. Even while writing this article/blog I have to be consciously aware if I am being politically correct and if anything here is taking a dig at some one.

We sometimes need to forgo ethics in situations of extreme urgency or extreme complications, but we are still held responsible for our actions and are looked down upon. But this is to all the two-faced hypocrites I direct this to : Do you flinch when you speak two facedly? Have you ever thought for a moment the purport of your actions on others?

If we committing an unethical action is a crime then hypocrisy is a felony which has no excuse.

Random thoughts

In this sombre mood, when I get too philosophical, the strangest of stories come back to me.
There was this once when I read somewhere that Love was more enjoyable when it was not yours to take, but yours to give.
When you have loved someone for most of what you can remember of your life, he states enigmatically that, you will love her more because she was unattainable and her fey attractions will always be more enticing and enduring than if we were the object of their love.
However stupid it may sound it rings true everytime I think about it. For instance, didn't the toy in the shelf, the one your mum wouldn't buy you look more enticing than the one you already had at home?
Doesn't that car look amazing? But once you own it all sense of awe and wonder disappears over a week. What happened to that girl you so desperately loved after she agreed to go out with you?
Do all things lose their wonder we held for them once we have it?
Food for thought!

even better!!

Today it was the classic case of - if I don't listen you, how will you bore my ears off me?
Listening to people droning on sometimes brings on a comatose state that is so strongly soporific that it is just too irresistible to put our head down on the table and snore softly.
So I take to writing furiously whatever is up one the board or whatever sense I find in the monotone that I hear. It is a terrific remedy to counter the sleepiness that permeates the class.
And looking around the class to see the fretful spastic movements of my friends I can safely surmise that they're up to no good too.

A bland face is one that works very well in class in which you have no idea what is going on where and when. And it earns you some sympathy from the professor too. But all that is utterly useless when the professor himself turns around, not only himself but the podium too! He addresses the board as if it was the most receptive audience and looks back at us only to impress upon a point that he thinks we should appreciate.

But as you get used to the schedule you drift off and think how nice it would be to come up with another a real anecdote about someone who talks to a wall instead of an audience.

should i? shall you?

No this is not a way to propose a girl. Nor is it a question to an examiner. It is an inner conversation between the mind and the heart. The mind is a cold and calculative and the heart is warm and empathic and emotional. Not sensitive but emotional.
For all those who dare to deny this, I ask you, have you ever loved a woman (or a man for that matter if you are a woman)? If you have then either you are lucky to have a woman(man) who loves you too much to be with a man(woman) who doesn't love her(him).

This is a simple story of the heart asking whether it should do what it does best and the brain calculating the possible consequences and arriving at the most likely conclusions. Then asks the heart again, shall you? Heart as we all know is a fickle thing. Be it in a man or a woman. Hearts change in a matter of seconds if allowed to. How many of us get cold feet moments before climbing on a stage?

But hearts are also the reasons we make the most mistakes in our lives. We give up what would have been good and take up what is bad. But it is after all a heart and not a brain and we learn to live with it. Hearts are why our lives are not lived like machines. It is why we lead colorful lives. It is what that lends joys and sorrows to make our lives more meaningful.

For all the people who rely more on their vaunted brains educated and trained in prestigious colleges, please use the heart. It'll make everyday a new day. To all my friends - learn to think with your heart. Perhaps we shall make mistakes that we shall remember, but they will be worth more than the correct decisions we took and forgot.

Latest class fiasco

"Talk to the hand!! " that seems to be the worst kind of insult anyone can throw at a stranger without abusing him. But it was taken to new heights today with the professor talking to the foot the whole while. It was a comical one hour trying to catch his eye. Ever tried catching the eye of a sleeping man? This was probably harder even though our highly qualified professor had his eyes wide open.

With a monotone going on in the background it was hard not to let our eyes drift out of the class to the beautiful soft rain outside. The lush green grass was a much better sight than the drab earthy colors one could see inside. With noone to keep a check at the what the class was doing we students were left to our own resources. Conversations were carried out with hands and eyes and some even resorted to outrageous hand gestures. Some took to the more profitable activity of "sleeping in the class" and took it to new heights in the comfort of a suitable cushioned arm chair. That there was the cool breeze with a soft fragrance of the wet grass was a luxury, few would like to miss.

But all good things come to an end and so did the siesta.
By the way the class was called ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOR.. !!

about beautiful sunrises hidden behind clouds

Its still dark when you wake up and rub the sleep off your eyes. You check your watch again and realize its dark because the sun is hidden behind a veil of black clouds and its pouring softly outside.

There is an ethereal stillness. And you grudgingly let go of the bedlinen, swing over your still numb legs over the side and into the sandals. A slight jolt as you realise the sandals are damp. you grope your way to the bathroom and turn on the lights and look at yourself all bedraggled with hair standing out at odd angles. With a resigned sigh you take up your toothbrush and with unfeeling fingers squeeze some paste onto it. Then with the daily practiced motions we start brushing our teeth and lose ourselves in a semi dreamy state..and we wonder..

Behind those clouds was there a brilliant sunrise?Were there birds chirping in other cities which were witnessing the sunrise that you missed? Maybe in another city there is a person just like you, but he woke up to a brilliant sunrise and dry sandals! To him the birds would chirp and sing and brighten his day. He'd be humming happily as he prepared his breakfast and got ready.

Drawing parallels, this is just a scene where the same sun rose and ushered in the morning to a new day, but where one person woke up to a dank and dark morning just because some dark clouds hid the brilliant sun while another rose to a crimson sunrise.

There are many incidents in our lives which sometimes are masked by rather unpleasant happenings. (This in no way suggests that rains are unwelcome or bad-on the contrary, I love rains-but as a portrayal of how it can change someone's perception about the mornings) We would have to learn to look past the dark clouds and learn to find the silver lining and live our lives which are meaningful. Who knows there might just be a brilliant sunrise waiting to wake us up the very next day. After all clouds don't last forever.

coming home

Its has taken me nearly five days to recuperate enough to compare the two places I've called home the past four years. Bhopal and Guwahati are as different in climates as they are in the people they house. Where its the bluest of skies from dawn to dusk in Bhopal, it is almost impossible to come across a patch of blue when one looks up in Guwahati. The air is moist and humid and breezy in Guwahati but in Bhopal we had to take care not to expose our skin to the elements to escape the dryness and the searing heat of the hot wind that blows across the land. The sunlight is harsh and unforgiving as the desert in Bhopal but in Guwahati it is a pleasant warmth.

But most of all the people are different. People in Guwahati are soft spoken and helpful whereas in Bhopal they would be raucous and indifferent and too rude to even bother.

However there were some people in Bhopal I call friends, with whom I shared some good times and some of the best moments and without them Bhopal seems as inhospitable as the uninhabited Tundra even with the multitude of people there. Here in Guwahati I have a few friends from the olden times but it doesn't seem so inhospitable.

Under cloudy skies threatening rain every second I take some time to think back to the time when even the worst of weather and environment felt hospitable and in fact welcoming just for the "friends" and on the contrary the best of pleasant weather here feels as alien without the same friends.

I truly salute the good men I stayed with for four years of my life and whom I now wish the best in their lives.