F.R.I.E.N.D.S

One of the earliest sayings that we learn by rote in our childhood days has the F word in it..A friend in need is a friend indeed!! I remember writing a 10 point 'essay' on the topic 'My Friend' during my english lectures innumerable times and invariably ending it with..yes you guessed it right: 'A friend in need....' :)

Who is this person? Rather, what is this person?? What goes on in our mind and his when we both start treading on the path of friendship? We all of a sudden start expecting and demanding things of them which we don't even think of mentioning to our relatives..We merrily toss their stuff in our bags and say 'Now forget about this pal, you'll get it back if i care to remember!' We don't call them at a fixed time of the day like we call our parents and even siblings..We just call them and don't bother about anything else..And pour out our daily little emotions on them..We go out with them and slap them, tease them, play pranks on them and pull off everything that our crooked minds can imagine..

Given all this and much more, friends are indeed indispensable..They are not the fillers of our life, but those with whom we relate and grow up with..They are the ones who initiate us into the world of relationship building and nurturing..A world which is real, where not everyone is related to you and where you have to carve your own niche..Friends are in a way the bridge between your days as a child and your days as a parent..And this part of the life where most emotional support plays a vital role in your development into an adult..
Friendship is also a unique relationship because of the thinly defined structure that it holds..There is no official stamp to this bonding that humans exhibit..Moreover, it is an option which is exercised and the option to exit is even more simpler..but coincidentally enough, true friendships last for a lifetime and are known to grow stronger as time evolves..This may or may not been seen in blood relations..

While being dependable in testing times, friends can also be a reality check and keep oneself grounded during times of success...They remind of where one came from and the hardships which he had to go through for achieving that kind of success..

KK's song on friendship sums it best:
Yaaron, dosti badi hi haseen hai.. Ye na ho to, kya phir, bolo yeh zindagi hai.. Koi to ho razdaar.. Begaraz tera ho yaar.. Koi to ho raazdaar..
Teri har ek buraee pe dante woh dost.. Gham ki ho dhoop to saaya bane tera woh dost.. Nache bhi woh teri khushi mein..

Finally, here's thanking all my friends out here who read this blog and keep pushing me all the while to go on! U guys rock! Thank you doston! This post is for you and just for you :)

Happy Diwali!

Diwali! The mere mention of this word is enough to conjure a thousand pictures.. What a beautiful concept.. Come to think of it, Duality always was a fascinating concept for mankind.. Light-Dark, Rain-Shine..Yin-Yang was a favourite with the Chinese..Many beautiful things arise when these opposites come together..Rainbows in the case of Rain & Shine...Even life for that matter! And my personal favourite is Diwali..The new moon night of total darkness converts into a night where every nook and corner is illuminated and joy erupts on every street..

Light, symbolically speaking, has a lot of religious significance..The Holy Bible starts thus:

First God made heaven & earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters. And God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light. And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night.

This clearly illustrates (pun unintended) the concept of duality and the multiple references to light..

In Zoroastrianism, light is the great symbol of God and Goodness, whether in the light of the sun or in the sacred fire. The Spring Equinox and the lengthening of the days is thus a symbol of the victory of Light over the cold and darkness of winter. Zoroastrian rituals are conducted before a sacred fire. Some outsiders believe that they actually worship fire. This is not true. They regard fire as a symbol of their God, and they cherish the light that it produces. Light is seen as energy, a natural force that is powerful and necessary for survival.

A quote from the Holy Quran : God is the Guardian and Protector of those who believe; He brings them forth from darkness into light.

The Bhagavad Gita: The Light of Lights He is, in the heart of the Dark Shining eternally. Wisdom He is And Wisdom's way, and Guide of all the wise, Planted in every heart.

Given all this, the big irony is that we, the followers of these very religions, prefer to stay cubbyholed in the darkness of our ignorances and prefer not to see such obvious links amongst the faiths we follow...This Diwali let's light up these dark corners and resolve not to give into 'blind' faith...As quoted earlier in this post, Let there be light!! Outside as well as inside us..And what better day to start working on this than Diwali :) Happy Diwali Guys!

Destiny vs. Fate

Why me? Of all the god fearing, law abiding people..Why only me?? Perhaps this was destined to happen..After all, who can escape one's destiny? Must be my karma catching up on me...

Sounds familiar? Vaguely? Strongly??

We all have been plagued with these thoughts some time or the other..But we also inevitably alight from this train of thoughts once things start improving..And life thus goes on till the next mishap..

In the realm of open systems exists a word called 'equifinality'..It talks about how differnent initial conditions may eventually lead to the same concluding effect..Different causes, same effect..Different inputs, same final result...Now this again smells of 'destiny', doesn't it?

But there is one small thing that the word 'destiny' implies..Destiny, more often than not, talks about the future, about the events lined up in front of you that would ultimately shape your experiences in life..Fate, on the other hand, talks about the outside factors influencing you in such a way that leaves you with no choice but to be 'resigned' towards it..Hence the postive connotations (destiny's children, destined to achieve et al) for 'destiny' and the negative ones for 'fate' (fatality, fatal, fatalistic etc.)..And that is why our wise forefathers said ''one can shape one's own destiny'' instead of saying ''one can shape one's own fate''..

So given a choice, would you rather be 'resigned towards your fate' or try to 'shape your own destiny'? The choice is not as obvious as we make it out to be..If we close our eyes and look back at our past decisions, we'd get the true answer to this...

Of mind numbing movies...

I have lately been watching a lot of..Well..a lot of odious shite..Crap in its purest state..Three examples that come to mind are...

1. Kambakkht Ishq: The first word of the title completely describes what the audience would think of this big piece of junk once they are into the 2nd minute of the movie..Yes, that is how long it takes to decipher what ultimate trauma is in store..The most repeated joke on which the writer falls back again and again AND again is the one in which one female whose name is 'Kaamini' is called 'Kamini' (Female for Kamina in Hindi) by almost everyone else in the movie and everyone laughs vulgarly in reaction to this. What originality! My personal favourite is the scene where the entire who's who of hollywood stand up in honour of what they think is the Indian National Anthem when in fact they are hearing the vedic chants of 'Om Mangalam' emanating from Akshay Kumar's stomach because of a watch which was intentionally left inside by the stuntmen-abhorring, model-cum-surgeon Kareena Kapoor..Couldn't help but wonder why in the good lord's name did the crazy producers invest in such a moth infested script and further add to their cup of woes by roping in celebs much past their prime (beyond recognition now) like Denise Richards, Brandon Routh, Sylvester Stallone and Holly Valance...

2. Life Partner:

Thumb Rule 1 - Do not watch ANY movie that has Fardeen Khan in it

Thumb Rule 2 - Do not watch ANY movie that has Fardeen Khan in a guest appearance

Thumb Rule 3 - Do not watch ANY movie that has anything to do with Fardeen Khan

3. Cruel Intentions - Utterly Predictable. Utterly trite. Utterly USA. Utterly dumb. Utterly sexist. Utterly full of cliches. Utterly cruel on the audience.

Several times...

I have lost all track n count. But the number is still a single digit. I'm talking about the vain attempts i have made at starting a blog and sticking to it. So did a bit of reengineering and lo behold..A whole new blog space! And i hereby solemnly resolve to stick to it :)

Life's philosophies is somehow the most favoured topic of bloggers around the world..'I shalt try and not give into temptation'..

I have one thought clouding my mind predominantly right now..And that is how time and light have perhaps the same velocity..'Cos that is how time flies..One just can't fathom the importance of time enough..For me, it is far more complex than many other perplexing theories..People all around the world are always paranoid about some aspects of it..Like getting late, like the time being not auspicious, like not timing a speech well etc. However, how about pondering over the concept of time itself..We often say things like 'since time immemorial' and 'time and tide wait for none' etc. but we don't appreciate the perenniality and infinity of time like we do of the universe..Having said that, theorists propound a beginning and end of the universe but time never 'began' and will never 'end'..so isn't the mystery of time more exciting than that of the universe?

If you have the time, please pour in your thoughts :)