Amit Goes Blogging

In today's world, smart work has eaten away at the importance of hardwork. To emerge victorious is all that matters. So, carrying chits to exams is seen as a smart option, especially by engineering students. Is it wise to invade the enemy camp without a fall back plan? (That's the introduction straight from a filler article in a tabloid!) There are different kinds of 'malpractioners' depending on their preparation and fortitude. This also decides the size of the chits that range from a list of formulae on a post-it to a mini photocopy of text-book. Most of the times, the battle is fought with only fortitude on one's side. The courageous (who rely only on fortitude) are thorough going cheaters and are looked upon by others for their valour. The amateur cheaters seek their guidance. They train them in the psychological warfare to be adopted in the exam hall. The courageous hold divergent opinions on things like where the chit should be hidden, the appropriate tim...

(Dedicated to all smokers and ...) I celebrate the unwinding that occurs as I breathe in the first puff of smoke. If breathing has ever been a pleasure, it was while smoking. Each puff that you inhale in a relaxed state is a unit of satisfaction. Well, four thousand chemicals contribute to your joy of smoking. And, once addicted, you admire your ready loyalty to it. It is a very subtle love affair that you strike when cigarette starts obsessively intruding your thoughts. And, this devotion thrives over all opposition. Neither the fear of being calumniated by society nor being put under oath nor the pinching of the purse nor a terrible denture nor the blackening of lips nor the statutory warning can derail you from reaching out to those 'coffin nails'. I am not undermining the harmful effects of cigarette. They are all there and every smoker is aware of its dangers. I am only referring to the sense of belonging one feels to the butt and how it carves a place for itself in our ...

Such a dreadful thought! What if it becomes a reality! I admit my fear although it exposes me as a male chauvinistic pig. The fear does not arise because of her financial independence but the financial might that mostly decides what is right in our lives (it also decides 'who is right'). Money and resources is what it takes to empower a man or a woman and also to overpower others. The spirit of manhood is something that a boy grows into. The idea takes root in him when he looks up to his father as the salvager when difficulties strike the family. He sees that a male figure heads the family in all its important decisions. I have no idea of how it is in other countries, but, in India, a boy is regarded as the 'lamp of the family' and before he merits such eulogy, he has to burn. Manhood is an outcome of gruesome severities of life that attend upon him. He is called upon to live up to his family's name. He pays a price for it. Education is the first ordeal that he is t...

As children, we end up performing such rare feats of bravery that have no parallel in our adult life. The games that we play, the conditions that we play in, the rules that we frame at these games match the valour of knights, only in place of a dagger, we had a heavy plastic ball or a rubber ball and instead of killing we had to injure that came very near to killing if you could see someone writhing in pain. It was a game of seven stones. The stones were arranged vertically one on top of the other. Boys divided themselves into two teams and would throw the ball, by turns, at the pile of stones and scatter them. If the other party caught the ball before it fell on the ground, the team lost a point. Otherwise, the team that had scattered the stone would rearrange them. It was not as simple as that. We had to arrange them while dodging the ball hurled at us. Sometimes, when the 7th stone was about to be enthroned, the ball would come aiming at your eye and blind you for the evening. ...

There is a lady working with a renowned company. She is well-educated, soft-spoken, beautiful and married to a polio patient. She never allowed gloom to descend over her life on account of this alliance. Her gorgeous appearance seems to wage a fight against destiny. Through her mute dalliances and make-up that's excessive for work she stands out among the entire staff at the office. A guy saw a connection between the sprightliness of this woman and her disadvantaged husband. Day by day he drew closer to her, and found his way to her desolate bed. What leads to such marriages, is common knowledge. But, how the equation stands after such marriage, is what I was curious about. My friend had answers, which, however, were mixed up in sleaze. The guy enjoys a bash on that bed where the lady lay for years hungering for that touch. She has two kids: a 12 year-old daughter and a 10-year old son. She loves her children as all mothers do, but the mother isn't loved by her husband. Thoug...

Dear readers, I am taking a month's break from blogging. ...... No sighs from you! Very unfortunate that even after my tireless efforts at giving you such rare gems of writing, you do not feel sorry at my absence. But this isn't going to let me down, you hear me! I shall be back with a vengeance and shall blast you with one post after another. The days ahead call for intense effort, mostly mental. And, difficulties make my melancholy picture-perfect. It shall definitely find lodgement in my blog. When it comes to retaining ideas, my memory is phenomenal. I will have enough time to organise my thoughts and maneuver them into a surprise attack when other bloggers shall be celebrating my absence. Over and out!

At times I feel I am one with Buddha. Honestly speaking, Buddha and I are cut from the same cloth, only separated by time. It must be clear to you that I am a fool. But,.. enlightened? Is it possible for anything short of enlightenment to realize one is a fool! The awakened one is addressed as Buddha. It's an honorific title that marks his victory over self-ignorance. And, what are the traits of Buddha? It would serve our practical interests to define him for the modern times rather than eulogising his place in a historical backdrop. How would Buddha conduct himself in a world that's constantly introducing us to a new lifestyle against the times where one cultural pattern outlived many generations. Does Buddha have an answer to erratic lifestyles we can't help adopting? Or, he answers only to a period where faith is an inheritance from past and to tend to ethics an honoured calling? Buddhahood is an ever existing possibility. This time it is expressing itself through this...

Happiness is not always a result of our efforts. Most of it passes by like people scurrying past us. Happiness is not an achievement, it is an endowment unto all who have been chosen by existence to live and breathe. It does not proceed from either competition or personal ambition. It is like sunshine; move out of your home and you are basking in its warmth. And, our lives are filled with numerous occurrences that fill us with joy and take us away from our preoccupation with worries. The anxieties of the work-a-day world not only disrupt our leisure but also disturb our sleep. Mornings that wake me up fresh from an undisturbed sleep are deeply satisfying. The world seems awash in tranquility and nature at peace with herself. The twilight on the horizon, the chirping of birds and the tinkling of pots at the water tap are so very soothing. And, when I have a pleasant bowel movement clearing it all in one sitting, it betokens an auspicious day ahead! I am getting late for my office, where...

Blessings are not valued until they are lost. You realise this once you offer the fun and freedom of bachelorhood at the altars of marriage. The pleasure of cohabitation doesn't multiply on receiving a social sanction. Rather, with monogamy as the order of the day, it gets monotonous and obligatory. When the ore of mutual love heats up in the furnace of marriage, it is love that first vaporises into thin air leaving only the scum of regret. Either a hellish lives of compromises or groaning under a broken marriage is the fate of all married couples. And, begetting children only adds to their woes. I am certain of a heaven on the other side of the grave and do not wish to settle on an apology for it in this life. To me, marriage is to bring your weakness home, make her sit next to you and give her away your 'better half'. If my wife dumps all the garbage into the neighbour's compound, I got to support her and fight her case. Our children are the only innocent ones,...

We are living in times of unprecedented change. The change is quite perceptible in the field of technology. Internet, mobile phones, digital cameras and gizmos that assimilate the features of each of those have flooded Indian markets. They have improved the quality of our life marking a departure from the encumbrances of the previous decades. Also noticeable is the pace at which these inventions invade our lives and become a part of us. We seem to share the same necessity that drove the scientists who invented them. But, we do not take into account the accidental misuse these technological masterpieces and their applications are put to. Look at the adolescents wielding these gizmos and you will witness the havoc they have created in their lives. Even I am guilty of this abuse. I remember being part of the chatting fixation that had taken youngsters by storm. Cyber cafes were crowded with boys and girls who found chatting an economical way of making new friends. Terminals were booked ...

I am told hard work pays. You may wonder - haven't I verified this overfamiliar statement in my quarter lifespan? Hard work is when you put untiring efforts towards a result that would accrue in some distant future. I am a stranger to such effort. My efforts have always been of the nature of hardships as they were contemplated after I had stepped into hot waters and the time to act was running out. I was always managing more than two things. The other front is socialising, one that I find too demanding. The warmth I naturally possess doesn't raise questions about my social instincts, atleast, others can't see through it. But, the aversion still exists. "I love humanity - it's people I can't stand." This is due to the inanity I meet in people. But, for the sake of worldly benefits one derives out of social networking, I need to put up with this social practice. The initial interest I evince in a female is also hormonally dictated. I am hard pressed to appea...

Romanced kicked off under my patronage, later overstepped its bounds and carried me away. This self-proclaimed philosopher wasn't a respectable match for its sanguine charms and the readiness with which I fell in love is a warning unto those who take pride in their stoicism. It is said one may revive from the effects of the cup after a night's sleep, but one who is smitten by the cupbearer will not rise till the day of judgement! I always had just three days on my calendar for renewing our love. The gap between my visits increased from a few months to years at an average of one visit per year. I had to make the most of these three days. A lot that wasn't possible on phone (please hold your imagination) had to be made up. It took me not less than 36 hours to reach the hotel. I felt I was on a mission that expected me to overlook the discomfort and the expenses it entailed. All that mattered was to present myself before my honey as soon as possible. I always lodged at the sam...

My friend had asked me this question. This dilemma is typical of Indian boys and girls who respect conservative sentiment and find it hard to bridge tradition and modernity. Perhaps, the love quotient in his life had grown potent! I wrote: If you are able to justify both your ‘loves’ then you are not fooling either of them. Just as loving your mother is not fooling your father, similar is the case with loving a girl. 'Love rebounds as love. Love is the most natural reaction to love.' One love is not antagonistic to the other. Love perpetuates love. We do not know how to receive this gift. Anything that touches us takes a tinge of our imperfection and the greatest imperfection is that we are split. There are various personalities with different ideologies existing simultaneously within. Each is potent at some level or other. At the intellectual level we are a kind who is quite inconsistent with the one at the mental level. The mental person is different from the physically insti...

It's the day of the interview. The whole week I was running to friends, to libraries; and, consulting the experienced to guide me through the interview process and FAQs. I wake up quite early today as I have scheduled one full hour for a heart to heart talk with the Almighty to present my case with such justification as should make Him see my point if He had willed otherwise. All my friends wish me luck and set out to their offices putting me on oath that I shall throw a party in the evening. I am ironing out the last wrinkle on the shirt when the phone rings. It's my beloved. "A good omen!" I tell myself. Even mother has pledged that my first salary will be given partly in charity, partly in feeding the poor and the rest in paying the first installment of the education loan. My aged father is looking forward to exult over my achievement, the pleasure I denied him all through my academic career. Now, my girlfriend earnestly wishes I get this job so that I stand a good...

(Playing devil's advocate here!) Lust is the vigour and the vitality in us. There is no picture as invigorating as two bodies entwined in naked embrace in the most engaged contact. The gross is so engrossing, so titillating, so satisfying! It must be lust for which makes the spirit crave a body. How could one withstand lust when it takes hold of one's heart: one may love it, hate it, but cannot neglect it. This body love is native to our instinct, drawing ready sustenance from our mind and body. It springs from deep within like a coiled spring banishing every other thought from the mental horizon. When it reigns, it reigns supreme. Strange this wonderful human capacity has been associated with meanings ungodly. Due to our lopsided understanding of it, lust invariably follows atonement. This has created a race of crippled spirits low on self-esteem. We fritter away our emotional energy in doling out morality from a titled balance of conscience. A mental incontinence holds u...

We had a robust black and white television set from ECTV. It came with a wooden cabinet and shutters  drawn horizontally from either end. The TV had four knobs for volume, brightness, contrast, and tuning. To switch channels, we had a knob that moved through 12 slots. The remote was not an in thing; for, only one channel was aired then. And, when DD Metro broadened the choice, the knob got twisted so much that it crossed its tolerance and fell apart. After that we started using nose-plier to switch channels. The TV remained with us for 16 years. My father is a disciplinarian. The reason he bought us TV was every Sunday we brothers flocked to a house in the neighbourhood to watch TV. One day, we kids were denied entry. This cut my father to the quick. By the following Sunday, father had his honour and we had our new TV set. But, it's not a very pleasant story after this. As if the shutter wasn't a secure child lock, my father draped the TV with a heavy cover. The TV r...

Professionalism is one elusive lesson from the corporate world that has often unhinged me with its implications. Every organisation stresses it and swears by it in its business dealings. To gain an insight into the mystery, I carefully observed its adherents - professionals. These are the observations I came up with. Professionals never look sideways. For them, the neighbour next-door or the colleague in the adjacent cubicle is an absent figure. Only those who fall before their gaze are acknowledged with a beautifully carved smile; a smile that likens to a wreathe of flowers on a coffin. If you mistake this smile as an invitation to friendship, then you have not read 'so far and no further' in the fading of the smile. It is even interesting to watch their learned reactions. You can notice them retracting into a safe zone of no opinions. They are haunted, as it were, by an unseen media presence. They speak neither for nor against anything; they go by the book. The book discourag...

If you wait for inspiration, you're not a writer, but a waiter. -Anonymous One has to live a life that creates a writer. -Erno Paasilinna Writers will happen in the best of families. -Rita Mae Brown Most of the basic material a writer works with is acquired before the age of fifteen. -Willa Cather When once the itch of literature comes over a man, nothing can cure it but the scratching of a pen. -Samuel Lover Write only if you cannot live without writing. Write only what you alone can write.- Elie Weisel Writing is so difficult that I feel that writers, having had their hell on earth, will escape all punishment hereafter. -Jessamyn West Writing is the best way to talk without being interrupted. - Jules Renard Writing is the only thing that, when I do it, I don't feel I should be doing something else. -Gloria Steinem I take the view, and always have, that if you cannot say what you are going to say in twenty minutes you ought to go away and write a book about it. -Lord Brabazon...

While reading stories about great men, the awe that fills us makes even the ordinary incidents of their lives significant. I have no such advantage. Some stories are read as they make interesting travelogues or historical reports. I was never so vexed with my surroundings that I had to go visiting nor have I taken the onus of providing future generations with the excitement of historical research.  I am afraid of losing the measure of frankness to be displayed in writing my story. If I mention all that passes through my mind, my story would find an honoured place among books written by hardcore moral wrecks. I would spell doom for others who would be exposed besides me. There would also be a few good thoughts but mostly borrowed. Why shun originality and be accused of plagiarism?  Biographies inspire us to emulate the lives of great men. This tendency to seek inspiration destroys the spontaneity in our lives. Let's not upset our beautiful life living someone else's. There are ...

The other day I was reading a book by Abraham Eraly, "The Mughal Throne". It gives an interesting account of the Mughal arrival and expansion in the subcontinent. It's very well written in that it has the advantage of an enlightened interpreter in Mr. Eraly. After reading the book, I asked myself a question - does the study of history serve any purpose?  By studying human development over ages, people have tried to figure out the workings of history. Some have undermined its value for posterity. For some, the study of history warrants attention if it proffers the knowledge of the future course of events.  If you look at the past generations with the eyes of the present, you notice human progress sometimes slows to a crawl and generations stagnate in the pits of time. But, after tarrying for ages, man takes a giant leap. Certain props that suit his present are accepted and those that grow heavy discarded. Then, follow the periods of assimilation and inward testing. When a...

During my college days, the idea of a relationship with the fair sex had always tugged at my heartstrings (it still does); whereas, boys, who infested my life, had always been a nuisance (they still are). Boys around felt the same. Hit with boyhood syndrome, we always flocked together at tea-stalls, college canteen, or languished in our rooms. Each lauded his achievements to which none was a witness. Some boys accomplished their life-work on the train; some had their first lessons in love-making from the servant-maid; some, while in school, were regular visitors to the house of ill-fame and women of easy virtue swore by their libido; some even claimed to be happy victims of child molestation at the hands of girls in their neighbourhood. Even I concocted stories in self-glorification in that I was a hot favourite among girls at school. My appearance betrayed my claim. Everyone had a glorious past but a sad present. We spent time gossiping about others' affairs; heaping criticism on ...

Being silent is the choicest suffering that you can inflict on someone. How often our loved ones resort to it, and disarm us. When people harbour enimity against each other, the silence pricks; and when there is love between them, the silence soothes. It is said, "True friendship comes when silence between two people is comfortable." Silence is called the great art of conversation. Thinkers are struck with its soulfulness and profundity. Story is told of Confucius that one morning he was accompanied by his friend's friend on a walk since the common friend, Confucius' daily companion, was unwell. On reaching the mountain-top, the only words this man uttered, in the entire journey, were, "How beautiful is the weather out here!" Confucius later complained to his friend that the man talked a lot and spoke the obvious! Confucius was trotting the mountain alone the next day. There are occasions when silence comes to us naturally. But, we do not grace ourselv...

A political leader while addressing a gathering said that Gandhian way of life was the best path and everybody should follow it. This exhortation was meted with a fiat(fatwa) from a Mufti who opined that anybody asking Muslims to follow a path other than the one shown by the Holy Prophet is violating the basic tenets of Islam. I couldn't believe the gross stupidity displayed by the mufti who is the guardian of muslim faith. This bickering cannot be backed by a divine sanction. It springs from resisting the power-shift triggered by democratization of religion. Every organized religion suffers when these emissaries carry a mandate to languid in the ruts of age-old thinking and take religion back to its tribal settings from where it was freed by its prophets. Have these muftis offered their rationality at the altars of dogma? What the prophet has bequeathed to Muslims, if it has to be protected through strife and violence, then this creed urgently needs a prophet again. But is it poss...

It's a difficult, amidst commonplace occurrences, to decide what one chooses to write. All amateur writers like me face this difficulty. What would serve as an interesting piece for the numerous readers hooked on net? Readers savour practically anything that comes through blogs. The term blog dispels the cloud of seriousness that overcasts writing. There are plenty of sites that advise you how to blog effectively. Writing is like a TV soap. Production is all that matters. If something really startles you, grips you and haunts you, then with an innate writing ability you can definitely bring forth a worthy piece. Remember, it is not events but their impact that has interested writers. Only calenders, bills, user manuals and schedules are without any impact; and you know how interesting they are! Overcome the fixation for a particular set of words. Record things with a fresh pen that is not confined to a limited diction. Avoid premeditated expre...