6 posts tagged “life”

Since I haven't posted here for a long long time in the last year, may be I'll talk about myself in this post. And even though I'm so much of a self-centric guy, I hardly can think of something interesting to say about myself. And yet, once in a while when I meet old friends, realization remains strong that spark of wit remains unfazed.

Hugh, writer of Gaping Void -- one of my favourite hubs on internet, recently wrote an entry on his blog which touched a personal chord with me, and I'm sure quite a many working youths in their twenties will be able to relate to. I'm publishing his whole post here below:

Allow your work to age with you

[More thoughts on "How To Be Creative":]

32. Allow your work to age with you.

You get older faster than you think. Be ready for it when it happens.

I have a friend. Call him Dan.

When I first met Dan, he was a twenty-eight year old aspiring filmmaker, in a one-bedroom apartment down on New York's Lower East Side, who liked to spend too much time in bars.

The last time I saw him, he was a forty-one year old aspiring filmmaker, in a one-bedroom apartment down on New York's Lower East Side, who likes to spend too much time in bars.

There's a famous old quip: "A lot of people in business say they have twenty years experience, when in fact all the really have is one year's experience, repeated twenty times."

It's not just guys in business who fall into this trap, unfortunately. It happens just as often to people taking a less conventional path. It's sad enough when you see it happen to a friend of yours. When it happens to you, it's even worse.

The good news is, it's easy enough to avoid. Especially with experience. Suddenly you realize that you're just not into the same things you once were. You used to be into staying up late all night, going to parties, now you'd rather stay in and read a book. Sure, it sounds boring, but hey, sometimes "boring" can be a lot of fun. Especially if it's on your own terms.

Just go with the flow and don't worry about it. ESPECIALLY don't worry about the people who ARE worrying about it. They'll just slow you down.

I lived in Mumbai for over two years. I don't know about New York but from what I've read and from it, felt about New York, if any city can come close to it in India, then it has to be Mumbai. Everything about Mumbai is a function of Time - a basic unit of Dimensional physics rarely valued elsewhere in India, least of all in Government offices. During my initial days in Mumbai, I once went to a cellphone shop near a local railway station to ask for a cellphone battery. The shopkeeper showed me a pirated, and then an original Nokia battery. Being a North Indian, I tried for some haggling but to my amazement, the discussion closed within 10 seconds -- the shopkeeper moved on to a new customer, completely ignoring me!! In North India, this would have rarely happened but in Mumbai, Time is the biggest cost that you can pay for living in this city.

Speaking of observations about life in Mumbai, on an average, One daily commutes from one's home to work for 2-4 hours without ever complaining. A meagre salary at the end of month, when one sees an almost unnerving real estate property boom all around oneself -- one learns to ignore everything about one's life, health, family and even ambitions. What is left, is the endless daily cycle of work for earning money.

I'm not whining, but I'd say that in Mumbai, you're never an outsider if only you adopt the religion of earning money and abide by faith. All other cities - be it Bangalore, Pune, Delhi*, or other small towns in India will generally make you feel as an outsider if you don't understand the language or get caught in the North-South cultural divide, but Mumbai is different. Yes, there are endless traffic jams.. Yes, Vada Paavs don't always make a good meal but then, if the prospect of a better income and better future life is what you want, Mumbai is the city that beckons you.

Trying to live by any other way in Mumbai, as Hugh wrote above, will turn out to be only an illusion.

* * *

That's Mumbai for me. What's your take on our very own Indian tinsel-town?

*  I haven't been to Kolkata or Chennai, so can't really comment on these two Indian metropolitan cities.

My classmate Kartik Soral wrote these lines:

I got everything that I asked, from god,
It's just that I asked for wrong things...

Well.. In my case, I never understood my choices. I still don't.

Life is a comic strip,
it's just that
I'm not the Hero
nor the Villain
not even the sidekick.

But I've a dollar to spend,
so that I can believe
I'm all of them.

Okay, I can't do philosophy. But if you really want to read some, Here are some good comics.

One of the biggest advantages for an Indian who has shifted to Germany for an onsite project are the Labour laws in Germany. I won't talk about the government employees but only the private sector employees. In India, a 9 to 5 job is rarely a 9 to 5 job. One is always expected to overshoot the above limit by 2-3 hours. Also, If you're in IT, BPO or Services sector, Weekends too are expected once in a while.

But when you shift to Germany, It's a pleasant surprise for an Indian. People usually start working at 9 o'clock and leave by 4.30 or 5. There are no weekends and office closed on weekends. So, even if you're a workaholic you've got no option but to relax and enjoy in your hotel or apartment or, to go for sightseeing.

To tell an anecdote, While i was coming from India to Germany in my Swiss Air flight, I asked my fellow German - "What is usually the favorite past time of Germans - Politics, Sports or anything else" and he replied (he was returning from India to Germany) - "Well.. In Germany, people have lots of time. They do all sorts of things.. they go skiing, they go travelling, etc. It isn't just one or two things that they're interested in". Hmm.. Nice answer :)

Actually, Economic differences make a lot of difference to the life of inhabitants. The Developed nations are always at an advantage. In countries like India, A student studying Art and other similar forms is considered a student who was not capable enough for technology/Science fields. But when people attain a certain level of prosperity, they want to look at other aspects of life too. And then, Poetry, Reading, Painting, Music.. all these begin to become important. I don't really want to get involved in any kind of India-bashing or contrasting India with Germany,and In fact, I feel that as the Indian economy grows and the percentage of India middle class increases, It will give more and more opportunities to the masses to understand the world and understand themselves. This blind rat race behind the IIMs and IITs will stop somewhere and people will try to look people by their overall personalities instead of their bank balances and yearly salaries. But the whole process will take time. And in a country like India, where generalization is almost impossible, we should not forget that Indians have an immense capacity to mix the aspirations and dreams with pains of present day life. So, this is the reason you find Advertisements like a housewife making home-made pizza with Tata Salt and still winning the hearts of her family members. In present day of India, i just have a feeling that the present day housewife is going to be the architect of all this Art, Music and Culture revolution. The reason being, It's still usually the man who's the wage earner of the family and it's the women of the middle class who have the time to take care of their children. And with increasing incomes of their homes, they can afford to spend more on the overall development of their children.

So, what can men do? Well.. Just lie down and enjoy the latest Sanjaya Malakar's crappy song. Anyways, it doesn't hurt to listen to crap sometimes to understand what your life has become :) It makes the realization more clear.

This is a post long due on my blog. I haven't written anything on this blog since a long time. To give an excuse, most of the people leave writing posts on their blogs after three months of starting their blogs. One can call it the fatigue factor. Initially, it's the euphoria of starting a new thing but later on, one has to have a very strong reason for writing. To some people, the instinct might come from within but to a rather mute person like me, It sometimes feels more of an effort.

A blog is a manifestation of a person's self expressed in words. Whenever we want to look at us in retrospect, we want to look at ourselves as perfect. Therefore, most of us don't like our photographs because most of us aren't photogenic. Similarly, Writing a blog is an easy thing but when over a period of time when your pieces of writing get build up, Many a times you come up with pieces that weren't written with fullest sincerity. And in my case, it makes me feel Bad. So, In a way, I've accepted this fact that I do not live my life with sincerity but do not like that that I'm imperfect.

Most of bloggers who write continuously usually have something to write about. But subject usually fail me. What should i write about. Germany? Regarding what.. The people here? the contrasts with India? Economy and Infrastructure, etc etc. I'll tell all about it to anyone who's interested in asking about any of these, but write it on blog.. It's strange that i'm not able to conjure up a coherent story.

In fact, I just lack every trace of coherency in my life. I do not know my life's goals. Currently i'm reading Milan Kundera's " The Unbearable lightness of Being". Kundera speaks about life as a unique event which has never occurred before. Nobody knows the future and the fear of the unknown is constant companion to everyone because what happens tomorrow has never happened before. Therefore, not knowing my life's goals should be the only possible option before me. That i do not know my future is the only reason i look forward to the future. If i were to know everything about my future, life would just be too boring. Perhaps, Understanding this truth helped me in ridding myself of frustration for few moments but still it didn't charged me in any way towards the way i do my office work or conduct my everyday relations.

So, Being a self-proclaimed amateur Economist, I can clearly say that I do not have an incentive in my life. The incentives that i have right now such as earning money to achieve short-term gratification don't propel me to change my attitudes towards life. But simply speaking, I've come to feel that i've a problem with the conventional incentives. In fact, I usually find other people strange who do things with their full zeal. I feel very grateful to people who help me, care for me and love me and I find myself reciprocating such things without doing any personal efforts. But to other things where the reciprocation is done by money or a higher authority order, I find it extremely turn off. So, clearly The incentives in my case aren't the usual incentives such as money, promotion or anything else but they are People, My personal attachments with them, time spent together and mutual understanding. But I also understand that most of people i know seem to do things as if they really want to do what they're doing. Or at least, their dedication, sincerity and zeal makes me feel so. I just want to understand that whether i'm an exception in this world of Perfect humans or whether i'm the norm and everybody is wearing a false face? If i were to ask my friends, they'll just ignore my question and say "Well.. nobody knows. Why don't you just continue with life and at least enjoy it in a better fashion by fighting for usual incentives." Perhaps.. Perhaps..

In a world of Perfects, i'm the one with the clown face. In the world of faces, I'll show everyone my true self coz nobody will believe it. Such would be my fate. Amen.