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Go for it!

Just do whatever comes to head at this very moment. Try it. !!!!!!!! 

 

Too much digging into the pros and cons sometimes can be a big deterrent in life from experimentation. 

Try it. Sometimes it works sometimes it does not. But go!! 

I wish I could learn to implement this in my life totally. 

-Que.

Sometimes there is this feeling that you wish u could abandon everything and just go !!! Go some where far or at a more peaceful place. Away from the pressures of society, people, work, responsibility, being politically correct, to do because thats how it is to be done, away from things and people bothering u, making u feel constraint and claustrophobic in life. 

 

Go away to the hills, ( I have summer heat on my head :-)), the beach, or a new country and do small insignificant stuff. Open a small cafe or bed and breakfast or anything small, have simple needs, live life at peace among freshness.. have access to new people, travelers, wanderers, listen to their stories. Be alive everyday. Start over!!!

 

Some days it is such an overpowering feeling and u hold back because of fear and conditioning of the world we live in.  We worry about a zillion things… 

- some worry about being called a escapist. 

- some worry about the fact he/she would get left behind in the race 

- some worry about the uncertainty it would bring to life

- Some worry about something else…. or all the three. 

- Que 

 

Growing up sucks Smtimes !!!

Ouch!!!

 

Its amazing how we complicate our lives as we grow old. 

We did not have issues, egos, depressions, negative energies when we were kids. We used to look at our parents and elders and wonder what’s the big deal about some of the stuff they used to fret over. 

Who called who first, who kept in touch, I will not call this one as she/he does not call, who is doing what or hanging out with who????????

It’s endless and very very infuriating. 

 

We swore we would not nothing close to the ’so called elders’ and their issues when we would grow up. We would be this open minded, clear, hassle free personalities. 

My Ass!!!

I can slowly, without our realizing, already see the ‘dark shades of similar issues’ in us. I can see the tentacles slowly growing within us and even before we realize and put it in place, it would have engulfed us completely. 

 I see people around me, the very people I have hung out and had these clear minded discussions change to the ways of ‘being grown up now’. 

It cannot be the same way as when we are younger. Why?

Is it the experience of life and its way fill us with these emotions and thoughts. After a while we become understanding to how things operate and just reconcile to the fact- that’s how it is, do not question it. We have past that age… certain things matter now. 

What kind of growing up is this. Why do we give in to the system? What prompts these random thoughts and expressions in our stomach and takes it to the head instead of flushing them in the pot every single morning (where they really belong). 

It only takes the excitement out of life away and we accept a boring existence and lose some great relationships/experiences along the way. 

 

-Que

 

Playing with the zipping cars

One sunny afternoon in Bombay I got hit sharply to ‘what kind of world are we building’.

A world of skyscrapers in the name infrastructure and development. While at the same time we are choking the neck of some of the basic amenities essential for our ‘healthy’ growth.

We move into smaller box like houses, fight over parking space, we chop trees, dirty our streets, damage the environment in any fashion we can… and we learn to live with the chaos we have created. We accommodate and modify. 

As I sat there enjoying my day, watching the sea from my friend’s house balcony,  I happened to notice a bunch of kids running to and fro across a busy road. They were all in their school uniform heading back home after a long day of pouring over their books in school. As I kept noticing them, I realized they were playing cricket. 

For the sheer lack of public parks or large open spaces in the clutterful city of Bombay, these kids had decided to play on a little triangle of a road going in three directions. To, add to it, there was one guy standing across a very busy road to catch  a far out ball. 

Every time a ball would come in his direction, he would look left, then right to check for the zipping cars and run to catch the ball. To me it seems all so dangerous, we have had all kinds of hit and run accidents like this but they continued to make the most of out the lack of a ‘park’.

 

Cricket on the road

 

We seem to have not left any space for small pleasures in life. We have built and continue to build concrete jungles.

We will also finds ways to work around this chaos like the kids have… But a dangerous way!!!!

 

Zip zap zoom

The city life!!!

It’s an interesting concept I see in North America.

It would be the most regular day-to-day thing for most people living in this country. But for me, its unusual, coming from India.

I stepped out at around 10:00 in the morning on my sister’s balcony and I saw no people on the streets. Zero. I factored it to the cold weather that still prevails here in Chicago (compared to the heat of my city at 42 degrees).

I stepped out after an hour and wow!!! there was still not a soul on the street. And u can imagine how deprived I felt of people coming from a country where  I do not even need to peep out my window to sense the overwehlming existence of people.

But then I realize, one- this country is not as crowded.  And second- my sister lives in a  quite neighbourhood. I would see people all the time had I been in downtown.

Another thing, was I did not kids around. Babies yes, babies upto 4 maybe, yes… lots…

But not school going kids. In the city or downtown or peripheries of downtown, you would see young single people, young couples, (old people - kids have moved off)… but no kids.

Lack of space and not good schools in downtown being the cause of the same. Unless of course u are filthy rich and can afford to send ur kids to a private school.

So, there is this clear distinction… You are a family and with kids… u live in the suburbs… and If u are single or a couple or basically two people living together and want a lot of action around… downtown is a good place to be.

The only thing I am curious is is it just real estate that is driving families out to the suburbs or there is more to it?

Like why are there no good public schools in the city? Is there also a deliberate attempt by the government to ensure that people spread out and do not get concerntrated in one area and building pressure - sicologically, environmentally, economically on one place?

-Que. 

What women want

I know there have been endless books on this subject. People have gone into extensive research and racked their brains to arrive at some conclusions.

I have been noticing a particular trait among women. As we grow old, I see some of the super-successful women ( and here I mean, successful only  in professional capacity here) wanting to, in the next couple of years, take it easy. They do not want to take the day-to-day stress of their demanding work environment. They have worked for over 8-15 years and now want to pursue other more satisfying pursuits than get lost in the corporate rut of life.

Here is my question, to which I don’t have an answer yet.

I wonder how and why thing change occurs?

A few thoughts which come to my mind-

- Do men also want to take it easy after a rigorous number of years but due to how society is structured for centuries, it is easier (or more acceptable) for women to express it and execute it. The pressure on women is lesser than men in this department.

- Maybe men do not feel it as much, it is gender difference. As women and men are different creatures, women generally tend to sway towards more creative, aesthetic and philantrophic pursuits in life or towards family life. Maybe, the fact that women are more emotional creatures between the two genders generally ( there are always execptions to the rule!!!) has something to do with. I don’t know.

So, my question (more specifically) is : Is it societial structure or is it how women are made.

Whoever reads this, please leave ur thought on this matter. I am very curious to explore it further.

 - Que.

We had just landed in Cairo. While we were on our way to the Great Pyramids, Giza, I came across some crazily painted buildings off the streets. Some pictures taken off  the car we were traveling in.

You will have to excuse the some of the pictures quality… I was clicking from a moving car.

Check the pink frame to the glass entrance

Stands out among the brick buildings

Check the Patterns and Multiple colors on each floor

It was crazy to see some of these mad buildings pop up in the midst of the red exposed brick buildings.

Lime green and white shot

Check the building next to it. That’s how most of the buildings were on this stretch.

And the next one is my fav. The brightest one I saw around.

Wow!!! Lo alo... Thats a bright one.

Wish I could have got a closer shot of  the above one. Damn!!!

Not as exciting, but yup!!

An orange one finally!!

I am sure there would more crazy colored buildings scattered across Cairo. I wish I had more time to explore the same.

-Que

The trouble with Islam today

This is third time I am writing this one. I had finished the entire thing and then some random thing happened and it all went bust…..

It almost feels like there is some force working towards blocking it.

Here I go again……. Now split in two posts because of some technical issue..

I came upon this book called - ‘The trouble with Islam Today’ by Irshad Manji

She is asking some extremely pointed questions to the ’so called custodians of Islam’ and even more pointed questions to the ‘liberals who are keeping silent and not objecting to the misinterpretations of the religion’. She lays importance on the fact that education and understanding of the Quran is very important. Also, it is important to understand how religion is used and abused for pretty politics.

A quote from the book which has stayed in my mind:

…… Snippet from ‘The Guide for the Perplexed’ demonstrates his intellectual honesty:”(I)t is in the nature of man to like what he is familiar with and in which he has been brought up, and that he fears anything alien. The plurality of religion and their mutual intolerance result from the fact that people remain faithful to the education they received.“………………….

-Que

I have had to split my entire thought process into two articles… in order to get this article out irrespective of the technical snag I am facing.

The trouble with Islam today

I remember a conversation with a friend of mine in Bangalore a couple of months back. I was visiting her just around the Jamia Nagar, New Delhi terrorists encounter and the newspapers were full of them. There were articles all over the papers about people who were being discriminated against basic services such as pizza delivery, phone connection etc. based on the address they were living in (at that point, Jamia Nagar area). The complaints were that the people of the religion/ or living on the given address were being victimized for things done by a select group of extreme thinkers and doers.

I was in full sympathy for the people and ended up voicing my opinion to S. Because some people were behaving in a irrational nature did not account for castigation of the entire community. S had all her concerns for the community and the issues they were facing but had a different view point to the problem. She very categorically pointed out that if the religion is being wrongly interpretation, then what are the liberals and people who understand the Quran doing? Why are they not educating the world about what Islam is and how it started as the most progressive religion and not the face we see it as today. The people have to stand up and say no to this nonsense that has been going around instead of playing victim.

We kept debating about this till we were ready to pass out.

I, on reading ‘The trouble with Islam Today’ can understand what S was saying a lot better. And the fact that it applies to all religions.

For example: Bangalore is today facing attacks of wrong ‘western culture, pub culture, mall culture’ by the self claimed custodians of the Hindu religion. These are primarily political parties wanting to fulfill their agenda of votes and getting media bytes. They hire goons to create havoc in the system. If we do not shut them up now, then we are partly responsible for the encouragement they get.

-Que

I go through this all the time.

I would have a decision/or buy some thing and then I would fret about where that was the best decision taken by me or not.

I would have sleepless nights arriving at how I could have done it differently and optimized on it. The big point being the deed is done and may be done well at most time is completely lost in the course of the mind going ‘zinggggggg’.

I don’t know how one deals with it. I am sure I am not the only one……??

-Que