Thought Shots

Question: What is the saddest truth in life? Answer: I have been meaning to write you my answer for a few days now, but I was caught up with some silly exam papers. Nevertheless, and here we go... On the surface, your question seems like a sad question but it is not. In fact, it is a question that can open the doors of happiness for us. Only when we become aware of the sources of our grief can we begin to avoid them. So, what is the saddest truth in life? The saddest truth in life is that we hope where there is no hope. We want what is not achievable. We are after what cannot be chased. We want and go on wanting.  Buddha spent years meditating and when it all ended, he postulated his teachings and concluded the sum of it all, which was that desire is the source of all suffering. And the conclusion was relevant then and it is relevant now. That is the beauty of the Buddha. The things he taught are still as applicable as they were when he walked this earth. A lot of other teachin

Question: What are some of the best ideas told by OSHO Rajneesh? Ans: Osho is an ocean. And within this ocean, you have so many invaluable gems that it will be difficult to make a count. But you have asked what are some of the best ideas told by OSHO Rajneesh? I can understand the intention behind your question. You want a quick-fix. You want an instant band-aid that you can wrap around whatever it is that your life needs at the moment. And you are not to be blamed for it. This is the kind of age we live in. We tweet instead of talk. We google instead of read. And so on and so on. And not that there is anything wrong with it. It is just that the quest has to be taken to the next level. It is one that will require you to experience it.  Buddha always asked his disciples to believe in experience instead of faith. He said, "Do not believe anything I say unless you yourself have experienced it." He was against blind faith. Which is why he never even mentioned the word '

What if it were true that life is meaningless? What if life really had no purpose to it? What if everything that we do was nothing, meant nothing, resulted ultimately in nothing? How would such a realization impact our way of life? Will it mean that we begin to see the pointlessness of having to live this tardy life? Will it mean that we finally decipher why sometimes people can seem so despaired, why sometimes we despair and why we can, at times, look half-dead, half-alive? Albert Camus said, “The meaning of life is the most urgent of questions,” he said in  The Myth of Sisyphus , but “I continue to believe that this world has no ultimate meaning.” As for death, Camus said, “We know it ends everything,” and results in  eternal nothingness . Eternal nothingness , yes. And it comes to everyone, eventually. Whatsoever one may possess, one may attain, one may achieve. So, how are we to deal with this?  I think that the answer is hidden in the question itself. If life means not

The last week saw almost everyone talking about what Aamir Khan had to say about leaving India and how it was wrong and so forth. I think that the people who are criticizing Aamir for having made that comment don't seem to recognize that there were a lot of other things that he said besides expressing concern over his wife's doubt as to whether India is anymore a safe place for them or their children to live in. And there is very little that we could disagree with him on regarding what he had to say in entirety. He said that when we find our leaders not prosecuting people who are found to be making intolerant comments, when we find that the government in power is not reassuring its people over the fear that some people are trying to spread, then the people would naturally be forced to express their protest. Whether it is just by voicing their concern or by returning their awards. As for whether returning the awards is the right way to protest- Aamir said that as long as the

Love. It is such a nice word. And some people say, it is also the most powerful thing around us. But then the problem arises when it happens for someone. And that happening doesn't meet its desired outcome. You know what I mean, don't you? That feeling you get when you see your special someone going out of your circle of influence and into your circle of concern. The circle marked for things that we can do nothing about. And love turns then into a hopeless thing. It starts to hurt instead of healing us. It begins to become a burden. And the worst part is that the more we try to get over it, the more we are pulled back inside the pit. Some suggest us to let go in such situations but letting go is not easy. I wonder if the likes of Oshos and Buddhas went through times like these. We all know them as the untouchable entities of enlightenment. But is it possible that they had their share of attachments to deal with? It is said that Prince Siddhartha was preparing to leave the

When the opportunity came to visit the Chitranjan Park, I could not say no. It is the one place in Delhi where the Durga Puja is celebrated with no less a fervor than even Bengal. The pandals here are just as grand. The sculptures of the Goddess look like living embodiments of the holy mother. And the crowd that assembles here to see the Durga Puja in action is something to behold for its diversity, color and energy. It is like a mini-bengal here. And the people gather here in full pomp and show. All dressed up and decked up to visit their favorite mother. The one thing that mystifies me about the Goddess is her pair of mysterious looking eyes. They look deep and seem to pierce straight through the heart. There is purity in them just as much as there is that stuff which will wreak dread in the devil. And the Goddess is celebrated for her victory over the evil Mahishashur. The demon who is the symbol of bad. And the mother's victory-a symbol of the victory of truth over falsehoo

Today marks the 68th anniversary of India's independance. Naturally, we are celebrating it with a fervour seen in our most important of festivals. Somebody has painted his face with the tricolor, someone has decided to wear ethnic for a change and someone else is playing Hai Preet Jahan Ki Reet Sada from the film, 'Poorab aur Paschim'. And it is all very heartening. In the morning, I saw people from the neighborhood assembled in the park for a flag hoisting cermony. Before the ceremony began, an old gentleman was singing praises of the greatness of our culture. He was describing how some traits make us unique as Indians. Our tradition of sacrifice, civility and peace loving nature were all glorified by him through different songs that he sung rather well (for his age). It is true that we are one of the most patriotic nations in the world. We love our country. We love our past. We love our leaders from the past. We love the fact that we have been the birthplace of so

One more great has passed away. There is something about a great man departing us. We feel some void. And that feeling is unmissable. We feel like he should have been around for longer. I never met Mr Kalam. Nor did I ever see him. But I, like many others, knew what he wanted from us and from our nation. He wanted us to claim our rightful place in the world. To finally shed the shackles of mediocrity and defeatism. I read  Ignited Minds  in which Mr Kalam described his travels across the country. He described the conversations he had with people across the length and breadth of this nation on the subject of how to transform India into a superpower by 2020. He also shared lessons he had learnt during his work with ISRO. One of the things he talked about was the importance of keeping the goal above oneself. As long as one could keep the project as more important than one’s personal wants or desires, the project was likely to succeed. During his travels across the country, h

I have grown up listening to the HIndi-Rock band Euphoria. So when an opportunity presented itself to go and watch them perform at the Central Park in New Delhi this Sunday, I absolutely couldn't resist. Every Sunday nowadays, they hold something called raahgiri in this part of town. It was my first time out there as a 'raahgir'. And it was an amazing experience! They were celebrating the 1st year anniversary of this raahgiri ritual by organing a music concert with the Euphoria. The performace by the band was electric and the earth there was trembling with raw energy. It was hot under the 8 am sun but it didn't seem to matter once the show got started. Palas Sen, the lead singer, arrived on the stage like a flash of storm and rounded everyone in his circle like a tonadoo from New Orleans. He performed one hit after another and though he had said that he was not feeling well till last evening, his verve did not diminish by even a tiny particle during the whole cou

Dil Dhadakne Do was   not a disappointment at all. It had just about everything interesting that could happen to a typically insane (i.e. 'normal') family  on a cruise. As Pluto, the dog in the film, correctly mentioned that he was the only voice of reason in the entire saga. And that pretty much brings into question not just the good sense of the Mehra family, described in the movie, but also the good sense of the rest of us social animals. The 'self-made man' Kamal Mehra (played by Anil Kapoor), whose business in on the downfall, tries to bring his business back in order by getting ready to wed his son with Mr. Sood's daughter who will go forward with buying 49% of his company's shares if the marriage is executed. And the marriage is no less than an execution because Mr. Mehra's son Kabir (played by Ranveer Singh) is in love with Farah Ali (played by Anushka Sharma) who is a club dancer and, hold your breath, a muslim! And Mr. Sood's daughter, Noo

Just finished watching Gone Girl by David Fincher. One heck of a film, this one. Keeps you tied to the edge of your seat till the very end. It's a dark film, to say the least. Shows you stuff that the reality t.v. won't let you see. It's about a married couple who have become, over the years, bored of each other. The husband uses the wife for sex exclusively and won't give in to her demands of bearing a baby. The wife is sick of being two timed by her husband and won't sit passively watching. So, she hatches up one incredible plot to teach the cheating husband one unforgettable lesson. She goes missing. And creates a scenario under which her clueless man can be framed for her murder. The wife's name is Amy Dunne (played by Rosamund Pike) and the man is Nick Dunne (played by Ben Affleck). I will reserve my judgements for the female protagonist of the film but I can safely say that Amy Dunne is quite simply one of the most intriguing female characters ever s

It was fun watching IIFA 2015. Granted that some of the nominations were shocking. Even some of the wins raised eye brows. But at the end of the day, it gave what everyone looks for in any event these days- entertainment. Entertainment for Indian award shows means mostly dance items by popular stars that move on the beats of people's favourite tracks. And the culture of song and dance that we see played out in our movies gets ably replicated in these award shows. I loved the grandeur they managed to give to this show. The IIFA chooses a different foreign venue each year. This year, it was Malaysia. And it didn't disappoint. The hosts were the rambunctious Arjun Kapoor and Ranveer Singh (of the AIB Roast fame, I might add). But due to the nature of the occasion, they were not the same unbridled selves as their AIB Roast avatar. That video was from a different planet for a puritanical Indian audience. The dance performances were not a bore either. Especially electric was th

I am so glad that my exams are over. The english lit exams, i have noticed, tend to test you on a number of different levels. You have to go through the views of about a thousand critics for a work about which you have formed your own strong opinions. And besides, there is the constantly nagging need to excel in the exams. And when i say 'excel', i mean that you need to put what the examiner might make of your answers above what you really think about the works that you have studied. Of course, I made some great discoveries regarding the masterpieces that were listed in my course. For example, I came to know that Sir Phillip Sidney's name might have been the inspiration for the character of Phillip Pirrip (nicknamed Pip) in Charles Dickens' Great Expectations . Also, that the name of the heroine in that novel, i.e., Estella might have been derived from the title of the sonnets by Sidney named Astrophel and Stella . I had the chance to acquaint myself with the pa

I have not written in this blogpost for the past one month now owing to the fact that I have been away in Hyderabad. It's a nice place. Even though the sun is scorching hot and I cannot understand a word of Telugu which is the primary language spoken there. The city is a capital to two states, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Throughout my trip, I kept hearing about how there is a perennial clash between the Tamils and the Teluguites in this part of the country. Thankfully though, the people there understand and speak Hindi adequately to spare someone like me the trouble of being lost in translation. What's more is that the people in this city are friendly and don't make you feel like 'someone from outside'. My trip there began with watching the film, 'Queen' inside the AI flight to Hyderabad. It was a fine film. Though I had the chance to see the film before, I had left it in the middle as I sometimes have the same attention span as a goldfish. The film

Mr. Prime Minister, Your party had promised to be a harbinger of hope. It had talked of bringing the 'achche din' that the people of this nation deserve. The proposed Land Acquisition Bill does nothing to serve either of your party's commitments. A simple comparison between the Land Acquisiton Act of 2013 and its 2014 Ordinance will reveal the same. Number 1: (Consent from affected people) In the 2013 Act, mandatory consent of the owners of the land- 70% for Private Public Participation (PPP) projects and 80% for private projects, which could be raised to 100% by State Governments was required. In contrast, the same consent is not required for defense, security, rural infrastructure and industrial corridors. In a country that prides itself on democratic principles, depriving the affected people of their right to consent is not exactly...well, democratic. Number 2: (Social Impact Assessment or SIA) In the 2013 Act, SIA was compulsory for every acquisi

There is a scene in the film, 'Dil Chahta Hai' where the three friends Aakash (Aamir Khan), Sameer (Saif Ali Khan) and Siddharth (Akshaye Khanna) are looking over at the beach from a fort. Aakash says to his friends that Goa is such a beautiful place. And that they should come here at least once in a year. Sameer seconds the view but Siddharth remains quiet and keeps looking in front of himself at the sea. Sameer asks what he is looking at. Siddharth responds, "I am looking at the boat right there which would disappear soon after some time. You know, the three of us are like that boat who will go looking for our dreams sooner or later. And maybe, our dreams are different from each other's.” At this point, Sameer says, “I don’t know why you are saying all this. We are friends Sid. Friends forever.” Sid responds, “Of course, we are. But who knows which way anyone’s life takes him.” Turning to Aakash, he adds, “Have you ever thought that leave alone every year,