Noble, Nobler, Noblest?

Disclaimer:

Its Priya's birthday today and i had to travel to Delhi on work. This is probably 2nd or 3rd birthday of hers i am missing and staying away due to work, in a row. Her rumblings started the previous day reaching the peak in the night and the today monring at 5 in the morning i saw a disappointed look, but nothing registered in me as i was filled with "professional preoccupations". It was around 8 Am in the morning when i started having lonely breakfast in flight that her feelings sunk in so deep in me that felt a sudden rush of emotion which turned into this blog. The blog is about who is noble, nobler and noblest in this world and i end up very unpredictably. Its into 3 parts .......For a guy who is so unromantic like me, this is probably the best gift she can receive from me! Enjoy this!

Who is noble?
Who is nobler?
Who is noblest?
Just as I kept thinking
Stranger things I am discovering!
Noble is the monk whose mind is in his heart
For he is the meditation in action
Nobler is the philosopher whose mind is on the truth
For he has his life in his thinking!
Nobler is the priest whose mind is on the holy
For he is the ritual in action!
If cleanliness is next to godliness
Nobler is the garbage cleaner whose hand is on the holy
For he is duty in action!
Nobler is the reformer who fights injustice
For he is a rebel in action!
Nobler is the soldier who fights enemies
Nobler are his deeds forsaking his life for others!
For he is the commitment in action!
Nobler is the king who governs the land
For he is justice in action!
Nobler is the farmer who tills the land
For he befriends nature and offers us life
For he is productivity in action!
Nobler is the doctor who fights death
For he is benevolence in action
Nobler is the giver who fights poverty
For his living is in loving and loving is in giving
For he is sacrifice in action!
Nobler is the teacher who fights your ignorance
For there is no doctor, no farmer
For there is no priest, no soldier
For there is no knowledge if there is no teacher
For the willing and the thirsty
For the humble and needy
Joy is a teacher, sorrow is a teacher
Life is a teacher, Nature is a teacher
Time is a teacher, every moment is a teacher
For a teacher is knowledge in action!
A teacher is nobler!

Who is noble?
Who is nobler?
Who is noblest?
Just as I kept thinking
Stranger things I am discovering!
Brothers are nobler!
For a brother is a soldier, brother is a teacher!
For a brother is strength in action!
Nobler is the father!
For a father is teacher, also a soldier
For a father is a priest, also a philosopher
Father is a farmer, also a reformer
For a father is wisdom in action!
Nobler is the mother!
For she is the nature, a priceless pasture!
Carrier of boundless love and nurture
Deliverer of hope and future!
She is the producer! She is the deliverer!
For there is no priest, no philosopher!
For there is no king, no soldier
For there is no farmer, no reformer
For there is no doctor, no giver
For there is no cleaner, no teacher
For there is no father without a mother!

For father is wisdom in action!
But mother is love and sacrifice in action!
Realize mother is nobler!
For love and sacrifice is nobler!

Who is noble?
Who is nobler?
Who is noblest?
Just as I kept thinking
Stranger things I am discovering!
Someone is nobler
Sharing my life as a partner

From 72 for twenty nine
I wined & dined - a life so fine
No alarms to beep, No appointments to keep
It’s my decision to eat and where I should sleep

Like a free bird that flies high
Been living life without a sigh!
Aimless & boundless, Careless & fearless
Mindless yet mindful that it can’t be endless

When my parents asked - I said nay!
Till 2001 I had my way
No one else to share my pay
Till 14th Feb, the Valentine’s Day!
We thought by May we may
We made it by May – what to say!

Anchoring & Bordering, Caring & daring
Teasing & Talking, Talking & touching
Physically, mentally, socially & spiritually
Nagging & ragging, ragging & shopping
Fighting & drifting, drifting & uniting

She isn’t a philosopher
But made me think deeper

As a priest of my confessing heart
Warding off my evil thoughts
Distancing my devilish leans
Lifting me from mundane means

A garbage cleaner that she is
Often dusting off my dirty mind
But cleaning too my dirty linen

A reformer at the formative stages
A soldier protecting family values
A farmer tilling my barren mind
A greenist seeding sprouts – hard to find
A doctor curing needless endure
Softly enduring endless chore

As a wholesome giver, wonderful lover
As a loyal partner, & a home science Gartner
As an energy sucker being my hormonal shelter
An energy giver as a fine “cooker”
Sometimes a teacher, sometimes a preacher
Sometimes a bouncer yet a fine balancer
Sometimes a lawyer but always as judge
For every injustice incurred I hold no grudge

As a sister of my beloved brother
As a mother of my wonderful kids
For she made me work harder
For she made me twice nobler
As she made me a father!

Call her worries invited for ever
Call her wisdom ingrained from errors
Call her wealth inherited from eternity
Call her wish incurred from earlier life
A real partner is the noblest
For all of us a nobler when we are a partner!

Happy reading !

Bringing up children, is bringing up ourselves!

Disclaimer:

1. Its an attempt to write about children and their importance. At the current stage of parenting I realize that "Bringing up Children is actually bringing up ourselves".

2. Ability not to take them for granted and not to thrust our thoughts into their minds, not to kill their inquisitiveness, downloading right sense of values (not ours), ensuring that they think and decide things for themselves, not to blind them with the luxury of material life and making them see reality once in a while are all challenges which all of us face. We either recognize this or live without recognition.

3. I have borrowed the lines from Kahlil Gibran "That children may be through us but not from us" is a great phrase with very deep meaning. Think about it and we can discuss this over a drink.

4. A couple of lines in this blog can be decoded only with deep "bio-math" knowledge only ;), which isn't common. Can be added to the discussion topic above :)

Is life all about moving from
One stage of dependency to another?
Is life all about moving from
One stage of infirmity to another?
Its total dependence till 20
Its mutual dependence till 60 else,
Its forceful dependence till 60 and
Its total dependence post 60
Its physical infirmity till 20
Its mental infirmity till 60 and
Its psycho-somatic infirmity post 60
Looks life is all about moving from
One stage of dependency to another
One stage of infirmity to another

Name and fame shall always wane
Shame and blame unlimitedly came
Dame and bane are one and the same
Not realizing this you are just insane!
In a life that’s so mundane!
Begetting children are the only acts of sane!
Yes, begetting children are the only acts of sane!

When 16 met 16
When 3 met one
When "testosteronestrogen" evolved
When “Heman” said hai to hymen
Hymen gave way to semen
Though the success is for just one in a billion
Yet the world now is with more than 6 billion

As a produce of our longing and craving called life
As a produce of our insatiable amorous thirst called love
As a symbol of our social pact called marriage
As an insurance of our future infirmity called old age

As an excuse to amass wealth called inheritance
As an expression of the most productive fluid called semen
Sometimes as a proof of product failure called condom

Sometimes as an inadvertant negligence from madam

As a passport to her next stage in life called womanhood
As a proof his virility and his ability to defy gravity
As a proof of her feminity, and an outcome as sure as serendipity
Children bring along the nectar of life and a concept called hope

But beware,
Just 40 minutes of pleasure can

Demand 40 weeks of commitment!

But just 40 weeks of sacrifice we can’t
Demand 40 years of commitment!
We may be the producer yet
We are not their creator
They may come through us yet
They are not from us
We may give them life yet
We don’t own their lives
We may share our wisdom yet
We can’t force our values
We ought to protect their bodies yet
We can’t claim their souls!
We may give them shelter nothing more than
A motel in a highway called life that
Trades in love and not in cash

Realize
Bringing hope to a life so barren
Laughing away anxieties that overran
A body so active
A mind so inquisitive
An attitude that’s adaptive
A smile so addictive
Smiling and Crying, Crying and teasing
Crawling and walking, walking and falling,
Growing and learning, learning and Trying
Trying to sit up, trying to stand up
Refusing to dress up, refusing to shut up
Sometimes so difficult to put up
From finding our weakest nerve
To pressing it at the weakest moment
From testing our limits of patience
To touching the heights of disobedience
As nicer they grow up!
Wiser we end up!
As you help them come up!
They help us grow up!
Hence realize

Bringing up children is actually
Bringing up yourself!

Happy Reading!

Musings: Individuality Vs Personality!

In a day of life!
Birth is dawn!
Adolescence is morning!
Prime time is day!
Love in life is evening!
Old age is night!
Death is midnight!

For I bought a mirror
In the morning
Unknowingly pledging something valuable
Which I don’t know what it is!
I carry this mirror
To see the world
From morning to midnight
This mirrors reflects and tells me
What my world is!
What my life is!
Even, telling me, what I am, which I am not!

Mind is this mirror
It shows my personality!
It hides my individuality!
What the world thinks of me is my personality
What I am naturally is my individuality
Roots of the mind are in the society
Roots of the personality are in the mind
For, personality is the extension of the mind
As mind is the extension of the society
I realize mind and Personality are social phenomenon
I realize mind and Personality are dependent phenomenon
I realize personality is no different from a spectacle
For they both are in the eyes of the beholder

But do I realize what did I pledge?
Did I pledge something valuable?
I faintly realize that I pledged my individuality!
But do I know my individuality?
If I think I do, I don’t
If I think I don’t, I still don’t
If I feel I do, I do
If I feel I don’t, I don’t

It’s been a life all along
To live it for the society
To keep up my personality
To keep up what I am not
It’s been a life all along
Ignoring my individuality!
Ignoring my uniqueness!
Ignoring my sexuality!
Ignoring my sensuality!
Ignoring my nature!
Ignoring my consciousness!

Little did I realize that, it’s all been
Personality masquerading as individuality
Long term pain masquerading as short term pleasure
Your thoughts masquerading as mine

Little did I realize
That a trip in ego is a one way trip
That a trip in ego is a never ending trip

I can’t throw this mirror
As it’s whole of my interior
As I start growing wiser
I shall slowly stop being an actor

A smith removes the flaws from silver
Slowly, one by one, carefully
I am smith and the flaws are in my thoughts
I have decided to ignore
Slowly, one by one, carefully
I shall stop being an actor
Slowly, in one by one, carefully
I have decided to discover
Slowly and carefully!

I faintly realize but strongly believe
I don’t have to invent my individuality!
I just have to ignore my personality!
To discover my individuality!


Happy reading!

Musings: When the doer disappears, yet the doing continues..."

Disclaimer: Its been mentally a very stressful and distracting week in work life! Hence time to think anything outside worklife is a luxury! What you see below is a produce of the most luxurious 45 minutes of my life! :). There is an excellent book called "Tripura Rahasyam" (can be crudely translated as "Tridimensional secret"), which influenced this musing. This book is a must read!

Very hard it is to be born human!
Very hard it is to live human!
Very hard it is to die human!
Very hard it is to be reborn as human!

Very heavy is the heart for who is sad!
Very heavy is the conscience for who is bad!
Very heavy is the wisdom for who is a fool!
Very heavy is the body for who is ill!

Very long is the wait for who is impatient!
Very long is the road for who is weary!
Very long is the night for who is sleepless!
Very long is the life for who is loveless!
Very long is the life for who is diseased!

Realize, life is never at ease!
Its a time bound lease!
Mind from bad thoughts need a striptease,
Else we can’t upgrade ourselves to next release!

Realize, till our senses are at peace!
Futile are our efforts to please!
Realize, from beginning till we cease!
Life is taken over by disease!

Life is a sexually transmitted disease!
Mind is a socially transmitted disease!
Morality is unintentionally inherited disease!
Discipline is an auto immune disease!

Happiness is an additively addictive disease!
Sadness is invariably unavoidable disease!
Anger is self destructive disease!
Hatred is mutually destructive disease!

If we are what we think
Realize, infected are our thoughts (for us to be diseased!)
Realize, parasites are our thoughts
Realize, short lived are our thoughts
Realize; our thoughts don’t have a life of their own
Realize, our thoughts don’t live on their own
They live on with us identifying with them
They die upon our non-identification
They die when we ignore them
For we ignore them when we watch them
It’s funny and weird yet
We ignore them when we watch them
So let’s watch our infected thoughts!

We are what we think
Having become what we thought
We change our thinking
Realize this is the process of evolution!

Blessed are those who have friends whose
Words disappear, yet the communication continues!
Touches disappear, yet the warmth continues!
Pleasantries disappear, yet the friendship continues!

Blessed are those who can realize that
Patience is a penance, Penance is in patience

Blessed are those who can realize that
One’s “self” is the lord of oneself!
My self consciousness is not the consciousness of the self!

Blessed are those who can realize that
Like Iron breeds rust, rust devours Iron
“I am breeds ill, ill devours “I am”.

Blessed are those who can realize that
“I am” not mine!
“I am” not in mine!
“I am” different from mine!

Blessed are those who can live to realize
"As knower disappears yet the knowledge continues!"
"As doer disappears yet the doing continues!"

Blessed are those who can live to realize
"As knower disappears yet the knowledge continues!"
"As doer disappears yet the doing continues!"


Happy reading!

Musings: Doubt ensures progress !

Whoever thinks, doubts
Whoever doubts, inquires
Whoever inquires, investigates
Whoever investigates, finds
Whoever finds, understands
Whoever understands, experiences
Whoever experiences, does not believe
Whoever does not believes, does not doubt
Whoever believes, does not doubt
When you don’t doubt, you won’t inquire
When you don’t inquire, you won’t investigate
When you don’t investigate, you won’t find
When you don’t find, you won’t understand
When you don’t understand, you won’t experience
When you don’t experience, you would doubt
Hence certainty begets absurdity
And doubt begets progress !

Happy reading!

Musings: Ignore "God" and extol "godliness" !

Disclaimer: The popular concept of god seems to be revolving around imitating the virtues of god, (as a legendary figure), God as a by product of our fear (god fearing) and considering god as a good barterer who collects virtues and gives us heaven or hell or a mix of all three concepts in different proportions. I think conceptually we have got this completely wrong. If heaven is full of wine and good looking girls then i don't have to waste my life in earth collecting virtues and trading it with god to enjoy them in heaven, which i could have otherwise lived it here and now ! This musing is all about highlighting this and asking us to focus on Godliness! which is the quality of god. We seems to have missed the wood for the trees! Lets get this straight !

Concept of Imitation:
Many believe
God created man
But I believe
Man created god

For a perpetual slavery
God is man’s delivery
For "self-hypnotization"
Religion is man’s invention

The man is a man ‘coz he has a “mind”
But the roots of his mind are in the society
Generations over generations
We have been taught
To imitate Rama, to imitate Krishna
To imitate Moses, to imitate Jesus
To imitate Prophet, to imitate Buddha
Is religion is all about imitation?
Who did Rama imitate?
Who did Buddha imitate?
If Krishna had imitated Rama
There would not have been a Krishna
If Jesus had imitated Moses
There would not have been a Jesus
Why should I imitate them?
Why should I flatter them?
Why should I ignore my individuality?
Why should I invent my individuality?
Even if God is man’s invention
I still can’t imitate my best produce
If religion is all about imitation
Then let’s understand its limitation

Concept of fear:
If I am a producer
If I am a creator
I own up my product
I warrant the performance

If product malfunctions
If product misbehaves
The product does not own up
But the producer has to own up

If the product does not confirm
If the product does not perform
The product does not own up
But the producer has to own up

If God is the creator
If God is the destroyer
If God is the producer
If God is the user
I am his product
You are his product

God has to own up
Good and Evil
God has to own up
Performance & malfunctions
God has to own up
Fear of non-performance
God has to own up
Fear of malfunction

For there is no god
When there is no fear
For god is there as god
As a byproduct of our fear

Concept of Super barterer:
If I do this
God would give this
If I do that
God would give that
Is god a super barterer?
Is god a big bargainer?
Is god a shrewd businessman?
Is god a whole sale virtue collector?
If you look at his produce (God as the creator)
God isn’t perfect
If you look at his produce (Man as the creator)
Man isn’t imperfect

Is God is there as god
For us to imitate
Is God is there as god
As a barterer of virtue
Is God is there as god
As a byproduct of our fear
Is God is there as god
As a "fulfiller" of our greed


Concept of quality:
A rose is a rose
'coz of its smell
We just don’t extol the rose
Without its fragrance

A wine is a wine
'coz of its taste
We just don’t extol the wine
Without its taste

A breeze is a breeze
'coz of its touch
We just don’t extol the breeze
Without its touch

A peacock is a peacock
'coz of its look
We just don’t extol the peacock
Without its look

A cow is a cow
'coz of its milk
We just don’t extol the cow
Without its goodness

A thorn is a thorn
'coz of its prick
A snake is a snake
'coz of its venom
An angel is an angel
'coz of its benevolence
A devil is a devil
'coz of its evilness

A man is man
'coz of his mind
A mother is a mother
'coz of her kindness
A friend is a friend
'coz of their support
A guru is a guru
'coz of his wisdom

For rose is the matter
Fragrance is its quality
For mother is the matter
Kindness is her quality
For cow is the matter
Goodness is its quality
Why are we obsessed with the matter
And ignoring its quality ?
If God is the matter
Godliness is his quality
Why are we obsessed with god
And ignoring the godliness ?
Why are we obsessed with the religion
And ignoring the spirituality ?

Is God just an ideological attempt to rise above the ordinary?
Is God just a reluctant attempt to accept death?
Is God just a premiumless insurance against uncertainty?
Is God just an indemnity against the inevitable?

Is God's just a man's desire to be infinite?
Is God just a opium to our miseries?
Aren't we fools to think God as a noun?
Isn't wise to understand God as an adjective ?

Think for a moment;
Allah & Rama are adjectives and not as nouns
Jesus & Buddha are adjectives and not as nouns
Don't you agree
The divide that exists as a noun
vanishes as an adjective
It is a mankind's invective
If God isn't an adjective

For me, God is a sign board in our journey called life
For me, God is a milestone in our journey within ourselves
For me, God is the highest whole
For me, God is the greatest common denominator
For me, God is in union
For me, God is in the Godliness

Agreed, God is love and love is god !
If we forget god, love alone would do !
But, If we forget love, god alone wouldn't do !
Since we can't get the God right

Let’s ignore the God
And recognize the Godliness!
Let’s ignore the God
And extol the Godliness!

Happy reading !

Asatyam masquerading as Satyam...

There is a very interesting story I read and probably authored by Kahlil Gibran. And it goes like this…

God created the world (let’s believe it for this story’s sake) and everything else that was needed. When he reviewed he thought there are 2 things which are missing – Ugliness and Beauty. So he created both of them and gave “beautiful” clothes to Mr/Ms. Beauty and “ugly” clothes to Mr/Ms. Ugliness. (Let’s say its Ms. Beauty and Ms. Ugliness) Both of them had a long and strenuous journey to earth from heaven and they decided to take a bath.

Both jumped into the river nude and were enjoying the bath. Ms. Beauty went far into the lake and when she turned back she was surprised to find that her "beautiful" clothes and Ms. Ugliness - both missing. She understood that Ms. Ugliness has taken her “beautiful” clothes away. Ms. Beauty did not have option but for wearing “Ugly” clothes and started searching for the Ms. Ugly who is roaming around in “beautiful” clothes.

The search I guess is still continuing and this 2 para story imparts a great deal of wisdom that ugliness is always behind a mask that looks beautiful. Let’s try to look beyond the mask or clothes or the exterior appearance. I cant find a more apt situation for this story when I heard about “Ramalinga Raju and his Asatyam” today in the news!...

Ability to lie without a wink in front of the whole world and that too for few years is a skill and I think Mr. Raju has landed up on a wrong job. He was a natural fit for a politician, a lawyer or a diplomat. Unfortunately he managed to be a successful software services entrepreneur taking his organization to great places by camouflaging a great deal of dirt and was looked upon by millions as a great role model.

This ability would be an envy to many politicians / lawyers and diplomats and the individuals and institutions who / that honored him should have had a bitter pill to swallow today.

He has betrayed the trust of millions and I am not sure what made him to tear his “Beautiful clothes” and show his actual nature. It could be the fear of someone else finding it imminently or an uncontrollable spike of bravery or his realization of lack of any more avenues to cover this up or a great sense of burden which he was unable to carry any further.

"An unshaken solution decays" since heavier particles tends to settle at the bottom and lighter at the top. Hence we always have to “Shake well before use”. I learnt that does not apply just a solution in a bottle but also to any system in general. ;)

Just as I said in one of my earlier blog that we should thank the terrorists who attacked Mumbai since they woke up a large number of people from their slumber and shook us up, I would suggest that India Inc. and the regulatory bodies should thank Mr. Raju for giving all of us a lesson in corporate governance and exposing the gaps. Unfortunately he is not an ethical hacker but a “vicious trust breaker of the worst kind”.

I believe the best punishment for such incidents should be meted out by the society / industry than the legal system. While Mr. Raju can start planning his stay in jail and there are no regrets about this and can probably resurface as a politician after few years, I fear Satyam as an organization is going to be a history and as an example for bad reasons.

“Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely”. This is a very famous statement but I disagree with it. If someone is looking ugly in a mirror then it is not the fault of the mirror. A mirror just reflects. Likewise power and temptations reveal what we are as individuals. I still believe that there are many in this country as corporate leaders who are not corrupted by power, greed, and temptations… or should I say atleast unaffected yet.

So Iam at a liberty to edit the above saying as "Temptations reflects or Greed reflects or Power reflects". And I am not sure why and what has blinded us so far to see this reflection.

Probably its our certainty... certainty that they cant be wrong. Should we start believing in another saying..."Certainty is absurd and doubt ensures progress?"

Why dont we have the power to realize when (and then its the )...

Clouds masquerading as Sky
Smile masquerading as Cunningness
Ignorance masquerading as knowledge
Imminent pain masquerading as short term pleasure
Promotion masquerading as shit load of work
Personality masquerading as Individuality

Asatyam masquerading as Satyam

Iam very sad at the turn of events since its another instant of "betrayal of trust" by one of the most respected guys in the industry yet...

Happy reading!

Jan 2009 Vacation !