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Friday, March 4, 2011

ऊंचाई - श्री अटल बिहारी वाजपेयी

This one is a poem, a recommended read by a friend.It is composed by Shri Atal Bihari Vajpyee ,if you like this....you can read more......... Here

ऊँचे पहाड़ पर, ............पेड़ नहीं लगते, ...........पौधे नहीं उगते, .........न घास ही जमती है। 

जमती है सिर्फ बर्फ, ......जो, कफ़न की तरह सफ़ेद और, 
मौत की तरह ठंडी होती है। 
खेलती, खिलखिलाती नदी, .......जिसका रूप धारण कर, 
अपने भाग्य पर बूंद-बूंद रोती है।

ऐसी ऊँचाई, ......जिसका परस .......पानी को पत्थर कर दे,
ऐसी ऊँचाई .........जिसका दरस हीन भाव भर दे, .........अभिनंदन की अधिकारी है,
आरोहियों के लिये आमंत्रण है, ........उस पर झंडे गाड़े जा सकते हैं


किन्तु कोई गौरैया, .........वहाँ नीड़ नहीं बना सकती, 
ना कोई थका-मांदा बटोही, .........उसकी छाँव में पलभर पलक ही झपका सकता है। 

सच्चाई यह है कि .......केवल ऊँचाई ही काफ़ी नहीं होती,
सबसे अलग-थलग, .......परिवेश से पृथक,
अपनों से कटा-बँटा, .........शून्य में अकेला खड़ा होना,
पहाड़ की महानता नहीं,..........मजबूरी है।
ऊँचाई और गहराई में...............आकाश-पाताल की दूरी है।


जो जितना ऊँचा, ............उतना एकाकी होता है, 
हर भार को स्वयं ढोता है..........चेहरे पर मुस्कानें चिपका, 
मन ही मन रोता है।  

ज़रूरी यह है कि .............ऊँचाई के साथ विस्तार भी हो, 
जिससे मनुष्य...........ठूँठ सा खड़ा न रहे, 
औरों से घुले-मिले,........किसी को साथ ले........किसी के संग चले। 
भीड़ में खो जाना,.......यादों में डूब जाना, 
स्वयं को भूल जाना, ..........अस्तित्व को अर्थ, ..........जीवन को सुगंध देता है। 

धरती को बौनों की नहीं,.......ऊँचे कद के इंसानों की जरूरत है
इतने ऊँचे कि आसमान छू लें, ............नये नक्षत्रों में प्रतिभा की बीज बो लें, 
किन्तु इतने ऊँचे भी नहीं, .........कि पाँव तले दूब ही न जमे, 
कोई काँटा न चुभे....... कोई कली न खिले। 
न वसंत हो, न पतझड़, हो सिर्फ ऊँचाई का अंधड़........मात्र अकेलेपन का सन्नाटा।  
मेरे प्रभु! 
मुझे इतनी ऊँचाई कभी मत देना.........ग़ैरों को गले न लगा सकूँ.......इतनी रुखाई कभी मत देना। 

Monday, February 28, 2011

Fruit !!

Alas!!

Lunch time and corridor conversations are often a sense of good time pass. I was returning from lunch, and I bumped into someone I know by sight. His name eludes and it still does but it does not stop me from having a chat.

“So had your lunch? “, he asked.

“Yep, this time it wasn’t the same old hotel, a new one and the food was ok not great. Beggars can’t be choosers …………….can they”?

Aha, then why beg pal? You can choose …

Aww not again man. Don’t go into the get married settle down route. I had heard it once already in the morning and it seems that that is the topic which people think of discussing with me these days.

Fine let’s play it out your way. I have developed an immense propensity for patience these days.

It is a great art, for I think of me drinking hot chocolate fudge and some Celtic fiddle in the background and just catch the buzz words in between their dialogue, repack and put it across. It is wonders as to what a little bit of third party assurance can do!!

“You know the fruit … “………I heard, which was not really conformal to the predictable route of such conversations.

“What fruit? “, I asked.

"You know that there is a fruit on a tree. Now there are two ways you can have this, either have it directly from the tree or wait. Wait for it to be plucked and washed. Then you wait for it to be delivered to the market in a nice box. Here you see it resplendent on the fruit stall, you take it get it home then you wash it then you cut it. These cut fruits are put on a plate and then you have it , maybe with some book or maybe in front of the TV. Which one do you think is better?"

Hahahaha, this must be a quality or process guy. Even casual conversations have a defined flow diagram in them, cut dry standards and zero tolerance for non conformance as well as kaizen incorporated to ensure any element of non rationality is squeezed out.

"I think I prefer the former one at least I have the fruit fresh and completely organic …….and I don’t have to wait", I replied with a wink.

Process centric answer was good it seems, for he started laughing and said" I was like you once too, a couple of years back, and now when I talk to you I am reminded of that time".

Alas!! That means that someday I would be like him? Accosting strangers in the passageway and recounting silly anecdotes..... If history is to be believed then the depressing answer was "yes".

And also,  I see that men , they never really grow up, they change from hot blooded to lecherous, but the inherent sentiment rarely changes. Consider an old cell phone, the speakers are out, the volume is diminished but when the right stimulus is given it ….vibrates (definite pun intended!!)

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Shatter-Proof


It is said, that once just once you see the light at the end of the tunnel. Sometimes you cross it .....sometimes you don’t, but the realization of the fragility of life, hits you hard............ pretty hard........... at that instant.

Yesterday night, it was pretty late. I had spend the whole day filling one detailed vendor registration form( a  9 page document), for a global OEM.Their representative had come in , and my boss and him were at it the whole day, I had filled something and he had to review it and bosses................. never have time.............. but they have deadlines :)
 
White skinned people believe in light lunches, ( a grilled sandwich, alas!) , and I am not a huge fan of these kind of lunches so hunger was predominant .On top if it the realization that if I delay by some more minutes all I would have was leftovers.

Hence the need for speed and one obliging machine at hand,(और ..........बजरंज बली का स्मरण!!) .

I reached outer ring road in about 3 minutes…(yep I timed it).This place is my favorite, cause there is one long stretch of nice tar and all............ want to race! 

Cab drivers cannot accept the fact that someone can be madder than them. So one guy was honking all the way trying to catch up with me.He managed it too, however, I always squeezed in between some gaps not good enough for 4 wheels.

 I caught his eyes and they were determined to get ahead. 

Madness is like gravity, it just needs a little push. So I flicked the throttle and revved to 100kmph easily, zip zap and zoom, and one swerve after another.

Coming close to ISRO, there is a turn. One Volvo bus (500D) roared for a quick U turn. 

It was, it seems to me a bit late to break, from my end, nevertheless I braked hard. Rear and front, the punched and holey disc brakes screeched.

Linear momentum plus coefficient of kinetic friction began a tussle and in the midst of it my machine was unsure whether to stop or move on.

I struggled to gain control. Narrowly missing the bus, I skidded on the last part of the mad dance of physics.

The burnt rubber………….the still rolling wheels…………. and the honks all around and milling of some curious on lookers.

I was dazed.

I patted myself………no scratch…not even one………

It hit me hard then.........the fragility of life........

Why the hell was I rushing about? For one meal of two rotis and some gravy…is that what this all is about?

Why are we all rushing around?

It wasn’t the first time I had an accident miss but it was certainly the first time I had thought about life. I had always lived in moments, and each moment had been transient. I had reveled in the transience and mocked my life, jeered at others who tried to capture on to these moments without any success.

Maybe, they are right.

Maybe life is about housing loans, infrastructure bonds, EMIs, fancy cars, trophy wives and status befitting club memeberships. 

For with them at least when you die you have a reason better than 2 rotis and some gravy.

A smile flickered on my face.I stood up and surveyed the bike, there wasn’t a scratch on it either, so I guess the disc brakes really work and I had just fallen due to the sudden stop.

Revving the engine I moved on.

PS – I had fried rice that night, somehow did not like the idea of rotis : )

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Freelance Diaries


Penned during my time as a freelancer .... (A fancy term to be used for a hustler)!

My eyes were sealed shut as amma shook me. “Wake up beta, you have to be there at 9 am “.I shook her away, still sleeping, but this time she was insistent, “Utho Srikant otherwise you will be late.”  Groggily, I sat up, and then it struck me that today was the first day at IMS. Shaking my head I made my way into the bathroom and splashed some water on my face.

It helped.

10 minutes to eight I was at the breakfast table, having paranthas. I had recently quit my job after graduating making it 2 jobs in 15 months .It sounded better in months than in years, I thought wryly. I had begun my career as a piping engineer, but soon I realized the work was just not for me. This was then followed by an analyst for a consulting firm. Three months in it; I thought, I can do the same job on my own, and make better money. It also helped that the firm was paying me peanuts. And to top it all they had introduced a service agreement for 2 years which I was not told about earlier. That was the last straw. I had no intentions for sticking around 2 years, working my butt off for peanuts. I packed my bags and vanished one fine day. My dad was kind of worried on what I wanted in life and honestly even I wasn’t clear. But I was sure that I did not want to work doing what I didn’t like to , to put it mildly( and those activities seemed quite a lot ! ).And of late I had this thought that things could be better if you could actually do it yourself.

For the past couple of weeks I was running through various advertisements and job vacancies and also looking or any novel opportunities .Using the net I was able to gather a lot of information. Late night yesterday I had come across a freelancing site hosting all kinds of jobs from writing articles to graphic design. I had spent the entire night just figuring out how things work in the freelancing world. I had jotted down a list of activities which I think I could do others I could learn. The money was not very good and I had the suspicion that it would be sometime before I could actually get enough projects to make a steady buck. So I looked at the conventional job market too. A friend of mine directed me to an age old coaching institute that specialized in aptitude training. Recently the institute had branched out into UG professional courses. The money was good, but I did not whether I could act as a teacher or not. I would know soon I thought as I gulped down the last of my tea and rechecked the address.

The place was in West Delhi, which my family had been for a long time back. Metro had made it possible to travel to that place in about half the road time. I waved goodbye and made it to the garage and kicked off in my bike to the metro station. 

I had no trouble is finding the location as indicated by a number of people standing outside. It was 15 minutes to 9 and classes were to begin at 9 am. The centre manager was not yet in the office. In typical Delhi isthyle,  I though it would be at earliest at 9.30. For a minute, I focused on the crowd outside; it seemed like a fashion parade. Pretty girls in nice clothes (! ) and  some had actually come down in luxury cars .For what I thought ; getting coaching that would lead them to a college and then hopefully a job that might not even afford the fuel costs of the car they were driving. One of the boys walked to me and asked, “Yaar ,  what classes do we have today ? “ .I smiled and replied back , “ Not sure boss am new too.” Inwardly I made a note to wear shirts and try adding some years to myself. I decided the manager’s office would be a nice retreat till I know what is to be done.

5 minutes to 9, the centre manager walks in and introduces herself. “Sorry sir,   slightly late, I hope you had no trouble in finding the place “. “ Not at all madam it was exactly as you said it would be, “I replied with a smile. “Ok sir, we have 2 new batches beginning today, and both are in the rooms at the top floor. They are scheduled for Problem solving 1 session today. “I replied, puzzled, “PS 1?  I was told to take sessions on percentages and averages” .I was directed to this place by their central Delhi office and that was what they told me. Meenu looked slightly worried” Both batches have been scheduled as PS 1 session and only PS 4 covers averages and percentages”. Ah the communication divide is here too, I thought and replied gently, “madam its ok we can tell them that the session has been rescheduled, I will handle it, don’t worry.”

Ok sir then we better start the class it is nearing 9 15. “Fine madam, just hand me the questions to be covered.” I did have my set of questions but decided to play it safe. Meenu said she would send it up soon and summoned the helper to dig out the handouts.

I made it to the top floor, took a deep breath and entered in. Contrary to my perception, the class was not very noisy. In fact they seemed to be staring at me expectantly. I started off with a cherry good morning. The beginning of the session was concentrated on introductions what is expected in the exam and how to go about it. Then I slowly started off with the topic. I had a bit of experience preparing for aptitude exams and was aware of the shortcuts so I did not stress on the formula part. Rather I tried to uncover the logic behind using averages and much to my relief and a little bit of delight, the batch was very responsive. In fact some of their answers forced me to think too!


The handouts arrived almost after I had finished off with the concepts. Leaving the class to work out the questions I decided to go in for a tea break, as surprisingly tea was not yet offered. As I came down, Meenu smiled and said “have some tea sir, did not want to disturb the class “. Slightly mollified I accepted the cup and filled her about the class performance.” That is one of the best batches here at IMS, a couple of other batches are pretty unruly. I would recommend that you treat them like kids, stern in action “. I listened, sipping the brew thoughtfully. It too early to decide on what to do, I thought but again meenus comment couldn’t be brushed away.

The other sessions passed comfortably and it was time to leave. Thankfully the metro station was pretty near to the centre. Armed with a bunch of papers for the forthcoming sessions I bid adieu and started off to the station and soon reached home. When I reached home it was nearly 4 pm and I was famished. All I had was paranthas early morning and lots of tea in between classes. Amma prepared lunch and I sat on the bean bag with my niece for company and had a hearty meal. I felt drained though; it almost seemed like a full day at office, the only difference being here I was paid by the hour!

After a short nap I set off to prepare for later sessions. This was new to me and I did my best not to goof up. Soon it was night (dawn for ruddy Americans!), and I wrapped up and made it to my computer. A few bids on projects here and there and then I came across an interesting project related to a green energy blog .Seems like this guy needed a person to regularly write on alternative energy technology for a blog. The term blog was not very clear to me .Google search reveled a lot of info. Seems like blogs were the new “intellectual think tanks “, there was a possibility of making good money from writing. And my previous job had educated me regarding research methods and writing on technical issues. The money he offered seemed to be better than that offered by other projects. I drafted a mail to this guy and by the time I finished it was well past midnight .I decided to call it a day and made it to the bed.