All Izz Well....!

ALL IZZ WELL…!

Stress sometimes is not just, reaction per unit area of application of force.

Sometimes I do feel I could hide in some distant corner of this huge world, with no boss, no work and no mobile or internet. Where I can get food and water and that is all. No remorse   of the past and no planning for the future. And I get endless time to do what I love to do the most ...Dream. Just eat, dream and live.

But then this is real life!

Recently I have been talking to most of my friends over telephone. And one thing I found   common is that they are not happy. They are not satisfied with the job they have got after so much competition. Well they are unable to precisely figure it out, but certainly they are not happy. Flashback to few months ago...they could do anything to get a job.

Two things that keep coming constantly are Stress and Work Pressure, which are basically the same things. I have been reading Mr. Bhagat a lot these days and was really influenced.

And you will not believe at first that I have started staying really happy.

There are a few professional and a few personal things which cause stress. And the very first   demon that comes to my mind is Disappointment; not getting results as expected. And to fuel the disappointment we have Competency. Remember the ultimate lines of Virus....Life is a race.... and then....Life begins in murder....that's nature.....Bullshit!

Then comes frustration, and it may come for the smallest reasons. Oftentimes we are frustrated for reasons people might have a hearty laugh at. For example I get frustrated when I am unable to fetch something from a five feet tall rack. Then we all have to face at some or other point of time, the strongest demon called Unfairness. People with sugar daddies and sugar mummies, pedigree and beautiful faces take the credit for things they don't deserve. Regionalism, communalism, nepotism etc. have always been an integral part of India. I don't dream of an India without these. Then we have dysfunctional relationships and poor health adding to our woes.

These are the things that take the spark away from your lives. And you become an irritated, bitter and boring kind of person. You don't enjoy anything in life. Not good food, not beautiful movies, not soothing music, not the romantic weather, not good humor.....not even sexy woman!

Some of the guru mantras that I have realized in life may be helpful in killing stress. And the very first thing is self realization. You need to introspect and find out things that you really enjoy. Well it's easier said than done. Exact realization may take a second, a minute, a day or even a lifetime. And then be spontaneous and be yourself; whatever you are. My friend said an ultimate line for this. "Real pleasure lies in spontaneity, Planning leads to stress." Never plan too much for anything, because it is most certain that things will not go as planned; and you invite disappointment. I have often seen people overstressed and tensed on their holiday tour as they have over budgeted. The basic purpose of a holiday is spoiled then. Someday, wake up, pack your little bag and just move.....Trust me adventure gives you real fun. Well if things go well, it’s a bonus and if they don't you are not disappointed at least.

Second thing is expectations. Expect the worst in your life at times. When I was going for an interview, for some strange reasons I believed that I would be molested, abused, harassed and beaten there. And when the receptionist told me very politely that I was not selected; I was really happy. I have a friend who was stressed because he said, 'Why can't I fly? The birds can do it easily.' People find their strange reasons to stay stressed. You have to be satisfied with whatever you have. What if I can't fetch something from a five feet tall rack, I can cook delicious food. What if I am not as handsome as Shahrukh Khan, I have friends who love me more than they do to Shahrukh. We need to find our own strange reasons to stay happy.

Make small goals in life; however you are always free to dream big. Nothing disappoints more than failure of self promised goals. Besides achievement of goals, however small; always gives you pleasure. Try to enjoy little silly things in life. Sometimes do act like a child. (After all we are all children in the eyes of GOD). Remember happiness is just a state of mind. It has got nothing to do with success or failure or age or time. If you feel like hugging a stranger, go for it. (If she is a girl, better first ask for it). Do everything to your heart’s content. There was a time when I always used to stay frustrated because of my height. Then one fine morning I uploaded a picture of Rehan (read the great khali) in my computer, resized it and saved it, allowing a height of few inches only. And surprisingly that gave me pleasure. Sometimes just surprise yourself by doing things which you never think you could do. For example if you feel like flirting with a lady, just do it. Come on, nobody is going to judge your character based on that. And even if they do, just f**k it, you live only once.

Sometimes pamper yourself. Be selfish. Go to a spa. Enjoy your favorite food or music or movie. Go for shopping. And shop till you go bankrupt. Eat your favorite chocolate or ice cream. Remember every human being is a distinct individual and enjoying is not a sin at all.

Discover yourself from within. Might be you always wanted to be singer. So sing. The oneness of mind, body and soul is very necessary. May be you want to enjoy, but you have a headache. May be you are brimming with energy and you want to dance, but you fear about the tiles. Sometimes to overcome stress; maybe you just need to relax, stay calm, silent and completely in peace to rejuvenate. But you engage yourself in a suspense or horror or violent movie. Ultimately you re-stress yourself, worrying about the climax. So you need to peep within to know your soul’s exact wish.

Sometimes we are too obsessed for a successful career which many a times is the reason for most of our stress. Remember, you need a balanced successful life. In our primary school I was told, ‘Stomach full of food is not a balanced diet.’ Exactly. Only a successful career won’t give you happiness. You can’t enjoy a promotion on the day of your breakup.  You can’t enjoy a movie, if your back aches. Really, life is like that Marble Spoon race you had in your nursery class. Reaching the destination first; without the marble in the spoon is valueless. In our life also, our relationships and our health are like the marble. So if you are lucky enough to have a girlfriend, give her time, take her out for a shopping, pamper her and show her some love. Because, trust me, if she is not happy; you can’t be happy.

Last, but the most important thing is humor. Never let the humor within you ever fade away. Even if that means to having to listen to silly jokes. Or even if that sometimes means to making fun of yourself only. Go for it.

Whatever be the situation. Say….All Izz Well…..and move on.

All Izz Well……!

Traitorous Identity

With standing ovation, all the salutations and profound humbleness…here I am going to share a character sketch of Mr. Gopal Kumar Jha (Original name only). Well as the name suggests, Mr. Jha is a fifty something bespectacled human being working in a government organization which deals in infrastructural development. Mr. Jha did his diploma in Civil Engineering from ‘Single Storey 4 BHK University’, UP with 41 % marks. Then he cajoled Mr. Manmohan Tiwari for almost seven years and finally got deployed as a Junior Engineer. And the revolution started. What happened next, as they say is history.

Today Mr. Jha is the Executive Engineer. He owns a bungalow worth millions of bucks. He has got three cars, one luxury car and two above ordinary ones. While he uses his luxury car for daily office, the government vehicle he has been provided is being used for carrying vegetables from market and other numerous household works. He has two sons. The younger one is soon going to settle in US. And the elder one is readying to take his father’s position. Every day he has been teaching him as how to save govt. tax, what is the engineer’s share of black money, which people are to be asked for bribe and how to ask, how to tackle probes and audits etc. Basically, the same home tuition given to make your son practical, he has been giving his son.

Mr. Jha could be seen in white dhoti, saffron kurta and probably green chappals, truly representing the Indian National flag. One last property of this great human being is that he has a sweet tooth for paan. Once I got a lifetime opportunity to meet him. And here’s what happened.

Mr. Jha and I were waiting at the IGI Airport. I was there to receive my distant brother, while Mr. Jha was there to see off his son. It was raining heavily outside. I was enjoying a cricket match between Pakistan and England. Well actually I am not very much like those diehard cricket fans, but when you don’t have anything else to do; watching cricket isn’t a bad option. Mr. Jha entered the waiting lounge fully drenched and seated himself in the sofa. He didn’t even care to take off his raincoat. A part of the water dripping from his raincoat got soaked in the sofa and the rest wetted the floor. Few minutes later, a boy slipped on the floor. I gave him an ‘it’s your fault’ kind of look. But he was hardly bothered.

Then I thought it better to concentrate on the game. And here Mr. Shahid Afridi was on fire, two sixes in a row and the third one in air. I could not stop the excitement rushing inside my veins. And I shouted…SIX. Mr. Jha gave a hateful glance, went to the dustbin, spit the paan and came back to me. And he asked me, with the paan still in his mouth.

“What is your name?”

The moment I told him my name, he had a triumphant smile. He said.

“That is why?”

We kept silent for couple of minutes, while Mr. Afridi kept on blasting our one time enemies. While he left he could not stop himself from saying that usual word.

“TRAITOR”

I didn’t say anything, but just thought to myself.

If this is what I need to be, to be called a Patriot; then I would love to live Mr. Jha’s life.

“I flaunt my Failures.”

Well I know this seems lunatic and fanatic to say at first. But then this article is not for those who have always been successful in life. If there really are any, please don’t read further. You will find it a crap or for that matter boring.

Now for those who are of my types. I mean who have failed more in life than they have succeeded, I address this article. Many a times we simply maintain a born spectator kind of attitude in almost all kind of affairs. We fear to cross that glistening charm of the stage or the podium. We simply don’t participate in the game because we fear of losing it.
I dared to be different. I fought wars and I lost them. But after zillions of defeats I came out to be victorious. Success is just a point of view. If you don’t get what you had intended, you consider it as a failure. But most of the times you underestimate the most invaluable thing you get with your failure. And that is Experience. Thomas Alva Addison said after his 10000 failed attempts on making an electric lamp, “I have not failed, I have learned 10000 ways, how not to make the lamp.”
Believe me success sometimes may not give you that confidence what failure can instill in you. You may not be sure why you succeeded but you always know why you failed, and you can make sure you do not repeat those mistakes. This is the real beauty with failure. So never fear to participate. Always remember, “If you fight, you might loose; If you don’t fight, you have already lost.”
I hope I have made my point. I am not lunatic or fanatic. I have not been successful according to your definition of success. But I have tried. And I am proud of it. And I don’t mind to flaunt my failures.

Cost of Failure

“Success does come at a price. But that does not mean failure comes free of cost!"

The only good thing about my failure is that I can proudly count the years...12 years, 11 months and  17 days to date. The very instant reaction people show for this huge waste of time is sometimes overwhelming. This is one of the rarest cases where people applaud your failure .I am sure people do a lot of things to achieve or conquer that particular success. Overnight Tata to Tata free calls and unending Reliance free text messages to name a few things. And very justifiably they feel proud of it when they succeed.

I tried to the best of my abilities. I was not always as I am today. There was a time when I didn't have the slightest inkling of what this most overrated word in the dictionary meant. I was just a common boy from a small town who loved to get some public attention. Who loved those unending madness of childhood. But then I was bitten. And bitten badly...by that BUG. And change became a part of my name. Change of attitude, change of priorities, change of emotions and what not. I changed everything I could, except for these few inches and my face. I wish I could do that.

She became an unending source of inspiration. At least this is what I thought that time. I credited her for every success of mine. (Sorry mom, I forgot that you were praying for me constantly.)  I conquered every possible arena from where there was least bit of hope that she could be impressed. I became a stage maniac. I learned painting and poetry. Won prizes for athletics. Even tried my guts in something as weird as Martial Arts. And eventually became the topper of the town as well. So far so good.

But then I learned dozen of etiquettes which define me today in many places. And the very first one would be 'Jealous'. And then arrogant, erratic, egoistic and eccentric. What not! I lost someone whose trust in me was the envy of the mass. He was a very dear friend indeed. Even today we share a cordial relationship, but the scar is still there. I know I have lost that credit. And things will never be same again. I deceived people. I cursed every single person who tried to have a glimpse of her. And unfortunately the list of those people included some of my true well-wishers.

I was poor, but still I paid my price. And the endeavor still continues.

But the reality is that even today my friends keep me in the other side of the line. At the end of all these years, 32 text messages and 7 phone call recordings is all I have today. People find it hard to realize that even those who do not win the war bleed equally. And their blood too is red.

What a Rainfall

It rained heavily that morning. I saw her for the first time. In our classroom, all her hair fallen on her shoulder, she half wet , trying to hide herself, actually her face from my stare. Water droplets like silver pearls, dripping from her black flocks, running through her cheeks, to her lips then neck and finally got absorbed somewhere in her frock. She was trembling and I felt pity for her. Surely I wanted to go to her with a towel, dry her, put my overcoat over her shoulder and give her a cozy hug. But I neither had towel nor overcoat that moment. So I went outside my classroom, in the open field, stretched both my arms and drenched myself in the heavy rain. Just to feel the same way she was feeling. I curled my arms, stood upon my toes and tried to whirl around and dance. As I turned around, I found that she was staring at me through the classroom window. And she was smiling.

Mobile Buildings

The literal meaning of mobile (movable) is generally not associated with buildings or civil engineering structures. One justifiably may wonder how buildings can be mobile. The answer to this conundrum is Nano-construction.
Well then again the riddle is open. Nano-technology and construction?

Yes, this can be possible now. Engineers from all over the world are trying to create nano-materials which would be million times lighter or thinner but thousand times stronger. Well the concept of nano-technology is definitely not the latest one. We already know many electronic materials (chips, transistors, capacitors) which are of the nano level in size but equally efficient if not more.

Now we can have walls, beams or columns made from specially designed nano-materials which would be very thin and light but assuredly very strong.
Imagine the walls of your room as thin as the pages of your book. Imagine the amount of space we would save for mankind. Imagine cars passing through practically invisible bridges. Imagine the advertisement hoardings stuck in the air via invisible poles. Just imagine the world around you!

Although this concept of nano-construction is still in the research and feasibility testing state, but those days are definitely not far away when nano-construction will be a reality. Though it seems highly impractical today, but you never know when technology takes a huge leap.

And that day it would really be possible to carry your home along with you, wherever you go. Just fold it and carry in your bag along with other belongings. If nothing else the column of permanent address from the admission forms would at least vanish. And we would add another column of MOBILE RESIDENCE.