"Independence"...

As we stand at the threshold of 61 years of independence today i am set into thinking what does independence mean to me ? A nation's independence trickles down to each and every citizen of its country.A nation's persona is a part of that country's inhabitants' character.Our great fathers freed us from the oppression of the British.Even though we were not under a slavery regime physically; we were slaves of a suppressed mind.Somebody else made decisions for us.And that according to me is the greatest bondage-to be deprived of.."Independent thinking" ..Independence on this 15th of August means power to independence of thought.The power to being individualistic instead of being passed down blindfolded opinions.If we look back to the recent past even after years of independence we lacked the ability to actually prove that we were independent.Foreign Investors were resisted by politicians till a free market was declared in the early nineties..Paranoia ?..When computers were considered a possibility in the eighties to be brought into the nation, the idea was scoffed at by saying that 50% of the population lived under the poverty line and how would computers remediate that ?..Righteousness?.. But if we look back today just because some visionaries dared to be different then, we are where we are today.Today we claim ourselves one of the most fast paced economy in the world.Why ? The service industry proved to be a boon to the Indian Market.It established the world over what we can be in terms of competency and quality.But while we celebrate this i realize that (independent thinker that i claim to be ..) we are yet to go forward.Traveling opens your minds to other's opinions , their ideas.In my short life till now, meeting many people from different parts of the world, I realize my country's worth.Culturally I hold India in the highest esteem.None has what we have.The strongest fundamentally if you know what to embrace.However let's not blindly glorify what we have' coz we are not free of our demons either.Let's try to annihilate evils like female foeticide, dowries,killing in the name of religion,casteism as our independence greys. That would in actuality signify a strong growing independent country with the largest democracy with high caliber for maturity. Economically I know we are the leaders in service industry, the haven of outsourced labor. But are we just that ?Isn't it time we thought for ourselves to give rise to new ideas rather than to execute some outsourced work from foreign shores. I am not here to write an article on what we lack or to preach .It's my responsibility to do every bit I can for my own country like any other.And when I look around i think the winds of change are here.My generation holds the key to a more daring and successful India.And it makes me really glad that I am a little bit of India's historic bouncing back and I have every chance as the other to contribute.We are daring to dream , daring to think,daring to do and raring to go.We are finally absorbing our independence in the right sense to march to where we actually deserve to be.Let's make a little pledge to ourselves that every year this time we would save a little bit of time to introspect where we are and destined to be so that the dream which our nation's fathers dreamt for us would no longer be a dream but a successful reality..I pledge...

~A,proud to be an Indian.

Pursuit of HappYness...

Ravs and me are kindred souls when movies are in question.We are like a pair of siamese twins joined together at our movie taste.Well to start off something new , we decided we would take a week's pick and recommend each other movies we had seen (...not just off IMDB but movies we had personally liked and even though hard to recall we would try.. our best).My first movie was the "The pursuit of HappYness"..Critically acclaimed, loved by the masses and inspired by a true life story I was yet to see it for myself inspite of the rave reviews.So when Ravs reccomended I was quick to check it out.I luckily got a dvd print and nothing seemed better.

I had seen the actual Chris Gardener in an interview and was finding it a little difficult to accept Will Smith in the role.But as the movie went on the lines faded and i was more and more absorbed in what the movie had to say.We humans believe that the hardships we face are unique to us and probably no one would understand.We sometimes ; and not always look back on our hardest times and think that none has faced what we have.But seeing his story only makes me realise that "Truth is stranger than fiction"..Had this story not been inspired by a man's life where he is bankrupt , has an estranged wife and evicted in a span of four months preceded by a really tough time of trying to make it in a business I would anyday not buy the story.

Things which touched me most was his almost dogmatic determination in keeping his son and not letting go , not once does he let his miseries overshadow his want of doing something.He goes through a grueling finance internship just on will power and undeniably the most determined frame of mind.He takes on things with cheer and his personality is his sunshine as he trudges through the tough times.Nothing bogs him down ! Absolutely nothing ! And that's what affects people around him and makes them take to his persona more and more..The triumph of human spirit is the essence of this movie ! And to juxtapose this learning with a verse i heard in another great movie Pulp Fiction :

"Ezekiel 25:17. The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of the darkness. For he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know I am the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon you."

I believe there is no black and white personified in this world.I believe in the intangible.Think about it.We all desire the intangibles.Don't we ? Love , respect,happYness,passion,power...These abstract lines depict the intangibles of human frailty and also at the same time the humane power.What I make of this verse is that the righteous man is the one who realizes he has this power capped within himself ..the power to do something, to power to create, the power to win and keeps the passion to take it forward.The inequities of the evil men is the one who tries to dissuade you from doing the same,wants to instill in you that you can't do it.The miseries and the failures are the inequities beset in our path and we need to shepherd ourselves out from this valley of death(I say thus because a life without goals is no less than being trapped in a valley of death)..

Pursuit of HappYness (wrongly and intentionally done so in the movie) is actually a clause in the Declaration of Independence by America's one of the greatest thinking mind...Thomas Jefferson.I wonder what ticks those great minds who can inspire generations and think thoughts that can hold universal appeal even in posterity..Then again it is said about Jefferson by president Kennedy when he invited 49 nobel laureates to the White House :

"I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent and of human knowledge that has ever been gathered together at the White House — with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone"....

I think someone like me can only wonder at what goes on in great thinking minds ?

~A,trust the thinking mind...

Ramblings of a restive mind....

I am drenched in the addiction of poetry as that is my only relief
What an irony ? Me who has never believed in the power of words but the power of fist
Left in the company and crutch of words today
I am a man trapped not only in being but in soul
Bearing the burden of my cross every single moment
If time would allow I would reverse its course
Again, would i be able to think with the clarity & conviction i do today?
I realize as i sit in this dark corner
Staring at the clouds drift by through my cell window
I understand so many things clearly today
But all lies futile as my life is in tatters
And i have myself with my mundane verses for my company
But not a soul to hear a nobody's ruminations

~A,being in somebody else's shoes