Still working almost 24 x 7 but a lot more at peace with my inner self and enjoying my time.

“Being practical” has never been my forte and frankly I don’t regret that, frankly I never regret anything. If I have made this far with being impractical, survived for 26 years, had great friends and even greater memories and experiences, I am sure, I can make it through the rest of my life as well. In fact my advise to all you guys (not many girls read my blog, unfortunately..sigh..) trying to be practical out there, DON’T BE. Be foolish and fail, if you have to, just live the life doing what you enjoy the most.

Obviously, that is not a very intelligent piece of advise,considering all the pressures to make it in the ‘real world’,credit card bills, EMIs, mortgages, I know; didn’t I mention I was drunk. But do you really want to be remembered just as a guy who survived in this world, cleared all his bills on time, sent money back home,blah blah, is that what life is all about. If it is then why is it that when you see a colleague of yours starting a rock band, or becoming a comedian, you immediately like his Facebook page and say silently to yourself “sahi hai yar”. And frankly if you don’t, just don’t bother reading ahead. See you later.

I am not advocating to shy away from your responsibilities, all I am trying to say is, if you do what you want to do and would love to do, there are still ways by which you can survive, be happy and enjoy the ride. Trust me, the best memories you will ever have will be from your worst times. I remember only two birthdays in my life, one in 2009, where I was homeless and penniless, spent the night with my luggage in a Mumbai local, before I called my brother to get a shelter in IITB. And the second one, in 2010, when I was working on the rig floor, no longer penniless, but still away from my loved ones, doing what I enjoyed, but not loved to do. Both were equally bad, though I prefer the 2009 one as it sounds more dramatic, classic hindi movie types…arrghh, alcohol!!!

In the end, it all boils down to the choices that you make, or the ones that you don’t. What ever you do, don’t try to fool the guy in the mirror, some how he always knows the difference. As it was said in Kung Fu Panda 2, it’s not what you are, it’s what you choose to be. So quit what you hate, start doing what you love and go after your dreams, before they come after you.

Here’s one more to my 26th and the life ahead.

But for an entrepreneur a job is a JOB, no matter how exciting or thrilling it might be. Same is the case with me, but then at times I wonder, then why do I get up in the morning and head to work in obscure locations with the same enthusiasm or stay up for almost 48 hours when the job demands. I guess the reason could be that the stint with SLB is making me more sincere and dedicated towards work. I mean there are always things that you like to do but some times you have to do things that you don’t like that much but still you have to do them as thats the right thing to do. Before SLB, I never did anything which I didn’t want to do. I didn’t want to study the boring and extinct theories of metal extraction, so I didn’t. Though many argued against it, but thats the way I was. But now there are no more such choices, I just have to do it, no matter how much I crib or whine but the job needs to be done. And thats making me happier because I think that was one quality that I needed to learn to move ahead. So when I head to work I don’t think “Why I have to do it” I think ” I just have to do it.”

Since 1947 we have fought just 3 wars, the latest being in ’99 at Kargill. So does that mean we have been free ever since? Or let me just take my case in particular, I was born in ’85 so I missed the first two wars, also I read somewhere that almost more than 50% of Indian population is in its 20s so that means they also missed the wars. And most of us during the wartime were not directly related to the war like it used to be in the old days of ‘mutiny’ and ‘Satyagriha’. Now I ponder on the question again ‘ If we are not fighting any war, how relevant is the Independence to us?’

For me in particular, I feel that we are fighting a more severe battle; without any condescension to our martyrs; because in our case the enemy lies within us, there are no boundaries and no guns in this war. The war that most of us wage is between our hearts and our minds. Most of us are born with some talent and most of us have dreams. But as we grow older, ‘reality’ start to dawn on us. We realize along the way that being an astronaut or a cricketer is not possible, being a singer or a painter sounds absurd and it seems more sensible to pursue ‘safer’ options, obviously because we cannot feed our families or satiate the expectations of the society by following the heart. Right?

Practical and sensible makes more sense and seems safer. Thus starts a war which we all wage daily, day in and day out. Some people fight it when they look themselves in the mirror first thing in the morning, some people fight it tossing and turning sleeplessly in their beds and some, when they see some daring warriors win their fights.

For me right now, I fight it day in and day out and console myself by considering it as a prelude to the good fight. Till the day I win my own independence, I will not be able to celebrate and appreciate the happiness independence brings in one’s life. And for you, who is reading this, I wish that you too win your war for independence soon.

This year 2010 will be an year of : –

I hope I will be able to make them as a benchmark and strive to make this year more meaningful for me and my family.

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Well as I was very busy for the past few weeks, I didn’t get any time to think over the developments of the year 2009. But now I am free and thus will be jotting them down and putting them on the blog. I also think that the coming two years are going to be very crucial for me so I think I need to be very focused and very well planned. So will be preparing a road map as well for the same. Have to figure out lots of stuff and then work accordingly.

One thing in particular that struck me was the freedom this country had to offer, with women, working 24/7 even in retail stores and as hawkers selling yummy Thai noodles to a trans sexual doing the so called “main stream” work. It was simply amazing to see how kind and warm thai people were.

In the mean while I also accomplished 2 more things from my Bucket list : Going to Phuket and getting a tattoo…

I no longer dream of being rich, of being famous [ or going on a date with DP ]. It is something which is very strange because I have been a dreamer throughout my life. May be it is because of the job, may be I am slowly becoming a part of the system, joining the rat race and waiting desperately for my pay check. Suddenly “Follow your dreams”, the maxim I used to live by seem to have evaporated, and the bubble of surrealism I had created for myself seem to burst.

This is when I start questioning myself. May be I am not special, not meant to do special things in life? May be I am just another guy who is blessed with decent looks not so much like Brad Pitt but not less than the regular Joe; the guy who is talented enough to survive and wade through but not the one who escalates and reaches the top echelons; the guy whose red carpet is laid when he enters his house, off course without any paparazzi; the guy whose swagger is natural when in the company of his friends and bloated like an air balloon when amongst strangers.

I know I am not that guy, because I am still fighting to not to be the regular Joe.

I am missing internet connection these days as you could figure out with the dates of the posts. Thereare a couple of reasons, one I blog only when I feel that I have something substantial which is worth your time and secondly I dont have an internet connection these days (again) and cyber cafes suck in India.

In the mean while I am collecting my thoughts and will come up soon. By the way read The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, I highly recommend it to anyone who is committed to self improvement and excellence.

Spare the spelling errors if there are any coz the keyboard and the monitor are driving me crazy.