Thank You Sachin!

Cricket lover or not, one thing that no Indian can ignore right now is the upcoming retirement of Sachin Tendulkar. Newspapers, blogs, on line articles, special shows, even an otherwise dead Ranji game came alive, felicitation ceremonies… everything possible is being done in the run up to his retirement and everybody seems to want a piece of him.

I’m not going to write much about him as already tons of things are being written all over and I won’t be able to add anything new that the crazy Sachin fans don’t know. All I want to express is a big thank you from an entire generation who grew up watching you play and for whom cricket began and ended with your presence on the crease. A big thank you for all the joys that you gave us while tearing apart oppositions and giving India those memorable wins.

As you take a stand for one final time, hope you recreate the magic of years gone by. You’ll be truly missed. 

The Wave

As the nation gets into the wave of elections in 2014 and everyone has a view on NaMo vs RaGa… every drawing room to every social media wall seems to be discussing them. Not be left behind here are my 2 cents on what I feel about them.

While NaMo seems to be riding the wave with his strong record as an administrator and the ruling party helping him all along with total inaction in every aspect of governance, the script seems to be perfect for him. The only obstacle in his way being that of the supposed blood on his hands. Going by that argument the first person to be removed from power should be the most powerful man on earth. No government has more blood (mostly innocent if I may say so) on their hands. By no means am I proclaiming that NaMo is a saint but given the circumstances and the options he does seem like one.

Circle back to the political capital and the only claim to fame that RaGa has his second name. He can outdo Bush when it comes to having an outlook and public speaking. He and only he knows what he’s talking about and I guess he does that in the interest of national security. With him being in power, there’s every possibility that he might outdo a lot of others in “having blood on his hands” as the already sad state of affairs could worsen, more people driven to destitution and suicides.

I’m no political pundit and my arguments might be very simple, but I also feel that these are extraordinary times and some inspiration can pull up a nation fast becoming very skeptical… and NaMo far outdoes RaGa on that front.

Just a Thought: Twenty Four

The day returns at it's ambiguous best,
Embrace it
Get creative
Or slide away into the allays of certainity

Little Joys

This morning
As i stepped into the balcony
And felt the fresh cool breeze on my face
I closed my eyes... felt the moment... smiled

Perception

Perception is greater than reality and how true is that. Day in and day out perceptions are being created.. be it about the youth of today or a young leader who will change the world or a supposed super star who keeps dishing out box office hits out of mediocre movies.

It’s all about the perception and as someone very wisely said – if a wrong perception is being created, then correct it as that is only what matters.. truth can keep playing the catching up game. Which path to stick is a tricky one. Guess most of us would be in the middle path.. juggling between truth and perception.

In the end I think what matters is the peace of mind.. whichever way one gets it, because after all “the race is with yourself”. Who cares what others think.

Back to the Basics

How many times we end up from where we started, the first instinctive thought is the thought we come back to after all the analysis and so on and so forth. Similarly there are these new trends that one keeps hearing about – disconnect, de-globalization, insourcing etc.

Various technologies and engineering skills were used to make our lives easier, simpler and faster. The world became a global village and being connected an absolute necessity, to the extent that we became over-connected. And now we need to disconnect in order to reclaim some of the peace that these very technologies were supposed to give us.

Similarly in the corporate world, concepts like Globalization and outsourcing were created. However, from de-globalization to "insourcing", the reversal of trends seems to be the buzz. It began with Obama talking about bringing the jobs back to America to help him become the most powerful man in the world, but now the corporates are helping him achieve that by shifting productions facilities back home. Right from GE to Lenovo to Apple, the leadership believes that outsourcing could be an outdated strategy.

While the world figures out where they are headed, I think I know where I need to go – to the nearest spa.

Just a Thought: Twenty Three

The particles flow around

Basking in their individuality

Until droplets unite them

Into a world of undesirability