Amidst the World Cup Celebrations....

The sky was full of lights. The sounds of "vande mataram", "sachin-sachin" , "dhoni-dhoni" chanted the whole
country. There were smiles all over. Some eyes wept out of joy. Some, seeing sachin being carried by the other teammates for a change, could not stop themselves from getting mushy.

Even Guru-Gary would have felt what it is like to be an indian. Team India gave our generation a story to tell our kids, the same way we have been listening stories of the '83 world cup. 

But amidst the world cup celebrations, there is a grave reality towards which our country has turned its back.
Something we all could relate to in some way or the other.

That night, a young group of foreigners also wanted to celebrate India's victory (wow...celebrating somebody
else's victory..we have never done that..have we?). Anyways, they got in to the crowd and started dancing and fluttering the Indian flag. One of the girls got segregated from the group and found herself beseiged by people who started hugging her...one by one. She opposed, turned back and ran towards her car. She somehow managed to reach her car but was not able to get in to it as there too, were hungry beasts who felt left-out of the chance of doing something disgustingly unthinkable. It hardly took a second for the crowd to become a mob.

As infuriated as i was, after seeing all this, I thought even if i could help her get in to her car, it would be
great. But there were so many people around her that I could not even get near her.  Luckily, I remembered that there were some policemen nearby. I went to the constable and told him about the incident. He rushed with his peers towards the car and then there was a lathi-charge because of which the mob dispersed. Thankfully, it ended well.
But the foreigners took home a very sour experience. I, on the other hand, felt ashamed of being an indian because that night, there were no Mayanks, there were no srinivases, there were no xyzs. There were only misbehaving Indians.
I dont think that those foreigners will ever celebrate India's victory again.
Its sad how we call ourselves the greatest country in the world with our great values and morals as an epitome of indianness but we tend to become oblivious of these values at times. At times, we prove the fact that we were once...animals.

Kya Khoya Kya Paya

Most of us, when we are in a long journey, reach a moment when we introspect (which happens after we dont want to listen any more songs or read any more crap). For me, the introspection thoughts(one of my friends prefer calling it "kya khoya kya paya" thoughts) always popup the moment I stand on the gate of the bogey holding its yellow bars. And this introspection turns evn more severe if u have met some guy in ur journey who is not only chasing his dreams but also is halfway through it. This guy i met during my journey, Vikram, was a freelance director and makes documentaries(dn scratch ur head, he's not known yet and is in the post production process of his first venture- father spirit). Guys like these make u think- m i chasing my dreams? M i doing wt m really passionate about? Or am i doing everything just to become an ATM for my family. For most of us the ans wd b a straightaway YES. Money...matters most.

But i'd like to go about it in a diff way...i think its not achieveing ur dreams that should be the most important goal for one or its not the destination that should drive a person but the journey. A beautiful journey makes the end result even more ..............
During the journey, we find ppl we fall in love wid. And we donot get much time for them. To get the result, we forego things we love. D friends complain, bt who listens!!! To get wt we want be tend to bcum emotionally challenged. Wid some people, its voluntary.

Just think of a successful person who has achieved everything in life but he never got a chance to take care of his parents cz he was always busy for them. Or a person who never really sat down wid his kids to give them a bit of Father-Gyan. Or if a wife starts to feel single again, should that not ring bells for a successful person? But in no way am i demeaning the need of the finalcial success one should have in order to have a comfortable life. Its always better to cry in a BMW than on a bicycle.

Success is a very subjective term. But I think it should be objectified with some of the things that matter.

We all aspire to have a successful future, but fail to live in the present. As will smith says- life is not about the no of breaths that u take, its about the moments that take ur breath way.