The Loud Chants of a Silent Prayer !!

   Life has been monotonous and celebrations have taken a back seat, sometimes all you care for is that tomorrow is a holiday and you don’t have to attend college without knowing what it is all about. It could be an occasion of celebration and you are not invited and you are no more the guy who invites himself. And this is when the forwarded messages start making sense. I got one which told me it’s ‘Happy B’day Gurunanak Dev Ji’. I always had faith in Sikhism & Guru Nanak Dev Ji, but nothing bolsters that faith more than a guy in need. Thus, I said a silent prayer and wrote this blog which I believe reaches someone who would grant me my wish. In between being busy to get some work, I have stopped paying my allegiance to God but throughout our stay in Amritsar, I visited the Golden Temple to pay my allegiance. Gods, like Women need to be consistently reminded of your allegiance & my trips served both purposes, multiple Gods and all the women who unfailingly were pretty and could have given any model a run for their money had they cut on their dairy rich punjabi diet. But how could one do that with the presence of an array of eateries could have been another reason, where the elixir of life was served in the form of Pranthas, Chaats,Lassi & everything else that the Punjabi culture has bestowed upon us. Though non-vegetarian, the juicy Chicken Tandoori had more elixir of life than anything else. Alright, my tongue is tasting northwards and I know it’s a crime to write appetizing blogs which might leave you craving and hungry.

  Coming back to the flashback as a method to highlight the present, this is for shifting away your attention and stealthily hiding the gift knowing petty well that you will find it. It’s said that today if somebody asks with a clean heart, he gets whatever he wants. So this is my greeting with devotion, kindly do listen to them, it might not be music to your ears but I took some sweet time in the composition, prayers are prayers even if said silently gifts are gifts and it does not matter whether the sender wants to remain anonymous or the receiver finds it nice. So where was I ?, taking a flight to the Sikhly populated Amritsar and my body following it in the Shan-E-Punjab Express, boarding the semi-punjabi Delhi and reaching the first floor house surrounded by by lush green fields and coloured in pink( If you thought I am Gay, you should have read ET y’day !) . The character of city was a combination of sweet and aggressive as they make it sound in our Bollywood movies but then towards the extremes of our country there is bound to be a regional identity taking shape of Sense of Superiority and things we find so loving and romantic, true in all the four directions. The city would be bathed in lighting and a grand Langer would be organized belittling even the big fat Punjabi wedding. It was like a grand cake for Babaji, as the Hindus love to call him and everybody was invited and accommodated irrespective being a follower of the faith. So no question of being shy or being invited or the formality of cutting the ice before getting a piece of cake. The ‘Langer’ is always free and I will keep coming for the ‘Prasad’ for ages to come.

      Tapppp !, that’s the sound that would have been generated if my friend would have slapped my head in a friendly manner yet making sure that I understand ‘Life is in the present and you need to get on with rather than living in illusion’. In reaction to the imaginary hit, ‘Aaaah....you  !@$%^&   ’ goes my imaginary reaction cum curse. But I do hear you my friend, even though you have stopped saying it and understand your concern. Sky would not fall if I leave this one incomplete because sometimes you do not reach conclusion and some ‘CoolDeep Thoughts’ be rested for the better. Plus one ‘Skyfall’ has been heard to have rave reviews and is consistently moving up the charts even without making a point or making out in it. Thus, I am optimist that even this one can , keeping my fingers crossed and hands wide open for whatever is coming for me and my Inbox tells me it’s a 5000 pound Gorilla of the management world, and I want to be its breakfast, lunch, snack, dinner or the unhealthy ‘whatever’. Please Babaji do some magic and let it feed on me . :-)

After Reading the Compensation Details, CoolDeep Thinks : The 5000 pound Gorilla turned out to be juster another monkey who is not willing to part with its peanuts forget about the Bananas :-(

Nodding in Disagreement !!

Spoiler-Alert : This is long & will stimulate the same feelings as the last time !

The recent post of Chetan Bhagat on Twitter (you can follow me at @OpineDifferent, i don’t mind :D) prescribes that girls and boys in a relationship should focus more on building themselves than making their lovers happy. Like many, FPS was the first novel non-text book i read and had a lasting impact on me. I am basically a Rastogi and sometimes try to be a Rancho or Hari depending upon how much room the situation provides me. So, the Hari in me wants to ask how does one build themselves if they lack on the physical parameter. (Wish ! Supplements and steroids helped Dark & Handsome men grow taller).And what advice do you have for those who like taller women and the its a love triangle with the women in love with their high heels. (The pervert in you likes it when they take them off though you like them wearing it, and I am still talking about the high heels !). It seems like the chief protagonist, who unfailingly have different names of Lord Krishna have started to preach “Do your work and do not worry about the results”, all of them at once. However, what made the books sell is that the characters were pursuant and conspirators. This made him a ‘Role Model’ for younger generation, in a society which has no dearth of role models and even Rahul Gandhi is one of them. Chetan was for the masses but has now adopted this intellectual-phobia, orphaning the masses. He stoked & caressed the rebel in you, and has now suddenly dumped him for being politically and motivationally correct.

Chetan’s recent preaching’s resonates in the belief of a hypothetical very pretty girl’s mother, “Life is to express yourself and not to impress others” (and I don’t care who uttered them first time !) but that pretty girl or for that matter any pretty girl is not impressed by expressing. Sorry Chetan, Sorry Hypothetical Auntiji , I listened to you because I thought those are the things that would help me impress her and impressing is all that all I intend, because I know how it ends.

 Chetan is like the engine of a passenger train whom a large section of the society boards and enjoys the journey, the journey of a crowded compartment, stopping at every station as if taking stock of how the people are doing and reassuring them “ All izzz Well...All izzz Well”. But little did they know someday he would become fascinated by the majestic Rajdhani Express parked in the yard and being an iconic passenger train engine he could lay claim to the right to drive the classy travellers to their destinations. And these people think they got the fairy queen at the price of Rajdhani. But then that means shunting the passenger trains coaches without notice, not even reducing the speed, perfect recipe for a collision and casualties. But before that happens and if ever that happens, the clairvoyant in me has seen it beforehand and pulled the alarm and passengers get down from that train at the next station. There is another train called ‘CoolDeep Thoughts’ which would take you wherever you want, without any fare!.

   This is a nation of a million mutinies ( daily !) and every act of an individual is triggered by circumstances and thus be respected for his/her  endeavours rather than laughed at. After all, those are stories that Chetan told, in a manner that everyone could read it. Then,’Why this Kolaveri Di !’ ,its like he has eaten a heavy Sunday Brunch and is stubborn to eat the lunch as well. I have not read his “What Young India Wants” but I know petty well what it does, not to leapfrog into middle age by prescriptions like these and live their life. What it aspires is to wear  worn out jeans, torn out at places, teamed up with T-Shirts and at times wear a Kurta or Kurti which hides those symbols of being a rebel. Rebel or Decent, its one choice and should better be respected.

      Its neither their fault nor their job to correct the wrongs. I mean they should focus on their priorities first and its only natural that most of the times its the girl or boy they love or the mathematically more inclusive, have a crush on (you can deny !) .The 50000 foot high ideals and thoughts( CoolDeep Thoughts being one of them :p)  can happen later when a winner in their personal lives would go ahead and help make a better society. 

   Further he goes about telling us to say ‘Thank You!’ (and chicken out !) to those who treat you badly . Saying ‘Thank You!’ is such a good manner but not meaning is so bad, Cold Blooded Bad!. According to him we should be all ears and go back and make changes and sell ourselves in another market. The crime of the current user being that it went on to give a feedback and thus we should act like an arrogant monopolistic manufacturer and snatch the good from her/him. In my opinion, we should thank them for making us realize how short we are on expectations (and sometimes height as well !).My little unemployable knowledge of management tells me that sales of goods is irrespective of the quality and marketing plays a major role. Thus, rather than going for unending R&D, we better take the feedbacks kindly and make the changes ( I am also trying to make blogs comprehendible and realize that by now I have lost you but believe me I am trying !).

Rather than meeting expectations and go change yourself why not stick to what we are good at and someday that person might understand. It’s like sealing all other borders when you are engaged in a confrontation at one. But what about nations like India who are surrounded by sceptical neighbours and has porous borders and tense one as well .Shall we go back into war preparation mode, cutting all channels of communication or engage and address the bone of contention. The whole idea of going back to the drawing board and making a masterpiece is a manifestation of Deservance ( There is no such word like most of my theories). But, a fundamental knowledge of Statistics tells us that Deservance is only relative and hence not everyone can deserve, even if all of them strive to. Also lives are meant to be lived and not strived, some of us might have desires which are not in sync with what we deserve and it does not matter because we do not base our desires on them.

People keep a latch on the proverbial door to their inner self while keeping the door open and that’s your chance, be flexible and get through the gap rather go shopping for a huge hammer and break it open. That would be like devaluing your currency by trading with many partners, importing all the best things in life so much so that the purchasing power goes for a tailspin. I mean what one would do with the built up themselves when the one person you want to showcase yourself is not watching.

PS : India’s Most Confused writer regrets using a well meant, noble intended motivating lines for vilifying  India’s Most Loved Writer and as an atonement would chant all his books loud and would very soon bring this viewpoint to the notice of Chetan. 

Of Rama, Sita & Raavana !!

  Deepawali is not yet over and Cool-Deep seems to have run out of oil. It is true, because its being put to task till midnight and a little long after that.I should not be writing this or for that matter anything because of some other priorities but then that would mean being opportunist. Even the proverbial ink is refusing to flow. The phrase 'Put your money where the mouth is' suits traders and I am an investor ( having taken up Investment Banking, I get the right to Boast ! ) and would rather stay invested and take up a stand or the more practical be the 'Stand-By' than shy away. Though the probability of succeeding is as low as Kejriwal winning an election (I wish & pray to be proven wrong !), still i want to give it a try, who knows the now so miffed and rightly so 'Lady Luck' might choose to smile at me someday. Voters and readers are most of the time under fascination and charmed by the writer/politician where the 'slash' is increasingly being slashed away and giving space to an 'and'. However, a honest writer or politician should always speak their mind. And thus i am heating up the controversial yet staple for every household in this country, the Rama-Sita-Raavana story. Since there should be something special on Deepawali, I am not doing it the traditional way and this might even end up as a culinary disaster or poison for which I might be sentenced to gallows, once again proverbial one. And before it runs out of steam and I lose your attention, I am placing the cooker back on fire. The pressure is going to be high enough and might even blow away my already tarnished reputation, so be kind and forgiving.

  Ever since you were a kid, your mother keeps building up this illusion that you are either Rama or Krishna. The pleasant coincidences of your birthday bumping up with Dussera, Diwali or Chhath Puja. The last one does not builds up the illusion and thus like every obscure mathematician trying to prove something that does not exist we ignore it by assuming the value is close to infinity and thus can single handedly tilt the balance in your favour and thus be saved for future. The belief keeps getting stronger every year and this year it has reached the heights with  Dussera choosing to be on my birthday and Diwali on my youngest cousin's.   Seems like auspices are saluting you like the parade and gun-salute when you were born, and made you cry and that explains the crying baby that I am, coiled to the inside fearing every stranger is out there to befriend and then hurt my feelings. But an actor that I am, I can wash my face, put some lotion and you get back the tough guy.And thus the doubling up of celebration is probably being halved like the mathematical paradox and better be left to economists from top universities who have in the past taken up studies like these. Miss-Leading indicators make me believe that I am either Rama or Krishna but as its turns out every time, I am the Raavana. But this is not out of choice, whenever you meet a 'Sita' after she attained adult franchisee, chances are that she has already made her choice two years before about whom to stamp her approval upon ( As they say, catch em young ! ) . I seriously think that that this is an act of war against the male population of this country and the culprits be brought to the books. Never Mind, this crime goes unchecked and whatever you do to check it brands you 'Raavan'. Its highly likely that she realizes her mistake of falling for Raavana at some point of time ,and goessobbing, deep inside the mother earth , closing the way to her heart for Rama and Raavana as well. So even if the story folds out exactly opposite, its Sita who has to bear the loss. One of the men has to die, again a proverbial one at that, but then character assassination is as good as real life. Given the Drama that lives has become ever since Shakespeare saw from that angle and wrote so that all of us could, and for those who still could not, there is Omkara. 

  In modern age Ramayana, showing near you everywhere,Sita always makes the game-changer mistake of going for the Raavana ( A difft. name for the epic bringing Sita to the fore would have been more apt !). Ignoring the Bow-Breaking Bravery act of Rama she chooses the Back-bending man with Bulging Biceps and this probably is her revenge for the unfair treatment met out in the original version. Bulging Biceps is not easy, you have to take care of the right posture and then comes the difficult part of exerting force and so is Braking Bows, you have to first sense the center where exerting the force would break it.Why is it so that some people break a bow and its done, I mean there are other things as well which should be taken into account. After all , a girl is not a trophy to be won in a sporting event. Fine with whosoever Sita, Radha or for that matter she chooses in her 'Swayamvar' or the Bride's Choice, the constitution of India gives me the right to equal opportunity and I am not fine with it being snatched away. Forget Constitution, its manipulation rests with the likes of Sibal and our Ex-law minister, lets take a leaf out of the Government which generates ministries to out of nowhere to save the alliance and the government. Why not make an arrangement for ever lasting peace and love.A place right below Boyfriend and just above 'Best Friend' called the 'Stand-By' can be generated so that no lover is ridiculed year after year till eternity.  Its like credit rating for loans, once rejected it haunts you everywhere and nobody loans you a heart. Having understood the tricks of the game and failed as well but still possessing the desire to be seen as a 'Player' and thus unwillingly you jump into the arena to be seen as someone who has Sportsman Spirit. But deep within you are retired and have a secret obsession with being branded the 'Most Eligible Bachelor' for the longest stint with the belief that not getting married or committed will make you as desirable as Salman, and then sliding into oblivion.

    But, never mind its all written and every script looks the same.Thus, you have the girl with the wrong guy (without fail !) and a pursuant who because of his endeavor is branded Raavana. This guy takes up to the tried and tested formula of Raavana which interestingly and not laid emphasis upon, was also practiced by Rama. He absorbs himself into meditative acts to please Lord Shiva ( to bless his writing ! ). If you really desire to achieve something like a stubborn kid, the whole world and the heavens above conspire against you, to not have it and thus the tricking of a kid by god. Both Rama & Raavana worshiped to please the Goddess who has many forms and has cast a spell on the whole world but she would bless Rama a victory, and Ravanna a defeat that would be orchestrated in every little village of the country not to mention the big cities where they burn him heartlessly and in a grand manner . And his fault ?, a crush on someone ( Love does not happen in Kalyuga ! & I would love to be proved wrong !) .

  Why is my opinion or this opinion important or relevant in any manner, I'll leave that to the readers (whom I force feed by writing sympathizing traps to read ;) ). The religious mythological controversy continues with every party making it a point to cash upon it and I am doing the same. Having taken a dig  at Kejaiwal & Congress, how could have BJP stayed off this high voltage controversy ( At least i think so !).I just read that Sushma Swaraj has take the comment on Radha in the movie 'Student of the Year' to score political points. Does she realize that 'Radha' is the characteriztion of every girl who can dance so well and has a tendency to lead the flirty Kanha, thus in these circumstances what would Kanha or anybody do, show some guts, dare her for a dance and its highly likely that she would show traits of being  a woman and act shy and thus you win. I am sure this is what they wanted to portray and besides Kanha being naughty, can say whatever he wants, why are self-appointed sentinels of religion taking offence.

  Every attempt at looking into the matter from a different angle has been suppressed like 'Three Hundred Ramayanas : Five Examples & Three thoughts on Translation' by A.K.Ramanujan and thus generates even more doubts. Diwali celebrates the victory of Good over Evil, what kind of good is it going to do to the society if we keep censoring opinions and feelings.The other half of the story is never heard and a Laxman Rekha is drawn which nobody dares to cross and everybody is threatened not to cross. I tried to make an attempt which would not go down well with many and would borrow a line from a poetry written originally in hindi  "If ever I cross the Laxman Rekha, Consider me Rama....Consider me Rama !!". And if you thought that the writer should take a crash course course in mannerism and have offended you in any manner, accept my apologies and believe me am trying only to express myself and it be taken in the same vigor   

  This one is a 'Stop Gap Arrangement', which is also the title of my next blog and like almost every stop gap arrangement ends up, might fall with its 'face first' injuring your teeth and mine would be more painful with the braces. Don't know which one is me, but yes the crush is pure as it can be. Everyone viewpoint counts and should be registered and passed to coming generations,even Rama sent Laxman to learn from a dying Raavana but we did not hear much of it.This was based on pure imagination (which seems to be gone now and hence The End !) and has nothing to do with my religious inclinations or beliefs. :-)