Sunday, October 24, 2010

Cynical Indian

Last 60 hours have been quite something! I have traveled, put complete trust in something I don't believe in, met up with an old friend and had a wild time. Had the most embarrassing moment of my life ;) enjoyed a road trip. Watched movies that i missed in the past few months for various stupid reasons, finally ate at NM eat street after trying to go there for the past year. Ofcourse, either Marine drive of Juhu had to figure in this jolly ride, this time Juhu it was.
Standing in the knee deep water at midnight that day, with my friends standing on dry sand at a distance, my eyes reached some place, some place beyond the horizon, some place beyond where my eyes could reach, someplace deep within me.
Its something to do with the attitude of we Indians. All of us love our nature, the beauty of it, proud of us being educated youths. We go mad when we see someone litter our surroundings, someone educated doing it just boils us all the more. But then, depending on the company we are in, we too indulge in screwing up our surroundings!
It was surprising that "There is no shame in dirtying the place, but there is all the shame in the world when it comes to cleaning it up!" Pretty disgusting i say! One second we show disgust at someone dirtying a place, then we are party to the holy act of spoiling it more! Its just a cycle! The Indian of this generation as an individual is honest about few things, but is conscious when it comes to implementing it in public. Well it is not just to do with keeping the surroundings clean.
Lets come to the next surprising thing, or, should I say, something that surprises me.
I have a reputation for bad jokes, well, I can accept it. My jokes are really bad. :)
My jokes make a fool out of me. Make people feel sick and keep wondering, "Hmm, what could be the next thing he says!". Then I tried to find out what kinda jokes people like.
Its funny, that its just not funny, atleast not for me. Its the jokes people make on others. Jokes people say about others behind their backs and ridicule them and make statements about them. Most of these statements are insulting and I just cant figure out what is so funny, about say, the posture of a person, their height, their speech, their dressing sense, or for that matter, their personality!! What I really find funny, black humour of sorts really, is that people just laugh at these 'jokes', but never really appreciate it when the joke is on them. So how do you really find such jokes funny.
One more thing I have observed, is that these people who make 'jokes' are opinionated bastards who make random statements and and cock sure in their belief that people will listen and value their words! To an extent, aren't we supposed to point our fingers at people who encourage such sick jokers. Heart of hearts, people dont like these jokes, but end up laughing at them just to be party to 'fun' at that moment. In is sad that we feed these bloody jokers with encouragement in these short burst of laughter. Well, they will never changes, coz they will always find someone who will laugh at their jokes. And when they are done with cracking jokes with these people, they will always find someone new to say these jokes on people.

It really takes balls to make a joke about someone in front of them, and it takes a person who truly appreciates humour to laugh at himself. But the 'funny' people i invariably find myself stuck with, enjoy the jokes they make people about others and take immediate offence when the joke is on them. Or when someone tries to draw a line, a joke is made out of that too.
There is a THIN LINE of difference between imitating people and mocking people. Some people imitate, and these people also imitate good things. Those who mock, well, all I can say is, aaarrrgghh!
I must say, I am satisfied at joking about myself, and making people laugh about my jokes, as long as I consciously don't make an effort to make someone laugh by demeaning someone. Jokes, it needs a new definition if you ask me.
I say this is a problem with an Indian attitude coz, the majority of us is in the fringe zone, who knows what is right, who believes in what is right, but just drift away from doing the right thing, coz the once who dont do the right thing are doing what is wrong and shamefully a popular act.
At least we are in the fringe zone and we have it in us, to do what it takes to stop these suckers, who laugh at the little- not so perfect - things about others, when they fail to realize they are total suckers and their soul is filled with filth.
Just stop feeding them with encouragement!
My limited readers surely wont make any difference to the world, I know this. But I hope it makes a difference to the small world we live in, the limited space we share. Lets just keep it simple when we appreciate our surroundings and actually keep it clean when we say it should be clean! Keep ourselves clean by not making fun of others, definitely not behind their backs!

Friday, October 1, 2010

Happiness!?

I have been trying to figure out the answer to a simple question - What is happiness? What started off as a question that would have a simple definition, has left me .. hmm.. lets see.. lost? confused? amused?
Is it a state of mind? Or is it a state of heart? Does feeling happy mean you are happy truly from within, and no matter what happens around you, you are still happy?
Or, does it mean, you get happiness from all the good things around you, no matter what is going on in your mind?
Man is a social being by nature, when he is happy, he tries to spread happiness to others, even to those who dont want to share his happiness. Loner by nature at times- when he is upset, and people around are trying to make him happy and it has no positive effect on him.
The clutter in mind is often the cause of any thing not good with us, and the reasons to this can be many. That I am sure, you can figure it out.
Coming back to the question- what is happiness? In a attempt to find an answer to this, I drifted towards another question, what gives me happiness?
It could be a sudden plan to have some amazing food, either in my room, or with friends outside. Amazingly, cleaning your room with some loud music also gives happiness. Having the mess food, whatever be the taste, enjoying it for the sheer company of friends is also a high.
It could be a long long walk in the rains, with my i-pod playing my favorite songs in my playlist and my phone capturing some lovely pictures. There is something about the sound of water falling on the pond here, the smell of wet leaves, the splendid silence, the lights guiding you around the pond, people - few and far- all in the rains, some enjoying, forgetting their unhappiness.. some are there aimlessly.

All these exercises do not really give the happiness we seek. In the end, when we share our experiences, do we truly get happiness! Try this. When totally upset and unhappy and not feeling good from within, just talk to someone close, your brother/sister/friends. Talk about anything in general. You will find yourself smiling again, forgetting that you were not happy sometime back.
Guess happiness is both the state of mind and state of heart, a mix of enjoying something you have done and doing something aimlessly. Talking all happy things or talking aimlessly, drifting from topic to topic. Happiness is definitely not being content, but just redefining what gives you happiness.
In this short journey of life, trying to define and redefine your happiness itself will end up being your destination