Dreams of a young mind

And only the other day did I find out that there are scores of young minds trapped in the vagaries of life either through courtesy of situations or through non-introspection of personality and clamorous goals ahead. Either of the cobwebs succeeds in trapping and slowly exhausting the victim to imminent death.

Young and vibrant minds shall have a level playing field- with a freedom to explore and catapult their way onto the unknown methods. But these innocuous-looking receptions that the young receive at their grandiose workplaces for small morsels of code are in actuality the baits to make the world of trade survive and engineer mountains of profit to the capitalist (and voracious employers).  And slowly and silently the deaths of thoughts start taking their shape. The once young and energetic and effervescent youth stands lost in the world of trade, the path to continuation and riches awaits- showing immense opportunities in terms of materialistic wealth that would be accumulated and swept away in unworthy but savory means.

Is there a path to redemption that may be chosen to achieve what the youth once thought to pursue and enrich with creative and spiritualistic juices?

Definitely, there is. But it’s narrow and looks shabby for such a grand (wo)man to follow. The youth is received by a myriad of provocations- a one such ‘thought’ that has outlived its age and is barely surviving, pleads to (the youth) let it live further- once the youth chooses the grandiose path its life would come to a scorching end; the youth is lost among the choices to choose from. Does the path that looks a little liberated from materialism would hand any satisfaction, would it allow me to embrace my dreams, would it encourage me to follow my mind and heart in cohesion- these many trumpets were beating reaching a crescendo with whether this path would let me ‘be me’.

A greater hollow was to follow these when almost similar questions were posed by the other much travelled path albeit with solutions and they said that we would give you all the riches of the world to buy anything you want, to get all the happiness of the world with these and none will be able to escape your desires. And they re-emphasized that we would titillate your senses with pleasures that were, till ago, were un-gettable.

The youth was spoilt for choices. But this time the choice was made easier. The grandeur path was head bent on immersing the youth with all the unwanted and unthinkable pleasures one may ever desire. The youth was apologetic; he allowed exploitation of oneself. What life is without the real pleasure- a quaint serene flow of pious actions devoted to cultivate the highest virtues- truth and kindness, affection and peace.

And the youth led oneself to the shabby looking path leading to the kingdom of knowledge and love where matter of desire is never able to take any tangible shape. The youth returned to being I and was kept in the highest spirits by the pleading dream. 

Various ends

The angst and pang of being transferred in six months to a different section has a big bearing mentally. Now I am in some position and command to empathize with the fellow transferees. It can be understood to a certain extent as to why the political bigwigs always converge on the ‘transfer manual’ when they see no light at the end of their tunnels against the meager public servants- they may be either police personnel, officials of some ministries, et al.

But why ‘transfers’ always smell of dubious colors? Investigating a little further would unearth the normal human behavior of being in a shell- comfort and ease has to be traded with other entities- opportunities, change and chance. More often than not, transfers in the government sector are an annual exercise and are always expected to wreck havoc in a settled lifestyle of an employee. We are expected to work in our workplaces for close to three decades at the least, assuming entry levels near late thirties- that may well shoot to four decades in exceptional cases. Here job- hopping or job-shopping may be a neglected utopian process leading to futile outcomes.

Coming to enhancing the efficiency of an organization based on individual efforts, we would be shocked to discover that it is imperative only for those souls who can work their skins out; while a complete unknown territory for those who switch to hideouts to save their skins. Why the society always desires the efficient ones to work with an egalitarian approach? Why shall the benefits of those souls percolate to those who are inefficient and ugly to play their life’s strings?

We are all born equal (from the Mother) and yet in the Indian context it doesn’t find relevance. As per the Fundamental Rights conferred upon (us) by the Constitution, one reads “Right to equality, including equality before law, prohibition of discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth, and equality of opportunity in matters of employment, …” but in the cobwebs of amendments and (ill) politics it loses its sheen and relegated to the irons of reservation, it leads to widespread discontent and disharmony among various sections of the society. It sounds naïve to tag this as a society where the Fundamental Rights are violated as often as we blink. What is equality where the fruits of one’s labor end up with those who don’t flicker as least-working even in the wildest of the dreams? While our institutions of the greatest virtue term the coaching institutes of serving a populace of spoon-feeders leading to inefficient brains in their temples, the same sane virtuous ideology is handed a testing time and quoted in a different light altogether while providing sustainable living to all generations by-passing the Constitutional rights.

Dr.Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar was a visionary and he sought to fill the wedge that so-existed then. He failed but the cunning political lions grabbed it with both hands and this is still being used to corner out their share in the democracy called ‘India’. Finally, he bowed and took solace in Buddhism (his last book remained unpublished until few years ago). Now a new menace is lurking- reservations in promotion; the brains that devise these must be so original and inventing, yet they are neither egalitarian nor social; they are deceptive and the culture so-promoted would wither and annihilate the social fabric in the long run. The snippets we are seeing in Assam and other such pockets amply reflect the outcomes and no political party tried to burn their hands meddling in this troubled waters. The instigation, the exodus, the killings, the pathos, the anger, the fear – lurking in the environment are pollutants to be carried to coming generations much like those from Kashmir, Gujarat, Bombay, etc. In the end it turns out that it is not the politicians but common man of Mr. Laxman who repents, suffers and consoles.

It’s time we realize our duties and responsibilities and fight the politicians of all hues and nature. Jai Bharat….

Perceptions

Perceptions, in the most general cases, are the interpolated nets of thoughts dependent on the state of the surrounding and oneself. If an analogy is drawn from the frequency domain transformations, it would turn out that this signal from the neurons termed as perceptions  is actually a variable band pass filter.


As in the case of this filter, a selected band of high frequencies is allowed to pass and that reflects at the output. Similar is the case here- we tend to be in the state (physical one obviously) that corresponds to a particular set of thoughts at that instant of time or time in the past due to which our interpretation of events presently tends to change. And this change is the very reason for it to be termed as variable band pass filter. It could well have been defined as variable band stop, or band reject or low pass filter. Then what may be the reason that band pass was allowed an upper hand? Well.....it is again my perception that the word 'pass' creates a sense of positiveness while the others subscribe to some extent (if not wholly!) anti-positiveness. More thoughts on the usage of the word 'high'- human brain is empowered and prized enough as the best processor with its speed of thoughts unheard or unexplored of in the world of gizmos. So any linkages with low pass (low frequency but pass) would certainly dent the image of our mighty brain.


If the environment is against someone, she may tend to perceive that even the closest of her aides, the confidants are on the other side of the army. This perception has the bigger chances to stand in her mind w.r.t. the others; the situation would really be different if the environment is clear, helping and conducive for support- this very negative thought would then have the smaller of the chances to occur in her mind. So the conclusion that may be drawn is that perception is the product of environmental situation and one's position with respect to that situation. The product is healthy and prospering; only  if all is positive. But eyes shall be wide open to assess environmental challenges, changes, camouflages specially when we are on the healthy side but the environment is not.




Written on 24.07.2010

Sugar And Salt

Everything is simple if we reduce them to fundamentals. This apt quotation materializes only at the hands of those who allow simplicity to perch at their sills. We are all too complexed by the infringement of materialistic flavour deep into our lives. A speck of introspection would reveal where we introduced unwanted adulteration, yet we never allow ourselves to stabilise.


The basis of stability has been disoriented to an extent beyond redemption. It, while representing only the riches never accounts for happiness through the channels of satisfaction. The mind, thought and body work in tandem and it is only when they are in sync do we truly and fundamentally rise towards inner solace and attain virtue. We are in a phase of constant struggle to liberate ourselves, to manifest the truth that we are, to elevate and realise the soul inside us. But in an age of acute distraction and pleasure forging derivatives- we loyally misplace ourselves.

The most fundamental aspect is we must live to enjoy the beauty that life is. A repentance is the defeat, an act of destruction and betrayal and subjugated is our spent life. Its marginalized.


A small story would clear the fettered emotions. A close acquaintance of mine stays near Dumdum in Kolkata and I went to her apartment once - a bright and airy one- on the 3rd floor. The day was unbearably cruel from the discomfortability factors' perspective- hot, humid and silent- without a trace of air. Climbing three floors and if bestowed with no electricity would have been the last nail on the coffin. Luckily, the coffins were no where near that day. In the meantime came the cooking gas delivery man and promptly completed his assignment. Being humane, the lady of the apartment offered him a cold refreshing glass of rasna with ice cubes floating at the behest of Archimedes- definitely a good proposition considering the effort of the nature to corner its perpetrators. But the delivery man's sense of control over his senses puzzled me. He never for a moment seemed to be oversubscribed with joy for being offered- he requested just plain water with a spoonful of sugar and a pinch of salt- and politely turned down the lucrative.

Many a inferences we can draw. To me its more like having knowledge of your desires and its interference with inner soul. Let us kindle our buried withins and pose a few thoughtful questions:

i) Do we need all the wealth we are channelizing (my friends! wealth is a man-made concoction that fizzles at the mere blink of nature)?


ii) Of what use is travelling throughout the world when we are yet to traverse within us!


iii) Where shall we head towards or allow our actions to roam about for stability?

No Strings Attached

Few people except the residents and businessmen may be aware of a place on the landscape of West Bengal called Haldia. It is a serene (or shall I say was!!) beautiful city on the banks of river- Haldi and has provided enough fodder- being a port city- towards the growth of the biggest industries in and around it. Then came the sharks to tap the educational potential (that the place was supposed to offer; being away from the City Pent) and behold; an engineering institute came up by the name Haldia Institute of Technology.

Like a chain reaction- it propelled small but sufficient and family-like shops to mushroom around it; each specializing in tea, omelette, maggi (bhaja maggi v1.0), parothas, etc., the staple diet of engineers.

I had left my job in September 2009 and was preparing for GATE ( graduate level examination for admission into PG programmes) while staying at my professor Dr. P.R.Purkait's residence in the college campus. I was a student of the institute from 2003 to 2007.

There was one such shop that bobbled very recently and to my greatest surprise it was selling "litti"- a kind of spherical or circular flour cakes filled with fried gram flour along with a host of spices, ginger, garlic, etc. and cooked either deep fried or over heated charcoal. This litti has its ardent base in the states of Bihar and UP. It is usually served with "chutney" (made up of fresh coriander leaves grinded with a pounder against a stone slab) or "chokha" (made from roasted brinjal/ potato/ tomato- all mashed together with a tinge of mustard oil, green chillies and salt to taste.

Now my college- in the vicinity of Bengal and away from the pompous and grand Kolkata (by a margin of 120 kms.)- did have a substantial population from those northern neighbors- and accordingly business acumen prevailed over simplicity. It was a kind of daily affair to have litti-chokha-chutney in the evening and tea to complement and savour the spicy taste. Moreover the taste of the above delicacies tend to reach pinnacle if its monsoon and rain gods have their supplies uninterrupted on a plain lucky day.

Most of the shop owners employed children from the nearby villages or children from their extended families so as not to create dependencies. In that litti shop worked an effervescent and garrulous kid named Bhola-ageing around 7 years. Bhola is the name of Lord Shiva and it also means simple. And he was the center of attraction and we used to pull his leg on the least of pretexts. But he took these in the best of the spirits and amused us beyond anger, surprise; and a healthy dose of entertainment was lined up in the evenings. 

A recent study carried out by eminent scholars concluded that any two unknown persons in this world would be somehow connected by the seventh node i.e. one person would be related to another by a chain of other seven persons. On this note and out of curiosity and general inquisitiveness, I thought of knowing more about that little kid, so I placed a nugget, Who else is there in your family? And his stark reply swept me by surprise; more so as I never expected it to be so choking and full of a sense of lost childhood and brimming pathos (which that kid might not be fully aware of!!). 

And his reply to who else is there in his family was Aamar keu nai!! (Nobody is there in my family).

Written on 24th May 2011.

Decoded...Not Yet

In today’s technologically progressive world, human feelings have been relegated to the brink of humiliation. Now the so-called social life breathes only in the virtual world of Facebooks, Twitters, Orkuts (my sincerest obituaries) and so on. Real people are nowadays found only in the cobwebs of virtual constituencies from where all the phases of fast-paced life are made public without the incursion of RTI on their lives. Quite shocking and disturbing, especially when we hear on a regular basis that defamation suits are filed more often than appreciating messages.

But the more intriguing question that lurks is- why are we cutting the real connections and unnecessarily procuring ourselves to others unasked for, while shunting the real fabric of attachment and letting it die a silent death- mocking it with a tinge of embarrassment.

Only the other day did I find that I turned a year older and some 70 odd Facebookers walled me on this monumental achievement; and believe me I was least impressed. I had no real connections with at least 60% of them, haven’t spoken with the rest 30% for almost 5 years, and the filtered ones numbering around 6-7 do share a bond of coupling- shall I pronounce strong enough and tested for tenacity over the span of time- but even a notable number of them preferred to limit themselves to walling me- an ode to Facebook on curbing the sensibilities of mind and heart- without it being imposed on them.

Agree that out of those 6-7, few might not be having the privilege of owning my exclusive ‘mobile number ‘- at least the remaining 2-3 must be free from that- and when I say least let us agree on ‘1’- who shall have all the reason to touch me by sound waves- even there Facebook lured away. What bait does it offer in turn? It must be their secret recipe behind this unassuming feat- changing the course of attachment with its magical chords.

Written on 23rd May 2011.