Whats Wrong with The ECONOMY????? Huh!! EVERYTHING !!

He pretty much sums up all the crap happening in the world. If the policymakers were willing enough to listen to people like Professor Means, world economy would have been in a way better position.

ये मैं नहीं कहता, गीता में लिखा है

भाई को मारो हक के लिए

परिवार की मर्यादा त्यागो 

झूठ और सच का भेद मिटा दो

साम दाम दंड भेद लगा लो 

ये सब कुछ सही है, सब चलता है 

ये मैं नहीं कहता, गीता में लिखा है

तुम गुरुओं को ही सबक सिखाओ

माँ बाप को भी ज्ञान बताओ

धर्म के नाम पे नीती गाओ

हर हाल में जीतते जाओ

इश्क और मुश्क में सब चलता है 

ये मैं नहीं कहता, गीता में लिखा है

मिले जो मौका, चूक ना जाना

हर दुश्मन को मार गिरना

झुका हुआ कमज़ोर ही सही

निहत्था हो तो ताल न जाना 

युद्ध जीतना सब कुछ होता है 

ये मैं नहीं कहता, गीता में लिखा है

कदाचन ऋषि ने माँ को फल देते हुए कहा

की कर्म के रास्ते में बहुत बाधाएं हैं

अगर कठिन लग रहा हो तो खिसक ले

हर बुद्धिमान मनुष्य यही करता है

ये व्याख्या मानो या न मानो, चलता है

ये मैं नहीं कहता, गीता में लिखा है

     Its always the least significant things that make the biggest impact, every time its the little gestures that make a huge difference in someone's life. It is and will always be the trivial events that change course of a day and sometimes of a life. These teenie-tiny things are what make life livable and treasureable. 


     Imagine having a rough day! Its not so tough for any of us, is it? Your boss shouted at you because she is menopausal. You were late for your appointment because you had a flat tire right right during peak hour. Your most awaited client deal went to your competitor because she has a double D. Your spouse is angry and against you because you don't succumb to the authoritative nature of your in-laws who luckily call up to inform that they are visiting for an extended period of time. You get 3 pimples right on your nostrils. There is pile load of laundry, dishes and dirty carpet to be cleaned before weekend. You get the worst headache of your life right when you had to change into 'superman'. Seems familiar? 


     Well, you are sitting on the sidewalk in the middle of the night, staring into the black sky hoping to see a ray of hope. There is no one whom you could talk without being judged and criticized. You don't know what to do o make everyone love you and admire you for all your sacrifices. You long for the comfort of a cozy embrace but hello? Its possible when you are in college, bonding over beer and dates. This is the real world and in real world, everyone is looking out to hurt you and steal from you. Competition is rampant and you are surrounded like Abhimanyu. 


     Suddenly, a car screeches by and a cute person looks down at your face. He takes a U-turn and stops right in the middle of the road across you and asks, "Are you okay? Do you need some help? Can I do anything for you?". You are startled by this intrusion but at the same time thrilled to see someone care about you. You feebly reply back: "Yup, I am okay. Thanks!". And he asks again:"Are you sure? Would you be fine after I leave? Why don't you just go home and rest? You will definitely feel better. Please.". You smile at him and tell him that your are grateful for his chivalry and you are absolutely fine, there is nothing to worry about. He looks at your face, just to double check, smiles, waves and leaves. And you feel ecstatic because someone bothered to ask about you. Someone took out a minute for you, even if that someone was a total stranger. It feels good to know that you matter to someone, you are more important than anything else, you are wanted. This single little gesture brings back the smile on your face, you bless that stranger in your heart and head towards your home. Happily after all, and when you lie down on your fluffy white pillow you quietly say: "Thank You, Stranger !"

Silence Please !

I lost my voice temporarily and its one of the best things to happen recently. I never realised that my prayers would be answered this way but as they say "kya pata kis bhesh mein narayan milein?" [you never know in which form you may find God]. Yes, I was in great pain, and very scared about my voice. So much was at stake, my relations, my friends, my career, my life, everything. All I was wondering was how would I live if I loose my voice, how will I talk to everyone, how will I soothe my husband's stress and my brother's worries? How will I calm my mother when she is agitated over some stupid rumour? How will I play kiddo with Dad? How will I support my friends in their darkest hours and rejoice in their success? How would I get a job damn it! This was all I thought for the first week. Then, the next week came and I became more comfortable in this silent world. Well, not exactly because its me who is silent, everyone else was freaking out over my condition and still is.

Those who know me, know that talking is my second nature. If I am silent, it means something is horribly wrong. If you don't believe me ask anyone around me. Yes, I do talk a lot and by lot I mean constantly, non-stop for hours and hours. If you are thinking that all I speak is non sense then you are mistaken. I do make sense, atleast half of the times. The rest half is well, just like every girl, gossip [:P]. I used to give lectures to my friends and family on philosophy, relations, politics, religion, health, almost anything. I love to debate, something my father-in-law doesn't find to his taste [:P]. And I do make sense because I make sure that my advice is really helpful and not a bunch of jargons. If you want proof, go to Yahoo Answers and look up for "Arien S". I am a level 2 member with 14% best answers (m not regular these days, so didnt climb higher). Anyways, the point is that my advice makes sense and that I talk sense and not just blabber all the time. My friends often tell me that I should become a motivational self-help guru which I was slightly considering until I lost my voice [I am in for a voice abuse my friend]. In short, my voice was my life-blood. [I know I am going a bit too much on about me, myself and my voice but hey, its my blog and I can talk about myself atleast
once in a while].

One fine day I got up with acute pain in my throat. Initally diagnosed as an ulcer, after 2 weeks of excruciating pain it turned out to be damaged vocal chords. I cud barely speak and that too in broken words. My ENT specialist forbade me from speaking entirely [as if I was speaking anyways. Huh!]. Since he pressed my mute button, the pain has subsided and I have resumed eating after 2 weeks of zero-food diet [I lost 7lbs & I look great apart from the dark circles, sunken cheek and pale skin]. But all of this gave me a new insight towards life. I experienced the life of a vocally handicapped person, bubbling with emotions but unable to blurt it our. Oh, I can communicate (in writing of course), practising my penmanship [why isn't it penwomanship?]. But, its hard to write down every single thought, especially since I am used to speaking in detailed lengths. Still, I try to keep up in the conversations. My friends and I have had a good laugh over my enthusiasm to speak my mind even when I can't really speak, some habits seldom die! My silence would prevail for some more weeks and a Voice Therapist would help me to gradually start speaking again [Till then you can rest your ears :D].

Coming back to my initial gratitudes, all of this seems so painful then why am I thankful? It is so that almost 3 weeks ago my life was all stressed with housework, school work, job search, family etc. and I really wanted a respite for a couple of days to gather my thoughts, rejuvenate my mind and strike back with fresh energy. It never occured to me that my 24/7 voice-cast [its a word, like podcasts] was a huge contributor to my disarrayed world. Being organised sometimes takes a huge toll on energy and mental peace than living in a mess. The day I went mute was the day things started to settle down, initally because I was focused on my ailment and didn't have time to think about other things but later on because it gave me time to think about things I hadn't been able to give any thoughts for quite sometime. Things like how much my husband had aged seeing me in pain for almost 3weeks, how Dad understands every word without any sound from me and feels my pain even though he can't see me from so far. I got to know how much my friends cared for me and that despite every stupid misunderstandings, we all do love each other. I heard my baby brother's tears when he came to know about my condition. I heard my favorite songs and this time heard it for the musicians, technicians, lyricists singers etc. I heard my husband talk for me. He became my voice even though he himself is monosyllabalistic [thats a word]. I even heard my heart, saying that All Izz Well [yeah I love 3Idiots], heard it say that even though life seems so haphazard, everything will fall in place, sooner or later all problems will reach their solutions. No matter what, life will be good and there will be sunshine around. I have had the privilege of free speech for so many years [think of those who can't speak and those who have voices but still can't]. And then, my friend, my mind became clear. I could see the sky, the clouds, the silver lining and above all hope. I reacheived happiness of heart, peace of mind and calm in my soul. I am no longer scared of loosing my voice, no longer scared of loosing anything. I found Nirvana !

Plagiarism: Severe than Plague

"Nice status message, dude! Where did u get it?

Aah, nothing special, just thought of it one day.

Com'on man, I know u. It isn't your type of thinking. You can't think it up ever :P

Yeah, yeah, I know u r damn smart. Ok, I accept its not mine. I read it on some one's blog, liked it and hence here it is. But seriously yaar, isn't it a brilliant piece. Now, everyone will think I am so deep and intellectual. hahahahahahaha !

Its awesome dude, I am going to look up something for mine as well. :D"

This conversation shouldn't seem alien. We all have heard, seen, or done it before. We all have come across some kind of rip off, lift up, inspired or plain copy of someone else's work. For something like a status message it doesn't seem so big of an issue. But, when it is spread across the wide canvas of public display, some hearts do break. Indian Film Industry or Bollywood as we lovingly call is an epitome of perfection when it comes to plagiarism. Right from Sholay to 3 Idiots, half of the movies/music are lift offs from some international movie, music album or bestseller novel. And most of the time, its left for the viewers to guess the source. Sometime during last year, I had compiled a list of all time chart buster hindi songs along with their originals on my Orkut profile. It seems like somebody got pissed and all the originals were withdrawn from YouTube (it was my primary source). A recent shocking surprise came from 3 Idiots. Anyone who has read the book knows that the movie is copied extensively. Just because Hari doesn't romance the dean's daughter but Ryan gets her doesn't make it a new story. And it was more shocking because Aamir Khan "The Perfectionist", Vidhu Vinod Chopra "The Classic Film-maker" and Raj Kumar Hirani "The A-lister" overlooked this and then rebuffed all the claims from Chetan Bhagat. After all, Dev-D was way different than Devdas but it cited itself as modern day Devdas story with a twist. That's honesty and integrity towards your profession.

We Indian don't take this pretty seriously because it is not a big deal if someone uses someone else's work to earn. I agree we have bigger issues to deal with but plagiarism is a moral hazard. It skews the mind of youngsters who don't realise it to be a mistake. When I was in business school, there were tons of assignments with very little time. Since Internet was handy, all we had to do was to open google and get all the data required. We hardly bothered about citing sources correctly and neither did our teachers think about it as long as we had a slide with 'Bibliography/References' at the end of the presentation. After coming to the States for my Masters, I followed the suit and did nothing more than citing the websites at the end of the presentation. That was when I learned about the gravity of this issue when my faculty asked me if I had lost all my mind coz my presentation was all set to sink my academic career. I was shocked and surprised to know that I could be thrown out of the school forever. But a learned man he was, he knew that Indians are ignorant about most of the moral laws. After all, we have one of the most corrupt systems in the world. But not all are this lucky. It hasn't been long when Kaavya Vishwanathan's writing career was destroyed because of the having numerous lift-offs from various sources.

I could go on and on about the issue but the point is not explaining it. The point here is to understand that plagiarism is a crime, and that too a serious one. We need to educate our teachers to incorporate proper citations as a mandatory requirements as well as punish all those who defy and deny proper respect to their sources. Its high time we get our morals right !