A Little Bit of Everything.......

India’s tryst with terror just doesn’t seem to get over. If anything, it is getting worse by the moment. Terrorists struck again last night – uglier than ever before. And they struck. Not once but ten times. Or may be more by the time you read this.

This has been worst ever terror attack. Lasting for more than 24 hours. Killing over 100. Injuring over 250. They don’t care anymore. Nationals, tourists, locals – anyone and everyone who is in the visibility. It’s the kind we could never imagine. Open fire on the innocent. Imagine what it is like to be in Kashmir!

Just a few hours before this massacre began the Roomie and I were there. We stalked almost every place that was blasted later that night. We were most enthusiastic about our shopping spree. I even wrote the last blog post after we got back. Later that night, all seemed so unreal and trivial. How does it matter? Shopping, getting tagged and all of that.

The Precious One was there that very night, at one of our favorite hangouts – for an hour. That was the toughest hour of my life. Frantically calling people, co-ordinating with them…

Only after he got back to safety, realization dawned on me that there are other people also, very dear to me, on whom I must check at once. And once I was assured that everyone was safe, I went into the usual musings.

How it has become so unpredictable suddenly…. How there is no way you can waste your time fighting with friends or family – there might not be a time for making it up…. How, it no longer ends at the fact that your family is safe because you know that every life is so precious…. How every month in the past year talks of some terror attack in various parts of the country….

Before I could drift off to sleep, I was given constant updates by friends about the big cops crumbling, the army being involved, fresh blasts at the venues and such other gory details.

Got up in the morning to face more bad news. More people dying. Government torn between foreign ties and national security. Media hawking the place. (Barkha Dutt still does the best covering job.) Should the government negotiate? Each one with their own views. The question is – if we do / don’t negotiate, is it going to resolve the problem forever?

The city calls out for help. Life seems unfair. There are still exams to take. And other such trivial realities of life. The show must go on.... 

Stay Safe... all of you! 

I was “tagged”. And that makes such a wonderful reason for me to ramble on a little more on this space. So here I go:

•  I am most tempted to blog during exams only because the alternative is to study. Now I wonder what will happen to this space when I will have no more exams to take!!
  
•  I simply do not know what it is like to say – “Hey! I am done with my shopping.” Or that “I have ENOUGH clothes / shoes / bags / perfumes etc and I don’t need it anymore.” I simply love shopping – for myself and others.
  
•    I just don’t seem to grow out of solids and get into florals!! Ditto for blues and blacks! Only very recently I discovered that pinks could be worn without looking ridiculously feminine.
  
•   I love to laugh (esp. in class). I can (do) laugh without a reason sometimes. I keep laughing (over jokes) long after other people have stopped. Many may think of this as, ahem, insanity but I actually like it. And funnily, most people (who don’t know me) are surprised at the mere fact that I am capable of simple, normal gestures as smile, forget laughing my lungs out!!
• I love photography – mainly when I am facing the lens!! The Roomie and I perfectly test the Tall Guy and Creative’s patience. The Roomie and I are ready with fake smiles at the sight of the camera. Hell, I am gonna miss them sore very, very soon.
  

That’s that for now. I must get back to studies now. Or some other mode of time pass. But before that, the following people must be tagged: 

1.      Romeo, yes you who is MADLY in love…

2.      Roomie, to get another post out of you!!

Sometimes, words just aren’t enough. To tell how much you love or hate. To tell what is life and death. To find a rhyme. To string the random thoughts. To curse, to bless; to express the joy of meeting a best friend or to tell how much you missed them. To construct an apt “tag”. And to write the perfect post.

And here I am. I still managed one!!

How hard is it to be different? I mean not the weird, oddball different. But different in the choices that one makes. How hard is it? Or rather let me rephrase it, how easy is it? I have been fighting with this question on and off lately.

After going through the most usual graduation course in a college which was considered reputed, I did a usual Professional course. I got many a pat on my back for that one. The quest didn’t end there. I thought management would “click”. (It did “click” in a way, but I am still writing this post.) So I took the entrances and made it to a decent B-school as well (am still there). Got some more congratulations for that.

Now there is another rat race to go. There is another trafficked highway. To be another bee of the hive or a sparrow in the sky?

There is a big tussle going on in my head – my way or the ‘highway’? There are days when I wake up in the morning and I feel absolutely resolved about what I want from life. I feel convinced that it will work. And then, there are other days when I get up and feel all skeptical. I try to morph the pictures formed in my head and recreate them in some gloomy eventuality!!

Then the confounded me talks to friends. They are all unanimous on the opinion. The Special One is a rock solid support. The Roomie, the Tall Guy and the Creative all keep flowing gentle encouragements my way and help me to chuck dismal, half formed thoughts in the bin. And then I make my way to another bright day.

And the story will go on like this….until I take that final step!!

P.S: And btw, The Roomie and I must stop pathetic suppressed giggles – that’s really childish.

Cheerful,

Me

So much has been said and written about it already and yet, I could not let my space be without it. I would just feel out of the place if I don't pen down my thoughts on this here. :)... And so here I go.......

And finally, after much speculation and hype, the United States of America has elected its new leader – President Barack Obama.

This election was one of its kinds in many ways. Firstly, President Obama is the first “African-American” president in the history of America. This, of course, is very significant given that in the land which is the mother of “liberal thinking”, race tolerance is considerably low. Although the times have changed and there has been an apparent ascent in thinking, however, there is still a long way to go. Secondly, he has inherited the worst financial crisis of the century. Many thinkers have gone as far as claiming this even worse than the Great Depression of 1930. It could be a boon or a bane for him depending on what he and his cabinet make out of it. Thirdly, in the light of the current facts, this seems to be a pregnant point in the life time of the economic super power – a point where every decision will count, every strategy will have huge implications in shaping the future (of America and rest of the world), a point which will demand every ounce of intellect and statesmanship from him. And fourthly, he will have to face the worst (yet) terror threats and environmental concerns.

Beyond these obvious challenges are some hidden lessons for other countries and the leaders-to-be. Most important to my mind is the role of transparency in the whole process. It helped the voters to distinguish between the deliverables of each candidate. It also conveys to them how the candidates are screened and on what basis inappropriate candidates are eliminated and helps in building trust in their minds. Of course there would be imperfections, there always are. But this is a huge leap towards progress...

Then it drives home the point (more forcefully than ever) that politics remains the game of creating a public image and selling it. And that image was so masterfully crafted and designed and communicated that it would hardly be a surprise if it is recorded in the books as a case study for management students. 

His biggest strength was age and by logic the biggest weakness was lack of experience. But trust his luck to turn his biggest weakness into a blessing; for Americans (hit and battered) were looking at a candidate capable of bringing about a change is their lives and not someone who has immense experience in doing what is not needed in the present situation.

He seems to be making his mark all the way through the campaign. What with the extensive use of internet for campaigning, donning an unorthodox image, garnering a huge fortune to fund the campaign in a luxury never seen before and the most inspiring “Yes, We Can” speech! All throughout, he defied the old ways as if to reiterate the change that he promises to bring. 

Well, whether he can or he cannot is yet to be seen. The world desperately needs a leader and especially when the fates of virtually all economies would rest in the decisions made by this man, they would all want to cling to every shred of sunlight promised by him.

They say “adversity brings out the best in a man”. Let’s all trust it does because he is the Hope – for the jobless; the loss bearers; the producers and consumers; the economists and governments; the rich and poor; the tax-payers and pensioners; the youth and age; for the East and West; for the Whites and the Blacks and the Browns of the world.