This Crackers Culture.. Damn it...

I have never had great fantasy for crackers. As a child, I was afraid of it even till I was in 6th Standard. Later when I started enjoying, my mom always had a budget within which I should buy crackers and the budget was sickening low and have never enjoyed a crackerful deepevali. Later when I was in Class XI, I attended this function called Anandha Deepavali organised by Udhavum Ullangal - it is a deepavali celebration for lesser fortunate children. That year again brought about a change in me towards crackers. This time it was not fear, it was out of responsibility (I'm proud to say so). I was amidst kids for whom celebration was once is a year, organised by a few noble people. For whom eating vegetable biryani and onion raitha was a heavenly meal (few ate just onion raitha). For whom singing and dancing was possible in spite of the state of their life. For whom everybody they meet are brothers sisters and well wishers. For whom life has never been kind, yet they faced it with grit and smile. For whom deepavali was just another until this Anandha Deepavali took its stage. Due to safety of children at the function, "vaana vedikai" was arranged rather than allowing these kids to fire crackers. At this moment on seeing the light on the faces of these children was lightening. I was struck. Yes, crackers bring light and life for these children. No joy could match it. Do I really need crackers for joy? Isn't there a joy for me on seeing those happy faces? Do I need more joy than that? Does it make sense to fire crackers and feel happy about it? Thankfully since it is an event organised a week before deepavali, I resolved no crackers from that year onwards.

Though initially it was on seeing these children who could not celebrate, I was exposed to further disgusting facts about crackers and its industry in sivakasi. I continued with my resolve of "No Crackers". When I was doing my artcicleship, I just happened to listen to Mr. Sankar Mahadevan, Founder Trustee of Udhavum Ullangal. He told about the National Child Labour Project (NCLP) in Sivakasi through which Udhavum Ullangal supports education of children who were subjected to child labour. He explained how early kids are getting into the habit of working and how difficult it is to convince their parents to allow them study. He told that there were parents who told that if someone gives them Rs. 200/- per month that the child earns, they would allow the child to study. Of all he spoke, this remained in my mind. It didn't stay still in my mind. It continued to grow and disturb me. I felt there is more reason for me to say "No Crackers". So for every moment of happiness here by firing crackers, there are tears of hundreds of people. It is not just tears of hundreds, its their blood, their future. You could question, by you saying "No to Crackers", have you stopped child labour and tears of those families? Well, I have done my bit to not encourage one more family/child to be forced to child labour. How? Its simple economics. My demand for crackers is zero, hence production for me is zero. Had my demand been there, to enable supply, there would have been production, which could have affected a child's future? And there are many like Udhavum Ullangal, who take efforts to stop child labour, so it is my bit towards that.

You could argue, its for the government and industry to mature and regulate itself, why should I bother? I pay legally and I enjoy. Alright. It is your right to enjoy, but as you grow its assumed that with physical growth, you also mature mentally. It is okay for a kid to celebrate by firing crackers. Yes, its essential that kids enjoy. You don't stop kids from celebrating. You facilitate for them. But you grow up donkeys and monkeys, please grow. Stop firing crackers for your joy. You have various means of pleasure. Don't enter into a kids terrain. And does your happiness come at the cost of only someone far off whose face you do not know? See the world just immediately around you. What is the disturbance you cause to them? You do not know who is there in what state in the next house. Imagine, if there were some heart patient or elderly people with some illness looking for peaceful sleep. Isn't there a moral responsibility on you on timing of firing crackers? What if you had one such patient in your house and your neighbour fires a 10000 wala at 4 AM in the morning? Can you even drop out and ask him a question? You mindless idiot did it without minding people around you, why should your neighbour be bothered at all now? You want others to understand you, but never think of others?? What health hazards are you bringing? Can you breathe at ease when you are going out on a diwali day? Doesn't it affect the environment? Trees, birds, your lovely pets.. And at the cost of all these, you feel proud to have fired crackers worth so much. 

As if these are not enough, I hear people saying that it is "SASTRAM" to fire crackers. My goodness, which SASTRA said so? It may have been your practice since ages, but that need not be the way around now. If you think of long back, yes, they would have fired crackers prepared in their own backyard just to inform the next village or any part of forest that there are people living out there and they are happy celebrating. But it is not  a SASTRA to fire one today. I'm not an atheist, but this SASTRA sans logic.

CELEBRATION SHOULD NOT BE DISTURBING OTHERS. MIND IT.

The Anna Hazare Movement

What an individual can do to a nation? How can an individual change the nation from its wrong deeds? How will it possible for a poor old man to convince a mighty government? Whether it is worth spending the time and resources? Why should one support Anna Hazare? Why are people attached to Anna Hazare call themselves Civil Society members? Does that mean that MPs and MLAs are separate being from civil society members? How can a set of individuals demand for a bill to be passed in parliament? Is this democracy mature enough to go through a larger public debate on this? What is lokpal Bill? What is Jan Lokpal Bill? How will it curb corruption when it has become part of life? Is there any society in the world that is corruption free, that could be taken as a model to replicate and study? Why is corruption happening? Why people don't mind paying bribes? Why people are never ashamed to demand/receive bribes? Can I be the change I want to see? Or will be just another person blaming the society that it is and live according to it? Why is there a group that mask behind Anna Hazare and engage in unsocial activities? How can we stop these individuals from rotting a noble movement? How can a guy threaten to commit suicide in support of Jan Lokpal by climbing a advertisement hoarding? Why does Government machinery respond to such frivolous threat? Why a police officer of rank of SI need to climb the hoarding to speak with? Is this life most important that 2 teams of fire rescue team, an ambulance and a team of police officers are attending to that person? Is it not better to shoot him down or let him do whatever he does? Why do people stand and watch this causing further disruption to a flowing traffic? Is this individual right in affecting these many people for a noble demand? Does Anna's movement give a signal that "threaten and you will get" movement? Why do people use this movement and involve in blocking roads drunken and chasing a journalist? Why do these guys carry national flag while doing all these? Should we allow such people to grow? How to curb such people? If a single old man can do so much to a nation, why not every individual become righteous? How many people know of the movement? How many people are less greedy to allow a corruption free country? How many people are really looking to be the change they want to see? How many people just feel that saying I support Anna is sufficient? What is the change that we are looking at? Can one ever feel it? 

These are questions that came to my mind on seeing a 'rogue student' holding our national flag on top of thiruvanmiyur railway station causing problems to common public. People should understand the movement. It is guided by an Old man who is doing what he could do without harming others. It is a humanitarian movement with mutual respect for all in the society. It is not the one to draw attention. It is not the one to disrupt public. It is not the one for unsocial elements. It is the one for change. It is the one to inspire a nation. It is one to give opportunity for the nation to correct itself. It is one for good future. Yes, when you have many positives, few negatives do erupt, but it is out duty to wipe these negatives off, rather than live with it.

Girls and food

This is most common partnership that you can associate with, in our day to day life (though lady would be more appropriate, here, girl includes a lady), yet this is a rare combination. Common because we associate HER to cooking as we grow up. Rare because SHE never is a good eater. The reason may be the consequences of eating her self-cooked food (ha ha just kidding). It is really strange why the one who is exerts so much care in cooking for others in the family, remains the Starved. Going further into the demographics of the Starved, it would be even more startling and worrying for youngsters like me (well, yeah still very young). Girls of our generation (that's the reason I didn't want the title to carry the word "lady") and the next are the most common under-eaten creatures. And this is a worry on two fronts. One - you don't have someone who has appetite for eating to cook various delicacies for you. Two - you have a weak person (spouse) to be taken care of at a young age leaving no peace in the family.

Why do Girls under-eat?

You can call it an illusionary dieting. Most girls think that eating less helps them to stay in shape. First of all they just do not know what is the right quantity. They don't reach the optimum level upto which they will still stay in shape. The obsession for shape will cost them dearly. All under-eating is foolishness. There are many others, particularly in chennai, who stay away from home, who are lazy to cook. Alright, you can be lazy to cook, but can't be foolish to skip a meal. Why not get into one of the hotels, mess and fuel the system? The system will not behave in the manner it is supposed to, unless you feed it with adequate fuel. All I can say of under eating girls is that they are building up a painful future. Health is wealth. Staying in shape now is not important. Staying for the larger part of life itself is important.

Anemia calling

When you don't eat enough and healthy, you succumb to various side effects. One such thing is Anemia. This is becoming one of the largest unnoticed disorders among adolescents. This is most common in girls. Recently read a UNICEF report that states more than 90% of adolescent girls in India suffer from anemia and more than 90% of it go unnoticed. Anemia is a condition where there are not enough healthy red blood cells. Red blood cells are the ones that supply oxygen to tissues. Oxygen flow keeps you fresh. That is why you feel good, when you go out early in the morning, than during a polluted evening. When oxygen is supplied short, what could happen? There may be various impacts falling out of this. One obvious fallout is tiredness, which leads to stress. And stress leads to umpteen number of other side effects. And you don't realise that's all because of food habits.

What can be done about it?

All that us required is make girls eat like guys!!! I really feel good when I see a girl who eats food in sufficient quantity (this is a rarity, yet have seen a few). Similarly, I hate people who do no eat properly (there are few guys as well). I only hope that they realise quantity also matters while eating. Just as they are associated with cooking, they should be interested in eating as well. For an alternative, do girls need guys to cook for them to eat well???

What is friendship???

Good friendship will make you a better person. But how does that friend make the difference? Its because you want to remain good or become good for that person to be your friend. You want to be their friend or retain their friendship very badly that you become better. Later you don't want to loose someone so you thrive to be the best. Its still not enough and you keep improving. By this time you are known to the world as a good human being. My God, its never for the good of all others, its only for a good friend that brought you all these. So a good friend is important. A good friend is not a person who remains with you always. That friend is not going to make a difference in your life. A good friend is the one who will move away from you for your wrongdoings, who will not tolerate wrong path tread by you, who will not forgive your blunders, who will never be the friend that was. It is this phobia that will make you better. The better human being. And another good friend.

TN Elections 2011 - Will this mark a new era of voter credibility??

Well, what an election results we have had. Jayalalitha sweeping Karunanidhi and his family off the state. It was expected there could be a negative wave against DMK and its allies but never would have imagined it to be of this magnitude. Whether its negative votes or trust entrusted on AIADMK and Jaya, this would definitely mark a new beginning. The beginning that could make politicians feel that they are to serve the people, the beginning that would make politicians feel that development is the only slogan, the beginning that would make politicians stop accumulating wealth, the beginning that would have evaluating systems for MLAs and ministers to continue with the job, the beginning that could see more educated people joining established political parties, the beginning that could see more people turning up to vote in future, the beginning that could transform the life of the last citizen in Tamil Nadu, the beginning that would root "corruption" out of the society, the beginning that would make the journey more interesting, the beginning that many other states would follow, the beginning that is inspired by Narendra Modi and Nitish Kumar, the beginning that generations before us never heard of, most importantly the beginning that would change you and me.

All these could just remain a dream. But I strongly feel that this magnitude of margin clearly vindicates the mood of the people and it would be foolish for the ruling party to play around with the electorates again. There will be increased pressure from the Janta. There will be increased awareness for the Janta. This will make the Janta more informative when it comes to choosing their leaders. And if at all that happens, electoral results can truly be predicted from an air-conditioned room, that would mean TN voters have become mature and are credible creatures who just don't wander over here and there.

No Title

I’m just about beginning to write this blog without any title. So the subject is not decided. Will try to have an appropriate title at the end when it is published.

How does it feel when you are neglected? It is an instant and everlasting pain I would say. It is like having a wound right on upper part of your wrist that you can neither ignore seeing it nor you can ignore the fact of having got the wound. The pain is so immersed that you never know there is pain at all. The devastation is so much that you possibly take weirdest of decisions that you can ever think of, with your own sweet will and conscience. The pleasure is that you are neglected by the one you love. Insanely this pleasure would continue  to override all those pains. 

Can you ever replace a person in life? My answer will, was and is always no. There are no humans alike. If you had come across a person in life, there can ever be one who could fit in as a perfect replacement. This is not a job market where you find people who would suit a particular role. Life is more personalized. There are no roles in it. It is human beings and their relations in it. It sans logic to think of replacement in human relationship. But still, there are always contrary views that exist and will continue to exist. 

The level of irritation is so high that you begin hating yourself and the environment for the reason that you do not want to hate the person. Particularly, when there are obvious new companies that have erupted to the person who has been close with you. There are questions that arise, “had this not happened or had that not happened?”, but the eventual truth is that all that has happened can never be taken back.

Again, when the person walks back into your life, will everything be fine and flashy as it used to be? Never and its never going to be. There are certain journeys that cannot be travelled back in time. The original personalty can never be placed.

Whatever be it, one is better off when not attached to emotions and there will be hardly any in this category. In fact there will be no one in this category. There may be persons, just like me who can hide emotions, but it is perilous than being emotional. You are caught on a trap which no one else could ever attempt to help. You are on a voyage that does not have any direction and you are not being yourself. But, as destiny would go, I will continue to be myself, get even more hardened, never respect or care about any single individual’s emotions.

And the title is “Foolishly confusing ME”

Sleep - perilously beautiful

Can you ever imagine a life without sleep? It is never a life then. Sleep is a heavenly state of mind while you live. Sleep energises you and the environment. It energises you, because you are doing nothing. It energises the environment, again because you do nothing. So sleep is a way to go green. While sleeping you live a life the way you want to. The world behaves the way you want it to. Because nobody gets to live the life they want to. If somebody feels that they have everything in life and they should have everything in life, always suffers from insomnia and they never can have everything in life. Finally, sleep is epitome of confidence for a man - yes, he is confident that he will wake up, but there is never a guarantee for it.

Stone melts - partially though

I have never been so loving, so affectionate, so caring, so compassionate, so kind-hearted, so tolerant, so warm, so understanding and can include any other good thing expected of a person. This is certainly a change in me that those close to me have noticed. For others its just how a normal human being is supposed to be. Whatever, I have changed rather I have started to live my life the way others want to.

Why is this change so important in my life? Why is it, I have lived life the way I wanted to so long without considering that there are others who are living the way I want it? How is it going to affect people around me? How is it going to affect me? These are the questions that float around having realized that I have changed. Well, I need to find answers for that and fortunately I have found out.

This change makes me a part of society. This change makes me an human being who can be impactful. A person who will be missed. A person who can think what others feel. Larger portion of my life (touch wood) I believe is yet to happen. Larger to mean both in terms of depth and longevity. Obviously the benefits I would reap will be much more and so I have not missed much due to my erratic nature.

My past in many ways attributing to my ego has been glorious past. I was so egoistic and self centered that I cared a damn about what others feel. I can never empathize. I can never console a person. I can never feel that somebody will feel bad if I shout at them. I was so selfish that I have never worried about tears in others eyes – whether in front of me or outside my vicinity. I was so used to these qualities I never felt that I was odd man out. I never realized that I should be loved and taken care of. I saw everyone as selfish and those who do their duties. Similarly felt that I have a duty to do material things I receive. I never felt the intangibles of friendships or relationships. I never realized I was losing out on friendships. Still, I should say I am fortunate to have a bunch of friends who I can proudly hold out as friends to anybody in this world.

The people around me are important part of me as I realize. Its not going to be possible to live in isolation. I need love, affection, attention, care of people around me. I need to essentially be eligible to receive these. Only way I can be eligible is to give whatever I expect.
I am the ultimate beneficiary. There is certainly an argument from within me that I changed because of my realization that I need to benefitted more than what I possess today. I have again been selfish. I have changed by compulsion. But the fact is I needed to realize it. And the ultimate fact is I realized it. Well, I was made to realize.

I have changed. A word of caution for myself though is I have not changed for all.

Why my baloon?

I have never believed that one could fail in an examination when he has put in the necessary efforts. Also one can never pass an examination without putting in what is necessary. This has always been my inner thought. There have been no pity whatsoever for those who had failed the examination. And now I am in a precarious situation. I am utterly under prepared. Confidence quotient also seems to be lower this time. The time I would get for my three subjects from now on seems to be 2 days (a Sunday included) – I have already got 2 days. This would easily be my worst preparation ever for an examination. What fascinates me the most was that people around me have taken things for granted? There is this inexplicable feeling amongst them that I will be passing any case. I was never offered leave for my three exams. But there will be week of absence for a single day exam. This is the pinch of truth when you become a professional. You can never expect to be treated as a child. It is upto us to take care of the needs and demands. The world around you will be ruthless. The rules are set to be flexible where you always feel that you are at the loose end with no flexibility. Considering the demands at this stage of the career, imagining a similar situation few years down the line is a nightmare. Enjoying your space as a student is important. The days will never come back. Your mom will never wake you up with a coffee for you to study. Your dad will never stop watching TV for your studies. Your relatives and friends will never hesitate to trouble you while you study. And there will be other group of people seeking your attention depending on the stage of your life. It is important to be out of student age at the appropriate time. But also its important that you are not into professional life at very early stage. You always want somebody to pamper you when you are into professional life early. But when that doesn’t happen you feel let down and disappointed. The sum and substance is “be a student when you are supposed to be and be a professional when you are expected to be”. The 'X' factor is also missing for this exam - I am to blame for it.

Strategic science

This is the word that has been me fascinating since Mid 2009. Strategy happens everywhere. It is not the sacred thingy discussed at closed rooms, on corporate vacations, over a cup of drink in business-class hotels. Strategies are made by you, me and everyone. A women begging at the signal strategically chooses a signal that lasts more than a minute. A child at a super market strategically eyes for a candy and her mother strategically avoids it. Strategy is in every single moment of our life. Yet in business, strategists are considered are golden egg laying hens. They are treated as honchos. They get all the comfort in this world. They are best paid in the organisation. Why all these attention at corporates when we all are strategically sensitive?

At corporate level, strategic management is the most critical function. They set the direction for the entire business. What is a strategy - It is a systematic long term plan of action. This plan of action depends on various factors. It depends on an organisation's existing policies, procedures, control systems, position in the market, external environment comprising competitors, consumers, government policies and action, and other stakeholders. It requires a lot of inputs. It requires corporate appraisal both internally and externally to generate various alternatives. It is in most cases worked out scientifically. Strategists are statisticians and economists and they work out lot of significant theories and numbers and arrive at a course of action called their strategy for the company.

Going by the way corporates function these days and the level of importance assigned to the function of strategic management, it would be but to tend to the conclusion that strategy development is a science. If it is so perfect a science then why does it fail at all? There is something more to it. It is not mere science. If it is science, there is a definitive way of approaching and concluding it. But hardly we come across same strategy for a similar set of data and situation. This is because strategy also has a touch of human element in it. The people part of strategy making often can be taken as the lead as to how a strategy will be. The strategies will always depend on the person making it. It simply is not possible to detach human element from strategy.

And that human element which makes any strategy successful is intuition. A scientific process may generate a lot of strategic options but at last intuition of the entrepreneur or manager leads to the selection of the most successful alternative and most of the times, the successful strategy may not be even generated by the scientific methods adopted by an organisation. It comes out of repetitive learning and experience that goes into human brain. So it is not scientific strategies that are successful, it is the intuitive strategies that are behind most successful businesses in the past and will be in the future. Never count your intuition out - learn to hear to your intuition, you will be successful 9 out of 10 times.

Talking one out

The term communication in today's corporate world is talking your opponent out. If you are one of the two persons which the company looks for its procurement or services, the quality of the products or your services does not win you the contract. Its obvious that products or services will be felt only at a later point of time. You need to remember that once you have won an order, the client will not be taking the other product/service and the quality is only your delivery. So the bottomline is winning that order. There will be lot of talking that needs to be done with the client. You need to look more convincing than the your competitor.

You are not going to be asked to explain your worth when your competitor is demonstrating his product/service. You are most times, one-one with client, represented by a group of people though. So how do you talk out a person without even talking to him. Thats the challenge you need to be aware of. Its is simple to understand but difficult to comprehend. One can comprehend a situation of arguing out another opponent. But how do you achieve this?

Whenever you are selling your product/services, the conviction thats drawn is more important than your command over vocabulary, language and other stuff. You have to be first convinced of your own product/service. Transcending such conviction to your client is the task that needs to be planned and executed well. So the roadblock is usually the marketer himself, where he tries to sell product/service, which at first place he himself is not convinced about. When you are convinced, half the job is done. With little communication skills you can achieve.

How do you transcend the conviction? The listener has to experience what you speak. The output should be visible to him through your speech. The experience does not often mean attempting an elocution competition. Your command over the subject is important than the language, unless you are selling a dictionary or encyclopedia. Did you see the launch of i-pad by Steve Jobs? The launch just created the interest for the product across the globe. Did you notice his vocabulary? It was simple - marvelous, extra-ordinary, fantastic - you can count, he would have used these words umpteen number of times in his presentation. But, hey weren't you impressed? What he did was, transformed his belief about the i-pad onto you and you are obviously impressed. That is all it takes. Looks fairly simple.

But as mentioned the difficult part is, you sell products/services without being convinced yourself. You will never be able to make it up. But then there is market for what you have produced and you will be convinced that the product/service will be of utility only to that market. Then you stand to convince that market which can derive utility out of the product/service. Designing of marketing strategy based on the utility of the product is most important. Realistic and ambiguous strategy always is the best combination!!

Since the "talking out" is happening without the visible opponent, its important to contemplate what the competitor would sell and emulate it. The key is contemplation without much complication. There should be no direct reference and ditching - to be a fair trade. But still be able to convince more than what your competitor does. If its race of donkeys, you just have to look a clever donkey.

So, talking one out is fighting your invisible opponent out!!!

A perfect dilemma

Now there are two roads in front of me, one road obviously has better visibility and the other one does not have the same visibility, but there are a lot of precedents for me to rely on and take that road. But the problem with me choosing the road that is travelled by many is that, this direction is not that which is so natural to me. In fact, I have not really landed at this place. It was an overwhelming force which has suggested me this path, and it has driven me to this road. There may be arguments that this overwhelming force is that which makes this road special. Whatever, I have always put my mind ahead of my heart to decide upon. Though the inclination and attraction was initially there, on a consistent application of my mind, well, I will have to assert that the road in which I can see the distance seems to be my logical partner.

Now, what is that application of mind I am talking about which has given me the direction more akin to me? First, as I always have been talking about and surely on hindsight, my sibling has denied me the liberty to do so. Second, the way I have conducted myself, consciously though, always puts me in a position wherein reacting normally as every human would mean strange for people around me. After all, people around you do make what you are than what you decide for yourself.

And, what if I go through with the heart over mind. I will be in a position where my identity is lost. I will be tortured by my own thoughts about being irrational. I will tend more towards heart sayings than mind sayings. I will be in love and lost. My heart may get attracted to whatever it likes in the future and at that point in time will be difficult for my mind to take charge. Thats the way life should be and will be greener and with loads of fun and surprises. Though would like to indulge myself and experience the heart fact, my successful route thus far has been through my mind.

Being unfair - Is it fair?

We often say that someone is being unfair on oneself, be it God or Judge of a show or a Teacher. This is the tendency in most human when one achieves shorter than what he could potentially do. It takes a lot of courage to accept on one's shortcomings. Instead, it is quite convenient to put the blame on others. Unfair is essentially a term that stems up only when there is something fair.

When something can be called as fair, it is obviously subjective. It depends on individual's perceptions. What is fair for me need not necessarily be fair for someone else. Yet we try to convince that what is fair for us is never unfair for someone else. It is always the case that when one is happy, there is someone who is injured and unhappy. This debate of being fair and unfair is an obvious result of selfishness that is ever increasing in this society. There is never an end to it. Comparison is also another major reason for this. Comparison mars growth or development of individual. Selfishness and comparison are going to be the phenomena of the next generations. Need to live with it. But atleast I would like to stand to be an exception.

When ordinary becomes extraordinary

What is extraordinary? Something which is strange and usually it is excellent. So extraordinary is acheived only occassionally. When someone keeps doing extraordinary consistently, there may be two views - one, that the person acheiving extraordinary has challenged himself to improve everytime and two, the persons watching the acheivement has never really grown, for extraordinary is spelt by people around.

So, Is there anything extraordinary at all? Or can we have extraordinary attached to specific activities? Say, scoring a test hundred, winning an oscar or grammy, being awarded padma awards. I do not think that extraordinary can always be associated with accomplishment of certain activities.

Extraordinary is a step towards ordinary. Only then there is scope for improvement and there is vision for moving upwards. Extraordinary should become ordinary in the next iteration, to acheive extraordinary consistently. Also there is no single thing that can be consistently extraordinary. So no one can say that Sachin is an extraordinary batsman or talent.

Causes for extraordinary
Cause 1 - That internal fire which never lets a person settle with whatever has been acheived. When one is internally motivated, excellency is the only goal and that excellency gets better everytime.

Cause 2 - When you say a person is extraordinary talent, does that mean that God has given something strange and excellent to that particular person? It is not extraordinary talent, it is just extraordinary parenting and response. Both should sync, if there is no response, such parenting would be military regime or when the child is such responsive, there are no one to breed the kid, there is no fruit that would be tasteful for either of them.

Cause 3 - Also sometimes, people become extraordinary when they work in a team - in such case, if ascertained individually, the accomplishment may be ordinary for few and extraordinary for many, and it usually works that team work results in extraordinary acheivements.

Cause 4 - Most people turn extraordinary, particularly male, when they are in love. Nevertheless, love also inspires female to accomplish extraordinary. But, the sustainance, according to me, is here a question - because, these days, goals are being set only for the interim. There is not the continuous motivation these days and when there is continuous accomplishment there emanates eternal love, which is hardly seen these days.

Cause 5 - This is reverse psychology. Either people whom you love inspires or those whom you hate to the core and desparate to prove a point. This works. But again as in love, hatred also inspires to a limited extent and there can never be perpetual hatred to continue as in love.

So, this a never-ending phenomena of extraordinary becoming ordinary and nothing becomes extraordinary - - it is only ordinary persons acheiving extraordinary things.

The Great Indian PACE Attack

Sounds strange is it. May be yes for all of us who have seen a Kumble, Bhajji, now Mishra, Chawla and the man for me is Ojha. And also for those who have also seen Chandrasekhar, Prasanna, Bedi, Hirwani and like. Mind you these are high quality spinners of our country. There were other world class spinners, who never got an opportunity to represent the country or got only a little opportunity. You hear of Murali Karthik spinning Railways to victory, there is Romesh Powar for Mumbai almost ending their careers with a test or two. Had they been in a country other than India, they would have played atleast 50 tests and had 200 wickets. Harey yaar, I wanted to talk about pace attack but spinners are so influential I had to talk a little about them. Coming to pace attack, I think we have the best pace attack in the world at present. No side presently has bowlers of caliber of Zaheer, Ishant, Munaf, in their present form. I think they have been in such form for atleast two years now, which is a ominous sign for any opposition. If the system of ranking is not based on the number of wickets taken, I think Zaheer and Ishant will be top two bowlers in the world. How often you see a fast bowler (an Indian) take home player of the tournament award at home. Indian fast bowling has come a long way. That’s the reason we were able to beat Australia at Perth. What is that, that has made the Indian pace attack so invincible??? A bowling coach is with this team for the past 2 years. We see wickets like those in Mohali more often in India these days. Has our domestic system evolved to produce such quality bowlers? I sincerely feel that presence of bowling coach is a single major factor for this evolution. What can a bowling coach do? I have not undergone any such system of playing the game, to explain what exactly could be his role. But common sense tells that, he would act as a person, who is dedicated to analyzing the bowlers during the match and practice. Also the wisdom that he carries about bowling, helps the bowlers. His ability to understand any wicket with reference to bowling in any wicket might all have helped the team as a whole. Whatever may be the reason, we can be sure that no country’s media would criticize India for winning matches only in a dust bowl. We can win matches at Perth, Headingly, Johannesburg, anywhere in the world. Thanks to the Great Indian Pace Attack

An Optimist and a Pessimist

There are two sets of people in this world. One who believes that “it will happen” and the other thinks “what if it does not happen”. Both these sentiments are essential. Not a single person who always sticks to one of the above stance. Pick up who is an optimist and who is a pessimist. The fact is an optimist is not always an optimist and a pessimist is not always a pessimist. One essentially has to done a dual role. Just as we read in central excise regarding classification of goods, a person will be termed as optimist or pessimist by reference to the quality that represents the primary characteristic of a person. In other words, the proportion of optimism or otherwise determines the true character of the person. A person who believes in himself in my view is an optimist, belief that he could or could not do something. For instance, if I say I cannot reduce my weight to 40 Kgs, I am not a pessimist in that matter for I know how much I could reduce (don’t ask me how much. I am thinking of it). The abundance of clarity in thought also drives the proportion of optimism in a person. A pessimist usually lacks such clarity. He looks for reasons for not being able to accomplish something. He worries much about past and future. Never thinks about the moment he is in. It doesn’t mean that an optimist does not see the future or learn from the past. Again the proportion of it determines an optimistic person. One important fact is that one ( I ) can never judge a person as an optimist or otherwise just by his appearance. True appearances are deceptive. Its rather difficult if not impossible to determine the character of a person. My question now is whats right or wrong in being pessimistic or optimistic. As I could digest, by being pessimistic one does not enjoy the freedom of being optimistic and by being optimistic one does not realize the pressure of being pessimistic. An optimistic person does not, foresee adverse situations and hence to a certain extent planning skills are hit, analyse much into the past as he never dwell or worry about the past. A pessimistic person looks to be a more tedious worker, always planning for adverse things, worrying about the past and looking too much into the future. So what is the answer to the question raised??? Its obviously simple. It depends on situations to say whether being optimistic or otherwise is right or wrong. There is an even simpler job. You know what??? It is to comment that one should have been optimistic or otherwise. I believe that result should not be a factor in determining whether a person is optimistic. Highly successful persons can be pessimistic and vice versa. So why exactly I am telling all these??? Or what is that I am intending to communicate?? Answer is I don’t know. I was just thinking of different people around me and how they react to situations and tasks on hand. I have come across people who have a sense of insecurity in whatever they do and think. They are extremely cautious. Not to call them a pessimist, they are conservative. On the other hand, there are others who just do not care about whats happening around them or even what they do. These people go by their instincts and never worry about the future. And there will be others, who believe that they are optimistic but are in fact pessimistic. One unique character I know thinks that of itself as pessimistic, but is the most optimistic person I have ever met. And others wondering whether they are optimistic or in fact pessimistic. Ooohhhh, Having said all these what kind of person am I??? Well, you have to comment. For me, I belong to the cadre wondering about my character. What about being pessimistically optimistic or optimistically pessimistic???? We may be knowing it but difficult to comprehend. That’s an abrupt end.