Farview Avenue
With the growing world, shrinking heart, amount of money people handle and the sinking economies, all I see and hear is a lot of frustration building up in many people. Life has been so beautiful for me, grew up in one of the most beautiful places in south India, growing up with the best and most loveable parents and siblings I could ask for, the opportunity of learning education, life and career with an amazing set of friends - I would never say life is not beautiful.
Sometimes I sit back to go through my college days. I had a mobile phone when incoming calls were charged 2.50 Rupees a min and outgoing was 4 Rupees a min. I wore a Pepe Jean and a costly Reebok shoe. Yet if I told my college mates that I just have 10 Rupees in my pocket - except for my friends none would believe. But the amount of fun we had as a group is unimaginable. Truly college days are the golden days of our lives. There were days when we used to sit in front of a small tea shop, helping in polluting Chennai city with our tiny cigarette's and a wonderful tea in a - "God Knows how clean it is" kinda glass and having a conversations like - hey you know what one of our seniors made it to the United States or Canada or Australia for higher studies, or a Cousin of my friend or friends friend is earning like 2 lakhs or 3 lakhs a month and has a Honda Civic or a Toyota Camry or for that matter the most important and interesting of all - talking about the girl we were in love and that we would do anything in life for them. Discussing what we spoke with her over the phone a few hours ago, or what we will speak to her later in the evening - those awing moments in life just flick by as a dusty picture in front of my eyes.
We never had much money for us to spend, yet I was the happiest man in the world. Not just me all my friends felt the same. Its not that we didn't have problems we all did. But still we were the happiest people as individuals and as a group. Today most of my friends are in the United States of America, a few in other parts of the world and a few in India. Out of them few married, few not, few in a job and few not, most of them earning and having a car or house of their own and a few who had full filled some of their dreams, a few who ended up marrying the girl they have been in love with. Most of them having decent bank balances.
Dating back to those days thinking of a life in the US, Things that I imagined back then are totally different here. A car that seemed to be a luxury in India seems to be a necessity here, the lakhs that looked so huge as a monthly salary shrinked after all the taxes and rents and loans. A friend who would give his life in India seemed to vanish with the spell of money or time or individuality. A decent saving that we imagined was only to compromise the fear of a day when we might be unemployed. A job that seemed so secure in India is so volatile in the US.
I had an interesting incident that happened to me, and I know how tough its to carry forward the thought every week that you have a job when you are a contractor. I was working for a company in downtown Boston MA. When my initial contract of 3 months was coming to an end. My vendor called me a week before my contract terminates and told my contract extended by another 3 months. Happy that my contract got extended I spent my week discussing with my friends on their Boston trip for the following long weekend. Friday approached and I was all excited in receiving my friends at the airport later in the evening. Waiting for the clock to tick 5:00, I get a call from my manager around 4:15, he says "Hey you have a minute, I need to talk to you", "sure" I said and walked with him to the conference room.
He started saying good things about me. It was a puzzle to understand what he was about to say. Eventually he clears of the haze he created around me with all those praises by saying "Its been really great working with you not that we have any complaints but then due to budget constraints we have to cut our works source and we have to let you go. It was a great pleasure working with you. And if you need any reference I would be happy to give a very good one. Thanks and can I have your badge." There was not one word that I said during the entire conversation. If your wondering if conversation is the right word sometimes listening also counts as conversation. I handed over my badge and he told me I can pick my stuffs and leave. I filled in my time sheet for the week and I got it signed from him. I was about to go to the fax machine to fax it to my vendor and employer when my kind manager offered to do it himself. I never knew my manager was so kind till then. Finally I shook hands and bid goodbye. That was the only time I spoke to him. I walked out of the huge building - a building that used to embrace me every morning when I walked in, seemed like bidding me good bye. I walked down Arlington st, as it was snowing the cold Boston wind hit my face.
Things don't always happen for a reason or things need not happen for a reason. With all sorts of troubles and pressures one goes through these days, are far too much when compared to a person of the same age would have 15 or 20 years ago. People thought of going to work only after 26 or 27 where as people start working as early as 21 these days. People had a liberty to spend money only after the age of 25 15 or 20 years back but people have access to all sorts of entertainment as early as 16 these days in the form of pocket money. People were accusing of child marriages 20 -25 years back, forget about marriage at the age of 21, people sorry kids have exposure to sex at the age of 16 (sometimes ever less than 16) these days in the name of "TRUE LOVE". Surprisingly they end up marrying someone else 6 years later.
Well I'm not a purist nor do I belong to "Ram Sena". Its just what I observe and what I pen down. The reason I say this is people get exposed to things far too early in their lives. There is a certain age and maturity needed for certain things in life, an age when mind and the body can co-ordinate and understand things better and when this co-ordination is not there then there is void that evolves in ones minds. A void that refuses to enjoy what is right for them at their age. A void that leads to stress and pain. A void that makes them think they have no future, and A void that puts them thorough psychological imbalances.
I had a conversation with a girl about my age, she was married. Not going into the details, she ended up saying meditation and spirituality has brought her back to track. I was curious to know some details, I started asking her questions out of my curiosity and I started to hear familiar words like "Chakras", "Guru", "Diksha". She mentioned she had met a guru in her hometown who had an spiritual organization and she had been there, she liked it, it all looked so true, medically proven and ended up registering and she was given the Diksha by the sri sri ..... swamiji. To be made bold and underlined is the word "Registration" just in case you missed it in the previous sentence - It involves funds.
Again I'm not going to be a critic analyzing and bringing out the greyness involved in these acts. This topic was brought in with a pure intent of showing/ showcasing how people end up in ways and walks of life. Spiritualism or Meditation is not just the things people end up in. People end up in drugs, alcohol, women (to be noted its not singular) and they totally loose track as to what they have to do with/ in their lives. This happens when the mind and body is not in sync with the age.
The fast paced world leaves us no choice in what we are doing. People travel at the speed of light or even more bearing their griefs and sorrows rather than exploiting the happiness that's filled around them, their focus is more materialistic. Its not bad to be materialistic but to identify to what level. One has to strike a balance in his/her life between happiness and being materialistic. Rest all will end up wasting time and money in the void.
But sadly a lot of people miss in striking that balance and for all of them the avenue to a peaceful life is not even in the farthest of their view.
Sometimes I sit back to go through my college days. I had a mobile phone when incoming calls were charged 2.50 Rupees a min and outgoing was 4 Rupees a min. I wore a Pepe Jean and a costly Reebok shoe. Yet if I told my college mates that I just have 10 Rupees in my pocket - except for my friends none would believe. But the amount of fun we had as a group is unimaginable. Truly college days are the golden days of our lives. There were days when we used to sit in front of a small tea shop, helping in polluting Chennai city with our tiny cigarette's and a wonderful tea in a - "God Knows how clean it is" kinda glass and having a conversations like - hey you know what one of our seniors made it to the United States or Canada or Australia for higher studies, or a Cousin of my friend or friends friend is earning like 2 lakhs or 3 lakhs a month and has a Honda Civic or a Toyota Camry or for that matter the most important and interesting of all - talking about the girl we were in love and that we would do anything in life for them. Discussing what we spoke with her over the phone a few hours ago, or what we will speak to her later in the evening - those awing moments in life just flick by as a dusty picture in front of my eyes.
We never had much money for us to spend, yet I was the happiest man in the world. Not just me all my friends felt the same. Its not that we didn't have problems we all did. But still we were the happiest people as individuals and as a group. Today most of my friends are in the United States of America, a few in other parts of the world and a few in India. Out of them few married, few not, few in a job and few not, most of them earning and having a car or house of their own and a few who had full filled some of their dreams, a few who ended up marrying the girl they have been in love with. Most of them having decent bank balances.
Dating back to those days thinking of a life in the US, Things that I imagined back then are totally different here. A car that seemed to be a luxury in India seems to be a necessity here, the lakhs that looked so huge as a monthly salary shrinked after all the taxes and rents and loans. A friend who would give his life in India seemed to vanish with the spell of money or time or individuality. A decent saving that we imagined was only to compromise the fear of a day when we might be unemployed. A job that seemed so secure in India is so volatile in the US.
I had an interesting incident that happened to me, and I know how tough its to carry forward the thought every week that you have a job when you are a contractor. I was working for a company in downtown Boston MA. When my initial contract of 3 months was coming to an end. My vendor called me a week before my contract terminates and told my contract extended by another 3 months. Happy that my contract got extended I spent my week discussing with my friends on their Boston trip for the following long weekend. Friday approached and I was all excited in receiving my friends at the airport later in the evening. Waiting for the clock to tick 5:00, I get a call from my manager around 4:15, he says "Hey you have a minute, I need to talk to you", "sure" I said and walked with him to the conference room.
He started saying good things about me. It was a puzzle to understand what he was about to say. Eventually he clears of the haze he created around me with all those praises by saying "Its been really great working with you not that we have any complaints but then due to budget constraints we have to cut our works source and we have to let you go. It was a great pleasure working with you. And if you need any reference I would be happy to give a very good one. Thanks and can I have your badge." There was not one word that I said during the entire conversation. If your wondering if conversation is the right word sometimes listening also counts as conversation. I handed over my badge and he told me I can pick my stuffs and leave. I filled in my time sheet for the week and I got it signed from him. I was about to go to the fax machine to fax it to my vendor and employer when my kind manager offered to do it himself. I never knew my manager was so kind till then. Finally I shook hands and bid goodbye. That was the only time I spoke to him. I walked out of the huge building - a building that used to embrace me every morning when I walked in, seemed like bidding me good bye. I walked down Arlington st, as it was snowing the cold Boston wind hit my face.
Things don't always happen for a reason or things need not happen for a reason. With all sorts of troubles and pressures one goes through these days, are far too much when compared to a person of the same age would have 15 or 20 years ago. People thought of going to work only after 26 or 27 where as people start working as early as 21 these days. People had a liberty to spend money only after the age of 25 15 or 20 years back but people have access to all sorts of entertainment as early as 16 these days in the form of pocket money. People were accusing of child marriages 20 -25 years back, forget about marriage at the age of 21, people sorry kids have exposure to sex at the age of 16 (sometimes ever less than 16) these days in the name of "TRUE LOVE". Surprisingly they end up marrying someone else 6 years later.
Well I'm not a purist nor do I belong to "Ram Sena". Its just what I observe and what I pen down. The reason I say this is people get exposed to things far too early in their lives. There is a certain age and maturity needed for certain things in life, an age when mind and the body can co-ordinate and understand things better and when this co-ordination is not there then there is void that evolves in ones minds. A void that refuses to enjoy what is right for them at their age. A void that leads to stress and pain. A void that makes them think they have no future, and A void that puts them thorough psychological imbalances.
I had a conversation with a girl about my age, she was married. Not going into the details, she ended up saying meditation and spirituality has brought her back to track. I was curious to know some details, I started asking her questions out of my curiosity and I started to hear familiar words like "Chakras", "Guru", "Diksha". She mentioned she had met a guru in her hometown who had an spiritual organization and she had been there, she liked it, it all looked so true, medically proven and ended up registering and she was given the Diksha by the sri sri ..... swamiji. To be made bold and underlined is the word "Registration" just in case you missed it in the previous sentence - It involves funds.
Again I'm not going to be a critic analyzing and bringing out the greyness involved in these acts. This topic was brought in with a pure intent of showing/ showcasing how people end up in ways and walks of life. Spiritualism or Meditation is not just the things people end up in. People end up in drugs, alcohol, women (to be noted its not singular) and they totally loose track as to what they have to do with/ in their lives. This happens when the mind and body is not in sync with the age.
The fast paced world leaves us no choice in what we are doing. People travel at the speed of light or even more bearing their griefs and sorrows rather than exploiting the happiness that's filled around them, their focus is more materialistic. Its not bad to be materialistic but to identify to what level. One has to strike a balance in his/her life between happiness and being materialistic. Rest all will end up wasting time and money in the void.
But sadly a lot of people miss in striking that balance and for all of them the avenue to a peaceful life is not even in the farthest of their view.
Comments
Nice one after so many days but really different from all those what u have written before..........
keep writin.. there r so many who enjoy reading your blogs....