Thursday, January 14, 2016

Success v/s Happiness...


What is important in life? Success or happiness?
I was asked this answer on Wattpad a few days ago. I could have written the answer in one word, but then I chose to frame a better answer, for everyone’s understanding, so that they not only read my answer considering it to be my personal opinion, but also understand it and apply it in their lives. Here is my answer from that question:
(In case you wish to read my answer on Wattpad, here it is: Should one be successful or happy?)
Here is the complete answer:
  1. Mr A has billions of dollars. But he cries every night as he’s unhappy. What’s the point of earning a billion dollars then?
  2. Mr B is the most famous person of the world. But he cries every night as he’s unhappy. What’s the point of having a huge fan base then?
  3. Mr C is most renowned artist of the world. But he cries every night as he’s unhappy as well! What’s the point of being renowned then?
Is there anything common in the three people? Yes – the amazing, tremendous success! One is a billionaire, the other has a huge fan base as he’s so famous, and the third is the most renowned artist. All three of them are highly successful in their fields. But, there’s another thing that’s common, and that is – their unhappiness, which is there even after their success.
  1. Mr D is very happy, he is a small farmer earning enough to feed himself and his family – but he sings songs, dances and sleeps peacefully each night. In his and his village’s eyes, he’s successful!
  2. Mr E is very happy. He is a small IT-employee who jumps to joy when he sees a small increment in his paycheck every year! In his and his family’s eyes – he’s successful!
  3. Mr F is very happy. He’s a dabbawalla, for whom the sole purpose of his life is feeding people! His work gives him happiness. In his eyes – he is successful!
Mr A, B, C, D, E and F – they all die one day. Now they all are resting in 7X3 coffin – different lives lived above ground, yet same after death beneath ground!
The definition of success is different for everyone. For some, even earning 1 million per minute is failure, and for some, earning 6 lacs per year is tremendous success! It is ultimately your choice – what is success for you? And have you been able to achieve it while being happy? If you have to sacrifice your happiness for your success, sorry – that is not success, that is failure! Because you are successful only “for the world to see” and not for yourself. And why are you so keen on impressing the world, who won’t be walking the face of this planet after one thousand years anymore? We all are replaceable, and we all will be replaced. Every man who is walking the Earth today, will not be here after one hundred years. Isn’t it enough of a reality-check that we should prioritize things in our lives correctly now?
Success can’t guarantee happiness. But happiness can guarantee success!
One Life…..

Tuesday, December 22, 2015

THE PLAN...


Your life is somebody else’s dream!

Ved was driving his car back to home from office. It was a hard day at office today, Ved was going through a bitter phase in his life. His girlfriend was getting married to someone else, she had no courage to fight for her relationship or to even admit that she was going out with a guy. Ved couldn’t do anything in this – when his girl wasn’t with him at all, what could he possibly do? He could only sit back and see what was going to happen. For the first time in life, he was the audience to his own mockery!

He stopped the car at a small pan-shop. It was his usual abode from office. He would stop there to chat a little with the panwari about his life which sounded better than Ved’s right now.

‘Bhai-jaan, gold-flake.’

‘Here Ved babu. What happened? You don’t look like your usual self today?’ the panwari chewed his hand-made pan (betel-leaf) and asked Ved in his sarcastic manner.

‘Don’t ask bhai-jaan. Vidya is marrying someone else. How can I be happy?’

‘WHAT? How did this happen? And when? Aren’t you going to stop her? At least talk to her parents!’

‘I can’t do anything in this, bhai-jaan. What will I do? Walk up to her place and dictate that she’s mine? Walk into her wedding and ask the pundit to stop the chants, hold her hand and pronounce my love for her? Then what? She will refuse to come with me! She will shamelessly say ‘I don’t know him!‘ to save herself from the embarrassment. This is not a movie going on bhai-jaan, where the hero has all the superpowers, this is my life. My real life which is being screwed and I can’t do anything in this.’ Ved lit the cigarette and took a deep puff.

‘Girls are so unpredictable.’

‘So true, bhai-jaan. Vidya is simply a coward! If she knew that she wasn’t going to marry me in future, she wasn’t going to take a stand for me, why was she dating me? Why couldn’t she breakup earlier and save my life? I’m dying inside you know. Everyday at work, I feel like time is still. It doesn’t pass. I feel like throwing up, but when I walk to the washroom, I stand in front of the mirror for hours before I realize what’s happening to me. It’s all so painful.’

‘It will be alright, Ved babu. Life gives you hard time before you know how able and powerful you are inside. Just be patient. Your time will also come.’

‘Yeah, let’s hope so…’ Ved walked out with his pack of gold-flakes and drove his car to a highway. He wanted some alone time tonight. He was approaching the bridge now. He knew that it would be cold at night, but sitting there was still better than living this colder life. He stopped his car at a distance and walked to the railing of the bridge. From a distance he saw someone with shiny clothing. He looked closely – it was a girl, all dressed up, in her wedding dress, sitting at the edge of the bridge. He ran towards her, he thought she was committing suicide.

‘Hey! Hey, don’t jump! HEY!’ Ved ran as fast as he could. He reached the girl and clutched her arm tightly, ‘Don’t jump, don’t die, don’t kill yourself…’ he was panting and sweating. The cold wind couldn’t affect him.

‘What the hell! I’m not dying. I just came here to spend some alone-time.’

‘What?’ Ved thought how crazy she was. Dressed up as a bride, she came to this bridge in the middle of the night to spend some alone time.

‘Why are you…’ Ved paused for a breath.

‘Dressed up like a bride? Is this what you want to ask?’ the girl completed his question.

‘YES! Why?’

‘Give me that…’ she snatched his pack of gold-flake, lit up a cigarette with the lighter and took a deep-puff, ‘Well, I ran away from my own wedding. I did not want to waste my entire life with an old man, when I knew I could do so much more!’

‘Wow!’ Ved had never met a girl like her. Till today she thought all girls were like Vidya who would give in to their parents’ expectations and agree to their demands, ‘And no one knows you ran away?’ he asked her.

‘What’s the time?’ she asked.

’03 am!’

‘By now, I would be walking around fire with him, in another 2 hours I would be leaving for my in-laws place, and in another 12 hours, I would be naked in one bed with him. The guy would be trying to force himself upon me and I would be dreaming about Paris, Caribbean Islands, ruins of Egypt and rain-forests of Amazon, and all this while, my pathetic old husband would be trying to please himself for some half an hour before he would pass out and sleep on me!’

‘Wow! That’s a pretty graphic description of your future.’

‘Wrong! A future that didn’t happen. A future, for which I didn’t settle. A future, that I kicked away and a future that I will never embrace.’

‘Hahaha…’ Ved laughed out loud.

‘Why are you laughing?’

‘Here you are. A girl who has kicked her pathetic future to at least give a shot to the life of her dreams, and then there is Vidya, who is kicking the life of her dreams to embrace a future that somewhat sounds like what you described!’

‘Who is Vidya?’

‘My girlfriend, who ditched me for a guy her parents are finding for her!’

‘WHAT? Who would ditch you?’

‘Why will someone ‘not’ ditch me?’

‘Look at you man! You are handsome, undoubtedly attractive, you have…is that your own car?’ the girl pointed at his black SUV which was parked at a distance. Ved nodded. ‘So you have a personal car, that means you also earn decently well. What’s the issue?’

‘Caste!’

‘Amazing! I’m happy for you!’ the girl smiled at him.

‘What?’ Ved was surprised.

‘Of course. Had you married her forcefully, you would have added a life-time of disgrace, a lifetime of unnecessary drama where your wife would everyday say that had she married someone of her own caste, her life would be so much better, her parents would always treat you as an outsider, there would be so much formality in your relationship with her and her parents, and they would never treat you as their own, and so much more shit! So it’s good, she left you on her own, you know. And saved you from getting all that in return!’

‘You are funny. How quickly you make mental scenarios. What if that was not the case? What if we were happy?’

‘But now that you are not with her, you can think that – that would be the case in future, and be happy that it didn’t happen!’ the girl smiled.

‘You have so much positivity inside you.’ Ved laughed harder.

‘I do. And I think everyone should.’ she threw the cigarette-butt into the water and asked Ved for one more.

‘You are one hell of a smoker! I don’t smoke more than 2 cigarettes a day, and look at you!’

‘Well, I never smoked at all, before today.’

‘WHAT?’ Ved was shocked.

‘Yeah, this is my first time.’

‘Then why are you asking for more?’

‘Because this is probably my last time too. I may never touch cigarettes again.’

‘What? Are you alright?’

‘Yeah, today I have a done a lot out of the ordinary, a lot that I might not do again in my life, so why not try cigarettes as well?’

‘Right! Breaking the stereotypes. Here you go!’ Ved offered her one more. She took a deeper puff this time.

‘So what’s the plan?’ he asked.

‘Plan? For what?’

‘For future!’ Ved pressed hard on the word future.

‘You know there was a girl, who planned everything. Who planned that she will complete her education by 22, get married at 23 to a guy her parents will find, but then nothing worked according to plans. Just an hour before her wedding, her would-be-husband told her that he’s in love with someone else, but he is marrying her to save his family’s reputation. The girl was shattered. But before she could settle in, for that compromise of a lifetime, she ran away. She ditched her plans. And she decided that from now onward, she will never plan anything! That girl is now sitting on the edge of a bridge, with a strange-guy at 03:30 in the morning, smoking cigarettes and having a random conversation about life and plans. And she knows one thing – that this moment is amazing – and that this moment, is not a part of the plan!’

Ved lit a cigarette. After such a heavy conversation, he needed something to keep him light. He smoked without saying anything, she smoked without speaking anymore. They didn’t know what their future was, but they knew one thing – that plans were stupid. If they were good at anything, they were good at just binding you in one place, but to reach somewhere, you need to walk out from somewhere else, and life was not a stagnant moment. It was an ever-changing thing, and plans – were disastrous for life!

Thursday, November 19, 2015

Generation Next???!!!


We, the flagbearers of the 21st century,

Holding on tight to our playstations and phones,

The era of blemish-free, spotless skin,

But,sadly, tainted souls and hearts of stone...


Every detail broadcasted on facebook,

And every small achievement calls for a treat,

But we have no time to talk to our parents,

Or to bend down and touch their feet...


Slangs and fake accents are, oh, so cool,

We judge people by what they wear,

Birthday messages and forwarded SMSes,

Are our way of showing that we care...


Alcohol and smoke cloud are vision,

We like being wasted, stoned, and sloshed,

Arrogance and pretence are our weapons,

That help us to hide our guilt, unwashed...


Movie, dinner or clubbing, we are always ready,

But lending an ear to someone, bores us to no end,

We have no time for broken hearts,

Only happening and cool people are our friends...


Expensive cars turn us on,

Wit and intelligence are worthless things,

Love isn't expressed with words anymore,

Love is now equivalent to diamond rings...


If progress meant losing the essence of our souls,

And leading a life of dissatisfaction and unrest,

Then, when we look at this fake world we've built,

Don't our forefathers really seem blessed???!!


GENERATION NEXT... REALLY???

Saturday, August 8, 2015

Don't just survive.... Live It!! You won't get it again....


Sometimes I wish I could take an year off from work and travel the world, do whatever I really want to do... Pursue my interests and enjoy my life to the fullest.. For I know I will not get this time again... 

I have so much in mind... So many destinations to travel, interests to pursue, things to learn... How come I grown up so fast... :-(

Many times I fail to understand why we work like we are not humans for something which is not our dream...

'I love my company so much, I wish I could work here forever' said no one ever but I have met people who said and wished they could travel for the rest of their lives... Or spend time with their kids and family more often..

One reason for being dissatisfied and unhappy in life is not doing what you aspire to do and pushing yourself into something which makes you feel miserable...

Quite often my caliber and capabilities are judged on my stability.. But, I know myself better than anyone else.. If I want to do something no one can stop me or beat me at it, but, if I don't, no one can make me work for it. 

I feel if you are born as a human there is a purpose... If something is not good enough don't waste time or crib about it... There is a reason God chose not to make you a tree. At least be passionate about your own dreams!

If something is not right or apt no one will come and help.. but.. you. People can only give you suggestions but its you in the end. You know yourself the best and no one else can live this life for you.

We are are born alone and die alone then why we need to live somebody else's life?

I really feel the only people worth prioritizing in life are our parents...  Rest the life is ours. 

Changing jobs, leaving them or sticking to them, work, travel, hobbies, photography and so on... Do what really makes you happy..

This life won't last forever not this time will come back...

I don't wanna regret in my old age that I wasted my life working for something which was of no good for me..

Don't bother what people think, it's your life and they are not going to be with you forever. So, pursue your dreams and live them... 

Don't just survive through this life. LIVE IT! You won't get it again.

God, bless me with a life I want and give me courage to pursue my dreams. Take care of my people. Love you. :-)

Thursday, July 9, 2015

O Yes! I am an addict.. A Travel addict...


Like Ranbir said in Ye jawani hai Deewani- “Main udna chahta hoon, daudna chahta hoon, girna bhi chahta hoon ... bus rukna nahi chahta”

I dunno what it is... But, I keep on reading about travel when I am not travelling... I don’t precisely know what addiction is all about, but, I crave to visit new places.... I love travelling... No matter to which place... for me its new... I love nature; I love different cultures, the food, the sunrise, the sunset, the journey, the air, the water and the feeling of my being in a new place...

It gives me immense happiness when I travel to a new destination, and when I am not travelling (I mean sitting in office or at home) I dream about my next travel, I plan another trip.... I read about destinations, I make a list of what is missing in my travel bag... For me... I never unpack my bag... ;-)

My weekends when I travel are more relaxing than the ones I spend at home... Its weird I know but it’s true....
When I am unable to travel to any new place for a month or so I feel upset and depressed... It’s a same feeling which I get when I skip my espresso... you know that addiction wali feeling...

Travel makes me happy... it gives me enormous pleasure to be able to breathe in a different air.... It’s like my basic need... and nothing else can fulfil it... No coffee no shopping no food nothing...

Whenever I visit a beautiful place I feel I leave a part of my heart there and it remains with me... though... I forget everything in maximum 3 days.... Thanks to my memory... I can’t remember anything.... but the feel stays in me.... A connection with that place... A pull that calls me back....

It’s a passion in me which is only growing stronger day by day... Dunno where I will end up... But... wherever it may be... all I really wish is to travel travel and travel for the rest of my life...

Wednesday, June 17, 2015

SATISFACTION……… the only thing that matters……..

It is often said by many great people in the past…… and even today many people say this….. SATISFACTION MATTERS…. Personal satisfaction is the aim of whatever we do…..
Whether it be a dream job or a dream possession... or a dream person… or any other dream…. What we want from it is that inner feeling of achievement of that dream… and that feeling of pleasure and happiness is satisfaction…..

Satisfaction though is the most important thing….. It is not good to be satisfied as well…. It’s also said by some great people once you are satisfied with things that feeling of achievement will be satisfied and you’ll stop craving for more… that fire... that passion... for growing is important which ends when you are satisfied with the things you have and I completely agree with both the above statements…. But then the question comes… if it’s that important to be satisfied and on the other hand it stops our passion for achieving more… how can we remain happy then…..??

We can surely be…. Happiness doesn’t mean you have to stop dreaming for more and moving in the direction of achieving them…. Satisfaction definitely is important but most important is to work in the direction of your dreams in order to grow and dreaming more even after achieving them….. But never forget to celebrate each step at which you achieve something… satisfaction must come like a guest…. But don’t let the feeling retain in you… feel it celebrate it and say bye to it….. Each step in life starts with a dream and feeling of its achievement in order to satisfy your urge of success is important…. So move ahead and celebrate success…..

Satisfaction…. It does matters but not to let it stay inside you matters the most….
So dream….. Live….. Achieve…. Celebrate…. And again dream further….. Always celebrate a new beginning…..
Rise and Shine…. Cheers!!!!! :))

Wednesday, June 10, 2015

I WISH........



I wish I could fly...
I wish I could be invisible...
I wish I could turn back time..
I wish to do so much in life...
I wish.... I wish to be a person without any wishes..!

They say "Everything that is done in the World is done by Hope".. And with every hope comes a wish to turn that hope into a reality...

No matter how old I'll ever be... I know.. I will be a person who'll always believe in miracles and will always be in love with music...

Sometimes, I feel I wish so much in life... So many desires and hopes I have inside me... it makes me feel restless & fidgety.. I try to run from something unknown...

Although, I know every human being wishes something or the other.. and if our one wish is fulfilled we are ready with more wishes..

I don't know how intensely people wish things but I know about myself... When I am into something.. I am into it... I wish it I want it and unless I get it I remain restless... I understand all wishes can't come true... God has his own limitations and targets depends upon the 'Karma' thing... But, at times I find it super difficult to come out of the situations..

May be its a side effect of being ambitious or crazy or black coffee or simply being me...!!

Today, I wish so many things... that I feel lost.. I ask myself what am I doing today.... Is this the right path to walk upon...appropriate direction to walk into... It makes feel uneasy... May be I am too impatient!

Well.. No matter whatever I wish... My first and last wish will always be 'to remain happy' and I can never be happy unless my people are happy....