Similarity between India and US current political situations - Our world is changing faster than we think

While India reels under the pressure of introducing a Jan Lokpal bill which has literally put the current Government with foot in their mouth in handling this crisis situation, the US debt debacle occupies the minds of international investors.Both at some level are demands of a world which is changing way too fast for the current governments to handle. 

In India the state of affairs is that the current Govt. is still using their archaic “Babuism” tactics of mitigating the effect of the protest which is growing with every passing day. Literally the situation is similar to a parent, handling a teenager, who does not realize that their son/ daughter has grown up but continues to treat them as kids. While the youth joins the Anna campaign and the nation is looking forward to more effective corruption free politicians we have the likes of Kapil Sibal who represent arrogance of power incarnate. In his address to Lokpal bill and related public addresses Sibal showcased a perfect example of politicians we the people of India are regretting voting for. We regret our choices while voting for likes of Sibal assuming education and experience might make them wise. Sibal represented what a normal minister epitomizes in our politics today that they are most divorced from the common man's sentiment living in a self created world like demi Gods. The way this govt missed the point is not funny seems its time the reigns are passed to the younger generation in Congress and overall  Indian politics and give kinds of Sibal the much deserved retirement.

US with their debt debacle has a similar political situation, has similar ask of the times where world is changing fast and power equations changing even faster than US realizes and finds time to react. The politic positions relished so far in terms of a simplistic division of just two party makeup - Republicans and Democrats is no longer relevant where one party gauges the interest of the rich and the other upholds the interests of the common man. The situation demands someone who thinks what the country needs  i.e partly to tax people and partly to cut down on paid facilities. A coalition party seems the way out and the United States needs to come to terms with it sooner than later. What is good for the growth plan and an effective debt plan for the country to retain their stature of a super power?  Times are changing fast............

Silly assumptions complex Life

A small example when we are young we get marked or graded on different subjects Maths, English, Science and so on. We cannot ascribe the marks scored in one subject to the other. One can be brilliant in Maths but an average performer in fine arts and so on. It is all a matter of interest or aptitude or both.

Why do we get confused in Life then?

IF someone passes out of an ivy league college, is brilliant in studies it is assumed  he/ she would be an ace in social conduct – we feel its “natural” to  expect him/ her to be an ace son, boyfriend, husband or father. One need not follow the other. Being good in academics and being successful in life are two different things. Being successful in Life needs much more than sheer academics which is only one of the ingredients. Academics, Career, Relationships, social conduct all are different subjects.

Accolades received in each qualify only for that respective category and cannot be assumed to give credit to other. IF I am a topper in Maths and therefore I am expected to be excellent in English is unfair.

Somewhere we need to set our expectations more fairly. Often we castigate people for being brilliant in their area of interest/ subject by expecting them to be as brilliant in Life over all. Also at times we give them undue credit of being successful in life by the virtue of their academic qualifications.

Need to have more balanced, holistic approach before setting expectations or assessing people.

My top 10 Quotable quotes

- People wrapped up in themselves make small packages - Ben Franklin
- Actions speak louder than words.
- Example is the best sermon.
- Nobody minds having something too good for them
- ' Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all - Alfred Tennyson
- No one can make you feel inferior without your consent
- Money costs many things - Emerson
- You must know when to leave a place even if you do not know where to go
- The chief cause of failure and unhappiness is trading what we want most for what we want at the moment.
- Worry is like a rocking chair--it gives you something to do but it doesn't get you anywhere.

* all the un ascribed quotes are by anonymous writers which i did not bother to note down at times.

Meeting Donald Trump in "THINK BIG"

 More than often one comes across self proclaimed “geeks”, “geniuses” watching them closely one is not very impressed. Only their circle of friends and they themselves think the way they do. Others, well they have a different story on how these set of people look or behave or are.

Books are one's best friends. Reading helps one connect to another’s perspective. The biggest blessing is one can always turn pages and re read. Something one cannot do even while talking to a person. One really cannot rewind conversations.

The one I just finished is “Think Big” by Donald Trump & Bill Zanker. I have read quite a few books in such league but this one is most impressive. The guy has put across the right stuff the right way. The audience is everyone with or without ivy league college degrees and subject is how to make it BIG in business and life. It is for the 2% aspiring to reach the top. Also because it comes from horse’s mouth so you know he’s been there done that the advice is genuine and not a feel factor. The book is for people who are perfectionists and want to scale to the optimum. Trump puts in a structured way the various other qualities other than degrees and brains as pre requisites to making it big.  One comes across quite a few people passing out of ivy league colleges but not making it as big as they could have. Its sad to see people dole out their gold brains at the price of silver and be happy about it. The difference is their inability to think BIG. Nothing wrong with it but to those who do want to make it BIG with or without the degrees some phenomenal qualities make them grasp the moon. Not all stars shinning there followed the clichéd ivy league college education and having great brains route. They are normal people with average brains but extraordinary persistence, hard work, positive attitude and a passionate dream.Donald crisply outlines what are the ingredients that makes a success story. Do read this book if you get a chance.

Fitness Regime

Currently am soaked in the fitness regime. Started with the annual health check up which boosted the morale. Engaged in doing a research of the other gymn options on the basis of my priorities, I finally zeroed on the Gold’s gymn bidding adieu to Maximus. Since last two weeks now for this quarter its – GOLD’s. My personal favorite in terms of service and overall experience would be Talwarkers.

Well so far besides the “ fluff” and the plush environment I am yet to get impressed by their coaching. The machines and the surroundings of course are decent. It is not as spread out as one would want it to be but lets see if I achieve any results from their coaching.

In the meanwhile I find myself shifting to vegetarianism, internally I mean. Though I have not given up  eating non veg. From “healthy” stand point veggies are a better option and go a long way from calorie stand point as well.

Reading blood type based diets to quite a few other reviews am fine tuning the system to enable me lose weight effectively to meet targets in next 3 months. Lets see..watching what I eat and 5 days a week gymn should do me good. All I need to remind myself is CONSISTENCY.

Pain an integral part of living

This is my point of view and based on my own experience and feeling. The earlier one learns to accept pain as we do happiness the better. Its like two sides of the coin of Life. From childhood our brains and hearts are hardwired  with dreams about being "forever happy". As one grows old one continues aspiring for this “forever happy” state.

We try and avoid anything that we foresee would give us pain whether its developing relationships beyond a point or evolving a lifestyle where we do not have any restrictions or replacing anything or everything that threatens this state of conceptual happiness. Consequently we maintain/ manipulate everything around our ecosystem that would not disturb our “state of happiness”. We seem so scared of pain.

We see examples of people who follow this philosophy all the time but are they happy?  They should be logically most happy but NO they are not they are still yearning to be happy. They lead half fulfilled lives.

 Life is a clever dame it pays you back exactly in the same coin. If you measure your inputs then you receive measured returns. The more wholesomely you live the wholesomely life pays you back. Pain is the price one might have to pay if one loves truly and lives life wholesomely. Its better to undergo pain and accept it as part of life early because then one begins to learn to handle it. Once we are not afraid of pain then we are not afraid of living intensely and in depth in all spheres which leads to a fulfilled state. "यह आग का दरिया है डूब के निकलना है "

Celebrating Death of Ravan

Congratulations and Celebrations !!!!The inevitable happens again and again, victory of Good over Evil. As we celebrate the death of Ravan lets not forget to pick up the lessons for this is just death of the symbol, the manifestations and the seeds he has sown of the bitter fruit which will ripen in future will affect posterity. These lessons will empower us to bring such Ravans to book faster than we did this one which gives them less time to propogate their schools of thought and action.

Ravan was a super hero fighting a super power defeated because of dastardly intent but one needs to understand what constituted his heroism and assess him in an objective light. There were of course the qualities of relentless dedication to purpose, single minded resolve, courage of his convictions and an uncanny knack of strategizing his existence in the face of death that lurked around him for such a long time.

Just imagine if such Ravans were used to set up a committee and asked to make strategies to unravel more like them or our corrupt politicians they would perform much better than our regular teams. We do not have dearth of intelligence or strategists but these people have the experience of living those strategies from the other side of the table plus they are live examples of how the enemy’s mind works in a negative strain. This would be the shortest and easiest way to leverage their negative energies and convert them for positive intent I think.

Missing the doughnut for the hole

Recently I came across situations where one finds two people indulging in altercations, playing the blame game and ruining relationships. The altercations are nothing more but effects of something deeper. I feel one often comments or reacts to the effects. There are behavior patterns that repeat and one finds great romances, great friendships ruined in matter of few such instances.

I believe getting deeper to understanding the root cause is what moves us closer to understanding the situation and aspire towards some kind of a positive solution if one wishes to resurrect the relationship otherwise it’s a  vicious circle.

A second important thing i realized that its critical to assess ones own contribution to that situation because what we can change most definitely about the situation is by changing ones self. By convincing the other or making them understand their contribution to the situation might make a difference or bring about little change because the dependency is still on the other. It also depends on variables such as the intention and make up of the other person.

If we want to grow and take a learning from the incident then analysing our own role in the cause of the disparaged effect and improving upon it is key to growing positively out of a negative situation.

To Love Is to Be Chaste - From J Krishnamurti

Read the previous posting and then this one , this is more a continuation to that one.

To Love Is to Be Chaste

Posted:

This problem of sex is not simple and it cannot be solved on its own level. To try to solve it purely biologically is absurd; and to approach it through religion or to try to solve it as though it were a mere matter of physical adjustment, of glandular action, or to hedge it in with taboos and condemnations is all too immature, childish, and stupid. It requires intelligence of the highest order. To understand ourselves in our relationship with another requires intelligence far more swift and subtle than to understand nature.But we seek to understand without intelligence; we want immediate action, an immediate solution, and the problem becomes more and more important. . . . Love is not mere thought; thoughts are only the external action of the brain. Love is much deeper, much more profound, and the profundity of life can be discovered only in love. Without love, life has no meaning and that is the sad part of our existence. We grow old while still immature; our bodies become old, fat, and ugly, and we remain thoughtless. Though we read and talk about it, we have never known the perfume of life. Mere reading and verbalizing indicates an utter lack of the warmth of heart that enriches life; and without that quality of love, do what you will, join any society, bring about any law, you will not solve this problem. To love is to be chaste.Mere intellect is not chastity. The man who tries to be chaste in thought, is unchaste, because he has no love. Only the man who loves is chaste, pure, incorruptible. - J. Krishnamurti, The Book of Life

Love Is Incapable of Adjustment - From J Krishnamurti

You all receive selected forwards from me from the J Krishnamurti daily quotes, pasting below something that is worth cherishing - it sums up so well and is crystal clear.

Love Is Incapable of Adjustment

Love is not a thing of the mind, is it? Love is not merely the sexual act, is it? Love is something which the mind can not possibly conceive. Love is something which cannot be formulated. And without love, you become related; without love, you marry. Then, in that marriage, you "adjust yourselves" to each other. Lovely phrase! You adjust yourselves to each other, which is again an intellectual process, is it not? . . . This adjustment is obviously a mental process. All adjustments are. But, surely, love is incapable of adjustment. You know, sirs, don't you, that if you love another, there is no "adjustment." There is only complete fusion. Only when there is no love do we begin to adjust. And this adjustment is called marriage. Hence, marriage fails, because it is the very source of conflict, a battle between two people. It is an extraordinarily complex problem, like all problems, but more so because the appetites, the urges, are so strong. So, a mind which is merely adjusting itself can never be chaste. A mind which is seeking happiness through sex can never be chaste. Though you may momentarily have, in that act, self-abnegation, self-forgetfulness, the very pursuit of that happiness, which is of the mind, makes the mind unchaste. Chastity comes into being only where there is love. - J. Krishnamurti, The Book of Life