Yeh Love Kya Cheez hain yaar!

Love.... the word itself is probably, without argument, the most abused, manipulated, and loaded with meaning word in the entire English language. Love for family, love for one's friends, love for God, love of one's profession, love for one's neighbor and so on ad nauseam are some of the myriad flavors of this feeling. Poets, authors, painters, sculptors, singers, musicians have created the greatest masterpieces of art ever inspired and driven by this indescribable feeling of complete and utter infatuation for their object of admiration. Some of the greatest achievements in the fields of science were fueled purely by the love of discovery. The love for the fine arts has manifested itself in some brilliant performances etched on the minds of the viewers fortunate enough to witness these acts of complete submission to this feeling. Can anyone ever truly describe how the lover feels when he holds his love in his arms? Can one put into words the emotion a mother feels when she sees her newly born child?

Sadly, the power of this feeling that has driven man to great heights, also makes him suspect to do things no logic can explain. Each and every human being craves this one emotion like nothing else, and the presence or lack otherwise of this element in a human's life is the single most important factor shaping his psyche. Power and riches may satisfy every other desire man feels, but nothing can replace love. The greatest single feature of love, defying all laws of physics, science and cold logic is that there is no such thing as an end to love. One can love a million people to the fullest, and still have enough left to give to a million more. Love knows no bounds, no color, no distinction at all. But the minute love is missing, everything turns awry. Without love, man is essentially a psychopath, incapable of feeling happy, despite any and every of his desires being fulfilled.

It is very easy for other human emotions to disguise themselves as love misguiding the mind and making it choose paths certain to cause misery. Greed, lust, attraction, jealousy are some of the impostors that make full use of the power they get when they cover for love. Each and every faith witnessed by mankind advocates the need to regulate these nasty creatures of the human mind and discover true love. Easier said than done, for it is rare that love can be inspired where such evil lurks. On the other hand, the only way to drive away such evil, is simply put, loving even such misguided denizens of our world.

The one last defining feature of love is, that it is such a strong feeling that a lack of response from the receiver can eat away at even the most loving person. Unrequited love, by itself, is one of the biggest causes of depression in the human world. When man has learnt to give without expecting, to love without needing to be loved back, then he will probably discover the actual purpose of life and real fulfillment. Sadly, only a select few have been able to embrace this higher echelon of the human psyche, but one cannot be blamed for being unable to do so. Caring for someone, by itself can only come naturally to someone who has been cared for at some stage in their life. Learning to be able to do so, without expecting anything in return, can be called easy only for the gods.

Well then, what is one to do? Can we ever learn to accept this truth and actively progress towards achieving such a goal? Is such a pursuit pointless? Imagine being able to love without any reciprocation, the kind of freedom one would feel. The soul, if it truly exists, would only be truly set free if we have no strings attached to the other souls around us. True happiness lies in giving, in being able to see past the desire to be loved, to give without thought for reciprocation and to hope that the receiver passes that love onto another. This chain of gratitude is the only way us humans can ever save our sad, ailing world. For only misery lies at the end of any other road, and difficult though the path may be, we must not give up this noble pursuit of human excellence.

The World Around me as I see it....

Ever had that feeling that something is not quite right? That life, as you know it, is not what it seems? Well, I do. I always have the feeling that everything around me is not real. Now this could be the product of a hyperactive imagination and reading too many science fiction novels, but still, sometimes I have to snap back to reality and remember that everything IS exactly as it seems. That there's no such thing as magic, that leprechauns and fairies do not exist, that attempting to jump from buildings Matrix movie style will only get you a lot of broken bones or worse, dead. Very disappointing to say the least, and I blame the movie and writing industries for making me dissatisfied with my world. Damn you, ya creative fools, ya spoiled me rotten!

Oh wait, I haven't told you the worst of it. Some days, when my mind is at its craziest, I feel as if the whole world is just one big stage play or TV show with me being the centre showpiece (yeah like that Jim Carrey movie). All the people around are just acting their parts, and gauging my reactions to each and everything that happens in my life. Obviously this kind of wild dreaming helps make my world more interesting, making my mind look like a bored kid trying to amuse himself. If only there were actually some point to wishful thinking eh? ;)

At this stage you are probably thinking, this guy belongs in a mental institution. But wait. Being an atheist, I have embraced the fact that this world was created by 'chaos', and there is no such thing as intelligent design. Absence of a GOD means no magic, no miracles, no voodoo whatsoever. But if you consider the fact that there are perhaps hundreds of religions in this world, followed by millions of people, it makes you wonder whether even one of them could have a minuscule of truth to them. In that case, does that mean that there is such a thing as magic? If so, sign me up buster!

Science makes a living out of shattering all our myths. Long ago people thought that fire was some kind of magic and starting worshipping it, giving birth to the Fire god. Well we kissed that guy goodbye when we discovered that all you need is oxygen, and you can pretty much burn anything! One by one everything that man could not understand or could not comprehend, all he had to do was put science to work and voila! The answer would magically appear. Not to of course downplay the years and years of painstaking research that goes into such discoveries, but science has never yet failed to answer the inspired and determined researcher.

So does that mean there is no magic?? Hold your horses! Isn't the gurgling laughter of an infant magic to his mother's ears? Doesn't the sun rising over the horizon take your breath away, and put all man made works of art to shame? Why does the sight of a kitten licking its paws, or a dog jumping in pure delight on seeing its master make you smile? The idea of there actually being some impossibly talented artist having sat down one day and created this masterpiece called earth, all these fantastically varied species of living creatures and natural wonders is far easier to embrace than some impossibly incredible succession of chaotic events bringing about such beauty. Also the comfort of having someone to thank when something good happens to us, and having the solace of never being truly alone even when you have lost everything since you have GOD, makes for a compelling argument for the existence of some magical power that created our world and drives it even today.

So what is a proof required to believe something, yet totally amazed by the world around me, belonging in a loony bin atheist like me supposed to do?? My practical friend said to me, 'Dude, u have more important matters to attend to!'. So once again I am forced to come back to the real world (read boring), get a life and get busy. Sucks, but hey, at the least, I am alive, I love the world around me and I am ready to wait for the day when my questions are answered. Or so I want you to think. Umm....

Dawgs... a gift from god...

After reading a post on a website, I have been inspired enough to write a blog post about one of my favourite things, DOGS! I am not gonna tell you what awesome pets dogs are; there's enough on the net about that already and frankly speaking some of the stuff is plain weird. All those sites dedicated to cats and dogs are just a bit too much, though i do love the LOLcats.... they are hilarious! Proof lies here: http://icanhascheezburger.com/

Anyways, back from when I was barely three or four years old, I can remember there being dogs at my grandfather's house. The one i can recollect was a pomeranian named Laika. That was when I discovered what a cool friend a dog is. You can get bored of your dog, but it never gets bored of you. Yeah a dog can have people it likes more than you, but when your alone with it, it aint gonna say a word about anybody but you! Oh wait I am doing what I said I wouldn't, telling you how awesome dogs are. Sorry about that. Moving on, we got our first dog back in like '92 I think (by we I mean my parents, my sister and me). Her name was.... wait for it.... (drumroll.... )... Nicy! Yeah we didn't exactly get very creative with the naming part but the thing is, that name fit her like a glove.

She was a pure breed pomeranian and had some very illustrious pure breed parents too, if my memory serves me right. The reason the name was apt for her was because, no prizes for guessing, she was quite the sweet little soul. Some people find poms a bit unnerving because they are known to have short tempers. But this dog wouldn't harm a fly if its life depended on it. Me and my sister were as naughty and evil as any other siblings of our age, and though i am not proud of it, we went to extreme lengths to pester our dog. But that sweet thing, she took it all with barely a growl.

Even when she would meet strangers, she would maybe give a bark or two and then cozy up to them like she had known them all her life. Though this didn't make her of much use to us as a guard dog, this soon made her very popular among visitors to our place. She didn't know any fancy tricks, wasn't very disciplined and had barely any training at all. But yet she stole everyone's heart the first time she met them. Needless to say, we grew very very fond of her and loved her fiercely. She did some things she probably wasn't very proud of (like getting knocked up by street dogs, running away from home only to come back looking like she had been cleaning the gutters) and so did we (hitting her when we were in a bad mood, being lazy to take her for walks) but overall, she endeared herself to us so much that when she finally passed away in 2001, it came as a huge blow to all of us. So much so, that my mother, who had loved Nicy like a member of our family (I always wondered how she had so much love left over after giving us so much), decided never to keep a dog at home again. We were kids, we moved on, but mom had developed quite a bond, and I think she probably still misses Nicy in her own motherly way.

One of the fondest memories I have of Nicy is the way she would chase her own tail. All we had to do was touch her tail and she would spend the next five minutes chasing it around. She left an indelible mark on my character, in that she started my love affair with dogs, made me love animals and I am a true believer of the saying that if you haven't loved an animal (preferably a dog), then you haven't loved at all. For its my belief that dogs truly understand that impossible facet of love us humans find so difficult to embrace, of giving without expecting. I could go on for pages about my dog, but I would like to end this blog by saying that I hope that one day you experience that wonderful man-dog relationship too, for it can only make you a better person. Woof woof! :)

P.S. The article that inspired this love letter to dogs:

http://1000awesomethings.com/2010/04/13/528-when-your-pet-notices-youre-in-a-bad-mood-and-comes-to-see-you/

A Blog named Desire

The mind can never understand what the heart wants. The heart can never accept what the mind wants.The root of the whole problem obviously lies in wanting something, namely, 'desire'. It is the cause and effect of all of one's problems. The only possible ways a person can deal with desire is one, he can ignore all his desires, and choose an ascetic life dedicated to finding a deeper meaning. This approach is suicidal, since it itself is motivated by the desire to achieve meaning in life. The second approach is what most people practice today, i.e trying to achieve the right balance, making the right choices of which desire to pursue and which to dismiss as the unworthy ones. Man has been trying this approach for so long with barely any success that it can be dismissed as a failed experiment. Every culture, religion, tribe, group, society, cult, belief system that has flashed across the annals of history is a conspicuous pointer to the utter failure of this approach. Each one of them had their own way of explaining the world around them and providing the path to happiness and true satisfaction, but the fact that there are so many by itself proves that there will never be one truth that can satisfy each and every human being.

Even science, which makes a commendable career out of pulling the proverbial rabbit out of the hat and blasting all of man's myths to pieces, draws a blank when it comes to the big eternal question, "Why am I here?". The last approach to dealing with desire is simple but unacceptable to most of mankind, which is simply to take what one craves. A small section of the world follows this routine, by getting what they desire by 'hook or crook'. Even here, the impossibility of getting everything one wants is such a big stumbling block that at the end of the day, even these guys must helplessly join the fellows on the second path.

Then what is, the way to deal with wanting so much in life? The pursuit of desires is just the pursuit of happiness, disguised and undiscovered. All we want is to be happy. When a person we love does something which we don't consider to be in their best interests, some of us just shrug and say, "If you're happy, I'm happy". Note how it ends with our happiness. The pursuit of happiness is the only real, absolute truth of life. The only question we need to answer is, what is happiness? Why does man feel this eternal need to be happy? This clearly seperates us from all other species on this planet, since all our actions are motivated 'only' by this reasoning. The day we stop wanting to be happy, is the day mankind will have truly ceased to exist. For either we will have found the true secret of life and thus moved up in our own eyes, or we will have given up happiness as a wild goose chase and decided to pull the plug on the entire species. I only wish I could be there when that dilemma is solved.

I aint no type u know!

I aint no type U know
Aint got any traits to show
Have my own quirky style
Not gonna walk in file

I wont follow the herd
nor stick to the curb
Wud rather be dead
than stick labels on my head


Coz I Aint gonna dance
to the same old tunes
I got my own rhythm
So hear me groove ya fools!


Types are a curse
cant think of nothing worse
Gud for a laugh
but boy can they hurt!

All the snowflakes
look darn near the same
A wise man it takes
to know their names
See them truly
understand their game


Types make no sense
each one is a pearl
See past the pretense
give em' a twirl
See the curtains part
to a whole new world

Cricket, the only religion I believe in

Cricket.... at first glance the word itself tells you nothing. Some knowledgeable chap, in complete ignorance of cricket ofcourse, might think this blog post has something to do with a certain insect. It does not, not even remotely. To be frank, cricket ain't such a big deal in our 6 billion strong, two World wars surviving, crazily diverse human race. Though the International Cricket Council does have 104 member countries, only a fool would tout that statistic to boast the popularity of cricket. Heck, cricket was never even a part of the Olympics, the biggest celebration of human athleticism since time immemorial and is only likely to be introduced from 2020. All in all, for most people on this planet, cricket is just one more game played by some people in a few colonies of the British Empire.

True, but this post is not about bashing cricket's popularity. On the contrary, I wish to address the seemingly little knowledge people have of the beauty of this game. Cricket is and will always be a never ending pursuit of the balance between sheer athleticism and intellect. The myriad rules of cricket might boggle a newcomer, but once you get past the initial hiccups, the possibilities for innovation, awe-inspiring tactical strategies and plain old cunning can make anyone gasp in wonder. Herein also lies one of the biggest strengths of cricket. This game doesnt ignore you if you aren't looking for mental stimulation. The contest between bat and ball, the battle between technique and raw animal power, and the conquest of new records by itself is sufficient to make anyone thirst for more. To put it simply, there's a lot more to cricket than what appears above the surface.

Like many other people in India, cricket is a way of life for me. Following the national team's progress (by itself a tedious affair) comes as naturally to me as perhaps, following the stock market comes to some people. Cricket in India, is by all means, a religion. I, like many others got indoctrinated into this great game at a very young age. By the time I was smart enough to realize it, I was hooked. Celebrating the successes of the national team wildly and of course, cursing them when they fail, comes naturally to me. Truth be told, I wouldn't want it any other way. The more you stay with this game, the more you are forced to marvel at how little we truly grasp the beauty of this game. One of the legends of this game, and probably the best cricketer ever, Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar (how can i write a post about cricket without mentioning SRT, the God of Cricket), is living proof that if you give your life to this game, it will award you richly and take you places few men have gone before. Some people utter that cricket is a game of luck and that the newest format of cricket, Twenty20 cricket, is even more so. My answer to this is a simple quote by Thomas Jefferson,

“I'm a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it.”

The euphoria that a cricket fan experiences, standing in a stadium filled to capacity, with wild cheering fans screaming themselves hoarse, can only rivaled by few other experiences that life has to offer. Finally, whether for the joy of watching the unceasing struggle between the batsman and the bowler, or for exploring the infinite intricacies that this game has to offer, even the most skeptical newcomer would surely be hard pressed to pronounce Cricket anything, but one of the finest inventions of mankind. Here's to Cricket.