who

Who is going to stand by you? Are we all not alone in our little world? Thoughts, imagination, dreams all are ours. Who owns responsibility?

I have been seeing a trend where people don’t want to change, move on, or take steps ahead. Some are victims of their past, live by the memories, and sometimes sulk in it.

Past has already happened, good or bad is how it was. The present is where we have to live. If we keep dwelling into the past and take no actions in making a better present, we will be left far behind. Time is the only constant. Time waits for nobody, always ticking and taking you closer to the end of life.

With a limited amount of time, why can’t we live at our best like a train traveler taking every moment as a journey of a new destination? Some worth learning. Why do we have to get attached?

It is our life, and we have to take control. Nobody else can make us feel better if we are not willing for the first step.

dependent

Why do we have to be dependent on alcohol, drugs, smoking, or a guru? Is it because we are scared to accept and live our lives in real sense? We have read or heard that the consumption of foreign substances will make us better?

I feel we are scared of living as we are. Why can’t we see inwardly? We are afraid of accepting ourselves.

What is the guarantee that the dependence of external substances will guide in the right direction?

When this life is ours, are we not supposed to self introspect, learn our nature, and live with it?

bored

I keep hearing from people around how we get bored. The moment we feel empty. We have nothing to think about, do which excites us. Is this state self-created? Is it because we don’t know what we want?

How can we get bored knowing our existence on this planet is limited? We have so many amazing people around who depend on us? There is so much to read, learn, and understand about us.

purpose

What keeps us moving?
What makes our life unique?
What keeps us moving against all the odds, failures?

The more and more I read about the life of successful people or those who left their mark on society. It makes me realize they had a purpose: Martin Luther King to Mahatma Gandhi to Nelson Mandela to Mother Teresa. This one thing drove them every single moment of their life.

How many of us have got a purpose for our existence? Or are we just living like a wild beast?

reunions

Reunions result in bringing memories of the past. Be it with school friends or colleagues. There has never been a dull moment. Sometimes it makes me wonder about our innocence at others about our foolishness, bravery.

Reunions are bittersweet. The conversation about your crushes, their present life. The sports teacher and being caned bunking morning PTs. Late-night shows, jumping hostel walls after light out or drinking, smoking inside the hostel campus. It all makes me laugh.

This conversation also reminds me of freedom and a careless attitude. I am not judging it now or seeking answers. Life was simple and less about hoarding or buying. An ice cream or evening golgappas were sufficient to bring all the cheers.

Life was not about fitting in but living together and figuring it out. As we all were young and we had no expectations. For me, the study was the last concern. I don’t know what I was seeking then, It must have been like a train ride, and parents bought a ticket for me.

It also makes me feel that life was simple, less goal-oriented, or aspirational. It was more about making the best of now, explore and learn from mistakes, and move on. It was less plastic or imaginary.

utopia

Most of us living in the metro are part of a bubble. We are part of a parallel universe. It is like living in a utopia: capitalism, consumerism, and modernity is the virtue and elements like cars, housing society, mobile fostering the identity.

I see people complaining about electricity failure or water not coming for a day for maintenance. I see folks fighting with delivery agents or negotiating for a few rupees with vendors.

I also see a class of people speaking at conferences, presenting slides, graphs, data, and echoing India’s development. I also see people doing thought leadership and predictions on various subjects, platforms.

Either we happily neglect the other India, or we don’t want to see it. An India where every year millions go homeless because of the flood, people still kill siblings over land disputes, kids go to eat not study at school. An India where untouchability is deep-rooted, life lost over entering a temple or fetching water from a pond. Cities of India where one bus connects the entire village from the rest, electricity comes occasionally, and pure drinking water is a dream. An India where dowry or honor killing exists. An India where entire families meal depends on the sale of vegetables in the village mandi. An India where eating out once in a month or eating meat, sweets is no less than a celebration. An India where new dresses are bought once or twice a year.

I am not trying to be a cynic. I am part of it. There is another India that forms 95% of our population. An India which serves labor forces to build your apartment, deliver our food, or clean our house, or take you home from the airport. They are like us humans with emotions, cravings for love, respect, and belonging. Do not treat them live robots, slaves, or trash.

This 95% is not the TRP or ad-material for media. Their stories are not worth chasing. Our government has made them invisible long back.

show

Why can’t we be honest with our loved ones? It is alright to acknowledge mistakes, failures. It does not make us less of a human.

We visit a doctor for a treatment, we tell them all the symptoms, hide nothing. He provides us the medicine, and we get cured.

Why can’t we do the same in everyday life, acknowledge our mistakes, show the urge to improve and talk honestly with our parents, mentors, peers?

What is the point of this fake show? Broken from inside, continuously struggling with self but not asking for help, cure?

Wrong

Every opportunity comes with success and failures. Society tells us about look for positives and ignore negatives. Over the last few years, I have read Charlie Munger many times, and thinking in inversion has been a great mental model for me.

I have been trying my best to add it as part of my decision making. It is not easy, our mind is a monkey mind, and it continuously chatters, makes its imaginary castles.

The same applies when it comes to onboarding a customer or product
development. I have stopped seeing everything as a success, achievement instead: “What could fuck up with this?” It has helped me in being honest with customers telling what we cannot build and certain instances not onboarding them, leaving money on the table.

hoopla

What is this hoopla we have created around us? Why do we have to be on top of everything? Do we need to consume, comment, and converse on everything?

Our brain can take limited things to process, and an app-driven economy wants all your attention. You fall victim to E-commerce offer or quantify, fight and take sides on some social media platform. How is it helping in making ourselves better? How can you be an expert with limited knowledge?

The billions worth book has been sold telling you can do anything and many other recycled ones telling you how to meditate, live a stress-free life. None of these will teach you tricks for self-introspection, knowing who you are. It has to come within yourselves. The urge to finding who you are, your nature requires nothing less than meditation. How can you help someone, claim yourself a thought leader on various topics without knowing yourself?

Your social media likes, comments and followers will give you short-lived dopamine, finding who you are will make this journey less painful. Get over this hoopla and self introspect.

Isolation

We humans are not meant to live in isolation. We like being in a herd. Covid19 has changed our way of living. We are socializing, working, shopping, sharing miseries, and happiness online. The mystics, saints, and yogis are the only exceptions.

It feels like a house arrest to me like many of us. I was out running outside earlier. Last week I was told it is airborne, and I have locked myself. I am in touch with the outside world, team , parents, siblings.

I still feel I am missing out on many things. But the imagination of dying without the supply of ventilators or oxygen alone or letting my corpse rotting for a few days keeps me thinking otherwise.

I know it is a tough time for everyone, and none of us had imagined it. The only precaution is isolation. I was reading the Reddit post last day and was feeling so helpless.