Starry Eyed Surprise!

Some of us live our lives in quite desperation with a sense of meaningful purpose & you wish to share your dreams & aspirations with somebody who would bring a sense of completeness in your otherwise dull & mundane life. You spend your days with a melancholic solitude lurking in that puny little heart just waiting that maybe tomorrow she will bump into you & end your misery.
You spend those teenage nights wallowing in self pity believing the adage that nice guys do finish last but still hoping that good things will happen to you. Even the presence of an exuberant spirit behind that lonesome disposition doesn’t help & you feel as if you are living in an existence of no consequence & there is no place for any colour in the canvas of your life except for black & white.
As time goes by, you have made a habit of living like this & then one day it strikes you..
Maybe she is waiting for you too! & while you are standing on the road, the powers to be are laying down the bricks so that the road leads you to her.

Just then, like a cool spring breeze she walks in your door owing to a chance encounter & asks for your help & you feel a connection, a kind of soulful bond which encompasses your entire consciousness & it becomes impossible to erase her from your psyche. You start questioning your whole belief system & the terms destiny & fatality are new words in your agnostic dictionary.
You curse yourself for not finding her soon enough but are also grateful at the same time for reaching out to her & forging a truly meaningful relationship that transcends mere physical attraction.
She inspires you in ways you didn’t expect to be inspired & gives you that warm, mushy feeling every time she is around you. You start wanting to be a better person, not for her, as she promises to love you as long as your clock keeps ticking but because she arouses that part in you which has always wanted to awaken from slumber & instills a take-on-the-world spirit in you.
You start seeing a future with her & walk the road as one. All the songs & all the poetry in the world start making some real sense now & you feel “this is what I was waiting for” & that it really was worth the wait. Every touch, every smile, every conversation reassures your faith in all things that are good & pure & you say to yourself “What a Wonderful World”.
You feel a metamorphosis is in progress & you are changing, changing for good. People around you cannot figure out what’s brought it on but you know its her indefatigable spirit that touches you in the most subtle ways & you feel like a new person.

Well I consider myself to be the most fortunate soul to have been a part of this surreal quixotic exploration. She is with me by my side lighting up my days, laughing at my unfunny jokes & warming my heart with her adorable self. It is because of her that I can write like this without even an iota of embarrassment. Without a moments thought I can share with her my most intimate thoughts & darkest forebodings and she assures me that she will never let go of my hand & will take me as I am for better or worse, for richer or poorer, for smarter or loser!

You make me fly high & without you I feel like an empty tin can without the cooked food in it!
This is my humble gift to you on our first anniversary.
To the most amazing girl on the planet..HAPPY 30 DAYS.
1st JANUARY 2006.

My Generation

I am a 22-year old young man. Man – ‘cause I can get married next tuesday & Young - ‘cause I’ll always be young (at least in the inside) even on the verge of a mid life crisis at 45! Indian by birth, Indian by heart. Reasonably intelligent, a little laidback, ambitious, a born daydreamer…

Well this is me but the above may just be the profile of any of the countless of young impressionable Indians who having just crossed the threshold of being a carefree teen or a young adult & are just rushing out to take on the world & create their own destinies.

Young India is getting younger as the clock keeps ticking. A little number crunching will show that almost as much as 55% of India is under the age group of 18-25. Now that to me is a staggering statistical fact! Our country is witnessing a transformational phase, a change in identity if you will.
Gone are the days when the outside world used to perceive us as a third world nation, the land of snake charmers & variety of spices. Today we are a global destination for all kinds of activities.
India has arrived ladies & gentlemen!
This shift in global perspective has a lot of tangible benefits, both in terms of economic advantages & cultural mindsets. The average Indian 20-something year old is a lot more optimistic, confident & hopeful about his future & his place in the new market economy.

Armed with a solid knowledge base & with the requisite soft skills with the ability to sell oneself, the youth of today knows that the world is their oyster. With India Inc. going global in the truest sense of the word, there are no limits as to where dedicated hard work, a passionate drive & the ability to rise above your comfort zone can take you.

Gone are the days when university life was characterized by a reckless sense of rebellion & undiluted idealism & individuality. There’s a sense of real world practicality in the young today. Politics is for the ruthless. Be aware but don’t get your hands dirty seems to be the credo. But I wish there was a greater level of participation & involvement by the young in the political process & the way we govern ourselves.

The technological revolution that has spun the entire globe in a dizzy has brought these young people of diverse nationalities together collaborating with each other blurring cultural as well as geographical boundaries. The internet & mobile technology has forever changed the way people gather & absorb information & the way they entertain themselves.
But this over indulgence in technological wizardry has a few caveats as well. Psychologists & sociologists argue that attention spans are diminishing & that real human interaction is being replaced by spending more time in the digital dungeons. But the pros hugely outnumber the cons.
Google, sms, blogging, mp3, I-pod, Playsation, Nokia are not just products, they’ve become a way of life for this brand conscious, always on the move generation.

Along with all the material aspirations is also the need to grow, to learn, to be enlightened.
Education is not merely about adding a degree after your name, it’s about making the appropriate choices which would enable you to realize your true potential. Technical studies are not pursued today just to quench your intellectual curiosity but so that you can identify real world problems & devise solutions which are cost effective & are market oriented. But one should not let market driven economics to dictate ones passion for a career in science or humanities. Unfortunately our rigid & inflexible education system leaves less to imagination.

The young & the restless are changing the social, economic & cultural fabric of India & the people high up there in the political system would be too naïve to disregard the fact.

On the whole, we are living in interesting times where opportunities are right there in front of us. All we need to do is grab them by the collar & go kiss the world!