Monday, January 18, 2016

Chennai Floods- MyThought gates opened

It’s the long pending scribbling which I have drafted and reserved in my mind for the last one month after the Chennai deluge in December 2015.May be after the Chennai incident I have to be more cautious if I reserve it for more time in my mind it may overflow and hence thought of opening it today. I was one of the middle class Chennaite who couldn’t reach home for 4 days but lucky to stay in a serviced apartment .But those 4 days I had my colleague who lost all his household items with 15 feet of water around his house. My family members were not reachable and no electricity /power at times .Managed with 1 dress we were wearing ,but thankfully  we had mobilized money to buy few new ones for the next 3 days stint. When I started back home on the first day I never knew I have to stay back in the city for the next 3 days without contact with my family .I know I took the risk of starting late in the evening but I couldn’t relate that it shall be a 3 day stay with no connectivity .Those 3 days were the days for me learn and realize few things. I had a comfortable bigger MUV which couldn’t take me to my destination. I had a superb mobile phone which couldn’t connect me to my kid and hear his voice. I had plastic money to swipe ,but the floods wiped the city and no one was there to see the value of plastic money when they have lost the elasticity of smiles. That’s when I started thinking about the Gen X, Gen Y, Gen Z and their behavioral pattern based on experience and exposure they get. I was trying to correlate this flood and the impact on our behavioral pattern/characteristics in the minds of the generation I am experiencing/being part of.I am sure the crowd I am part of is the one who got into a decent package after the IT boom/MBA, owning a flat/apartment /car within 30-35 years of age and would have experienced the accessibility to all comforts through money with minimal or less discomfort or experience of this sort. I am sure this flood would have given us a lesson when our car or flat couldn’t get us milk or basic food for 3-4 days. We may have to travel by boat or stay in schools among the common men for those 3-4 days. These 3-4 days might have made us ashamed, when we think of days during which we might have overtaken a two wheeler/car to satisfy our ego, wasted our restaurant food, or had the pride of being part of the salaried community. I came out rather I was one of the earliest to drive my car in the risky roads after the rains, to experience the behavioral changes post this rain I found vehicles moving at normal speeds ,no rash driving ,calmness and politeness in the people’s face for a week. I could see it visible and experience it with each and every person I came across for 1 week post the incident. I started thinking such destruction leave an everlasting psychological impact on generations of that era which molds their characteristics for betterment of human race. I can’t be in humane to write such floods are good ,but I am happy and I would be glad if we could learn what’s the real value of life which money or physical assets cannot buy . We have to tell us every day when we wake up ,what we have today might not be there tomorrow or of no use ,except the love and care which we share to the mankind around us today .Lets Live to Love and Love to Live



Monday, January 11, 2016

Its okay to be unhappy......

It was holiday for most of the city except for my thoughts.People who have traveled with me  not only in the car but also in my life (The toughest !)  will know my thoughts have no holiday .It was Chennai ECR and the moment i crossed  Kovalam junction i can only hear the sea breeze . I removed my goggles opened my car side windows and switched on to a pleasant music.I don't know after few minutes I cant stop tears rolling out of my eyes.The feeling I was going through was exactly like this .The same thoughts which would be running in a poor kid who cant afford to buy crackers but waits for Diwali to receive the free 2 pieces of crackers from the rich neighbor so that he can celebrate.The feeling was exactly the same .The poor kid cant ask for more but wait for next Diwali for the neighbor to once again share crackers .Few situations in life are exactly the same.The next day I came to work with loaded mind and wanted to share few things or my situation or my thought process to one of my dearest friend .I actually expected acknowledgment of my emotions but to my surprise it was shocker to hear that " You don't know how to live happily and you wont change".It actually made me ponder more and more and started to analyse why not there be a truth in what the friend said.The friend in fact moved one step forward and said " All around you are happy ; Except you " . Actually what the friend said was absolutely true .All were happy .Then it made me think more and more and finally I started to understand why they were able to be and why I cant be.According to me every human goes through different life stages. Stage 1 where people get happiness by somehow getting whatever they want .In this stage they don't care the repercussion of their own desires on others in the process of reaching to their own desires .The next stage is when they start thinking what all will be the impact in getting what they want ,who all will be affected ,is my desire really worth at the cost of pain of those people .The third stage is when one starts thinking for others even if the desire is the breath struggle. Human mind at this stage starts thinking should we trouble others even for our survival. I would prefer to map these stages against the maturity stages of an individual .Now I started looking at people around me who were happy and mapped them in these three stages . I realized more than 80% of the people are in stage 1 and rest in stage 2. I realized somewhere I am in the stage 3 or at-least in the entry of stage 3. Stage 3 entry or sustenance is not an easy task .It demands sacrifice,commitment and surrender for the deserving souls of the world.When you are in this stage you will feel like the " Diwali Poor Kid" and its quite natural one has to go through the pain of compromising and sacrificing .At this stage one cant be happy but  he or she can be peaceful.People in stage 1 and stage 2 really don't even bother to think others in attaining or fulfilling their desires for that moment and hence they are likely to be more happy.May be in the corporate terms they are called "SMART " kids . But the people in stage 3 are authentic and they are most of the times unhappy. If we analyse ,their unhappiness will make rest others happy somewhere .Whereas the happiness of people in stage 1 and stage 2 will make rest of the world unhappy somewhere .I realized then its okay to be slightly unhappy at times as it makes rest of the deserving people happy .