The old & cautious me

It’s been almost 5 years but the incident remains fresh in my mind to date.
It was a nice cold evening in B’lore and a couple of us friends got together that evening had a nice chat and came back to talk a little more near a local temple in BTM 2nd stage. A drunkard appeared to have lost sense after a grandiose dose of whatever seemed like his favourite drink. We engrossed ourselves in our discussions and suddenly the drunkard got a feeling that we were teasing/abusing him. He started abusing us in return and one of our friends gave it back to him and whisked him away. The drunkard swore he would be back and teach us a lesson, we really did not bother.

After a few minutes, the drunkard came back with another person – a 16-17 year old boy. The boy started hitting our friend who had argued with the drunkard after he was pointed at by the drunkard. We tried to stop him, but could not till one of the stronger guys in our group caught hold of the boy. The drunkard meanwhile took off his belt and started hitting me, I took 2-3 light blows on my hands. During the whole incident, I was unusually calm and quite, I was actually thinking rationally and was in my senses, did not loose temper.

I was never like that, I was very aggressive and that incident just brought to light the big change that had come in my life. I have been involved in many a brawls during my school and college days. I might have broken a few bones as well, but this was so different. Even today I am unable to attribute this change to one single thing. Was it age and maturity, was it education, was it the company I had been keeping over the last few years, was it just another change in my personality? Perhaps none of these, perhaps all of these!

Sachin Tendulkar - 10,000 & not out

Oye, 'Chin out ho gaya oye!!! shouted a brash, young Sardar. In frenzy 2 bengali's, 1 maharashtrian, 2 gujratis, 3 south indians rushed to check the tv screen in front of the hotel counter. I truly do not remember any other instance where a player can create this kind of frenzy. A lot has been written about Sachin Tendulkar's batting, his presence of mind on the cricket field and over all cricketing acumen, but this is one thing that probably cannot be written enough about and that is the unifying quality of his game that brings together people of different strata's in life.

If cricket is truly a religion in india, then Sachin Tecdulkar is probably its GOD!

Cheats every where!!!!!

Am being too harsh I guess, but when we look around, every one around here is trying to fleece you for something or the other.The feeling of you being used, abused and sometimes taken for a ride comes very strongly. Whether you are fleeced by an auto rickshaw driver, a vegetable vendor, a real estate broker, a cable operator, a mobile phone agent, the list is endless. The common theme is every one is trying to make more money by working less. Each one wants to take advantage of your lack of choice in most cases, ignorance, lack of knowledge and some times a plain simple weakness and desperation.

I guess I too am part of that crowd, at times I am a victim, at times I am the one who is on the wrong side of things, like now. I am supposed to work, but I am busy writing these 6 lines for my blog. I guess every one is in the same boat, depends on which waters you prefer sailing

All work and no play.....

Most of my friends and me work in excess of 12-14 hours per day. Though the work is not physically draining, it definitely is tiring. The amount of tiredness some of us experience is pretty high. Some of my friends cannot even come out of their homes once they get in after a day's work. I am no different, once I reach home after 9.00pm or so, its just a matter of priority that drives my venturing out and meeting people.

When I look back, I worked much harder, sometimes even longer hours in manufacturing, but the tiredness that the busy experiences today is of a different nature. It is not something that I used to feel when I would log in 12-14-16 hours on the shop floor and get home. Is it that we sit and laze around a lot now and the body is not subjected to any kind of physical activity through out the day? Is it the pollution, the food we eat? Is it the lack of exercise and a disciplined work ethic, posture etc.?

I don't know, may be a combination of all of these, but I know for sure, there needs to be a concerted effort to correct this. Else an entire generation of prematurely old and frail people is just about to get into a crisis that probably could have been averted.

Me thinks its possible to prevent a lot of these problems if we eat right, sleep right, sit right and work right (# of hours that is).