Thursday, 25 December 2014

SILENCE : A MELODY

Right from inception of human  civilization  , through its tumultuous and vacillating amelioration ,and to very date as it stands today, silence has always  been as perpetual a companion to human kind as the sun and the firmament.Although undoubtedly ,to stand the acid test of time and substance ,"SILENCE" has often shifted roles notably from one extreme to  the other .At the very outset of human genesis it was silence which occupied all the empty spaces in  plane of time and  sound of any kind were thought to be turbulences and were often feared as interfering elements in  ongoing harmonious  orchestra of life .Contrarily today  silence exists in diminishing traces and crass cacophony prevails and has come to be seen as ways of life . Achingly sad but true .
Surely  silence has traversed a whole horizon and has seen better days .
So the mllion dollar question is : what is silence ?  Is it mere  absence of words ?
or is there a  “virgin” dimension to its meaning  waiting to be be explored and tapped ? Understanding silence is very critical to well being of a person in particular and world in general...

Silence has always been seen as “ absence  of audible sounds or lack of communication “ (ref.wikipedia).The words ‘absence’ , ‘lack’   lend a negative connotation to a serene thing as silence whereas the fact is it is the silence which lends meaning to words .Without the silence the words spoken would be an unending nonsensical banter .Words derive their legitimacy from silence which we underminigly dub as “absence of words “. It   is indeed  a paradox .
Like ,in calligraphy ,it is the spaces / voids between the words that bequeath sense to the words  or in a musical piece it is the spacing of the voids that bestow lyrical harmony  known to us as “music beats”.
With nobler intention of understanding silence at a philosophical level ,silence can be viewed  as a conjugal unison  where  the inner peace weds the outer turbulences .Silence is the time which everyone owes to their inner conflicts .Silence is the moment of realisation ,the moment when your inner psyche comes to terms with world outside ,the moment when you can see everything crystal clear even with your eyes closed .Silence leads to channelization and propagation of energy in right direction. It is also the only non- violent  vehicle  to vent out your frustrations
.
Personally speaking silence has always been a meditation to me . A meditation in which you need no posture, no external props ,no teacher .It is something which you can do even while carrying out your daily chores.And it showers you with celestial blessings be it immense self-control   ,serenity of soul and and overall beatitude .Sometimes a moment of silence can garner astonishing tranquility in times of distress .

Also I see "silence"  as the answer to predicaments and perplexities bogging down humanity
The unprecedented violence ,relentless bloodshed,conflicts in the name of religion ,colour ,creed ,
moral depravity  ,nosediving human ethics and more sacrilegious than ever attitude of mankind  are few of the quandries  that is going to throw world into a quagmire .To solve conflicts at various levels of  communities ,states or nations we first need to solve our inner conflicts and to achieve this we need to grasp the power of silence . understanding the boundless potential of silence can prove to be a panacea .

Friday, 12 December 2014

TEENAGE DREAMS -1




Well it feels so weird when I set about to define what a dream   actually is . I mean I never ever had thought that I will have to  define  what a dream actually is ?
let me attempt , a dream can be called a movie running in our mind during certain stages during our sleep ,a combination of sound and visual, and sometimes some inexplicable distortions of sound and visual. A dream can very   lucid just like 1080p high definition and u will feel like you are in your real life  or  on the contrary it might be completely nonsensical. The extent of distortion of sound and visuals in a dream depends upon various factors some of which are tractable like stress levels ,what u thought about last before hitting the pillow, etc  and also factors which are way beyond human control. Those factors are supposed to be mystifying interplay of psychology ,biology and what not .well I might set you thinking why I am taking pains to describe something as commonplace as a “Dream”. That is because what I am about to deliberate requires you to be at ease with a dream actually means and what it really affects   it .

Does the term “TEENAGE DREAMS “ rings any familiar bells for all of you ?  It is not just about silly stupid teenager dreams .what I mean by “Teenage Dreams” encompasses a whole set of emotions, aspirations   and   fears   that every single teenager lives with.
It could be fear of not being able to measure up to his peers, it could be his emotional needs of love   , care and nurture ,  it also could be his hormonal surges .It could be his  endeavor for a better life ahead or maybe his chagrin over his thwarted efforts to win his “girl”. His fretting over a failed “well hatched “ plans  or maybe his favorite cricketer hit another duck .you just name a thing and you can find a lot  of teenagers  fretting over  it .I guess people are right when they say teenage is the most problematic part of growing up .
teenage can be defined roughly as age between 13 to 19, which begins with onset of various physical and psychological changes .teenage is touted to be passing phase,
the metamorphosis of a child into an adult through a set of experiences which are unnerving as well as life changing at the same time .well I don’t intend to beat around about what teenage is all about   . I am just here to share what it meant for me to grow through those years
 .
As I was growing up  I faced a host of issues .one of the very first problems I faced was the identity issue .  you  always  wanted to be identified ,associated with ,spotted ,distinguished or tagged ,whatever way you put it. No matter what the subject was  you always wanted to be  distinguished from crowd rather than being a part of it .
Also this identity crisis becomes acute when you  go to  a new school or college .Then there is your adrenaline rush as you enter the threshold of puberty .you tend to indulge in delinquent activities just for the fun of it. It sometimes has very serious repercussions amounting to substance abuse, outbursts of violence and even criminal offence .
Also I observed a lot of my friends  did a lot of things they never ever wanted to ,  just to  ”remain in the league” or to be cool. A teen has this cancerous tendency to measure himself against his peers which eats him slowly .I have seen friends succumb to a lot of vices,  be it  alcohol  , maurijiana and various other addictions . I will bet my money on the fact that “An engineering college hostel is the best workshop to learn how a teenager caves in to such  tendencies .”
Another curious thing which I experienced   was   , whenever I screwed up something  I always felt like I was in the “public eye”  and my screwing up has  somehow halted the infinite rhythm of universe .Psychologists  call this “Spotlight Effect”. you feel like you are in limelight and everyone is watching you screw up .This leads  to diminishing confidence and further faltering . When the fact is nobody bothers whether you screw up or not .
 As soon as you enter college you start to become conscious of  enormous changes you are undergoing both psychologically and physically . This is the time when opposite sex captivates you . This is also the time you become conscious of terms like ego , self esteem ,career , success ,future  each of them a double edged sword . I ,sometimes wish  I never came across such terms and then ahh .. I also wish I never grew up .
(to be contd….)

Thursday, 11 December 2014

OPPORTUNISM IN TODAY'S WORLD

Someone said “a good opportunity seldom knocks your door  And never  repeats itself “
aptly said …
life is all about cashing  in  on those opportunities ...everyone  can’t be very lucky to get numerous opportunities in life but it is within everyone’s personal capability to be brave and determined enough to jump upon on whatever opportunities he /she has got in life …in today’s world of cut- throat competition world needs knife edge sharpness and excellence …so in order to outshine u need to be aware of opportunities in and around u …in short u need to be OPPOPRTUNISTIC ..

we really need to understand what  this theory of OPPORTUNISM  actually  is ??
Wikipedia people define” Opportunism as  the conscious policy and practice of taking selfish advantage of circumstances. And when we talk about  human opportunism, it often has a strong negative  moral connotation.. “in short in relation with human behavior, opportunism has always been considered to have a connotation of lack of integrity and anti-social selfishness .But this is not what I am here to delve into .what intrigues me more is the positive sphere of opportunism as a whole ,meaning by opportunism in human psyche which translates itself to something like “ making most of the opportunities while they are there.”or I wud rather put it “MAKE HAY WHILE THE SUN SHINES “

Opportunism in today’s real time  scenario has got two important aspects …
first primary element  is OPTIMISM.. it is the ability to sense the opportunity in different situations and the same time develop a strong conviction that yes here is my  chance …
an optimistic person sees opportunities in almost every situation  ,and here lies the root of chaos of life ..
too much of optimism means u find yourself entwined and entangled amongst opportunities making your head spin with numerous choices ..this leads to half matured decisions leading on to unsatisfied lives.. And this particular syndrome is ,as I have come to diagnose ,sole reason for unhappiness of our intelligentsia .I mean , wouldn’t it be expecting too much if we nurture  spurious  hopes of a solid structure on foundation of half- baked bricks of decisions ?
it is no surprise that sometimes it all just falls like a pack of cards ….
 and instead of understanding the fact that we saw too much of an opportunity and did too little to back ourselves  what we actually do is
we fret ourselves , curse our fate , indulge in blasphemy and entertain all kinds of objuration  and profanations as our articles of faith allow us .
That actually underlines the importance of the other side of the coin ,that is ,the other aspect of opportunism “REALIZATION “
well I prefer to call realization as the balancing factor for optimism  or rather say balancing excess of opportunism .Realization can be deemed as real time analysis of any situation ..an analysis that is not biased and weighted in assessing its pros and cons by virtue of  what we call too much of “HOPE”.
I undoubtedly give in  to the fact that hope has been an elemental constituent of motivation  since the haydays of human civilization but too much of hope just strangulates the power of reason and logic to think and act clearly as per given circumstances .so u see opportunism creates its own nemesis and that is over reliance  on hope and optimism.
SO what I propound is :life is just about finding the right balance between being opportunistic and being realistic.”NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE “ only looks good on paper .In life u need to have a stock of the situation and rather focus on what is possible with your given circumstances .And this balance can only be achieved with experience and training of the “self”.yes and this balance is unique for every person depending upon his/her innate abilities and also his/her inherent defects.
Don’t get me wrong.I m not discouraging you  to not  think out of the box or to reach out for. No absolutely not .
All I really mean to say is that if a spaceship has to reach mars it should have fuel enough to get there .
We can not just pray and hope that whatever fuel it has, it  will take it to mars .
I think this example brings home the point ..
#PENSEUR ROHIT