Thursday, 29 June 2017

Playing to the Gallery - or rather not to


Does it Really Matter who is Watching

Does it Really Matter who is  listening ?
The gallery is full of fickle fools
Who will applaud the next performer even harder
What should matter is our self conviction
Going to bed in calm Surrender
Glowing with the satisfaction
Of putting in our best and having
Given pleasure to another
even If it's only one !
In today's day and age where
Reputations precede opinion
and brands are everything
Let's take time out to recognise
Simple acts of innovative endeavour

Vikaas Nafde@2017

Importance of U

It's not my circus and not my monkeys - Polish Proverb
Yet -No man is an island .

As a wit once said
" Solitude is so much more beautiful when you have some one along to keep telling how beautiful solitude is ! "

I have found it important to understand that this world and our sojourn in it , in any any given lifetime is , an intricately designed screenplay and has all the elements of drama.
It has helped in reconciling with the Downs ( disappointments ) but UPs ( successes ) are still to be mastered in terms of equanimity !
There is of Course a Playwright and other characters whose roles are interwoven into the story which has several Acts and diverse scenes.
Intuition is the Prompter in the wings and Conscience is the Director.
It is these  " other characters " - the Boss , Colleagues , Trainers , Mentors and Motivators , Service Providers , Friends , Relatives ..part of the daily soap .... who are also playing designated roles and we need to understand that this whole interaction is akin to the hands of the Potter moulding the clay of Life into some sort of useful shape .
As it is for us , for them also ,
It's not their screenplay and not their script 😊

Dance as a way of Life



Life's intricate dance
Choreographed by the Master
To the Rhythm of Chance
Sometimes slow, sometimes faster

The stage is revolving
Making designs of light n shade
This way the story's evolving
This is how the future's made

Audience reaction is unimportant
Essential is enjoyment of the act
Smoothing down the discordant
Making miracles into fact !

THANK GOD FOR THIS LIFE ( at least its something to live for ! )

Vikaas Nafde @2017 

Sunday, 25 June 2017

Big Brother is Watching

Watch out ! Big Brother is Watching ! I have to thank my friend Sandhya Nair for sharing this very relevant piece

Hello ! Gordon's Pizza?

No sir, it's Google's pizza.

So, this is a wrong number?

No sir,  Google bought it.

OK. Take my order please.

Well sir, you want the usual?

The usual? You know me?

According to our caller ID, the last twelve times, you ordered pizza with three cheeses, sausage and a thick crust.

OK ! That's it.

May I suggest to you this time ricotta and arugula with dried tomato?

What? I hate vegetables.

Your cholesterol level is not good.

How do you know that?

Through the health scheme subscribers' guide. We have the results of your blood tests for the last seven years.

OK, but I do not want that new pizza - I am already taking a cholesterol  lowering medicine.

But you have not been taking that medicine regularly. You only purchased one box of 30 tablets four months ago at Drugsale Network.

I bought some more from another chemist.

That's not showing on your credit cards.

I paid for them in cash

But you did not withdraw that much cash, according to your bank statements.

I have other sources of cash.

That is not showing as per you last Tax return, unless you bought them from an undeclared income source

WHAT THE HELL?  I'm sick and tired of Google, Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp.

I'm going to live on an island somewhere without the Internet, where there are no cell phones and there's no one to spy on me any more !

I can understand that, sir - but in that case, you'll need to renew your passport. It expired five weeks ago !

Saturday, 24 June 2017

HAPPY AGNOSTIC / ATHEIST DAY


It is surprising that there are people predicting the arrival of World War III whereas  from the blood dripping from most newspaper articles and TV channels it seems to have already arrived. Mostly being waged as life by the sword
History tells us that the first thing that  gets devastated by war or war -like conditions is the economy . Productive resources get diverted to defensive ones and progress marks time on the spot. This affects life of all in a 360  degree manner. We seem to be already in that state.
Tolerance and understanding are the only long term stabilizers .
Pained by the bloodshed and violence this is my effort to give respect and acknowledge the Right of every Creature to not share my Beliefs
or acknowledge Truth ,the way it appears to me ,
and let's not kill each other over the difference !

Your  saying " there is no God " will not make Mine disappear just as my saying " There HE is " make Him appear to you
===
Believe nothing,
No matter where you read it
Or who has said it,
Not even if I have said it,
Unless it agrees with your own reason
And your own common sense.
Buddha
======
Ancient Roman tombstone
Do not pass by my epitaph, traveler.
But having stopped, listen and learn, then go your way.
There is no boat in Hades, no ferryman Charon,
No caretaker Aiakos, no dog Cerberus.
All we who are dead below
Have become bones and ashes, but nothing else.
I have spoken to you honestly, go on, traveler,
Lest even while dead I seem talkative to you.
======
Most importantly :
Men never commit evil so fully and joyfully as when they do it for religious convictions.
Blaise Pascal
============
....and in Indian conditions especially

Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by rulers as useful.
Anonymous

HAPPY AGNOSTIC ATHEIST DAY

Wednesday, 14 June 2017

Earning to Live or Living to Earn

This is a story I  received from a friend which  raises an extremely pertinent question related to  every ones life , or so I believe
The trend arising from the examples cited is truly remarkable
As he failed to mention the author  I am reproducing it as Anonymously received .
In my view the examples are a bit morbid but definetely indicate a trend but I don't think we should say " Look what happened to these highly successful entrepreneurs ! It's better I don't become one ! " 😊😊
Rather, let's just draw a lesson and move on ....

*In 1923, nine of the wealthiest people in the world met at Chicago's Edge Water Beach Hotel*.
*Their combined wealth, it is estimated, exceeded the wealth of the Government of the United States at that time
* These men certainly knew how to make a living and accumulate wealth. *Attending the meeting were the following men*:

1. The president of the *largest steel company,*

2. The president of the *largest utility company,*

3. The president of the *largest gas company,*

4. The president of the *New York Stock Exchange,*

5. The president of the *Bank of International Settlements,*

6. The *greatest wheat speculator*,

7. The greatest *bear on Wall Street,*

8. The head of the *World's greatest Economy*
&

9. A member of *President Harding's cabinet*.

*That's a pretty impressive line-up of people by anyone's yardstick.*

Yet, 25 years later, where were those nine industrial giants?

*Let’s examine what happened to them 25 years later*.
1. The President of the then largest steel company (Bethlehem Steel Corp), *Charles M Schwab, lived on borrowed capital for five years before he died bankrupt.*

2. The President of the then largest gas company, *Howard Hubson, went insane*.

3. One of the greatest commodity traders (Wheat Speculator), *Arthur Cutten, died insolvent.*

4. The then President of the New York Stock Exchange, *Richard Whitney, was sent to jail.*

5. The member of the US President’s Cabinet (the member of President Harding's cabinet), *Albert Fall, was pardoned from jail just to be able to go home and die in peace.*

6. The greatest “bear” on Wall Street, *Jesse Livermore committed suicide*.

7. The President of the then world’s greatest monopoly, *Ivar Krueger, committed suicide*.

8. The President of the Bank of International Settlement, *Leon Fraser, committed Suicide.*

9. The president of the largest utility company, *Samuel Insull, died penniless.*

*What they forgot was how to "make" life while they got busy making money!*

*Money in itself is not evil;* it provides food for the hungry, medicine for the sick, clothes for the needy. *Money is only a medium of exchange.*

*We need two kinds of education*:

a) One that teaches us *how to make a living,*

and

b) One that teaches us *how to live*.

*There are many of us who are so engrossed in our professional life that we neglect our family, health and social responsibilities.*

If asked why we do this, we would reply that *"We are doing it for our family"*.

Yet, *our kids are sleeping when we leave home*. They are sleeping *when we come back home*!! *Twenty years later, we’ll turn back, and they’ll all be gone, to pursue their own dreams and their own lives*.

*Without water, a ship cannot move*. *The ship needs water, but if the water gets into the ship, the ship will face existential problems*. What was once a means of living for the ship will now become a means of destruction.

Similarly we live in a time where earning is a necessity but *let not the earning enter our hearts, for what was once a means of living will surely become a means of destruction for us as well.*

*So take a moment and ask yourself, "Has the water entered my ship?"*
I hope not!

Hope the above story will drive all of us in a better direction in life.....