God is a mistake.

I was replaying emails on busy working day afternoon and I was disturbed by an sms informing about the serial bomb blasts in Banglore. The 1st things that came to mind was to check my friends were all right but I learned from internet that only 2 were dead so I didn’t bother calling. The 2nd thought that came to my mind: It must be SIMI. Student's Islamic Movement of India. The moment there is a religious word in the name of organization I don’t like it… there is a reason. Vishwa Hindu Parishad was responsible for riots at some point of time too!

God is the concept that gives birth to religion. If I hear of one person who has been helped by god and made his life easy, I hear of hundreds dead every month in the name of religion. Religion can even make a particular community vulnerable - I believe it is not safe for Buddhists to live in Afganistan. What the fuck is happening in the name of religion? Sania Mirza is not allowed to ware short skirts, Afghani females can’t take part in Olympic, millions of females are treated like slaves through their lives and are not supposed to be superior to men in any way, thousands of fine young men bleed till death in the name of jihad, WTC tragedy and the list is endless! Thankfully we are over that ‘sati’ thing… the ritual created to ensure that man can be sure his wife doesn’t make out with anyone else once he is dead. All in the name of religion. All in the name of god. Would you still be annoyed by me if I say - all in the name of fucking religion/god?

Some people believe that the concept god is responsible for maintaining peace in this world. It prevents people from committing sins like rape, murder, robbery etc. Well, how about answering Dawkins’s question: “Will it make easier to kill someone if you realise that there is no God?” Think about it. I seriously don’t think god or religion is the concept that stops us from killing someone. It is our values. Ironically people do kill in the name of religion, don’t they?

Now that we are talking about killing people, lets talk about atheists. I being an atheist am not a supporter of atheism however: Atheists don’t kill and execute mass bloodshed in the name of atheism! I believe probability of not being a killer is higher in case you are an atheist.

I think religion is national waste of time. In case millions of people around the world substitute average 10 minutes of prayer with 10 minutes of cardio, the number of people suffering from metabolic disorders will come down drastically. Wait a sec, may be we should consider this for a while, its not only national waste of time, it is a psychological disease! Religion is a disease passed on from one generation to the next. Religion is the thing that makes us think in wrong directions: Shaping minds of Muslim children in religious school to make them believe that there is nothing more important than religion. Nothing else! I still remember one of the production managers lost the job because there was fire in a solvent industry (2 workers burned) and he was busy doing prayer at 2pm somewhere else. This guy also has done the same mistake his father did: putting young sons and daughters in Islamic school. Try searching for the videos of children talking about religious stuff at 5 years of age on youtube… its disgusting. It is nothing else but child abuse.

On the other end I agree with Dawkins that Atheism is good. It is a symbol of free and healthy state of mind. Atheist has a mind that is free from delusions that come with religion. Atheists approach everyday life with an open state of mind and do what is logical and practical. If I have to answer why atheism is considered taboo in conservative society – its like excessive attention to fostering fanaticism, encouraging bigotry against homosexuals, and influencing society in other negative ways. Whoever is atheist, lets be proud of ourselves as we have better set of values. We don’t murder in name of atheism.

I might have wounded the religious feelings of the readers but that is not what I wanted. For a moment, imagine the world free from religion: No riots in name of god, no slaughter. Lack of religion would have made people invest time in creative things and many third world countries would have emerged as developing ones. Indira Gandhi would have been alive, Nature’s heaven – Kashmir would have been peaceful and World Trade Center would have been standing tall.

God is a mistake we made centuries ago. Take a step to correct it; don’t tell your sons and daughters which religion they belong to. Please give them back to humanity.

.

This post is deeply inspired by the immoral acts in the name of religion and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_God_Delusion

Find it, push it.

If Tom Dick or Harry wants something, he needs to do something about it. Now this means that he needs to do something about it & not think about it. I am sick of hopeless people living in dream world who keep thinking about it but don’t do anything about it. Actually you can say this blog came out of frustration of watching and listening to a friend who only thinks & talks about doing something. Only think. Don’t do anything. Fuck you Harold!

Gone are the days when you need to study hard to make it big. Once you are out in a real word, you need to take series of tight steps to make it happen; which is actually a more entertaining compared to studies. E.g., to be successful at job, you need to you all your resources. Likewise to be sucksexfull, you need to be worth it. This might sound like a common sense but my friend its damn rare. E.g., I know someone who takes 4 hours to calculate profitability of a project using a calculator and paper (just to get it all wrong at the end of it) rather than a laptop n excel sheet with pre-filled in formulas. Likewise I also knew a guy who was senior manager in SBI, 37, single and desperate. Yet he didn’t know how perfume or deodorant is prerequisite to get laid.

Everyone likes magic. They want the income to rise like magic; they prey to gods to make thinks happen, they write it down on piece of paper 100 times in meetings to make it happen, they keep thinking about something pleasurable that they want and so damn on. What is required is logic, what everyone wants is magic and everything is very tragic.

Damn yeah, magic is in demand! We want the ‘password’ to success. Enter the password & it has to work like a magic stick! The truth is if you are a male, you have only one stick and it can rarely be used as magic stick or password to success. From what I have seen, read or been through I know there is no fucking ‘password’ to success but there is a code to success. What is the code? The code is series of prerequisites that need to be taken care of so as to achieve the result of any kind. You have to understand the prerequisites and take care of them. But we don’t give the damn about the prerequisites; we want the one step password to whatever we want! And those of us who don’t know/understand/identify/believe in prerequisites are called dreamers. I call them dumb.

Frustration aside: If you want ‘the xyz’ then you need to: One - crack the code, two – follow the code. You need to identify the series of simple prerequisites to desired outcome. These prerequisites are the buttons that need to push to get the results. If you have identified that smelling good helps get yes for coffee & if you do smell good, it increases your chance of getting laid 10 fold. After reading customers enquiry about the product - if you make a 2mins phone call, understand the exact needs and reply with a quotation on the same day helps, please do that. For it increases the chances of getting purchase order 10 fold. Here you push a series of buttons: button one – reading the enquiry, button two – making a phone call, button three – understanding the needs, button four – replying with quotation in line with needs. This is simple code to purchase order. There is a specific code to everything. Code says what buttons need to be pushed to get result. Its fun! It is not magic or something. If you know what buttons to push on right time, it does work like magic! As luck would have it, some of us act dumb enough and forget to crack the code first.

10 rupee note

I have very friendly neighbors – a married marwari couple (I call them Bhabhi and Bhayya) with 3 lil kids. This blog is inspired by an incident narrated to me by my mom. It goes like:

The other day the Bhabhi was running high fever due to some infection and being a good friend my mom was giving her some company, watching TV at neighbor’s place. Bhabhi was resting. Bhabhi calls for the youngest son nicknamed ‘Don’. She instructs him to carry out the house cleaning for the day as she is not feeling well and promises that she will pay him 10 bucks if he does the job well. My mom suggested that there is no need to pay him as you are not feeling well, it won’t be a big deal if he does the household work for a day. Bhabhi says its okay and changes the topic to something else. Meanwhile the kid turns on the vacuum cleaner and takes his own sweet time to cleaning the house. After he is done with the work, the don gets back to Bhabhi and says, “I have done the work, give me 10 bucks”. His mom, gets up from the bed, walks to the closet, takes out a 10 rupee note and pays him.

My mom was quite shocked by the whole incident; she was wondering how can a kid in 2nd standard of school ask for money to clean the house especially when the mother is having high fever! My mom scolds the kid, “Don, come here. Return the money to your mother. You can't ask for money for cleaning your own house especially when your mother is not feeling well!” The young Don comes back with a tricky one. He answers with confidence, “Suhas dada goes out for work & he comes back with money, Sandeep dada (my younger bro) goes out for work & comes back with money, Uncle goes out for work and comes back with money. But when I work, why shouldn’t I get paid? Even I have to work and earn. I deserve the money & will not return it!” My mom was taken by a surprise by this answer while Bhabhi started laughing.

---
I have been wondering for years: why marwaris are the most successful when it comes to business? The question was answered by a marwari kid: find the opportunity to earn, work, and then demand the money because you deserve it. Look at the attitude! I don’t think many kids studying in 2nd standard can think like that. Here is a marwari kid that strongly believes the concept that ‘he deserves money for whatever work he does’. Now ask yourself a question: does he really need to pass out from a top management school to prosper?

(For all those who think the answer is yes, you are good at what you do. Spend rest of your life working for someone else.)

transcendent

Thing about life is - most of us we keep on learning from life, which I think is quite a fruitless activity. I have been trying to make some sense about the people who are great enough to shape thousands of lives. After quite sensible amount of observing, reading and thinking I think the only ones who make it to the greatness are busy with shaping the life rather than learning from it. Name it, name it and you will be able to substantiate. Name it. From Raje Shivaji Maharaj to Anil Ambani or from Achillies to Bill Gates. Each one of them has been busy shaping the life, for themselves and millions of others. They believed in something so blindly that everything else had to kneel to their efforts.

There are categories of us… the ones who ‘believe they can’t’, the ones who ‘think they can’, the ones who ‘want to learn how to’ and rarely the ones who ‘know they are’! People who keep learning and think they can achieve things get dam good, but they fail to understand that ‘good’ is enemy of ‘great’. Self belief does make all the difference. This concept has been very well explained by the Matrix trilogy. When Morpheus says “Don't think you are, know you are”, everything starts falling in place. And at one point when neo believes that he is the one, he becomes undefeatable. One might say that the real life unlike metrix, is not a computer simulated dream world. However if we really observe the unbeatable heroes, ‘they don’t think they are (great at something), they KNOW they are (great at something)’. Since long before they become real life heroes.

The question is: ‘how do they do it?’ How do they build up the kingdom so strong and big? Once they believe that they are wise at something, how do they build up the empire? I owe a ton to the writer of book ‘good to great’ for explaining this. They ones who believe they are achievers handle life as a giant mach wheel. They are all the time busy in moving the mach wheel in single direction. Rigorously, every effort is made to add on acceleration. And the day comes when there is no turning back, but the glory.

The moment we believe that we are great at xyz, unleashes everything. We make huge unconscious efforts to get things done and achieving things that reflect greatness at xyz. The fact is xyz can be anything from making friends to earning money… all we need is a blind faith in what we believe. Does it require a real brain work to get the blind self belief?

(Inspired by: Good to great, i am the legend, troy, matrix & restlessness)

Smile!

A friend of mine owns a recruitment agency. One fine day he called up an applicant to know his expectations from the employer. The applicant said: I stay in Kandivali, I need a job in call center as a TL, I’m right now working as an agent, no night duties, pickup and drop to my place, located nearby my house & offering Best salary. My friends reply was: there is a company named XYZ which is going to open right-in-front of your house, the company will pick up & drop, no night duties and will may you good. As soon as the company opens, you will be appointed as TL! Unfortunately, we know such a company will never open.

All of us have seen couples who keep fighting about everything all the time. We know those who complain about every little thing now and then. Those with great expectations from themselves or the others. They want everything to be ideal. They keep fighting for something that does not exist: Bloody Perfection. This post is dedicated to all the every unhappy victims of perfectionism. Ironically, the frustrating problem with perfectionists is that they always feel imperfect, incomplete & unsatisfied. Even when everything is absolutely all right. May god (if any)… save us from the perfectionism.

But there is a sensible set of people whom I like from the bottom of my heart:
They are happy about the job as they don’t expect everything from the employer
They are happily married/committed as they know ‘the ideal match’ doesn’t exist
They have happy children as the child is not forced to live their parent's dreams
They are happy about life as they can focus on problems without being crabby
I’m happy with them as they don’t expect me to change and vice versa.
They know life is give and take
They know a secret to smile; they know life is a compromise

A stupid Swedish proverb

A Swedish proverb says: ‘Love me when I least deserve it, because that's when I really need it.’ Feels touchy, doesn’t it?

Ever helped a person who justified it the least? You remember doing such a kind act in recent time? Months or Years? The Swedish quote sounds touchy but there is something wrong with it.

Everyday our actions decide what we deserve: headache or peace. We need so many things in life: money, friends, love, affection, beer, status, car, sex, etc etc. All of us keep trying for all these small n big pleasures in life. Out of all of us, some people get things quite merrily while, others don’t get them. Then there is a bunch of people who get all these pleasures but they are not happy. They are scared to lose them. For example sometimes they get very good friends, but the friendship doesn’t last long. Though they need the friends, friends walk away or ignore. Then this bunch spends money to get new friends, but they don’t find the happiness. Simply because even if this bunch needs good things in life; they don’t deserve them.


Things that you want, you can ask n get. Things that you really really want, you have to earn them. There is a phase in life when we keep screaming and asking for the things that we need. We keep spending time for something we need really badly. But do we deserve it? No one will you pay for a life time if you need but you will get paid when you deserve. No one will give you a hand for a lifetime when you need but you will never be lonely when you deserve the hand. Better learn to deserve things; because people or pleasures certainly hate to give someone a hug when he deserve it the least. And for those who deserve good things, life is a cake walk.

(After all this logic I really think it’s nothing but a stupid Swedish proverb.)

Withdrawal syndrome

The other day, I was facing a rare connectivity problem with internet… I was damn frustrated with the server. The next day internet was working well. Although I was satisfied with the server for a while, it didn’t give me a reason to smile. Logically, in case lack of internet net connection frustrates me, the presence of it should make me happy. But that’s not how it works!

.

Withdrawal syndrome, a frustrating absence of something that you are used to.

But there is another side of coin: Remember? Absence makes the heart grow fonder? Stupid tendency of every individual to chase something that he has lost? At times…People don’t find anything special for having a great friend named xyz. Soon they get used to good things. It may not be satisfying when they pour couple of bottles of beer at a pub, having a great time with xyz. Rather many times they keep complaining about xyz’s behaviors. This feeling tends to be mutual to times. Leading to falling apart. Then time comes when they don’t get the ‘good thing’ that you are fucking used to. Bingo! That’s when these people start missing their xyz!! Frustrating, isn’t it?

Sometimes withdrawal helps to a great extent (in case you are real good). In case someone doesn’t find anything special abt you being arnd, ditch couple of times. See the difference. In case you are real useful at your job but the boss doesn’t give it a damn, hive him a hint that you are gonna quit. See the difference.

I just hope that we never get bored of good things in our lives (something more precious than internet connection). Cause when you get bored, we lose them & brain-fuck yourself later on while missing them. When you are bored with something damn useful, withdraw it. Try something new unintentionally. You might like a new thing for quite some time. But soon you’ll get used to it. That’s when we start missing those good old days. And, somehow, in case we are able to get our life back to those good old days… ah, its wonderful!

DE$IRE Vs SATI$FACTION

“Being happy doesn't mean that everything is perfect. It means that you've decided to look beyond the imperfections.” - Anonymous

Happiness only sinks in when we get all that we desire. Sadness only sinks in when we don’t get something we desire.

Almost all the designs that we make are dependant on what we desire. What we want. It takes an open mind to understand that most of the things we want can be purchased. Very few can be purchased with love, some with dedication or something else. …and probably everything else can be purchased with money. There is almost nothing that money can’t buy, for everything else you need money. Money does help in case we know how to use it.

Recently I came across this study on Discovery Channel which said: Happiness of married life can be substituted by 1million US$ per annum. In case I have to put the whole study in single line: “The things that (we believe) can’t be purchased with money are fucking expensive!” Its bit stupid & complex to understand this one, BUT - damn she was right when she said, “Whoever said money can't buy happiness simply didn't know where to go shopping.”

Through our life, we keep on buying the things that we desire. Our ability & choice of buying these things defines our value. In human psychology we learned Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. I think all these needs that we have can be satisfied in case: 1) We have money 2) We know how to use it. Having money is not in our control many times, however how to use whatever money we have is very much in our own control. May be this is the reason why many rich ppl suffer the ‘life is punishment’ syndrome. ….& many poor ppl are more than happy with whatever they have. Because they know: how to buy more than enough of happiness by spending much lesser money. (E.g. at times its more important to know that being there with her to share a pitcher or two is more sencible than gifting her an ipod.)

Only after understanding HOW money can be used to buy happiness…. We can decide: either to be sati$fied with whatever that we have, or to earn more to buy things we de$ire.

How to fall

Ever regretted something that exactly fucked up your peace of mind?


Heard of someone been fooled for millions? Heard of someone failing? Or someone has been fired from the job? Seen a live accident? Ever not been able to keep up with a commitment? Someone who had to cut a sorry figure in front of superiors/parents/friends? Even experienced something similar to all this? I have. Everyone has.


It is like a fool who gets drunk to celebrate big time & then vomits for rest of the Saturday night cause of overdrinking plus suffers hangover throughout Sunday. And like… start investing in something for a bright future (because you know to do it right) & after six months of hard work - go bankrupt (cause didn’t know it can go wrong, obvi…until it is too late).


At times we feel life - we should be given a chance to go back in to the past to set things right. But it will not make much of a difference. Before taking the right step, we should know how to avoid the wrong one. This can make all the difference. Knowing how to do it right is not enough; at times, knowing how to mess up the things is more important so as to avoid it. And this is where things get messy. The feeling of ‘I can do it’ makes us overestimate ourselves so much so; that we under estimate our potential to make a blunder. Blunder happens. Peace of mind is fucked.


With time, many of us learn to not to overestimate ourselves & not to underestimate others/the situation. That’s how we suddenly stop getting the comment: you are an ‘immature blah blah blah…’

Others continue their parade of wrong steps.

[Blog inspired by a National Geographic Channel TV show: Seconds from Disaster]

luck?

'n' number of things are changing around us, all the time. Many times, subconsciously we are searching for reason - why things are the way they are. It is difficult to explain 'why exactly' these things happen. The people who can explain unexplainable are called (stupid) fortunetellers. Open your eyes!

Life is too complex to be explained as a + b = c. But we unknowingly don't like to admit that we DON'T UNDERSTAND our own lives. So we tend to formulate simple rules that make us believe/perceive that it is easy to understand 'why exactly things happen the way they happen'. E.g. - if you study well, you will score well in exams. If you fall from height above 20feet, you'll die etc etc. We believe in these rules so blindly that in case anything doesn't go with these rules, it sounds impossible. However out of the box things do happen in life. A friend of mine fell from 2nd floor of the building, at least 35-40 feet above ground & he is still alive. Is anyone able to explain how the hell can he still be alive? Scientifically? No! Our (illiterate) brain believes so much in the rule - the height of more than 20 feet is fatal, that we can't even think of explaining something random like this. So how do you explain this & what do you call it? Is he lucky to be alive? Yeah right…LUCK! We explain something complex like this as luck. Because we DON'T UNDERSTAND the event like this. Because it doesn't go with the 'rules' of life we know. Because we don't fucking understand it at all!

Isn't it funny? We know life is complex but we don't want to accept that we don't understand this complexity. So we make rules like a + b = c to make the whole process simple to understand. However when a + b happens to be xyz, we call it luck/fortune.

We understand things that are under our own control. Most of the time we are in the control of the situation. Whatever we are able to be in charge of, we are able to understand well. It feels natural to be in control. But naturally things do get out or our control. At some point or the other. The point when you can't predict what is going to happen. Luck, fortune is as NATURAL as the absence of it.

Isn't it true? Nothing but the illiteracy of our minds - Luck is nothing but the part of the system we have not been able to understand…?

Although it is beyond capacity of our pitiable human intellect to control everything in this world, I believe, Once you understand the system - you know how to be lucky. You know how to do things that can't be explained by others & arrive at results so unpredictable that it can be phrased as only one thing: Luck.

On your own, until you go blind.

You are on your own. I’m on my own. He, she everyone… On their own.

You are in the middle of crowd, on your own.

So True! I have had this feeling all the time. No one will help you if you don’t help yourself. Not even god (for those who believe in one). You have to make it happen. All alone & on your own.

Even when you are with your friend, YOU are alone with your friend. Even when both of you are having orgasm, YOU are having fun because YOU like it. HE/she is having fun because HE/she likes it. You & HE/she - both of you are all alone, on your own.

All the time… you have to do your own thinking, independently. No one can think for you. As the TV advt goes: Its your (own) life, (you’ve to yourself) make it large! You & only you have to figure out how to make some sense out of it. And actually you probably do make some sense out of it for the reason that you can SEE: ‘you are on your own’.

And then, when the skies appear to be brighter than yesterday, comes a moment. A moment when you want to forget the reality and think that you can rely on someone, you can ‘entirely’ depend on someone. The feeling says, ‘Don’t show me something true, I believe in you!!’… That moment is love. No wonder they say love is blind! Can't see & you don't want to.

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.


And unlike the times before, when it is all gone, when cerebral hormones are all back to the normal composition. Then life comes alive & the past moves aside. To make yourself realize the reality - you are on your own. No regrets & no remorse. And now... again you can see!

(End inspired by ‘Yesterday to Tomorrow’ by Audioslave)

free will

Every 1 around is judging us. round the clock. Don’t do this n that n bullshit. So don’t do anythin that will change your perception! What are ppl trying to prove by forcing hard to be abnormally NORMAL?

You’ll look weird if you laugh loud in-group,
Boss will think you are not committed if you leave on time,
When we didn’t call him for ‘social gathering’ means he is ‘ignored’,
Using net in often means he has got nothing to do,
When you flirt - you are a flirt,
When you don’t – you are a dumbo,
Have booz every week means you are addicted,
When I say, “fuck”, I’m not sophisticated,
I smoke every day that means I am a waste,
She doesn’t agree with superior means she doesn’t respect,
“Your age is 24 means you can’t do a better job than 35 year old ass”,
Unhone kiya to chamatkar, hamne kiya to balatkar,
I love rock music means I hate being Maharashtrian,
When you scrap saying that you miss me, they think you are getting emotional,
When she talks to a guy on cell, her parents think she is going around,
I don’t have one of the latest cell means I don’t have the ‘status’,

Now you are under control… do what they tell you!
Remember devil’s advocate? Don’t see, okay, see but don’t touch, hmmm, touch but don’t taste, ummm, taste but don’t eat…

I gotta say? I don’t give a shit.
I do what ‘I’ want to do. FREE WILL.

Fuck it.

Why excess ego? Why?

Ego is good. Ego is natural. Ego gives self-respect. Everyone has.

Ego is something that makes us feel better to some extent, BUT when in excess, it turn people into an arrogant bullshit! In friend circle the ego is seen in mockery & too much of ‘I’ while in corporate life it is seen in the form of career lust & fault finding exercise. Easy to recognize stupid egoistic… seen through tearing apart the people around so as to make his/her own candle burn brighter! Actual problem sets in when it starts damaging relationship/efficiency of organization.

When ego comes between, its almost impossible to heal the damaged relationship: be it personal or professional. Any try to improvise the situation only reopens the wounds & ppl get confused and ask other ppl: 'whats wrong with you? Why don't you can't think in a better way?' (when everything is perfectly right!)

In case I think of long term, ego makes people famous at the expense of number of friends that one can really count on. In long run, only the ones with ‘down to earth & still above all’ attitude rule. Somehow ‘down to earth’ people outwit egoistics & reach at a level, which is ‘above competition’ & start growing in life. Company of such people will always make me comfortable even if he/she is ‘not my type’. They will make me smile for no reason...

How much can you bear with people who make you hate life?... Someone said it right… there is no fun in someone askin you to join, but ppl on their own should invite you to the journey! Do you think you’ll ever invite 'excess of ego' to join you for the journey?