its all very beautiful here and now!

this is a picture i clicked with my mobile camera(a modest 1.3 pixel) sometime in the summer of 2006. It was the day after I got a 'dream' job ( no wonder i never took it up ) and I was in college. its about 6 in the evening i think.
I was very happy and nature definitely helped....awesome weather, cool breeze and everything else! it was truly blissful..just as it seems

And...

oh! there's this question( ..more of a thought actually) that has been on my mind. and i would very much like to share it with you..so that your brains go numb thinking..just like mine ..

its like my version of the holtly debated capitalism( freedom) vs socialism( social interference) that we play in our lives..

we all love our space..dont we? I mean do exactly what we want and when we want! have other people only surfacing in our lives.. No close relationships, no bonding, total freedom! its got this kinda happiness it gives me to be like that sometimes.. not always, but you know, i have those days when i am just me! and i love them more than all the others.

but then, men/women are social animals and there is this another kind of happiness that being with people we love/like gives us..a stability, a constantness in all the storm. We feel safe, taken care of..and its happiness too..a different more subtle one, but happiness it is!

But the problem is, the two dont coexist..if you want your freedom sometimes, most probably you will turn off the chances of close social relations much like capitalism made the US economy go right down before there was a SOCIAList rescue...
and if you are on the social side, you are taken care of and sort of happy always..but never truly free and happy..

I, for one, cant choose either- i love freedom but im human ( read "bonded"). and i find myself bordering on the edges of both....
I cant decide!!!
I know what you are thinking----- a balance..i know that sounds like the panacea...but iv always been an extremist, i dont like taking the middle path..it somehow never is the wilder and tougher path. Besides, why waste your time one way when you like the other better...
And decisions like these are consequential- they shape our person, our lives, us!

So which side are you on? Figured it out yet??

Indian Cities- will we ever see a change for the better?

gurgaon is the city i love to hate!
i mean, the infrastructure is bad, conveyance is a pain ( going to delhi is a nightmare..) and its practically a concrete jungle- the only hangout places for some timeout being malls- and with their excessive rush, dats not really relaxing! fun- yes but definitely not relaxing! and if dats not enough- statistics show its really unsafe, especially for women!

and yet, after chandigarh, my hometown- which is the bestest place in the world- in terms of beauty, planning, infrastructure, and just about everything else- the only other city i can think of settling in is gurgaon!
its not hard to guess if thats a merit of gurgaon or its comparability with every other major city in india that has employment opportunities for the educated youth.
its about choosing which are the lesser evils in your perspective and rank-ordering based on your subjective priorities.

growth story or no growth story, can we Indians atlsest demand a better standard of living today! will things ever change? will our country's infrastructure ever be close to appropriate or is it a binary option for our cities- be underdeveloped or repeat the infamous bangalore disaster!

inflation may be soaring. .financial markets are down and out and retail is still an untapped opportunity! but hey, i think we have progressed far out in the last 60 years, to have some concrete policy decisions for decent cities! what really will it take? rather, will anything work or is it going to be a total demise of urban india through slow muder!

Ha!Ha! There i go again

Ah! life is so far out ahead of us when it comes to plotting an intricate complexity! with all due to respect to the world's best artists... they are, at best, copies of billions of masterpieces life creates everyday..for every individual- old and young, every relationship- fostered or forced, every situation- planned or co-incidental!

And yet, its got these patterns- across and within people's lives..one can learn from life, as long as his tendency to unlearn doesnt perish. it causes in us these unexplainable streams of thoughts- emotions that are intense, satiating, passionate sometimes and subtle and almost unconscious at other times.

For me, one of the most perplexing puzzle in life has been the sheer trouble that everyone goes to complicate their lives, and i plead guilty too! There is no limit to our ambitions and desires, there is barely any candidness in our relations- even the closest ones and then there is this perpetual unsatiated desire for change- to be someone else, something else- maybe richer, smarter, younger, beautiful, popular..no matter what it is..but there is something. yes, its aspirational, and thats great because one needs something to drive us! kudos! keep that up people! but, why the anxiety, the frustration, the hurry to get there all the time, always.. to a point of insanity and perputal wanting!why no happiness for what you have today.. that which is also something you had always wanted.

if you ask me, we humans muat loosen up a bit...never give up! no,u mustnt! but please please please try and be happy! why is their an alarming statistical growth in depressions and suicides, when technically the world's always becoming a better place!

THINK ABOUT IT! and dont forget to be happy..........trust me its better than everything!
Dont believe me? Look at how u feel to see your loved ones happy!!
life's good :)