Prisen Break.

Imagine that there is big prison. You were born in that prison. You know a few inmates from your day one. Those who have taken care of you since. You have attended the same prison inmate training attended by all of your age. And all the while you wanted to get transferred to another prison about which people talk about. The prison on the other end of a huge ocean. Some have been there and tell that you get a nice pillow and fresher bread (just one day old compared to the two day old bread you get here), they also said that but you have to struggle. Nevertheless, nicer pillow and better bread (Nevertheless its still a prison, but you wouldn't think about it now). Of course, you wouldn't take offence when someone says you live in a prison. Because, that is the only world you have ever lived in. In fact, almost all the people you know have always lived in a prison. You wouldn't disown a prison, would you?

So, coming back to the new prison with nicer pillows and fresher bread. You have moved there, leaving back your inmate friends in the old prison. You did say that you'll be back after sometime. And promising some pillows and bread on your way back. You go there and undergo a different training this time. Sowing seeds instead of tilling land. Wow, life is very exciting, isn't it? You work hard and complete the training on sowing seeds. You are put in the assembly line. You start sowing seeds, and doing it really well now. They also give you a coffee mug too. Used one, but still its awesome. Now, you can drink coffee in your own mug instead of using other inmates' or a common one. Life is getting better. You start making friends there, who also have come from other prisons. They too worked hard to attend various training programs like cutting wood, rearing cattle and doing really well after the training programs. They also started getting their own coffee mugs. Nice right. Life is awesome. You can talk to your friends in old prison once in a while. Enjoy the coffee in your own mug. And yeah, eat fresher bread and sleep in nicer pillows, but you don't really care much about it now.

Slowly, it starts. The feeling of boredom. The idea of routinely doing your chores and giving no chance for spontaneity. The loss of freedom to do whatever you want. Of course, at the end of the day, it is still not your prison. You start thinking, what am I doing in this prison.You remember those promises made. Wasn't this just a pit stop? You belong to the other prison in which you started your life. Agreed, that you wanted nicer pillows and fresher bread. But now that you have experienced them. Isn't it time to keep up your promises. Yes, you decide to move back. You feel good. It did put a smile on your face. You start wrapping up things here. You give your coffee mug to another inmate. You feel a little sad. But hey! you are going back to your prison. What more can you ask for? You get to sow seeds now in your prison. You get to spend time with your old friends. Life is going to be more meaningful.

Finally, you move back. You think that it was the best decision ever. A life changing one. You feel complete now. Contended. You think you have achieved your freedom. You plan to spend rest of your life there. Life is perfect, isn't it?

Are we missing any point here? Let me repeat....'Contended. You THINK you have achieved your freedom'. You are still THINKING. But the fact is, you live in a prison. With different inmates. Known ones, a different coffee mug. Cheaper one, a new kind of pillows and bread! But the point is you still live in a prison. And not only you fail to accept it, you don't even acknowledge it. Learning from past mistakes is like driving a car. Its just now enough to look at rear and side mirrors. You need to look back over your shoulder to see things in your blind-spot. It is very important to do that. So, where did things go wrong?

Most of the prison inmates think alike. They think living, working, earning and dying in the prison is life. You can't blame them because that is what they are told life is. In fact, their older friends have done the same thing. May be they stayed in the same prison through out. But still living the clockwork life in prison is their ultimate goal. You are rewarded if you lie around the mean of a gaussian distribution. But that is not what human beings are made for. Its history has never been shaped by the people around the mean. Now, lets talk about the small group who think different. They are constantly ridiculed for being non-conformists, mostly by the mean people. Most of the outliers succumb. And slowly tend to being a mean person. But, there is a fewer set of people who don't. It is them who give bell curve its shape. There are very few of them. But, they define the curve. It is them who shape the human race. If someone has to draw the bell curve, they are the ones who are most likely to be picked. They are the statistically significant set. Of course, mean people matter too. But, there is a good chance your raised hand is lost in a million other. So, it wouldn't matter, if you have plowed the land, sown the seeds or reared cattle before. It simply wouldn't matter. The only way you can improve your chances of getting picked is being different. Breaking the mental prison you've been living. Do something that you have never done before. Because, that is how you are in this position now. If, as a child you always did the same thing everyday. You would most likely land up as the dumbest kid in the town. So, come out of the routines. Routines kill you, literally. It makes your inflexible. Your brain is like dough. If you don't add water and reshape it frequently, it'll soon become stiff and useless. Start doing things differently. Move aside in the rat race. Let rats do their thing. And you do a pRise-N-Break (p silent).

Innocence.

As each day passes. There is some innocence lost. A certain hardening of heart. One more day to look back and smile on. A secret wish takes birth. A wish to take a re-birth; live a life without a template to live by. Your maturity slows you down. Makes you think, leaves lesser room for the spontaneity to breath, till it buckles under the claustrophobia and leaves you for ever. Just like a tender stem turns into the bark. You become stronger but stiffer. As you think how life used to be so much fun and it aint anymore, there is a person just five years elder to you. Sitting back and thinking. What opportunity lied ahead of him five years back and how he dint see it, thinking how life used to be so much fun and how it aint anymore.

Of rockets, riding waves and baggages

Sometimes, you rise when you are out of a relationship (friendship or something even special). Its like the other person has been holding you down from launching off.

Some other times though, your life takes off when you meet someone. Its like you got onto a big wave and suddenly you realize that you know how to surf skillfully.

We meet people of both the kinds. The only reason evolution took such a long time is that humans never made a conscious decision to choose being with the second type. We get entangled and end up carrying the huge emotional luggage for the trek.

In a perfect world, the same constraint holding your rocket from taking off could be the big wave that someone else wants to take a ride on.

Ravanayanam.

Would sita have falled for ravana?

No internet/phone in those days. I still wonder how sita managed her long distance relationship with rama. She was away for almost for 1 year. I mean, Ravana had everything a chick needs.

1) Lots money (duh!, he owns an island called LAnka),
2) the best car you can ever get (push-pak vimana..the fully automatic open top that flies and has all the weaponery to kick a big-bird's ass..beats all those lexuses and BMWs),
3) great scholar (he is called dasa-kanttha...he knows 4 vedas and 6 puranas unside down...doesnt need a Phd...read #1 doesnt need a job!),
4) pious (this tamil brahmin is the most revered devotee of lord Shiva)
5) has character (waited for sita to accept him and dint force anything onto her)
6) he already had the beautiful wife (he was probly a stud in bed too! )

I really feel pity for ravana and his demonic portrayal in Ramayana. May be there is a equivalent of 'Da Vinci Code' in india too. But unfortunately, we will never know.

After all this what sita gets is a guy who doesnt even trust her anymore.

Arbit Proposal

"I Like you. ---> (He has no clue that those words slipped through his mouth)
It doesn't mean you need to like me. --->(Takes care of the 'being-unconditional' bullshit)
It doesn't mean I want to be with you forever. --->(Of course not. He is lying. He just doesn't want you to get psyched out)
It just means I like you."---> (Same as first line. For special effect!)

-Some arbit guy to some arbit girl.

Pizza delivery.

Try forgetting something which you don't even remember.

Try losing something which you never owned.

Try accepting its over with someone, when there was nothing to start with.

Try not believing in mithya - an illusion of possessing something.

You are never its owner; you are just like a pizza delivery boy.
With the duty of carrying it safely to its destination.
With an awareness that you yourself are also like a pizza to be delivered.

Winter Break 'Things to Do'

Watch
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Transporter-3
Yes Man
The Curious case of Benjamin Button
Tropic Thunder
Pulp Fiction (again)
Sin City (again)
Insomnia
Once upon a time in America
Donnie Brasco
Memoirs of A Geisha
The Others (again)
The Big Lebowski
Valkyrie
Frost/Nixon

Eat
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Burrito
Cheese Pizza
Taco
Chelupa
Panang Rice
Gangheree
Yellow Curry
Cranberry Bagel
Veggie Burger
Sambhar & Rice (twice and yummy)
Idli, Vada & Sambhar
Veggie Wrap
Biryaani (twice and yummy)
Mediterranean Sandwich & Tomato Soup (with bread bowl)

Drink
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Margarita
Margarita
Margarita
Margarita

Do
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Sleep
Take Photos
One of the above three activities