Let me take you to my secret place
High above the earth into outer space
Only God knows where, only God knows how
I will take you there somehow
If this was the last day of your life
What would you do to make things right?
If this is the last day of your life
Who you gonna call to make things right?
- Last day of your life: By Glass Pear
Yes, this may just be a song which holds an apt place right now as we all elaborate on how we plan to spend the last day of our lives! When we decided on this as our topic this Diwali Special Issue, we got different points of view from many of our friends. Some said it is a sad topic to write on such a festive occasion. Some said, it’s too early for me to think about my last day I am still very young! But surely there were many, who understood the depth of the thought and gave us very interesting articles. Some may have used humour to make the topic lighter, whereas some have given the true picture of how they would like their last day to be. Some have in fact left some philosophical thoughts for us to ponder on!
My luck that I got to see the movie 2012 featuring on HBO over the weekend. In which, the protagonist and his family do not lose hope of being able to survive the natural catastrophe which had hit the world where, the world was coming to an end that day! The movie ended with the world completely destroyed but there sure were some survivors who then started a new year 01 – 01 – 0001. So the question that comes to my mind is will I be one of the survivors? Or will this day surely be the last day of my life? Well before I saw the film, my intentions were to simply imagine the end of my life and then write this article, but now, I want to give myself the hope of my family being some of the survivors! This means, my last day will surely be a havoc trying to run away from every catastrophe and reaching the safest zone as quickly as possible with my family like in the case of John Cusack in the movie 2012. I will surely not sit down either sulking on the fact that I may die soon, or also not sit waiting happily in the cuddly arms of my family waiting for the end to arrive, or accepting that the end is near. I will ensure that my family is all pepped up to fight the natural disaster till our last breathe! Of course it takes a few minutes of destruction to ruin the whole world, but ultimately those few minutes have to fade off, and if my family and I are able to survive those few minutes then there is a whole new world at the end of this one! Sounds like a grueling LAST DAY but will surely be worth it, if I along with my family can actually see the dawn of 01-01-0001!!
Getting as imaginative as possible, I’m sure media will play a vital role in exaggerating the end of the world, almost months before the actual last day arrives! What better proof can there be than the sheer existence of this movie 2012 itself, which is based upon the realistic assumption that the world is indeed coming to an end on 2012! So if media does play an important role, then I’m sure I will have a list of some of the Dos and Donts already with me! Some of the places which may seem to be the safer options will be worth a try for us to reach as we near the final day! Certain things which may find a place in my TO DO list could be:
- Encashing all the money I have in my bank account? May be exchanging all of it into US Dollars? May be not? What if Rupee gets stronger in the next world? What if none of these currencies exist? What if the age old barter system begins as it was at the beginning of civilization? Then may be converting all of it into gold makes sense? Hahaha well again, maybe not as you never know, gold mines could surface at the ground level and gold will lose its value!! Maybe then it makes sense to simply exchange all the money I have for food and other necessities and leave it with me to distribute to my people on the final day. Wonder how much of it I can really sustain with me in the bid to save my life!
- Meeting all my friends and distant family relations. Well it goes without saying that my immediate family and I will see the end together or rather fight the end together as long as we can, but I would like to meet the others who have ever touched my life, my friends with whom I have shared life’s most memorable moments. Thank them, seek forgiveness, may be seek explanation for any wrong they have done, reveal hidden secrets if any! Etc. etc. My extended family, who we call relatives! May be bid them a final good bye with a hope of meeting them again in the new world.
- Wonder how much it would help to carry my personal official documents like a PAN Card or a passport. Well in the movie, 2012, a green card did help a Russian get on board the submarine which was moving to a safer belt. May be in that case it is better to be safe than sorry, so I would rather gather these documents and keep them handy.
- Make a list of my favorite restaurants, holiday destinations, and spas and visit each one after the other. Enjoy some mouthwatering roadside chats and other junk food.
- Equip my family and myself with basic warm clothes and monsoon wear. You never know which weather the new world will greet us with!
- One more item which will become a collectors’ piece will be the World Map and the Atlas! I think I will have to grab one and keep it as safe as I can. You never know mountains could turn into valleys and some new islands will emerge and the old ones will submerge. This will help me in my own navigation also; I could auction it in the new world and make a fortune for my family with it!!!
- Last but not the least, I will teach as many life’s basics as I can to my son, to prepare him to face this world without me, in case he survives and I don’t. This will only be then my wishful thinking that he has indeed learnt his life’s lessons in the shortest time and will fight his own battle as long as he can.
Hey all this sounds like preparing me for a long holiday or an adventure trip! Well, if that’s the outlook, then it may get easier to handle the truth that life will never be the same here on. If life really ends then the story is over there. The end will rather be a tough one, since I will die fighting every breath to live more, in worry of my son’s wellbeing, my family’s whereabouts and so on. But if the new world begins with the old living creatures still alive and then if I have to be one of them, then life will never ever be the same, for as long as I live my balance life! What a weird thought! Today, a person’s status or ability to enjoy life’s luxuries depends on the disposable income he has but only as long as he lives, when he dies he leaves everything behind. His existence is a combination of the friends he makes, the enemies he defeats, his learning in his failures, and his experiences in his success! With the ending of the world, the amount of destruction will be so enormous that we will lose count of our friends or enemies alive. Money which ultimately is sheer paper will either burn or get destroyed in massive flood waves. With money goes the power, and that brings all of us on the same platform. We will then have to create a new life in the new world, with new people irrespective of their caste, creed, or nationality! Which means it will almost be a re-birth with the same face and soul!
Well, my imagination took me on a long adventure ride with a one way ticket out of this world! Either into the new one, or then into a new life! But the journey only allowed me to introspect further on things that I have always wanted to do but could not! I may have not mentioned them in this article as I never lost hope of surviving the end of this world. But my mind did touch upon those areas and opened up various clogs which will now allow me to venture into lesser known zones, take risks and live life to the fullest. It has made me realize how criminal procrastination can be to my own well being which I always knew but didn’t follow. I have always known, but not always done the urgent and important things in life thinking that I can do those tomorrow, but what if this tomorrow never comes? This journey allowed me to refresh the love and respect I have for my family and close friends, and how much they mean to me. I could actually in my mind form a sort of a ‘Circle of Concern’ that comprises of my own people and how do I currently rank them in my life. I suddenly could remember some of my old school friends whom I have not spoken to for ages while I travelled on my imaginative journey. I could remember some old friends who tried really hard to keep in touch with me, but due to my ignorance I lost contact with them. To sum it up, this journey helped me look at my own life through a third party perspective. It has broadly given me a new set of a ‘Circle of Concern’ and has helped me revamp or re-align some of my short term plans. It has re-instilled some of life’s basic teachings back in the forefront.
My message to all those who thought that this was a sad topic to write on, is that, unless you explore an avenue you can never conclude or judge the outcome of the same. The depth in this article lies in its strength to shake the person inside YOU, to refresh all that you already know, in a way which brings a new perspective of your life at the forefront. It might not teach you something totally new, but it will surely help you realize and feel what you already know. Often, only when you are at the verge of losing someone or something is when you realize the importance of the same thing it holds in your life. This is precisely the crux of this exercise of imagining your life coming to an end. It will quickly like a computerized brain put all your priorities in the order that they should be in and suddenly you feel if you have a little more time, you can sort your life for good! Hope this Diwali and the New Year bring a fresh dimension to our lives and make it a more meaningful life for us and our families. What can be a better occasion than Diwali to start this new journey in our lives!!! Wishing you all a very happy diwali and an even prosperous new year!
Monday, November 8, 2010
Nov. Diwali 2010 Issue - Introduction to the Section 'Sach Ka Saamna'
Sach Ka Saamna !!
“The mother-in-law/daughter-in-law relationship is one of the most complicated human connections. It comes with a built-in conflict before the relationship even begins: two radically different views of the same man. One woman always will see him first as a man; the other always will see him first as her child.”
The above statement was made by Elizabeth Graham, who wrote the article, “The Other Woman”. Does the term “The other woman” remind you of one of the bollywood movies “Pati Patni aur Woh”! But here we aren’t talking about that “other woman”; we aren’t discussing an ‘extra marital affair’! We are talking about the other woman who is for some women your son’s wife or for some your husband’s mother! For times immemorial the relationship between a mother-in-law and a daughter-in-law has been unique. It has often been the butt of all jokes, with many cartoonists always finding enough matter to fill pages depicting their relationship. Like the following saying which depicts an aspect of this relation - "I wish my daughter: the sun of the winter, I wish my daughter-in-law: the sun of the summer." And I’m sure if a daughter has to compare her mother to her mother-in-law she will give a similar point of view!
With changing times, the trigger points between these two women have also kept changing. Earlier these women had their lives revolve around that one man. For the MIL the only concern would be losing her son to his wife, and for her son’s wife, her only concern would be to make her presence in her husband’s life above his mother and sadly they would leave the poor man to sort it out for them who would further ruin the situation! HAHA!! Well today the story might be slightly different. Many a times both the ladies of the house are working and therefore have strong egos that clash! Or then it is the kids who bring in new set of issues which lead to the difference of opinion between the two! Basic lifestyle changes and adjusting to each others’ habits can also be a trigger point. For years a tradition followed gets suddenly revamped by the daughter-in-law can be a killer! And the worse is yet to follow if the family reciprocates positively to the changes she brings in! Similarly it’s a battle lost for the daughter-in-law if her mother-in-law’s age old recipes are still a hit with her husband than her high fibre calorie controlled salads and soups! Ultimately the crux of the matter remains to be that the mother can’t look beyond her son who is the apple of her eye and her son’s wife cannot stand this very fact! It’s a classic power struggle between two women fighting over the same man!! WHAT A TRAGEDY!! LOL….
Well others’ Tragedy is often a topic of conversation and gossip for us humans. We love hearing what is NOT happening right in someone else’s life. We all know how enjoyable it is to hear two ladies gossip in the train about their respective mothers-in-law. Ever tried eaves dropping on someone else’s telephonic conversation? It is FUN!! How many of us can confess to the fact that we love reading news about petty domestic violence or small time robberies than read about a global merger on international news? I think we all can!! It gives our subconscious mind a sort of a solace to know that we aren’t the only ones going through problems, but there are others facing graver issues than us. Why are serials like ‘Kyunki Saas bhi kabhi bahu thi…’, ‘Kahaani Ghar Ghar Ki’ etc. such popular hits? - Because they are almost telling our own stories, but on a highly exaggerated scale. The ‘tu tu main main’ between a ‘saas’ and ‘bahu’ is a very entertaining concept which many TV channels have minted money on. But every saas and bahu need not always fight. It may not be an unconditional relation, but it definitely works on a give and take basis. I’m sure they all have their light moments to cheer each other. They can sometimes get along like a house on fire! They can also team up with each other against the ‘OH SO Important’ one MAN in their lives. They can even bond over shopping, gossiping, and of course narrating TV serials’ stories if one of them has missed an episode.
To capture a similar love hate relationship between some of our PP “saas – bahu” jodis, we have created a very light segment exclusively for them. As I said earlier, we love knowing more about others’ tragedies, here is a quick glimpse into not someone’s tragedy but a sneak peak into the lives of a couple of sporting ‘saas-bahu’ jodis who have very enthusiastically answered some of our questions. The plain intention of doing this section was to give our ladies a chance to share a light moment with their respective ‘saas-bahu’ and definitely to create some very interesting content for our readers to read.
All the “saas and bahus’ reading this section please make note of this special disclaimer:
“All views expressed in the following section are purely realistic and non-fictional and any resemblance to a person living or dead is purely intentional.”
Please read with an open mind and allow it to tickle your funny bones and do not stress over the same. Have a crackling DIWALI!!!
“The mother-in-law/daughter-in-law relationship is one of the most complicated human connections. It comes with a built-in conflict before the relationship even begins: two radically different views of the same man. One woman always will see him first as a man; the other always will see him first as her child.”
The above statement was made by Elizabeth Graham, who wrote the article, “The Other Woman”. Does the term “The other woman” remind you of one of the bollywood movies “Pati Patni aur Woh”! But here we aren’t talking about that “other woman”; we aren’t discussing an ‘extra marital affair’! We are talking about the other woman who is for some women your son’s wife or for some your husband’s mother! For times immemorial the relationship between a mother-in-law and a daughter-in-law has been unique. It has often been the butt of all jokes, with many cartoonists always finding enough matter to fill pages depicting their relationship. Like the following saying which depicts an aspect of this relation - "I wish my daughter: the sun of the winter, I wish my daughter-in-law: the sun of the summer." And I’m sure if a daughter has to compare her mother to her mother-in-law she will give a similar point of view!
With changing times, the trigger points between these two women have also kept changing. Earlier these women had their lives revolve around that one man. For the MIL the only concern would be losing her son to his wife, and for her son’s wife, her only concern would be to make her presence in her husband’s life above his mother and sadly they would leave the poor man to sort it out for them who would further ruin the situation! HAHA!! Well today the story might be slightly different. Many a times both the ladies of the house are working and therefore have strong egos that clash! Or then it is the kids who bring in new set of issues which lead to the difference of opinion between the two! Basic lifestyle changes and adjusting to each others’ habits can also be a trigger point. For years a tradition followed gets suddenly revamped by the daughter-in-law can be a killer! And the worse is yet to follow if the family reciprocates positively to the changes she brings in! Similarly it’s a battle lost for the daughter-in-law if her mother-in-law’s age old recipes are still a hit with her husband than her high fibre calorie controlled salads and soups! Ultimately the crux of the matter remains to be that the mother can’t look beyond her son who is the apple of her eye and her son’s wife cannot stand this very fact! It’s a classic power struggle between two women fighting over the same man!! WHAT A TRAGEDY!! LOL….
Well others’ Tragedy is often a topic of conversation and gossip for us humans. We love hearing what is NOT happening right in someone else’s life. We all know how enjoyable it is to hear two ladies gossip in the train about their respective mothers-in-law. Ever tried eaves dropping on someone else’s telephonic conversation? It is FUN!! How many of us can confess to the fact that we love reading news about petty domestic violence or small time robberies than read about a global merger on international news? I think we all can!! It gives our subconscious mind a sort of a solace to know that we aren’t the only ones going through problems, but there are others facing graver issues than us. Why are serials like ‘Kyunki Saas bhi kabhi bahu thi…’, ‘Kahaani Ghar Ghar Ki’ etc. such popular hits? - Because they are almost telling our own stories, but on a highly exaggerated scale. The ‘tu tu main main’ between a ‘saas’ and ‘bahu’ is a very entertaining concept which many TV channels have minted money on. But every saas and bahu need not always fight. It may not be an unconditional relation, but it definitely works on a give and take basis. I’m sure they all have their light moments to cheer each other. They can sometimes get along like a house on fire! They can also team up with each other against the ‘OH SO Important’ one MAN in their lives. They can even bond over shopping, gossiping, and of course narrating TV serials’ stories if one of them has missed an episode.
To capture a similar love hate relationship between some of our PP “saas – bahu” jodis, we have created a very light segment exclusively for them. As I said earlier, we love knowing more about others’ tragedies, here is a quick glimpse into not someone’s tragedy but a sneak peak into the lives of a couple of sporting ‘saas-bahu’ jodis who have very enthusiastically answered some of our questions. The plain intention of doing this section was to give our ladies a chance to share a light moment with their respective ‘saas-bahu’ and definitely to create some very interesting content for our readers to read.
All the “saas and bahus’ reading this section please make note of this special disclaimer:
“All views expressed in the following section are purely realistic and non-fictional and any resemblance to a person living or dead is purely intentional.”
Please read with an open mind and allow it to tickle your funny bones and do not stress over the same. Have a crackling DIWALI!!!
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
September 2010 Editorial
Life – A five ball game!
“Imagine life as a game in which you are juggling some five balls in the air. They are Work, Family, Health, Friends, and Spirit and you are keeping all of these in the air.
You will soon realize that Work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. But the other four balls – Family, Health, Friends and Spirit – are made of glass. If you drop one of these, they will be irrevocably scuffed, marked, nicked, damaged or even shattered. They will never be the same. You must understand that and strive for it. Work efficiently during office hours and leave on time. Give the required time to your family friends and have proper rest. Value has a value only if its value is valued.” – Bryan Dyson
A friend shared this with me as one of the shortest and effective speeches given by the Former CEO Mr. Bryon Dyson of Coca Cola Co. This seems to be an aspiring thought for many of us who want to prioritize as per Mr. Dyson. But most of us do exactly the opposite all the time. WORK is usually treated as the Glass ball. Most of us are slaves to this Rubberball perceived to have been made of Glass. Competition, hunger for success, unending desires and the jungle rule – “survival of the fittest” are some of the characteristics that have become a second nature to all of us. And why not, when all of these attributes put together give you the power to achieve life’s set goals, and live a worthwhile life as we dream it to be! This Rubber ball has definitely made its way to the top of our wishlist, since it is impressed upon us to be a key to all our troubles and worries. Yes I agree, this is that ball which opens our doors to one of the most powerful privileges, The Power to BUY! WORK gives us the power to buy almost everything under the sun. Yes when I say almost everything, I literally mean ALMOST everything, but not EVERYTHING! Work gives money, and money can buy a movie ticket, a candle light dinner at one of the most expensive hotels, a car, a house, a holiday, etc. etc. But it can’t buy you TIME which is what you need the most to be able to enjoy all these pleasures of life! And it definitely can’t buy you PEOPLE to share this time with, as we all know, life’s precious moments don’t have any value unless they are shared! Shared with your loved ones i.e. family and friends! This reminds me of one of the popular ads of a credit card, which emphasizes on these priceless moments and tries to nudge us to experience these moments of spending our time effectively with those people who matter since that is priceless, and for everything else there is money that can buy you anything!
Recently I had visited my sister in the US for a good one month. I tried observing the work patterns of most people living there, one of them being my brother-in-law. He holds a senior position in his company, and is a successful professional there. What was most impressive about his work culture was their respect towards OTHERS’ time and the accountability they hold towards the job. These have been the defining factors of their work culture in my opinion which drastically differentiate them from us. They not only respect your time while on duty, but also respect your personal commitments and allow flexibility because they know that you will be accountable for the job assigned to you. Here in India if you ever come across such people, we put them on a pedestal and call them ‘professional’. But no one looks at it this way that in a “profession” we all are meant to be “professional”.
A Professional set up at work helps in maintaining good spirits, which is then carried forward to our homes as well. A healthy atmosphere at work always escalates one’s efficiency leading to faster turn-around time for all jobs and projects undertaken, thus giving us scope to wind up each day on time, but that rarely happens! Every organization has its own set of people who are typically known for wasting their own and others’ time. Well nowadays there are innovative ways of wasting time. Most men or nowadays even women spend their productive work hours in smoking. This smoking is also accompanied with loads of gossip and grapevine which they term as networking! Umpteen number of “cutting chai” through the day is the other culprit both for longer working hours and heaps of acidity!! Computer games, social networking sites, untimely snack breaks, and if all this was not enough, then “Project BOSS” is always on agenda! Well “Project BOSS” only is a nicer way of putting one of the most used formulae by many inefficient fools in our organization known as “CHAMCHAGIRI”. I’m sure we all know at least two to three ‘chamchas’ in our office who are forever wagging their tails around the BIG BOSS. May be that is their only route to success, since their work rarely speaks for them!
We often fear the thing we want the most. A skyrocketing career is what we all want and the thought of not being able to get it is what we fear the most! So automatically we have one person in our lives that we fear by default – our boss! However great the camaraderie between the boss and his team, his juniors always have something to crib about their bosses behind his back. For that matter, even I always made an attempt to memorize things I have disliked about my boss so that when I become one, I don’t repeat the same. But I must confess that today many of my reactions remind me of my boss, and I sometimes wonder if my team ever detests me on any occasions. In either ways, the bottom line does not change; this boss-subordinate relationship will always remain constant. In a bid to carve a niche at our work place, we spend a lot of time doing everything but work during work hours, a lot of time is spent pleasing this most important and scary person in our lives – OUR BOSS and then by the end of the day, we often realize that the actual work has remained pending. But the fact remains that whatever we are willing to put up with is exactly what we will have. All this stress, and workaholic behavior definitely fetches us accolades in our career, but one of the most vital aspects of our life gets ignored in this bargain – our health.
The most popular phrase used and heard around is ‘health is wealth’, still in the struggle to earn this wealth we allow our health to take a back seat, sometimes let it slowly deteriorate. Today’s fast life leaves us no scope for a healthy lifestyle. Sedentary jobs, loads of stress and unhealthy and untimely eating habits are a standing invitation for all chronic cardiac problems. Constant exposure to pollution while travelling only adds to our health woes. We are allowing health hazards like diabetes, obesity, hypertension a permanent residence in our bodies. Health is that glass ball which if broken once, will collapse the other balls in the game too!
All said and done this rubber ball called WORK is the one which needs the most attention to keep the other balls juggling. The ones, who are willing to risk it, either have a back-up plan or tremendous confidence to make it big anyways. Probably they have their own success stories to share. But, every success story has a painful experience behind it, without which success does not taste as sweet. Which means at some point in their lives they have had to sacrifice one of these balls? Then the question is which ball are we willing to hurt to get to success? May be of all of them hurting the rubber ball could be the best bet for a few, but for some it could be the only ball they live for. Though broadly we all have similar priorities in life, but our approach and experiences in life compel us to take decisions which then decide the fate of these balls in our lives. It is therefore difficult to generalize and pass a verdict on how each of us have to prioritize or play this game of balls, as we all will seem right in our own circumstances. May be mastering the art of juggling, so that we are able to balance all of them at any given time of our lives is the best answer. Whatever we do, enjoying every moment to the fullest is important because it is not about how LONG we live, but about how BIG we live our lives that will decide how worthwhile our life has been. Life is like a road trip, where the journey makes the trip enjoyable and at the end of this road all we can do is introspect! So let us all play the game such that when we introspect we emerge as the winners of the game!
- Mayura Nayak
“Imagine life as a game in which you are juggling some five balls in the air. They are Work, Family, Health, Friends, and Spirit and you are keeping all of these in the air.
You will soon realize that Work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. But the other four balls – Family, Health, Friends and Spirit – are made of glass. If you drop one of these, they will be irrevocably scuffed, marked, nicked, damaged or even shattered. They will never be the same. You must understand that and strive for it. Work efficiently during office hours and leave on time. Give the required time to your family friends and have proper rest. Value has a value only if its value is valued.” – Bryan Dyson
A friend shared this with me as one of the shortest and effective speeches given by the Former CEO Mr. Bryon Dyson of Coca Cola Co. This seems to be an aspiring thought for many of us who want to prioritize as per Mr. Dyson. But most of us do exactly the opposite all the time. WORK is usually treated as the Glass ball. Most of us are slaves to this Rubberball perceived to have been made of Glass. Competition, hunger for success, unending desires and the jungle rule – “survival of the fittest” are some of the characteristics that have become a second nature to all of us. And why not, when all of these attributes put together give you the power to achieve life’s set goals, and live a worthwhile life as we dream it to be! This Rubber ball has definitely made its way to the top of our wishlist, since it is impressed upon us to be a key to all our troubles and worries. Yes I agree, this is that ball which opens our doors to one of the most powerful privileges, The Power to BUY! WORK gives us the power to buy almost everything under the sun. Yes when I say almost everything, I literally mean ALMOST everything, but not EVERYTHING! Work gives money, and money can buy a movie ticket, a candle light dinner at one of the most expensive hotels, a car, a house, a holiday, etc. etc. But it can’t buy you TIME which is what you need the most to be able to enjoy all these pleasures of life! And it definitely can’t buy you PEOPLE to share this time with, as we all know, life’s precious moments don’t have any value unless they are shared! Shared with your loved ones i.e. family and friends! This reminds me of one of the popular ads of a credit card, which emphasizes on these priceless moments and tries to nudge us to experience these moments of spending our time effectively with those people who matter since that is priceless, and for everything else there is money that can buy you anything!
Recently I had visited my sister in the US for a good one month. I tried observing the work patterns of most people living there, one of them being my brother-in-law. He holds a senior position in his company, and is a successful professional there. What was most impressive about his work culture was their respect towards OTHERS’ time and the accountability they hold towards the job. These have been the defining factors of their work culture in my opinion which drastically differentiate them from us. They not only respect your time while on duty, but also respect your personal commitments and allow flexibility because they know that you will be accountable for the job assigned to you. Here in India if you ever come across such people, we put them on a pedestal and call them ‘professional’. But no one looks at it this way that in a “profession” we all are meant to be “professional”.
A Professional set up at work helps in maintaining good spirits, which is then carried forward to our homes as well. A healthy atmosphere at work always escalates one’s efficiency leading to faster turn-around time for all jobs and projects undertaken, thus giving us scope to wind up each day on time, but that rarely happens! Every organization has its own set of people who are typically known for wasting their own and others’ time. Well nowadays there are innovative ways of wasting time. Most men or nowadays even women spend their productive work hours in smoking. This smoking is also accompanied with loads of gossip and grapevine which they term as networking! Umpteen number of “cutting chai” through the day is the other culprit both for longer working hours and heaps of acidity!! Computer games, social networking sites, untimely snack breaks, and if all this was not enough, then “Project BOSS” is always on agenda! Well “Project BOSS” only is a nicer way of putting one of the most used formulae by many inefficient fools in our organization known as “CHAMCHAGIRI”. I’m sure we all know at least two to three ‘chamchas’ in our office who are forever wagging their tails around the BIG BOSS. May be that is their only route to success, since their work rarely speaks for them!
We often fear the thing we want the most. A skyrocketing career is what we all want and the thought of not being able to get it is what we fear the most! So automatically we have one person in our lives that we fear by default – our boss! However great the camaraderie between the boss and his team, his juniors always have something to crib about their bosses behind his back. For that matter, even I always made an attempt to memorize things I have disliked about my boss so that when I become one, I don’t repeat the same. But I must confess that today many of my reactions remind me of my boss, and I sometimes wonder if my team ever detests me on any occasions. In either ways, the bottom line does not change; this boss-subordinate relationship will always remain constant. In a bid to carve a niche at our work place, we spend a lot of time doing everything but work during work hours, a lot of time is spent pleasing this most important and scary person in our lives – OUR BOSS and then by the end of the day, we often realize that the actual work has remained pending. But the fact remains that whatever we are willing to put up with is exactly what we will have. All this stress, and workaholic behavior definitely fetches us accolades in our career, but one of the most vital aspects of our life gets ignored in this bargain – our health.
The most popular phrase used and heard around is ‘health is wealth’, still in the struggle to earn this wealth we allow our health to take a back seat, sometimes let it slowly deteriorate. Today’s fast life leaves us no scope for a healthy lifestyle. Sedentary jobs, loads of stress and unhealthy and untimely eating habits are a standing invitation for all chronic cardiac problems. Constant exposure to pollution while travelling only adds to our health woes. We are allowing health hazards like diabetes, obesity, hypertension a permanent residence in our bodies. Health is that glass ball which if broken once, will collapse the other balls in the game too!
All said and done this rubber ball called WORK is the one which needs the most attention to keep the other balls juggling. The ones, who are willing to risk it, either have a back-up plan or tremendous confidence to make it big anyways. Probably they have their own success stories to share. But, every success story has a painful experience behind it, without which success does not taste as sweet. Which means at some point in their lives they have had to sacrifice one of these balls? Then the question is which ball are we willing to hurt to get to success? May be of all of them hurting the rubber ball could be the best bet for a few, but for some it could be the only ball they live for. Though broadly we all have similar priorities in life, but our approach and experiences in life compel us to take decisions which then decide the fate of these balls in our lives. It is therefore difficult to generalize and pass a verdict on how each of us have to prioritize or play this game of balls, as we all will seem right in our own circumstances. May be mastering the art of juggling, so that we are able to balance all of them at any given time of our lives is the best answer. Whatever we do, enjoying every moment to the fullest is important because it is not about how LONG we live, but about how BIG we live our lives that will decide how worthwhile our life has been. Life is like a road trip, where the journey makes the trip enjoyable and at the end of this road all we can do is introspect! So let us all play the game such that when we introspect we emerge as the winners of the game!
- Mayura Nayak
Monday, June 14, 2010
Pratyush 2010
A feeling of déjà vu is settling into me as I proudly announce another triumph, another feather, a rather bigger feather in our cap! Yes, we have done it all over again; the verdict is out that Pratyush 2010 is a SUPER DUPER BUMPER HIT!
June 6, 2009, witnessed the beginning of a new rising – Pratyush (as the name suggests). Pratyush’09 was the first show of its kind organized in our community. With approx. 70+ participants, a meticulous and professional choreographer like Vishwas Natekar, a talented director like Pooja Ajinkya and a tremendously enthusiastic team of Yuva Manch, we knew we had a winner in our hands! We just could not go wrong with our formula and of course we didn’t! Pratyush’09 still goes down in the history of Pathare Prabhu’s as the first ever mega event organized within the community! We had marked our arrival and we were here to stay!
But history is witness to this fact that such magic can rarely be repeated! As we all know there can never be another movie like SHOLAY, we were aware of the pressure of recreating Pratyush. Expectations were soaring high and we would not accept faltering on these expectations! We were determined to defy history this time! From the time we started conceptualizing Pratyush 2010 till the final execution we all knew at the back of our minds somewhere deep down inside, that we had to excel our past performance. We had the whole community eyeing us to know what we do next and we had to live up to all your expectations!
After six months of ground work and planning for the event, and one and a half month of rigorous rehearsals, the day had finally dawned, June 05, 2010. We all gathered at the auditorium at 8.30 a.m. in the morning to conduct a final round of grand rehearsal. Soon the stage was ablaze with glittering lights and the backstage was buzzing with all the performers queuing up for their performances. All participants lined up for their make-up, our director Mr. Satish Joshi and choreographer Mr. Vishwas Natekar performed a quick ‘puja’ on the stage, gave us their blessings and then it was SHOWTIME!
The curtains rose to a packed auditorium! As soon as the audio-visual flashed the thundering sound of claps filled the auditorium and we could sense a slight feeling of victory nudging us already then, but we resisted the temptation of allowing it to take over our minds. Pratyush 2010, presented a story of two Pathare Prabhu families portrayed by some of the talented members of our community, well woven with dance performances that entwined the complete story. The story had all the ingredients of a typical ‘bollywood masala’ flick. Comedy, drama, action, romance, tragedy, you name it and it was all there! This musical drama had an array of dance performances. From Bhangda to Lavani, from mushy romance to peppy numbers, from retro to funky songs, from sizzling item numbers to folk songs! We had dancers grooving to all kinds of music! Dancers from all age groups rocked the stage! Thanks to Mrs. Pramila Talpade with whose initiative we had senior ladies grooving to a popular retro song – ‘Shola jo bhadke’. They looked lovely on the stage winning numerous cheers and screams of ‘once more’ from the audience! Their enthusiasm and grit to go up on stage at that age and perform to a live audience unhesitatingly was much commendable. Vishwas sir would fondly call them ‘little ladies’ they were indeed little pretty ladies! If on one hand we had our senior members the juniors were not lagging behind! We got a roaring response with around 20 kids live on stage the youngest being a little more than 2 years old if I am not mistaken. These kids were the star attraction of that evening! No stage fright, full of confidence, and exuberance, these kids just stole the show! And now coming to the rock stars! Yes our very own dancers and actors who slogged for one month continuously to make the show what it is. It is indeed difficult to believe but for many of these actors it was their first stint at acting! They had to learn as quickly as they could and deliver at the same time! Indeed a tough time for most of them learning the dialogues, expressing, understanding timing especially for comic scenes, I must say! And now talking about our dancers! The efforts that these dancers have put in cannot be expressed enough in words. Whoever has seen the dances, will surely agree that as far as the choreography is concerned, the bars had been raised higher. Thus making it even more difficult for not just the non dancers, but also the dancers to get a grip over the dances! But the rock stars that they all are they could all manage it in the limited time span of one month given to them! A great team effort by the committee members, the hard work and perseverance of all the actors and dancers along with the cooperation of the Prabhu Tarun board made this event a grand success!
Of course my editorial is incomplete without thanking a few people who have contributed in a big way towards this show. Firstly a big ‘thank you’ to all the donors who have generously contributed funds, so that we could give this platform to our community members to showcase their talent. I’m sure with your support we will grow manifolds in the future and also form a base for bringing this talent on one platform and do more work within the community. We are very grateful to our event sponsor Videocon International for their support. And even more grateful to Mr. Vinay Nayak, who has helped get the sponsorship. We also take this opportunity to thank Mr. Pradeep Dhairyawan for helping us in our times of need, by providing us a venue for rehearsals completely free of charge. Of course Pratyush 2010 would never be the same without Mr. Vishwas Natekar and Mr. Satish Joshi. For Vishwas this was his second year with us and he had painstakingly worked on this project as his own baby! Although a professional he went out of his way to see that this show was a hit by creating some wow moments in the show. His assistants Shraddha Chavan and Aniket Jadhav along with him toiled through the days and nights, to ensure our participants were getting their each move right! Training a set of non dancers within a span of one month and making them perform difficult steps and stunts was an impossible task at hand, but he made it happen! Hats off to you Vishwas sir! For Joshi kaka this project began more than two months back, from the time we briefed him on the show. He was the brain behind the script and also directed the play. He had given his two months to this show, and ensured that we were able to put up a great act together. Understanding our requirement and then scripting accordingly as per the taste of the audience wasn’t an easy task. It was his dedication and hard work that such a convincing act could be staged. On behalf of Prabhu Tarun I would like to wholeheartedly thank both Vishwas sir and Joshi Kaka for their priceless contribution towards Pratyush 2010. Last but definitely not the least a very big ‘thank you’ to all the 70+ participants and all the backstage and on field volunteers who dedicated themselves to this show and made Pratyush 2010 what it is!
Before I conclude, I would like to share some of my thoughts or should I say lessons that we learnt during the making of this show. When we began planning for the season 2, we had certain apprehensions like; will we have the same number of participants this year as last year? Can we put up a show as great as or better than last year? Will the community support us again and come to see our show? Etc. Apprehensions were many but no solutions! We decided to take each day as it comes and work out every task as it comes. Slowly everything started falling in place just like a jigsaw puzzle. We learnt that sincere effort and hard work coupled with good intent is always rewarded. Whether it was for the skit or for dance, we got an overwhelming response from the community. Of course there were some who didn’t turn up, but there were double the number of fresh participants whom we welcomed with open arms! When something on such a large scale is organized it is not possible to keep everyone happy, you win some you lose some! With changing times expectations also change! Way back in 1997, as teenagers when we used to dance in community events we used to be happy with just a venue available for rehearsals. The icing on the cake would be occasional visits by the then Editor of Prabhu Tarun Late Mr. Suhas Kothare who used to often treat us with ‘vada pav’ and soft drinks! We never even dreamt of demanding snacks or refreshments while rehearsing and would happily sustain on just water for most days, which was also brought from our respective homes! Today it is binding for us to offer these comforts to our participants as is what they expect from us. We never even had the audacity to question the choreographer’s choice of dancers or even suggest who he should take in which dance back then because we had full faith in him. But today we have to handle such issues not only from dancers but also entertain parents’ requests. In this process if we have hurt any of the participants or their family members then we would like to clarify that there was no intent of doing so, but we were only trying to be as impartial to all participants as possible giving all a fair chance! Here, I would like to take the liberty and proudly state that today Pratyush is not just a platform for talented people to showcase their talent, but it is a ground to hone our skills and do things which we would never be able to do, anywhere outside. We appeal to everyone to please look at this platform as an opportunity and appreciate what it can offer you, than mull over what you could not do. If we all work together with this mind set we all will be better artists and deliver bigger and better performances in the future. Well, as they say “As you sow, so shall you reap.” I can proudly declare that we have got our due credit for all the efforts we have put in the show. Together with our gang of participants we have recreated SHOLAY, and will keep doing so for years to come! ARE YOU ALL WITH US?
June 6, 2009, witnessed the beginning of a new rising – Pratyush (as the name suggests). Pratyush’09 was the first show of its kind organized in our community. With approx. 70+ participants, a meticulous and professional choreographer like Vishwas Natekar, a talented director like Pooja Ajinkya and a tremendously enthusiastic team of Yuva Manch, we knew we had a winner in our hands! We just could not go wrong with our formula and of course we didn’t! Pratyush’09 still goes down in the history of Pathare Prabhu’s as the first ever mega event organized within the community! We had marked our arrival and we were here to stay!
But history is witness to this fact that such magic can rarely be repeated! As we all know there can never be another movie like SHOLAY, we were aware of the pressure of recreating Pratyush. Expectations were soaring high and we would not accept faltering on these expectations! We were determined to defy history this time! From the time we started conceptualizing Pratyush 2010 till the final execution we all knew at the back of our minds somewhere deep down inside, that we had to excel our past performance. We had the whole community eyeing us to know what we do next and we had to live up to all your expectations!
After six months of ground work and planning for the event, and one and a half month of rigorous rehearsals, the day had finally dawned, June 05, 2010. We all gathered at the auditorium at 8.30 a.m. in the morning to conduct a final round of grand rehearsal. Soon the stage was ablaze with glittering lights and the backstage was buzzing with all the performers queuing up for their performances. All participants lined up for their make-up, our director Mr. Satish Joshi and choreographer Mr. Vishwas Natekar performed a quick ‘puja’ on the stage, gave us their blessings and then it was SHOWTIME!
The curtains rose to a packed auditorium! As soon as the audio-visual flashed the thundering sound of claps filled the auditorium and we could sense a slight feeling of victory nudging us already then, but we resisted the temptation of allowing it to take over our minds. Pratyush 2010, presented a story of two Pathare Prabhu families portrayed by some of the talented members of our community, well woven with dance performances that entwined the complete story. The story had all the ingredients of a typical ‘bollywood masala’ flick. Comedy, drama, action, romance, tragedy, you name it and it was all there! This musical drama had an array of dance performances. From Bhangda to Lavani, from mushy romance to peppy numbers, from retro to funky songs, from sizzling item numbers to folk songs! We had dancers grooving to all kinds of music! Dancers from all age groups rocked the stage! Thanks to Mrs. Pramila Talpade with whose initiative we had senior ladies grooving to a popular retro song – ‘Shola jo bhadke’. They looked lovely on the stage winning numerous cheers and screams of ‘once more’ from the audience! Their enthusiasm and grit to go up on stage at that age and perform to a live audience unhesitatingly was much commendable. Vishwas sir would fondly call them ‘little ladies’ they were indeed little pretty ladies! If on one hand we had our senior members the juniors were not lagging behind! We got a roaring response with around 20 kids live on stage the youngest being a little more than 2 years old if I am not mistaken. These kids were the star attraction of that evening! No stage fright, full of confidence, and exuberance, these kids just stole the show! And now coming to the rock stars! Yes our very own dancers and actors who slogged for one month continuously to make the show what it is. It is indeed difficult to believe but for many of these actors it was their first stint at acting! They had to learn as quickly as they could and deliver at the same time! Indeed a tough time for most of them learning the dialogues, expressing, understanding timing especially for comic scenes, I must say! And now talking about our dancers! The efforts that these dancers have put in cannot be expressed enough in words. Whoever has seen the dances, will surely agree that as far as the choreography is concerned, the bars had been raised higher. Thus making it even more difficult for not just the non dancers, but also the dancers to get a grip over the dances! But the rock stars that they all are they could all manage it in the limited time span of one month given to them! A great team effort by the committee members, the hard work and perseverance of all the actors and dancers along with the cooperation of the Prabhu Tarun board made this event a grand success!
Of course my editorial is incomplete without thanking a few people who have contributed in a big way towards this show. Firstly a big ‘thank you’ to all the donors who have generously contributed funds, so that we could give this platform to our community members to showcase their talent. I’m sure with your support we will grow manifolds in the future and also form a base for bringing this talent on one platform and do more work within the community. We are very grateful to our event sponsor Videocon International for their support. And even more grateful to Mr. Vinay Nayak, who has helped get the sponsorship. We also take this opportunity to thank Mr. Pradeep Dhairyawan for helping us in our times of need, by providing us a venue for rehearsals completely free of charge. Of course Pratyush 2010 would never be the same without Mr. Vishwas Natekar and Mr. Satish Joshi. For Vishwas this was his second year with us and he had painstakingly worked on this project as his own baby! Although a professional he went out of his way to see that this show was a hit by creating some wow moments in the show. His assistants Shraddha Chavan and Aniket Jadhav along with him toiled through the days and nights, to ensure our participants were getting their each move right! Training a set of non dancers within a span of one month and making them perform difficult steps and stunts was an impossible task at hand, but he made it happen! Hats off to you Vishwas sir! For Joshi kaka this project began more than two months back, from the time we briefed him on the show. He was the brain behind the script and also directed the play. He had given his two months to this show, and ensured that we were able to put up a great act together. Understanding our requirement and then scripting accordingly as per the taste of the audience wasn’t an easy task. It was his dedication and hard work that such a convincing act could be staged. On behalf of Prabhu Tarun I would like to wholeheartedly thank both Vishwas sir and Joshi Kaka for their priceless contribution towards Pratyush 2010. Last but definitely not the least a very big ‘thank you’ to all the 70+ participants and all the backstage and on field volunteers who dedicated themselves to this show and made Pratyush 2010 what it is!
Before I conclude, I would like to share some of my thoughts or should I say lessons that we learnt during the making of this show. When we began planning for the season 2, we had certain apprehensions like; will we have the same number of participants this year as last year? Can we put up a show as great as or better than last year? Will the community support us again and come to see our show? Etc. Apprehensions were many but no solutions! We decided to take each day as it comes and work out every task as it comes. Slowly everything started falling in place just like a jigsaw puzzle. We learnt that sincere effort and hard work coupled with good intent is always rewarded. Whether it was for the skit or for dance, we got an overwhelming response from the community. Of course there were some who didn’t turn up, but there were double the number of fresh participants whom we welcomed with open arms! When something on such a large scale is organized it is not possible to keep everyone happy, you win some you lose some! With changing times expectations also change! Way back in 1997, as teenagers when we used to dance in community events we used to be happy with just a venue available for rehearsals. The icing on the cake would be occasional visits by the then Editor of Prabhu Tarun Late Mr. Suhas Kothare who used to often treat us with ‘vada pav’ and soft drinks! We never even dreamt of demanding snacks or refreshments while rehearsing and would happily sustain on just water for most days, which was also brought from our respective homes! Today it is binding for us to offer these comforts to our participants as is what they expect from us. We never even had the audacity to question the choreographer’s choice of dancers or even suggest who he should take in which dance back then because we had full faith in him. But today we have to handle such issues not only from dancers but also entertain parents’ requests. In this process if we have hurt any of the participants or their family members then we would like to clarify that there was no intent of doing so, but we were only trying to be as impartial to all participants as possible giving all a fair chance! Here, I would like to take the liberty and proudly state that today Pratyush is not just a platform for talented people to showcase their talent, but it is a ground to hone our skills and do things which we would never be able to do, anywhere outside. We appeal to everyone to please look at this platform as an opportunity and appreciate what it can offer you, than mull over what you could not do. If we all work together with this mind set we all will be better artists and deliver bigger and better performances in the future. Well, as they say “As you sow, so shall you reap.” I can proudly declare that we have got our due credit for all the efforts we have put in the show. Together with our gang of participants we have recreated SHOLAY, and will keep doing so for years to come! ARE YOU ALL WITH US?
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
BIG vs. BAD – lets begin the confusion…..dec 2009
“How big can you get before you get bad.” – Subroto Bagchi.
The lines are written by him but have been told to me by a very senior person from the media fraternity. It happened on a day when our whole team sat for a refreshing coffee in the cafeteria after a day full of stress and pressure. It was a time when recession was just setting in our country and the grapevine suggested that our division was going to shut, the top management was going through a shuffle which led us to believe so. Many of our leaders were rumored to have been sacked, due to either incompetence or foul play in the organization; the market was packed with negative rumors about our company. Stalwarts in the industry claimed that the launch of this new division will mark the downfall of our company as a media house, thus in such an unsafe scenario, we were all very precarious about our existence in the company and our discussion in the cafeteria very explicitly revealed so. So engrossed we were in our conversation that we did not realize that our CEO had just walked in. Pretending to not have heard our conversation, he quickly reached for his fruit plate and walked out. Unfortunately for me, I was the longest working employee in the group that we were sitting in, as soon as we dispersed; our CEO spotted me from the glass door of one of our conference rooms and called me out. He said “Subroto has asked a very valid question in his book, “Go Kiss the World”. He questions the readers “How big can you get before you get bad?” what he means to say is that there is an extremely thin line differentiating big from bad, and it is wise to take cognizance of this line, before the world starts terming you bad. So does it mean that every one who becomes big starts becoming bad?” I was a little blank for a few minutes. Firstly the CEO has caught me unaware and is now asking me questions which I assumed would require a witty answer to earn some brownie points. Well leaving me in that confused frame of mind he quickly retaliated to his own question. He said “Well I differ a little on this; I feel that if you have at least a dozen people considering you BAD, you are on your path to becoming BIG. These losers can’t see us grow that is the reason you hear them floating such rumors about us!” He continued by saying “The threat of seeing someone grow compels certain people to pull you down. 10 people will criticize you not because they strongly feel so, but because they see a potential threat in you to their career. The news floating in the market just proves it that we are posing a threat to the other players and the only alternative they are left with is talking ill of our company and people. So while people term us as BAD, we must all celebrate the fact that we are on our road to success and will soon become the BIG Daddy in the industry.”
WOW this man actually set me thinking. In spite of the fact that his comparison and relevance of what Bagchi comments in his book to his idea of BIG vs. BAD is debatable, he still made two strong statements, he placed two views both sounding correct independently but contradicting each other. In my opinion, these two statements could have never been compared. Although I haven’t read his book, I feel what Bagchi is asking his readers to do is introspection of what moral benchmarks we hold in our lives and are we able to sustain them even when we become successful. While what our CEO opines is that once we are big the external environment wants to claim us as bad as we pose a threat to their growth. I think both experiences find place in our lives at different levels. While introspection is a constant process, dealing with such negativity often or occasionally is also as common.
How Big can we get before we get bad! The best example to site here would be of our very own politicians. They just cannot handle success; in fact what makes them bad is GREED. Greed for power, money, fame, name, everything! They turn evil because of selfish interests. How many of them fulfill promises they make while campaigning for elections, once they are elected? How many of them are sincerely working for this country? Most of them raise an issue and sit back enjoying the ordeal that the common man then has to deal with. A list of genuine politicians is so small that it can probably be counted on our finger tips I’m sure. Well another industry which is filled with such people is our very own BOLLYWOOD. We often read news on certain actors, about their arrogance, and humiliating behavior towards fellow artists or junior actors. There are many film stars who have not been able to handle success. Success gets to their head and arrogance takes over. All news might not be authentic, but as they say there is no smoke without fire! I’m sure we do have such specimens existing, but that hardly affects us in any way. In fact it is quick entertainment for us when we so interestingly read about them in magazines and newspapers. Mr. Madhur Bhandarkar in fact made a whole movie called “FASHION” which showed this same journey of a model that rises to fame and then experiences a downfall due to the negative impact, fame has on her. Madhur Bhandarkar is known for his real cinema, so if this is reality, then our entertainment industry is filled with such people who can very well justify Bagchi’s statement.
But at the same time we cannot ignore some people who have become BIG but still have their modesty and goodness intact. I’m sure they all have sacrificed a lot in their lives to achieve this image. They are people who want to become big but not at the cost of someone else. They are people who are determined to make a difference to the society and touch lives as they pass their journey. I’m sure there are some renowned names which fall in this category of people too. I have myself experienced many people who have touched my life and to me are selfless people, who are far BIG in my opinion, but because they are selfless, they could never make a big name for themselves? Is it their good nature that stood as a hurdle? Or were they plainly incapable. If being good is a hurdle then what makes Dr. Narayan Murthy as big as he is? He is just one off names that comes to my mind, but what happens to those benevolent leaders who disappear in the crowd? They are the unsung heroes in our lives who have never got their due credit. But is it their fault?
Well introspection is definitely the answer! While we steadily climb the ladder to success and prosperity, if we give up introspecting our actions and reactions, we might lose the plot! Having our heads firmly held on our shoulders is so critical! As we grow the eye balls doing a quick scrutiny on us, also steadily grow. At such a point, what is most difficult is to remain good in front of all these eyes! While that is tough, what is important is to remain good in our own eyes! Well all this is easier said than done! Many a times I have fought with my own conscious for some of my actions! While we may not act in a way that is harmful to others, but we often react to other’s harmful actions in a way that make us look bad to the world! My personal experience says that if we think with our hearts, we sometimes tend to repent on our decisions at some point in the future, but if we think with our heads, we often make the right decision! Many of my friends argue with me that with matters related to the heart, you should always think with your heart! I feel that even in matters related to the heart if we think with our hearts we often flow with emotions and lose our ability to rationally think from all perspectives, in the bargain ruining either our side of the story or someone else’s. If a practical mind has to take a decision, with good intentions, the decision will always be rational and fruitful. Of course here the good intentions bear maximum weight as without such good intentions, the results will never be fruitful!
But however good our intentions are, we still face flak for our actions and reactions. Every success story has some criticism attached to it. In fact, we are so accustomed to these criticisms that we cannot enjoy our success without tasting some of it. Meaningful criticism helps us mend certain pitfalls, we can avoid in future. And the insignificant disapprovals to our actions are only meant for sharing and laughing it out! Here I quite agree with what my CEO said that such insignificant criticism is meant to be enjoyed as they are proof of our success! Even the best people, institutions, and companies are condemned for some of their actions. Some of the best work is criticized for what it is! Another example from our very own Bollywood; The most critically acclaimed film “BLACK” was also criticized by Aamir Khan for its portrayal of the physically challenged and the way Amitabh Bachchan’s character handles his patient. All this again to garner publicity for his own film “TAARE ZAMEEN PAR” which was soon to be released then! Sorry folks, the movie buff that I am, I can’t find more appropriate examples to establish my point of view as movies are something we all can relate to.
Now that I have already written more than two pages talking about the journey from The BIG to The Bad, I still need to figure why in the first place did I ever choose such a topic? A topic which elaborated two thoughts, both thoughts which were not mine! Both compared without much relevance by someone but not me. Still I managed to write more than two pages talking of both points of view! May be both thoughts reflected me in some degrees? May be? Well if I am still battling between growing big and turning bad, or if I am already rejoicing being proclaimed as bad because I am growing big, what has happened to the good in me?? Well as I continue to introspect, the lesson that I have already learnt is that “Never openly discuss your point of view in a public place such as the CAFETERIA, lest you never know which wrong person has his ears on you!” Well thanks to my team, had we not discussed our woes in the cafeteria, our CEO would have never heard us, and it would not have sparked off that conversation between us, which further flickered into this discussion. Whatever the lesson may be, or whatever confusion I have managed to create in your minds it has surely given me something to write as my editorial!
The lines are written by him but have been told to me by a very senior person from the media fraternity. It happened on a day when our whole team sat for a refreshing coffee in the cafeteria after a day full of stress and pressure. It was a time when recession was just setting in our country and the grapevine suggested that our division was going to shut, the top management was going through a shuffle which led us to believe so. Many of our leaders were rumored to have been sacked, due to either incompetence or foul play in the organization; the market was packed with negative rumors about our company. Stalwarts in the industry claimed that the launch of this new division will mark the downfall of our company as a media house, thus in such an unsafe scenario, we were all very precarious about our existence in the company and our discussion in the cafeteria very explicitly revealed so. So engrossed we were in our conversation that we did not realize that our CEO had just walked in. Pretending to not have heard our conversation, he quickly reached for his fruit plate and walked out. Unfortunately for me, I was the longest working employee in the group that we were sitting in, as soon as we dispersed; our CEO spotted me from the glass door of one of our conference rooms and called me out. He said “Subroto has asked a very valid question in his book, “Go Kiss the World”. He questions the readers “How big can you get before you get bad?” what he means to say is that there is an extremely thin line differentiating big from bad, and it is wise to take cognizance of this line, before the world starts terming you bad. So does it mean that every one who becomes big starts becoming bad?” I was a little blank for a few minutes. Firstly the CEO has caught me unaware and is now asking me questions which I assumed would require a witty answer to earn some brownie points. Well leaving me in that confused frame of mind he quickly retaliated to his own question. He said “Well I differ a little on this; I feel that if you have at least a dozen people considering you BAD, you are on your path to becoming BIG. These losers can’t see us grow that is the reason you hear them floating such rumors about us!” He continued by saying “The threat of seeing someone grow compels certain people to pull you down. 10 people will criticize you not because they strongly feel so, but because they see a potential threat in you to their career. The news floating in the market just proves it that we are posing a threat to the other players and the only alternative they are left with is talking ill of our company and people. So while people term us as BAD, we must all celebrate the fact that we are on our road to success and will soon become the BIG Daddy in the industry.”
WOW this man actually set me thinking. In spite of the fact that his comparison and relevance of what Bagchi comments in his book to his idea of BIG vs. BAD is debatable, he still made two strong statements, he placed two views both sounding correct independently but contradicting each other. In my opinion, these two statements could have never been compared. Although I haven’t read his book, I feel what Bagchi is asking his readers to do is introspection of what moral benchmarks we hold in our lives and are we able to sustain them even when we become successful. While what our CEO opines is that once we are big the external environment wants to claim us as bad as we pose a threat to their growth. I think both experiences find place in our lives at different levels. While introspection is a constant process, dealing with such negativity often or occasionally is also as common.
How Big can we get before we get bad! The best example to site here would be of our very own politicians. They just cannot handle success; in fact what makes them bad is GREED. Greed for power, money, fame, name, everything! They turn evil because of selfish interests. How many of them fulfill promises they make while campaigning for elections, once they are elected? How many of them are sincerely working for this country? Most of them raise an issue and sit back enjoying the ordeal that the common man then has to deal with. A list of genuine politicians is so small that it can probably be counted on our finger tips I’m sure. Well another industry which is filled with such people is our very own BOLLYWOOD. We often read news on certain actors, about their arrogance, and humiliating behavior towards fellow artists or junior actors. There are many film stars who have not been able to handle success. Success gets to their head and arrogance takes over. All news might not be authentic, but as they say there is no smoke without fire! I’m sure we do have such specimens existing, but that hardly affects us in any way. In fact it is quick entertainment for us when we so interestingly read about them in magazines and newspapers. Mr. Madhur Bhandarkar in fact made a whole movie called “FASHION” which showed this same journey of a model that rises to fame and then experiences a downfall due to the negative impact, fame has on her. Madhur Bhandarkar is known for his real cinema, so if this is reality, then our entertainment industry is filled with such people who can very well justify Bagchi’s statement.
But at the same time we cannot ignore some people who have become BIG but still have their modesty and goodness intact. I’m sure they all have sacrificed a lot in their lives to achieve this image. They are people who want to become big but not at the cost of someone else. They are people who are determined to make a difference to the society and touch lives as they pass their journey. I’m sure there are some renowned names which fall in this category of people too. I have myself experienced many people who have touched my life and to me are selfless people, who are far BIG in my opinion, but because they are selfless, they could never make a big name for themselves? Is it their good nature that stood as a hurdle? Or were they plainly incapable. If being good is a hurdle then what makes Dr. Narayan Murthy as big as he is? He is just one off names that comes to my mind, but what happens to those benevolent leaders who disappear in the crowd? They are the unsung heroes in our lives who have never got their due credit. But is it their fault?
Well introspection is definitely the answer! While we steadily climb the ladder to success and prosperity, if we give up introspecting our actions and reactions, we might lose the plot! Having our heads firmly held on our shoulders is so critical! As we grow the eye balls doing a quick scrutiny on us, also steadily grow. At such a point, what is most difficult is to remain good in front of all these eyes! While that is tough, what is important is to remain good in our own eyes! Well all this is easier said than done! Many a times I have fought with my own conscious for some of my actions! While we may not act in a way that is harmful to others, but we often react to other’s harmful actions in a way that make us look bad to the world! My personal experience says that if we think with our hearts, we sometimes tend to repent on our decisions at some point in the future, but if we think with our heads, we often make the right decision! Many of my friends argue with me that with matters related to the heart, you should always think with your heart! I feel that even in matters related to the heart if we think with our hearts we often flow with emotions and lose our ability to rationally think from all perspectives, in the bargain ruining either our side of the story or someone else’s. If a practical mind has to take a decision, with good intentions, the decision will always be rational and fruitful. Of course here the good intentions bear maximum weight as without such good intentions, the results will never be fruitful!
But however good our intentions are, we still face flak for our actions and reactions. Every success story has some criticism attached to it. In fact, we are so accustomed to these criticisms that we cannot enjoy our success without tasting some of it. Meaningful criticism helps us mend certain pitfalls, we can avoid in future. And the insignificant disapprovals to our actions are only meant for sharing and laughing it out! Here I quite agree with what my CEO said that such insignificant criticism is meant to be enjoyed as they are proof of our success! Even the best people, institutions, and companies are condemned for some of their actions. Some of the best work is criticized for what it is! Another example from our very own Bollywood; The most critically acclaimed film “BLACK” was also criticized by Aamir Khan for its portrayal of the physically challenged and the way Amitabh Bachchan’s character handles his patient. All this again to garner publicity for his own film “TAARE ZAMEEN PAR” which was soon to be released then! Sorry folks, the movie buff that I am, I can’t find more appropriate examples to establish my point of view as movies are something we all can relate to.
Now that I have already written more than two pages talking about the journey from The BIG to The Bad, I still need to figure why in the first place did I ever choose such a topic? A topic which elaborated two thoughts, both thoughts which were not mine! Both compared without much relevance by someone but not me. Still I managed to write more than two pages talking of both points of view! May be both thoughts reflected me in some degrees? May be? Well if I am still battling between growing big and turning bad, or if I am already rejoicing being proclaimed as bad because I am growing big, what has happened to the good in me?? Well as I continue to introspect, the lesson that I have already learnt is that “Never openly discuss your point of view in a public place such as the CAFETERIA, lest you never know which wrong person has his ears on you!” Well thanks to my team, had we not discussed our woes in the cafeteria, our CEO would have never heard us, and it would not have sparked off that conversation between us, which further flickered into this discussion. Whatever the lesson may be, or whatever confusion I have managed to create in your minds it has surely given me something to write as my editorial!
My First Nine Months... Oct. Diwali Anka 2009
The two words ‘nine’ ‘months’ when used together are rather synonymous to one of the most significant period in anyone’s life. It is that time in our lives when we are at the threshold of taking responsibility of a new life. Yes, this is our porch to parenthood, of giving birth to our child. I thoughtfully replaced motherhood with parenthood because these nine months are of equal significance to both the expecting mother and father, and together they experience one of the best moments in their lives! We as parents are fortunate to have had the same experience three years back! Since these were and always will be my first nine months of it’s kind, there could be nothing more momentous than sharing this experience with all of you through a platform which is in this diwali issue talking about everyone’s version of “my first time at………..”
There are certain things very common to everyone’s nine months and some which are unique to each couple. Well the most common feature was thankfully eliminated from my nine months which was ‘morning sickness’. From the time I learnt that I was pregnant I dreaded this very tough phenomena of morning sickness and I was very glad that I never ever suffered the same anytime. There are many other common aspects of these nine months which I’m sure all couples undergo. The sheer joy of having a baby is a constant factor in the subconscious mind of every would-be parent. But alongside this joy also a permanent resident is high levels of anxiety at various junctures due to the highs and lows in the basic health of the mother and baby. Mood swings, cravings, mental preparation for the most difficult labour pains, the delight of hearing the baby’s heart beats in the first trimester and then the bliss of seeing the foetus grow and take human shape in the eagerly awaited ultra sounds, enjoying the baby kicking inside, the constant guess work of all family members whether its going to be a boy or a girl are some of the most common features! Talking about this guesswork, something which always amazed me was how every aunt seeing the mother’s tummy grow would confidently claim if it’s a boy or a girl. Not just the tummy but even the glow on the mother’s face can help define the sex of the baby according to our very enthusiastic relatives. Baby showers, which we call ‘Dohale Jevan’ is also a function which is eagerly awaited. Now this is a function completely for the would-be mother as she enjoys a lot of pampering and gifts from all her friends and relatives. The would-be father is a mere spectator and probably spends his time clicking photographs of the mother with the others present at the function. There is a sweet ritual associated with ‘dohale jevan’ which is breaking the modak which all of us are aware of, but for those who don’t, here is something very unique to our customs. Now there are two modaks one with a laddoo inside and the other with a shingdi inside. If the would-be mother breaks the laddoo with shingdi inside then she’s going to have a girl and vice versa. This particular ritual is done twice in these months, one done by the would-be mother’s mother and the other by her mother-in-law. Now this calculation can turn out to be very misleading if in both the rituals the forecast is contradicting. Anyway these are rituals done on a lighter note and are to be enjoyed for the fun involved in it more than the belief in the same.
The would-be fathers also have some similar experiences in these nine months. High levels of anxiety about the baby and their wife’s health, monetary planning for the forthcoming expenses, reading up on the best available books on pregnancy and child care, trying their hands on holding anyone’s baby on the first given opportunity as a trial session, talking to as many people on parenting, asking other fathers on how the total experience of becoming a father is, praying everyday that their wife should not have a craving for anything in the middle of the night, and at times when their prayers are not answered helplessly making whatever is demanded available for their beloved wives etc. etc. By the way, whatever I wrote about would-be fathers is not applicable to my husband as he did nothing of it all. Barring a little bit of anxiety about the baby’s and my health (fortunately I had a pleasant pregnancy with no major complications), he had to do nothing of the above. Monetary planning at that point of time was never on his agenda, I used to read this book called “what to expect when you are expecting” gifted by my sister, I don’t think he must have completed even one chapter from that book. The first child he must have held in the past few years is our son Shaurya, I don’t think he must have ever even noticed a child around a 10ft distance from him. Since we were the first couple to get married in his friend circle, we were the first one’s to even have a baby, so the question of asking other fathers never occurred. And with luck by his side, he never had to cater to midnight emergencies such as fulfilling my food cravings as I rarely had any. These were just a few things associated with these months, some of which we encountered, and some we didn’t. But like I mentioned earlier, there are certain situations unique to each couple. We too had our share of these experiences.
In my first trimester itself, we changed homes. This was a landmark move in our lives. The grief of leaving the area we lived for so long was compensated by the joy of living in a spacious four bedroom house. We had the pleasure of designing our own rooms and since we were already expecting a baby’s arrival, we were able to plan the interiors keeping the baby in mind. Of course packing and unpacking in those days would get hectic for me since I was pregnant and could not afford to be as active as I otherwise was. From Santa Cruz we shifted to Malad, and I was working at VT. This meant that my travel time to work had doubled. It was only once that I tried to board the morning train to Churchgate from Malad, and that was my last tryst with train travel for that period. We all know the scene on a weekday morning at Malad station. Thereafter we hired a driver to take me everyday to work. Talking of work, well in those days I was working with The Times Group, handling sales for Maharashtra Times Classifieds section. My work involved a lot of travelling, and very soon, I had to announce at work that I was pregnant and would not be able to do the travelling required. I suggested to my boss to give me a temporary transfer and a change in profile, which he did. He transferred me to our Khar sub-office, but would occasionally call me to the Head Office since I was still reporting in to him. We were a team of 15 members, out of which 14 were boys. All these boys would go out for meetings and since I was the only one allowed to sit in office, I was given the responsibility of tracking ad spends of all clients across all the times group publications and its’ competition. Now this used to be a tedious job and coming up with various reports and their permutations and combinations involved a lot of calculations. My boss used to always tell me that my child will be very intelligent and strong in mathematics because of the amount of calculations I was exposed to, and would joke that I should thank him for the same. Eventually in my sixth month of pregnancy, I had to leave my job, as slowly my travelling increased, affecting my health in many ways. This was a turning point in my life. Initially I heaved a sigh of relief for being spared of the loads of work I had got myself involved in and also the everyday travel which was painful. I started enjoying my long hours of sleep which I was deprived off till then due to work. But slowly I started missing work, and felt I needed something to do and keep myself occupied. Well the tummy was growing and so was the discomfort, there was not much I could have got myself involved in at that point of time. I used to keep myself busy in some TV shows that time. There was this one program called “Baby Stories” on discovery channel. This show used to take the viewers through the nine months of selected people and their delivery process and initial few months after the baby’s birth I used to be glued to it and never missed an episode. I finished reading the book that my sister had gifted too! Well my sister was also expecting a baby at the same time. She was two months ahead of me, therefore used to share her experiences with me often. We regularly exchanged notes and certain dos and don’ts. Soon it was time for her delivery and my mother too joined her there in The United States. She delivered a healthy baby boy, on the auspicious occasion of Ganesh Chaturthi. We were all thrilled with this new addition in our family, but I was most curious about knowing the details of how severe her labour pains were and how was her experience giving birth to a child. She very bravely faced labour but warned me of the excruciating pain. I still remember the butterflies in my stomach thinking about that pain! But I used to pacify myself thinking that if giving birth to a child is a process every lady goes through anywhere in the world, then my tolerance levels are surely above the average tolerance levels of women across the world. And if so many women can continue giving birth to not only one but many in spite of the pain associated, then so can I.
The last trimester was very interesting. The feelings were mixed. On one hand I used to enjoy feeling the baby inside the womb, and counting the kicks everyday but on the other hand, I was counting days for the delivery and was physically tired of carrying the increased weight around. I used to enjoy shopping for maternity outfits at MotherCare, but used to get frustrated seeing myself outgrow all my clothes. Another thing I would dread to see was my weight on the weighing scale, which was forever increasing! Now that was not a very great sight at all! Fortunately I had a rather non-problematic pregnancy therefore we could afford to do many things which many expecting parents are deprived off due to the long bed rests advised by doctors. Considering that I was pregnant, we never had to slow down on our social activities. We never stopped partying, travelling, going for movies and dinners or attending weddings, we were there everywhere and had some great times with friends and relatives! Not forgetting the special attention and pampering that I got as an expecting mother from family and friends was overwhelming.
I was given a due date of October 29, 2006, but my doctor said that we will have to get me to deliver earlier. Two days before diwali, was my new scheduled date. It was October 17, I had not slept well the previous night, with all weird thoughts in my mind. What if I go into labour at night? What if I go into labour on the way to the hospital? What if there is an emergency caesarean operation advised? Proving all my weird thoughts wrong, there a new day was born. Early in the morning, all apprehensive of my labour time, I bravely entered the hospital. I remember being accompanied by my husband and my mother. By 11.00 am I was in labour; walking around in pain initially I was plainly waiting to get myself out of this condition. Soon I was taken in the labour room and by 3.50 pm I delivered a bonny baby boy! The doctor announced “it’s a boy!” The baby was kept in a blue tub below and taken outside; his screeching sounds of crying could be heard for a long time. My family got busy in calling up relatives and friends announcing a new arrival in our family. But I had still not seen my baby. I was taken in my room, and was patiently waiting to see him. Soon they brought him in my room; when I first held him, I suddenly realized that if GOD was running a corporate firm, this was my day of promotion. I was promoted to a new designation called “mother” with a new job profile, with of course no salary increase but some weight increase!!! Well never mind the WEIGHT that could be shredded later, but the WAIT was worth all the nine months which ended so beautifully, as God’s best creation lay so peacefully in my arms. My first nine months had just got over, but thereafter life changed forever! These nine months gave birth to a new ME, and kick started the most beautiful time of my life!
There are certain things very common to everyone’s nine months and some which are unique to each couple. Well the most common feature was thankfully eliminated from my nine months which was ‘morning sickness’. From the time I learnt that I was pregnant I dreaded this very tough phenomena of morning sickness and I was very glad that I never ever suffered the same anytime. There are many other common aspects of these nine months which I’m sure all couples undergo. The sheer joy of having a baby is a constant factor in the subconscious mind of every would-be parent. But alongside this joy also a permanent resident is high levels of anxiety at various junctures due to the highs and lows in the basic health of the mother and baby. Mood swings, cravings, mental preparation for the most difficult labour pains, the delight of hearing the baby’s heart beats in the first trimester and then the bliss of seeing the foetus grow and take human shape in the eagerly awaited ultra sounds, enjoying the baby kicking inside, the constant guess work of all family members whether its going to be a boy or a girl are some of the most common features! Talking about this guesswork, something which always amazed me was how every aunt seeing the mother’s tummy grow would confidently claim if it’s a boy or a girl. Not just the tummy but even the glow on the mother’s face can help define the sex of the baby according to our very enthusiastic relatives. Baby showers, which we call ‘Dohale Jevan’ is also a function which is eagerly awaited. Now this is a function completely for the would-be mother as she enjoys a lot of pampering and gifts from all her friends and relatives. The would-be father is a mere spectator and probably spends his time clicking photographs of the mother with the others present at the function. There is a sweet ritual associated with ‘dohale jevan’ which is breaking the modak which all of us are aware of, but for those who don’t, here is something very unique to our customs. Now there are two modaks one with a laddoo inside and the other with a shingdi inside. If the would-be mother breaks the laddoo with shingdi inside then she’s going to have a girl and vice versa. This particular ritual is done twice in these months, one done by the would-be mother’s mother and the other by her mother-in-law. Now this calculation can turn out to be very misleading if in both the rituals the forecast is contradicting. Anyway these are rituals done on a lighter note and are to be enjoyed for the fun involved in it more than the belief in the same.
The would-be fathers also have some similar experiences in these nine months. High levels of anxiety about the baby and their wife’s health, monetary planning for the forthcoming expenses, reading up on the best available books on pregnancy and child care, trying their hands on holding anyone’s baby on the first given opportunity as a trial session, talking to as many people on parenting, asking other fathers on how the total experience of becoming a father is, praying everyday that their wife should not have a craving for anything in the middle of the night, and at times when their prayers are not answered helplessly making whatever is demanded available for their beloved wives etc. etc. By the way, whatever I wrote about would-be fathers is not applicable to my husband as he did nothing of it all. Barring a little bit of anxiety about the baby’s and my health (fortunately I had a pleasant pregnancy with no major complications), he had to do nothing of the above. Monetary planning at that point of time was never on his agenda, I used to read this book called “what to expect when you are expecting” gifted by my sister, I don’t think he must have completed even one chapter from that book. The first child he must have held in the past few years is our son Shaurya, I don’t think he must have ever even noticed a child around a 10ft distance from him. Since we were the first couple to get married in his friend circle, we were the first one’s to even have a baby, so the question of asking other fathers never occurred. And with luck by his side, he never had to cater to midnight emergencies such as fulfilling my food cravings as I rarely had any. These were just a few things associated with these months, some of which we encountered, and some we didn’t. But like I mentioned earlier, there are certain situations unique to each couple. We too had our share of these experiences.
In my first trimester itself, we changed homes. This was a landmark move in our lives. The grief of leaving the area we lived for so long was compensated by the joy of living in a spacious four bedroom house. We had the pleasure of designing our own rooms and since we were already expecting a baby’s arrival, we were able to plan the interiors keeping the baby in mind. Of course packing and unpacking in those days would get hectic for me since I was pregnant and could not afford to be as active as I otherwise was. From Santa Cruz we shifted to Malad, and I was working at VT. This meant that my travel time to work had doubled. It was only once that I tried to board the morning train to Churchgate from Malad, and that was my last tryst with train travel for that period. We all know the scene on a weekday morning at Malad station. Thereafter we hired a driver to take me everyday to work. Talking of work, well in those days I was working with The Times Group, handling sales for Maharashtra Times Classifieds section. My work involved a lot of travelling, and very soon, I had to announce at work that I was pregnant and would not be able to do the travelling required. I suggested to my boss to give me a temporary transfer and a change in profile, which he did. He transferred me to our Khar sub-office, but would occasionally call me to the Head Office since I was still reporting in to him. We were a team of 15 members, out of which 14 were boys. All these boys would go out for meetings and since I was the only one allowed to sit in office, I was given the responsibility of tracking ad spends of all clients across all the times group publications and its’ competition. Now this used to be a tedious job and coming up with various reports and their permutations and combinations involved a lot of calculations. My boss used to always tell me that my child will be very intelligent and strong in mathematics because of the amount of calculations I was exposed to, and would joke that I should thank him for the same. Eventually in my sixth month of pregnancy, I had to leave my job, as slowly my travelling increased, affecting my health in many ways. This was a turning point in my life. Initially I heaved a sigh of relief for being spared of the loads of work I had got myself involved in and also the everyday travel which was painful. I started enjoying my long hours of sleep which I was deprived off till then due to work. But slowly I started missing work, and felt I needed something to do and keep myself occupied. Well the tummy was growing and so was the discomfort, there was not much I could have got myself involved in at that point of time. I used to keep myself busy in some TV shows that time. There was this one program called “Baby Stories” on discovery channel. This show used to take the viewers through the nine months of selected people and their delivery process and initial few months after the baby’s birth I used to be glued to it and never missed an episode. I finished reading the book that my sister had gifted too! Well my sister was also expecting a baby at the same time. She was two months ahead of me, therefore used to share her experiences with me often. We regularly exchanged notes and certain dos and don’ts. Soon it was time for her delivery and my mother too joined her there in The United States. She delivered a healthy baby boy, on the auspicious occasion of Ganesh Chaturthi. We were all thrilled with this new addition in our family, but I was most curious about knowing the details of how severe her labour pains were and how was her experience giving birth to a child. She very bravely faced labour but warned me of the excruciating pain. I still remember the butterflies in my stomach thinking about that pain! But I used to pacify myself thinking that if giving birth to a child is a process every lady goes through anywhere in the world, then my tolerance levels are surely above the average tolerance levels of women across the world. And if so many women can continue giving birth to not only one but many in spite of the pain associated, then so can I.
The last trimester was very interesting. The feelings were mixed. On one hand I used to enjoy feeling the baby inside the womb, and counting the kicks everyday but on the other hand, I was counting days for the delivery and was physically tired of carrying the increased weight around. I used to enjoy shopping for maternity outfits at MotherCare, but used to get frustrated seeing myself outgrow all my clothes. Another thing I would dread to see was my weight on the weighing scale, which was forever increasing! Now that was not a very great sight at all! Fortunately I had a rather non-problematic pregnancy therefore we could afford to do many things which many expecting parents are deprived off due to the long bed rests advised by doctors. Considering that I was pregnant, we never had to slow down on our social activities. We never stopped partying, travelling, going for movies and dinners or attending weddings, we were there everywhere and had some great times with friends and relatives! Not forgetting the special attention and pampering that I got as an expecting mother from family and friends was overwhelming.
I was given a due date of October 29, 2006, but my doctor said that we will have to get me to deliver earlier. Two days before diwali, was my new scheduled date. It was October 17, I had not slept well the previous night, with all weird thoughts in my mind. What if I go into labour at night? What if I go into labour on the way to the hospital? What if there is an emergency caesarean operation advised? Proving all my weird thoughts wrong, there a new day was born. Early in the morning, all apprehensive of my labour time, I bravely entered the hospital. I remember being accompanied by my husband and my mother. By 11.00 am I was in labour; walking around in pain initially I was plainly waiting to get myself out of this condition. Soon I was taken in the labour room and by 3.50 pm I delivered a bonny baby boy! The doctor announced “it’s a boy!” The baby was kept in a blue tub below and taken outside; his screeching sounds of crying could be heard for a long time. My family got busy in calling up relatives and friends announcing a new arrival in our family. But I had still not seen my baby. I was taken in my room, and was patiently waiting to see him. Soon they brought him in my room; when I first held him, I suddenly realized that if GOD was running a corporate firm, this was my day of promotion. I was promoted to a new designation called “mother” with a new job profile, with of course no salary increase but some weight increase!!! Well never mind the WEIGHT that could be shredded later, but the WAIT was worth all the nine months which ended so beautifully, as God’s best creation lay so peacefully in my arms. My first nine months had just got over, but thereafter life changed forever! These nine months gave birth to a new ME, and kick started the most beautiful time of my life!
FROM TEARS TO TRIUMPH & THE WAY FORWARD……July 2009
The feeling of triumph has still not faded. That aroma of success still lingers around. Yes, YUVA MANCH is still basking in the glory of Pratyush’09! It has been almost a month since the event got over, but even today when any of us talk, we only talk of Pratyush. In fact, we talk almost every alternate day! What started as a journey of a handful of ‘yuvas’ who wanted to transform the mindsets of young PPs, slowly became a revolution with almost 70 odd youths joining hands in this venture! Success of Pratyush’09 is attributed to the hardwork of all these 70 odd young souls who sweated out everyday for more than a month to make Pratyush’09 what it is! Undoubtedly I hold no qualms in proudly stating that Pratyush’09 will go down in the history of Pathare Prabhu Community, as one of the most remarkable events that ever happened. I hope it is also remembered as A NEW RISING as the name “Pratyush” suggests a new beginning of young leaders, working for the community. From the response that we have got from our young PPs after this show, I can confidently say that our community will see many more young leaders in the years to come, and I think this is the greatest achievement of Pratyush’09.
Pratyush was our stage to talk to all the youngsters of our community. Barriers were many! Unfazed by these barriers we still walked confidently on this path sorting out issues, solving each others’ problems, helping each other, listening to each other. Many a times all we needed was to vent out our stress, we became each others’ stress busters! Sometimes everything would go perfectly well, and the very next moment the mountain of problems would collapse on all of us and suddenly a feeling of suffocation under the debris of problems would settle in. We witnessed all emotions, if on one side we were facing helplessness, anger, frustration, impatience, arrogance, on the other side, we also cherished all our special moments of joy, fun, togetherness, and somewhere a gut feeling of victory was always nudging us to push the envelope further! We learnt many lessons, and of course we taught some too! We learnt the power of team work, we as a team faced each problem together and that was our biggest strength.
At times we had to mask our troubles with a big broad smile to welcome all our friends’ everyday who were working so hard for the event. 70 people, with 70 different views, it was a tough job to manage each of them. Some had problems with rehearsal timings, some with the snacks, and some with the casting of dancers in the various performances and some THANKFULLY HAD NO PROBLEMS AT ALL!!!! This was a blessing for us. I take this opportunity to thank all those dancers who never fussed about anything and cooperated with us throughout the last few months!! A special mention to all the kids dancing for us and their parents is inevitable. The most cooperative of the lot were the kids, though a tad too noisy at times, but they never caused hindrance or any sort of issues for us or anyone. All those who had no problems with us, I’m sure if you are reading you would know whom I’m talking about! YOU were our biggest driving force. Whenever we felt we are sailing in a sinking ship, we would look at your smiling faces and bounce back! Not to forget our senior members of the board, your frequent visits at the rehearsal hall were very reassuring and always strengthened our belief that we were on the right path.
We have some great memories attached to the show. Those quick dinners at Pizza Hut or Zaika, discussing the way forward, small conversations between all the dancers, Vishwas Sir’s funny one liners and his way of addressing some of the dancers, he had specific names for almost everyone. Some which I distinctly remember are ‘Akka’, ‘annappa’ , ‘shyamchi aie’, ‘Kazwa’, ‘jadeja’, ‘paattal’, ‘jaadu’, ‘taayde’, ‘atya’, it was his way of gelling in the group and he did it so well that no one ever had a problem with the names he had kept for them. I can go on about Vishwas Sir, as he was the best thing to have happened to Pratyush. His dedication and grit in making all of us dance paid off so well. Prabhu Tarun and Yuva Manch will always be grateful to him for his contribution to Pratyush’09. Of course I can’t miss out Pooja Ajinkya (sapna tai as we fondly called her) and Amar Ajinkya (we are yet to figure out if we should call him Amar dada, or Amar Bhauji or just Amar). They both have been instrumental in putting the whole show together from direction, costumes, light, sound, script, etc. the list is too long! We had some great moments with them too! Well as I write this editorial I’m realizing that Pratyush is so fresh in my mind and I’m sure it must be as fresh in everyone’s minds that have seen it. One of our committee members had a popular dialogue perpetually stuck with him which would make all of us laugh in the most difficult times. If any one of us, spoke of any problem in front of him he would very cheerfully say “tension nahi lene ka, everything will be fine” – Mithil this is for you, thanks for those cheerful moments!! These are all the moments we will cherish as golden memories throughout our lives! Well now the other committee members please don’t expect me to make a special personal mention of each of you, after this, as you all know there is not much space! But nevertheless, three cheers to the Yuva Manch Committee! Well I think I’m digressing from my topic. The point that I’m driving home is that, all we wanted was Yuva Manch back in business, and as you all can see, it is indeed back, full of enthusiasm, zest, and fervour! The working committee of yuva manch has in fact doubled in number after the show!
At the beginning of the year Yuva Manch had organized a party where a calendar of events was announced. Now is the time to take on all the events chalked down in the calendar. One of the most important jobs on hand is to maintain the Prabhu Tarun website which is now open for registration. Now every PP can register on this site and use a login password to access the newsletter online. There is a nominal one time registration fee of Rs.1000/- for the same. Our immediate task will be to maintain and ensure smooth functioning of this website. We will keep adding new features and interactive links to make this site more appealing to a larger audience within the community. This website again will not just give a worldwide access to Prabhu Tarun, but we plan to load it with a lot of interesting stuff. There is a blog being organized on this website, where all of us can write freely and interact with each other on various topics. We also plan to create a typical PP space on it, which will showcase everything typical to a PP. Right from our clothing, food, festivals, the works! For all the entrepreneurs there is good news for you, as you all can buy a link on this website to your own website. You can also buy space to advertise or sponsor any particular page on the website. Of course we are still at a very nascent stage of getting everything organized, but everyone will be regularly posted on the same. If any of you have a valuable suggestion on what you would like to see on it, we are all ears! Again, this is a great opportunity for all our NRI friends to find their roots and connect with the community through this website. If any of the NRI folks want us to touch upon any topics or offer any additional facilities on the website, please do let us know.
Apart from the website, we are also currently managing the activity of guest editors writing for Prabhu Tarun in the Yuva Manch Section. This activity was stalled temporarily to accommodate advertising space for Pratyush, but we have revived it from this month onwards. Baba (Vihang Nayak) and Suhasini kaki had thought of this concept even before TOI launched guest editors for their publication. They both initiated this concept few years back and successfully completed a year with 24 guest editors. We thought of continuing the novel concept, but this time only for the Yuva Manch section. And we were overwhelmed with the response we got for the same. Thanks to the success of the first project handled by baba and suhasini kaki that our young guest editors were so receptive to this concept. As the website and guest editors for Yuva Manch section remain to be priority for us, Yuva Manch will continue the events planned in the calendar. We promise to deliver more than your expectations in every forthcoming project that we undertake.
Amongst all the entertainment, fun, infotainment and education that we have planned through our forthcoming events we have been off late brainstorming on doing some serious and meaningful work, some work that is for a good cause either specifically for the people of our community or may be for any lesser privileged section of people outside the community. Many thoughts were exchanged; many ideas are still floating in our minds. There are so many benevolent institutions within our community who are doing great work for our folks; therefore it is difficult to place us between these esteemed institutions. Pathare Prabhu Charities does a lot of work in the interest of education of a lesser privileged PP. In fact from what we understand, Charities is involved in monetary assistance in any area of requirements for our community for all the PPs who cannot afford the same. They have also initiated free medical camps for our people. Social Samaj and Mahila Samaj also I believe does a lot of work. We do not want to clash our projects with any of these institutions. We want to do something which is unique to us, and is an independent project in itself. As one of our senior members rightly advised, don’t give people what YOU want to give, but give them what THEY want from you. We are contemplating execution of some of the ideas. With so many minds thinking I’m sure we will come up with something different and significant. Of course getting so many minds to agree on one idea might take long, but I’m confident that there is surely scope for us to explore areas to contribute, and there will surely be that one cracker of an idea which will appeal to all of us undisputedly.
The execution of this cause will be our way of giving back to the society, the community which has given us our identity. I’m sure the way we doubled in number after Pratyush, we will grow manifolds with each new venture we undertake. We welcome one and all to be a part of this revolution. There are no criteria or terms which you need to fulfil to be a part of this fast growing group of enthusiasts. All you need is great time management; because that is probably the only reason we get from people who do not want to join us. Of course great time management will help you make yourself available for the duties of the committee, but it needs to be coupled with other qualities like basic willingness to work, working in a team, accountability of every job undertaken, acceptance of the basic working of the board, working without complaints and with no expectations of returns. Yes, certain things we can guarantee you. Some returns like, some memorable joyous moments with a group full of like minded people, a sense of pride to have done something good for your community, perhaps you will get to do things which you have never done before in your professional or academic life, may be you discover a new side of YOU, not to forget the blessings of all our senior PPs who have always encouraged us to work for the community and above all and the most important is WE can guarantee you great friends for life! Let me tell you, you don’t get them so easily nowadays!!! Well our plans that I have mentioned above are just the tip of the ice – berg. Pratyush was just a beginning and there is a lot more to be done. Many more events, a lot more work to be accomplished! Thus I would like to end with a popular dialogue of a film, “Picture abhi baaki hai mere dost” so stay tuned in for more happenings, fasten your seatbelts and get ready for the roller coaster ride with YUVA MANCH!!
Pratyush was our stage to talk to all the youngsters of our community. Barriers were many! Unfazed by these barriers we still walked confidently on this path sorting out issues, solving each others’ problems, helping each other, listening to each other. Many a times all we needed was to vent out our stress, we became each others’ stress busters! Sometimes everything would go perfectly well, and the very next moment the mountain of problems would collapse on all of us and suddenly a feeling of suffocation under the debris of problems would settle in. We witnessed all emotions, if on one side we were facing helplessness, anger, frustration, impatience, arrogance, on the other side, we also cherished all our special moments of joy, fun, togetherness, and somewhere a gut feeling of victory was always nudging us to push the envelope further! We learnt many lessons, and of course we taught some too! We learnt the power of team work, we as a team faced each problem together and that was our biggest strength.
At times we had to mask our troubles with a big broad smile to welcome all our friends’ everyday who were working so hard for the event. 70 people, with 70 different views, it was a tough job to manage each of them. Some had problems with rehearsal timings, some with the snacks, and some with the casting of dancers in the various performances and some THANKFULLY HAD NO PROBLEMS AT ALL!!!! This was a blessing for us. I take this opportunity to thank all those dancers who never fussed about anything and cooperated with us throughout the last few months!! A special mention to all the kids dancing for us and their parents is inevitable. The most cooperative of the lot were the kids, though a tad too noisy at times, but they never caused hindrance or any sort of issues for us or anyone. All those who had no problems with us, I’m sure if you are reading you would know whom I’m talking about! YOU were our biggest driving force. Whenever we felt we are sailing in a sinking ship, we would look at your smiling faces and bounce back! Not to forget our senior members of the board, your frequent visits at the rehearsal hall were very reassuring and always strengthened our belief that we were on the right path.
We have some great memories attached to the show. Those quick dinners at Pizza Hut or Zaika, discussing the way forward, small conversations between all the dancers, Vishwas Sir’s funny one liners and his way of addressing some of the dancers, he had specific names for almost everyone. Some which I distinctly remember are ‘Akka’, ‘annappa’ , ‘shyamchi aie’, ‘Kazwa’, ‘jadeja’, ‘paattal’, ‘jaadu’, ‘taayde’, ‘atya’, it was his way of gelling in the group and he did it so well that no one ever had a problem with the names he had kept for them. I can go on about Vishwas Sir, as he was the best thing to have happened to Pratyush. His dedication and grit in making all of us dance paid off so well. Prabhu Tarun and Yuva Manch will always be grateful to him for his contribution to Pratyush’09. Of course I can’t miss out Pooja Ajinkya (sapna tai as we fondly called her) and Amar Ajinkya (we are yet to figure out if we should call him Amar dada, or Amar Bhauji or just Amar). They both have been instrumental in putting the whole show together from direction, costumes, light, sound, script, etc. the list is too long! We had some great moments with them too! Well as I write this editorial I’m realizing that Pratyush is so fresh in my mind and I’m sure it must be as fresh in everyone’s minds that have seen it. One of our committee members had a popular dialogue perpetually stuck with him which would make all of us laugh in the most difficult times. If any one of us, spoke of any problem in front of him he would very cheerfully say “tension nahi lene ka, everything will be fine” – Mithil this is for you, thanks for those cheerful moments!! These are all the moments we will cherish as golden memories throughout our lives! Well now the other committee members please don’t expect me to make a special personal mention of each of you, after this, as you all know there is not much space! But nevertheless, three cheers to the Yuva Manch Committee! Well I think I’m digressing from my topic. The point that I’m driving home is that, all we wanted was Yuva Manch back in business, and as you all can see, it is indeed back, full of enthusiasm, zest, and fervour! The working committee of yuva manch has in fact doubled in number after the show!
At the beginning of the year Yuva Manch had organized a party where a calendar of events was announced. Now is the time to take on all the events chalked down in the calendar. One of the most important jobs on hand is to maintain the Prabhu Tarun website which is now open for registration. Now every PP can register on this site and use a login password to access the newsletter online. There is a nominal one time registration fee of Rs.1000/- for the same. Our immediate task will be to maintain and ensure smooth functioning of this website. We will keep adding new features and interactive links to make this site more appealing to a larger audience within the community. This website again will not just give a worldwide access to Prabhu Tarun, but we plan to load it with a lot of interesting stuff. There is a blog being organized on this website, where all of us can write freely and interact with each other on various topics. We also plan to create a typical PP space on it, which will showcase everything typical to a PP. Right from our clothing, food, festivals, the works! For all the entrepreneurs there is good news for you, as you all can buy a link on this website to your own website. You can also buy space to advertise or sponsor any particular page on the website. Of course we are still at a very nascent stage of getting everything organized, but everyone will be regularly posted on the same. If any of you have a valuable suggestion on what you would like to see on it, we are all ears! Again, this is a great opportunity for all our NRI friends to find their roots and connect with the community through this website. If any of the NRI folks want us to touch upon any topics or offer any additional facilities on the website, please do let us know.
Apart from the website, we are also currently managing the activity of guest editors writing for Prabhu Tarun in the Yuva Manch Section. This activity was stalled temporarily to accommodate advertising space for Pratyush, but we have revived it from this month onwards. Baba (Vihang Nayak) and Suhasini kaki had thought of this concept even before TOI launched guest editors for their publication. They both initiated this concept few years back and successfully completed a year with 24 guest editors. We thought of continuing the novel concept, but this time only for the Yuva Manch section. And we were overwhelmed with the response we got for the same. Thanks to the success of the first project handled by baba and suhasini kaki that our young guest editors were so receptive to this concept. As the website and guest editors for Yuva Manch section remain to be priority for us, Yuva Manch will continue the events planned in the calendar. We promise to deliver more than your expectations in every forthcoming project that we undertake.
Amongst all the entertainment, fun, infotainment and education that we have planned through our forthcoming events we have been off late brainstorming on doing some serious and meaningful work, some work that is for a good cause either specifically for the people of our community or may be for any lesser privileged section of people outside the community. Many thoughts were exchanged; many ideas are still floating in our minds. There are so many benevolent institutions within our community who are doing great work for our folks; therefore it is difficult to place us between these esteemed institutions. Pathare Prabhu Charities does a lot of work in the interest of education of a lesser privileged PP. In fact from what we understand, Charities is involved in monetary assistance in any area of requirements for our community for all the PPs who cannot afford the same. They have also initiated free medical camps for our people. Social Samaj and Mahila Samaj also I believe does a lot of work. We do not want to clash our projects with any of these institutions. We want to do something which is unique to us, and is an independent project in itself. As one of our senior members rightly advised, don’t give people what YOU want to give, but give them what THEY want from you. We are contemplating execution of some of the ideas. With so many minds thinking I’m sure we will come up with something different and significant. Of course getting so many minds to agree on one idea might take long, but I’m confident that there is surely scope for us to explore areas to contribute, and there will surely be that one cracker of an idea which will appeal to all of us undisputedly.
The execution of this cause will be our way of giving back to the society, the community which has given us our identity. I’m sure the way we doubled in number after Pratyush, we will grow manifolds with each new venture we undertake. We welcome one and all to be a part of this revolution. There are no criteria or terms which you need to fulfil to be a part of this fast growing group of enthusiasts. All you need is great time management; because that is probably the only reason we get from people who do not want to join us. Of course great time management will help you make yourself available for the duties of the committee, but it needs to be coupled with other qualities like basic willingness to work, working in a team, accountability of every job undertaken, acceptance of the basic working of the board, working without complaints and with no expectations of returns. Yes, certain things we can guarantee you. Some returns like, some memorable joyous moments with a group full of like minded people, a sense of pride to have done something good for your community, perhaps you will get to do things which you have never done before in your professional or academic life, may be you discover a new side of YOU, not to forget the blessings of all our senior PPs who have always encouraged us to work for the community and above all and the most important is WE can guarantee you great friends for life! Let me tell you, you don’t get them so easily nowadays!!! Well our plans that I have mentioned above are just the tip of the ice – berg. Pratyush was just a beginning and there is a lot more to be done. Many more events, a lot more work to be accomplished! Thus I would like to end with a popular dialogue of a film, “Picture abhi baaki hai mere dost” so stay tuned in for more happenings, fasten your seatbelts and get ready for the roller coaster ride with YUVA MANCH!!
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