Aa chal ke tujhe

Aa chal ke tujhe main leke chaloon
Ik aise gagan ke tale
Jahan gam bhi na ho
Aansoo bhi na ho
Bas pyar hi pyar pale
Ik aise gagan ke tale

Suraj ki pahali kiran se
Aashaa kaa savera jaage
Chandaa kii kiraN se dhul kar
Ghanaghor andhera bhaage
Kabhi dhuup khile kabhi chhaav mile
Lambii sii Dagar na khale
Jahan gam bhi na ho
Aansoo bhi na hobas pyaar hi pyaar pale
Ik aise gagan ke tale

Jahan door nazar daud aae
Aazaad gagan laharaae laharaee
Jahan rang birange panchhi
Aashaa kaa sandesaa laayen
Sapano me pali hansati ho kali
Jahan shaam suhaani dhale
Ik aise gagan ke tale

Sapano Ke aise jahan mein
Jahan pyaar hi pyaar khila ho
Hum jaa ke vahan kho jaaye
Shikuva na koyi ghila ho
Kahin bhair na ho koyi ghair na ho
Sab milke chalte chale
Ik aise gagan ke tale

A beautiful song by Kishore Kumar - How I wish ....

Wake up calls?

We have had a series of wake up calls ... for the whole world. How many more do we need before we wake up to the fact that we cannot act in silos? that what matters in one part of the globe does not affect the rest of us? that whatever decisions and actions we take will affect generations to come?

Strange isn't it? That today, we are faced with a global crisis in all respects.

Economic crisis - socialism has fallen and in a way capitalism has too. This just goes to show that it is not as much about capitalism or socialism as the principles and values that go behind it. Companies are falling like a pack of cards. No body would have imagined a few years back that some of these companies - financial, auto, etc would be at the brink of disaster. Greed, caprice, power hunger.

Environmental crisis - we are fast using up our natural resources. We are polluting our environment with carbon emissions, with chemicals and bio-nondegradable substances. Vegetables, fruits, greens, grains, meat, --- we are now looking for ways to go the organic route.
Not to mention the technology invasion, we dont know yet the long term repercussions of microwaves, cell phones or the waves used in the process, just to name a common few ...

Religious crisis - where people have forgotten what religion is actually about and have been abusing humanity in the name of religion. This is nothing new of course, we have relished using religion as a tool to induce fear in the masses for ages and have used it as a weapon to kill millions.

Political crisis - the world over politicians have become a despicable breed, I dont mean just the people in public office or in the govt, but people who practice politics in all walks of life and in all professions.

Social crisis - that has existed for years, human rights, women abuse and suppression of rights, child abuse, poverty, etc...

The time has come for some serious soul searching. We have had a number of wake up calls and we will have many more if we dont heed what's going on ...

We can no longer ignore how we the people of a country and the world are all connected to one another economically, socially, politically, environmentally, technologically, globally and spiritually.

The world is getting flatter and smaller day by day. We can no longer be driven by the sole need to make profits/money or exhibit power/control --- at the expense of humanity, at the expense of our beautiful planet, at the expense of the forces of nature, at the expense of our souls.

Humanity has to be our new religion. Love the universal language. Peace our new mission. And respect for every plant, animal, bird, human being our new creed. A bit of humility will also go a long way - like the CEO of a major bank seems to have finally realized!

And how will this happen? It is already happening. There has been a growing awareness among people for years now. The majority of the people in every country around the world want peace, want to live and let live, want to get on with their lives. It is a growing reality and a growing force.

The pen is mightier than the sword. But there is something mightier than the pen. It is our intention and our thought and the resulting action.

"When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it." - Paul Coehlo

No this is not a mere quotation from a book, this is how the universe works. Let us make use of the Infinite Spirit of the Universe to realize what we desire. Let us set our intentions loud and clear - global peace and happiness and prosperity and freedom for one and all. We are getting there in the best possible way ... yes, we are.

What can we do...

Life ... how does one describe life? And how does one define normalcy? I so want normalcy to be restored into our lives, at the same time I dont want it to. The same old normalcy where we forget about everything and go back to our regular lives? My life, my family, my work...no. What can we do then? What can we do to restore peace and security once and for all?

Do we cure the visible symptoms or heal the cause? War is not a solution. Top officials resign. The govt makes strong statements, declares that we will not surrender. The parties go about hurling accusations at one another, what one did, what one did not. Promises will be made. Vote banks will be swayed and secured. Elections will come. Some of us will go vote. Vote for whom? Same old politicians, same old talk, same old deeds, same old kachda. Do we want to go through the whole tamasha once again?

We say politics is like that - dirty, as if that explains everything and will solve everything. Good people wont survive in politics, we tell ourselves, and so we stay away. The story continues. We let politicians divide us on basis of caste, religion, region. We trust the next government would do something, keep the promises and solve our problems. And when they dont and we know they dont, we stay away from elections and dont participate in voting.

What choices do we have? Political reform. How do we go about achieving that? Not by voting the current govt out of power because the opposition parties are no good either. How do we get the message across to these parties that we are sick and tired of them all and none of them deserve our votes unless they clean up their act? How do we get them to clean up their respective parties? How do we enforce that people with criminal records do not stand for elections? How do we ensure accountability at every level? How can we introduce feedback mechanisms into the system and ways to bring down the government if they are not following the promised agenda - instead of waiting for 4 full years? How can we ensure that that the politicians are not eating money and the people are getting what is due to them? How do we ensure transparency? How can we ensure that the differences between the rich and poor are minimized with very focussed development programs? How can we engage the youth in the country so that they dont get carried away by so called lofty goals? How can each one of us participate in the govt actively with commitment and values and bring out the needed reforms?

Reform is a must now ... at all levels and every single one of us needs to cooperate and participate.

Check from all sides?

When we were young and lived in a small township campus in Bengal, we would be scared of thieves. Thieves that would break into houses in the night, who would rob homes holding people at gun/pistol or knife point. Rarely did they kill - perhaps they had some values! Every time a robbery or theft happened, we would be scared. For a few nights. Life would then go back to normal within a month and all would be forgotten.

Times have changed. Now, it is no longer petty thieves and petty ammunition. And not just one's home. Credit cards, identities, bank accounts, computers, cars, organizations, public places, nations.

HAs any place been left out? We seem to be advancing technologically but so are the hackers, the law breakers, the attackers.

But has the world ever been safe? Battles, wars, crusades, ... history is full of them. Every land where man has set afoot. For as long as we have known, man has had a need to dominate, to hold power, to be in control, to reign supreme - at whatever cost - beg, borrow, steal, kill. We have created religion, race, caste, class, state, nation, organization, society, community...we have created rules to go with each of these...rules that are unfair, biased, unequal. For centuries, there has been discrimination of sex, caste, religion, race, class ... and what not.

We have not only abused humanity, we have abused the earth and the environment. We are creating global warming and pollution, we are killing and animals and birds directly or indirectly every second, we are clearing vast areas of forests every second. We are pumping chemicals into the environment every second.

What is safe in this world today - food? air? water? land? people?

Our lives are no longer safe.

We have checked ourselves from all sides and in all possible ways. How do we get out of this?

finally, it's over

months of campaigning. months of speculation. it has finally come to an end. post analysis may continue for some days and weeks perhaps but we will soon get going with hope for the future.

the interesting part of the campaigning has been media coverage. every news channel shows a marked preference to one particular candidate and they only show and talk about events and words and actions that proves their case - twist them if required, because ultimately all is fair in love and war. that is journalism today. maybe it is no longer journalism but just media.

one thing i like about the elections in this country, the candidate has to really work hard. two years of campaigning and sticking to your guns is not easy. well, when compared to what happens in our country. you dont know who will be the prime minister until the elections are all over like it happened last time. yes, we got the best bet we could have got however in MMS.

i too hope that politics changes in our country. for the better. with more accountability and transparency. with more young and educated and bright people taking to politics. if we could change politics from being just a dirty word. i know this is not mere day dreaming and hoping, because ultimately the cycle of change will catch up and with rising awareness it wont be long before change comes to our country. it is bound to happen. just a question of when.

the block

i loved math when i was in school. seemed to understand most of it. except for when it came to stocks and shares and probability. two areas that seem to have eluded so far.

stocks and shares now has extended to finance. it took me years to understand how the stock market worked or why guys stayed glued to the stock ticker thru whole day thru. so after resolving i was going to get to the bottom of the stock markets, i slowly and steadily make progress reading up stuff, researching ... i thought i had finally figured it all out.

i go invest in some stock and in some mutual funds. the times are good and i was making money. i encouraged my husband to invest too. it is not all that bad, if i can do it, you can do it too. so he goes and researches and gathers fundas and he invests. and since my grand advice was given and taken, the whole world has been shaking up. the economy is in turmoil and the markets are volatile. yes, you guessed, the mutual funds are no longer doing well.

my block returns - i thought i broke through it. but i am as baffled as i was when i was in school. the markets and their volatility and the probability of their recovery - they will recover but when and how soon or late?

i dont think i will understand finance and stock markets, one is based on rational, analytical, logical and mathematical principles - or so i think and the markets are based on pure emotion - well, mostly fear.

what works best when it comes to the markets - intuition/gut instinct or rationality based on past experiences? iw ish someone would tell me...

wisdom or old age?

talking about movies and books and childhood crushes and romance ... i wonder why i dont read romances any more. i mean the m&b kinds, the nora roberts novels. i wouldn't mind a georgette heyer still - i like georgette heyers for the fun and great sense of humour.

how come romances do not appeal to me any more? the question is noteworthy because like i wrote in a previous post i started reading romances since my seventh standard. and i have devoured tons of them over the years - tons and tons of them. but now i dont read them anymore.

i am more interested in quantum physics and biology... you get the picture, dont you. surprising when i never understood what heisenberg's uncertainty principle truly meant all those years back. i did not understand the significance of einstein's relativity theory or why energy and matter are the same after all. or the double slit experiment that proved that an electon acted as both a particle and a wave. though nobody knows exactly why, there are a number of theories now.

so i wonder at this sudden interest of mine in the big bang theory, in black holes - yes, i am mesmerized by black holes, i am fascinated at the stars. i am in love with the sun, more so because it is is winter, and when it shows up in the sky like it did today after 3 days of clouds and rain and the first snow showers, i am ecstactic and joyful ... and thankful.

i am in wonder when i look at the plants and trees - these are my friends when i look out of my office window. they keep me company the whole day - with their changing colors and bright hues. the leaves have all fallen now but the trees still look beautiful. and i think there is a purpose in the leaves falling - it lets more of the winter sunshine reach my home.

i am in awe of the cells in my body that function day in day out without tiring or getting bored doing the same thing. what keeps them going? what motivates them and inspires them? do they ever go to sleep? do they hibernate? when do they rest?

away from the pressures of school and work, my curiosity seems to be growing every day. i want to know why and how everything works...

is that a sign of old age or is that signs of wisdom? :):)