The year of Bheebatsa begins now

MAD Puppy: Wait right now isn't it June 1st, this way you will only have half year named after you. And you can't name a year after him though he is my friend. Anyway Happy Bheebatsa Year to you All!
This year has been chaotic by all means tsunami in Japan, tornadoes and floods in US, 2G scam in India, war in Libya etc. And of course our minds could not have been more chaotic in this chaos. What is happening outside is just the greater manifestation of the most complex thing in the world "our chaotic friend Bheebatsa".
Bheebatsa is a college going student who was named after his great grand-father’s uncle’s friend (which is not very uncommon in India). His name means ‘chaos’ and his life is chaotic. He is an average student in the class and is content with that. He knows he is talented but he doesn’t work to his full potential because he knows that in order to be exceptional he has to sacrifice lot of enjoyment and learn new things. But to be average he can just rely on what he has learnt in 12^th grade and stop using his brain for the rest of his life. He speaks nicely to people and has great opinions about life in general and knows about the problems that the world is facing. But he doesn’t want to solve any problem as he thinks somebody else will do it while he can have fun browsing web, watching movies, tv and posting his views on social networking sites.

He has friends in the Puppy family their names are Red Puppy, Mad Puppy and Hill Puppy. Red Puppy commits lot of mistakes because he cannot differentiate between GOOD and BAD, Mad Puppy knows the difference between good and bad but likes being BAD. Hill Puppy is a funny guy who can also differentiate between good and bad, likes being GOOD, but ends being BAD because he is madly in love with Mad Puppy. The Puppies hang out with him a lot and he likes them because they keep flattering him and he flatters them as well. It is as if they have a tacit agreement ‘You praise me saying that I’m super-smart while I’m dumb and I will praise you saying you are awesome while you are lousy.’ This agreement has been working well for years now and the only problem arises during the exams when the Puppies are nowhere in sight. He knows that the Puppies only flatter to deceive and in real need they wouldn’t help him since they themselves are busy, average and like him they too do not want to solve somebody else’s problem. But he has fixed his mind that these are his only friends and the whole world is selfish like them. He doesn’t search for the real selfless friend who will help him always when he is in need. He is always hoping rather gambling for a better life but it has not happened till now but he still hopes.

Aniruddh has been his class mate for years now and they were close friends during their childhood but in their adulthood they started taking different directions. Aniruddh is still like a child always smiling and playfully learning many things daily. He has great concentration like a baby, he knows exactly how to solve his problems, he relies on observation, and he keeps trying until he has understood the problem completely. At the end of the day he checks if he is reaching close to his goal and if the answer is positive he sleeps happily. Bheebatsa on the other hand has lost his childhood innocence and is a reasoning adult who always looks serious, treats every problem as a burden, he cannot concentrate long on what he wants to learn, one minute he is watching news, then movie gossip, then gathering knowledge on youtube, then posting his views on the gathered information on facebook, then chatting with his friends, football scores, cricket scores, deals2buy and all other derivatives of Adrenalin Rush. All the while he is thinking of his problems but not solving them; and before he knows the day is over and all he did from morning is to prove again that A+B=B+A without learning anything new and here is the fun part, he is extremely happy with his achievement. Since his effort is not complete he doesn’t know where life is taking him so he only hopes or rather gambles for a better future but never strives for a better future. There is also a constant fear of failure and anxiety in his heart which ruin his sleep.

By now you might have understood who the better student is. But life is cruel and funny where spectators knowing the result still watch the game, and players rarely see the faults in their practice but want to capitalize on opponent’s faults. So, even with all his faults Bheebatsa is always arrogant, thinks he is always correct and to top it all thinks that Aniruddh is the one who is wasting his life by not hanging out with him and the Puppies. Aniruddh on the other hand sometimes feels sad that his childhood friend is going in the wrong direction and he can be of no help to him. All these differences between the two friends are amplifications of the one major difference between them and that is in the mind.

To understand the mindset of the two students we need to take a leaf out of feedback control systems. Feedback control is a part of our everyday life, it is there in a car in cruise control where the car’s (the system) cruise control (controller) senses actual speed (Output) and modifies the acceleration to reach the set speed (Goal), controller should maintain the speed in ups and downs (disturbances). The cruise controller in a car has only one goal and it will avoid any disturbance to reach its goal and it will not stop till the goal is reached. People like Aniruddh and Bheebatsa (System) also have a goal (to find solution to their life’s problems); they also have disturbances (TV, movie, fb, news etc.) that are just a click away, but the output depends on how their controllers perform. The output depends on how they control their minds; a person like Aniruddh who has a concentrated mind will be able to find solutions to his life’s problems while a person like Bheebatsa who has a chaotic mind will only end up in thinking about his problems and is only able to partially solve them (see Figs. And spot the differences).

Each one of us is a combination Aniruddh and Bheebatsa and we all have problems, we generally curse the problems and have an expression on our face as if we are the only ones facing problems in the whole world. We also find fault in others for our problems but never do we acknowledge that our CHAOTIC mind along with the Puppies is the one which is robbing all our skill. Nor do we know that all our success can be tracked down to a CONCENTRATED mind that helped us in our exams. Just as a student who has practiced his homework problems well passes the exam with flying colors so also we should practice to solve our life’s problems with a concentrated mind to pass in life’s testing times. And here is the fun part, like a cruise control which faces disturbances and problems continuously even after reaching its goal, even we will have problems continuously throughout the life. Only the ability to solve them can be improved with a CONCENTRATED mind and all we need to have this concentration is a deep desire. What we desire, we generally get it.

You can excite the Aniruddh in you and be like a child smilingly learning new things or you can excite the Bheebatsa in you, look serious and burdensome all the time while getting very little done. Both are in your mind, Make a Bheebatsa Year Resolution and please keep your Resolution till New Year. Happy New Year to All of you! Do not hope for a better future, strive for a better future.

P.S. - Be careful of the Puppies they are very dangerous especially the Mad one. He is also in your mind.

Bhakta Charitra – Punch Line - The Story of a Devotee

So, before you guys watch ‘Raktha Charitra’ and start posting your views on facebook. And before you start thinking that history is full of negativity and bloodshed. And before you start falling into the trap thinking that ‘Revenge is the purest emotion’. And before you forget that ‘Mother’s love and devotion are the purest emotions’. Here is a positive story of a great devotee who lived in the 20^th Century and changed your world. His sacrifices had revolutionized the way we live and yet very few remember him. He was considered Mad by his contemporaries and criticized for his dreams. There was only a small portion of time before his death that he was considered a genius and now he is nearly forgotten. And yet he was devoted to his goal, so much so that he did not have time to get married. Even ‘his story’ is a part of ‘history’ but alas there is no director to make a movie on such stories.

If you guys have figured out by now who I am talking about then I bow to you. But I think you will have to read on a little more to actually know him. Ok if you are thinking that I’m going to tell you a story about Prahlada, Dhruva, Hanuman or Narada they did not live in 20^th Century. If you think I will tell you something about Ramakrishna Paramahamsa or some other saint you are still wrong though they are related. Generally we assume that only saints are great devotees and eliminate many other possibilities. This devotee was devoted to Science and Engineering and he courageously built a system which forms the basis of our lives today. I know you are getting little anxious to know the name so here is a hint. He was from Serbia and he got the patent for the invention of the radio. No it is not Marconi. He was a great friend of Mark Twain and when they met Swami Vivekananda he was influenced greatly and remarked that ‘Electricity and Hindu Vedic thought are so related’. He was a major influence in commercializing electricity and he emerged the winner in the ‘War of Currents’. The unit of magnetic field is named after him and he is the Father of AC Induction motors. He is none other than Nikola Tesla.

Tesla’s inventions, patents and life history are all available on the internet you should be able to find them if you have sometime. But I’m more interested in to showing the purest form of devotion with which he pursued Science and Engineering without thinking about money. Tesla initially worked under Edison who was already rich and famous for the invention of light bulb. Edison was working on the commercialization of electricity and proposing a DC Transmission system. Tesla soon realized that the DC transmission system was not very efficient and proved mathematically that AC Transmission was more efficient and cheap. You all know the solution for all life’s problems ‘All Things Cheap Always Win’ but then AC Transmission did not win solely for one reason. DC Motors were already in vogue and the vision behind commercializing electricity was to use the MOTORS to do the mechanical work. And it was not possible to convert AC to DC back then so basically you couldn’t use a DC Motor with AC Transmission. So ‘All Things Cheap Don’t Always Win. You Have to Make Them Win’.

Tirumala (The world’s most famous temple) was built by a King Tondaman who was great devotee of Lord Venkateshwara (the deity). Legend has it that Tondaman had a profound dream in which he saw God who asked him to build the temple. We don’t know if the dream part is true but the temple was built and still exists and is the most visited place of worship in the world. Tesla, the devotee also had a dream in which he saw the exact construction of AC Induction Motor. We don’t know if the dream part is true but the AC INDUCTION MOTOR was built and still exists and is the most widely used MOTOR in the world. Its design hasn’t changed much over time and the New MOTOR could do all the work and hence AC Current won the ‘War of Currents’. If Tondaman built the Temple, Tesla built the Electric Grid and we get to use all our electrical appliances. Their devotion is their secret which immortalized them.

We have Bachelor’s Degrees, Master’s degrees and other higher degrees but it is mostly to show that we have some knowledge and to make a living. Is a Bachelor of Science guy devoted to Science like a Bachelor or the Master’s of Science guy really a Master? Are we devoted to a Goal, why a goal, are we atleast devoted to a field of interest, are we devoted to anything but money and lust. There is inherent negativity within us which makes us ‘Lazy Consumers lacking devotion and a goal’ and smart directors capitalize on that portraying all the negative emotion ‘Rakthi and Raktha Charitra (History of Lust and Blood)’. But luckily for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction so we also have an inherent positivity within us. But very few have the courage to capitalize on the positive emotion but smart saints like Ramakrishna Paramahamsa did that by creating the ‘Bhakti and Bhakta Charitra (History of Devotion and Devotee)’. So the choice to excite the inherent negative or positive emotion is yours but blood breeds fear, devotion breeds love. For everything negative on the internet there is always a positive alternative. What you see, that you become.

Chapter 2: The Road is Yours Now

It is March 2001 Steve Waugh’s men had won 16 tests on the trot and were all over the Indians with a 1-0 lead in a three match series. To top it all the Indian batting line up collapsed in the 1^st innings and in the ‘Follow On’ they were nearly out of the match when Dravid came to the crease. Laxman was close to his hundred (I guess) at that time. At this point it is easy to give up and they could give any reasons (Azharuddin used to do this well). And congratulate the Australians for putting up a better show, praise their exceptional batting, bowling and fielding skills and criticize the Indian management and the cricketing structure in India. But the two people at the crease chose to forget all this ‘Reasoning’ and ‘Concentrate’ ball by ball and give it a good try and then see where it leads. Luckily for them it led to a famous series win and they were instant heroes ‘Active components’ whose ‘contributions’ have changed Indian cricket and made it the No. 1 Test team. Last week, Laxman could manage it again but this time he was under lot of physical ‘pain and his sacrifice’ is appreciated all over. He is the recipient of ‘People’s Love through Facebook’ award.

Twelve hundred years back (there was no America then, Europe was squabbling for land and fighting among themselves). Hindus were under the influence of Mimamsa which means following strict rules and not thinking about abstract concepts. And so people who wanted to ‘think beyond’ the existing rules and system were criticized. And the Mimamsa school of thought was ingrained into the Hindu system at that time. At this point it is easy to give up, when the whole system believes in a set of rules, it is hard to fight the system and easy to praise the system. But a 16 yr old boy decided to take on the system and fight the system. So, he argued for 16 days with the greatest philosopher from Mimamsa School at that time and emerged victorius. He is Adi Shankaracharya, the man who revived the Advaita Vedanta School of thought and monastic tradition. He is the ‘Source of Inspiration’ for all the modern monks including Swami Vivekananda. He travelled tirelessly throughout India and established some of the greatest temples in India including Varanasi. It is due to his ‘contributions’ that people in India have so many temples to visit in their free time instead of a pub or a bar. In return he got ‘People’s Love through worship’ award and they worshipped him. He just lived for 32 years but his philosophy and teachings live forever.

Four hundred years back the Mughals were at the height of their power with most of the Northern India under their control and had strong armies when compared to Southern and Central Indian rulers. And as always there were some war crimes and political misuse of power which led to desecration some of the Hindu temples and religious conversions (Much like Iraq). At this point, it was easy to give up and if that had been the case the Hindu population today would have been much different. But a young man chose to differ and decided to take on the system and he fought valorously to revive the Hindavi Samrajya. The man is Shivaji and he conquered the major portion of India from the Mughal Empire and established the Maratha Empire. His main ‘contribution’ was ‘Shiva Sutra’ which is to use the brain instead of brute force to conquer strong opponents. He also eliminated the mistreatment to mosques, muslims, war criminals, women and children after the war. And in return he too got the ‘People’s Love through (guess what) Mumbai Chattrapathi Shivaji Airport’ award.

Three Fifty years back the world was still in some sort of confusion about the heliocentric view. Science was still in its infancy. Galileo’s legend was still fresh in people’s minds (Galileo was left house arrest all his life by the Catholic Church for stating that the Sun was at the center of Universe). At this point of time, it would be easy for anybody to give up and say that Earth was the center of the Universe and the general population did that and so we do not know their names. But one young man who was just an average student in the school, instead of ‘Giving up’ saw why it was easy for people to ‘Give up’ and ‘Fall Down’ when he saw an Apple falling down. And he framed the Universal Laws of Gravitation. His name is Sir Issac Newton and he led the ‘Scientific Revolution’. And his ‘contributions’ have also helped in using brain instead of brute animal force. Because of him and his equations, people use cars instead of horses and it is because of him that we know ‘Solution to Differential Equations (or Politics) lies in Integration’. And in return he got ‘People’s Love through Scientific Learning’ award.

One seventy years back the Britishers were in India, they realized that the back bone of India was in The Gurukula system of learning and realized it would be hard to conquer India if such virtuous learning centers continued to exist. So they decided to replace them with modern education and people took to ‘English’ as they have taken to ‘Facebook updates’ and suddenly they had this new found confidence because they could speak ‘English’. They started forgetting their origins (Source) and started criticizing spirituality, idol worship, and the prevalent customs in India etc. Even the various Hindu Societies which were formed by learned Indians to propagate the age-old teachings of India were getting corrupt under the influence of the preachers who preached more and practiced less and did not understand what they taught.

At this time, a villager who did not have any sort of education, wanted to test if what people say is correct and see if at all the prevalent Indian customs were really bad. So he started his experiment with the idol in front of him and he decided to forget all the ‘Reasoning’ and ‘Concentrate’ breath by breath and give it a good try and then see where it leads. Luckily for him it led to the source which was present in the idol and which was present everywhere. He managed to do the experiment again and again and that led to the rediscovery of the scientific spiritual laws which define man’s existence. He was a layman without any education or reasoning when he started but he decided not to ‘Give up’ and ‘Bow down to temptations’ which changed everything. He had tried the experiment with other religions and was successful in declaring that ‘Truth is One’ and people call it differently. He is famously described by his student who criticized him initially as

“Sthapakaya cha dharmasya sarva dharma svarupine,

Avatara varishtaya Ramakrishnaya te namah”

He is Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and his student is Swami Vivekananda who had modern education and the new found confidence initially. But he had to Bow down to the layman’s ‘Infinite Love for his Divine Mother’. Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa is a world famous saint now and his contribution to the people is ‘Pure Love to all the creation’. And in return he got the ‘People’s Love through Divine Love’ award.

The Navaratri celebrations for this year have begun and it is celebration of victory of good over evil. People celebrate the Divine Mother Durga or Kali’s victory over the wicked demon Mahishasura (I don’t know when this happened). But if you have observed the pattern till now we have seen the ‘Active contributors’ have emerged victorious over the ‘passive consumers’ in all ages from all walks of life (politics, science, spirituality etc.). The people of the past have travelled the harsh road called Life taking it step by step and wanted to see where it leads. It is your turn my friends to travel the road, and if you take it step by step and forget all ‘Reasoning’ and ‘Concentrate’ and give it a good try, you will be the recipient ‘People’s Love for trying hard’ award.

P.S-Guys Laxman’s effort doesn’t guarantee Raina (his runner) a place in the team. Where Laxman’s road ends Raina’s begins. Where the road of a previous generation ‘Active Source’ ends, the present generation passive consumer’s begins.

Sources of Inspiration and Consumerism

It is 2pm in the afternoon and the year is 2004 I don’t know the exact dates but my good old friend Premachandu has just woke up and he wants to do something. It is at this time that he finds the telugu movie ‘Aa Naluguru’ in Bhargava’s computer and decides to give it a try and unfortunately for the hostel he likes the movie. The story does not end there he is inspired and wants to inspire others and so at 5 pm just when the juniors are going for snacks he stops them to teach a lesson in ragging and takes them to Bhargava’s room. Show 2 of ‘Aa Naluguru’ starts with 20 odd juniors now as audience, Bhargava is away for his evening rounds around the hostel. It is 8 pm the same juniors have just finished their dinner and are going back when they find Prem waiting near the steps for them. He takes them again to Bhargava’s room for Show 3 of ‘Aa Naluguru’ while Bhargava is still away for his night rounds around the hostel. Now it is 10:30 pm the batch of 20 odd juniors are about to sleep so Prem decides to give a little consideration, he leaves them but with a condition that they must send atleast 20 others to watch the movie. So a new batch of 20 juniors has arrived and Show 4 of ‘Aa Naluguru’ starts and Bhargava is still away now for his midnight rounds (he should be a hostel warden). It is 1 am in the night and the new juniors are also inspired and they are going back to sleep. Prem has spent a fruitful day helping others get inspired but he is a little tired now after watching 4 shows continuously and wants to sleep now. But he will surely wake up tomorrow and history will repeat itself with atleast 4 shows of ‘Aa Naluguru’ while Bhargava is busy with his daily routine.

The core theme of this movie is to live for the sake of others which was also advocated by Swami Vivekananda. I have always wondered how people are inspired to completely change their lives when they meet or see an inspirational person. Each individual chooses his inspiration based on his or her natural inclination. Some people like sportsmen and actors, some people like politicians, some people like scientists and some others may like saints. But the common thing is people try to model their lives based on the lives of their role models i.e. sources of inspiration have great power within them which can change others around them. And sources of inspiration generally try to lead their lives in order to make others happy. According to Superstar Rajinikanth, “Hero is one who emits positive energy”. Thalaiva is always correct. I will try to prove this in this blog.

In an electric circuit ‘sources’ supply power whereas the loads ‘consume’ power. So the ‘loads’ are invariably dependent on the ‘sources’ for power. In the simple electrical circuit shown below Sachin is the source of inspiration for 1 billion Indian cricket fans who are the ‘loads’ or the ‘consumers’. In electrical language Sachin will be called as the ‘Active component’ and the 1 billion Indian viewers will be called as ‘Passive components’. This is also true in cricket language since Sachin is the one ‘actively’ involved in the game and the viewers are ‘passively’ involved in the game. In the circuit below you can also see that the energy emitted by Sachin is positive. Hence proved Thalaiva is correct (Words of wisdom need no degree).

From a layman’s perspective Sachin has to work very hard to be a cricketer and it is a lot of pain and the consumers don’t want to go through all that pain, they just want to sit and enjoy. What is not very clear is the fact the consumers don’t just want to sit and enjoy, they also want to be like their role models, they want all the glory (name, fame, money, power, status etc.) that comes with it but they don’t want the pain and sacrifice that comes with it. Not just Sachin any hero has to make great sacrifices to win the hearts of the general public. But the youth of today is like the young Indians cricketers who want to make as much money as possible and they use cricket as livelihood to be rich whereas Sachin enjoys the game, wants to learn new things in the game and in the process he has become rich. This is true in any profession. But what sadness me most is the fact that India is the country with the largest youth population and most of them are trying to be more and more passive and lazy ‘consumers’. And they think it is ‘kewl’.

The youth of today are wasting the most productive periods of their life by being passive ‘consumers’. This will not only affect their lives, but it will indirectly affect the whole country and in a global scenario the whole world. The most common pastimes of younger generation today are:

1. Watching every new movie (there so many good old movies watch them instead)

2. Watching sports matches (but not getting inspired to work like the Sportstars)

3. Browsing facebook or other social networking sites (greatest time consumer)

4. Reading useless gossip about movie stars (passively enjoying again)

5. Reading negative news about India (there is so much positivity in India just look around)

6. Browsing for deals on consumer products (like iPhonu, iPadu, iPodu, iMacu etc. etc.)

7. Consumption of alcohol (again it is called ‘consumption’ so it will make the person ‘consumer’ and not a ‘source’)

8. Job search (Many also have to apply for jobs and in a period of recession it is hard to find the right one. But what you might want to note is the job seeker of 2010 is in California or in Hyderabad having biryani at both places. He is trying for 6 pack abs, listening to ‘kewl’ music, sports ‘kewl’ dresses and has a ‘kewl’ new iPod. This is progress as the job seeker in 1980 was living in poverty with not many good clothes to wear and not much to eat.)

9. Making money through evil means (Kanchana)

10. Consummation thoughts (Kama)

Perhaps the last two are historically the strongest enemies to man, it is not a new age thing. Ramakrishna Paramahamsa said that worldly people were full of ‘Kama Kanchana’ long back in 1860s and today many Indians make money in ‘Sweat Shops’ called consultancies cheating their own brother Indians (Kanchana). And I don’t have to talk about ‘Kama’ you all know it. But you can see not one of them is productive and people are generally busy with it. A movie dialogue that I modified a little ‘Cheat a million people and sell them an iPad that they don’t need and you will be called ‘Steve Jobs’, but if you cheat yourself you will be called a ‘Fool’.’ Let us not be fools; let us not try to reason all our follies; and let us not have opinions without actually knowing about something deeply.

Japan produces fast cars, China produces cheap goods, France has best nuclear technology, America has great business creating skills and India has been producing visionary human beings like Swami Vivekananda, Paramahamsa Yogananda, Ramana Maharishi and even scientists like Sir CV Raman, Subramanyan Chandrasekhar, and CNR Rao who have sacrificed their lives for the country and its people. But does anybody atleast try to follow their footsteps, forget about following them, does the youth of today know anything about them. Do we atleast know that Swami Vivekananda is the National Youth hero and his birthday is celebrated as a National Youth day? Do we know any of his teachings and are they really practical?

Most of the people get away with it saying all these teachings are not practical in current society. God bless them because AR Rehman, Sachin, Rajinikanth, Michael Faraday, Tesla, Einstein and many other believers of God have ‘Actively’ contributed to the society instead of ‘Passively’ enjoying and all of them have been ‘Sources of Inspiration’ to many in their fields.

So the choice to be an ‘Active Source of Inspiration’ or a ‘Passive Consumer’ is yours. But Lord Krishna in Bhagavad Gita 6:46 has said ‘Tasmad Yogi bhavarjuna’ he did not say ‘Tasmad Bhogi bhavarjuna’. A bhogi is a ‘consumer’ and all the Kauravas were bhogis and you know what happened to them. Therefore, consume less and contribute more in your own field and be a ‘Source of Inspiration’ to others.

Life is long, blog is also a little long this time but I think many will read on till the end. “Emit positive energy and you will be a hero”. I personally agree with Superstar Rajinikanth and I believe his words though I don’t believe his stunts. No Indian movie is complete without a song so here is a song by A R Rehman ‘Pray for me brother’ it has great lyrics. Are you searching for a reason to be kind?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7y1Ic5IKObQ

God Bless All,

-Balaji

P.S. I wrote this because I was getting bored of being passive and it was getting hard to communicate with so many friends on phone. It took 3 hrs = 1 movie the standard Indian pastime.

Trendsetters! Trendsetters

I'm writing this blog because writing is still a nice way of communication and in the new age where friends are far across the globe it is not possible to talk to everyone even if you remember them so blogging might be helpful. I thank Ramesh and Sesha for inspiring me to write.

It is been a long time since BTECH exams after which I never wrote stories. Talking about which our great poet and story teller (I hope people remember his great Room no. 24 stories) Mr. Sudheer Reddy (IPS) has found new audience for all his cock and bull stories. Apparently THE HINDU thinks he is a rural gem and "He told THE HINDU that he will be happy if he can serve people in need using his position." Both of the above statements are false since he is not rural, of course not a gem and I don't think serving people is very high on his priority list (maybe shooting criminals is). But that is how you talk to a newspaper. NATAK start. Anyway jokes apart I want to congratulate him and Harinath Reddy for their 5 yr long commitment towards a goal. It really takes a lot of effort and sacrifice when you have to compete for these exams and you have to be very active in your field otherwise cricket captain Red will shout "ACTIVE ga vundali (Be active)" which doesn't apply for him, he can sleep. I'm also happy for them for taking THE RISK and trying something new which is so difficult to do in India. Because in India even non-alcoholics say STEADY! STEADY! ALRIGHT HAIN APUN! Chal Raha hain Chalne de.

Many others are also trying to fight the war of life. Almost 100 yrs back the world was in a World war and today also we are in a world war but the funny thing is the enemy is within now it is our own laziness ("Intlo donga ni eswarudu kuda pattukoledu"--Even God cannot catch the thief who is inside the house). So the main goal of life is to defeat this inherent laziness (which had exponentially increased during BTECH days) and to keep the mind sharp. You can do it in a number of ways and there are infinite solutions to the problem and eventually everybody will find their solution. And all these exams are just a means to reach the goal and success and failure are transitory. Two weeks back DHONI was IPL champion and everybody was praising his captaincy now the same people are criticizing his captaincy for losing world T20. So even people's praise or criticism is temporary. What is long lasting is the confidence or the knowledge that one gets in the process. So learn to get this confidence or knowledge whenever you make an effort, make good use of it also and don't worry over the result (easier said than done).

All education or exams are for improving the self confidence of the individual once that is done all these books have no meaning. That is the primary reason why many great thinkers did not need degrees or positions to change world because they had the self-confidence which is so rare.

I'm not writing the UPSC exam but I'm building a UPQC (one letter different but 2 different worlds all together) and it may take forever to build and it might not work as expected. Many components may burn in the process and after everything the system may not be as efficient and new as expected. Everything is not linear and predictable. But it is a good time pass for me for the next few years and it is giving me an opportunity to change my attitude towards life which is very important.

I'm happy for all the TRENDSETTERS for they are truly trying to set new trends. (TRENDSETTERS! TRENDSETTERS! HU HA HU HA. Deepu is happy I guess). Many of my other fellow TRENDSETTERS who are fighting hard in the battlefield of life, here is a word of advice from our very own Lord Krishna

Gita 2.37: "hato va prapyasi swargam jitva va bhoksyase mahim tasmad uttishta kaunteya yuddhaya krita niscayaha"---If you lose you will get heaven, if you win you will get fame, therefore Arjuna stand up and fight confident of success either way.

Life is long. Blogs are short. I don't know Bhagavad Gita but I know Bhargava Gita which was taught to me in the Cricket (read Battle) Field and it is "Field lo active ga vundali - BE ACTIVE in the field."

God Bless All,
-Deepak