Not everyone gets everything...

I'm not good at this philosophy thingy, but something just prompted me to write this post. I'm sure all of us have experienced this feeling and also have said it ourselves that I haven't got this, I haven't got that.

Well, something that I strongly believe in (which has also been quoted by Thalaivar Rajinikanth in some of his movies) "What god has given you- noone can take it away from you and what he has not given you, noone can give it to you." And also "Everything that happens, happens for good."

Well, the above philosophy "Everything that happens, happens for good" has been interpreted in a different way (or is it my perspective- I don't know) in the movie- Dasavatharam. There is this climax scene, where the Tsunami occurs, as the villain is about to unleash a deadly virus, which can be killed only by NaCl (Sodium Chloride- common salt, which the bush portrayed in the movie doesn't know) and the richest source of it is the ocean as anyone might know. In that final scene, one of the characters (the movie has 10 characters- all done by the legendary Kamal Haasan), argues saying that god could have saved the world not by unleashing such a tsunami but by not giving scientists such brains to produce deadly viruses or by preventing bush from pumping in huge amounts of money for bio weapons research. Strictly, looking at the perspective of each event in the movie- I could only say that tsunami took comparatively lesser lives than what would have happened had the virus been unleashed.

Anyways, I think that s too complex an example, some people may not understand. Simpler one- day to day life- You are starting to college/ office or whatever. Due to some reason you are delayed and somehow you miss your usual bus. And you, by nature start cursing that you missed the bus and take some other mode of transportation to reach your office. Finally when you reach office you learn from someone that there was a huge traffic jam on the route that the bus normally takes and everyone in that bus have not yet reached their destination. Then, you give a huge sigh of relief.

Another simple one. There was this movie which had just released and the hype surrounding the movie was such that it would be the movie of the year. So, all of my friends decided to bunk classes and go, while I, due to some reason couldn't bunk that day. When I got back home, I called one of my friends to ask about the movie. My friend said-"Thank god you didn't come. It was that bad."

Well, some people do get somethings for a reason too. We all get some problems in everyday life, these problems- strengthen us from within. Once we surpass that problem, it gives us the confidence that we can do anything after that. Some people get things very easily. And once again to quote one of Superstar Rajnikanth's dialogues "What man gets without working hard for it- will not last and what man gets for working hard- lasts till the time he dies." Such is the truth of the philosophy that you can actually see it staring right at you. Open your wallet and you see Gandhi staring at you, my friends, how did he end up on the Rupee note? Well, he worked hard for India's independence and got his face printed on the national currency. Thats when somethings last even after you are dead.

Now take the case of a rich guy, who has tons and tons of money. He would have to live in constant fear of being robbed, being cheated. He eyes everyone with suspicion, including his wife and kids. Now- he was given wealth and of course the talent to maintain and expand his wealth. he was not given peace of mind. Similarly, think of the guy who hasn't too much money with him- he has no fear of being robbed or cheated. He lives happily with what he has. But at the same time he would certainly have his own problems.

I have seen certain live examples myself- some guys who are so damn intelligent and good looking as well, but due to some reason- they don't have those close friends who would support them. They obviously would have friends who would have used them for homeworks, assignments, etc. At the same time guys with the dumbest of brains have all the friends in the world. There were a few guys whom I know well, they studied extremely well, but just due to lack of communication skills (this is the case of so many students studying in good colleges), they did not get placed, but something good has happened for them as well. Such is life that noone gets everything. Everyone misses out on something.

Not everyone gets everything. Not everyone gets everything.

Real life inspirations

When someone asks me whom do you look to for an inspiration- that man's name comes out of my mouth so spontaneously. The greatest test captain India has ever had- Saurav Chandidas Ganguly. Imagine the guts that man had. He went to the brink of his career ending in a manner that would hardly befit his glorious career. He made a comeback from that point, went on to prove his critics wrong. Played a belligerent innings against South Africa on his comeback, when the entire Indian team including Rahul Dravid was reeling under the bowling attack from South Africa. This man stood up and said- I will not go down so easily and he proved his critics wrong- time and again during the last few months that he played for India. That man is an inspiration for anyone, anyone who knows cricket would know him for all his efforts. Especially that of irritating Steve Waugh on his quest to conquer the "final frontier" and his efforts of building the present Indian Cricket team, his efforts as a player in the team were innumerable, his partnerships with the god of Indian cricket- Sachin Tendulkar, all that.Of course- his fighting 144 against Australia in Brisbane will remind everyone what sort of a cricketer he was. Winning was all that mattered for the former captain, losing was not an option. India played to win under his captaincy. The team never looked for anything less than a win in any situation. Saurav Ganguly did not go down without a fight. He fought till the very last ball he faced and the very last ball he bowled and fielded. His acts of sterling leadership and all his majestic innings will never be forgotten by anyone who has watched cricket and loved the sport.

Another man who inspired me in just one single act of heroism was Anil Kumble, another former captain but a legend in his own right. The moment of inspiration was when he came out to bowl against the West Indies, after his jaw was broken. He had his head bandaged and proceeded to bowl and even managed to pick a few wickets. How can anyone who mention Anil Kumble's name, fail to mention his greatest achievement ever- 10 wickets in an innings against arch rivals Pakistan. That's what every INDIAN fan will be proud of when they say Kumble's name.

Sachin Tendulkar has always been an inspiration. But one moment that will remain etched in every Indian's memory was when he had back spasms while playing against Pakistan in Chennai and he went on to take India close to victory, but could not achieve that. That particular innings will stand out, more so, because, even though India lost that match- the Chennai crowd payed due respects to the winning team by giving them a standing ovation. However, that stellar- 98 off 75 balls against Pakistan at Centurion, where Sachin and Sehwag tore Pakistan apart to give India a fantastic win over their arch rivals will take the crown.

When it comes to the Indian cricket team as a whole- the Natwest Trophy final of 2002 against England is the one that will remain on top. Purely due to the reason that it was a complete team effort, with youngsters, putting their hand up to be counted. However, the sweetest memory of a team being inspired is South Africa- inspired by Gibbs and Smith beat Australia, who had earlier posted the world's highest total in a one day match by scoring 434 in 50 overs. Australia celebrated too soon and ended up having to lose to South Africa who ravaged the Australian bowling attack.

One other team that has inspired me- Liverpool F.C. (even though- I'm not a Liverpool fan). Led by Steven Gerrard, Liverpool took on A.C.Milan in the Champions League final in 2005. By half time- Milan had got 3 goals on board. Scoreline- Milan 3 - 0 Liverpool. At 90 minutes, Milan 3-3 Liverpool. Those 3 goals scored by Liverpool was within a space of 5 min, ladies and gentlemen. The game dragged on to penalties, where Liverpool beat Milan to win the Champions League. Being 3-0 down at half time and coming back to win it is no mean feat by all means.

Apart from all these examples, one man- Mr. Narayanamurthy, Infosys chief. His brains- well, honestly- I dont have them, but someday, with experience- I might get some maybe 0.00000001% of his brains. Well, his success story, he started with a vision and not much of capital. Apart from that, Mr. Narayanamurthy didn't have a business background to begin with.

Look where Infosys is now. One thing which he and his core team, which included Mr.Nandan Nilekani, Chairman of Unique Identification Authority of India, which built the company must have had was- HARDWORK, which doesn't come easily. Now that s something to draw inspiration from.

However, one guy whom I look to as a personal inspiration is one of my best friends (who never reads my blogs). He hardly used to be the academic sort of a person. He was more of the hanging out type, who just made the cut in our 12th standard. He went on to do extremely well at college, way beyond all our expectations. When he joined college, his college's director (or whatever they call him) told "how you make your entry in this college is not important, how you make your exit is important." And my friend went on to prove it to us. Today he is one of the most respectable guys that graduated from his college.

Remember these people, they are really the ones from whom anyone and everyone can draw inspiration from. Each one of us would certainly have our own people to draw inspiration from and will certainly differ from one another.

Back where I come from

I don't know if any of my American friends read this blog, but if you are reading.. just carry on..

Well, back where I come from, I find my streets crowded with people, cars and my roads are always buzzing with activity, whatever be the time of the day. Here in Buffalo- its a surprise to see ten people walking on the road at any point of time. I always find it very odd not to find too many people on the roads, because my eyes are used to it and also used to looking for known faces where ever I go.

To buy a chocolate, I needn't walk a kilometer down a so called main road. All I need to do is pop down the stairs, buy it and get back home. Cars don't stop by for pedestrians and people keep bumping into each other. Signals do change and people don't forget to break rules.

At the fag end of each month, cops stand at almost every road, waiting for unsuspecting prey to cross their path and at the end of the day, they are the rajas. Back home, I didn't think twice about spending on anything, now things are such that, the thought of spending doesn't occur that often. Back home- I agree- I didn't walk much, but here, the number eleven bus's my main mode of transport.

I hardly used to see a cop having a gun on his person, but here, there's not a single cop who doesn't have a gun. Back home, proper queues are rarely ever seen, while there's a queue for everything here.

Back home- I could watch TV, here I don't have a TV. I used to watch a movie at Satyam, almost every weekend or atleast twice a month- here, I watch a movie that I ve watched a thousand times over.

Pani puri and Bhel puri used to be an item, which I could eat at will, now- merely seeing those items at the India store, brings back memories of having those stuff at chat stalls all over the city. I used to ask dad to change the old zen for a new car, now merely seeing my old zen, would certainly make me feel happy.

I used to sympathise with many of my friends who used to stay away from home, as they miss their mother's cooking. Now I have some of my friends who sympathise with me for that. Back home, staying awake till 1 am in the night would mean that I would still mean that I wake up by 8 am in the morning, but here, I wake up only by around 12 pm.

I had everything at my disposal at home, here I have nothing at my disposal. It s a cycle of life mates, whenever you have something, you don't realise its value and when you are away from it, you realise it's value many fold. When I asked one of my friends if he had ever been tipped by a customer at the food court where he works, he sorely recollects, never having tipped any waiter at any hotel that he went to, and now he hardly gets any tips.

But really, whenever I see something written in Tamil or Hindi, really- I get so excited, because, it's not everyday that I get to see something like that here. However, living in a maximum Indian area of Buffalo, I'm happy that I atleast get to speak in Tamil and Hindi rather than ending having to learn chinese and learning to catch the American accent, which does take sometime to understand.

Its been 2 months since I landed up here, but I'm still to actually realise that I'm away from my dear old Chennai.

But one thing that I have carried from home till here is Faith and Hope, which will certainly take me through tough times.

P.S: Mum, I know you'll read this, don't worry. I'm all fine here, jus wanted to let ppl know how things are here.