Quintessentially Indian

Indian Society is a collective society. You might have read that somewhere. Geert Hofstede and his study of cultures with IBM employees came to the same conclusion. What might that mean now? It translates like this…We thrive on interfering in others business, are prone to excessive convincing, behaving like your best friend, force-feeding food to strangers among other things. Here is a list of some quintessentially Indian behavioural traits:

1. If you visit our house, we are programmed to force-feed you even if you don’t want to eat. If you don’t eat, we will be pissed. Very pissed.

2. We will ask incessant questions if we see that you are not opening up and will not cease until you have convinced us that you are indeed not troubled.

3. We love dancing. Wherever-Whenever. The more the merrier. And you’d better not be sitting or you are going to be carried to the dance floor.

4. We love taking vacations with our family even at age 30.

5. We love food. It makes our day. Obesity is my worst nightmare. We also love carrying food with us wherever we go.

6. From the moment we set our eyes on you, we behave like your best friends. Don’t worry we wont stalk you.

7. Once we have established that you are indeed our best friends, we would go on to insult you. Do not take this personally.

8. We are great at Math. Calculus here I come!

9. We are genetically programmed to be warm.

10. We love you.

On acceptance and forgiveness

There is religion and then there is an ostensible sense of morality to be adhered to in life, and boy can this be tedious. You’d think that with all these compasses directing an individual would certainly not feel astray, but surprisingly, the reigns of such religious or social institution fetter us more than liberate us.

Maybe the meaning intended has been lost somewhere down the hundreds of years, maybe humanity is guided by commercial pursuits to such an extent that it construes all wisdom as it deems suitable, which of them is applicable, if at all, I can not aver. However, there are individuals and schools of thought existing today, that make us realise how the chaos of the world plays with us, instilling in us a feeling of helplessness. Eckhart Tolle, talks of acceptance and forgiveness in his book the “Power of Now”, whilst in his other book “A New Earth” he talks of how unconsciousness among humans in terms of ego gratification and competition and how it leads to conflicts, chaos and unhappiness.

I wonder why we are not taught important things like forgiveness and acceptance, and instead are encouraged to propel onto paths of competition and achievement. This works as long as one is in effect attaining something, but the minute the accolades and achievements cease to come our away, we become distraught, caught in our ego circles, not willing to accept the defeat, chastising ourselves for the mistakes we have made, and blaming others alternately. Maybe it is time to question our deeply entrenched ways of existing, our mechanically socialised responses, and for once, let this moment be as it is and not resist it.

Attempt at Poetry in Spanish

So I wrote my first poem in Spanish, only to realise later, that there is a song by Marc Anthony which starts very similarly, and has a generous usage of "cuando (When)" and "Sueno (Dream)" in it, just like my intended poem.
Anyway, I am no Marc Anthony, So I can safely post my poem on my blog without being hounded by the music industry for a calling in the song-writing business..

Recuerda me cuando
Estoy no con tigo
Recuerda me en tus sueños
Cuando hay nubes oscuro en el cielo
Recuerda me cuando escuchas,
Escuchas mi cancion favorito
Recuerda me a veces,
Recuerda me, como recuerdo ti.

.......

Remember me when
I'm not with you
Remember me in your dreams
When there are dark clouds in the sky
Remember me when you hear,
Hear my favorite song
Remember me sometimes
Remember me, as I remember you.

....

And for those who want more...

Marc Anthony Lyrics: http://www.metrolyrics.com/recuerdame-lyrics-la-5-estacion.html

An ode to the Charles Bridge

Our forefathers,
Create history;
The castles and the wars.
Our fathers,
Study history;
The beauty, the pitfalls.
Us, today,
We see the history;
A story, a picture;
On the bridge, as the night falls.