Arnab Mukherjee

The World is ending

The year draws to a close. We are all older by a year and farther to all our memories, and nearer to every achievement we are yet to achieve. Wherever I look on the internet, I see countdowns or lists of the top-this or top-that in the last year. Wouldn’t it be interesting if we could make a list of our top 10 memories of the past year?

Pic courtesy: wallgn.com

A sense of completion is not unwelcome. It satisfies us. We have created another year in our lives to be remembered and which shall affect the years to come. Many of us have accomplished several milestones in this year and many are closer to them. But this does not change the fact, that every moment that passes, brings us closer to the end. Yes, I am talking about the end, of anything and of everything. It is inevitable and it draws nearer as we speak, or should I say, read.

Look around you. Man has always been searching for a higher purpose, a higher state of being, a utopia, his own paradise, from where he was once banished. In every avenue of life, man seeks this, this betterment, this improvement hence modification of the things that are and the things that shall be. Often, in this endeavor, some things are left out. Simple joys, little sorrows, that make up the entirety of life. That is the real unfortunate part of our humanity.

Do not wish for things to exist if you do not appreciate what already does. This world is a gift. Not from the past, or from the future, but from the very creator. I am not being religious or theological. All I’m asking for is respect. Respect for the powers that brought everything into being, be it something within science as we know it or beyond. Because those same powers created the bumblebees (their wings, their eyes, their stomach, their internal organs) and the volcanoes (their magma, their magnanimity, enormity, absoluteness). Anything and everything around you, that you pride on having been created by mankind, is a gift, as mankind himself is a part of this creation, maybe of his own higher powers, which are to be respected as well.

Celebrate this year. Celebrate the eternal past. Celebrate the infinite future. Celebrate yourself. Celebrate all.

A Happy New year, a happy new minute, a happy new nanosecond, within this creation, as every moment, the song of creation, draws to an end, to be followed by another rhythm, different from ours, yet as magical. To listen, just keep your ears and heart open.

One fine winter morning

As the sunlight streams through the gaps between your eyelashes, and you pensively yet intently look at your work, I look at you, amazed at the work of god himself. Such is the beauty of nature and her creation. The feeling of warm marble against my skin, which vies to lie in the path of the incoming rays, gives a sense of satisfaction unmatched by any other on a winter morning. Winter is a beautiful season, much more than spring herself. I personally find spring pretty, but not beautiful. Spring is more alike to the young maiden, full of joy and exhilaration, bubbling with excitement to spread happiness all around the world.

Picture Courtesy: Oshin Ray (www.facebook.com/OshinRay005)

Winter, on the other hand, is ethereal. Winter brings with herself the grace of maturity, the sophistication and class acquired throughout the year, to be transitioned into a year afresh, on the verge of completion and at the peak of knowledge. Winter seems to me like the woman, sitting at her window or balcony, looking out at the landscape with a pensive smile, knowing what it takes to be happy and how it feels to lose it. She does not flaunt her beauty, she treasures it. She understands the world, and the simple joys that lie hidden in its corners and alleys. She is calm, quiet and wants you to be the same, because she knows the futility of conflict, of anxiety, of flamboyance as the deciding factors in life. She has had all of it, and lost them, yet somehow, she is happy with her life. Content would be the word. She rests, to leave the stage for the cycle anew. She wants you to learn, along with her, what each year brings and takes from you.

Winter is the time for celebrations. Not those of victory or triumphs. But those based in the joy that originates from a beginning. Of a year, of a life, of a companionship to last through the years of life. I do not know if you have had the same observations, but personally I have observed that the most number of weddings in India take place during the winters (I can vouch for Bengal, please correct me if it’s not the case for the rest of the country). The air is full of a different kind of festivities. If you live in a metropolitan city like Kolkata, usually you can see a wedding function every other day and at every other street during this season. I do know that this phenomenon roots from the cultural fact that the Hindu’religion deems the months of Falgun as most auspicious for weddings, but I cannot help but feel that the cold weather, the beautiful red of the roses, gold of the leaves, the slightly blurred vision in an early morning fog, the aroma of a warm cup of coffee as you see the vapors dance to the tune of golden light, and the exact sensation you feel when you shelter yourselves in the warm snug blanket after running across the room in the cold, all these have a very influential and significant role to play in the romance that sets in motion the magical tale of lifelong love.
For me, winter has always been and always will be, the best time of the year. That has nothing to do with the fact that I can comfortably hide my lean frame under layers of warm clothing. Winter has always given me the happiest days of my life. And at the same time, winter has taught me to treasure that happiness in its sanctity rather than miscellaneously celebrating it till it has nothing left to bloom into. Feel the spirit of winter. One fine winter morning, decide to come out of bed, and with a cup of coffee in your hands, take a walk down that road which seems secluded. And Look around. All you shall see and feel is the solemn happiness of the ages that silently sneaks onto your face as a pleasant smile.

Of Limits and Motivation

I would like to begin this one by contemplating the concept of limits. When we talk about limits, we refer to something like a wall that stands between us and our objectives. this wall is not always perpendicular, that is non- scalable, but it might just be a steep incline, causing a lot of trouble. What varies from person to person is exactly this, the inclination of the wall and its height. For some, it is just a small barrier of a few bricks which they overcome on bare foot. for some, it is the mightiest climb they have ever come up against and shall require all the effort to overcome. But alas, for some, it is the dead end beyond which they cannot see.

It is exactly this approach that dooms the individual. THERE IS NOTHING CALLED A LIMIT. ITS A FIGMENT OF YOUR IMAGINATION. Wherever there is a wall, there has to be something beyond it. Consider common situations from everyday life. When do we feel the most thirsty? When we can see water but cannot have it. This is a fine example of a mental limit. One lets the non attainability of the water to create a physical condition that hampers both their physical and mental performance at the situation. If one can simply accept, with concentration, that the water does not exist for them, one might just survive those crucial few moments more, which more often than not, are all it takes.

Take another example. If I tell you, to run up 20 floors, it might sound beyond your limits. But 20 floors means 40 flights of steps. taking the average flight of stairs to be 12 in number (the standard maximum), there are 480 steps in total to run up. Considering each stair to be 10 inches (high or wide), its gives us just 4800 inches, that is something close to 100 meters. Don’t you think you would last a 100 meter climb against gravity?

Its all about motivation. It depends on who lives up those flight of stairs. It depends on what shows through the crack in those walls. It needs to pull you through. It needs to make you go through the wall, if you’re a strong one and around the wall if you’re the clever one (and the wall a foolish one 😉 ). For some its materialistic gains, for some it is pressure or fear. But for a fortunate some, it is the thrill of overcoming one’s limits itself that drives them. This is motivation in its purest form and does not expect anything in return other than sheer satisfaction and contentment. To those who achieve this, they have my envious respect.

Mankind is a fascinating subject for observation. After what we have “achieved” in the fraction of time we have been around, it is outright stupidity to believe that we can have limits. Go Man! Show the universe what you are! or promptly vanish in a puff of logic!

Picture Courtesy: http://www.beyondlimits.org

The Preparations have begun

To prepare for battle, is sometimes more thrilling than the battle itself.

Image Courtesy: http://thebizzare.com

Some say it is mostly due to the excitement and anticipation regarding what is to come, how shall it pass, and most importantly, what role shall we play? It is human nature to have some approach to taking action upon finalising a decision. Some gear up to take the challenge head on, some are on the lookout for the easiest and least tasking path, and some nudge themselves down nervously, day by day, until the battle horn sounds.

Be it anything, one shall always have some expectations regarding the outcome. This expectation is what drives the person, sometimes with a surge of enthusiasm to acheive it, sometimes by the pull of the fear of failing. But what is completely appalling to observe, is one knowingly or unknowingly, hampering another’s chances. There is no scope for it being unknowingly done after a certain mental maturity is attained. The rigidity of the human mind against changes in perceptions is highly apparent in such situations. One is not that easily convinced that one’s approach is not the correct one. It scares me to think of what goes on in such ignorant minds.

My point being, if you think that what is taking place around you is not right, either change it by your actions or shut up. Do not go about hollering about the inefficiency of the system and the authorities and whatnot when you yourself are not even eligible to be a part of an intelligent society. Even an animal knows, that respect is gained when given. Either you respectfully leave, or be there because you want to be. What irritates me to the core, and makes me express my views in such an exuberant tone, is that it is these very people who will go running and begging and complaining with the people in power for a chance after having ruined them with their own hands just for a little bit of ‘fun’.

They say bad jokes are the ones which are humorous at someone’s cost. Without doubt the worst is the one which you crack at your very own cost. Noone has forced you to make this your path. But if you are on it, you better show some enthusiasm, the right way, or bear the pain of a mistake for the rest of your existence, as it shall be yours, and only yours to bear. If you expect that your partner in crime shall be by your side, be ready for a revalation. It might be that the person is with you in all your misdeeds regarding preparations or a lack of it, but be sure that the same person, is doing all he/she can to make up for it in the time without you, and shall not even look back once you are stuck and they have a clear path ahead of them.

These are not an agony uncle’s words. You can go be a hippie and have all the fun for all I care. Just do not blame the system we all are a part of, because you are not worth it.

Success

We all live on this humble abode of ours. I am referring to our planet earth, just in case you missed out on the humble part. Every day we compete, sometimes with purpose and most of the times without. So it is justified that most of us have a competing spirit within ourselves. We all take pleasure to succeed, but we all feel satisfaction if the success is at the cost of some competitor’s defeat, i.e. by proving that one is better than the lot. And we have to accept the fact that, you can’t be better than someone if that someone isn’t worse than you. Then why all this façade about having no hard feelings and being all peaceful about your failure despite the success of someone close to you. I have seen people break apart from each other even when there was no competition, or rather any scope of any competition in between them apart from paychecks or grades, just due to a difference in the same. This isn’t a tea party folks. So stop pretending to put sugar in the other person’s cup.

I know it is impossible to know beforehand that who shall succeed and up to what extent, hence impossible to judge where one person shall stand with respect to another in a coming span of time. But then, it is equally implausible to maintain the same position before and after an individual’s success. So there has to be scope of adjustment between the two. Something called a “success factor”. Take it to be like the coefficient of friction which you have employed in physics to better understand the negation of forces between two grazing bodies. This “success factor” varies from person to person depending on how big their ego’s are. The more the success factor, the more chances are that the interaction between the two persons shall lead to the crumbling of either, or both. Unless an equal and opposite amount of success exists between the two.

Success in the same direction is also detrimental. Just like the relative velocities of two bodies traveling in the same direction is usually much slower than their individual velocities if their velocities are comparable, similarly when two person have success in the same direction, the one slower often has only one contribution to the one higher- its overall diminution. To such significant contributors only one response is practicable, which shall be imminent from the example I incite here:-

‘In an expedition to climb a mountain, a specific man reached the peak first and much before the rest of the party due to his extra effort and dedication. But when he reached the peak he saw that there were taller peaks all around this particular mountain and this was not the highest point possible. The other people of his party, who were still a good distance behind him, started to point and laugh at him and ridicule him for his extra effort which they thought was futile since the peak wasn’t the highest. But the man only smiled back at them. When they all came back, he was asked the reason for his smile. He calmly said, “Even to insult me, you had to lean back your head and look up to me, while all the time, I had no other option but to look down upon you or ignore you completely”.’

Hence, as you can see, success is no bed of roses. Or rather, it is exactly a bed of roses in its complete sense. Looks and smells great, but will prick you to death unless you have a buttock immune to insignificant side thorns.