Thursday, December 4, 2014

The Era of Imaptience      

Impatienc

Its not only for the wisdom words of Kaal kare so aj kar , aaj kare so ab and it’s not because NIKE said JUST DO IT , cause when have we ever listened and followed these wisdom words ?and NIKE  ? Haha seriously ?  well you know we are not intelligent enough to buy a product just because its tag line is INTELLECTUALLY better than the others. It is just for the product and experience of the store and of course our budgets,  we don’t attach literary value to shoes for that matter ,SO  it’s not for stuff like this that we are impatient every second of every single day. It’s like patience is oozing out of our bodies getting lost into the undiscovered dimensions of this universe leaving us all a little irritated every single time.                                                    .

So what is it ? Is it THE TECHNOLOGY that has made knowledge and things available on a click? The technology that presents you an opinion about everything before you yourself can sit and form an opinion of your own about it? .And that is why we just don’t. We don’t sit and give something a thought, we don’t try to recall things instead we Google it instantly. We have forgotten what self-introspection is and why would not we, when we can have multiple answers to a question as lame and personal as "how to smile ". This habit of having everything instantly is not only cradling our passive minds but is deeply reflecting in our behavior.                      .
 If you disagree, imagine how many times you refresh a page when it doesn’t load. Imagine the frustration you feel when you have to check something important but your phone’s battery dies. Imagine and I have got the best one for the last ,  imagine your disappointment when your 3G becomes 2G . Isn’t it the urgency to have an answer the moment we click something that is reflecting in our outlook bacause the moment when we can’t have something that we want we are stuck up with a sense of desperation and disappointment , more than anything else we associate it with a sense of a little failure.                                       .
Whereas, for the higher sentiments of life say, "achievement”, we do not link it with every page that opened in the exact nanosecond it was supposed to but the lower sentiments of life i.e. "failure" and " frustration" we attach them to every page that did not. This equation is so out of balance that we all end up carrying a big nagging frustration at the back of our heads all the time. So yeah is  it Technology ?,
I will say it is one of the strong aspects.                                         .

I have heard many people say that parting with your gizmos for some time and embracing nature has done wonders for their "inner peace. But my Friends,think again as:-                           :-      

You gazed at stars at all their numbers and looked at the sky with all its eternity,
You immersed your soul in the flowing rivers, and with your naked eyes embraced Gods creativity.

When you came out of the forest, your peace, why did it not last?                           ?
When you have seen and felt all that was to be seen and all that was talked in the past?
The key to patience was it in something acquired or was it something as temporary as a break?
You may realize soon that it wasn’t something all great rather something innate.

So next time give “Somethings” a Little more of yourself and make it like a slow climb,
Because there are “Somethings” in life that deserve a little more of your time.




Signing Off
Neha Chauhan



Friday, August 8, 2014

MAHABALESHWAR - THE TRIP




Ever wondered what is the difference between a Tourist and a Traveler ?
 As per a Friend of mine who quoted Paul Theourox
“Tourists don't know where they've been, travelers don't know where they're going"  
That  is a very direct explanation and I am guessing one of the favorites of all the travelers.

Its actually the difference between the free spiritedness of the traveler and the bound sense of the tourist, the unabated willfulness of a Traveler and a calculated check pointed visit of a Tourist. Let me try to explain more by my experience:-

I never came across this realization until only recently.
Few weeks back I travelled with a bunch of my favorite people i.e. my friends to a place 1000 miles away from everything that knows any shred of my existence
A new place, lively people, a new highway and a new destination ... Everything and mind it everything was having ZNMD feel to it. I am sure my friends must have had the same feel during the trip too considering how a bunch of simpletons we are. Love you all for this.

A distance so big , a ride as if we were chasing the HORIZON and yet with all the playfulness of a mirage it used to vanish only to appear just few more meters away , an endless chase , never ending , till we reached the destination and  forgot all about reaching the end of the road. 

As the roads unfold it was like a new story told with thousands of words unspoken but captured only in the beauty of the surroundings. Mahabaleshwar , a hill station amidst the clouds and the rains was like a strikingly beautiful woman draped in the cloud white. It was only when the misty fog used to disburse due to wind that we could see the actual color of her skin. It was all Black and Green. Rocky Mountains with a lot of cultivated and wild vegetation. Scenic, like a postcard straight out of 80s , if you know what I mean.

While the ecstasy of being at a new place was enough to make us all go crazy but despite all that may be I only got crazy in my head than in action.
I don’t know if I explored much I did not know what was all to be covered but yes I know that whatever we saw it was all outstanding and out of this world especially because of the company I had.

Getting back to the topic ,people like me , still the tourists take travelling or lets say being at a new place as an achievement secured with a one time effort of letting go or chilling out but still not letting go of our comfort zones to the fullest . We still try to stick to it . The best example for this would be the nostalgia we face during the ending days of the travel to be at our homes and in our beds or back to the same life and people . The desire to start feeling at ease or normal again. I had that too.

It was not until we headed back that I came to know ; When the ascending beauty of the highway started descending and we started approaching the city back it was only then that I realized that , the serious mountains , the clouds around them making them all the more mysterious , the willful tiny waterfalls originating out of monsoon waters  with the least care about whether they will exist tomorrow or not , the fauna covering the zenith of the mountains like thick boots , all , all of it  was about to go .. And that I hadn’t lived the place enough. 

And that next time I will take a halt everywhere where I would want to sink it in , that next time I would walk the local paths to see the local culture. That next time I would talk to the local people to know more about the place from them than from Google. That next time I will not just visit the place to chill but I would travel.

To all us tourist if you will ask what was the best feel we will only say it was the achievement of reaching the destination while to travelers I guess it will be completing a destination and getting on the road again ; Yes it will still be the HIGHWAY.



Signing Off
Neha CHAUHAN


Thursday, July 10, 2014

Let Go !!


How you think that things would have turned out differently? What played? Time ? Circumstances? People? May be, but the truth is you cannot control all these things , you can’t rule time, you can’t make circumstances and you cannot change people. But what you can actually and totally do is your Effort . The Effort to make things go your way

Such an idealistic thought right , I mean who doesn’t know this? It is something straight out of the Book.
I am not against it , I mean I really appreciate it and I do remember watching a movie where a couple was breaking up and finally when the guy lands in front of the girl’s house , he meets her father and tells him that he is ready to do everything to win her back . You know what that Father said, “Son, You don’t have to everything you just have to do whatever it takes”. I was taken aback by the simplicity of the wisdom of the Father. The dialogue was really Bang On , an “A Pointer”.

But and yes my friends there is a but in the situation, what these wise movie fathers or uncles (advisers) do not know is how to keep the conviction of reaching your goal alive? Its not like clearing an IAS, IES exam because the goals there are static but families and relations or people for that matter are not static entities. And because they are not static entities they respond back to your efforts (or whatever you do) or in the worst case do not respond at all.  If they respond back favourably like in the case of the movie (well yea he did win the girl back) you are a winner , if they respond negatively that also paves your path to your further actions,  like the father said do whatever it takes it helps you plan what you should do and what you shouldnt, but if they do not respond at all my friends that is where you have the biggest problem.

Now,  How do you know that whatever you have been doing is right or wrong and that you need to change it? You don’t. But you still chose to believe in yourself , initially it’s a good belief , it’s a source of your encouragement , its your faith that you know that whatever you have been doing is right. But how long do you think is it going to last , this belief , this blind faith. How long do you think you can continue to assume the other people’s reaction , wish , concurrence or non concurrence and then base your further encouragement on your assumptions. Not long. It hits you  and then you realize that while everything else has been in a static mode (non motion, non reaction) you like a child kept on clinging to the situation all by yourself without any real encouragement or support. To me my friends this is where your sincere effort should end. Stop the parade. Because even if you end up having it somehow this realization that you were in it all by yourself is going to take a hit again and you will lose the charm of the entire thing , you may have it , you will keep it but you may not appreciate it as much as it did not appreciate you in your struggle.

Its good you know,  being self aware , being cent percent sure of your choices , being able to put your efforts for them but believe me not everything is worth going crazy. So stop giving yourself a hard time and move on because as I always say;

A new idea a new feel in an unknown place and an unknown street,
All strangers around but what can they really see? You are as happy as you choose to be.

Signing off

NEHA CHAUHAN