Life is beautiful!!!But What is beautiful???

Life is beautiful, but what is beautiful???

Is it, delighting the senses or exciting intellectual or emotional admiration?

Or many words like, aesthetic, attractive, better-looking, bonny, exquisite, fair, fine, gorgeous, graceful, handsome, lovely, pretty, picturesque, pleasant, pleasing, ravishing, resplendent, scenic, sightly, splendid, stunning, pulchritudinous … ok I am running short of words…

In any case, for things or people to appear beautiful, all of us use one of these words for our definition of the word beautiful.

In any case, beautiful things are meant to be relative, if not, there would be a certain degree of monotony in everyone’s life.

Its good to be different most of the times and sometimes it can be little boring.

And fair enough, the other way around.

Again it’s the difference in opinions which comes and generally creates contradictory feelings among everyone.

What I see, what I feel, appeals me or it need not appeal me, I call it beautiful or say not so beautiful, it is entirely my choice.

I don’t have to wait for people to compliment my thoughts to appreciate things which are beautiful to me.

Although it’s great to share similar feelings, but sometimes I don’t mind being a stranger in a No Man’s Land.

It doesn’t matter.

What I like, I like….. it

What people like, they like…. it

There will be similarities without which it is little tough to connect with people.

There are people whom I have met who like things because others like it too, there are people who like it simply because others don’t like it and there are people who like things because they like it……

I have seen things in my life which are beautiful and not so beautiful….

Well, it doesn’t matter, because not so beautiful things can appeal to some, at least one person in this world would enjoy that.

It’s a harsh statement but not far from reality.

So far, with my experience of existence on this earth, there would be lot of things that appealed me and continues to appeal me.

So it’s quite natural to express things which appeal to me….

Its lot different when I ask my friends, they have some things in common but there is a degree of propensity for their choices.

So this leaves us in a quite eccentric world…..

I like to aver to things which are “for my eyes only”…. Although it will be interesting to see from other “golden eyes”, but I better stick to myself and enjoy what I see and how I feel about things I see….. I do appreciate, if things look beautiful from other’s point of view.

Now for me Life is beautiful, and for the rest, let them think as to what is beautiful???

Run... Forrest... Run...

Run, Forrest Run….is the best line for me in the movie…. “Forrest Gump”.

According to me, this line starts the story and since then it tells the journey of a guy, who just did, what he felt like doing whole-heartedly….

This movie, opened up many such things inside me, the incidents that took place in the Movie are very versatile in it self. He keeps doing one thing or the other.

One of the qualities inside me, I got to realize, after watching this movie repeatedly.

The first time, I felt it was realistic because of the fact, money didn’t matter to do things the way you want. You need to back yourself and believe in one’s abilities.

Success may be in the form of peace or in the form of people’s trust, but it has always come to the people, who have followed their conscious truthfully.

I used to wonder seriously three years back, “Why people are so different??”

I have seen my friends wondering about this.

It was distracting when people tend to react differently from what one expected. In hindsight it was true from the other side as well. There is no end to this.

I thought all things must have an end. Well, exits will be there for those which have clear pathways, this behavior of me and the people are circular. It keeps going endlessly.

I got an answer.

• People who tend to criticize always.
• People who criticize partially,
• People who don’t criticize at all,
• People who bother about criticism,
• People who don’t bother always and
• People who just don’t bother about criticism.

Now this is being democratic, as long as I didn’t understand this fact, I had no rights to be a part of Indian democracy or for that matter, support for democracy.

Understanding the word ‘Democracy’ helped me gain a lot of knowledge in the way I went about reacting to people in different situations.

Now, I don’t feel bad in what I do in my personal life. Professionally we are supposed to adhere to certain disciplines but not at the cost of one’s pristine conscious.

Opinion differs and I am just giving my opinion here.

The day, I started loving myself, did things I always loved to do, Life started looking different for me. I realized all things in life must come to an end, because we aren’t immortal.

But memories aren’t. Hence I am writing this.

For me, when I set out to be myself, I was afraid of losing people I love the most. It did inhibit me for a while, later I backed myself by telling….

“The greatest tribute or respect I can give to my loved ones and my close friends and to this world is by being myself and doing things my conscious told me to do and to do it whole-heartedly. If they are my loved ones and close friends they would respect my point of view”.

I may not able to rule the world, but I can rule myself. I may not be able to push others, but I can push myself.

More importantly, I cannot be sweet and nice to everyone; I can be sweet and nice to myself. I am sure of the fact, if I am nice to myself, I can never hurt anyone, and it’s unfortunate if people didn’t understand this.

Probably they never will and that shouldn’t stop from me being myself. And I am not afraid of being myself and for my actions as long as my conscious is right.

Coming back, the movie gave me the realization that I am eccentric and I was quite comfortable with it. I believe everyone is!!!

I started running the lap of my life for the first time and trust me, except for few miles, I really enjoyed and I am still enjoying and will continue to.

People expect me to behave in a certain way irrespective of what I feel, including closed ones. I used to feel little disturbed when I didn’t get to speak to the person I wanted to at that particular moment. “Rajan, I am busy, I hope you understand”. That was enough, I appreciate it.

But some of my other friends weren’t clear as to what to say, but they expected me to understand them. No problems again.

People start avoiding because they can’t tell clearly that, they don’t want to talk to me, because they wanted to create a feeling within them, that’s gonna make me sweet and hurt me if they were frank. Strictly, it would be always; from their Eyes Only.

And others who wanted to talk but just cannot express or couldn’t express.

But most of them expect me to understand them. Many would deny, but truth is truth.

It was tough because I felt sometimes they were using me. After a long thought, I realized, hey, that’s me. Why feel bad for people using me, after all, if I am helpful for others then why should I worry even though I wont be having any personal gain, but satisfaction is, I am gonna be myself and that’s a gain for the little pain I went through.

But, being a novice mentally in this regard, sometimes I do call, but they still expect me to understand them and wait for them to call and I am supposed to receive it, when they are free.

Now, I accept calls from anyone at any situation. I shall never question them or remind them of their antics previously. I believe if I like talking to my closed ones and to anyone, I will talk and accept them anytime in any situation. I shall give them their space.

“Past is history, you learn from it, you can’t live in it”.

Now, I don’t worry that much about it. I have lot of things to do in my life but I am always available to people when they need me.

This is something I was, but I saw it in Gump, Forrest Gump…. I have the strength and patience to understand my closed ones and I do take hard measures to understand them because I love them and I respect them for the way they are.

I love and communicate even though I don’t get a feedback…. Because I love it...

Also, I always thought, I was a good wicket keeper and a good soccer goal keeper…. I follow the rule of being a keeper.

My job is expected to catch, no matter how tough a catch is or how tough a save is, ultimately I don’t get the reward for the catch, because I am expected to catch or save day in day out.

What if I dropped or gave a goal away, I get to hear, “You didn’t live up to our expectations, a bad keeper or a bad goalie”.

So I believe in doing my job whole heartedly just like a wicket keeper or a goal keeper in real life. I am expected to catch everything, but can’t drop any….. That’s ok, as I long as I am a wicket keeper or a goal keeper in real life and ready to do it whole heartedly.

To tell you, I am indeed....

Dedication to one of my favorite movie idol, who played an important role in answering questions of mine, when others didn’t or couldn’t.

To end it: "Do watch this movie"

His name is "Gump, Forrest Gump"

A man and his legacy left behind

Came 2006, i was rejuvenated so was Michael. Both were raring to go. Although, i had very less to lose, but it was a challenge in itself.

To be fair, it was easy for me in the sense, i was not depending much on people. Well, Michael had his team, he had to motivate his team along with him. That was the challenge for him.

It started off not so good, I didn't qualify at the IIT-M fest (Saarang) in Sports and Ent Quiz.
I was confident of putting up a good show along with my pal.
Well, i was disappointed but the trip was good fun for me. I just witnessed, the best among the quizzers in India. Best part was, i had my pal Anu, who was part of that league and sitting pretty high.

For me, it was a setback personally. In hindsight it was good. I prepared hard and was ready with my Sports quiz. Well, it was a test for me and i was ready for it. In fact confident.
It was satisfying at the end of 4 years, i got my reward, The Sports quiz was appreciated.

Michael had not so great races initially and he was trailing. He came back to his best at Imola and the highlight was the way he tailored the brakes of Alonso behind him. It was Pay Back time. Exactly opposite happened in 2005.

Somewhere mid-way through the season, Michael lost ground and was 34 points behind Alonso.
Now, what to do??? This cant happen twice in a row, I thought, being a die-hard fan.

Just when everyone in the world, including me gave up on him winning the championship, one person rose. He was the LAST ACTION HERO. He was ready for the action. Race after race he grew stronger and stronger and with two races to go, he was equal with Alonso in points.

The best part was, i stopped having expectations on him winning races and hence i could enjoy his victories even more and also the disappointing Japanese Grand Prix later in the year.

Sadly he, announced his retirement at the end of 2006 season after winning an emotional Italian GP at Monza.

Final two races of his career turned out to be anti-climax,
At the end of it all, he lost the championship due to mechanical failures in successive races. Talk about destiny, his last engine failure was on a dull Sunday of July 2000 at the French Grand Prix.

I did not worry about what happened. But it was little sad, probably, this is how life goes.

Michael, the way he took those twin blows is worth praising. He had absolutely no complaints about his car, he simply stressed to the media, when asked to comment about the car, " the same car gave me 5 championships in a row, why complain??", he replied.

There are good moments and there are not so good moments. One needs to accept it as fast as possible and move on. It was a sport after all.

And in general, life is short after all.

To me, the above incident gave me and everyone an insight about a man, who lived his dreams. He was happy to end his career on a losing team but a fighting team.

He won and certainly he did conquer everyone by his racing at the Brazilian GP and his last over taking maneuvere on Kimi, was the perfect way of showing his supplant that, he's still the King when it comes to dominating on the track. His aura was something which we call "The Michael Magic".

He did quit on the track, which produced many great drivers none better than Aryton Senna, who would have been proud to have seen Michael, the way he raced on that day(22-10-06).
His final day as a driver in Formula1.

If at all, one thing which needs to highlighted is the spirit of hope. The hope which ignited many Italians and Michael's fans worldwide.
For all the people, who were struggling to come to terms in life, he lighted the candle of hope. From no where, he reached to a position of becoming a champion again. He didn't eventually, but better than the way he lost in 2005.

It gave me an opportunity to acknowledge whatever i had and it made me realize a lot of things. One of them is to concentrate on giving my best not only when things are going well, but to be in the same spirit when things were to be the opposite.

Problems are with everyone, the way one deals with it, separates pros from the rest.

It was fabulous me having my own journey parallely with Michael.

His ruthlessness and his one lap runs were a treat to watch. At the same time he managed to have control over himself. Awesome!!!

I always dreamt of being a Schumacher, being ruthless in the things i love, and to be the best with the things i loved doing. Well, all i can say, i did get an opportunity. Or at least i think it was....

If conducting UTPT Sports quiz-06 was like taking a pole position much to my delight...... Here comes .........
"Winning on 22nd April at BMS with my great friend Anu alongside me, felt like winning a Grand Prix just the way Michael did or would have loved to do".

It was a team effort, with Anu constantly encouraging me, but .... With me being ruthless as ever, on that day, all i did was , paid a tribute to my idol who wouldn't be around the way he was all these years.

With me passing out of college and moving into my next phase, it was great and my previlage to have seen and more importantly learnt from a person who did most things right.

Like all people, even he committed mistakes. But he corrected them and became a better person.

Like Sir Don Bradman, people will remember Michael the way he ended his career.
I guess, it happens to the ultimate inspirational guides. Sachin not winning the World Cup, Pete Sampras not winning the French Open and many more people like this leaving a void in their illustrious career.

I am in tears, writing this, because words cannot explain the impact he had on me.
Well, i am little emotional, hey, this is how i am. My strength mostly, and weakness, very little by being emotional, in the way i do things which i love.

"A winner is someone who recognizes his God-given talents, works his tail off to develop them
into skills, and uses these skills to accomplish his goals"

Thanks to this winner, I can enjoy my journey of life, a beautiful life indeed.

People asked- "What's Michael gotta give"- This would be it, at least for me.

What's Michael Gotta give??

If there was anything in 2005 to Michael Schumacher, it was seeing his rivals go past him and disappear into the distance. To be frank, he gave his best, but his machine wasn't up to the mark and ultimately it made him look like a miser in spite of his royal stature as a world champion.

Following my idol since many years, i was not ready to accept this sudden change in fortunes but like all legends, he just took it by his stride. It was his worst year or to say was going to be his worst in his illustrious career. One can't rest on past laurels. One needs to strive hard to maintain. Its easy to lose, like we saw in 2005 season. It was not that he fell for the occasion, his opponents rose to the occasion.

It was for me, this time around i did lose my focus because of some goof up in my academics. I was confident though, but sometimes, results mattered more than confidence. You don't win just by having confidence. Having confidence is like a consolation to the people who didn't quite make it.
I managed to clear, thanks to my self-belief, but my idol couldn't. He was helpless.
One thing, i learnt from this guy was, He didn't complain when things were going wrong for him, instead he was keen on improving himself and hoping things could turn this way. Unfortunately, it didn't.
To be frank, his attitude helped me a great deal. I was just being quiet, not reacting to what happened, instead concentrated on what i had, trust me, this was the beginning for me.

I just went about my business and i started enjoying this new phase of my life. I started accepting things which came my way without doubting some of the decisions. If i wasn't clear, i made sure i got answers to it.

I had failed, and first thing i did was to accept this fact. I didn't lie to myself, it was tough comforting myself initially. I turned to this guy and i was convinced to go his way.
He had failed as well and he was the first person to acknowledge this fact.

Towards the end of the season, it didn't change for my champion. But things changed, for the better and it was for me not for him.

The attitude with which he took this disappointment was something which i wanted to imbibe.
He knew he was the champion, just because he failed, it didn't tarnish his self-confidence.
He had enough time to recollect his past deeds and be contend with what he had.
At the same time, if given an opportunity, he would be the first to seize it.

My life changed or to say started to evolve in a different way than previous to it.
I didn't know whether it was right way or not, but i was enjoying this process of evolution within me.

The year ended, with a hope to win his 8th title and for me, i was just hoping, i shall continue enjoying this new found path.

2006 looked promising, i , like Michael, believed in going out there and do my best.

It was a forgotten story to most of them, but for me, it was it was the first stop.
First Pit-stop to put it in a better way on my road to success.

On the chicanery road less travelled

While i am travelling on this road, there comes situations where something stops me. It can be lack of motivation etc. Now, i begin to think, is this the road, i always wanted to go??
There are neither road signs nor road lights ahead, but road is there. Sometimes, no navigator.
Just because it feels great initially, doesn't mean the enthusiasm and motivation should last long.
Purpose, Is this road, on my map of Purpose. Even half convinced, i wouldn't mind going and fulfilling it. I say to myself, Purpose is focusing the full power of what i am and what i want to achieve.
With this belief, i am sure of taking this uncertain part. Its a challenge, which i want to face it whole-heartedly. Challenge is the law of life.
Once i accept this challenge, there still would be doubts coming within me about my abilities.
One of the things, is because of my past and hence i am reluctant this time around.
In general i believe, While choosing between two evils, i shall always take the one which i have never tried before. This way, i am very unsure of things the way it could turn out, but you never know, it might just be a blessing in disguise.
Convincing becomes an important issue here again with the bigger picture in mind. But one must not ignore to enjoy things which come our way on this path. Appreciate whatever comes and embrace it. Everything has a purpose in this world, its just that how well we relate to these things and make it more meaningful.
With such experiences, we would gather a lot of energy. Trust me, this energy is very powerful and one needs to channelize it in a right way.
Setbacks are bound to happen on our road to glory or in fact in any road to glory.

Always remember "Its not how hard you hit, it is how hard you get hit and still keep moving forward"

Seen but Have we really met them??

I have two questions to ask...
1. Are we being honest to ourselves??
2. Are we being honest to our guiding force, in my case its my parents??
The first answer is surely related to the second. I shall share my experience.
Firstly, if there certain section of people who shall give us another chance right from the bottom of their heart, it is our parents.
I am helpless for the people who have lost their parents, because life is like that. I just admire the way they live everyday.
How much time do we spend with our parents??
I have heard many people telling, my parents are strict, at least one of them. They don't listen to me. They are orthodox. They want things their way.
Agreed, even i used to think on similar lines. Hence, i wasn't clear on many things i did and certain amount of fear started creeping inside me, this fear was stopping me from doing things whole-heartedly.

Call it my fortune, i did get an opportunity to understand the true value of parents. Its true, everyone loves their parents but we tend to forget that it is very much true the other way around.

But, i don't understand one point. When we both share mutual love, why is it that, we fear our parents??

I believe the best thing a person can do, if he/she gets a chance is to understand them, rather than fearing them. They are the only people who accept the way we are, no matter what. If one doesn't get a chance. Time is still there, do it now. It is always better to give your best shot now than regret later.

It is a failure for us, not to convince our parents, once we are convinced ourselves. Patience is required and at the same time, one must respect their feelings.

I have heard many telling, i wont go against my parent's wishes. To be honest, thats a brilliant line to say. Ask yourself, how many things we have done against our parent's wishes, then why this demarcation in certain issues.

I have done lot of things without telling my parents and i have regretted it for doing so. I am lucky and at the same time i am proud of the fact that, i took the chance when i got an opportunity to correct myself.

Most people who face this type of syndrome are the people who are not confident of themselves but want to put a mask of that of a confident person. The truth is, within us, it gets very disturbing.

Some will be honest in accepting this fact and try to rectify it and for others it becomes an egoistic issue.

Another point, my friends say, My parents are very different from yours!!!
A fair point... The truth is, me and my friends are also not same, so how do we expect our parents to be the same. Maybe just like, we friends have few things in common, i am sure our parents also will be having few things in common between them, i mean ( My parents and my friend's parents).

The difference is not in the parents, its in their background, the way they have been brought up.
How many people do actually think all parents think alike in most aspects of their children.
They do have different ways of expressing it, pity that we wont be able to interpret it.

We spend a lot of time listening to our friends, do we spend a fraction of that time, listening to what our parents say.

One thing is sure, we can afford to lose so-called friends, we cannot afford to lose our parents.
Ask a friend, who doesn't have a parent, he/ she will tell you, how lucky we are...

It took nine-months for me to come to this earth and this is true for everyone else.
Feelings of parents are the same, it is just that we take or assume different forms.

Another issue comes... The gender issue...
Convincing one's parents is nothing to do with the gender. It is an escape route according to me.
For everything, there are certain advantages and dis-advantages.

A loser is one who cribs about dis-advantages while others just do what they have got and succeed.
Be it men or women, parents are the same.

Also, i don't quite understand when people tell, I want to fulfill my parent's dreams and that is my priority.

How many of us know our parent's dreams?? The last line is the most brilliant line to get people's appreciation.

When was the last time, did our parents ask, look, this is my dream, you fulfill it.
I have heard it many times on many issues. Ask yourself, have we fulfilled it???

Now, how many of them did we go against??? Many without telling them.
So, here we are... For the things which can be easily done, we don't mind going against our parent's wishes. When asked, we tend to reply... "Its ok, no one is perfect".

But when things are not easy, escape route. I don't want to go against my parent's wishes.
If that was the case, why did we go against them secretly in the first place??

Coming back to the parent's dreams..... Its a universal truth....
First try to be honest to yourself.... In that honesty, if your parents do exist, never hesitate to be honest with your parents. Never be scared of them, for any issue for that matter.

See the difference... I always believe, only when we are convinced of our actions we can convince our parents. Otherwise, we being egoistic and selfish always put the blame on parents saying they are strict. But deep down, we do realize someday, not convincing our parents or not being honest with them is the biggest failure of our life.

No matter how much success we achieve, it can never over weigh this failure, Thats the universal truth.

Following the ideals which were taught to us and applying it successfully is our parent's dream.
Anything apart from this, is purely materialistic.

Think, when we are afraid of losing our parents, it is also true the other way. So why don't we communicate when we share similar feelings for each other. A good communication with our parents is essential to realize one's purpose. If parents don't exist, their ideals would always remain with us.

"NO PAIN NO GAIN"

While i was outside, alone on a long walk, i was wondering, What is it that makes a legend separate from most of us. Is it the type of food, the people he is surrounded with or just the right frame of mind.
I thought, these people knew what they wanted to achieve and more importantly they also knew how to achieve it. The latter becomes the key to success.
Success and failure are relative.
Once we know, what we are supposed to achieve, we need to take necessary steps to achieve it. The steps will automatically come once we realize the intent of fulfilling the purpose.

So what inhibits us from achieving our purpose??
There are lot of factors and if we talk to ourselves we do realize, many things in our daily life is just a routine which we are stuck with. Ever wondered, why we follow this routine.
I have a common answer which is to an extent quite acceptable. "Everybody does, so am i doing".

If we are vigilant about our own lives, we do realize, we don't quite like following all the routines of our daily life. But we are doing it. It is sort of being in our comfort zone. If something goes wrong there are lot of them surrounding us, who can help us out. It is indeed a secure feeling, not the one we want , if we are honest with ourselves.

It is these few people who challenge themselves and not go with the wind.
They believe, they are born to leave a mark in everyone's life.
Half the battle is won, if we realize our potential. But it isn't enough. We need to harness the potential into a combative weapon so that it can create a great positive impact for human kind.

Be it sports or any other field, There will be a thin line of demarcation between the ordinary and the extra-ordinary.

Sacrifice is an important aspect in achieving one's purpose. But, according to me, one must not compromise. Sacrifice and compromise are two different things. Sacrifice is accepting things willingly where as compromise is something like accepting, wherein you don't have any other choice. These two qualities are strongly held by the limit of "Tolerance".

If we tolerate things which inhibits us from achieving from our purpose, real purpose, then there is no harm in it. As long as one is convinced about what he/ she is doing, it becomes easy to convince others.

Next time, when you are struggling to convince others, Do ask yourself "Am i convinced in the first place??"
The more convinced one is, the better will be once confidence and in that case there is only thing visible, road to success. Even if things, don't go well, we will find an alternative road to the same destination of success, because we have the confidence of reaching there.

Now, to travel along the path of success, its no cake walk.
We want to reach the ultimate point of our purpose, hence we do realize, what we are suppose to do.......
In this position all we need to do is, just concentrate on achieving it.
Here comes the biggest test of all, how strong are we mentally to reject things which retards our progress. This is the thin line i was talking about.

We being humans, tend to deviate from our path and relax. Nothing wrong with it, as long as one is happy being in that current state.
Problem starts when we are stuck in this current state and not being happy.

This takes a tough call, one has ever made and in order to liberate, we need to make this tough call.
It isn't easy initially, never give up till you find it comfortable and at the same time you are back on your road of success. It takes a hell lot to absorb and at a stage it becomes a pain.
One has to take this pain and start enjoying it looking at the bigger picture, i mean overall picture.

I am sure, we are going to gain a lot by enjoying this period of pain at the end of it.
"NO PAIN, NO GAIN". Gain just means achieving, what one has set out to achieve.