IN THE NAME OF FITNESS

                               IN THE NAME OF FITNESS

Uff! In the name of fitness what all I didn’t try. My ears always ready to hear any tidbit about loosing those extra few (yes always a few) pounds. My eyes would come to rest on the 40 + heroines, their sexy outfits clinging to chiselled bodies. I would first google their age and then start stalking them. Their diet, fitness regimen, everything. I would make notes diligently in a diary and follow them religiously. Of course only for a day. It was more like karvachauth ka fast morning would start with enthusiasm and piety but by the evening every breath would wait for the moon to peek above the horizon. By the evening all that salad and coconut water, chia seeds and super foods would just do a disappearing act leaving me craving for that butter naan and butter chicken. 

I started with yoga in a heated room - hot yoga - they promised that the fat would simply melt out of my pores and that its a one way movement, there's no way for it to come back inside. But I realised that even a deep breath would add to my cumulative weight. Hath yoga, Iyengar yoga, power yoga, Patanjali yoga, the choice is daunting. And to top it pilates, TRX, Zumba, Tabata, aerobics, calisthenics, HIIT, strength training and I am sure these will spawn plenty more to keep me bewildered. After much contemplation and consternation I put on my 10000/- ka Adidas jogging shoes and went for a walk. 

And then I discovered the superfoods. Firstly it took me a bit of time to comprehend what would a superfood do- make me Wonder Woman. Goji berries, avocado, kale, oats, quinoa, blue berries, broccoli the names daunting and taste wanting , not pocket friendly either! Guess being Wonder Woman was going to be an expensive affair. A week's purchase burnt a hole, the size of a melon, in my pocket and made me google Indian superfoods. Desi ghee, turmeric, jowar and bajra, amla, Dalia,coconut, makhanaas. Now we were talking! It was time to stitch that hole back.

After much google research I realised that the best fitness is when all the love, blessings, goodwill and peace fit together in your life. Its the ability to be gentle and good to oneself and to others. Staying healthy , happy and humble should not be a battle but an integral part of our journey. After all we have but one life to live (even if you believe in the karmic cycle you don’t know what you will be in your next life. There are no carry forwards darling)! 

HAIR TODAY

ITS RED!!


Yesterday I took the plunge and accepted the dare my children had posed to me. They had been very keen that I get something done to my hair and get a tattoo. The latter is still in the pipeline and I haven't taken a call on it but the first one is a done deed!
Yes I got red highlights done on my hair. I chose the colour not just because its one of my favourite colours but also because it denotes vibrancy and freshness. Its the colour of energy, its the colour of rejuvenation, its the colour of our life blood, its the colour of positivity and in some cultures including Indian its auspicious.
I am at that stage in my life where I am secure in my status and my positioning - both familial and professional. I have nothing to prove to anyone anymore. Those who matter know me by now. Those who don't - well can't waste any more of my precious time on bringing them to my side. Now is the time for me to internalise my thoughts and externalise my personal goals and run after them.
My hair job is just a reminder to myself that its ok to want certain things in life which might not be widely acceptable and may be going against the expected modes of conduct. As long as I am not advertently harming anyone its good to be ME!
Its time to give a fresh start to old buried dreams with my flaming hair trailing behind!!

                              APOCALYPSE NOW!

The world seems to have reached a turning point where it will seize to exist the way we know it. The last ice age happened 2.6 million years ago. We see it in films and comprehend its severity through recorded, assimilated and collated data. But as I read the newspapers and watch television news a sense of foreboding engulfs me. My deepest fears tell me that we have accelerated the process of another ice age like situation, may be even worse! Indiscriminate exploitation of everything that Earth offers while maintaining a delicate balance achieved over millions of years of transition and evolution has brought us to the brink from where there will be no return. Its like the collision of the fateful Titanic with the iceberg. Moving ahead full throttle it did not get the time to steer clear of the icy obstacle consigning it to its watery grave. We too are now at the brink and I think the speed with which the developing economies want to race ahead and the developed want to be still in the lead we will not be able to brake well in time.

The recent spurt in natural disasters and the manic fluctuation of the climate are signals enough. But majority of us are looking away deliberately in the hope that if we do not look the monster of our own making in the eye it will somehow disappear and it will be business as usual. But sadly this time around it will not just go to sleep, it will turn and plunge the earth into a darkness where living beings will have no place. 

Mother Nature will reset its evolutionary clock and all species will pay the price including us humans. Mr Trump will be long gone by then so his proclamations of climate change hoax would not be countered by the apocalypse which the next generation will surely face.

Musings during a boring lecture!!

FIRST
Four corners come together
Differences forgotten differences born
Where knowledge flowed
From one level to the next
Sometimes cascading
Sometimes hindered!!


SECOND
Life flows by as I look on
Its sweet but sometimes bitter
Sweetness tingles the senses
Bitterness lasts for a long time!!


THIRD
I am a child
They say I am the father of man
But am I really that?
I just want to be a child to a father
Love me nurture me
Give me joy and freedom!!

I demand but won't supply!

                                                          

 I DEMAND BUT WON’T SUPPLY

Economics- main theories based on demand and supply. They are directly proportional. This principle can be applied to society, especially to Indian society. Let me explain!

We as a society demand too much. I guess we are spoilt by the preamble of our Constitution or the lack of understanding of it- Government of, by and for the people. People the backbone and the foundation of a democracy. And ours is a vibrant one. But we the people demand way too much. We sit on dharnas, go on strikes, protest, all to project some demand or the other. Not that all forms of protest are unviable and uncalled for. Some are legitimate demands which need to be heard and acted upon. But most of them stem from our belief that the state is our surrogate parent and hence has to pamper us. The people running the state i.e. the government is our ‘mai-baap’. And at such elevated levels the government too looses the connect.

After a brief introduction to the demand side now lets analyse the supply side. Do we on our part supple the raw material for good governance? Good governance is a very abstract notion. Tangibility is rendered only when we participate and the government implements. Lets take the example of the railway timetable. Its abstract because its on paper sanctioned by the concerned authorities but doesn’t apply because we pull the chain to get down at our doorstep or to halt at an unmarked station. The railway authorities on their part fail in giving it the required shove. So both demand and supply are working here. Our demand for trains on time can be met if we too supply some form of self control and discipline. Its just one example we can take so many of them from our everyday life. Not looking after public property, not giving our 100 percent at our work place.

The new government has been in power for hardly a month. A major power crisis is facing the state of Delhi. But Congress is already holding protests demanding ‘acche din’. People oh! Those fickle creatures are rallying behind them demanding that Mr Modi don the magician’s hat and perform miracles. Forgetting all along that the party bearing the torch now was in power for over three consecutive terms (1 term= five years!!). Power infrastructure wasn’t built in a day just like Rome! Here too one can see demand is paramount, people won’t hold their end of the bargain by not stealing electricity, paying bills and conserving energy.

Now congress is in power – in the Opposition- even though this power is running on single phase! They have had a decade at the helm. They must have run out of fresh ideas, overcome by governing lethargy, bogged down by complacency. Now when some other party with fresh ideas and new vigour is trying to function they should provide the much needed support. Question when the real need arises, not to stall the efforts of the new government. Its almost as if the more fingers they point the better their wounds will heal inflicted by defeat. Constructive criticism and positive support even from the opposition benches is what India needs. I know its asking for a little too much. After all the powerful today were warming the same benches yesterday and behaved similarly. But someone somewhere has  to change and lower the gun in a Mexican standoff- like situation so that India can gain.

I can’t conclude without a mention of the court jester Mr Arvind Kejriwal, Mr Rebel-against-everything-political. He finds nothing good in anything! Critical analysis of the degenerative type gushes from his ever-coughing mouth. He can only carry the torch on the streets of Delhi but can’t light the diya in the temple of  governance. Those 49 days he got in power were spent house-hunting and spending nights in the open. A country which has stood the test of democracy, has the largest railways network of Asia, has the third largest army in the world, is the largest democracy of the world, is the IT hub is so because its political leaders have done something right somewhere. So being only critical is not going to help. Sure in the present we have lost the plot but Mr Kejriwal has lost the entire ramlila-maidan. Some soul searching is required from all quarters so that its a collaboration between all the players of the state – the government, the opposition and the people. Only then can Mr Modi perform the humungous tasks he so confidently set for himself. Otherwise ‘acche din aane wale hain’ will remain a swansong on the wings of tomorrow and as we know tomorrow never comes!

                                                              

 I AM M.A. AND YOU......?

I always say there is difference between being literate and being educated. Collecting stacks upon stacks of degrees and then uttering only non sense is not education. On the other hand teaching one’s mind to absorb, assimilate and utilise knowledge gathered from whatever source is worthwhile and productive. It doesn’t matter if that knowledge is garnered from outside the system.

I heard Smriti Irani speak at the women’s’ forum organised by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. I must say I was stunned. Earlier I was stunned to learn that her degrees were not right. Her education credentials were doubtful. Having supported the BJP’s campaign for change and development in the election season I felt that most of the candidates were above board. This allegation against her cast a dark cloud over my faith. Then thanks to youtube she came alive – intellectually with a vision and confidence inherent in a highly qualified person. Her civility and humility hit me and I in turn hit that cloud of doubt away. Leaders with impressive tails of abbreviated degrees too could not match up to what she spoke. I hung on to every word she said and saw what education could do irrespective of whether its attained in a classroom and stamped by the authorities or got through perseverance and self learning.

See how all the Oxford and Harvard returned have been steering our ship- sometimes on track and sometimes totally rudderless. These desi- bred, locally trained and grassroots progenies too should be given a fair chance to prove themselves. A chance they definitely deserve and need our support too. And after that if they fail us then of course we have the power to vote again!

                                                               

 MODI NE LE LI.........

Modi ne le li sabki jaan!!! He spearheaded an unprecedented campaign. Travelled the length and breadth of the country – tirelessly and purposefully. The motive was to unite a diverse nation, once again on the twin planks of development and governance.

A leader who had been treated like a pariah by the media and the political elite alike has now inadvertently turned the tables on them. The elections of 2014 were like a cyclone with Modi at the centre of it decimating the political bigwigs in its wake. It left so many baffled and red-faced. Party edifices crumpled like termite ridden structures. So many planners and non-planning squatters got the axe. Like in UP M&M threw out so many of their aides. In Bihar some willingly tendered their resignations for they were too big to be axed. Some took responsibility for not being able to implement disaster management programs during the ‘cyclone’. Some looked around them hunting for people to shift the huge baggage of ownership. Some left the parent ship willingly looking for greener pastures. Some symbolically volunteered to relinquish their dynastic fiefdom. No need to say that the weight of their surnames and their gynaeology acted as a life line otherwise Mrs Gandhi’s thick diction and Master Gandhi’s fumbling rhetoric is surely not something which can rightfully let them hold on to the reins of the grand old party of India.

Vocal mantris got kicked out. Rajasthan congress headquarters saw an old fogey going out on his backside! He dared to question the legacy of sycophancy. Infighting and bickering has left a fledgling party like AAP struggling to survive. It has become a circus with fresh acts every day. Some revoked oppressive laws hampering their vote banks almost overnight. Just after Modi took oath J&K saw the change.

So all in all it has been an annihilation of sorts. The social pariah has become the PM and is going about changing the way Delhi Durbar functions. Revamping and remodelling on modern and efficient lines. Till now he has been living outside the box – drawing admiration for fresh ideas and contemporary thinking. One Mr Tharoor praised him and drew flak from the elitist blabbermouths.

Meanwhile the lesson learnt by those who could not make it to the corridors of power should not be forgotten. Change is sought, is gradually arriving and will completely change the face of Indian politics- so constructive inputs, criticisms and grassroots upliftment should be incorporated. Though some have still not let go of the degenerative mindset and have started hurling stones for matters which have no direct bearing on governance. Smriti Irani bears witness to this even before she had an opportunity to prove her worth. These foolhardy, battle worn creatures of habit need to  know that its time to change into a new garb. Its been a pan-India mandate for Modi and his style of functioning, rising above party ideologies. Its a mandate for what Modi professes – willingness to work and earn one’s rightful place in the sun. Its imperative that we see and acknowledge this change and step up for a new era.