Monday, July 20, 2009

Relocation and Dislocation

Before I start my second one, I would like to thank those who read my first post and commented, those who read it but refrained from commenting and then I reserve my choicest words of appreciation to those who just chose to ignore it ;). My apologies to everyone (I don’t know how many) who were looking forward to read my next one. This one is delayed but not without a reason; I have not been able to get the internet connection activated in the new accommodation.

You would know that I was looking out for a new accommodation in "Good?gaon" . I had been searching in vain for 2 weeks for an accommodation. And when just last 3 days of my notice period remained and when I had almost given up my search of a good accommodation for a reasonable rent, I found to my pleasant surprise, an accommodation to my satisfaction and decided to shift on the weekend. My faith in providence just got stronger :).

As I started packing my things, the whole task looked like a piece of cake, but then soon it assumed humungous proportions. I somehow managed to get most of the things into cartons. New & old, Useful & waste things shoved into the storage spaces started tumbling out and soon I ran out of packing material. I decided to leave the packing and just put the many small things into plastic bags and get it to the new place.

By the evening I just about managed (or mismanaged) to transport and dump the things in the new place. As I sat in the house famished, I realized that I had just shifted some one kilometer away and yet, the whole exercise had left me exhausted.

I atleast had a one month’s notice to find myself a new shelter. But does everyone get this much time? Helpless people in strife torn, war ravaged areas are forced to move without any notice whatsoever! Every day might bring a possibility of packing up whatever is left of their belongings and moving to another place, another refugee camp. A place which they know would not be any better than their previous one where even getting the basic necessities might seem to be a luxury.

How hard it would have been to just abandon a place which they called their house, a place where they had dreamt of having a good life, a place where they had experienced unbounded happiness of being with their loved ones where innumerable memories, happy and sad existed in every nook and corner.

Why has life been so harsh on them? I don’t know but I am sure it is for no fault of theirs.

Is it possible that groups of people fighting against each other realize that war does not bring about any solution? When would they realize that it would just worsen the situation of those very people for whom they are supposedly fighting? Can people work in unison to end the miseries of such populace?

There are only questions but no answers at the moment. We can only hope that a time would come when every human being can have one small piece of land for himself and for which he need not go to battle with another.


PS:
One of the movies that kindled this thought in me was the Tamil movie “Kannathil Muttamittal” which so effectively depicted the situation in Sri Lanka .A song in this brings out the emotions of the masses departing from their village:
“Vidai kodu endhan naade, kadal vaasal thelikum veede, panamaram kaade, paravaigal koode..varumurai orumurai paarpomaa?…….”
Farewell my country, where the sea washes my front door, these palm groves, these birds’ nests..will I ever see them again?…..

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

A begginning

Oh yes I have lots of things to talk about in my first blog…or so I thought! As I start writing this one, I feel bereft of ideas.

Maybe a little introduction would help breaking the ice

Name of blog: kamusing

Meaning: Left to your interpretation
Actually the writer can get pensive (when the writer is disturbed) or sometimes intentionally or unintentionally amusing (when the writer just wants to disturb others)

Reason for starting to write:
To discover my thought process that can vary from a confused state of mind to a relaxed philosophical one.
To reach out to everyone I know and hopefully make new friends and acquaintances who can add another dimension to my thought process.
Read: All this is bullshit, it is just peer pressure :D

Now that I have given a brief introduction, I would like to get started with my first blog.

As I started my 27th year of existence today, I started to wonder as to what my goal in life is? As soon as someone starts talking about goals in life, thoughts go something like this - My short term goals are to work in challenging projects, "add value" to the organization blah blah, My long term goal is blah and more blah…..

But is this all that I want to do in my life? Great job, fat salary, be ahead of your competition in the “big bad corporate world”, get married, settle down, have kids, retire and go into oblivion. NO!!
But then what is it that I want from life? What do I want to achieve?
I don’t know. I DO NOT HAVE A CLUE!

Yes building my career, beating all competition to emerge on top, having a comfortable life, roaming around in a luxury car are all things which I would want to do, but surely, they should not be the only things I want from life.

What is my a bigger aim? I would want to go visit a lot of interesting places, know different cultures, understand people, grow as a person, add value to myself and if possible to people around me, in my own small way. Yes, I would like to have an opportunity to do all of this.


But sadly, in today’s world that we inhabit, all this seems to be out of reach. In the maddening pace that we have set for ourselves, we do not have time to think of all this. Add to this the added pressure that we are subjected to - Comparison with friends, colleagues, relatives etc etc. So instead of finding our true calling in life, all we end up doing is catching up, meeting expectation not of our own but of someone else.

Why is this so? Why can’t people be different? Can’t they have different benchmarks of a happy life? Should all of them have the same goals as if they have come programmed out of some assembly line?

These are some thoughts that I have often pondered about. Hopefully someday I would get an opportunity to get out of the rat race and hopefully I will be able to complete the sentence: “My goal in life is…”

Signing off for now..

PS: In a different plane of thought, I have another question..Can someone help me search a good accomodation in this not so Goodgaon?










Musings