The joys of driving slow

Yesterday, I attended a talk on urban governance. The speaker,Enrique Peñalosa (a former mayor of Bogota, Columbia) argued for bigger footpaths, more public transport, and fewer cars. It was a nice talk but as many nice talks go, it was pretty Utopian. However, what caught my attention was the pictures in his presentation. Those pictures reminded me of a draft in my dashboard that I thought of writing but didn't write beyond the title.

The title 'the joys of driving slow' came to me as a very pleasant feel, when I was at home in Lucknow this diwali. I was driving my good old LML scooter, with which I've been rated as a rash driver by most of my friends. Some who don't say so have actually not seen me driving. So when I was driving, I realized that I was going slow in the leftmost lane while everyone was flying by in a jiffy. Well... that was not the joyous part as speed really thrills but then I started exploring the things which I could never see due to the 'rash' driving.

For the first time I realized that even roads have a life of their own and that too, a beautiful one. There were many new shops and tea-stalls on the side with laid-back people around, some kids in the parking lot, some cute stray dog trying to steal a meal, some rag-picking kids who would have found some curio and were enjoying looking at that in a huddle, a couple from some rural area who were amused by the city, and some eagles perching on a roof. None of these sights may seem very unusual, important, or beautiful... yet, everything was so usual and simple that that made it beautiful and perhaps, photo-worthy.

However, the experience went deeper and longer than that drive. It was a lot like life - to reach one goal after another, we go fast. So rash and fast that we miss those small joys of life, which are neither unusual nor important and yet, so usual and simple that that makes the life beautiful. From then on, I often drive slow, be it a bike or the life... I am learning to cherish the joys of driving slow!!

Pictures and Poems

A picture is worth thousand words but when I embarked on finding those thousand ones, I found some poems. Here are two pictures that triggered me to write some lines, as given below the relevant pic.

बहुत हरी हैं मेरी

ज़िन्दगी की राहें अब

तेरे कदमों की हरारत के बिना
काई सी जम गयी है राहों में।

मैं झुका रहा तू तना रहा
यूँही फ़ासला सा बना रहा
ना तू मुतमईन ना मैं मुन्तज़िर
ज़रा सोच आखिर:श क्या रहा

Flop Show - still

The famed satirical series by Jaspal Bhatti - Flop Show - was first aired on Doordarshan in 1989. Two decades later, as I finished watching the show again, the humor remains intact but the satire is much louder. It is sad, indeed, that even after twenty years, the problems we face are not much different. The government officials that don't work, the tenants that don't vacate the property, the doctors that do not care, the TV producers that fail to imagine, the doctorates that don't research, and so on.

In India, the world has changed a lot since liberalization and globalization began two decades ago; but ironically, the more it has changed, the more it remained the same. Democracy still fails millions and the four pillars - legislature, executive (administration and police), judiciary, and media are all hopelessly cumbersome, corrupt and inefficient. A dignified employment is mostly illusive for many, agriculture is still the largest employer yet least productive, basic amenities like potable water, sanitation, electricity, good roads, health, education, and security still remain a distant dream, and the Millennium Development Goals are but a mockery.

I am glad that we have made a lot of progress in the past two decades and I am happy that flop show is still humorous. However, I am more sad that we, as a nation, have achieved only a small proportion of our potential and that Flop Show is still relevant in India. Somehow, I feel that Jaspal Bhatti's jokes are no longer directed towards those corrupt officials or dishonest professors or inefficient doctors. Alas! The joke is on us.

The long term optimist

Years ago, when I was filling forms and applying to colleges, there often was a column for strengths and weaknesses. As my closest guide then (and friend later), Anand Sir had suggested 'long-term-optimism' as one of my strengths. Although I didn't exactly understood the meaning or implication of this 'strength', I simply complied, for I had no 'strength' (pun intended).

Now, almost six years later, I am realizing what Anand Sir was able to see back then. I have faced many bad times before as well as after that. And though those were bad times, only good came out of each one of them - in the long term of course. Moreover, I have learnt just one thing out of each one of such experiences - at the end, everything will be fine and if everything is not fine, it's not the end.

As I undergo another one of the difficult phases of my life, I again remain optimistic for the long term and hence, forward looking coz as Anand Sir would say, I am a long term optimist!

The 100th post

For no particular reason, some numbers are special; like the 100th post on this blog. So what special writing shall there be for the so special 100th one? This is the point, where I realize that the specialty of a number doesn't extend beyond the number itself. It is much like a new year, where dates and calendars change but the days remain the same.

Anyways, since the 100th one is supposed to be special somehow, let me talk about not-so-run-of-the-mill blabber in this one at least. In the previous 99 posts posted over two years, four months, and nine days, I have talked about my life and experiences, my dreams and aspirations, and my thoughts and the lack of the same. Sometimes I wrote for friends and sometimes for foes. Often it was humor targeted at myself and often I tried being poetic. Irrespective of all such distinctions, the end results were tragic only.

Most of my posts have a tiny '0 comments' written at the bottom but not all were as unattractive to all the readers. I got a few comments on a few. Most readers were polite enough to encourage and some were even appreciative. Sometimes, I got grand compliments and I felt proud as well. However, the moments of proud have always been counted - after all, people equally appreciate any damn crap writer (check any random blog, if you don't want to trust me). And I doubt if I have enough ground to stand separated from the 'appreciated' bloggers, namely, Mr. Tom, Mr. Dick, and Mr. Harry.

Beyond the posted thoughts, I have incomplete posts talking about my attempts at learning different languages, my take on politics and policy, the good, the bad, and the ugly of my life and experiences, and many more sorts of blabbering which is as irrelevant to the world as the previous 99 posts were.

However, as always, the more I say, the more remains unsaid. I believe the journey of the 'writer' me and the 'explorer' me is in its initial stages only. But someday, I'll have real milestones and not ones like the 100th post. In any case, I will keep exploring and keep writing about the life and times of yours truly. Thanks to those who stood by.

yesterday... once more!

For the past so many days, I've been trying to finish off some of the side-work and then start with my thesis work. And everyday, I'm neither starting to finish the other stuff nor am I embarking upon the thesis work.

The last stretch is always so difficult... and especially when those old days come in front of me and start talking, how can I not get nostalgic and crave for a piece of my good old 'Chhotu' times!!

That reminds me of several quotes and many more verses but sometimes, the words of wisdom and even poetry seems empty. These are the times when the life is devoid of life - devoid of life... or something like that!!!

Pondering - क्या लिखूँ

Once Padumlal Punnalal Bakhshi (पदुमलाल पुन्नालाल बख्शी) wrote an essay on what to write (titled 'क्या लिखूँ') and that went on to become one of the greatest writings on the art of writing. Now is my turn to try; however, I would be contended with a run-of-the-mill blog post only, for greatness and recognition is meant for more worldly people. (Oh yes, I have to pretend I don't want it until I get it.)

On a more serious note, since the time I discontinued two of my blogs, one for my poetry and another for policy matters, I have felt a craving time and again to restart those. Although my time constraints are such that I should discontinue most of my non-academic, non-necessary-for- life activities, I still carry on with most of those in a hope that there will be a day when I will have enough time to do all the nothing I want.

Since I cannot spare time for two more blogs when there are many half-written posts and many more unwritten thoughts lying in pipedreams for this blog, I sometimes feel like putting up my poetry up here. I even pondered upon discussing my policy, political, economic, and sociological thoughts over here. I am still not sure whether I shall make this blog a complete vent for all my blabber or shall I keep it limited to my 'unpoetic' and 'uneconomic' wordplay ventures only.

Any advice, help, or opinion in this regard is most welcome and would be dealt with equal contempt (sic). In any case, I think I will start putting everything here sooner or later. After all, if I have to bore the world with this, why discriminate between personal blabber and poetic or global blabber.