The Necessary Evil - Faking it!

If I were to tell you… that I am wearing a Calvin Klein Perfume , Tommy Hilfiger watch, A bulchee Belt, and just now played a session of Angry Birds on my new Ipad 2. What would you probably deduce? What a show off! I wouldn’t blame you for it, the era of consumerism merits such a reaction.

Today’s world is all about being “in”, either you are with it, or you are out of it. Every where I look, I find that we are sub consciously enveloping ourselves in brands. So much so... that we do not picture the object, we picture the brand associated with the object. Classic cases are brands like apple, mango and pears. (Once upon a time, they were merely fruits!)

 Every Marketing manager will tell you… that a brand has to “aspire”, it has to invoke the feeling of desire to such an extant that you find yourself making the purchase decision. Whether you need it or not, is immaterial. But what I find intriguing is that we, the new age consumers of these brands, have stopped the reasoning and the logic associated with making a purchase decision.

 Ask yourself a question, how many times you purchased something not because you needed it, but because you wanted it. Our parents always reason with us about how they had limited means and they learnt the benefits of savings, the fruits of which they are reaping even now. I have always felt such a comparison is baseless. The disposable income of an individual has gotten divided into trillions of avenues. The needs are not limited to food, clothing and shelter anymore.

 I read this somewhere… Money won’t help you in your sad times, but somehow its more comfortable crying in a Mercedes than in a bicycle.

A New Beginning...

After a long hiatus, i am back on my blog...a lot has happened. Starting with the single biggest event in my life so far.. i got married.


Its a life changing event, if there was ever one. I dont think i have managed to understand the responsibility and the change that it has/will bring to my life.


In a matter of months, my life has changed from a independent bachelor to a family man. Not that i think i miss it. I think i have taken it like fish to water. Many a times i have heard my friends, relatives etc warning ( read cribbing) me that life changes after marriage and that i should enjoy my life to the fullest before the D day, but i dont think i am missing anything.


One thing i was definitely not used to, was being taken care of so much. For a guy who's been out of home for last 12 years, marriage has bought with it stability, care and some much needed love.


I could now go on and start about how wonderful my spouse is.. and how she's the best wife ever. But i will hold my thoughts. She knows what she means to me and she's made my life beautiful. Thanks a lot D, for everything you do for me .. everyday.


Its a new beginning, and a beautiful one at that.


Now Playing in my head: Tumko dekha to yeh khayal aaya... zindagi dhoop tum ghana saaya...


Loving life.. in the city of dreams..

The Price of Life...

(I originally intended to post this on the tenth anniversary of 9/11, this work is a collection of my personal thoughts and beliefs. )

Today is 9/11, the day that changed the world forever. Ten years have gone by but the repercussions are still being felt. Innocent lives were lost forever, and trillions of dollars have been spent worldwide to cope with the military, economic and political ramifications of the act.

Official records show approximately 3000 died on that fateful day, the real loss.. is far reaching. 9/11 shook the world and America, who woke up to the fact that USA is as equally prone to terrorism as the Asian countries. George W. Bush addressed the nation and promised “to smoke them out and bring them to justice”

And true to its promise, America invaded Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Osama Bin Laden and Mullah Omar, the two biggest perpetrators of terrorism are dead. So is Saddam Hussein and his dictatorship in Iraq. Taliban rule has virtually been abolished in Afghanistan and democracy restored.

The world should be a peaceful place now.. shouldn’t it?

Unfortunately, the world never operates the way it should. Terrorism is a graver problem than ever before, and not amount of artillery seems sufficed to silent the wars blazing the countries. Terrorism is a global phenomenon now.

More than three times those who died in 9/11 have been killed in Pakistan, India and Afghanistan due to terrorism since 9/11. And this does not include those who died in military action fighting the Taliban fighters on Pak-Afghan borders.

My question is simple… why is an American life valued more than an Indian or a Pakistani life?

Make no mistake, a life lost is a tragedy… be it New York, New Delhi, Kandahar or Lahore. What makes me uncomfortable is that why does’nt anyone talk about the thousands who lost their lives fighting terrorism in Kargil. Why this imbalance even in death?

While the world prays for the victims of 9/11.. I only wish and pray that the west sees that every terrorist act is to be criticized, condoned and acted on equally. Terrorism has no religion, no region… and its time we realized that that the price of life… be in America or India… is equal.

The Written Word

This is the Jet Age… everything is literally at your fingertips. In the quest to maximise every ounce of productivity, and to make each second count, we have invented devices, gadgets which have replaced the way we interact with each other.

We were the sms generation, and that too is passé now. It’s the Tweet generation, conversations that do not last 140 characters.

Wrds r nw loosng their 4rm.

Ask yourself, when was the last time you put pen to paper and wrote something. Not a signature on a cheque, not while making office notes, but an actual thought or maybe a letter to a loved one.

For me, nothing can quite replace the written word. the personal touch, the thought and the visible sign of the person’s handwriting is something no MS word software can ever reproduce.

When I was in hostel, we were to compulsorily write to our parents every fortnight. I always had too much to write, resulting in sheets and sheets of paper. These days, with the call charges being so low, and technology catching up… who writes letters these days.

Think about it, delve into your inner thoughts, pick up a piece of paper and write to whoever you wish to, the “old fashioned” way.

Life on an upward spiral..

The last time I wrote on my blog was 4 months back, at that time, nothing was quite going right. My career was on the rocks, nothing happening on the personal front, and I was grapping with issues and even contemplated pulling out of the city of dreamz.

And then I wrote that stupid last post of mine.

And then I read what I wrote, and I re-read it again and again, and wondered how negative and pessimistic it sounded. It perfectly captured my state of mind. Disillusioned, unfocussed.

Much has thankfully changed in the last four months. Things are way better now, and I am at the tipping point of the next big jump in my career. It all will happen this year.

But that’s not why I am happy. I am happy because probably for the first time in my entire life, I have started to think positive. I have started to think that whatever will happen to me, it will be for the best.

And people say, that if your thinking is positive, it attracts positive energy unbound… maybe its true.

So how did the change happen?

Was it within me? Was it due to the people around me?

Could be. I think people are as good to you or as bad to you as you allow them to be, and that’s the reason why good things happen to good people and sooner or later, the equilibrium of goodness tips in your favour.

This positive energy which is the source of my happiness, is bigger to me than all the Gods, all the meditation etc put together.

I am smiling again.

:)

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There are times when things in your life do not go as per plan. Every possible problems happen. You fight and fight. . Until you reach a stage where you look back and wonder. . What's going on. . Why gs the world conspiring against me. Why isn't ome good thing happening in my life right now! There are no replies. . Just a lot of struggle. I am tired. . Of struggling.. Of the tensions. I just need to relieve myself. Totally.

WTF!

My Ineraction with my nephew on Gtalk today... He is only 12!!


Raj: why are you angry
Raj Shrimali: :) :) :) :) :) :)
Rahul: how do u know i am angry?
Raj: Your message says "WTF"
Rahul: and what does that mean?
Raj: A Curse Word
Rahul: lollll!!! how do u know that already raj!
u r a kiddo!
Raj: EVERY ONE KNOWS.
I HAVE TO GO NOW AND GET READY FO SCHOOL
BYE

As simple as that!! WTF was I upto when i was 12!