Social Acceptance..

"No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent..."

But that quote makes me wonder, in this continent how much how are the actions of one country governed by the reaction of the rest?? Is it right to assume that one's decision will be avoided just to circumvent the ridicule and mockery of the rest?

Is a person's entire behavioral pattern determined by the masses that surround him?

Now don't get me wrong, herein i don't mean to isolate the souls close to me, the ones whom i look up to when in need for support and encouragement. The ones whom i rush out to, without the slightest hesitance at the oddest of hours, upon being called for help. What i am aiming at is, should i avoid certain actions that appeal to me, that i know for certain are not harming anyone, that i know aren't morally or ethically wrong, just because the people around me would take it as an act of foolishness and brashness and make me a butt of jokes during their endless gossip sessions. What i fail to understand is the fact that, there are a certain aspects of my life where I reserve the right to do whatever I wish, withstanding the points that i stated above are met; yet why somehow time and again i am reminded that I should be avoiding such things?

"Why??" I asked during one heated discussion with my mom one evening, and the answer that I got, though was run of the mill, and an absolutely Indianzed sentence, yet it was utterly confounding for me for i had always assumed that my mom was a rock queen and would not regress to such a statement. She simply told me, "What would people say?". Now how do you make someone understand that I simply don't care about what people say. Those who actually do care about me, well I can understand their concerns and my responsibility to pay heed to them. But at the end of the day, these people are content when they see that i am happy where i am. As for the rest of the people, why does it matter that I am fueling a gossip session of theirs. How does it matter that they will look down upon me, I for one know that I am cheating no one, I have not caused malice to anyone, and if even then i am somehow a cause of amusement for these people and add a bit of excitement to their dreary existence, then let it be.

The question now arises, should a person follow a certain well trudged path, just to makes oneself socially more acceptable, even if it comes at the price of being left wanting more out of life. Why is the need of being universally loved so great that it becomes a focus point of all activities personal or otherwise.

Now I, with all conscientiousness invite comments from anyone who's spared time enough to go through my writings and had the stamina to finally reach till this point. Please do give provide me an insight as to whether I am being a selfish character, caring only about my well being; should i pay heed to the fact that a career shift from a well established, lucrative profession to a place where i yet haven't grazed even the surface, will be looked down upon by a lot of people around me. Is this reason enough to continue with a life that makes me miserable. Am i somehow wrong, or not being able to strike out a balance that would bring some sort of semblance to my life.

I think its a whole lot to ponder for a sunday evening, and I don't really want to addle any more brains. So while I leave this post for the time being to dwell upon my confoundedness. Please do enlighten me with insights that might help me understand the complexities of being a social animal and yet have the independence of being able to enjoy exclusive rights to my life.

Morning...

Waking up in the morning is never a pleasant experience. A typical morning madness begins with me just refusing to budge out of my bed while having a sharp lookout at the clock and groaning with the knowledge that each minute spent in this struggle of cosmic proportions will lead to a hurried and hassled routine.

I am in the habit of putting on the radio as soon as i am up and about and let me assure you, the nauseatingly chirpy voice of the RJ doesn't help in any ways. Add to this the fact that the first song i heard in the morning goes something like this "I keep bleeding, i keep keep bleeding in love...". Just imagine, groggy with sleep, possessing the knowledge that you will be late to work, an overly enthusiastic RJ and on top of that a girl crooning a song bout how shitty love is...its great it be up and about everyday ain't it??????

Somehow, fate was a bit on my side and the lack of unforeseen events enabled me to leave right on time. Somehow this day wasn't going to be as bad as i had assumed... yeah right!!

How many guys out there have, if not in reality then in movies at least, seen the vision of a beauty, in a summer dress, standing on the road side, with the wind just so slight that it makes her hair dance just that small bit, her hand across one side of her face trying to shade herself from the sun. Having said that, as luck would have it, i chanced upon this in the chaotic roads of Delhi. And this chanced encounter led to a comedy of sorts. As i was busy admiring this beauty, trying to cross the road, i forgot that i was responsible for the movements of a steel beast, cruising at an easy 50 k's...apparently so did the drivers of the two cars that were ahead of me. When the realization finally struck them to revert their gaze back on the boring roads ahead, it led to an immediate application of pressure on the brakes. As one can guess, it led to the 3 cars "slightly" bumping into one another. As all three drivers got out of their cars, in tandem the reaction was as follows:
1. Dismayed look at the damage done to the car.
2. A longing gaze at the beauty a few metres away.
3. A sheepish grin to the other two drivers.

Upon realizing the stupidity of the whole situation we all just got back into our cars, I still cant believe that no words were exchanged, no altercations took place... just a very strong feeling of being an ass was common between us.

Finally have reached my office without any more undue excitement, have ol' franky boy queued up and am determined to make the tide turn and see through the day...

Its been Kick Ass...

Well the past one month, to sum up has been one hell of a roller coaster ride, not allowing a single dull moment at any given point of time.

After months of deliberation, i finally decided to make a career change. Merchant Navy wasn't giving me the satisfaction that i needed, the money was good no doubt but the sense of excitement and the feeling of being content was disappearing, fast. So i made my decision, started looking for new opportunities that seemed exciting and had good prospects for the future as well. Applied to a few places, got turned down by most of them; "What would we possibly want out of a Merchant Navy officer..?" being the standard thought process. A few offers did come by, but the offerings were so abysmally dismaying that they were outrightly rejected.

As luck would have it, over a fateful brunch with a Ms. Neha Yadav (one of the most socially active creatures i happen to know), she put me in touch with an Ad Agency and helped in arranging an interview with the CEO. Well all i can say is that i rocked the interview and came out as an Account Manager. And by the way, total RESPECT Neha... you rock!!

While there was some respite at one end, there was trouble brewing at the other and dark clouds were approaching, at a nerve racking speed. For the first time, the blue eyed boy of the family was being rebellious and making a rash decision. My folks just couldn't understand the concept of a career change. Why would their son leave a lucrative career, an industry wherein he has carved a niche for himself, was beyond them. This doubt of theirs was met by outright rejection by their apparently inconsiderate and brash son who had decided to stick to his guns no matter what. Well, the time was difficult, its slightly better now but i have a long way to go before a peace treaty is signed and the borders traversed freely.During this time, I can say that was it not for my friends, two being out of town (and I really do miss them a lot) every day just to get by, would have been an excruciating effort. Guys I am really glad I had your support and a patient ear while i was narrating my woes and agonies. Thank you for being there.

At the work front, i have had the advantage of having a really great boss who helps me out as much as he can especially when i am at my wits end and i know that i can no longer bluff my way through (please cut me some slack here, i am new at the job and cant you see that i am going through a lot!!). My tenacity to absorb everything and learn the ropes as fast as possible has been well rewarded by having very helpful colleagues. I was also fortunate enough to land up an account with a big corporate, having a 60 billion infrastructure and there was no ways in hell that i wasn't going to make the most of it. So began a month having 18 hrs working day (you see I had ulterior motives for not complaining and trying to reach home on time...i know i am being a coward), no regard for weekends, endless meetings, tight deadlines not being met and tempers flying, deadlines being rescheduled and then well.....

All in all, the hard work paid off, the launch for the product went as smooth as a baby goose (??!?). With my parents.., well I can say that returning home before they are fast asleep is no longer a daunting task.

My first project.

A Start??

How do i put it down??

I have always been a bit against the concept of blogging...a few blogs that I have read seem to be less of an expression of opinion and more of a "Dear Diary..." sorts. Now there's nothing really wrong with that, but the idea that people out there, whom you don't actually know are reading some of your darkest secrets and deepest desires is well.. a bit disturbing.

So the question arises, why am i here? And what exactly am I going to write... to be very honest, i have absolutely no idea but I am going to try nonetheless, although there's a nasty feeling that I will fall into the same category as the one I was describing a few seconds ago.

A little heads up on me, I was born in Dubai (no connection to the Mafia Syndicate mind you). Moved to Delhi when I was still in my mom's lap and lived a blissful existence. I studied in Don Bosco, spent a wonderful 13 years having a ball of a time and made friends who are the supporting pillars of my life.

I fancy myself as a writer (yeah i can see groan being let out with the exclamation "Here we go again..."), and basically this is chance for me to brush up on my writing skills (yeah right!!). So i am making this resolution, and will try my absolute best to Blog as regularly as possible or Blog with as many interesting things as possible (come on ppl, you cant have them both can you?)

So i am signing off for now.. have a brillaint day ahead!!