Smoke.........Drink............do Drugs..................

That was a time when I was volunteering in an NGO in my summer vacation. My colleague, Mr. Abhishek and I were having our usual discussion over lunch on various random topics. I do not precisely remember how it started but we had discussion on smoking cigarette, drinking and doing drugs. This was so memorable to me because it brought about a radical thought process in me. Here I try to put the conversation we had in words….

Me: - They are wrong. They should be banned!

Abhishek: - Wait….Drugs are not legal anyways. Why should drinking be banned? Why should smoking? I prefer not to.

Me: - You do know how many people die with ailments of smoking….Cancer….Respiratory problems and many damn unheard diseases. How many people spend all their income on buying liquor? Drunk driving?  Liver problems………….

Abhishek: - Stop there..!!  Someone making the wrong use of something doesn’t make it unholy or unethical. I know my limits and I shall do so. Why should you ban altogether?

Me: - Precisely the point. You know your limits and try to stay within them. What about all of them who cannot decide what is right for them? Everyone who starts something new like smoking or drinking has few limits set by him. Limits might gradually be extended and he can move on to being addicted to it. Followed by all it’s by products…………

Abhishek: - Tell me this. 20,000 people die every year because of Rabies and dog bites. So let’s ban Dogs and kill them? 14 people die every hour in road accidents. So let’s ban Vehicles? I am not supporting drinking or smoking. I just want to push the argument for arguments sake to bring reasoning to your claims.

Me: - Road accidents, dog bites are out of our hands. We are fate’s slaves there, though they can be reduced. But these are based on our personal decision to do it. These can be avoided and one of the best ways is to ban them. Once banned they become illegal and their availability becomes scarce. This would greatly help the newcomers not to join the club.

Abhishek: - Drugs are banned and illegal in US. Was it effective? You cannot base your arguments only on deaths. Bring in new parameters and views to convince people. People see it as a source of pleasure and fun.

Me:- Hmm…So how about their addictiveness? The risk of getting addicted to them is much higher than others and fatal to life also. We rarely hear someone telling my life got better after doing drugs.

Abhishek: - If such was the case then smoking weed should have been made legal like cigarette. There is a huge debate over it.

Me:- Well that might be a starter for proceeding on to bigger fish. You are seeing it alone and not the very high possibility of moving on to others. Many people being educated about the ill effects of these start them. How will you tackle this? I see banning it a viable solution. If not all together, at least in phases.

Abhishek: - Seems convincing… (With a laugh) You always need to educate people, de-addict the addicted, provide legal, medical help to them and then ban them…. (Again a laugh)

Me: - The case is different for drugs. We have smoking and drinking in the veins of society. Drugs is in a different scenario. We can and should approach it differently.

Abhishek: - Yep. It should come both from Law and rules, from enforcement of it and from you, to educate your friends.

Our plates were already empty by now. We ended our conversation and moved on to our work. One thing I could not make out of our discussion is to what Mr. Abhishek is thinking. What are his views on this? He was more trying to make me argue than put his point here, but I hope this unfinished discussion between us would be filled by opinions of many others by writing an article. Hope the topic is brought to the table for a healthy discussion.

Light In Dark

Life is all about how you choose to live it. We are destined to spend this life however harsh or how happy the life might turnout to be. It is like a game of chess, in order to win you sometimes need to sacrifise something of yours. It is all up to how you take it, how you understand it and how you feel it.

There might be a sand storm raging around you. It is upto you whether to close your eyes and save yourselves from its fury or put open and search for an exit out of it. I do, like many of you, appreciate the comforts of every day routine — the security of the familiar, the tranquility of repetition. I enjoy them as much as any bloke. Difficulty lies when things go out of your hands and beyond  your control. When those dear to you become helpless, when you feel to be in an infinite abyss. How do you put on with these situations and circumstances when nothing can be done with you.

I see two fruits on the tree of solution to this problem. One in the hand's reach and other too high. It might need a stone to cut it off. The low hanging fruit suggests to look around you. It tells you to see and understand the suffering of many others. It reminds you of greater pain and helplessness that the world possess and has been treasuring for ages along. It reminds you that the pain is eternal and people are suffering much more than you. It is everywhere. It is in everyone. It is everlasting.

While the other tougher one is about beauty. It suggests you to see light in the darkness. It tells you to admire the beauty of things around you. It reminds you that there is no end to it when keep looking for it. It is what you look for that you see. It tells you to look for happiness and light. It is everywhere. It is in everyone. It is everlasting.

Both these solutions that the tree has to provide offers you the peace and salvation in those tough circumstances. The one that is low hanging is obviously the one which needs no effort and found easily. That is finding peace in others greater suffering. While the other fruit, is tough to get it. It takes effort to get to it and enjoy the taste it has to provide. It means finding tranquility in the beauty that these dark times have to provide.

Why should the fruits be placed like that? Which one would be more better? Which is more sweeter? I wouldn't answer it to you. You should get it. Beauty is eternal and ever existing. It is for you to search for it. It is an immovable object. Suffering on the other hand is varying. Today you might be happy, but who knows about tomorrow. You might well suffer. Finding the one which is for ever is difficult and hence is not low hanging. As you understand the second fruit is more sweeter because think of yourselves in a situation , in which you were finding peace all these days. Think of yourselves in that very abyss that you were fearing of. You would be helpless, you would be without a way out. You might not find peace in these situations.

So, though hard try to find peace and tranquility in the beauty that things have to provide. but not in others sufferings. As I say beauty is eternal. Suffering can haunt you anytime........

Ditch..........that Business fell in

We pretty often read in the newspapers; companies, industries, MNC's demanding proper infrastructure, incentives etc for better business and more investments. I describe to you an incident that I came across which is very much similar to that, which tells the importance of Infrastructure.

                   You often find things like filling up pits on roads, removing clogged drains, repairing street lights etc taking loads of time to happen. Putting reasons aside, it badly effects small businesses. How?  Why?  If so? I have answers to this with a simple example. A usually very busy road was blocked to lay a new sewage and a drinking water pipeline in my dear city Vijayawada. They have dug up the tar road and the view there reminds anyone of typical sewage work done in India, large pipes, heaps of mud and rubble, broken road pieces and all the sewage crap and smell. But, this has a special flavour to it owing to its prime location in the hear of city and a important cross road.

To my and everyone's surprise that was lying in the same state for quite a bit long time. The progress was lukewarm despite it being a busy center. Reason...typical Indian bureaurocracy and contractors. Public Transport had to be diverted in to clumsy and cumbersome roads, vehicles had to take a long yet heavy traffic area to reach their destinations. Believe me even an ambulance has to take that long path to reach the emergency ward of the Hospital. These are few of the many outcomes of the work which should be done but cannot be delayed. Surprising is it's effect on business.

Vehicles including those of RTC (Road Transport Corporation) have been diverted, so roads are empty. Lack of commuters along that road brought down the market of the Kirana, Pan and Gutka shops and many others because of less crowd. These are the one of the many that were effected. Petrol bunks, Malls, Super Markets are all pray to this. Business has gone down and can be seen easily for any familiar visitor to the place. Interestingly there is some light in the darkness. I found that one's who were happy with this development were the private transport Auto walas. With their immediate and strong competition RTC buses out of the way they are gaining both consumers confidence and the demand along that way are the reasons for their smile. This is a blow to already in heavy loss RTC. But so goes the day.

This is one the infinite pool of examples portraying the ills of bad governance. I have many more to tell you but these are things that may not be clear to many yet strikingly simple once understood..........

Criticism

Criticism........


Nishanth Dikkala, one of my batchee and I were having a random chat on minors. He added to that he is proud of the work I do and said he would support me in future if he likes the path I chose. He was quick to suggest me from his vast experience from playing tennis and other things to accept criticism from those who have already gone through what I intend to do. He warned me not to think or care too much of others comments.

I was quick to reply the following from my experience in asking people to work or to support a movement.

When it comes to about criticism, everyone does comment on what you do. Those who know the path you travel suggest you or warn you with detail and some sort of understanding. But, those outside such experience tend to see things in simple and often vague terms. Some of their comments might be degraded in nature, sometimes going personal, sometimes questioning our character itself, sometimes intentional, sometimes unintentional but hurting. I see a positive side to it.

Some of their questions might be very simple Why me? Why should I? What will I get? or be it something that questions something that you take it for granted. First many including me get offended by such a question. I first used to think why haven't they cannot understand that simple thing. But the truth is that I did not have all the answers to their questions. Truth is that I have not thought about these before, I took them for granted. Their questions if you put aside your reactions to it and think of answers. You many a times tend to have a greater understanding of what you are doing.

The more and more people question and you try to answer, the more clearer you get many a times as different people see it in a different light. I understood this from questioning by Abhishek, my colleague at FDR and numerous others who questioned me upon my request to support Anna's movement or my actions or way of thinking. They questioned things which I could never think of. Shocked at first every time but finally came up with an answer satisfactory to both me and them. I may not always be successful in my efforts and I failed many a times but it is all in the game. It does come with a price of bearing with those comments and having a guilt of doing something embarrassing or different for others.

These small incidents of my life are mattering a lot to me now. They are influencing my thoughts and my way of accepting life. Hope my journey would be more fruitful and I could share to you my understanding............