The Immaculate Americans

Ever since I visited the US I have dropped many of my misgivings about the country and its people. Ofcourse the fact still remains that I think Bush is the biggest enemy to world peace next only to Osama himself. But what I am talking about here is the people side of it. I have come to hold them in very high regard for a few reasons. I will talk about one reason which holds a lot of relevance to India;

Outsourcing-this is one word that has generated more heat in the 21st century that anything else and I should say I am truly impressed by the way Americans have accepted outsourcing as a fact of life: it is painful today, but ultimately it brings a level of competitiveness to their companies and hence to their economy which will be really difficult to be surpassed by anyone in the foreseeable future. Trust me, operating on a global scale with countries like India (with a 12 hour time difference) is not an easy task-and the American companies have just begun to master it. There have been huge layoffs-in the order of tens of thousands of people. There were ofcourse loud noises-that is natural-but the point is that there were no draconian "populist" measures to pacify these noises. The politicians were still able to “sell” the idea that outsourcing is good for the Americans and the people accepted it-this is true democracy-where leaders don’t look for the impulses of the people and be carried away by that-but are able to think long term and “lead” their people to success and prosperity.

Well, just imagine this scenario-some time in the future an "Indian" company in Mumbai is laying off five thousand people to stay afloat amidst tough competition. What do you expect would happen the next day? My guess is atleast 10 buses will burn the next day. The communist parties would be marching all the way from Kerala to 10 Janpath, from Kolkata to Mumbai, creating havoc disrupting public life. Newspapers would highlight the fact that this company could just as easily closed down its branch in Kenya (which was by the way operating at half the cost). Then all public attention would have been diverted to the fact that the evil Kenyans were ultimately responsible for all of these. Then the government would chip-in and make laws which prevent any company from opening divisions in Africa-just protecting the locals they would say. Then the communists would hail it as a victory and parade it in the next elections to come back to power now to include along with Africa, other parts of Asia as well in the list of “prohibited” areas. Soon these businesses would be chucked out of competition by smart American firms who have by now established a firm foothold in Africa and Asia. And our communist babus will be flying in airplanes (as cabinet ministers ofcourse) to US and other countries begging them to establish centers in India-all the while wondering what was so wrong with this country that noone wants to invest here!!!

This might be a bit far-stretched, but this is not very far from reality-I bet in another 25 years we will be facing something akin to that-will we be mature enough by then?

Flying without Wings...

Since my childhood, I have been fascinated by train journeys-thanks to my father's transferable job, I must have traveled in train atleast a hundred times. I love the journey so much that I almost pounced on my classmate who innocently asked (he was traveling for the first or second time in train) "Why are there only four berths while there are 6 people assigned to a cabin!!"

The first and foremost thing about these journeys is the peeking out thing...initially I used to be the good-boy resisting my temptations and peeking out only through the grilled window. That itself used to be so much fun. After I gained independence (!!!read started traveling alone), I started doing the "cooler" thing-standing on the doorstep with the wind blowing on your face gives you a really amazing feeling-one of the "freedoms" that we enjoy by being in India-in most advanced countries the door locks automatically.

Then there is the meeting of people, I have been guilty of not getting to know my neighbors in my building (everyday I meet new faces in my flat and move on uncaring), but in train, there is this joy of talking to strangers and not having to worry about seeing them the next day. The mix of people in my bay (cabin) has always been highly variegated, from cute children to ravishing girls to interesting youngsters to reminiscing elders...infact during college days, I had a friend from Madurai and we used to go in the same train to home and Though this fellow was reserved with outsiders, he (and I:)) harbored fancies of meeting the Miss.Gorgeous and striking up a (life-long::)) conversation with her. But every time, I repeat EVERY TIME (we did this almost 7 times) we used to have people over 60 in our compartment-not even youngsters of our age-it was always the same:). It was like Railways had a built-in rule to redirect people over sixty to our cabin!! We used to blame each other for our extraordinary luck. Still it was fun as we heard some of them talk about their children who lived in US (does every child live in US??), the antics of their grandchildren and so on..

Definitely trains in India, inspite of their delays and inconveniences is one awesome thing about this country and I love it:).

Are you happy?

This is part of a mail I received on Art of Living mailing list and it made a lot of sense...hence wanted to share it here...

What is your commitment in life? You may say you are committed to happiness. Every living creature wants to be happy. Whether it is money, power or sex, you get into it for the sake of happiness. Some people even enjoy misery because it gives them happiness!

To be happy, we seek something. But despite getting it, we are not happy. A school-going boy may think that if he goes to college, he will be more independent, free and therefore happy. If you ask a college-going boy whether he is happy, he feels that if he gets a job, he will be happy. Talk to somebody who is settled in their job or business, you already know what he will say! He is waiting to get a perfect soul mate, to be happy. He gets a soul mate, but he now wants a kid to be happy. Ask those who have children if they are happy. How can they relax until the children have grown up and have had a good education and are on their own. Ask those who are retired, are they happy? They long for the days when they were younger.

All of one’s life is spent in preparing to be happy someday in the future. It’s like making a bed all night, but having no time to sleep.

How many minutes, hours and days have we spent our life being happy from within ? Those are the only moments you have really lived life. Those were perhaps the days when you were a small kid, completely blissful and happy or a few moments when you were surfing, swimming or sailing or on a mountain top, living in the present and enjoying it.

There are two ways of looking at life. One is thinking that, “I'll be happy after achieving a certain objective.” The second is saying that “I am happy come what may!”

Which one do you want to live?