Never say Never

I always thought I was organized, set and controlled in life. I had complete control of life and I wouldn’t digress from all that was planned.

To be organized, to plan, to make pert charts was probably my biggest obsession. The smallest of task and my network sheets would crop up. I could never wait for life to happen to me. I knew I had to make life happen.

Confident, aggressive, ambitious, little proud & pompous, life couldn't be wrong with me…that was my belief, or probably most of us believe in that. Until the heights collapse, the walls narrow in, hopes sink, waves calm down and people seem scarce. the phrase.
“It can never happen to me” ceases to exist.

That’s the time god makes you believe in his existence and crushes that pride that made you into a ‘not so good’ human being. He will make you realize of his superiority, his powers and the castle of cards you thought was a steady shelter in your life.

When one stands atop the highest peak, things seem small and tiny, probably unimportant. The words in your conscience are “I will ‘never’ ever be down there.”
The road ahead seems dearer than the journey you left behind. We forget the golden rule in life;
“Rise and fall is a rule in life with no exceptions.”
Not everybody needs to walk downhill or tread the path he left behind but it’s just that, “NEVER” forget the lessons you absorbed on the way and be unaccepting to life. At any point in time remember you will need to embrace life with whatever it holds for you then

Sometimes you wish you had more control over situations that can just sweep you off your feet. When you feel that once I achieve this I progress a step further and will do this and once I achieve that I will work towards the other. That achievement that stability you wish to achieve and use as a base for next steps is a myth, a mirage that is never realized. As you move closer to what you call achievement sucks you in further more and you lose yourself to situations and circumstances.

Today you believe that I don’t want this or I can make this happen at my time, my pace or when I am ready for it. But my friend we don’t live in isolation. Our lives are so entwined with so many other people and forces that it takes, people, energy and forces to all unite at one time and make things happen. There is no either or!

It’s not procrastination but the belief or rather overconfidence that I and ‘me’ solely can make anything happen when I want it. I know a lot of people who spend years chasing bachelor hood and when the y seek companionship finally they fail to see anybody around. That carnival of people around suddenly seemed to elope. Then either it’s no companion or not a perfect companion.

I know friends of mine who tell me I will ‘never’ want to have babies, I don’t want babies yet, or its too early, or cant compromise ‘us’ for ‘it’ yet. They thought they could plan ‘life’. They craved, pleaded and begged to god to make it happen but it didn’t…
They believe that it will happen but, just the journey now seems so long.

I know some friends who believed that they were the best, life would walk to them, they looked down on people, laughed at their miseries, wondered how it would be to have a tough life. They were so happy reveling in the good life that it blinded them until god opened the blindfold and showed them life. Now those eyes are sensitive and can see through problems of all. Now those are eyes are happy to help and not judgmental

We all live in this eternal faith that “it will ‘never’ happen to me”. I will ‘never’ do this, I ‘never’ want this, I ‘never’ will have to put my hands forward. I ‘never’ will have to see downhill, life can ‘never’ be bad with me.
The battle is not with the time you need to get there, or the pace you want to progress at. Just be open and accepting of the fact that today you don’t want it, tomorrow you can’t or may not have it.

Life will happen at the pace you want it at, just delete the ‘never’ in your life coz life keeps changing and situations and circumstances make us do things we thought we’d thought we will ‘NEVER’ do.

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Everything you want, you will have

This one is from the man who inspired me to write. whose columns made me religiously read the Bombay Times every tuesday. Cyrus Merchant, he made me believe in life.

There is a place and a time where everything will be well. and you will be present there. Am I merely some merchant of hope, selling you soap for the soul each time I write, will what I tell you ever bear fruit, your fruit? That you will know and until you do, believe. Believe that this whole thing we are all a part of was not designed to end in despair.

Besides that this whole thing which we so little understand, has at the helm, someone who does understand. god is too good too let it be bad for you, for long. Heaven won’t keep you hungry, it will serve you a banquet. But here’s the difficult part: you may not get your deepest hunger for whatever it is you are hungry, fulfilled here and now, accept certain inalienable truths. accept them as god’s will. A will you don’t want, hate can’t understand. One that makes you ask aloud "why is god doing this?" Yes, in the pressure cooker of your prayers, burning on the slow flame of faith, for years you asked and it is still being denied.

Don’t curse and turn your flame off, your faith may not have won for you, but it will warm you. The serenity prayer which every living adult is familiar with is more profound than we know... ‘god help me to accept that which I cannot change.’

Millions before you have resigned at the altar of his wish.... and found happiness. The house of the lord has many rooms, some will welcome us. The wisdom lies in not banging on the door that can never be opened.
At a breath-takingly beautiful lunch at six pm with a lake down below, an old friend awash with wine and some of life’s most mature living, concluded that no matter what we do and what we try, god’s way is final. Only humans rush where even angels fear to tread and then we live lifetimes paying the price.

God always gives us what we want; when will we give god what he wants? having said the difficult part for you and having said so after having seen many lose their dream, their loved one, sickness battles lost even after persistent prayers, I know that in some enchanted place where there is a perfect music, everything will be alright again. you will have what you want. and you will have who you want but not now. Perhaps even when your eyes are closed and you are a part of a world that is not this one, you will have your heart opened with joy.

God’s delays aren’t god’s denials. Sometimes he says "yes," sometimes he says "no." and sometimes he says "wait." Pray with the intellect of your soul and find out which of these three is his answer to you and then have the grace to accept, and have the sense to know that god knows what we think we know and have once and for all, the supreme liberating knowledge of that if you can be with god through life, no matter what, then life is with you, no matter what.

You only need obedience, you only need to be exceptionally good, you only need to be eternally religious or spiritual through life, on his side. Just never give up and fight the fight with a smiling soul the play is infinitely more significant than the problem.

Your life is not your problem. your problem is a part of your life, it is not your life. Cross the river if it’s stormy on this side, but don’t keep cursing, crying, the river will flow anyway.

Life will go on and you will be left behind. what kills homes, families and individuals and may be you is not your problem, but in the way you perceive it. There is more good to your life than bad. and the bad will go, it all always ends in good. that’s why they’re all working there - for us.

There are only happy endings; it’s the interruptions that are sad. I know you will be very happy because that is the eternal promise made to us.
og mandino said it beautifully: just before you were born, just before you were coming out of your mother’s womb and into this world, god whispered to you - "you are my greatest miracle" and you will be loved by me through life." then we were delivered and we forget his last words to us. Remember god’s promise to you. Remember that when you go back to him, you will find everything repaired again. Nobody is unhappy, nobody is dead, nothing is wrong in an increasingly materialistic world, I have nothing to offer you, but this - in some enchanted place, when god is happy with you, you will find your loved one, your miracle, your greatest joy... and you will remember what you read today.

Believe in your faith, it will come true. Don't lose the belief incase of delays...

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Small joys of life!

As I walk hand in hand with my husband learning to slow down in my last few days of pregnancy at the place that belongs to the common man... Worli sea face.

I am amazed to see or rather it brings a sweet smile on my face of how life gives happiness to everybody.
Sitting on the parapet that's just being renovated most couples sit oblivious to the world spending their best times together.

They sit all evening till finally the security guy whistles and gets them out through the rocks... Those times together always seemed to pass so fast. Some people look at the sea, soul searching waiting for it to reply to the questions in their life. Some others look up at the stars and wish life was beautiful and they achieve all they wish. Some stroll up and down having the conversation of their lifetime.

Some fitness freaks walk the talk and enjoy the freedom that the road offers unlike a gym, with no restrictions. Remember the road comes free and available 24/7.

Animal lovers love the no timings rule where they can spend quality time with their pets at any hour they desire.
Some people exercise in weird poses stretching their arms and legs not bothered wether people laugh at them or not

little children hugged and kissed the statue of the common man by R.K. Laxman not knowing who he was but sure someone important as he posed there. Tourists took pictures with him as memoirs of their visit to one of the tourists spots in Mumbai.

The ice cream vendor on the cycle ringing the bell with kids following him with the hope that their parents would buy them a small candy. A newly married couple sharing a candy that was melting in the Bombay heat but seemed like the best joy toy for them. They looked into each others eyes and shared the candy and laughed on their coloured lips.

An old couple maybe in their 80's where both of them supported and watched the path of the other as they walked along to ensure the other never falls.

A father running after his growing son as he learned to cycle along in life. He may hav ebeen a high profiled banker, a ceo, an ace surgeon but then he was a father.

Shedding all inhibitions people came to this space just to be... Who they were, which role they played nothing mattered. It was their time and they lived it.
Everything wasn't perfect but everybody was happy. Actually after a really longtime I saw that childlike happiness on so many faces at a go.
The simplicity of life is what touched that cord in my heart and made me appreciate small joys of life!!!

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Globality replacing Globalization

A recent podcast got me to think of various boundaries that are fast diminishing between developing & developed economies. We all thought after Thomas Friedmans', “The world is flat” that the world is flat but if it was, then their would not be any competitive advantage. If all wage rates were common across the globe then globalization would not exist. But the reality is that the world is very spiky and that's precisely why this is happening. If the world had the same wage rates everywhere, we wouldn't be seeing the rise of ‘GLOBALITY’.

Globalization is actually over, a one-way street. It was about the companies from the U.S. and Europe, and then later on Japan, going to the rapidly developing economies with large populations and very low wage rates and either producing product or buying product, shipping it back to the developed markets, and then shipping over some very high-end and often luxury goods to those markets. So, it was fundamentally a one-way street.

What has changed over the last few years with the rise of the BRIC nations is the emergence of a two-way street. What we have seen over the last five years is not just companies from the West coming to India and China, etc., but companies from India, China, Russia and Brazil becoming real companies that are not just operating in their local markets, but are actually taking their rightful place on the global stage. And, in doing so, they are starting to challenge the traditional multinational companies. Now, it's a two-way street and a competition.

Companies that operate in environments with different spikes, such as low-cost labor, are beginning to use those spikes to their advantage. Then they can build on that advantage by investing in research and development, new product development and distribution.

The opportunities and threats are similar in both developed & developing economies Differential wage rates offer a tremendous advantage relative to companies in the developed economies where wages are expensive.
But if they sit back and just stay local, they'll end up losing the advantage over time, because companies compete on more than just wages. If you want to produce a low-end product, you can do it that way. But you'll need to step out into other markets to learn about how to bring the best of the rest of the world to bear on your own business and if you're not taking a global perspective, your competitors in India or China may come into your market and take your position. The balancing act will be critical and low cost alone won't be enough to win, because at this point in time all the BRIC nations are competing only on that front and there will eventually be a level playing field.

The developed economies or the mature markets must never ignore the potential of consumption of the developing economies. Today with China & India together offering 2.3 bn people of whom at least a billion would be consumers would only grow to add a billion people to your portfolio in the years to come. One of the best examples of this is Nokia and its head on strategy in China & India. They built a position in China in the early days, by selling the traditional way -- by offering a higher-cost Western product. No CUSTOMIZATION.

With the influx of low cost local manufacturers the demand increased from the rich to the masses and Nokia started to lose market share and Nokia was under attack.. Nokia defied the conventional response of retreating and instead moved its product development centre to China and customized for the Chinese consumers. Learning each country is different and nobody understands the consumer there better than their own people. You have to be there, you have to learn, and retreat is not an option.
Nokia regained its 30% market share in China. It then applied the same learning’s in the growing Indian market.

Also it’s only a local member who can bring in the dynamism & creativity that is brought in. e.g. would the developed economies have thought of introducing a car like the Nano. They would have never understood the need for a Nano to produce one. Localization does bring in the flavour.

With the economic downturn there will be more pressure to lower costs, which of course is one of the advantages of operating in developing economies. That may encourage even more Western companies to go beyond their own borders to lower costs, and may also create more opportunities for companies from the BRIC nations. It also may mean more outbound M&A from the developing world, which will give the emerging companies access to brands and technology, possibly at lower prices.

We definitely are heading to a two way street aren’t we?


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5 ways to drive traffic to your blog

This is a subject that I guess is most googled by bloggers. How important is it for people to come to your blog?

The 5 key things that a bllogger must focus on are:
1. Write on relevant and current topics
2. Write on topics that would interest people
3. Ping it
4. Subscribe to a whole lot of other blogs that will help you promote it
5. Comment on other blogs frequently

Where is the content my friend I ask as I read these popular blogs?
Blogs are more often written as extensions and expressions of peoples personalities. They are views you would like to share with people. How can you customize content to what others would like to read and not what you believe in.

But the other side of the coin also says that if you want more and more poeple to know or believe in your thoughts you will have to get it across to more people. And for that if you have to do the above 5 with content as priority. I suggesst you do it but without compromising on content.

All good things in life also need a push...

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Indian Mujahideen or Simi

With Terrorism spreading its reach across borders and especially in India and all the media trying to uncover who these so called extremists or jihadis are? After each terror strike he media does not fail to come out with a special on either the outfit responsible for the attack, or how it was performed, its impact,the strategy future repercursions.

How does it matter which outfit it is? Whether its the Al - Quaida, Indian Mujahideen, the Simi, LET, or any new outfit that's just mushroomed. The point is the belief and the extremism that these people believe in that needs to be attacked vs. the outfit.

The police will never be able to kill terrorism or erode it by chasing these outfits . Change the name and it anyways loses its identity, it's the thought, the belief, the fundamentalism, the hatred which is ingrained in these people that needs to be addressed. Unless that is done this battle is a lost one. it is foolish to fight this battle with mere names.

These fundamentalist don't belong to Islam, Christianity, Hinduim. They are people who want to create their own releigion and believe in what they want to believe in irrespective of what the religion teaches. They are criminals performing under the garb of religion.

My only plea would be don't run after the names, it's the cause that needs to be addressed.

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Sea of Change

What a wonderful thing change can be and how much we resist it. Last week I met an old friend who had a few months ago given up his cushy job as an investment banker only to pursue his first love, teaching. He had to give up his well appointed Malabar Hill apartment, his club memberships, even his holidays abroad, but the peace and contentment on his face was worth seeing. He walked, lived likely finally he found his ground, his calling, his life. Of course there had been trepidation, would his daughter adjust to the change in lifestyle, school, miss the luxuries of life.

Did he deprive her of it, was he being selfish. Is giving up luxury for love foolish? Once the moment passes by those luxuries seem petty, those friends who didn’t hold on with your status change seem worthless.

If they didn’t support your calling they weren’t your friends. If you cease to be reason enough to your friends, you were definitely treading the wrong path. Change. How much we fear it. And how important it is for us to experience it. And any change, not only when good things happen to us, but also when the bad things occur.

Life is, as any enlightened sage will tell you, is a constant interplay of interconnected opposites, good and bad, happy and sad, kind and cruel. In what doses no one can say, but what s absolutely certain is that nothing lasts forever, and change is inevitable. We are all so adaptable that we will survive and learn the tricks of the new trade. After a while we will also enjoy the new trade. You will survive and then live. Its only a matter of time.

My friend who chucked his job as a banker now has time to read to his daughter, accompany his wife to the plays she longed to see hand in hand and read the book he always wanted. Its not all hunky dory, there are the inevitable lows as well. But he says for 24 years I hung on to my job as a banker and worked myself to sickness and death so frightened of losing it; or not reaching the top, or not performing to my bosses expectations. And then finally when I let go, the relief was so much. I confronted my worst fear and insecurity and found that I had still survived.

Change. See what you hold dear in your life, what you cling to, and hanker for. And be courageous and let go. Go with the flow, don’t surrender to life, be that unpredictable crazy river that decided her own course and is never scared to chase her dreams, her heart. Jump with out looking. And you will see that the safety net will always be there. It might not be the net you wanted. But something for someone will be there to break your fall, and hold you.

Change something. Anything. Remove just one thing, from your life, and see what life puts back in as a surprise.

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