Thursday, October 23, 2008

Poem : पर्वत से बातचीत

This is my only attempt in life for poem writing. (Read it to discover why I did not try any further :) ). I wrote it in my 8th standard as part of an assignment for a poem called नदी से बातचीत (yeah....you got it right, nothing original about the idea)

कल सांझ को जब मैंने अटल अचल पर्वत को देखा,
तब यूँ ही मैंने उससे पुछा,
"मित्र, तुम तो बड़े भाग्यवान हो,
यूँ अटल हो रह में खड़े हो,
इस धरा का गौरव हो,
हम मानवों को भी सफलता की कून्ज्जी बता दो,
हमारे जीवन को फूलों से भर दो"
यह सुनकर अपनी दृढ़ वाणी में,वह सरोष कहने लगा,
"हे बंधू! क्यूँ तुम इस तरह के प्रश्न पूछते हो?
यूँ ही मुझसे होड़ बांधते हो
यदि तुम्हे तुम्हारा उत्तर चाहिए,
तो एक कड़वी सच्चाई को तुम्हे निगलना होगा
फ़िर भी सुनो,ज़रा अपने अंतर्मन से पूछो,
क्या तुमने स्वयं को कृत्रिम दीवारों में कैद कर नही रखा?
तुम प्रकृति के आशीष को लेने से कतराते हो,
आंधी तूफानों को झेलने से घबराते हो
यदि आज मुझे देखकर तुम्हारा मन लालायित हुआ है,
तो कृत्रिम दीवारे तोड़ो,
धरती को अपना घर समझो, अम्बर को छत मानो
दृढ़ निश्चय करके मैदान में डटे रहो
जीना है तो स्वयं के लिए नही,दूसरो के लिए जीयो
मित्र! सफलता की रह तो है कांटो की, इसमे फूल तुम न ढूंढो
कांटो को सहो, पत्थरो को झेलो,
कभी न रुको, कभी न झुको, बस चलते चले जाओ
यदि सचमुच तुम्हे महान बनना है,तो दूसरो को क्षुद्र न समझो
यह सब करने पर ही तुम्हे सफलता मिलेगी,
और इस तरह के प्रश्न पूछने की ज़रूरत न पड़ेगी|"

Saturday, October 18, 2008

Don Quixote - Book Review

It works! My latest resolution is now fulfilled! Thanks to this blog of mine and my quixotic belief that I have got readers to whom I am answerable. Needless to say, it means I have finally finished reading Don Quixote. The quest had begun somewhere in the beginning of the year, and ends in futility now. Okay, now enough about me; this post is supposed to be a book review.

Very frankly, I am yet to figure out what is so great about this book. Right, it’s been written in the 16th century and is one of its kinds and all. It’s about a dreamer called Don Quixote who reads volumes of books about knighthood and fairy-tale endings and foolishly begins to believe in them. He adorns himself with armor, takes his skinny horse, and an assistant (or squire) and sets out in search of adventures. His first one happens to be a combat with windmills – which he supposes to be cruel giants – he even convinces his squire that those are indeed monsters masquerading as windmills, and ends up getting badly bruised. Obviously. Many such misadventures follow culminating in the breaking of many bones and teeth and subsequently his squire christens him as Knight of the Ill Favored Face.

Like all the heroes he has read about, Quixote feels he should also acquire a lady for whom he would pine (unnecessarily) and (attempt to) write sonnets. He idolizes a village girl as his damsel, names her the Lady Dulcinea and seeks greater adventures – like assuming an inn to be a castle (an ‘enchanted’ castle to top that), lamenting like a madman in the forest for his lost love (which is never acquired at the first place), fighting with bottles of wine in a slumber dreaming of enemies, assuming a herd of sheep to be opposing armies approaching in a battlefield (and is in dilemma on whose side he should be), and so on. His aim is to accomplish as many adventures as he has read of or even more, so that he would then be able to win his lady. Interesting thought.

But we have heard so much about Don Quixote at the windmills and it is so extensively referred to in various art and literary forms that actually reading the book (or rather, its translation – the actual book is written in Spanish by Cervantes) does not enrich you much. It also does not really entertain (unless 16th century Spain interests you) with its lords and ladies and inns and castles. There are many tales within tales about all the people who are gathered in the inn (the enchanted castle) – and many dramas unfold about the supporting characters. If you have read Shakespearean dramas, these again would not interest you. One character actually reads out a totally unrelated story from a book of knighthood in his curiosity to discover what has veered Don Quixote from the reality so very much. Imagine. Another issue is that I read an old translation which was very difficult to read with its wherewithals and thereofs and thous and other artistic (aka artificial) words.

No more old times classics for me please. That is, till I can resist the temptation (to add another feather in my cap) or till sify delivers my order for Treasure Island.

Monday, October 6, 2008

Hard Working or Smart Working

This posting is the result of my presently ongoing utter lack of ideas and phlegmatic lethargy of what to write. Please dont read, its an article for my company magazine and is really boring.

The combination. What’s the point in always toiling hard day and night to rediscover things when you could have spent a little time to look for better available solutions and reused them? And what’s the point in always trying to work smart and evade the real implementation of the fertile resource you have been gifted with - called brains - and getting no self satisfaction at all? What the point actually is - like all things in life, there is a trade off here as well, and one needs to strike the right balance between hard and smart working – because ultimately we are working to live a certain standard of life we have chosen for ourselves, and to derive a sense of achievement and contentment from our work.


Let us consider Maslow’s hierarchy of needs to comprehend this further. According to this theory, human needs can be arranged in a pyramid as shown in the picture below.

The first four layers of the pyramid represent basic human needs and are called "deficiency needs" - an individual does not feel anything if they are met, but feels anxious if they are not. Needs beyond these four are "growth needs" - when fulfilled, they do not go away; rather, they motivate further. As and when a person keeps fulfilling the deficiency needs, starting with the physiological needs like food and shelter, (s)he keeps progressing to the upper tiers, ultimate goal being transcendence, at which people become aware of not only their own fullest potential, but the fullest potential of human beings at large.

The theory when applied to work indicates that smart working can help us achieve the deficiency needs speedily (to satisfy our anxiety). However, if one keeps working smart without putting much sweat and toil, his/her personal-professional growth would remain limited to the lower tiers. As far as the upper tiers of the growth needs are concerned, hard working is the only option (to understand and appreciate our true potential and caliber).

Hence, it is clearly evident that the optimal mix of these two working techniques can surely lead us to achieve success, and also help understand the meaning and significance of life. In media mogul Ted Tuner’s words, "Early to bed, early to rise, work like hell and advertise."