Everybody wants to be a hero. As a kid he tries to put on a towel as a cape and pretend to be superman or run around on the bed calling himself he-man. But soon he will grow beyond that dream.
As adolescence comes he tries to become a hero in real life. Among friends as the guy who peers admire or as the guy all the girls secretly look at. But then he does not really achieve what really makes him feel like a hero.
He grows up and gets a job. He goes to work everyday and one day he hopes to achieve great heights. Be the corporate hero who rose from a smalltime job to a frontpage news. But then again the corporate monster chews on that dream looms larger in the sky while the guy gets sucked into the shadows.
Somewhere along the way he will fall in love. He hopes to give the girl all the love in the world. Give her the best care and hope to see in her eyes the admiration for a hero. But soon he gets married and all he will see is his wife looking at the same old face she's seen over the years. The hero dies and the husband survives.
Few more years down the line, he will have a kid. He's going to tell the kid all the stories that once made him go 'wow'. He'll see that there were a million stories he heard as a kid but only some still linger. He will take care of his kid and he hopes to see in the kids eyes the admiration he once had as a kid. I remember thinking that my father could do anything in this world. But soon his kid will grow up and see the same old nagging father he was.
One day the guy is going to stand in front of a mirror he had seen himself in. He had started combing his hair by himself in front of that mirror. He remembers shaving for the first time in front of that. He remembers looking at those irritating pimples he had. He remembers the first grey hair he had noticed. He stares at the old wrinkled man in the mirror and he finally sees...
Aug 25, 2009
Aug 24, 2009
The test
[The incidents in this story may not be completely true. Its changed slightly to make the story interesting and open to general public.]
Life is a series of tests. You usually fail most of them. But every now and then you make up your mind and decide to fight against a personal stigma. Whenever you take up a personal path of righteousness, the rest of the world puts you through various tests.
Here's what happens. You want to quit smoking (say). And you make up your mind that you're gonna quit. You stop buying them, you stop going with people who smoke, you avoid walking through smoke and do several other things to avoid the temptation.
Test 1: My friend asks me to smoke and I said "No dude, im tryin to quit". - PASSED
Test 2: My boss says "Come shishir, lets make some coffee". When he says that he means go make some coffee, it better taste good. Get me a cup and wait for me till i get out of the cubicle, and then we'll have a smoke. The good thing is he gives a cigarette every time he wants to drink coffee. So I said "no, im trying to quit". - PASSED
Test 3: Lonely day, ex-girlfriend is putting your brain on the frying pan again. The job market is sprinkling a bit of rock salt, garam masala and lemon pepper on top of it. Im walking by the gas station and I say "no, im not gonna buy it" - PASSED
It had been such a long time since I smoked. I was so happy and pleased with myself. I eventually moved to Boston where I was completely alone and free to do whatever I wanted. I had decided that I would not smoke there. I was on top of things when I was not smoking and not tempted to smoke.
But the sad thing is I got fired from my job at Boston and I had to come back. Sad, lonely and royally fucked, I packed my bags and got on the greyhound bus back to NY. The good thing is I saw this totally hot chick in the greyhound station. 'birdwatching' is an antidepressant (apparently). So I was doing it full-swing. Finally I got on the bus, found my seat and.. 'oh yeah'. that totally hot chick was sitting right beside me. So the bus leaves Boston and I start listening to songs on my Coby MP3 player. I remember, it was 'Hello Goodbye' by the Beatles.
I was listening to that... enjoying the irony. Then I see the hot-chick beside me was sketching a tree in a sketch book. I loved sketching. Half my dreams are in sketches. Kind of like the 'Brothers in arms' video by Dire Straits.
So, impressed by the hot-chick and the sketching, I started speaking to her. And what a journey that was. We talked high and low, tried solving Sudoku (I solved more than her), we shared a huge number of interests. I wanted to continue talking to her because she was such an interesting person to talk to (and totally hot). The bus then stops at this Dominos Pizza and I ask this chick. "Do you wanna get down?". She says "Oh yea, I wanna get down smoke as many cigarettes as I can before the bus starts. Wanna join me?". I was all oh yea... and then I went to the gas station next to dominos, bought a pack of cigarettes and lit one. - FAILED>
Well... im still friends with that hot-chick. Her name is Ioana (pronounced with an "io" as in YO!). But the thing is I failed my test. Actually I wouldn't mind failing the test again in the exact same way... because you need to have your fun time too! I didn't have the strength or the will to say "no thanks". This time it was the Y gene apart from my weak will power that failed me. But still... the point of my story is that you try to do something in life, you keep getting tested. Determination is super important to achieve anything.
Life is a series of tests. You usually fail most of them. But every now and then you make up your mind and decide to fight against a personal stigma. Whenever you take up a personal path of righteousness, the rest of the world puts you through various tests.
Here's what happens. You want to quit smoking (say). And you make up your mind that you're gonna quit. You stop buying them, you stop going with people who smoke, you avoid walking through smoke and do several other things to avoid the temptation.
Test 1: My friend asks me to smoke and I said "No dude, im tryin to quit". - PASSED
Test 2: My boss says "Come shishir, lets make some coffee". When he says that he means go make some coffee, it better taste good. Get me a cup and wait for me till i get out of the cubicle, and then we'll have a smoke. The good thing is he gives a cigarette every time he wants to drink coffee. So I said "no, im trying to quit". - PASSED
Test 3: Lonely day, ex-girlfriend is putting your brain on the frying pan again. The job market is sprinkling a bit of rock salt, garam masala and lemon pepper on top of it. Im walking by the gas station and I say "no, im not gonna buy it" - PASSED
It had been such a long time since I smoked. I was so happy and pleased with myself. I eventually moved to Boston where I was completely alone and free to do whatever I wanted. I had decided that I would not smoke there. I was on top of things when I was not smoking and not tempted to smoke.
But the sad thing is I got fired from my job at Boston and I had to come back. Sad, lonely and royally fucked, I packed my bags and got on the greyhound bus back to NY. The good thing is I saw this totally hot chick in the greyhound station. 'birdwatching' is an antidepressant (apparently). So I was doing it full-swing. Finally I got on the bus, found my seat and.. 'oh yeah'. that totally hot chick was sitting right beside me. So the bus leaves Boston and I start listening to songs on my Coby MP3 player. I remember, it was 'Hello Goodbye' by the Beatles.
I was listening to that... enjoying the irony. Then I see the hot-chick beside me was sketching a tree in a sketch book. I loved sketching. Half my dreams are in sketches. Kind of like the 'Brothers in arms' video by Dire Straits.
So, impressed by the hot-chick and the sketching, I started speaking to her. And what a journey that was. We talked high and low, tried solving Sudoku (I solved more than her), we shared a huge number of interests. I wanted to continue talking to her because she was such an interesting person to talk to (and totally hot). The bus then stops at this Dominos Pizza and I ask this chick. "Do you wanna get down?". She says "Oh yea, I wanna get down smoke as many cigarettes as I can before the bus starts. Wanna join me?". I was all oh yea... and then I went to the gas station next to dominos, bought a pack of cigarettes and lit one. - FAILED>
Well... im still friends with that hot-chick. Her name is Ioana (pronounced with an "io" as in YO!). But the thing is I failed my test. Actually I wouldn't mind failing the test again in the exact same way... because you need to have your fun time too! I didn't have the strength or the will to say "no thanks". This time it was the Y gene apart from my weak will power that failed me. But still... the point of my story is that you try to do something in life, you keep getting tested. Determination is super important to achieve anything.
Aug 7, 2009
Towards adulthood
Managing money is tough!
I've out of job for just 6 months and im neck deep in debts. Its kind of a hard place to be (of course!). I always thought life would be easy if you just try to live it and be happy and not let the corporate life ruin your actual life. People always lose their minds over things like work politics, riding the morning traffic, measuring your monthly expenditures, paying bills, and most of all saving money... all a part of the corporate life.
The way I see things, there are two things to life, the corporate part, and the fun part. You need to get through the corporate part to reach the fun part. People who have fun are the ones who actually commute through the corporate life everyday without complaining about it. Most get so involved in complaining about their commute through corporate lives that they get off the corporate subway trains before the fun station arrives.
As of me, I took my first step in, slipped, fell on my butt and crawled back to being a nobody. Right now im being completely childish by complaining that I didn't slip but someone tripped me. But I know my mistakes. Im ready for round two. Gimme a ticket and I'll ride the cursed corporate subway. Im ready to be an adult. Being an adult is to walk the tough mile to reach your destination, and probably drag a few others who mean something along with you. Because far away is the candle light.
I've out of job for just 6 months and im neck deep in debts. Its kind of a hard place to be (of course!). I always thought life would be easy if you just try to live it and be happy and not let the corporate life ruin your actual life. People always lose their minds over things like work politics, riding the morning traffic, measuring your monthly expenditures, paying bills, and most of all saving money... all a part of the corporate life.
The way I see things, there are two things to life, the corporate part, and the fun part. You need to get through the corporate part to reach the fun part. People who have fun are the ones who actually commute through the corporate life everyday without complaining about it. Most get so involved in complaining about their commute through corporate lives that they get off the corporate subway trains before the fun station arrives.
As of me, I took my first step in, slipped, fell on my butt and crawled back to being a nobody. Right now im being completely childish by complaining that I didn't slip but someone tripped me. But I know my mistakes. Im ready for round two. Gimme a ticket and I'll ride the cursed corporate subway. Im ready to be an adult. Being an adult is to walk the tough mile to reach your destination, and probably drag a few others who mean something along with you. Because far away is the candle light.
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