So I thought

 Space, at its core, means a place not being used or emptied, but space also refers to the emotional or physical independence you give to another person and yourself.it is a critical process that people don't do very often. It is essential to realise that giving yourself space, you heal and prevent yourself from burning out. It does not mean to meditate or sleep, of course. If that's what u want, then go ahead and just do what makes you happy, anything like painting, dancing, swimming or anything that calms you down or brings you joy.  But how do we give space? We provide them companionship while not being too much for a person to take in. Despite being the most evolved beings, sometimes humans can be a handful, so it can be overwhelming to keep up. This often causes burnout, and if we don't give people space, these feelings slowly start bottling up, and before we realise it, the person begins resenting us. In close relations, too, it is necessary to give space, and sometim...

Politics is a profession that is not supposed to provide income. This is a line for social service and not to generate income. However, it is quite surprising that men who are supposed to have regular income to support a family are more into politics. In India, women are generally not income earners and thus financially more in alignment with the political roles but they are so few in this line. This discrepancy is one of the basic causes of corruption as the main bread earner is into something that is not to create profit/income. This has an inbuilt mechanism for subversion and hypocrisy and lots of ills. If politics is to serve the people, women are better suited for this as service and compassion will find a natural home in women than in men. But the truth is that in practice politics is all about upmanship and taking credit for doing nothing and thus men have overrun this field.   If things are to change more women will have to come to politics. This will also improve the...

I would be quite interested in knowing who has benefitted from consuming the content shown on TV. To create deception these days TVs are being called Smart TV but to me, it is still an idiot box only. Tving strengthens the running away tendencies. It deprives good sleep as our garbage box of mind keeps getting bigger and our minds will keep ruminating.  For someone on the spiritual path, this is surely an issue to be dealt with at the earliest as Tving is the senseless filling of the mind with trash content while the spiritual process is about emptying it from the non-essential. With movie content available so freely, it struck me that such content is so engaging and addictive. I f one is spending time binge-watching of web series, there will be no time left to earn to finance this downhill-taking habit. The inbuilt self-destruction is apparent. There is so much innovation /research in content creation that one can be glued for hours . It is the surest way to destruction. I...

We all have listened to parents /teachers/ role models speak of the normal course of action to achieve success and yet this does not click with many. Why the understanding of normal is not the same for all of us. What is the missing point that it works for some and does not for many? The other day I was listening to a wise person and it sort of held key to this dilemma. Luckily I had missed the trap for most of my life but that was a blessing and not a conscious action now I will be able to break the shackles of unproductivity knowingly.   A classical musician has a different daily schedule- waking up early morning, missing out on cold drinks going to bed at a good time etc. It is his normal which might be viewed as austere or harsh by many other householders but to the musician, it is the only way to act- nothing extraordinary or special about it. A student who wants to top score or clear any top competitive test will be more with books or notebooks and almost no time for chat or...

In recent past weeks, there has been a lot of coverage of some big actors' movies being boycotted by Indian audiences. And this has been indirectly referenced to the Indian audience waking up to its cultural identity being taken up lightly by such many players in this industry and thus a payback time. Though I have not really gone to any depth about this issue, I certainly do not subscribe to the view that there are people distorting our cultural identities or markers. One of the biggest and unparalleled markers of my culture is the ability to allow freedom of expression and thus we must not define how others can bring life to their imaginations or stories. And my freedom of expression is not as defined in the constitution which is subject to the display of sensitivity. My freedom of expression is also capped by the display of sensitivity but it is not defined by changing times but by a universal understanding of what is right and wrong.  However, it made me wonder why actors are n...

I have been a regular reader of articles by Swaminathan S Ankleshwar Aiyar in TOI. This love started from my student days certainly a couple of decades earlier. Earlier it was intellectually stimulating which appealed to my unsure young mind. In later years I found him opinionated and with the BJP government in place securely he seemed to be a bit in unknown waters. Two articles particularly made me feel as if he is reevaluating his prism of seeing things when he apologised for guessing it wrong that the BJP will not come back in 2019 because of UP results not going on expected lines and secondly when he acknowledged being wrong in supporting Medha Patkar.  It dawned upon me it is the mind which is the real culprit in painting a picture which is not there. It creates a prism through which we not only project falsehood but very often do not realise the structural defect in doing so. This creates divisions, animosity and non-reconciable positions in society. Not only that the real pe...

Now that I think about it, since my childhood, I could not be categorised in a standard way. In fact,  I had this inkling all these years but only a few days back, the whole underlying principle sort of revealed itself.  The process of growing and the environment one is operating into does shape one. This we all have heard, but in what way it precisely impacts and what will be the outcome or possibility, I did not know in an obvious way.  Many years ago when I had started on my work life, a colleague in my office did not know that stamps of particular value needed to put on to an envelope for it to be delivered by Indian postal system. I was surprised as this was as common knowledge to me as it was about wearing a shirt. This did give me an insight that the process of growing had endowed me with certain information, knowledge or skill which many would have had no way to acquire. And this placed me at an advantageous level in many situations which work or life wi...

There are instances or situations in life when I am faced with the dilemma "what is the right response".  The life principles straightway do not show the way or should I say they do not appear to be in a ready-to-implement state. Not bribing anyone is my life principle mainly because of the fact that I do not want to create an invisible blockage in the recipients' life.  This principle is easy to implement when there is an alternate (even though more expensive) available to set things right, such as paying a hefty fine for traffic violations instead of bribing to save some money for oneself. However, this is not so straightforward when it comes to new constructions or modifications to existing buildings.  The overwhelming majority of old DDA flats have seen extension constructions by the rightful owners. Extensions could be either at the same level where more area has been covered by solid constructions or a level has been added either fully or partially. Most of these...

It seems so normal to be bothered by unusual events in life. However, if  I just suspend judgement, for the time being, things change in a very new way. Cares and concerns are the realms of mind and the real genesis of life lies somewhere else. So even logically there is really no reason to be bothered by whatever happens in life. The moment I learn to say so, I am set free. There have been many instances to prove that life only wants to test my resolve to be willing to see what is otherwise not visible then. And reward handsomely. All decisions which are not backed by logical conclusions are not necessarily inferior ones. In fact, my experience says they are the best and to go for. With this, I am able to forget bitterness or not hold others responsible and move on for the better. I recall an incident where I had sold my inverter scrap to the person who had installed it many years ago. The value of the deal was already settled and one day the team arrived to take care of th...

If we know to handle our idle and lonely moments, we perhaps are the happiest beings around. Unfortunately, that does not seem to be the case with most of us.  In such times if we know the art of diving within or at least know that inside is the unending source of joy and energy, we would not know what is boredom. Boredom is the state in which we are not aware of our own energy. It signifies a state of confusion- and to escape from it we attempt pseudo methods- watching TV or if you can afford go shopping. These two methods are supplemented by chit-chatting, playing games, social visits or programmes. Watching TV is the worst tool to get out of boredom as you are further depleted of your energy but you are not aware. Shopping does offer an opportunity to be impacted by others' energy and thus feel better. Others' energy does the trick.

Compassion, care, empathy.... Nothing moves like money which is the quantifiable expression of ego. All actions which impact it positively (mean enhance this) will be given favourable considerations and other actions will not get management's approval even if they create greater impact taking all stakeholders into account. Responsible travel, environmentally sustainable style of work, etc are at worst the garb to rationalise the greedy money making behaviour. It does not fill me with cynicism but makes me think of more creative ways to make the management aware of the impact of its actions for society at large.

I am the latest whose work has moved to Gurgaon now- April 2009. And still wondering who has benefitted from the monstrous creation. It reminds me of Fatehpur Sikri which was created on the king's desire but later abondoned as it did not benefit large stakeholders. Every day I have been asking myself who has benefitted from the creation of Gurgaon and resounding answer has always been the builders whose only interests were the developed square feet which needed to be monetized soon. If the city has become a dust bowl , they do not care as they live far off. If the access to the building they have created is clogged, they are not really bothered as it is not their domain. If there is no green patch for miles around and drought and very unusual and disasterous weather pattern is imminent, it is not their concern. Would be nice to know how others feel about this.