Stargazing

One day when I was eight years old, I had watched the mystery unfold, 

about the Orion and scorpion was I told, and the tale of Hercules the bold. 

I would've known all their stories, add to it the myths and the histories, 

the good brave heroes and their glories, my wave of thought knew where my shore is.

Eight years later I was sixteen, deeply enchanted by my own sheen, 

I looked always into mirrors clean, never at skies where stars were seen. 

Inspired by heroic tales from eight, I would fake my accent and limp my gait, 

through the selfish waters of Ego strait, I tried to swim to joy islands straight.

Eight years later call it yesterday, I searched for the stars' hopeful ray, 

the busy city shone across my way, polluted was my sky around where I stay. 

The drifting clouds were on fire, kindling the great Ursa's pyre, 

I forgot the skies of my shire, add to it the tales I sang on the lyre.

Oh, a surprise had come to me now, from far off lands as a unbroken vow, 

putting off every light on the row, like a balloon by a stretched bow. 

I see the stars and skies again, I sing in joy and I weep in pain, 

joy that the good I do didn't go in vain, pain that the bitter truth is just too plain.

Clouded by egos and pursuits endless, not caring or trying to get out of the mess, 

we forget the root causes of our happiness, we know the answers but we only guess.

Do you know yourself?

Are you the one decided by your zodiac sign?
Can you know someone just by his bread and wine?
Is there a way to know you by knowing your shrine?
Can you judge yourself by drawing a line?

Can you imagine how you move with eyes shut? 

Do you know your face as well as your hut? 

Can you think how I see you as you turn a nut? 

Do you really know yourself if not by your gut?

You can only imagine what you see, hear and talk, 

the paths are many, you can walk only your walk.

Our perception is much like a unicoloured chalk, 

you'll often end up with a green sun or a blue stalk.

That you know yourself less than you think you do, 

is a truth to be aware of, bitter yet true.

Questions

Is it to make fellow humans around, the society nod? 

Is it to ascend the stairway to heaven and witness God? 

Is it to enjoy your freedom and fly in a dreamy sky? 

Is it to tell a tale to someone who'll be born after you die?

Why should I live a life that is a lie? 

Tell me why! Tell me why!!

Is it by floating along the life river that flows? 

Is it by following a path an anonymous book shows? 

Is it by going with the instinct of a sensible mind? 

Is it by not looking at the colourful world by being blind? 

How should I live a life that I don't love? 

Tell me how! Tell me how!!

Red

Do you remember the TVC of Satyamev Jayate wherein Aamir Khan would be judging who'd and how many would watch his show by pointing out to the people who stop or not stop at an empty junction when the traffic signal turns red somewhere past midnight? It is about following the rules humans have imposed upon themselves, regardless of whether you're under the vigilant eye of a power or not.

1. As a newborn baby, we are all random. No rules for the infant. Soon, in our childhoods, we learn the rules as they're taught, and abide by to perfection. Gradually, we follow our parents and idols as we grow into adolescents. Later on, we take inspiration from the world around in our attempt to learn from the entire world. And as we mature into the youth, we freeze into the last viewpoint we hold and enter into the backfire mode in case we are challenged. It is important to teach the best lessons, by practice more than by word.

2. You're in the rat race of running from A to B alongside many others travelling between many other places, running other races, thinking at different paces, all those different faces. While it is humane to compete and let your ego come between, remember that the bus driver is safer while jumping the signal than a 70 year old on his little Luna. It's more important to reach B to know whether you won or lost, assuming that the ambulances don't go to B. 

3. It's not a crime to wait for the green, to be overtaken by a bus and a Luna. And it'll be fun to watch the world run the rat race, being a mere spectator. Try standing at the entrance gate to the main metro station/railway station and observe the people. You'll know why Shakespeare called this entire world a stage. I would still be speaking sense if I'd ask you to plan your next vacation not to Leh/Dehradun/Darjeeling but to Rajivchowk/Dharavi and embark upon your viewpoint, and watch the nature at work. Oh yeah, forget not, humans are also a part of nature. Please judge how well do we look compared to all those beautiful groups of animals. 

Thanks for reading the boring thought process. Happy weekend.

Extroversion

A trait that is associated with most successful people of the millennium. Entrepreneurs to scientists to writers, often to players and dancers too, people who can say it in front of a group, a crowd are those who can perform. Have you ever heard a successful man of today's generation say, "I have sat by a window that looked over the emptiness, contemplated the situation and decided to do this?" And to take your skills of communication and socialising with people around into account might not sound good, but it is far worse.

I've been there, done that. Brought up in a almost rural suburb, educated in schools where memory power meant marks, and in systems that cared for your problem-solving skills more than your ability to express, we never knew who extroverts were. Until we met these super-talented cool dudes from the urban convents, oh how fluent their English is, how cheeky their references to literature are, and how easily do they come up to initiate tasks and relationships while we sit in the corner of the same group praying no one points out to us and says, "how about you start?"

Yes, they were the cool dudes, the civilised ones, until we saw them at work, across the table, peeping into their sheets and screens to see how coolly they would have performed the same task we'd both been assigned. And thanks to good fair selections all the time, we were all in the same boat. Yet they're the leads and heads, just because they can socialise well with the higher officials, fake up smiles and relations, carry out tasks well (as they flaunt it) and not to mention, negotiate us introverts like a boss.

As if that were not enough, as if we only belonged on a farm and not on campus, the introverts are often ignored out of gangs. And we well know that introvert gang is an oxymoron. Thus, being a teacher who's introvert at heart, extrovert by profession, I now see what efforts it took me, and how different my personal and professional lives are. And it is very true that the measure of ones language and presentation is leading the measure of work abilities. You better know how you judge.