Just Switch Off !

Have you ever felt the need to switch off? To take a break from the daily hustle and bustle of life?

Most of us work 10-12 hours a day, 5-6 days a week…and then there are few that go beyond this as well… Isn’t it just crazy at what we are compelling ourselves to do? Isn’t it funny how we have made slaves of ourselves to corporate India? We work ourselves to death and for what? Are the benefits we strive for, worth the life we are throwing away?

Haven’t we forgotten that we need to work to live and not live to work? I know, some of you would be saying that to achieve your goals and fulfill your ambitions we need to work and slog hard... I know this because I was one of these people. I used to say the same things to myself and make myself content at being this slave.

And then? I see an old man who is extremely successful and has got everything he ever wanted in life… But I see that he has no past…he has nothing that he can look back and smile at… Is the one life we are granted worth all this? As one of my close friends would say, “What is the world coming too?”… She’s right….It’s not only injustice, crime and politics which has lead to the downfall of our generation. It is also the immense pressure and stress we put ourselves under and all in the name of success…

It’s time to change….it’s time to take some time off and analyse where and how we are placed in life. It’s time we realize what we are doing to ourselves and ask ourselves if it is worth it…!

Many of us will read this….agree with it and then forget it and move on with their lives…the choice Is yours….This is only a blog and my interpretation of what we are doing to ourselves. Time waits for no one….stop wasting yours!

*** A final note ***

Sadly my annual leave comes to an end and it’s time to get back into the normal grind of life. This is my last post from India although now that I am hooked onto this thing called ‘Blogging’, I’m sure I’ll be spending a lot more time on this and it’s give me a great way to feel connected to you guys. But I must stay, i feel great. A whole month of being lazy and doing nothing….sleeping, mails, chatting, shopping, partying… it was exactly what i needed. Trust me, you should all take some time to switch off and spend time with your family, your friends and just yourself….It’s worth it!

Why Marriage?

When I was young….in class 10 or 11, I still remember the reaction at home when I used to bring my friends home (…of the fairer sex). My family was quite modern and they never said anything to me but I always got the occasional comment about how early this was to get a girl-friend and how I should have my priorities in order.

Today, strangely the situation has reversed. I’m 26 now….and believe me this is not the age for a bachelor to be around their family and relatives. All questions seem to be revolving around a girl. Do I have anyone special in my life? Should we start looking for someone? You’re already 26, you should start taking this seriously! I know of this Priya…Shriya girl, would you like to meet her? And the questions go on…

The irony off course is I am currently really not into this marriage thing. I have been through a long relationship and now I’m at a place in my life where I just want to concentrate on other things. Building a strong position in my career, having fun with my friends on my own terms, investments, stock markets……basically just being independent and aloof from all the responsibilities that are associated with marriage.

Somehow the concept of marriage does scare me… Maybe it’s because I just haven’t found the right girl. But what worries me more is how I will ever know if the person I will meet is the ‘Right’ girl? I personally dis-like making compromises with my life….specially when it comes to friendship and the lifestyle I am currently used too… What if the girl I like doesn’t appreciate my friends or doesn’t like my life-style? Most people might compromise and distance themselves from their friends or their earlier life-style…..this is where I know I will fail. Friendship is the most important thing to me and in such a situation I would probably stand by my friendship…I say this not as an assumption but out of experience. What’s more is that I would do this without a blink of an eye. Some might agree with me while most others would tell me to get my priorities straight. Some might call me hard-hearted but I call it honesty. And some might just say – ‘A Typical Sagittarian’. Fortunately or unfortunately this is who I am and I am proud of it.

However I must say, I’m confused and intrigued at the same time at what the future has in store for me. I wish I could see 5 years into the future and see who my future partner is and to see when I finally gave into marriage. I am curious to know if I have I already met her somewhere? Is she in my life today? Questions that will all remain unanswered till the time comes or till I invent a time machine (and I presume the latter is not likely to happen in this lifetime).

I pray I find my soul-mate some day (if there is such a thing as a soul-mate), and maybe one day we would be sitting together reading this Blog and laughing at how things have changed and how we were so immature then.

However, as of today the 30th day of June in the year 2008 AD, I still ask my self Why marriage? There is still time…. Isn’t there?

Finally Goa

After being away for more than a year, I was finally back on Annual leave. I had missed a lot over the last year……events which I had promised myself I would never miss….but circumstances and situations are such that we don’t always have a say on what we do.

As I walked out of that small cringy place they call an airport (I’m talking about the so called Pune International Airport) I had my first glimpse of my friends. My dotsy and son’n’law was standing there…(...long story behind these acronyms) It was then that I truly felt I was back where I belonged. Over the next few hours I met my other friends and that very night we left for Goa.

Ever since my dotsy and I were in college we had always planned this trip, but due to time and money (since our pocket money never seemed enough to support Goa) our plans never materialized…till now that is.

All 7 of us were now working and we all had our busy and hectic schedules to keep but we all managed to take this time off. We were all excited, about going to Goa and above all about being together after such a long time.

Its been more than 2 weeks now since we have come back from Goa, but some how we are still not totally out of that mood. Goa was much more than just a holiday or a long yearned trip. That week made me and some others realize what we truly have together…

A year back we were a bunch of friends waiting to grow up. I used to feel that we will all grow up one day and we will all have our own lives to live and we would all walk a different road. Today I see we have all grown up and we are still together. We do have our own lives but we have managed to stay on the same road. We have matured in our own ways and with this maturity we have come closer together.

Today although we have all grown up and have settled into our own lives, most of us are still bachelors and once we get married things are bound to change again. Maybe we would be less connected then and maybe we will walk a different road then….i don’t know….no one does.

‘Finally Goa’ is not about Goa or about the good times we had in Pune. It is my way of expressing that in some way it was only the beginning. Life will change and we will all be located in different parts of this world…UK, New Zealand, Israel…..and the list will go on. 'Finally Goa' is a place that will remind us that we always have a place to come back too…and that place isn’t Goa….it’s any place where we can all be together.