Leaders and Bus Drivers!

There are 2 kinds of leaders. One, people 'want' to follow. 

Two, people have to follow just because serendipity puts them in a position of authority because of which they think they rule the roads. I call the second category- bus drivers.

A leader is a man people want to follow. Rest of them, are bus drivers.


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Carry your torch of love. whatever you find with it, bundle it. Leave the rest. It means nothing.

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The problem with pretentiousness people is that they won't even admit it to themselves.

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As I grow more and kids start coming to me trying to touch my feet with 'parie paina,' i will kick them on their back and say,

'paija. paija.'

super thoughts of the day!

Amar on happiness

Your inner compass for joy is life's direction guide. if you have found it, good for you. If you have not, keep looking. it's worth every minute of the search.

Integrity and Honesty

"Integrity is telling myself the truth. And honesty is telling the truth to other people." -Spencer Johnson

too late?

well, there is something called 'too late.' they have been fooling you all this while with 'it's never too late.'

my new greeting?!

hi. how happy are you?

or

hi. are you happy?

how are you is a meaningless question. I want to know if you are happy and if you are, why? If you aren't why not?

Forgive yourself! Let's restart life all over again from step one....

I am too hard on myself. It's tough for me sometimes to forgive my own mistakes. When things go wrong like they did 6 months back, I tend to look back and berate myself! Why did I do that? Why did I take that decision? Why did I not accept the google offer in 2005? Why did I go for MBA? Why did I not try in advertising after graduation? Hell, why did I not study advertising in graduation to start with, there were no tests then...everyone was after Bcom and economics?! Why did I not apply to advertising companies from the campus, just because they said that the salaries will be low?!!!!

now, the answer to all these questions is....

I was a different person then. I was not wise enough to know what I know now. I know all this because of the mistakes that I made and the pain that I have gone through and going through! I was a different person yesterday. And.....if I could have done better, I would have done better, i have, after all, always wanted happiness for myself and my people....

So, I forgive myself. This was all predetermined, part of my destiny, my growing process if I am supposed to survive. If I am not supposed to survive, I will not.

So, I forgive myself. I can say with 100% confidence that I have always tried to be the best I can be. And I promise this for future as well.

Let's hit again, as hard as possible, leaving the results to destiny. . Let's restart life!

It had all started then....on April 10!

It's my birthday! Eccentricity turns 29! Happy birthday to me!

"I've been making a list of the things they don't teach you at school. They don't teach you how to love somebody or even how to find love. They don't teach you how to be famous. They don't teach you how to be rich or how to be poor. They don't teach you how to walk away from someone you don't love any longer. They don't teach you how to know what's going on in some one's mind. They don't teach you what to say to someone who's dying. They don't teach you anything worth knowing."

I love this quote by Neil Gaiman. In fact, I have added things to it! Well, at this stage of my life, I am wondering that there must have been things I learnt incorrectly during my education or I just did not learn certain things!

While I was growing up, we were told that you should get the right grades from the right places. Secondary school exams were the first step to career! Senior secondary was the second and apparently a first class undergraduate degree was the next. Well, I also got an MBA from a top B school and finished writing my first book sometime back and got it published electronically. Whoever has read it has enjoyed it! I am happy about that.

But then, what of it?!! An inept and confused person decided sometime back that I will not have a job, one fine day and I lost it! Well, yeah, I am looking now for there are things to pay! ha!

You think I am disillusioned? You are right. You know disillusioned means 'to be deprived of illusion' and that's what is good about this word!

So, that's all there to it?! By the way, by all conventional Indian Standards, I should have been married by now with approximately 2 kids! Why? I don't know. That's what most people do, don't seek reasons. Don't ask questions. Well, I did! And I am still looking for a partner who understands me and whom I want to love and care for! That's a relationship to me! I hate formalities and social projections!

So, I am spending my birthday reading, thinking and reflecting! May be I will get a few answers and I will write them somewhere. Oh yes, I need to start writing my second book! What's for sure is that I will write a lot. And a few gutsy people will read my books. You know, boldness is perhaps the rarest and most critical of human qualities, to my mind at least.

I have grown up, many times, in chosen solitude. I have had people around me, sporadically, who admired me for my courage but then I have found few who would walk along a long distance! When it got tough, they ran for cover! ha! May their Gods bless them.

Hey, don't let all of this think lead you to believe that I am distressed! ha ha! I am just a crazy guy who speaks his mind without any convulsions on the forehead.

Well, thanks for reading!

The birthday boy

Amar

Psychology and Philosophy!

It is important for me to arrive at my own definitions of these two terms since I think my writing will have a foundation of both of them.
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Psychology is the study of the human mind, that is, of the process of thinking through the study of such phenomena as perception, cognition, attention, emotion, motivation, personality, behavior and interpersonal relationships.

The purpose of psychology is to arrive at conclusions about how a specific human being arrives at his or her decisions. I believe every human being has a unique process of making decisions or arriving at the belief system. Many of them have underlying similarities owing to their country, family and society. In fact these are the factors determining the process of making decisions.

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The word "Philosophy" comes from the Greek φιλοσοφία [philosophia], which literally means "love of wisdom"

Philosophy narrowed down to a single man is the 'belief system.' This means his beliefs about reality, existence, knowledge, morals, death, sex, society, politics, among others. Philosophy, to an extent, is the outcome of individual psychology.

It answers questions such as:

What is true?
What is wrong?
What is important?
What is trivial?
What matters?
How should we spend time?
What is the meaning of life?

The purpose of philosophy is to help men find the meaning of life. His life. That's all.

Philosophy encompasses life. There is nothing in a man's realm of existence that escapes from it. Some subjects could be:

Metaphysics (the theory of reality)
Epistemology (the theory of knowledge)
Ethics (the theory of moral values)
Politics (the theory of legal rights and government)
Aesthetics (the theory of the nature of art)

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amarocks singh zing

A shot at greatness?!

Do you want to be safe and good...

or would you take a chance to be great!

most important concoctions of words in English

well, I came across this long back and have not forgotten since. I got reminded of it last night and even now and I thought I will put it down for reference.

6 most important words

"I admit I made a mistake"

5 most important words

"You did a great job"

4 most important words

"what is your opinion?"

3 most important words

of course, "I love you"

2 most important words

"Thank you"

1 most important word

"We"

Steve Jobs Stanford Speech

these are excerpts from one of the best speeches ever made by any human. I love it immensely. excerpts.

"dropping out of college was one of the best things I ever did. Since, after that I stopped attending classes that did not interest me at all and started attending classes that looked far more interesting"

"connecting the dots---you can't connect the dots looking forward, you can only connect them looking backwards"

"love and loss- i found what I loved to do early in life. After getting fired, I realized that I still loved what I did. I have been rejected, but I was still in love. YOU HAVE GOT TO FIND WHAT YOU LOVE. THAT'S TRUE OF YOUR WORK AND TRUE OF YOUR LOVER. if you have not found it yet, keep looking. don't settle. As with all matters of heart, you will know when you will find it"

"death- if you live each day as if it was your last, someday, it will most certainly be right. if today is the day, would I want to do, what I am about to do today?! When you realize, you are going to die anytime, there is no reason not to follow your heart.

death is a destination we all share. death is the single best invention of life. your time is limited so don't waste it living someone else's life. have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. Every thing else is secondary"

stay hungry, stay foolish.

totd

pay attention to the words you use. you become the words you say.

which means, if you say you are depressed, you become so. if you say you are happy, that's what you are.

eliminate all negative words from your vocabulary. By the way, did you hear, Oxford has decided to remove 'can't' and 'impossible' from the dictionaries!

have a lovely day.

one day..

one day, you will have to take the decision. to either continue living a safe, mediocre, dull, pointless life....

or put everything on the line, EVERYTHING. to realize your dreams. one day.

change the world!

people who are CrAzY enough to believe that they can change the world....
are the ones who actually do so

my core belief on optimism!

The fundamental belief says, "as long as we are alive, nothing is a big deal".

Practically nothing. Every problem is temporary and I do not know anyone I have met, who has not bee through tough times. We all have our share and that is the way it is supposed to be.

The only big deal is death, which is something we should always be conscious of. It can come any day, anytime.

amar-the incurable optimist

live your strengths-----the greatest lesson of my life

you cannot foment interest for something. you can not. if you naturally like something, great, excellent, go for it. if you do not like something, there is NO WAY ON EARTH YOU CAN MAKE YOURSELF LIKE IT! do not waste your time improving your weaknesses. ignore them.

enjoy your strengths. strengthen them. enjoy life.

we will talk about what we love all our lives!

I met this guy in the morning who said that he wanted to be a pilot always and could not walk on the path of becoming one so far....and he thinks it is too late now may be because he is 22!!!!

well he is only 22! a whole life is in front of him! I told him, " you know Terence, you will talk about this for the rest of your life, that you wanted to be a pilot! And will not be one."

you see, how true is this! we will talk about things we love deeply today, tomorrow, till the last day of our lives. The difference will be either we will live our lives living and doing what we love or wishing that we did.

for people like Terence, there should be no stopping them. Besides being born in a developed country, just 22, he can put his finger on one thing that he wants more than anything else. That is, to want to be a pilot.

how many of us can do that? to put our finger on one thing we want to dedicate all our life to. like Tiger Wood does to golf. like Roger Federer does to Tennis, Sachin Tendulkar to Cricket, Mohammed Younis to Grameen Banks, Amitabh Bachchan to Acting, Howard Schulz to Coffee, Jack Canfield/Ayn Rand to writing, Bill Gates to computers.

That one thing, that matters more than anything else, about which we will talk and think every day of our lives.

what is the most painful disease in the world?

i asked a friend this question and she said, in a few seconds- loneliness!


well, that's something I thought I was the only one who had realized. She surprised me with her answer. I agree with it completely. Loneliness is the greatest curse in this world. People do not talk to people unless they have a reason which can be quantified. There are just too many strangers, unfortunately.

I refuse to let loneliness bother me! I do not think anyone is a stranger. This evening, I spoke to two new people. One from Pakistan and one a local Singaporean. I just spoke to them, just like that, as if we were related. and yes, we are related.

are we not humans beings? do we not share the same planet? do we not crave for similar things- success, love? do we not cry when it pains? do we not yearn for a touch, a hug? we are all the same...

we are all related. there are no strangers.

I choose to believe this. I will talk to whoever I feel like talking to. on the streets, in the train, on the bus, in the office, in the coffee shop, on a trek, in a party, where ever, when ever!

No body does this? I don't care. I will do it. I will not let this disease get me. I may choose solitude sometimes because I want to spend time with myself.

Not loneliness

GOD!

i tell you what....

i am getting even farther from this concept called GOD. There never was any GOD. History is bunk. No body had any super natural powers. It's the prejudiced views of certain people who wrote the history of the world.

I have been to temple of multiple faiths and they have no idea what they are talking about. Religion is just business like any other and different people use it for different purposes. It is highly profitable on one end and it is high politically useful at other end for different sets of people.

The entire point is it makes people weak. We do not need religion. It separates socities and countries.

It is a bane the way it is practised. And it is just irrelevant.

I am not denying the existence of a supreme power which controls the entire universe. But that power is not GOD we must bow to. Lets call it:

T.A.P- the almighty power

there are so many things I do not have control over and TAP controls the world. But I must rely on TAP and call it GOD and surrender my fate to it. There is no point in relinquishing responsibility and blame it on GOD, something abstract.

please, i may say at times, Oh God, but my belief in his/her existence has shrunk. I am becoming a complete non-believer in the idea of GOD.

I will take care of my life and what i cannot TAP will. I am not dependent on GOD or on anyone else.

Lets get on with lives; and

GOD- get over delusions

The power of a decision!

from, "Awaken the Giant within"...

the word decision comes from the latin roots DE which means "from" and CAEDERE which means "to cut". Making a true decision means committing to achieving a result, and then cutting yourself from any other possibility.

So when you decide never to smoke again, that's it. It's over. You do not even consider the possibility of smoking.

it's incredible what a true decision backed up by will power can do.

You just commit to the decision and do not even consider the matter again. It's over there are then, the moment you promise yourself and take a decision. You do not give any more thoughts to it.

A decision is a commitment to yourself. A decision is a reality and a decision is a conclusion after enough consideration and sometimes pain.

give all the thought to the situation it deserves but once the decision is taken, it's done and over. Move on.

Life is pretty short. One life. Once chance.

DAMN!

life has become pretty monotonous and despite having a clear purpose, I am not able to translate it into meaningful behaviour!!! what the hell I am aiming at?????


yea, i need to start writing a book as soon as possible, first need to get my computer relieved from the hacker who encrypts every damn file i make!!! highly irritating.....

for now, to make my days better and make life more meaningful, I will DAMN it.....

D- do something never done before. Go fulfill all desires.

A- Away to a place never been before

M- Meet someone never met before

N- never let anything disturb you. As long as I am alive and have oxygen in my lungs and air to breathe, every damn thing is a gift.....as my last post quotes......every damn thing is a gift........be it the hacking experience or the creeping loneliness or whatever............only those who are dead, have no problems!
cheers!!! damn it. every day.