A Moment Of Clarity

'What do you do when you need some clarity?' he asked me.

'I write,' I replied.

Knowing that this is an outlet for my frustration, my solace as the world swirls in a tornado of emotions around me, I wonder why I hadn't resorted to this earlier.

Frustration has indeed built up over a certain demand to meet a deadline. And I have discussed with a friend - how words fail you when you need them the most. Or in other words, the non-existence of 'creativity on demand,' the perfect definition for the situation I am in. And I am in awe of how journalists do it - produce articles at the snap of a finger.

For me, writing comes from inspiration. And inspiration, as I have seen over the course of a little more than a year, does not deliver under pressure. A good friend, and brilliant guitarist, spoke to me how music does not happen when your heart and soul - and therefore your mood - is not in it. Writing, what I consider another art, a form of expression, is a reflection of the heart and soul of the performer.

All day I rummaged around for inspiration. In fact, I spent the earlier half of my evening yesterday in similar desperation. The Sunday Times failed me, as the one day I longed for their inspirational quotes, they did not feature.

I emerge empty handed after my search for inspiration. But I have learnt a lesson. Write your heart. The basis of my findings? Well I spent hours attempting to write three lines for an article, but spent ten minutes to write this post. And I know the task would have been completed with greater finesse had the final match of the India-Pakistan series not being going on on my television screen. *giggle*

Perhaps I have not emerged victorious in the inspiration department. But surely I have attained my moment of clarity.

Big Or Beautiful?

A dear friend hit the nail on the head words that take tremendous courage to say, let alone put down on paper.

So in the words of Nicholas D'silva...

This is the choice presented to every person driving past Bur Juman. Accompanied with the picture of a moderately big person smiling beautifully, a large poster asks the readers to SMS their choice to a number, courtesy Dove. Perhaps I missed the point, because the only answer I could reply with was “Is being big the opposite of being beautiful?” Maybe it is. After all, it’s always the “beautiful” people who earn our second glance and the bigger people, the third and fourth. Simple logic will therefore point out that big people are ugly people.

It is indeed strange that at a time when cultural and religious barriers are trying to be broken, we fail to carry out a simple action of not judging a person’s beauty by his/her size. If mutual respect for one another’s human flaws (and God know there are many) is beyond a person’s arrogance, then s/he does not deserve a human relationship. After all what is a relationship without respect?

Being beautiful was never about size and I am talking about a person’s physical beauty. Those who oppose should really open their eyes and look around. You’ll find a number of beautiful people, despite their size. It’s all a matter of perception. Growing up in an environment where size dictates beauty, it is only natural that many of us fail to open our mind and/or broaden our line of sight. So the question then is not “Big and Beautiful?”, but rather “Sightless or Snobbish?” However, all said and done, perhaps the objective of the survey was to provoke exactly these thoughts.

Inspiration For Procrastinators

For all you procrastinators out there, here's a dose of inspiration:

You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.
--Abraham Lincoln.

It All Begins At Home

Enemy of the State got me thinking. Yes, I did just watch it for the gazillionth time! And yes, it does get you thinking about privacy laws. But, on that front, I don't have too much of an opinion because I feel as long as you have nothing to hide and they're just looking out for national security, it's a done deal.

However, it did get the wheels turning in my head about another, more significant issue. Corruption. The issue of corruption makes so much sense to think about in terms of India. Yet recently I've been trying this new experiment. Take a large issue and bring it down to your level. Comprendre? Non? Teek hai. Mei bathathi hoon.

When you speak about taking care of the environment, you try to make a difference by cleaning up in your area. And when you say 'Let's reduce poverty in India', you start with the poor people around you. So I started thinking about the corruption around me.

The major institution I'm involved in presently is my college. And I thought about all the instances where corruption played a role. Cheating during an exam. Leaking the exam paper. Bending the rules for a student. The examples are endless.

I spoke to my college principal about culture recently. She said that she envisions our college to imbibe a culture of integrity. Sometimes though, I feel that perhaps it is only the infrastructure that absorbs this culture.

Curbing this corruption, however, is social suicide. Think about it. Snitching on someone who cheated during an exam, or even telling on a teacher who gave out the question paper. In college, you have to turn a blind eye to these things in order to remain 'cool.' Yet in the same breath do we not criticize the Indian government for corruption?

It's a hard truth to swallow. And we can sweep it under the rug, justifying that the levels on which they occur differ tremendously. But like I've said before, it's about culture. And culture doesn't just sprout wings at the appropriate moment. It's an idea, a thought, a value system, that has to be inculcated from the very beginning. And if it isn't nipped in the bud, we permit the seed of corruption to grow.

A survey conducted by India Today stated that 68% of the youth believe that corruption is the greatest ill facing India, winning over illiteracy which stood at 20%. And this is where I need to quote India Today:
A double standard is apparent. An overwhelming majority said corruption was the biggest ill, yet a third said they would bribe to get work done.
Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra also tucked this idea into the seams of Rang De Basanti. It takes courage to voice this truth, and even more to call for action.

We therefore are responsible for the corruption that takes place in our country. And we have to shoulder that responsibility.

So I guess it's true then. Charity, and everything else along with it, does begin at home.