Why did the world not end on December 21st, 2012??????

22^nd December 2012

When I woke up in the morning today, I was quite relieved to know that I was still alive and kicking. The previous night, I had visions of a huge earthquake causing a great hole sucking up all the buildings on its way. I had visions of a massive wave from the Indian Ocean gulping everything - ships, houses, towers - on its way…!!!! I had visions of the Three Gorges dam bursting away and inundating the Himalayas..!!!!! I had visions of a huge meteorite striking Earth and causing massive ripples and ripping apart buildings, flyovers…!!!! I was feeling a sense of déjà vu. Why did it feel as though I have been through all this? Was it that this is my new life and I had witnessed all this in my previous life?? Why did it feel as though I was party to all this before??? Then I realized that there has to be only one answer to this question - I had to feel a sense of déjà vu because all that I described above are scenes from the Hollywood movie, 2012. :P

Although I was totally relieved to be alive, I was perplexed as to why this world did not end. There must be some reason behind this. How could the ancient seers be wrong in predicting precisely that the world would end on the 21^st December, 2012? Was it a misinterpretation on our part?? Or was there some divine intervention??? Why did the world not end on December 21^st 2012???

The questions above rankle me no end. I am pretty sure this is exactly the sort of questions that you might have in your mind. To help myself and all you folks answer these bamboozling questions, let me try to unravel the mystery…!!!!

Before we go any further, let us first understand why there has been a talk about the world ending. It is said that there is an old calendar prepared by the Mayans. It is widely believed that the Mayan calendar ends on December 21^st 2012. There is no other date after that. This made everyone think that the Mayans must have unraveled something out of the ordinary to stop their calendar at December 21^st 2012. But who are Mayans? I would like to believe that Mayans are the descendants of Maya. But who is Maya? Wait a minute… I know who Maya is. I think I heard about her when I was a kid. And in fact, I now have the proof of who Maya is. Please watch the video below to understand who Maya is. (There is no point reading further without watching the video. To understand the mystery ahead you need to watch the video.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIZHkCbdLWg

Now that you have watched the video, I am sure you understand that Maya is a feeling – Ehsaas in Hindi…!!! Maya has no form or features. No one has seen Maya. If you ask me, Maya transcends the human feeling… In fact, Maya has not even entered the mind of SRK. Maya is still a Maya… :P Now now now, don't get flustered. Read on... :)

Since we have confirmation that Maya is just a feeling, the theory behind Maya having a calendar does not really have much substance. Ok, just for a minute, for the sake of argument let us assume that Maya indeed had a calendar. Those old calendars were inscribed on stones. It is a very time consuming process what with you having to chisel the stone to make those markings for dates. How much can a person keep on writing? The person who wrote on those stones must have got bored of writing the dates and must have taken a break. After taking the break, he must have forgotten to re-start the work or may be he lied to Maya that he completed the calendar but left the work mid-way by preparing the calendar until December 21st, 2012. There is a distinct possibility of this happening. :P

Let us think about some other scenarios that could have stopped the world from ending. I think even mother nature wants to see Sachin Tendulkar play. If the world had ended, Sachin's career would have ended abruptly. So, mother nature might have restrained herself from wreaking havoc on us. If this theory is correct then Sachin should keep playing on and on. I hope even my grandchildren see him bat. :P

Coming to the next theory, the world may not have ended because Mother Nature's baap - QuickGun Murugan did not give her the permission. Or may be QuickGun wanted to play cowboy cowboy for some more years....!!!!! 

The reasons quoted above are just some of them. There are many other reasons possible like mother nature might be waiting for Sallu miya to get married or Ramesh Powar to dance to the tune of Ganganam style or Lalu Prasad to become prime minister of India or Mannubhai to get his long awaited MBA...!!!!! There could be myriad such reasons which might seem unfathomable to some. 

As long as all these things don't happen, the world is not going to end. It will keep running day in and day out. That's why it is probably better for everyone to just stop worrying about all these frivolous things and enjoy every day like it is your last day...!!!!

TIMES COMES FOR EVERY DOGS...!!!!!!

I am sure most of you would be thinking that Manish has lost his senses as the title of the article doesn't really make any sense. Well, honestly speaking, I wanted to have the title of the article as 'Every Dog has its day' but I suddenly remembered about one of my old friends. This dear friend of mine was not too well versed with English and had the habit of creating his own indigenous words, sentences and sometimes, proverbs..!!!! The title here - 'Times comes for every dogs'  is one of his wonderful creations. :)

Now that you know the history behind the title, please watch the video before you proceed any further.

This is a video of a match between India and Pakistan back in 2005. It was the time when one of the greatest captains of India, Sourav Ganguly, began to have a downward trend. A few youngsters made their way through to the team in that year and one among them was Mahendra Singh Dhoni a.k.a. MSD.

It is quite ironic that this article is coming at a time when MSD finds himself in exactly the same spot as Dada was in back in 2005. Let's get back to the point of discussion here. Ashish Nehra was a fine young medium pace bowler and was relatively a senior bowler in 2005 when MSD was a newbie. You can easily see and hear in this video on how Nehra hurled choicest of abuses on MSD. My question here is - Would Nehra dare do it now if MSD drops a catch? The obvious answer is a BIG NO...!!!

Well, this shows us that every human has something called as a Golden period in his life. It is that period when everything that he or she touches turns into Gold.

But Life, like cricket, is definitely a game of glorious uncertainties. One day you might have the world at your feet and the other day the world may not even want to account your presence...!!!! There is no guarantee that a person who is on the pedestal today may not fall down and similarly, someone who is at the foot of the pedestal may not go to the top...!!!!

When you have the world at your feet and everything goes your way, it is imperative not to be too carried away because you never know when the carpet on which you are standing might be pulled away. If you are not ready for it, you will fall down and might even break your teeth...!!!!! Mind you, vice-versa also holds true...!!! You might be walking on the road today and suddenly might find the magical carpet which sends you soaring high..!!!!!! I am sure many of you must have experienced this in your life. But on a personal note, I had a steep fall when I was flying too high..!!!! But such falls are good, to some extent, because they teach you to be grounded and humane..!!!!

The fact of the matter is that definitely you will get a time when you are on top. Even the Dog, often referred, in old Hindi movies might have its day. (Remember the dialogue - Kutte main tera khoon peejaaunga.. :P)
But then you must also be ready to face any eventuality.It is all about patience and perseverance. You just need to hang in there. Times definitely comes for every dogs...!!!!!!

Some extravagantly unhappy, Some Happily subsisting..!!!

This is an old post written in May but I forgot to publish this... I never realized that it was still in draft status..!!!! Nevertheless, better late than never..!!!


It was a hot day of May.... 29th to be precise. In fact, the entire week had been unusually hot. Generally, Hyderabad becomes slightly cooler with some drizzles during this time but this year it was quite different. As a matter of fact, the entire nation reeled under an unusually hot summer. Naturally, many a news channel carried programmes showcasing the hardships of the oppressed denizens. One such piece was carried out by NDTV on the tryst of the capital's distressed citizens.

The reporter first took an interview of a family from the dingy by-lanes of Old Delhi. It was a family of modest means. The head of the family was a daily wage laborer. The family lived in a decrepit single room house. It was embellished with just a ceiling fan. In this oppressive heat, it is quite but natural to use the fan but more often than not a fan is not enough to cool our excruciatingly hot heads..!!! The reporter was inquiring about how the family beat the heat.. Well, since the family found it tough to meet both ends meet, there was no other option for them but to live in that small dingy room. But the family came up with indigenous ways to fight the heat. They drenched their bed-sheets in water and slept on them. This helped keep themselves cool.

I felt really sad and happy after watching this. Sad, because of the hardships the family had to endure. Happy because the family did not allow their deprivations to come in the way of their cheerfulness and happiness. They were happy with what they had..!!!!

Picture shifted to the next family staying in an upmarket plush colony of New Delhi... And they had a different tale to tell....!!!

The family in question had 5 air-conditioners in their house, one in each of the rooms. Apart from this, the family would hit the swimming pool both in the mornings and evenings to beat the heat... But still they were morose all through the interview. They looked so gutted as though the entire burden of this world was on them. There was not a single cheerful face in that family. I don't know if that was a bit of over-dramatization by the family, but it really irked me on ends.

This contrast of lifestyles once again brought to the fore the glaring differences between the haves and the have-nots. The differences between extravagance and subsistence. I am still nonplussed by the way life is... Someone who has all the material benefits with him is not happy whereas someone who is deprived of basics is cheerful...!!! This again shows that man's wants and desires are never-ending. The more we have the more we crave. This also inadvertently results in undue sorrow, gloom and distress..!!!!

But how would this world change. I have absolutely no idea whatsoever. Even I am one of those who is never satisfied with what I have. I am desperately trying to come out of this vicious and debilitating cycle of wants and desires... BUT HOW...????????????

Duty-bound Day, Honest Hour, Mirthful minute, Sinless second..!!!!

Yesterday, I was sitting in my home doing virtually nothing when my mobile phone came alive and blurted out the message tone. It was one of my friends asking me if I was observing "EARTH HOUR". I bluntly replied that I was not. Well, I don't really observe earth hour just for that one day. I observe it every day, hour, minute and second of my life. It can be as simple as using a fan only when you need it. It can be as simple as switching off lights in your bathroom when no one is using it. It can be as simple as plugging leakages in your kitchen tap.

I really hate it when people just do lip-service and make a huge hue-and-cry about the so-called "EARTH HOUR". The celebrities have their twenty-minutes of fame by posing in front of the shutter bugs. Yes, agreed, there are some who are genuinely concerned about the environment but practically speaking, they are quite few and far between. I was amused to see the Page 3 of my newspaper today. Lots of wannabe celebrities were flashing their impeccably polished dentures holding rechargeable lamps..!!! If my basics of physics are still well-conditioned then definitely there has to be some source of power for these rechargeable lamps. From where does this power come??? Obviously, it has to be charged by plugging it. This is akin to clearing forests to plant more trees...!!!!

Let me quote you a small instance of my life when I was working with Infosys. I think it was somewhere in 2007. As most of you know, Infosys campuses are probably the best office campuses in India. There is lush greenery everywhere. The buildings are totally magnificent. Approach roads to the buildings completely spic and span. You would have to really concentrate with all your might and still you would not be able to find even a semblance of trash anywhere. That speaks volumes about the dedication and efficiency of the house-keeping team as well as the discipline of the employees. You would seldom find employees littering inside the campus. Once you are in the confines of the campus, you would feel as though you are transported to a completely different world. And I used to think all employees are really sensitive about keeping the surroundings clean.
Once on my way home, I was sitting in my office bus chatting with my friend. One of the employees, sitting in front of me, devoured a packet of Lays and without a blink of an eye just trashed the packet on the road. When my friend and I questioned her about littering the road, she gave a weak smile and said - "Chalta hai..!!" This is the sort of lip-service I am talking about. When educated individuals do such things, you cannot really blame others.

When we talk about changing the world, we should actually be talking about ourselves. The change has to come from within. First, we must try to change ourselves. The world will change consequently. What we need is not platitudes like Environment Day, Earth hour but it should all be about changing the way we live. Changing our perspective. If each and every one of us can strive to have a sinless second, a mirthful minute, an honest hour and a duty-bound day every second, minute, hour and day of our life that will go a long way in making this world a better place to live in. There would be no need of publicity gimmicks like EARTH HOUR anymore. I know it would be difficult to follow this but at least an attempt can be made. This reminds me of a dialogue from the hindi movie GHULAM -

"Leheron ke saath to koi bhi tair leta hai.. magar asli insaan wo hai jo leheron ko cheer ke aage badhta hai..!!!"