VICTOR'S PREDICAMENT

Victory-does the word ring a bell? Mankind in general dies to succeed,craves to come out in flying colours.The point of focus has always been the pinnacle.The very basis of our lives seem to revolve around success so much so that all our time and energy is devoted to something we perceive as triumph.Is victory all that sweet?Does it deserve so much attention?Is there a flip side to it?

If one were to look at things from a slightly different perspective,perhaps if we were to get to the bottom of what it means to emerge atop one might get an insight into our queries.

To start with,what one sees as victory,success and triumph may not be all that it was meant to be.To be able to discern what it means to us and in the right sense is a challenge by itself.It is imperative to get our ideals and goals right at the first place.

If one has crossed this hurdle,then comes the next phase.Are we involved in a rat race where we have let mob tendencies get the better of us or is it a sustained effort on the right lines for a cause that speaks for itself.Surviving and moulding ourselves in the proper framework is very important to justify the efforts that go into the process of perceived victory.

To go through the expectations,the nerve-wracking demands of the self and of others and to pull ourselves through this stretch for wants that could be clouded in self-doubt ,looks like an unnecessary burden that we have chosen to clad upon ourselves with the least desire to do so.

Let us assume that we are out of this -what? The processs and the progress to victory has been done.The accolades start to pour in. Eyebrows raised,glances exchanged,your level props up and a whole new dimension of you emerges to the extent hyped beyond the throes of your wildest dreams,that you start to believe all that is happening to be real,your foot that were aching to find a steady footing on the ground are now flying in stratas that you never thought of before.You are thrown into a zone of make believe world to which you may not really belong and yet the comical paradox is that you are not only immersed in it but you also start to think that it is your way of life.Any takers for this line of thought? Has this not happened to the so called victors.

Men and women being made into heroes in their times when they are not ready to face the full impact of what follows from the purported victory, who lose thier way in this illusion and take to reaching levels not in line with their abilities and fall from a great height and are not able to take in the impact of the declension.what a fall?what a thud!

Fallacy has taken the place of forseen victory.All love for life seems lost.In this fast paced world where media zooms to make heroes and zeroes in no time,the real victors are those who can decide for themselves ,play with a level head and cool intellect,those who can see things the way they ought to be and be the triumphants in the true essence and spirit of the word and where victor's situation is not seen as a predicament of sorts.

Gladiator

An amphitheatre of sorts in a place you would not expect to find.The gallery filled with a spectator ,only one but in full throttle;the battle ,the war zone and the fighter are one and the same.Viciously swooping in on the inherent conflicts ,perpetually haunting the participant,the sole one ,the virtuoso performer,the intriguing complexities continue to baffle;It is a pilgrimage though,but of a different kind where the worship is long over before it has begun in the muddle of stinging,rocketing thoughts vehemently struggles its creator.

The mind is the minefield where the thoughts are the torpedoes.Wincing amidst the might and the strength of its waves each one of us are gladiators in our own right.Where convition,courage,character,power,tenacity,willpower are put to test.When the internal conflicts are more precarious a trudge than any of the wars the world saw or will ever have to see. It is a predicament of sorts,of a big sort to be or not to be something,to win over the illusion that is as illusive as its might and from time to time to address the other things around which are to be confronted regardless of our will.The wail of the performer is a long drawn one ,one which is neither seen nor heard but which does exist and projects itself to be known only by its bearer.None but the one who wears its weight will know the suffering ,the pain and the agony.

It is a trifle for others who neither recognise its presence nor its prowess.Only at times do the better understanding ones ,those who are capable of empathising and sympathsing faintly read the fine print and that too depending on the skill of the chief of the orchestra ,the master of ceremonies,the inventor of the invincibles to conceal the flagrant trauma within.

Whether it is known or unknown,heard or recognized the battle continues everywhere in each soul and it is always going to be so perennially,for we are all,every single mortal manifested to be born and fight as a GLADIATOR !

try-l-n-err-OR

I had a decision to make,to think and to choose and to do that final plunge,cut off all other options,narrow it down to one and do what ? Impinge it as the title for what i have set to write .Whether it is going to be right or on reading this i shall be taken for a ride is left to be seen.
So,what do you make out of whatever you have come across until now.It could have cringed upon your nerves some thoughts,set some stones rolling or at worst left a dazzled void of emptiness and fury for having spent your worthwhile time on some innocuous drivel that has left you deflated and you swore not to reach for such scrap again.
Don't try to fool me that you are the same person you were moments ago you glanced this.It seems to be drifting out of control lest i make a conscious attempt to swerve my ship from the abstractness that has plagued all the while and has cast a cauldron of shadow upon my aim.
In simple words i wish to blurt out in as lucid a manner i could about something that hit me and prompted me to do what - write this.So ,let me begin atleast now,you have a decision to make and what i set out to do was to highlight that decisions are all that we make.
Every moment,every second either consciously or not,for the good or otherwise ,we decide to do something or the other ,but imagine what if you had the power to be what it all that takes to be one ,one of a very special and sacred and scarce breed of those who could DECIDE for themselves.Got my point.
How incredible it would sound if we could just decide.If i have not convincingly put across the crux of the matter that i set out to convey,it is that all powerful conclusion that you arrive at and keep riding on it without any lookback hunching on your shoulders.
There is one thing that has become abundant in the world,options galore and it is in this gallery of choices hangs our passport to our future whether to just skim across,skimp with carelessness,take a careful look,observe get immersed losing trail of our path of progress or DECIDE and be the damn person who could be hailed as 'THE DECISION MAKER' .
What if we had the clarity of sunlight ,the audacity of an autocrat ,the strength of the great mountains ,the dynamism of a volcano ,the swiftness of a flowing river ,the skill of a sculptor, the power of a DECISION MAKER.
What precisely is all that stands as a roadblock between the person you are and the perceived hero of our discussion - what else but CHOICES.How better would it be if there were no choices.No decisions to make,an end to the rumblings ?NOT really.
The finesse lies in being able to muddle us out of the pool - the plethora of options and to be that doer ,the implementor ,the leader ,the honour to catapult us out of the self-deprecating mess ,to conquer that final frontier ,to leap past the last hurdle ,to choose from the myriad shades one that suits you ,I MEAN TO DECIDE!even if it be from trial and error.

TASTE BUGS

Riding on a crest of glory,on a wave of success ,of achievements ,happenings that result in establishment of victory have always been sweet.Never has honey tasted bitter,nowhere will diamond lose its gleam but do all intentions of being one on the podium turn into reality ?

Winners are differentiated from the rest and they make up a miniscule majority of those who make a part of the race.While all the focus that the world could envisage is for this microscopic proportion,somewhere down the lane we need to spare a thought for the so called "also ran category".

Let us face it,basking in the backyard of our euphoric entanglements is not as tough as glooming in the barn of failures.Our minds have been attuned to yearn for success,conditioned to accept the reality and crippled when it comes to handling setbacks.It is a cold,inarguable and startling truth that most of the population only get to be in such situations and yet for some proverbial thoughts spared on such myriad lives,those brutally undeniable traumas of our times ,we are left with very little time to spare.

Handling failure needs to be given its due importance,focus has to shift on this aspect of our lives too.Innumerable cases of people who have found it hard to face the outcomes or those in fear of unfortuitous outcomes,falling to the fangs of the fiery frankenstein called self-capitulation have come to our ears.This is because thoughts, fathoms deep have been forced to fend their limits within the fences of thier own minds and hearts.If only they had found an outlet to ferry it out,there may not have been so many 'formers'.

There needs to be a sea change in the thinking pattern to help people face reality,for this is a srtiking and distinctive ,inseparable but surmountable part of our lives.The notion that success is ideality and shortcomings are misery needs to be banished.There needs to flourish enough fulcrum in the fields of our mind to handle crisis and commendation with equal facility.They are but two sides of the same coin.

To be able to do this,from an early age ,while positive thinking must be fostered,it should also include and inculcate the spirit with which we need to look at failure.Victory and vilification must not be scrutinized in isolation but pampered with equivocal approach.Our mindset needs to change and for that to take place,thoughts and the forces behind them too have to make a perceivable alteration to accept thing as they come and discern them in the right spirit.

JOURNEYMAN

Of unceasing joy emanating from cruising in a luxury liner,touching the skies in a Concorde or the lilt with friends in a train ,being crushed in a crowded local bus or simply jaunting on foot for the pleasant feel of a walk ,travel is a treasure of our times.It is an abode of experience ranging from joy to anxiety,hope,despair,conquest,capitulations bundled under the stratified aspect of human emotions and expectations.Perhaps life by virtue of being a journey with a final
destination clouded in confusion,unclear about its termination is the most enthralling and enchanting journey of all kinds.

Travel as in literal sense holds a lot for us to explore but the metaphorical dimension of travel is as enthusing and inviting to unravel its beauty and glory.Man ,by virtue of being a bundle of emotions rides far through and unknown distances through his thoughts.In that sense the growth of every individual and of all collective entities in this universe can well be measured by how far we progress from a virtual "ground zero".

We never travel between destinations.It is always something more than what the apparent terms convey.Every intiative of a journey carries with it some expectations,some goals to be met and tasks to set right.Unmasking the very essence of our journeys are our emotions.

One of the most powerful illusions of travel that we ever tread are through our dreams.Inexplicable contours of human complexity are brought to the fore in this unconquered reality of our lives.Sometimes they are the spark behind our actions and are the impetus propelling our vision in an otherwise monotonous,moribund, mortal motions through the trek called life.

Dreams ignite minds,moot ideas,introduce innovations and impart information.They are the mystic miracles that cast a spell and bewitch our minds to act in a way they tend to make us traverse.It is in this imperative and undeniable spirit that they are
a journey by themself of unexplored terittories and as pointers to the impending future.

The concept of time,of a past ,a present and future mirages into an oblivion in this jouney (of dreams)encapsulating theories,sinking logic and stumping rational.They are a truth by themself that transcends,tranquilizes and trepidates,tell-tale evidences of which have been showered upon us.

Journeys such as dream scale us to new heights and make us what we are not or rather what we were not to be.Looks like this journey of mine has travelled to end in a dream but the reality is that,in black and white I have put down something for you to read.

DEMYSTIFYING THE GHOST !

There is an air of uncertainty looming large in the air, as you walk around; the faces that you get to see are pale, twitched with immeasurable fear burdening their hearts and minds constantly. They reach for their wipers now and then that are already drenched with not just sweat but also threat. Their thoughts with passing moments become increasingly tense to say the least. This is what today’s education means to a majority of the lot who look up to it as a way to come up in life but nevertheless get submerged in the intriguing complexities, constrains and compulsions that time poses to them coupled with the rhetoric beamed upon them now and then that lack common sense to put it mildly.

Education is synonymous with the examination system that has over years if not become an unconquerable monster has assumed proportions deadly enough at times. It has turned out to be a double-edged sword where tightrope walking is the order of the day. In some cases it assumes the role of arsenic quelling the special attributes imbibed in every person that gets washed away under the guise of importance surmounted upon academic brilliance. This overbearing weightage bottled
upon studies is heading for an immortal status that can be toppled only by a miracle nothing more than common sense coupled with logic and preparedness to view the road ahead with some forethought.

It is rather a comical paradox that all the hype and hoopla infested upon unmatchable grades that one is expected to pick for himself even if it be from institutes of
excellence only results in him being called a coolie ,a “cyber coolie” to be precise. It is an imperative truth floundering in the open for everyone to see that the glint in the white man’s skin has not whittled away and all talks of equality are only tantrums etched on flowing water.

Coming back to our agenda, it is of utmost importance that we realize that trekking on a path of discomfort is not as wrong and unfulfilling as doing it when it is amply clear that it is not going to lead us in the right way. It would be better to study the missing link and fix it.

One of the basic truths of nature is ‘change’ and it is queer enough to note that the educative process has been immune to it in the sense that it has been evaluative, informative and all but educative. If one really wonders the validity of this point a survey would suffice to ratify the number of successes in educative terms i.e. gaining a degree but are ‘living failures’ considering the practical aspects of life.

To dig deeper into the filth would only one learn the eternal imprints of truth as once Andrew Carnegie remarked

“When you go digging for gold, you have to move tons of
dirt to get an ounce of gold. But when you go digging, you
don’t go looking for the dirt you go looking for the gold”


The three angles from which any student is analyzed are potential, expectations and performance. Of these potential is a common factor that is not out in the fore and only performance circumvents into all three categories explaining what one’s capability is and how the expectations from various quarters get addressed. Often these expectations become the bane. Sometimes they are not in line with the interest or potential and this gets reflected in performance as pressure inundates into the performing minds .It is when the equilibrium between these three qualitative factors that the quantitative nature of them prevails. After all quality too does have a parameter unlike in case of soft drinks sold in the country.

Having analyzed the scenario, the obvious question follows. What needs to be done? The answer lies in a ‘holistic’ approach. Realization needs to dawn upon all those related to education that ‘academics’ is only the face of education. If this
truth becomes a part of our lives then sudden bursts of illogical ,unwarranted unifocal importance for academics will wean away and so with it will the “ghosts” procreated by us.


Education must help one find his feet and at the same time inculcate values in him to have his feet firmly on the ground.

related links:

http://www.hindu.com/edu/2005/01/24/stories/2005012400420300.htm

http://www.hindu.com/edu/2005/01/24/stories/2005012400401000.htm

http://www.hindu.com/edu/2005/01/03/stories/2005010300120200.htm