Letter to the Arm-Chair Activist

An old letter I wrote.

Dear Armchair Activist on Facebook,

Yesterday, so many folks in Mumbai including my friends paid heed to your call and saved water for the state by celebrating a 'Dry Holi'. It is commendable.

However, even a day hasn't passed since Holi and I came across this article on the front page of 'The Economic Times' 

Mumbai builders woo rich with golf courses, sports facilities based home plans - The Economic Times

which talks about 6 completed and work-in-progress Golf Courses which are coming up in the Mumbai-Pune area and lauds it in a way as the next step in luxury living.

Please read-up the amount of water that will be taken-up in maintaining these golf-courses per day (enough for 60,000 villagers per day) for an entire year on the internet. I'm disappointed that none of you have spoken-up about it, as much-concerned citizens of this drought-affected state.

This is in no way a critique of your efforts to save water on Holi, but a reminder that you forget an issue or agenda as soon as it's not the latest fad on Facebook anymore and that to really bring about a change, citizen vigilance and activism is equally required on the remaining 364 days of the year.

Grow up, observe, question your administration and more importantly vote responsibly when it matters.
Cause delivering sermons on Facebook just doesn't work in the real world.

Jai-Hind

Paras Kapadia

Creativity is the true high

Last night, I got sloshed. A few pints of beer and a bunch of Kamikaze shots made sure that the fun I had was well worth the hangover next day. Today, I woke up with a heavy head reminiscing in the epicness of last night but at the same time regretting why I had a shot too many. I wondered. It was just two days back that my teetotal-ling friend tweeted condescendingly about people who drink and why they do it. Let me be frank, when I read it at first, I was pissed. Because well… he doesn't drink.Who is he to judge? So in my current state of a hangover, I started thinking, determined to come up with an answer so true, I could wave the drinking flag with pride.

Why do I really end up having so much fun when I’m drunk?

This is the best I could come up with -

When people are high on alcohol, they loose all inhibitions about being themselves and acting out their emotions. People forget about social constraints, etiquette, considerations and start being more of themselves. There is something about alcohol which wipes these from one’s mind and helps them experience their raw emotions in the purest of forms. Opinions are shared, feelings are shared, comments are made - all coming straight from the heart. There is something about being one with yourself, which gives us immense joy and happiness - to live one’s feelings without any bonds, to self-express without any pretense. In a way, it is the thrill of truly being who you are.

Now this for me is a good enough reason to enjoy drinking.

But this very same day, I found myself brainstorming for a new idea for my new project at work. I wanted to think of a feature, a functionality, an experience which offers immense value to people and makes so many possibilities a reality. Idea after Idea, I thought of ideas and shot them down. But I wouldn't relent. I had to think of something new, something original, something game-changing. The idea never came.

At one point I stopped. I looked at my desperation to think of something new and wondered - why do I dislike merely executing or building features that are not new or original? Why is there a unrelenting desire to think of something new, to create.

Turns out, our Ideas are as much ours as our thoughts, our feelings our emotions. When we think of an idea, a possibility, it is our small version of the world, an extension of us into this world. We don’t merely like our ideas, we believe in them. Believe that something which is us is of value to this world.

Creativity my friends is also self-expression, being who we are.

No wonder creating something has a thrill, a rush, a ‘High’ of its own.

Unfortunately, creativity suffers from the same inhibitions as our feelings. Some people believe they aren't creative. Everyone has ideas. Every one is creative in their own way. But we sometimes don’t believe in the quality of our ideas, question ourselves or hide them under veils of inadequacy of time and responsibilities. We fear being laughed at. We fear being laughed at because we feel it is not our idea, but us who are being laughed at. We deprive ourselves the chance to create.

Turns out, alcohol cannot take away these inhibitions. To overcome these requires courage, requires belief and a positive attitude to failure. We might fail… we will yes, but when we do succeed, it’s high is something which won’t go away for a long long time.

So create. Creativity is the true high.

PS - Yes I ponder too much

My Precious...

Hello Tin-Tin! 

When I was 11, my father insisted that I join a library to cultivate the healthy habit of reading. I never cared to read. I despised the Famous Five, Secret Seven, Hardy Boys books which everybody seemed to like. So I wandered in the library and after some lazy looks here and there, stumbled upon a stack of Tin-Tin comics.

I never looked back. Comic after comic, I read every Tin-Tin and then proceeded to Asterix. I loved them.

But there was a catch… The library did not possess the full collections and there remained 4 Tin-Tins and some 5-6 Asterix comics which I desperately wanted to read. Back then, I couldn’t afford to buy a comic this expensive (around Rs. 300 each then at Crossword). I could never finish the sets.

Until last week. I stumbled upon a rack of comics which I could have easily missed. The rack was closer to the Toy section than the other books… and there they were. Time had changed and I could spare the money. I bought one of the four which remained.

Maybe I’ll collect these but today I feel like bought a piece of my childhood… something which got me to read.