Party animals

भीड़ प्रिय आदमी कभी किसी का अपना नहीं होता

- फणीश्वरनाथ रेणु

कहानी का उद्देश्य

अन्ततः कहानी का उद्देश्य भी यही है कि वह अपनी व्याप्ति और निष्पत्ति में हमें हमारा ही जिया हुआ जीवन वापस हमीं को सौंप देती है... 

(From the Net) 

Different Routes to Wisdom

By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest.

- Confucius

Folk Wisdom from Ram Gopal Verma

Ram Gopal Verma in an interview:

... This reminds me of a folk tale that I had heard in my hometown. A beggar used to go to two houses every day. One lady would give him alms and the other one would never give him anything.

One particular day, the generous lady had nothing to give, so she sent him away empty handed. The other lady as usual, didn't give anything. The beggar was upset and said loudly, "That madame never gives anything, but what happened to this bitch"?

You Get Wisdom Bit-by-Bit

Life is a long discovery, isn't it?

You only get your wisdom bit by bit.

- From a poem of Hilaire Belloc, Anglo-French writer (1870-1953) 

Ability or Habit to Forget

भूलने की क्षमता रखने वाले लोग खुसनसीब होते हैं, क्योंकि वे अपनी गलतियों से भी आसानी से उबर जाते हैं।

- Friedrich Nietzsche ('पाखी' के नवंबर 2014 अंक में उद्धृत)

वैसे भूलना कितना conscious और कितना unconscious या आदतन होता है, यह कहना मुश्किल है। (RP)

अच्छी स्मृति का होना भी तो बारूद के ढेर पर बैठकर जीना है।

- एक कहानी से

Success and Relationships

एक अजीब सी दौड़ है ये ज़िन्दगी,
जीत जाओ तो कई अपने पीछे छूट जाते हैं,
और हार जाओ तो अपने ही पीछे छोड़ जाते हैं।

- From the Net

ऐसा होने में गलतफहमियों और खुशफहमियों की भी महत्वपूर्ण भूमिका होती है।

- RKP

Negative People are Everywhere

Any society or large group will always have people with negative dispositions – which may be the because of their improper upbringing, abnormal experiences, etc. Some of these people take to crime. Some others may have hidden criminal r; some may be sadists – gaining pleasure from troubling, irritating or causing pain to others.

For example, to some people, cheating somebody of Rs. 5 would give more pleasure than earning Rs. 500.

Such people can’t be wished away. One has to learn how to identify them, deal with them, or avoid them.

My apprehension is that in contemporary society, which places a premium on individualism and materialism, the number of such negative people will rise exponentially.

.........

Wow... very similar thoughts from Nimmy's blog:

Coping with the World

The really ominous thing about today's world is that if one is overly sensitive, then one is likely to give in and dissolve into smithereens, one or more atoms at a time, when constantly faced with what the majority of society suffers from in one form or the other - incompetence, apathy, selfishness, superficiality, hypocritical-ness, meaninglessness, greed, cruelty, sadism, discrimination and a whole lot of other depressing things that I better stop making a list of.

Arguably, you don't really need the media to blow it up and negatively impact your mind. Families suffer from it, organizations you work for suffer from it, banks you rely on to safeguard your earnings suffer from it, service providers you rely on to execute your tasks suffer from it and even the temple you go to for peace of mind is subjected to these ills.

To feed into inspiring literature and thoughts and then swing back to reality might actually backfire as you struggle to cope with what you increasingly aspire for and the unyielding, chaotic and yawning gap you see when you come back to reality. If you're lucky enough to cross paths with many of those who are successfully endeavoring to make a difference, change and adapt themselves without impacting their values and attitude, little rays of hope begin to fall on you gently. 

Morality and Mortality

दरअसल, यह उम्र का वह दौर है जब आदर्श, सच्चाई, इंसानियत जैसे शब्दों से आपका मोहभंग होने लगता है. आप देखते हैं कि आपके आस-पास जो दुनिया है, वहां ऐसे शब्दों का कोई वजूद नहीं. जो  होना चाहिए और जो है उसके बीच का अंतर आपको निराश करता है और भाग्यवादी बनाता है.

- एक ब्लॉग से 

बड़ी उम्र के लोगों में मानवीय मूल्यों के प्रति प्रतिबद्धता के प्रति मैं बहुत पहले से (कम से कम 30 वर्षों से) सशंकित रहा हूँ. हालांकि ऐसा कोई अनुभव या चरित्र मुझे याद नहीं आता जो मेरी इस शंका का जनक हो.


"अनुभव ने सीख ली थोड़ी बेईमानी"

- नेट पर एक कविता से 

Work-Life Balance is a Chimera

There is no such thing as work-life balance. Everything worth fighting for unbalances your life.

- Alain de Botton, contemporary writer

The writer's point is: any ambition, any mission, any passion inevitably involves sacrifices in personal life.

Agreement is Not Always Obvious

I see people everywhere disagreeing, who actually agree with each other, but cannot see that they agree.

- Bryant McGill, US writer 

Bosses from Hell

I am still unable to figure out whether bad people become bosses or bosses turn into bad people.

- Someone's comment on Linkedin

Everybody is a Genius

Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.

- Attributed to Albert Einstein; source unknown

Even though it is doubtful whether Einstein said it or not, it is an excellent quote.

Eternal Child Inside Us

There is a child inside each one of us in our life, who comes out in front of the person we are most comfortable with.

- Unknown

Life is Political

Life is political – there is no getting away from it!

- David Gurteen

In the end, to hate "politics" is to eschew most forms of achievement. There is nothing wrong with leading the unpolitical life of the hermit. Just don't be surprised when you fail to be in the Forbes magazine list of the 400 wealthiest Americans, merit a footnote in the history books, or have many people at your funeral.

- Tom Peters, in 'The Independent'

Be Childish to Understand

Don't you understand that we need to be childish in order to understand? Only a child sees things with perfect clarity, because it hasn't developed all those filters which prevent us from seeing things that we don't expect to see.

- Douglas Adams, author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Maybe having too much knowledge and information also fogs an adult's mind. अनुभव और ज्ञान का लबादा हमारे चक्षुओं को ढाँप लेता है। (RKP)

People Don't Like to Offend Others

I'd like to believe that a very small percentage of people consciously target others.....more often than not, they are acting to help themselves.

- Nirmala Palaniappan's comment on Facebook

Truth is Like a Butterfly

Truth is like a butterfly. Colourful. Fascinating. Fleeting. And there are many fluttering in the garden. 

You can focus and chase one all the way but still make space for appreciating a few different others on the journey. You can simply watch all of them enchanted by the apparent diversity. You can pick up a magnifying glass to study one and dive deep into it without letting it blind you to everything else......

- Nirmala Palaniappan on Facebook

Principles of Success

A man of principles must always be principled. Mostly it’s a curse, and such people are ignored if they choose to be silent and targetted if they are vocal. Some, and a very rare few, achieve greatness and show the world a new way and hope.

A man without principles, but who is clear about what he wants, often achieves it, and if he can mask his lack of principles, exercises power and influence over people, and is often very successful.

A man who vacillates between principles and convenience survives in this world, and if he is silent then is called flexible and practical. If such a man is very vocal, then he is labelled an opportunist and is rightly mocked!

Such are the rules of the game we call life.... And has been so for perhaps all of history!

- Ramaswamy Balakrishnan on Facebook

Intimacy is Understanding Someone Else

There's nothing more intimate in life than simply being understood. And understanding someone else.

― Brad Meltzer, Contemporary American author