Gaurav Arora at Manekshaw Center

I completed my MA Clinical Psychology. It is a picture of my convocation. Whenever I used to tell people about pursuing it, I got a response that followed a standard template - "Wow" followed by "but why?".

I would then find myself scrambling for an answer that sounded acceptable -
- It would help me become a better leader in my career
- It would help me write better poems
- I want to pursue academic research in the future

Sometimes, I would make a joke.
- I want to read the minds of hot ladies who find me cute. 
- When the economy goes into recession and you go to depression, I will come to rescue ...and charge you a hefty fee. 
- I have an engineering degree to pay bills. So, I want a degree that doesn't pay bills. Variety!

(I said make a joke, not necessarily a funny one.)

None of those is a real answer. They are either untrue or at best just manifestations of a bigger cause which I find difficult to explain to people. The real cause lies in powerful words like kindness, empathy, understanding, empowering, helping, treating, solving which we dismiss as emotional talk.

(And reading minds of hot ladies who find me cute)

I have seen companies treat employees like vending machines where you put in money to get a product. I have come to know about people who committed suicide in the same society I lived in. I have seen people live-in toxic relationships, families, jobs, schools, colleges. Won't deny, sometimes that person has been me. I learned through the course that most people don't realize that they are in a ditch. We believe the life we live is the reality of the entire world. We feel that's how the world operates. Insight doesn't come naturally. We need someone else to give us a bird's eye view of our lives. I am not saying you are a damsel in distress and only a Superman can save you. But some point in our lives we all are. Taking help doesn't hurt. When the Superman is succumbing to Kryptonite, you could be the Wonder Woman that saves him.

Amazon CEO Jezz Bezos could not sustain his marriage. Elon Musk once said he would "rather stick a fork in my hand than write about my personal life". We all are in our own respective ditches. The only way we all can come out is when we simply help each other.

I again made it sound like a profit-loss situation to make it more appealing. The real reason is much simpler. 

It is good to be nice to each other.

(It is even better to be informed and educated about how to be nice.)

If you had your school in Delhi, you must have read this story. I have used, "I am at the Third Level", "You seem to be at the Third Level" so many times myself, casually, very casually.

I did today one more time. And she asked me what is it about because she had not read it, being with a different board of education. So I shared the story with her. She read it and exclaimed "I was shocked at the last line". Now I didn't even remember the last line. I had read it 7 years ago, no amnesia to be blamed, may be Alzheimer's.

I had to read the story again.7 years ago, it took me and a class of 48, four lectures to read it through. It took me 15 minutes today. Now this story is hitting me so hard, putting me into trance and oscillating me back and forth. Boards and education institutions trusted us to be so mentally aware, evolved and receptive. I feel obliged to have received such an education.

15 minutes of throwback enriched me today and also put me into a deeper thought. What do we talk about today, with our colleagues, our friends, our parents, our lovers and strangers? "Hello, how are you?" "Nothing much" "Had food?", "I just want to smoke up", "getting bored" , "Or bataao". One word. Small talk.

I ask you for a hundred dollar bill with an assurance that I won't give it back. You might give me one, since I have been nice to you. I come the next day for another bill. You give one again. I come again and again and again. You would shoo me away, want all your bills back. You would be enraged. Time is money.

When we indulge in small talk, I am highlighting it in bold I am taking your oh so precious 10 minutes talk time and throwing it down the drain in front of you, along with mine. I am not giving anything to you. You are so furious when shopkeeper gives you candies instead of your change. Here I am throwing your limited, non-replenish-able resource, without giving you even a candy, why are you not enraged?

Be enraged. Shut me up and shut anyone who does small talk with you. You deserve true value for your time. If you don't get it, take them to a consumer court instead of a coffee shop. Small talk is useless. It is so easily replaceable with something of much higher worth. You do not need to be a scientist for it. Talk about movies that moved you, the failures you have seen, how you think, how people think, what inspires you, what doesn't let you sleep, what do you want to do before you die. Talk about the books you loved. I don't read books, I talk about poems I wrote. That's how poetry open mic happened. But a 3 hour work out a week can only tickle that fat. To stay fit we need to absorb this in routine.

I am leaving you with a snapshot from the 12th standard book which inspired this write up. I am not giving a hyperlink to the story. You can google it or message me for one. If you take the easier route of messaging me then you are obligated to read it through and talk to me about how it changed you. Dare you "or bataao" me!

1. It has to be tasty
2. Very tasty
3. It should be quick to prepare. (so that people don't ask if you are making a pizza or growing crops)
4. It should be space efficient (cranes and bulldozers are not usually appreciated at pizzerias, kids might ask for a ride you see)
5. Even if it is operationally viable, it cannot hit the table till it is proven to be commercially viable
6. Does it cannibalize? (It should not make people eat people) The new pizza should not eat into sales of old pizza. If it does, it should improve the bottom line
7. It goes through a test control method. Test and control stores are identified. The test store is very similar to its test store. So when you introduce a new pizza in a test store. You can compare how it augments sales in comparison to control store. If it shows a statistically significant increase in sales it might be added to menu.
8. It should be consistent to have it, take-away and delivery.
9. It should be consistent across all stores (very tricky)
10. It must touch your heart

1. School
2. Boards
3. Engineering
4. MBA
5. Job
6. Marriage
7. Kids
8. Prefix "Their" and go to 1

Sanjay Manjrekar: Tough luck Mahela!

Mahela: Well Saanje! 11 players can't be on their bad luck for 6 matches. Our openers can't even open champagne bottles these days. My job in the team is to bat through 20 overs and put pressure on the bowlers to make runs for us. But unfortunately I got out early today, but Jeevan Mendis did the job equally well, a proper test match innings that snatched the game from the claws of victory. Honestly, I was really happy to see contribution of that tiny kid ..what's his name Satender?

It isn't an act of molestation.

Football and Cricket mated maybe, and it gave birth to one of the most amazing forms of game. A football game with some cricket rules, being played in a handball ground which was surmounted by a cage like an elimination chamber in WWE. Goodness! What to call it, foursome ? Anyway there are few positives that came out of this event, I finally started to click humans. After consistently disturbing privacy settings of plants and animals for over half a year, I have moved my camera towards the human specimens.

It was a pleasure to meet Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Virat Kohli , Suresh Raina and Murali Vijay. Must say about MS Dhoni, he is really a cool customer. No matter how much time it takes, how many people come and get clicked with him. he won't say a word, or behave being in a hurry. That's is something that is very inspiring about this gentleman.

Virat is just like another Delhi guy, full of life and has a great sense of humor. He enjoys himself on and off the field. He was joking around. He narrated one of his encounters with a fan. He said a guy grabbed hold of him and said, ' did you recognize me sir?'. To his amazement, Virat said, "Sorry I don't". the man replied back," Arre sir wo teen saal pehle aapke saath photo khichaai thi maine" (I got clicked with you three years back). I wonder what you make of it, he was also tossing footwear and acting like a salesman, "Sir ye wala try karo". I somehow controlled my laughter there.

Sakshi Dhoni is a very lovely lady. She's very friendly. She went to a couple of gentlemen standing together. greeted them and said,"Hi! I am Sakshi Dhoni". She talks very sweetly. She was with her couple of friends, so I didn't disturb her. I respected their privacy and didn't click any pictures then. Anyway, I am sharing few of the pictures I clicked there. You can open my facebook albums for more.

The title is as simple as you could imagine.
What do you want? ; A very simple question, with a very difficult answer.

If you are a girl asking this to a guy and he takes a gentle pause, "umm" and says something like "love"...
GO FOR HIM!!
I quoted that example for no reason but to illustrate no one likes to lie, one is made to lie.

Most of your problems are because of your indecision. You don't segregate your 'I wants' and 'I don't wants'. Priorities are not that well set. Over time you try to be-fool yourself trying to meet peer expectations and society standards. But that never actually happens. You comply with others' evaluations, but your views stay rock solid. And you end up making wrong decisions that cost you dearly.

It isn't Pacman !

• Diwali marks the triumph of good over evil.
• On Diwali, Goddess Laxmi blesses all her devotees with wealth and prosperity
  ( Money! Money!)

God is omnipresent | (Click image to Enlarge)

Scriptures have long taught us that God existed in visibly active form. God has assumed an all powerful yet dormant form. He's always there around us, we can see him but we don't. He somehow has struck a right balance between what we should know about him and what we should not.

People sometimes end up questioning his very existence. If you observe closely there is a sweet analogy of what we have here on earth and what God has for us in his treasury. We might ignore a small pigeon on the roof, but when we see it spreading its wings across the clouds, shining with the sun. We start admiring it.

God prevails among us unnoticed on this very earth. Don't search in the clouds. Value him in every form he manifests himself in.

He is there..
He is here..

In a strange way, I feel at home here (Lord’s).
It’s like the place of cricket.
- Rahul Dravid said ahead of 100th Indo-England and two thousandth Test match.

I asked myself if I connect to some place as he does. The wisdom bulb lighted up, the answer came up after thinking for some time. Old Delhi! Yes, Old Delhi is the place to be at. Whenever I go there, I offer my prayers at parathewali gali, make pilgrimage to Gyani’s and ultimately find some lemonade to beat the heat. Gurudwara Sheesh Ganj, Jama Masjid, Red Fort. The place speaks Delhi’s respect for its ancestry.

I have been using Airtel for past four years now. The only reason I chose airtel was because everyone in family had an airtel number. I never regretted my decision until earlier this year. So here I state few reasons due to which I feel like porting my airtel number.

Whenever the word beauty comes to the fore, this piece emerges from my blog’s core. Beauty- A Mystery! Even after years of hard work of million poets, philosophers, and miss world competitions, I still believe beauty is a mystery.
We are so awestruck by the glitterati that we have lost the sense and feel of true beauty.
What is beauty?
Something that never diminishes, which is indelible by forces of time, that is beyond the limits of belief, which is beyond the reach of words.
Let’s explore the meaning of Beauty……

Beauty.....!! Who is it? What is it? Where is it?
Beauty isn’t something what shimmers on the face,
Beauty isn’t something that parlance can trace..
It is just a feeling that rests within our hearts,
Something too dear to keep apart..
Or something that gleams in the eye,
Something so dainty so divine..
Lusting for a single sight,
They squander a lifetime..
But this treasure is for only those to achieve,
Who have a pure heart for it to perceive..
Who dedicate each moment of their lives
Who live for others beyond their demises..

Continued from Part I : The Judgement Day | End of World, Word of Bible, 21st May 2011

Why you can’t do what you desire right now?


The answer goes little deep in the trenches of psychology. Sigmund Freud's structural model of the psyche explains the concept well. According to it, our way of thinking and acting depends on three factors id, ego, and super-ego.
Before I share my expert opinion, let us have a look at the Wikipedia definitions of Id, Ego and Super-ego.