I Work In My Pajamas

The most popular question of the decade for me and many others will be- "Beta aajkal kya kar rhe ho?" And since many couldn't understand my answer, I chose to explain it in a different way.
I don't work in government services. I don't work for a private firm. I don't own a business. So what do I do? The answer was not easy to comprehend. This, in turn, changed the original question to- "Suna hai aajkal free ho?" No, I am not 'free'; I am a 'freelancer', and that isn't 'free' either.
Freelancing is not a widely accepted concept in India. I mean, how can a work being done at home be called a job right? And how much could I earn, sitting on a couch with a laptop and a cup of coffee? The answer is "as much as I want to" and no, it's not black money. I pay my taxes. The perks you ask? I am my own boss and I don't hate Mondays!
I love what I do. Being a freelancer doesn't make me less independent than someone working at a 9 to 5 job in a metropolitan city.
PS: I work in my pajamas!

#scoopwhoop #storypick #thelogicalindian #freelanceindia #freelancer #worknhire #peopleperhour #creativefreelancersinc 

Impermanence

It is weird how we take everything in our lives for granted; from relationships to career to breathing. We sleep at night after setting an alarm to wake up in the morning without even thinking once about the uncertainty of our being alive the next moment. I learnt the lesson of impermanence from a book called 'The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying' written by Sogyal Rinpoche. There is a lot more about Tibetan Buddhism that is yet to be explored by me but the first major idea, that struck me and changed my perspective of life to an extent, was the idea of impermanence. We construct feeble and destroy-able by a soft blow of breathe bubbles all around us. Our dreams, our environment, the present and the hopeful future, all of these and more are stored in these easy to pop bubbles of illusion. Illusion of permanence, a fake promise to us from us. 
A very important aspect about the theme then lies in the belief that everything around us, within us and even our own selves are prone to change every second of our lives. Knowing this, there is no reason at all to feel negative about our being. The whole idea of approaching this view of life is to cherish the present. The things we have now, the person we are at the moment, the place we are in and the thoughts that we have at this very moment make us what we are at present and it is only the present that truly matters.
Having said that, I do not ignore or underestimate the power of dreaming before achieving and thriving to achieve what we dreamt of, yet, in our quest of reaching to the said goal, the power of making the most of 'now' in accomplishments cannot be ignored.
There is a strange charm about living in the moment and many who have mastered it (having interacted with a lot of such inspiring people) seem satiated. The same got confirmed when I asked them about their desires and future plans. They had none.
#impermanence #granted #illusion #life #desires #future #present #satisfaction

Living The Dead

When you see something big, it’s just a sight of something that consumes more space. But when you see something magnificent, you realise where you stand and what you really are. This is something magical that happened to me as well. There are mountains, there are big mountains and then, there are huge mountains. My expedition to the Mars of India led me to a very powerful realisation of how my existence is almost negligible in this vastness called the Universe. My camera was a shame for capturing such beautifully ruling landscape which, in all its mightiness, impresses its power upon you. In the little that I could really capture while bumping in the moving bus, the splendour of the trans- Himalayas becomes a bit evident. A small dot on those loopy roads, set amidst the wide mountainous landscape, is actually a huge truck. A truck, which is considered the biggest thing on the road in the cities, had no identity there in the hilly deserts. So, where did I stand? Who am I? What is the importance of my existence to the world? I was just a speck of dust, or may be even minuter than that for what stood in front of my eyes. There were fort-like formations created by nature on those gigantic mountains. Somehow, nature had its way to express that it is the most powerful of all on the earth. It was nature who created and destroyed those forts, decided whether a passer-by should be allowed into its wilderness or not and might as well, became the master of your destiny in that lonely, deserted, wickedly silent atmosphere. Now that I am back to the fast life of the cities, I realise how free I was there in the dry darkness of the open grounds which changed colour from morning till dusk. Pinks, blues, greens, browns, blacks, purples; there was nothing shady, nothing colour-filled, nothing at all, yet, there was every colour, alive, like it had never been before on the canvas. There was no life on that isolated planet, but everything seemed lively and happy in the deadness of the seclusion. From the deadliest routes, to the most beautifully unexpected roads on earth, I had tears in my eyes as I left that parched heaven. Tears of joy, accomplishment and separation; I got freedom in the breathless air; I got warmth of life in the cold desert.

A Gypsy's Tough Love

Majestic peaks have always been major hindrances for travellers of the Himalayas. Luckily, nature created saddles for them to hop on and make their journey easier. There are a lot of passes around the world but none can be at par with the Himalayan passes. Pictures cannot capture their true magnificence. Today there are metalled roads on such passes, yet, these magical formations have a lot of stories to tell in silence. Imagining huge caravans with thousands of soldiers walk through such passes can give you a glimpse of what these passes meant for them. Yes, we had wars, migrations and invasions through them but that is what has made us what we are today. The U's that changed history, the U's that made history, the U's for You- The Great Himalayan Passes!

Pay to Pee on Pee on Pee

I hope you don't feel like peeing after reading the header. Well, India is a great place to travel and go places. Most of us need to use public toilets while travelling or being a bit away from home. While travelling is a sure delight in the country, I would say the opposite for public toilets which are a necessity at such times. The pathetic condition of public toilets is what pushes people to pee on walls, bushes and fields. Two girls in Haryana got raped and hanged to death 'cause they went to the fields for peeing in the middle of the night. That might be a bit too much to say as there are several reasons to be blamed for this mis-happening. Coming back to the public toilets, India has a lot of them but guess what, you need to pay for peeing in the public toilets of India. This special tax is only for ladies. The reason? Well, men can pee on the walls or the bushes but women can't. The first photograph below has been clicked at a bus stand where men need not pay but women have to and it is Rs. 5 for each time you use the stinking, infected and unclean public toilet. What if a person has an income of Rs. 100 per day and has to pee 6 times? 30% of the income for peeing! I'd rather stop drinking liquid or won't use public washrooms at all (a disgrace to the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan). Price hike is understandable to an extent but this is not acceptable. The other photograph was taken at a tourist point where peeing charges are as high as 15 rupees! The board has been put up by the Nagar Parishad of the area. It is obvious that people will pee outside and save themselves from spending money and getting infected. One way to control this is to install super hydrophobic walls which throw pee back on the person but that would require a lot of investment and is an impractical option for a country as big as India. The conditions of the toilets get worse each day and the rates of the same rise at the corresponding pace. We are just paying to pee on someone else's pee and then again someone else would pee on ours. No water, no hygiene and zero sanitation. I don't know when the government would stop flaunting its economic growth rates and have a look into this matter. I humbly ask the NGOs too to come ahead for helping civilians on a concern which the masses don't discuss quite openly in the country. Let's do our bit and keep the toilets clean on our part as a user; the only way to avoid Pay to Pee on Pee on Pee.

#pay #pee #publictoilets #unclean #hygiene #India #travel #SwachhBharatAbhiyan #hydrophobicwalls #NGO #attention #GovernmentofIndia

 

Life Challenges and Someone

Life can become uneasy sometimes. There are problems faced by each one of us at one point of time or the other. They juice out our courage, bravery, strength and boldness to the core. Finding solutions to such problems is not always easy. They say, "Let your life float in the wind of your directional destiny", but is it really that easy to just let everything go with the flow? Looking for answers to the queries of your life may not be simple, but, calming the anxieties and depressions that occur at such difficult times is feasible.
Here is one related incident which knocked the doors of my life without any exploration efforts.


I was sitting alone one day in a park and was going through a bit trouble in my life that caused me to just sit on a bench for hours thinking about how miserable my life had become. Night was falling in and I was still there. People were coming in and out of the park for their evening walks. They would look at me and pass by. After sometime, a frail guy came up to me and said, "This is for you". The photograph that follows this post is the original piece of paper he had handed me at that time. It read: 'Whatever it is, don't let it beat you'. As I read these words, a smile showed up on my face. I knew it wasn't the frail guy who had written it. It was someone though. Someone who probably didn't know me but was concerned. From that day, I don't know why, but I have felt strong enough to face anything negative that comes my way. That little piece of paper brought my strength back. Just a little gesture from an anonymous writer and that has made a huge difference in my being. I never came to know about that person neither did he/she try to contact me anytime after that. The only thing that is left as a memory of this incident is humanity. The stocks of humanity haven't emptied as yet but maintaining them to their original level is our responsibility. Just spread it out then. Without NGOs, without memberships, without official volunteering sign ups; 'cause spreading a smile does no harm. Giving a helping hand might save a disaster in someone's life. Hesitation is a devil. Communicate and move out to make someone feel alive again.
The world is a good place.
#life #problems #depressions #helpinghand #help #humanity #world #smile

Feeling lazy?

Frustratingly sluggish mornings, noons and nights

Summers are here but you silently realise that it is not the season that affects your lazy attitude but something else. Something that has been following you like a hovering monster since the millennium Y2k era began. Have you ever thought what keeps you busy while you waste away your day lying on the couch? I asked this question from a few people, including youngsters, adults and older aged people, and got obvious answers like PSP, mobile phones, laptops, television, etc. Even your answers would tally with these. Today, we need everything to happen with a press of a button. There's remote control for everything these days and we have made ourselves accustomed to the habit of using one for all that we do. I explored this to be a major reason behind our sluggish mornings, noons and nights. Every morning seems like a Monday morning. The afternoons have become extremely sleepy as if you were a baby. The nights end with having 10 cups of coffee so as to reassure yourself of activity. The times before technology had crept in were the times of hard-work, body movement and relaxation that can never be felt now. 'Working hard' has now become 'hardly working' and that is only because of this thing I am typing into. Technology may have given us a few things but has taken away a lot more from us. I would want to experiment my life with just one hour of gadgets each day. For the rest 23 hours, I will go back to the 90s; play with clay, read books, paint pots and glasses, meet people (not on Facebook or Skype), write a bit, go cycling, learn cooking, take long walks into the greens, etc. It is a tough job for a person who sits around with smartphones and laptops for 99.9% of the day but I'll try and may be even encourage a few to give it a chance at least. Life may become less frustrating and more meaningful. Let's try being fully alive to each and every moment of what is left of our lives. #notech
#laziness #gadgets #smartphones #technology #sleepy #work #activity #quitgadgets #read #write #paint #cycle #walk #meetpeople #live #alive #notechmovement #notechroutine