Happy New Year

So a new year is being born,

Like the old cliche which says time n tide wait 4 no man, year 2006 is leavin and i am astounded. But along the way it meandered, it stopped, it ran,it tumbled and all along i was a mute spectator.

At the beginnin of the year i was stunned by the speed which things changed , i moved jobs from mcdowell to icici and it all semed to happen in a blur. The new job was supposed to keep me busy, it did, went to cochin, to mumbai and was told you would go to the united states someday. time ran , new financial products were introduced and learnt, hopefully i was also supposed to do sales and make money and if possible move abroad.New friends were made in mumbai, new ideas, the energy seemed to be an overdrive and then....

Then time tumbled and toppled and meandered almost to a halt.No work , went thru dozens of reports and dozens of gyaan session but like an new sword it was never put to test in the war, The anticipation turned to frustration and led to nearly 8 months of joblessness.I was told about 4 months in between that i would go to the middle east, muscat 2 be precise.

Meanwhile on a personal level learnt new hobbies, bloggin was a pasttime, networking was new and renewed thru orkut.School friends were met after nearly ten years, the joy was immense .New relatives, the joy of convocation of wearin a costume all made life interestin,

but somewhere there was a purpose amiss, while the desire to do somethin was immense, i was bound by nothin to do nothin.

Then had a accident and an upheaval, all of a sudden moved to Doha and it was a new world a new culture, new learning, a world in which i am frightened and pressurised, a world in which i am excited and anxious, a world in which i am joyful and sad,there is a desire to achieve but the worries of an uncertain future....

So time has suddenly shifted to supernova mooed and its moved to the next year of a life.

There are dreams , dreams of a new tommorow, dreams of that person who would make life interesting, dreams of a succesful tommorow and i am held back no more by nothin me.

So as i part with the old year, here is my ode to friends old, my dear parents and sis, to renewed and reborn friendships and to newer friends and most of all to time , me and my mentor a certain God who makes me evolve into somethin better every year.

so while thers a goodbye ,

here's the welcome to all those surprises, joy and sorrow anew and a resolution for the first time to make life enriched and to not remain a mute spectator but an active participant.

Happy new year folks!!! and lets have fun and the bubbly flow,,,.............

Nation and its symbols

What does patriotism mean , y does the concept of a nation mean so much to any individual on the planet??

concept of a nation state probably started on greece but we in India or China in these parts of Asia have had also our concepts built up if not anything by alexander's invasion .How important is symbolism to this. If you look at any sporting activity the national events r the best of the lot. People can no more war and they let sport do the talking or talk heavily while being involved in sports.Jingoistic or not , u see flag waving , u see coloured faces,u see caps and t-shirts and ofcourse you national animals .

symbolism and patriotism go hand in hand.

But can an individual be patriotic and not be so symbolic about it.

America is one of the best marketed concepts in the world.T-shirts , Uncle Sam, Mcdonald's Coke are all American symbols.You would find maximum Indian brands also carryin the 51 stars.It is indeed verycool to be American and most countries patronise the stars and the symbols.

So does it mean the American's are patriotic. Are Americans patriotic bcoz the nation is the best . By that i mean America gets the best manpower in all the fields from usually the rest of the world. And country is great if its pplare great.So now what makes Americans more patriotic.

We in India had to fight for the right to display the Indian flag as a part of our attire. We are one of the largest natiosn with huge number of permanent immigrations happening.Patriotism develops when as we see a Kagil war , or a cricket match, maybe with the Sania fervour a tennis match too.But we dont stand up for the anthem,, we are waitin to go abroad and have a better life.Though the last thing has changed with the advent of the big business in India somewhere we r not so sure about the nation.We r patriotic maybe but def not symbolic, We are also more divisonal internally, with caste language and religion also making our identities.Is this the cause for less patriotism.

Or we now gettin to blv in a global world and cannot think of ourselves as a single nation.

for a colleague here it was great to hear the anthem being played at the asian games when paes and bhupathi won the title.So is this a third idea, patriotism and concept of a nation is more developed , when i am abroad .While i am internally in a nation these are more trivial issues while my bread and butter amtter .Abroad the difference in culture means you 'd luv to be around Indians as you understand them best being a part of it.

I am still not sure what nationhood is, is it the culture which bonds ppl of a particualr region and alienates others, is it similarities in habits and culture which create a nation or is it just a concept found agreable by a vast majority and are therfore happy in that comfort and belief .Germany for a long time could not assert itself as a nation after the two world wars bcoz it was afraid of jingoism and hurt by excessive nationalism shown by its past till a world cup of football held ther.

Well i am not sure kaikoo this is so important but it gives evryone an identity to live with, something good to look upto and while it is a mental concept it is definitely a brand which agets aggressively marketed based on vested interests of individuals!!!!

inspirational

i cant write poetry but i found something nice so just posting that

Bertrand Russell:
Three passions have governed my life:
The longings for love, the search for knowledge,
And unbearable pity for the suffering of [humankind].
Love brings ecstasy and relieves loneliness.
In the union of love I have seen In a mystic miniature the prefiguring vision Of the heavens that saints and poets have imagined.
With equal passion I have sought knowledge.
I have wished to understand the hearts of [people].
I have wished to know why the stars shine.
Love and knowledge led upwards to the heavens,
But always pity brought me back to earth; Cries of pain reverberated in my heart Of children in famine, of victims tortured And of old people left helpless. I long to alleviate the evil, but I cannot, And I too suffer. This has been my life;
I found it worth living.

adapted