Life & Death!

It may be a bit early to be talking of death by me, all of 25. But on second thoughts is it really ? No one knows what tomorrow holds for me. Anyways what got me into this post is the book 'Death at my doorstep'- Khushwant Singh. I have not finished reading it yet, but the initial chapters on death & its ubiqiuty got me thinking. In the book he mentions the views of the wise & saintly on the subject of death and re-incarnation thereafter. While there is a quite a bit of debate on what really happens after a person dies and whether the concept of re-incarnation holds any ground, there seems to be a unanimity in the sancity of death. Death is inevitable and a great leveller. Everbody wants to believe that he is gonna live for ever knowing very well that its just an illusion. The departure of near & dear ones brings one face to face with the reality of death for a while. But then the belief takes over very soon. Its indeed sad and depressing to think that a decade or may be two very few of our older folks will be there. Its difficult to fathom life without them. Their wisdom & guidance will no longer to lead us. Nor the umbrella of their love & affection to protect us. What will remain are the memories of the days gone by. The days spent in their warm company. The days of love & laughter. I know the thougt is heart-wrenching enough to bring a lump in our throat. But all of us know that its a truth of life. Because that is what death is supposed to be. The ultimate truth of life. Ironical! Death and its philosphy is shrouded with mystery & blind faith. Religion or Science has failed to explain it. Ultimately it depends on ones own faith & belief. Or may be it does not matter. Whether I believe in the 'physical' death or or the perpetuity of soul is of no consquence . Because after death no one is there to tell the tale. To put it in Khushwant Singhs word ' To me the its the final full stop'. Here are a few lines from the book which stayed with me ...

'Lead me from unreality to reality
Lead me from darkness to light
Lead me from death to immortality'

'Life Came to me,
Death now stands at my door,
I came not of my pleasure,
I got not at my leisure'

MBA or MS/MTECH ?

Every engineer (with a bachelors degree) worth his salt confronts this dilemma while making career decisions. And as many would agree , this is indeed a tough choice. On cursory thougts it might seem a very trivial matter of choice since MBA & MS are two very different degrees. One leads you the world of business & the other deep into the realms of technical theories. So ideally the choice should be very obvious for individuals. But believe me it is not.

... to be continued

Knowledge Vs Grade

Yeah I know its an old debate. Probably as old as the education system. But the reason I talk abt this is that I have been caught in this dichotomy oflate. I have been a student of its-grade-that-matters school of thought till the time I completed my engineering. The fact that I was ranked second in the class with more than 80% of marks will vouch for my claim made earlier. Not that I did not have knowledge. And then I joined the industry , so did most of my batch mates many whom did not have so called 'good grades' in their kitty. But they found a place in the industry never-the-less. The day I joined the industry n till the day I left to become a student again, not a single soul enquired of me abt my performance & rank in college. They didnt care. It didnt matter either. The grades I got in the college was of no use unless it has bearing on my productivity in tasks undertaken by me. Meanwhile, I recieved news of some of my lesser-known classmates getting placed in good companies , bagging abroad assignments, drawing hefty salary, in shortdoing good in the industry. This brings me to some questions. Does good grades imply deep knowledge ? Is knowledge the only determinant of a person succes in this world whichever industry he is in ? Is there any thing called 'situational factors' which play a role ? This are important questions. Unfortunately there are no definitive answers to this questions. Every individual during his course in life finds the answers to these questions, albeit in a hard way. Thats how life goes. Accept it and move ahead.

Walk by the road side ....

It was a pleasant summer afternoon. The sun had been over its peak and was westward bound. I tossed abt in my hostel bed trying to formulate answers for the questions that boggles each one of us. As usual I gave up and looked outside through the window. The street below looked as if its straight out of a fairy tale or a poem. The waning sun had caused the trees , that lined the sides of the street, to cast shadow cutting across its breadth. I couldnt resist the temptation and decided to take a stroll so that I could be closer to this 'oasis'. As I set foot on the road the sweet n gentle breeze kissed my face. I soaked in the moment for a while. As I looked ahead I could see the street covered in dry leaves & flowers. The breeze occasionally sweep a bunch of these leaves only to be covered again by a fresh set. As I moved ahead, I found my mind travelling back to a very similar scane from the past. Ofcourse I was a child then. And the place was none other then my home town. Summer afternoon during those days were a time for gathering n gossip. A time to walk under the shade of the leafy branches of trees lining the pathway. A time to bite on 'jolpoi' smeared with salt. A time to chat innocently with cousins or just be silent. A time that we all so enjoyed. A time that will never come again. I was soon brought back to reality by the high decibel boisterous laughter. A group of guyz & gals were on there way back to the hostel. They were walking carelessly on the same road without waiting for a moment to absorb the eternal moment of that sunday afternoon. I cast a casual glance at them and went abt my stroll trying to make the most of tht blissful time which I knew would soon be over....... Ok this is a work of fiction. So what ?? As long as as it makes you wistful................

Silence & Conversation !!

The concept of silence is alien in a B-school settings. Every body wants to talk. Ones personality is judged by the amount of sound bytes that he/she can produce. Managers are expected to be gregarious. So why not start now, that seems to be the popular belief. So in every nook n corner of the campus u find guys & galz engazed in small (& big !!) talks. The old rule " Silence is Golden" has been relegated to trash. I always I wonder what they talk abt all the time. The same set of people who meet day in day out have so much to talk abt. Do they talk abt their mundane day to day happenings without bothering to find out if anybody is interested in them ?? Or do they simply indulge in gossip ?? Or do they talk abt the problems facing the world today ?? You know poverty, disease, terrorism, economic disparity, unipolarism, erosion of values, modern day imperialism, marital discord, illeteracy & ignorance, peace, increase dissonance in the minds of human etc. Or the philosphical aspects like the bigger purpose of life, destiny, why ppl do they things they do, time, infinity etc . Brainstorming and trying to throw an insight which has eluded human beings for ages. I do not have an iota of clue as to what the topic of conversation is. But the few of those 'addas' that I attended I found tht what essentially happened was tht each n every one indulging in self glorification trying hard to push their case and simply trying to impress. Impress ?? Whom ? Why ?? I dont know. I never could be part of such 'chat' groups. I always found my contribution to such 'chattering' minimal. I sometimes feel myself that the fifteen year child in 'The story of murder of dog in the night time' who talks only when required. May be I m insane n unfit to be accepted in this 'gregarious' world. May be I should just shut up !!