Wednesday, December 27, 2006

Guy in the Mirror

Earlier this day , I was having a conversation with a friend.Since I was a part of the conversation , it was of shameful intellectual standards .I was talking about the haircut I got yesterday . ( I think I look cute after the haircut. A little girl looked at my head and pointed at it and said 'Chee' . I guess that means she found it cute ).
Suddenly , in an awful display of veering of conversation , the talk moved onto a rather philosophical plane. Within a matter of minutes , the haircut talk developed into an animated discussion and my friend asked me this

" Have you ever thought what kind of person are you?".

I promptly coughed , murmered something about durban test , and then started talking about the weather in Calcutta .The conversation ended soon after. ( Itne heavy questions poochega to end karni hee padegi na ) . But then I got back to my room , jumped in my bed , drew my bedsheet over the eyes , stared into the darkness and thought
"What kind of person am I?"

Now I am as confident as a Shane Warne bowling to Sonu Nigam when I say that around 4 people on this planet would be interested in knowing about the person I am , assuming my family would be interested in that . But I guess thinking about oneself once in a while clears up things , and then why should only celebrities get to talk about themselves and their favorite colors and favorite dishes ? ( Tanushree Dutta says her favorite is Rajma Chawal . I am learning to cook rajma chawal now . Things I do for Tanu.). So now , the winces and yawns and death threats notwithstanding , I talk about what I think of myself as a person .

Once when I was thirteen , I was sitting at the school library . During a particularly intense browsing of Femina ( Or was it Cosmopolitan ? Cant remember now..was something equally nice ) , I chanced upon this quote by some old Moroccan vegtable seller -

"The most uncomfortable person in this world is a person who is not himself."

I tore away the page carrying this quote and stuffed it in my back pocktet . I went home , and pasted this sheet on the wall of my room . Later that day , mom complained to dad about me putting up photographs of white girls in my room at the tender age of thirteen . Some people just cant ignore a scantily dressed girl in the page background and focus on the quote .

But over the years , I have tried to practise what this quote said . So I have learnt to listen to myself . I have learnt to develop a sense of self security so I dont need to do things which make me 'cool' or 'happening'or 'smart'. So I don't drink or smoke , even though guys around me gulp gallons of alcohol and call me 'sissy' and 'mama's boy' while I sip a lemonade . So I dont stand around the boss during the office party and exclaim 'Excellent Idea' when the boss describes a business idea even a beauty queen wont approve . I wont play a rock number on my winamp just because every cool dude with colored hair says it 'ossssssssummmmm man' . Improvement is something that belongs to my priority list , but pretending to please your senses is not exactly on my things-to-do list. In short , I am uncool , stuck-in-old-times , and strange to a lot of people , but I have learnt to be myself .
Also , I am a bit out of sync with the Ludhiane-wali-aunty who says "Oye , IIM te munde croro kamande hain". ( For the gareeb bhai behan who don't watch Punjab Doordarshan , it means "IIM graduates earn crores") . At a basic level , Ludhiane wali aunty represents the general mentality of society which puts a lot of unnecessary judgements on an IIM graduate . Just because I got to IIM doesn't mean that I am supposed to live a life of working overtime at office till my kids confuse me for an uncle who comes home to sleep with their mommy . I am not very ambitious professionally , and may end up a lot less 'successful' than my peers from IIM . But then , I have my goals , and my aunt doesn't influence much of them.

And a contract killer is more spiritual than me , and I dozed off on the second shloka of Bhagvad Geeta , but as the years pass me by , I am beginning to understand the importance of searching for happiness in the right places . Achievements , salaries , accolades , shallow relations serve as a rocket fuel for the ego , but an ego boost is as different from happiness as an Ostrich from Lara Dutta .
I am learning from life , that things change , people change , and clinging onto anything is selfish and as useless as Mohammad Kaif's batting.

Anyway , talking about oneself in words is like trying to fit in Inzamam Ul Haq and his family in the black catsuit Aishwarya wore in 'Crazy Kiya re' . I have already destroyed every limit of self indulgance tonight by talking about myself so long , so I wll wrap up now.
Have a lovely 2007.

74 comments:

Anonymous said...

hmm..

Anonymous said...

i would have just been excited to be first one to comment..~smiles~.. yea.. ur mom is still a kid.. but nayy.. you have got me thinking.. quite commendable for a guy of ur intellect ;p.. ~laughs~.. hey.. exam in another nine hours.. and six more chapters left..so i will get back to my books.. you be good.. i will write to you tomorrow:)

Anonymous said...

man i mised it again
i want to post the 1st comment
and i am waiting for this for 3 months
but still didn't get this privilege.
but one day i will get this opportunity

Anonymous said...

bronze medal...

Shreyansh said...

Hamare ek German philosopher bhai(Friedrich Nietzsche) kuch keh gaye hain. Zara gaur farmaiye....shayad achcha lage

"The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself"

Sudipta Chatterjee said...

Yes sir.. belief in your own convictions is what will matter in life. Here's wishing you a great time ahead in 2007!

Anonymous said...

Have a Great Year ahead

Dew said...

good one again!!!
ludhiyane vaale aunty da funda bada pasand aaya :D

Rohit said...

Good, nicely described.
Wish you a great new year ahead.
Rohit

Anonymous said...

osssssum post man :)...keep it up
happy new year to u too
Anshuman

Anonymous said...

wow!!
i loved it!
a happy new year to u too!

Circumspect observer trying to be one handed economist said...

Dude, I can imagine you staring at the ceiling (although you might've stared at the stain on the sheet) and doing some introspection.

I went through the same experience and now I feel being myself is not the only thing to do....but it sure is the most satisfying thing (that you can do with yourself, apart from [censored])....

Rambler said...

Happy new year Abhi. Hope in 2007 you will discover more about yourself and others too. This post was not your usual one.. something different like hot n sweet maggie sauce.

arpana said...

am i reading in between the lines? i guess im reading right then. :(

Zee said...

maybe achievement, salary etc is another person's definition of happiness. doesn't mean it's wrong. it's just a different.

my idea of happiness is a big bowl of melted chocolate! now that is sinful!

i'm having a very tough time trying to get the inzamam in catsuit pic out of my head. it's going to scare me for a long time now (shudder shudder!)

Anonymous said...

I liked this line in particular:

Achievements , salaries , accolades , shallow relations serve as a rocket fuel for the ego , but an ego boost is as different from happiness as an Ostrich from Lara Dutta .

Lage raho!

Anonymous said...

Anything that can not be described in one line is useless. so is ur introspection about urself.

Anonymous said...

happy new year!

Anonymous said...

i guess i can describe u.. need any help?

Anonymous said...

wrt to ludhiane waali aunty...
newspapers also dont help the cause. They just talk of the crore salaries(international salaries btw) that few get...
Wat abt people like me jo gadhon ki tarah ghis ghis ke bhi kuch nahin kamaate.

thinking said...

lage raho munnu bhai.. I guess a movie can be made by this title.. g8 post... made me think n also laugh...

Anonymous said...

Great going again. Enjoyed it a lot. A Happy New Year to you as well.


n~

Ruchi Bhatia said...

hmmm..
so very dramatic...n so very u ....
last time i commented was on ur IIMsed EGO...
I see u mellowing...

sending you a link to one of my folders..if u can , spare 5 min to go thru d presentation ...
& leave ur comments../send in ur feedback..

Life Lover said...

yay! another one of your hilarious posts. enjoyed reading every word of it!! here's wishing you a wonderful 2007 :)

Anonymous said...

happy new year ... once again a wonderful post :)

Anonymous said...

hi,
land up on your blog accidently.. and it is blog of the day for me.. :)
great sense of humour!
regards,

Anonymous said...

Your framing of words and usage of lots of similies is wonderful.
Better than Chetan Bhagat's title.

Anonymous said...

a lovely 2007 to u too.
:)

rt said...

a gud one again..
happy new year to u ..
plz make a resolution of putting in more posts this new year

Anonymous said...

HAha.....Inzy in a catsuit.....wow... that by no means is a NON INTELLECTUAL imagination!!!

Caladrius said...

great post
geat way to live
happy new year

Anonymous said...

Shutup Abhi!

You are begining to fade away again :(

But I guess in a 20 somethings life, this cycle keeps repeating itself....they enjoy life at times and at other times all quarter life crisis kinda things come to their minds...

I was almost(repeat almost) about to say "I love you Abhi" today when I clicked on the link to your blog...bina tumhe dekhe :P You are ossssssssummmmm man...! Seriously :D

But seeing you, all burnt out and that too right b4 New Years/ festivity in the air, really ticked me off :S

Anonymous said...

Oh and Happy New Year to you btw!

*Hugz and Kisses*

P.S. "already destroyed every limit of self indulgance tonight" NO WAY! I would and I am sure all of us (visitors to your blog) would love to hear more about you! But not in the get up of these sad-dy sad-dy pilosophical posts! :P

Take a Hike said...

Common Sense comes in all flavours.

Haven't read all your posts but waiting for one sans the comedy and the metaphors. No , it is not that they are not interesting. They are the spices which makes reading your posts interesting.

Still wanna know how would it look if u chose to oblige to venture out of them. Just a request . Take it or ignore it.
:)

Unknown said...

wish u a happy new year too abhi!

Anu Sharma said...

Simply loved it...and always be the way u r...coz nything else wont suit u ...u wil look to all wot u looked to dat little gal otherwise...a genuine introspection it was at the end of the year...cute...:p

Anonymous said...

Grt blog! you have a way with words.Just like to say that al those who drink alcohoal by gallons are not bad people:-)

Rhea said...

hey... I read about your blog on orkut "blogging" community under the topic "best blog you have come across" and someone had said that it was addictive... I agree! It's brilliant. :) Happy New Year.

Anonymous said...

the guy who's typed in "your secret admirer heh" with an ebay url is a fake munnu! he has no right to say " i love you abhi" because even if he isnt straight, i know you are.
but you do know I have the right to say that.

Syrals said...

It is so true that the contentment you get by being yourself is worth the effort. Nice one again. :)

Anonymous said...

abay anonynomous...! How can you be so sure that I am a guy/gay? Ghor Kalyug aa gaya hai, ghor kalyug! lol I am pretty much a gurl u c...

ebay to maine aiwai daal diya hai...secret admirer ring any bell? :P

Aaa jaate hai kahin kahin se... :S

Munnu?.... :D

Anonymous said...

why, thank you :)

ketki said...

have a chilling and rocking new year!

scorpionkingblog said...

Blog makes me commentless ,Its SCUD Missile.

Happy New Year,

Scorpion King

Dewdrop said...

Good Post!!
Happy New Year!!!

Anonymous said...

Happy new year abhi:)

Anonymous said...

"What kind of person are you?".

Interesting questiona and great post. :)

Hey Abhi Happy new year hope 2007 brings lots of happiness to you. :) Enjoy...

Anonymous said...

happy new year tau :)

Anonymous said...

that is what makes you sabse KOOL munda..

Wish you a FUNtastic year ahead :-)

Anonymous said...

happy new year, bro!
lets have more of them great posts :)

Anonymous said...

Happy New Year

Ritu said...

"I am learning from life , that things change , people change , and clinging onto anything is selfish "....beautiful...

nothing is permanent but CHANGE...

nice post as always...:)

Wishing you an year full of luck n' happiness...

Anonymous said...

gr8 blog...complex things said so easily !!
really nice.

lovedale said...

is uncool the new cool?

Neha Sinha said...

...tune kitno ko crazy kiya re? I am reading this admirer's comment. ooops...sorry for the comment on comment. :P

Happy new year again, abhi. You're the best. :D

Anonymous said...

dude

was just going thru some blogs and found urs and more interestingly this post.........was just wondering is there any other guy on this earth who will be like me.......ur thoughts / feelings axactly match with mine...i dont booze / smoke....and do /dont do lot of things which u do / dont do.........amazing.........nah releived feeling that i have a companion of the same age walking in the same path......of course am working for my masters in germany.

cheers buddy...

have a great new year ahead

Vamsi

Amandeep Singh said...

A really nice post man..Loved reading it..
Hope u earn crores...lol

Happy new yeAr!!!

sourabhladha said...

Too good man. Hats off. I enjoyed a lot reading your blogs.

Ye manzilen !! said...

Us ke dushman hain bahut ..
Aadmi accha hoga !!!

Kdihar hai abhi...abhi?

Fursat said...

hehe..mast post n i luv u for being just urself n nothing else otherwise u ll be also crap guys n crap music...

aur haan pics muje mil gayi...thank u soooo much for them...tht rhino is looking too good in tht video :)

take care n haan dekha chaudhary training center ka kamaaal :)

Neetie

Anonymous said...

Your school was cool, as it had Femina (or Cosmopolitan) in library

Ellie said...

So typically you......:)

And yet so different!

A very Happy New year! :)

Somya said...

Nice post n Happy new year...oh so u r quite fond of Tanushree Dutta...good hai atleast her abt to be released movie Risk will have two people ready to pay for watching it...offcourse u n my friend who likes Randeep Hooda for some strange reasons(one of them being he is a Jat...lol)...btw u give some serious competition to Navjot singh Sidhu...probably u can try ur hands at cricket commentary...even if u don't know everything abt cricket(which I am sure u know by virtue of being a Boy born in India) but you do come up with nice metaphors n phrases.

Anonymous said...

i found this very beautilful poem "The Guy in The Glass" by Dale Wimbrow.. i posted it on my blog..
chk it out
http://ravithesun.wordpress.com/2007/01/04/the-guy-in-the-glass/

Anshul Agrawal said...

Hey,
i've been reading ur blog from along time now but i think this is the first time i'm posting comment here...

Frankly speaking, i likeur posts thats why i read them regularly... nice style of writing n presenting ur thoughts....

In this post, i relly liked the Ludhiana wali Aunty 's episode n also whr u mentioned abt ur telling to ur parents abt the girl.... tht was really funny....

Have a great year ahead n keep blogging !!!

Anonymous said...

sigh...abhi yet again u bring me down to earth...yes, theres more to life than most of the superficiality in it. guess most of us know that but we just need reminders like ur post! thanks buddy! hmmmm...time for me to get back to my work.
tk cr :-)

venerable vermin said...

am visiting your blog after some time now but perhaps commenting for the first time.... this introspection bit is a bit of a departure from your usual belligerant comic self... yet it's so endearing coz it reveals the soft, uncorrupted core... something that i'd like to carry back after my 2 yrs stay at IIML... ab kaa kahein, aap bahut hi badhiya likhtey hain... aap hamaarey prerna-strot hain... arrey ghabraiye nahi.. prerna nahi maangeingey aapsey.. waisey bhi aapkey ya merey paas hoti toh cyber-duniya mein thodi likhai-padhai kam ho jaati.. coincidentally, the song playing in the background is 'marry me' by Neil Diamond.. On a similar note here's a poem by Peter Meinke: http://www.wintektx.com/freeman/advicetomyson.htm read it when u get time... (think u'll like it)

Anonymous said...

Great resource. keep it up!!Thanks a lot for interesting discussion, I found a lot of useful information!With the best regards!
Frank

Anonymous said...

Abhi
Dont worry about your intellect..you have just the right amount to live.. and most importantly to live happily

Anonymous said...

Hi,
Really nice to read this post of urs.I just came across ur blog and really appreciate ur thots on urself...for beliving in things that give u happiness although it doesn't sync with the common ways of others.Wishing u a Happy Married life as well.

Harisha - ಹರೀಶ said...

I liked it, and I too think one needs to be himself to improve in life. Good post, keep it up

Anonymous said...

Just happened to stumble on your blogpage...and trust me, I did not regret it at all.
Loved your writing style...your blogs make for an interesting read :)

Anonymous said...

U r really awesome. Very witty and very interesting.

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