All for Sushmita Sen

Recently I underwent a weight loss program - more out of necessity than anything else. I did loose some weight, although nothing close to advertise in papers but enough to enjoy my holiday binge. In last few years, due to lack of exercise, I had gained some weight - it was not that visible but medically speaking I was overweight. I was advised by my doctor to "manage" the weight rather than "loose" it. He is generally concerned about my health (reminds me of a story of hen that used to lay golden eggs - I just happen to be cancer patient spending much more than golden egg every month!).

When somebody approaching forty, who in appearance is not "obese", joins a health club or goes on diet, the obvious question is "Why?" - after all we live in India, we are used to being on healthy side (that too scientifically proven). Besides with the approaching age, baldness and being obese is natural - why fight it?
In my case I tell everybody that the reason is Sushmita Sen - the bollywood actress. Well the rationale is very simple, she is single (yet), beautiful, strong, independent and mature women which I would have a remote chance of impressing upon. Otherwise all this charm and lean body would naturally go waste.

As I am approaching my forty, I realized that my opportunity window of impressing species of opposite sex is getting narrower. My wife of so many years, now naturally hates me, several of my old friends know me long enough to get impressed (if at all!). There are not that many single beautiful women out there in India that one would like to impress. The only choice by deduction is Sushmita Sen. Even in terms of probabilities, it is looking good. Using simple math with 1.06 males to female ratio in 15-64 age group in India, I can count my chances with at most 2 or 3 women. If I choose my sample carefully, one of those two eligible single women could be Sushmita Sen. It is quite possible that there are several other single women but probability of me meeting them to impress them is very low. With Sushmita, being a public figure, chances of meeting her are very high. All I have to do is to choose the right time and place.

I have now also enrolled for a personal training which will enable me to develop muscular body. After all the competition is fierce for impressing Sushmita. But then it is worth the effort - did I mention she loves Bengali food, just like me?

Daily Heroes

"The Heroism we recite / Would be a normal thing", so said Emily Dickinson in her famous poem We never know how high we are. It is always interesting to see that heroism that we worship in movies and stories is actually observed in our daily lives everywhere. We always believe that heroic deeds happen only when some catastrophic or significant events happens and men, women rise to the occasion. The real heroism does not wait for significant events or wars, I see people all around us who are heroes in everyday.

The human society as we know it has created so many situations, knowingly or unknowingly, that really requires extraordinary effort to live in the moment. There are people who travel around the world to support their families, individuals go through tremendous personal challenges to make the day and yet maintain smiles on the face. Are these not the real heroes? The people who take their daughter to evening dance classes while after meeting grueling professional goals - day after day without fail, the people who sustain the losses and still start afresh on their pursuits everyday, the people who struggle to meet their daily expenses - all of them are heroes in our daily lives. One can argue that it is tough life, but that does not mean the heroics that we do everyday to make the day are any less significant than winning a war or fighting the social inequalities. People just don't write books about it - that's all.

It is of course less interesting to know how somebody made through the killing traffic to hospital to meet his father in time than an iconic hero fighting crime on silver screen. Daily stories of heroes might be small and to a great extent insignificant but they are are heroic nevertheless!

Choices We Make

It is oft said that life is a series of experiences we chose to have. Our actions are determined by the choices we make and the experiences we choose. Even then, it is many times difficult to determine what is the right choice. Is it OK to live the life by predetermined rules or is it better to be rebel and create our own path? It is always a hard choice...

If we ignore all the psycho babble in quotes, it really comes down to one's ability to deal with the situation. In daily life our reactions are many times predictable and some times accidental. We don't really get time to decide the choice we are making or its cumulative impact on our lives. Like share trader on the trading floor our decisions are instantaneous and choices momentary. with gains and losses being equally disastrous.

What would we do different if we now gain the knowledge that every decision we make will eventually impact us? Will we be more cautious or would we be completely indecisive? Is there a technique by which we know the times when to live by existing rules and when not to?

For whatever reason, I spent more time in being rebel without a cause than living by rules (even when some of the rules were particularly useful, like say, don't drink too much wine or you will die having cancer of liver...yeah right!). Now I know that some of those decisions were not really good decisions and clearly have defined rest of my life. I chose to flunk my tests in school, I chose to fall in love with several girls (some times almost simultaneously) and live with agony for rest of the life, I chose not to make lots of money by stealing, I chose to travel around the world to solve bigger social problems; all good intentions, but mostly, bad choices. Of course several of these choices were made when I was young and stupid. Would I do the same decisions again? Maybe. On a serious note, I kind of like the life I have, except maybe for "falling in love" part, which is always painful experience to have - especially now that Aishwarya Rai is married!