All in a room!

When ideas get ignited, there is enough room to light the universe.

When discussions get heated, there is enough force to burn the sea.

When personalities collide, there is enough impact to accelerate the burning.

Somewhere between the three lines above, in the many percentages there exist, we live our office lives, in the one constant place we are well acquainted with - the meeting room.

Window less, poorly A/C'ed, insufficiently chaired - some of the average constraints which go with it.

But in all, what matters is the people who get into the room mainly the status of their minds as they step in - open/partiallyclosed/completely locked and sealed - which sets the temperature of the room or be it the polarity of the chairs.

Easy to box it out in a closed quarter, one often is tempted to takeup the cause of the Martian and the issues of frozen water, issues that are only buried well inside otherwise. Is the Martian cause the true reflection of our internal thoughts, of our personality and its shortcomings? Or is it to be tabled under the systematic justification of being 'honest' and its superlative - being 'oneself'?

As much as this can be argued from dusk to dawn, the average participant doesnt really want to see ideas ignited beyond a spark, discussions heated above permissible fire safety standards or personalities to collide to the tune of gladiators. Paid we all are todo our role optimally well, but does that give any perks to us to buy a sword, dagger or knife?

'The room' knows well that everyone in it are entitled to their own opinion and their views. It also knows that every single point of view needs to be presented to help get the holistic picture, from even the acutest of photographic angles. Senses it, at the end of it all, that as much as it is used day in day out, it cant utter a word, maintain a decorum or manage a decision. Not in the morning, noon or pre-night!

The prayer it probably utters every day, at dawn -

May everyone who enters today, be a healthy participant..
Though atleast one might not always agree completely, let this not be anger's precedent..
If at the end of it, there is a timely decision, it shouldnt be over any incident..
Maintain there should, the purpose and the value of using me as your work's useful component!

The Brush of God!

This was a journey which I had done a zillion times, by bus, car and occasionally in my dreams. Except for the last mode, typically it takes around 2 and a half hours. The road to Chennai from the land of Pi has come miles and bounds from the days of the 80s. Undoubtedly, one of the best roads to be made along the Indian coast, the East Coast Road (ECR) brings with it fresh updates from the sea in the form of the ever flowing steady breeze, coupled with some distinct road making skills (probably done by an IT company) with very little defects and version upgrades.

This journey was nothing different at all. I took a very ordinary - deluxe bus - as they call it. The crowd in the bus ranged within the whos who in the social front. As I sat in the aisle seat, my favorite on any transport vehicle, 'sir sun' was getting ready to retire to sleep. He had a tough day, ensuring that all those who ventured out, young and old, underwent equal ratios of perspiration and pain. After all, thats part of his minimum requirement along the tropic of cancer!

Artistic as it should be, the sky presented a strange combination of colors. With no clouds between my eyes and the moon, a light blue color spread its wings uniformly followed below by a lightish grey shade. Below the gray shade was the lowermost band of the orangish or pinkish or light red - for lack of a better term - a 'color dish'. What was significant wasnt the colors in question, we have seen them from time immemorial - but the blending therein. One couldnt distinctly see where the blue ended and the grey began or where the grey ended and the color dish took off.

So suttle and so effective was this combination, and the breeze from my right was helping me enjoy the moment in a dazed manner. Really wish we knew what brush God used to help create distinct colors but with invisible but still effective boundaries. The time was well past 6 and the farmers had all left for their homes, distant as it were, from their fields near the road. The gentle sway of the coconut trees, in communion with the breeze from the sea, the sun smiling its way to sleep, the suttle color combinations and the fading light. And all this was so natural and non-intervened by the human. The only irritation here was the stupid movie which was playing in the bus, blaring its volume!! (I really wish I could sue the corporation on noise pollution aspects.)

As the sun set, darkness fell, the bus rolled on, trees came and went, the breeze dipped and blared - my mind was still stuck with one thought. I have come back to where I belong. Belong I always did, but never did I spend the time to be here, with an 'evolved' mindset. The approach earlier was to get the chance to move on to a distant land. Now it is time to settle back in my groove, in the only place in the galaxy I can truely call 'Home'.

And what better way to decorate it, but with the 'Brush of God'!

Bond to Billa!

The exertions of a 'well used to' lifestyle can be far-reaching when you step out of it. That was and is my feeling in the past few weeks. Having moved away from snowy London to the 'Land of the Hot Sun' - Chennai, the transformation is much bigger than what I had given it room for.

When you lose something, it doesnt just go away in a second, it slowly starts to fade away. Like the gentle water current carrying the lotus away, a metre an hour. Have got to a mode of 'forgetting' what happened in London - work/life and otherwise... memories come to me now and then.. but then they are on the decline.

A new city, new lifestyle, new role - thats called a 'package' of purpose. Much needs to be seen as to how I am going to come in terms with these alterations in my 'carbon foot print'. Atif Aslam has become my new soulmate singer. Having heard him first time with the 'Tere Bin' song, he has helped me go across different spheres of emotions - especially during this 'change over' phase. Enroute to office today - heard one of his songs on FM, and much has to be said about his influence on getting me to react and express my interflicting points of view in my own sphere of influence.

While this phase will go, for sure and I will get used to life in India, there are those faces and minds - with whom I have worked through issues - big and small - over the 1000 day era; faces with exceptional minds and even better comraderie. They will not be forgotten, not today, not ever. Honestly thats the edge of the sword piercing through me - as can be said - the edge is the one which makes the most impact. Life is always only as worth as the quality of the people with whom we spend it!!

My sun gods - though are in vicinity. Rahman and Rajni are all over the place - thanks to the power of the box called 'television' and its spouse - 'cable tv'. Not much unpacking has started as yet, and thats going to also take its toll - when artifacts of the previous 'era' are going to haunt their way through my memory cells, revitalising the moments which can be frozen for a lifetime.

'Bond to Billa' is the road taken - whether some U-turns are possible or it is strictly one-way, nobody is sure of it. Neither am I. (For the sake of the western audience - 'Billa' is the name of a RAJNI action movie; and Bond is ofcourse 007)

For now, the F-WORD is to 'Follow the flow'. Inspiringly enough, its not too rapid.