Back to the future...

Hi friends!! Its been a loooong time since my last ever post. In fact I had given up writing all this while due to a variety of reasons, like not finding enough time due to my job, increased travel, less leisure time and also to certain extent my own laziness. I dont even know what to write about. I just want to be doing this thing again. This is an extempore so please excuse any mis-direction or sudden change of topic or pace. A lot has changed over the last three years. All of us passed out from pune and now we're all spread eagles everywhere. Thats what life is all about isnt it? You meet people, you create friendships. Some of them last a while, some are broken pretty soon, while some last a lifetime. Some even find the courage to mend broken fences. I am sure each one of us has met a number of people in the last few years and established new bonds. By the grace of god, some of you have got married, of which many found their soulmates within our class.

Looking at the past, and looking at where we stand right now, I think the future looks bright. A LOT has happened in the last three years. It is impossible to imagine the number of things that would have happened in our lives in this short period, it could as well be a lifetime. Life in general, has become fast. We dont have time. We dont seem to have time. We dont find time for anything. Our travel time has increased. There is a small but significant insistence from within our families on creating financial assets. Our attention span to anything has become microscopic. While talking one-on-one or on the phone, we dont seem to have the time and patience to listen to the other. As a rule, we always interrupt the speaker. The giant leap taken by technology and its exposure is the cause of this evil. Thus, there is a need to simplify things, simplify your life in general. Learning to compartmentalize different aspects of your life such as Family, Finances, Faith, Friends and Fun is the way to go. To do this, planning your time becomes very important. If we can maximise our time on our work at hand and minimize the time on things such as gtalk, orkut, facebook and IPL, DID, Indian Idol, then I'm sure we can find real happiness and bliss of life. We has "Me" included ;) If we can follow these basic guidelines, the future will be very bright for us. The impact is instantly noticeable.

Over the last few years I have learnt one important lesson. Money doesnt mean everything. The importance of money in your life is only 20%. Only 20% of your efforts should go towards earning money. There should also be time for family and friends and your own vocations. If you're devoting more than 20% towards earning money, then there is a certain imbalance and you need to address that. I would be much happier being close to my family and friends than being somewhere in Australia and hardly being able to meet my family once a year. Another thing I learnt is to stay in touch with your old friends. They will help you and remember you in your tough times and you would return the favor. Otherwise no one will turn up on your wedding even though you sent invites to all of them.

All this change of attitude that we're experiencing these days is due to the change in the economic strata of the entire country in general. These days we have a lot of money to spend, and so many things are easily accessible to us. Many of us dont lay emphasis on saving money. We would rather splurge our salaries on credit cards. We have become too dependent on a consumer driven economy. We have become dissociated with our surroundings and the environment. Our lifestyle in general has changed. If we face a problem in our day-to-day lives, we probably start to adjust with it rather than deal with it. In fact we have become too lazy. The dying need of the hour is simplicity. If we keep our lifestyle simple, then we can easily accomplish our goals and deal with problems. Sometimes, I think it is better not to keep a cellphone. It is better not to have a credit or a debit card. It is better to use public transport than a 4-wheeler. It is better to cook your own dinner than order it from the hotel. It is better to sleep at 10-11 rather than staying awake watching tv or surfing the net. We have a lot of things to learn, of that I'm sure.

Over the next few years, I'm sure we will see a return to simplicity...or like enigma..a return to the innocence. Good night and sweet dreams!!