Wednesday, April 7, 2010

2. Presence.

At times, I feel why does my mind dwell so much in future, most of the times and if not, in past? Seldom it’s is in present, aware and awake.

Although, I have seen that no matter what I have lived through my life and will continue to live till the end of it. Somehow, everything is managed and this is true not only for me but I believe, most of us. Of course there are hard times and soft times but that depends on many factors. Certainly, oscillating between the tenses won’t help.

For instance, I keep on thinking – What if I lose the current source of income? I feel, the immediate reply could be – I would find another one. Well, it might not look as simple still is it not the appropriate answer anyways? The answerless state won’t help for sure and thinking on elaborated replies won’t either.

I am not saying that there is no action required for these thoughts / queries. The mere action is the immediate reply and the planning, if required. As another example, my mind is constantly grumbling about being stagnant and looking for a change. This thought is disturbing me a lot. Now, I can start a series of questions and get the replies and act upon.

1) What makes me feel stagnant? – A. I want to explore something new and hence current profession is making me feel stagnant.
2) What do I want to explore? – A. I want to explore my passion
3) What is my passion? – A. My passion is to do some business
4) What type of Business? – A. I want to open a retail shop
5) What do I want to sell? – A. I want to sell garments
6) Have I started on Preliminary Investigation and Feasibility Study? – A. No
7) Do I want to start? – A. Yes
8) Please go ahead and do so. As and when I go ahead, I will get more questions and subsequent replies
9) If the answer to 7) is No, then please don’t waste time and either concentrate on the current profession or quit job, sit idle and leave it on destiny. Choice is mine :)

Planning and Action go hand in hand. Planning without Action is like daydreaming and hence chances are high that everything turns futile. It simply results in more and more dwelling in future, followed by accumulation of frustration and the ultimately “state of despair” occurs which leads nowhere.

Well, was I in present (aware and awake) while composing this article? Although I composed at one go, I fail to answer myself. What a travesty!

Saturday, April 3, 2010

1. CID.

“Mujhe us aadmi pe shaq hai” – says ACP Pradyuman as soon as he along with Abhijit, Daya, Vivek and Fredricks lands at the Changi International Airport, Singapore and witnesses a tall bearded man donning a black overcoat standing at the immigration queue. By quoting this statement, ACP means – I suspect this person.

On that very moment, Abhijit covers 3/4th of his eyeballs and utters – Sir, Let me follow him. Fredricks pokes as usual by saying – I am jumping on to the other side of immigration so that I can catch hold of him. ACP shouts – Shut up Fredie (ACP doesn’t have time to take his name in entirety). We are out of country and this is immigration queue. Fredie (now I have no time to type either) has no choice but to keep his shut.

Abhijit do one thing, stand in the queue parallel to the one he is and observe his movements - whispers ACP. Vivek intervenes in a soft but irritating tone – Sir, we are on a vacation and let us not forget that we are beyond the Indian political borders.

Again, Fredie gets in action – but sir, he might as well be an Indian and hence we got to catch hold of him. If you observed, he has a beard and most of the people that have beard are Indians. Right?

ACP almost covers his eyeballs, blows up his already blown up nose and quotes for the nth time since Fredie joins the force – “Freddie, for the first time, what you said makes sense”. Friddie is flattered now.

Vivek – but…

Daya – We are wasting time sir, Let me catch hold of him by his collars and advise him to co-operate with us.

ACP – No boys, do as I say. Abhijit, you move on to the queue as I suggested. Fredie, you wait here and Vivek, you come with me. Daya, you somehow manage to get his name, call me as soon as done and then, Vivek and I will make an announcement saying – Mr So –and-So, Kindly wait outside the main terminal at the Airport as Mr. Vivek wants to see you urgently. Vivek is a very common name in India and I am sure, should be in Singapore as well. Hence, Mr So-and-So would certainly know some Mr Vivek and will bother to wait. This is my master plan. How does it sound? Let’s move. We don’t have time.

Daya calls back in a few minutes saying – Sir, all our efforts will result in no fruit as the bearded man is a cop in Singapore, although he is a person of Indian Origin. Let’s get on to our vacation and stop chasing him.

ACP – Think out the box, Daya. What is a person of India origin doing in Singapore and that too, as a cop? Don’t waste time and give me his name.

Daya – Sir, his name is Paul Panchamiya.

ACP – See, I told you Daya. The case is not simple. Have you ever heard of such a name? This man is disguised and using a fake identity as well.

Vivek – Sorry to perturb you sir, but I feel Daya is right!

ACP – How long have you been with CID?

Vivek – Sorry sir, let’s proceed.

ACP – Smart boy. Let me make an announcement now.

Attention Mr. Paul Panchamiya, Mr. Vivek is waiting for you outside the terminal gate. Please see him - comes the announcement and is repeated again.
Paul is royally surprised with a shock of his lifetime. He wonders who is this Vivek? Not that he didn't knew any Vivek, he knew one. Vivek was a childhood buddy who had suddenly disappeared more than 15 years back.
Is he the same Vivek? If yes, then all of a sudden after 15 years, why he wants to see me? How come he knew my travel plans? If he is not the Vivek I know then who is he? and why does any other Vivek who I have never known wants to see me? Puzzled Paul keeps on thinking for a while in a state of despair. After more than 10 minutes, a self-motivation sprouts up with a few words to self - "Wait and watch. Will see what happens."

On the other side, CID team finishes with the immigration, collects baggage and clears customs. As they get out of the terminal, ACP thinks that if Paul knows some Vivek and if we keep our Vivek waiting outside with a "Welcome Paul -Vivek" board in his hand, he will fail to recognize and a chaos might be created. He instructs Vivek to do the same but as soon as Paul comes and before he comes up with any question, Vivek should say - I am Vivek's friend and here is a message from Vivek. You got to urgently meet Vivek at hotel Sea Princess Room no. 2334.

CID Vivek is now wating outside the terminal as instructed.

Paul comes out of the terminal and sees a sign board. Immediately rushes towards Vivek and before Vivek reacts or responds, utters - Vivek? Are you Vivek? How do you know me?

Now, it's CID Vivek's turn to get surprised. He is flabbergasted and simply forgets what to say?

ACP and team, who are keeping a close watch on their actions, sense that something is fishy. Now it was an action time from their side. Without a thought, the entire team surrounds Paul and in his premium classic style, ACP yells - Paul, you are under arrest.

Paul says - Ok. Now where are you taking me? and by the way, do you know who I am?
ACP says - Just shut up and come with us. They hire a couple of cabs and ACP drags Paul in one of them. Daya enters from the other end. Needless to pen down, Vivek, Abhijit and Fredie take another one.

Paul feels - He is kidnapped and is surprised to see kidnappers using "under arrest" jargon. It doesn't matter to him, nonetheless. Now, it's his time to come in action. Soon, he switches on his emergency alert transmitter that is used by Singapore cops in jeopardy situations.

This smart gadget transmits the signal at the nearest base station and beeps there. Each Police station over there has a base station for receiving signals and once the signal beeps in, the base station knows the exact location from where the signal was transmited.

In 4 minutes of Paul perfoming the intelligent act, bothe the cabs are surrounded by 5 police vans and all the vehicles come to a stand still in less than a minute.
In not more than another minute, ACP and his entire team is handcuffed and taken to Police station.

ACP recites the entire happening and his thought process. Paul, although wanting to laugh out loud on ACP's buffoonery, decides to deport them for creating a chaos for no reason whatsoever.

The entire CID team is sent back to the terminal.

Neither did they take a stroll on the singapore streets, nor they relished the singaporean delicacies. They could niether enjoy shopping at Mustafa's nor could they feel the adentures at Sentosa. They missed the night safari and they missed it all.

Awaiting the next possible flight back to Mumbai, everyone was furious on ACP but couldn't say as he was a senior person, obviously.

Breaking the silence, Fredie came up with his so-called sensible humour - "Sir, it's good that we are deported from Singapore back to India. Imagine, if this would have happened in India, where would they deport us to?"

ACP - Hmm, Fredie, for the First time...

Fredie interrupting the ACP - Sir, it's for the Second time... :-)

PS: I don't intend to hurt anyone's sentiments. This is just a fun-write with a sole intention of creating some humour.