Dreams Unlimited

The words "envy","jealousy" often have a negative connotation. It is called the green eyed monster as people believe that it can ruin friendships, relationships and marriages.It can create enemies out of friends. And more often than not, a person jealous of you; resents you silently, tries to find illogical flaws in everything you say or do, and will never let go of any opportunity to put you down. I used to believe that envy is something to be stayed away from as it destroys you in the end. But in a book that I recently read, there was a statement that said,"If we envy someone for all the right reasons, we're half way to wisdom." This forced me to rethink my stand on envy. If you think deeper, you don't envy a person on the face of it, you envy certain traits and behaviors that a person possesses. And more often than not, the reason for your envy is that you don't have those traits or behaviors but would like to have them. Admiration is a posi

Our Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi, or Bapu, as he is fondly called, created a revolution in many minds with his principles of honesty and non violence, so much so that, even today, the POTUS, Barack Obama and many other influential and key people talk about Gandhian ideals and principles. Since childhood, we have been taught that we must always be truthful and forthcoming irrespective of the consequences and have been told stories where the truth is always rewarded. But sadly that's not the way things work in real life. I was reading Shantaram, wherein, he tells a man- who, even after very bad multiple injuries, was miraculously alive- that he didn't stand much of a chance. The color faded off that man's face almost immediately and he passes away shortly. Reflecting on it later, he said, "Of the hundred things that I wish I'd never said or done in my wicked life, that quirk of honesty is right up there, near the top of the list." Hope was the only thing

I was reading Shantaram, wherein Karla, the female protagonist, asked everyone on the table @ Cafe Leopold, what according to them was the best thing in the world. Some of the answers were- power, money and freedom. Each person talked about the thing that they valued the most.I thought about it a lot and a zillion things came to my mind- I couldn't pinpoint one single thing that I really desired and valued. After analysing my thoughts I realised that, for me, sleep is the best thing in the world. Sleep has been glorified in many mythological tales and fairy tales too. In Ramayana, Ravana's brother, Kumbhakarana, slept for half the year and was awake for the remaining half. This was because, he was so gigantic, that the Gods feared that if he would be awake for the entire year, he might just eat up all the livestock, food supply and may be even human beings! And even though he may have not liked the fact that he was sleeping for half his life, it was a boon to everyone else arou

I grabbed a frappe at Churchgate station in the scorching heat of Mumbai and headed to board the local to Santacruz. After I was done with my coffee, I looked for a dustbin at Churchgate station, but sadly, I couldn’t find one. I then held on to the paper glass, resolving to put it in the bin after alighting at Santacruz. There was no waste paper basket in sight in Santacruz station either. Don’t worry, I told myself, there is a long stretch of skywalk to negotiate on the way to the main road, it will most definitely have a series of dustbins lined up. And I distinctively remembered the innumerable campaigns undertaken by the Brihan Mumbai Municipal Corporation to promote the idea of a clean city. Satisfied, I started towards the skywalk. If you call heaps of garbage garnished with the distinct red paan spit a dustbin, both the sides of the skywalk were by default dustbins. At least that’s what the common man had assumed. I was very frustrated by then and lost all hope from the skywalk

Was just flipping channels when I came across Cartoon Network, the channel that has been highly neglected ever since I entered my teens. But it looked just the same as far as I could remember and Tom and Jerry was on - Tom still chasing Jerry and Jerry trying to outwit Tom- nothing had changed from the looks of it. At the end of the episode when Jerry frustrated Tom to the point when Tom decided to leave the place, Jerry too realized that he would not enjoy without Tom and left. As a child, I would have taken all this with a pinch of salt. But, now I started drawing analogies with real people. There are some people whom we love to hate and it almost becomes a passion for us. I read Kane and Abel, a long time back in which both were arch nemesis and whose life's only aim was to destroy each other. In the end, you'll realise that they actually had deep care, affection and respect for each other- but they chose to show it in different ways. Sometimes your rival is all you have and

I diligently follow Roadies every year. I have recently gone through a gruelling placement process at my college and I couldn't help but draw comparisons between the two. The most difficult part is getting in. There are many candidates. You have to prove your worth. There usually is a group discussion followed by a round or two of personal interviews. Sometimes the interview is a stress interview sometimes it is relaxing. The same panel can take either interview depending on the person they are interviewing. Then finally, based on certain internal parameters, a few candidates are selected, which is usually a very small proportion of those applied. Once you are in, it is not like the end of the road. You have to prove yourself every single time. In a company its a performance appraisal whereas in Roadies it is a vote out that keeps you on your toes. And in both cases, it is not just your effort ,that counts-you have to be well networked, you must have a lot of friends at the right p

I was coming home from my hostel when I got stuck in a horrendous traffic jam! Well, one might feel that traffic jams are an integral part of life in Mumbai. But interestingly, the traffic jam was not due to the traffic but due to a traffic police officer. That's right, the person responsible for managing traffic was causing a great deal of agony to many on the road. For one, he refused to let us pass, despite there being a green signal at his own whims. He did this not once, not twice, but five times- five full times. Then he finally decided to show some mercy and let us go. In addition to this arbitrary behavior, he was extremely mean to other vehicle drivers, actually, mean is an understatement for his behavior. He made some drivers go straight despite them wanting to take a right just because they attempted to overtake another vehicle, and was abusing people for no apparent reason.It sure frustrated me and made me think. This is the state of our system. Anyone and everyone with