My Heart is Beating ..............

I am sitting in my balcony. The nature is in full mood today. It has unlocked the blue sky, spread the sunshine and changed the colors of the leaves. This is the perfect day of Autumn. I close my eyes to feel the penetrating sun rays into my body. The breeze gently blows in off the skin. But my soul goes back to India and checks out what's happening there. My soul inhales the aroma of "Diwali". Oh !! My heart starts beating faster. My mind responds. It begins collecting all the observations and thoughts. I have to jot down all I want to convey to my family, friends, neighbours and my fellow countrymen.

• Yes I am the one who lives and works thousands of miles far from the family and friends. Yes I miss all of you. 
• Yes I am the one who has been questioned several times where would I settle down ? Here or in India ? Honestly, I am also trying to figure this out.
• Yes I am the one who, you think is only having a great time here, ignoring all my struggles and pains. 
• Yes I am the one who has been misunderstood many times that I am here only to earn a lot of money.
• Yes I am the one who gets annoyed when my salary and expenditures are discussed in detail. 
• Yes I am the one who has been misunderstood to have left the family back in India and can't sacrifice the money and pleasure over family. 
• Yes I am the one who could earlier, being in India, hardly spend time with family but now can Skype with them the whole day from here.  
• Yes I am the one who was the laziest in the family but now doing everything by myself. I am proud of it :)
• Yes I am the one who always shares traveling status such as "India Calling :)" and "Flying back ........ :(" etc.
• Yes I am the one who, even while boarding the Air India plane for India, feels like reaching India.
• Yes I am the one who wants to share every new experience via social networking sites. I am not showing off. I am here all alone, I just want to share it with my friends and family. Keep it  Simple !!
• Yes I am the one who has to skip a lot of family functions and festivals. Believe me,  its equally distressing for me too.
• Yes I am the one who celebrates every festival and tries to follow every customs here to the extent, much better than India. Every Indian seems to me like a big family here.
• Yes I am the one who used to speak English in India to make a mark but here finds people who could speak my mother tongue. 
• Yes I am the one who doesn't miss any Bollywood movie, not even Ramgopal Verma's :-O
• Yes I am the one who can't vote but doesn't sleep or wakes up early to catch up the Election Results.    
• Yes I am the one who is noticing the differences between the countries and would like to see the good changes there. 
• Yes I am the one who is self proclaimed Indian Ambassador here who is portraying India's positive image and sharing Indian culture.

My heart beats for my family, friends and my country India. My soul is hanging around there. Don't judge me !! 

Brands Vs Brands

BACKGROUND:- I just moved in a new house with my wife. While struggling with the old papers, I encountered with some of my early writings. I started writing at the age of 23. Before this, it was very hard for me to even frame a single sentence in English. I got the motivation to write after reading some wonderful set of books. Thanks to my friend, Pandey, who ignited this very habit. 

This article is from those excerpts.

Last evening, I happened to talk to my cousin, the youngest one in our generation. He studies in class X and gets immensely influenced by this fast changing world. A member of Gen-X which is indulged in Fashion, Bollywood, Cricket, Media, in short the glamorous world. 

I asked about his favorite subjects. But soon, he started talking about his outfits. He said he would never wear Jeans other than Levi's, Lee and Pepe, Shoes other than Nike and Puma, Tshirts and Watches from Being Human. He also spoke some of the international brands, I couldn't remind of. He insisted " Bhaiya, you should try these brands, they are totally cool. " His advice embarrassed me because I hardly had any of the brands in my wardrobe. 

I couldn't understand him. "This could probably be because of the generation gap. But technically he is from my generation. But once, someone told me that the generation gets changed every after 5-8 years. " I made up my mind. 

"But why do these kids get exceedingly indulged in that stuff ? Was I already old fashioned ? Or its the difference of our varied upbringings ? I am a small town boy and he is from Metro city. My uncle is financially much better than us so he could afford the expensive brands." My mind was flooded of thoughts. 

These kids run after expensive brands because they copy bollywood celebrities and cricketers. They get into a foolish lifestyle, where people evaluate you, according to the brands you buy.

If they wear intensely odored perfume or deodorant, people ask about the brand. If you wear big sized goggles, which normally hide almost all your face, people ask about the brand. One should definitely have an expensive smart phone to show off, because you can hide it but only till it rings. 

My friend Vivek used to burn his lungs only with Marlboro cigarettes because Salman Khan used the same.

Here my point is not that one shouldn't use these brands. My idea is to make yourself "A BRAND" instead of running after them.

Let me put up few examples here. 

1) When I visited an IAS officer Mr. K B Gupta in his office, I couldn't estimate his success from the attire he wore that day. The environment of the cabin notified the whole story how much hard work he had put in to be in such a remarkable position. 

2) Mr. Narayan Murthy only travels in an economy class, Mr. Warren Buffet (Top 5 Richest Persons in the World) drives his ordinary car and lives in a small house. 

3) If Mr. Amitabh Bachchan wears a jacket. No one thinks of getting to know the brand or the price but it always seems that he wears the branded outfits that cost lots of bucks. 

On the other hand, when my friend Swadheen purchased Nike' shoes of worth 3000/-, we all denied to accept him till he showed us the paid slip.

They people are the examples of my view of branded personalities. They have not wasted their energy to run after these brands. They have made themselves a BRAND and let these brands run after them. 

For branded materialistic things, one has to invest only money, no matter who earns it. Parents or Siblings !! This lasts for quite a short period of time, then you need to hunt for another stuff. 

To become a branded personality, one has to invest in terms of hard work, dedication, will power, sincerity, honesty and prayers of the beloved ones. It lasts forever.