​Ticktock-ticktock, It Doesn’t Stop!

​Ticktock-ticktock, It Doesn’t Stop!
Ticktock-ticktock ran the clock,
I couldn’t keep up to it,
It wouldn’t care to stop.

Running away from my reach,
Like a deer from the lion’s stretch.

Anticipated and worked simultaneously,
Things were so quiescent and progressive.

Remained casual and relaxed,
Nothing more than a day in wane.

Does this unremitting race of life have a break?
Would time stop for yours, mine or anyone’s sake?

The answer is the mere two letter word we hate,
No matter how much we dislike this fact, there isn’t any scope of rebate.

So let’s stop cursing this nature of nature, instead,
Let’s pull our socks, charge ourselves,
And start once again, towards the goals that once we wanted to chase.

Growth begins with the will to start,
You’ve got to run with every beat that comes from your soul, mind and heart.

Every moment counts,
Every beat counts,
Every step counts,
Because success is not what the result is,
It’s the passion you walk along with.  
Manav Mahendar Gadiya 

The Illusionary Escalator.

All my ego wants is to be sitting by a lake in Italy. It doesn’t want to be backstage, warming up. Nicholas James Murphy better known by his stage name Chet Faker, is an Australian electronica musician.
 The minute we start placing our ego in front of our dedication and will, the only trend we will follow the downward one. 
 As I have always written, spoken and believed in, that we are surely the fastest progressing generations of all, but some where, we are hindering our own growth as we are placing, what is nothing less than a virtual self-obsessed image of our own. 
 If I look back, I have done the same mistake. But what is important at the end of the day? We keep forgetting it, that the more we want to speak, the lesser we hear. Something that a senior MUNner from the Bangalore circuit has taught me. (Amogh Chakravarthy) He hasn’t won a MUN, but trust me, I have learnt the most from him. What makes him that special is not because he communicates well, but he talks with experience and with that humble nature of acceptance that, “If I don’t know, then I am ready to learn.” Something that is indeed, endangered in our generation. 
 There is so much of competition around. But we all are running a blind-man’s race. I say this because, we take part to win against others, and not learn and excel and be better than the rest. Ego and attention, two things that everyone gets after a point. But it is important to realise, that what makes one successful, is not either of them, or even the credentials, but what one learns, and how practically one moves along the wave of time. 

 

 It was said in the past, that more the human intelligence will progress, the greater harm will it cause it self. The mankind has learnt enough of it. And so is another saying, the more one’s ego will grow, the deeper one will fall. 

 Thus, I define ego as an illusionary escalator. You think you’re going higher, but it’s the opposite. 
 

Passing Clouds.

Even I have a heart. Even I am a human. Even I have emotions.

“The smile is surely cute and diplomatic but doesn’t last long for the same cause.”This is what I told a little junior of mine when she sat crying, as she didn’t become a prefect, and according to her, the non-deserving ones did. I told her that in a different context all together as she told me no one cares about her.

Everyday there is someone who tells me that I am smart, that I am popular, that I am talented but why don’t I have friends around me?
I sit back and think what the reason behind this rebellious attitude of mine is, that I do not want anyone to be close to me?

I had to trace back to my life when I was a third grader. Honestly, I was emotionally very sensitive. We all grow, and so did I. I could never mingle with the Madu groups around me because they took life a little too casually, while the others were having different perceptions and lifestyle all together. I was the kid that didn’t watch Ben-10 or Pokemon, may be a lot would say that then I hadn’t enjoyed my childhood, but not really, because there are tons of things that I did instead of computer games or television.

Time progressed, and I grew, I grew rapidly. A huge transformation from the 8th grade to the 9th, I successfully had a really good friend circle around me. Things were amazing. Those funny times at my place with all friends coming over, sitting on the pavements out SMV and having Maggi almost everyday. Nostalgic indeed.

You might think what happened after that, that makes me think this way about bonding today.

During the beginning of the 10th grade, when life wasn’t that easy for me, my group of friends helped me to reconstruct life fast and strong. Trust me, it wouldn’t have been possible without them. The lads know what they mean to me. But I am not sure what exactly happened, but as days went by, each and every one of them kept moving on their own paths and so did I but what was hurting was that they had started developing perceptions about me, that I am sure were wrong but I never complained. Including the girl, I am sure all of you know.

People started believing that I had become selfish, I tried to clear by saying that life isn’t the same for me and them, if I didn’t support my mom and family now by taking up responsibilities, that surely wouldn’t be right on my part. Nobody cared to understand though. Once again, there was that duration of depression in my life when I was completely not in anyone’s touch. This time, I grew up and got out of it on my own, and when I did and thought I would have my old life back, I was wrong.

Ever since then, I have believed that friendships and bondings are somethings that are not meant for me at all. Today, I rarely communicate, but I still do everything I can, but things surely aren’t the same from the other side of life’s court.

I remember my words to a teacher in the staff room during  when she asked,  “How is your life now, must be really hard to lose a mentor and walk alone?”, to which I replied, “Ma’am, the journey teaches us a lot, and what I have learnt is that this world is a very deceptive place. We think we have a lot of things, and a lot of times we are wrong. So it is better to fight the battle alone.” Filled with emotions of pain and grief, both our eyes were in tears.

I am still the same. What my past was, and my present is, doesn’t affect me, taking every moment and living it, dependent on none, but loving all.

Story Behind the Screen. II

“You are not living your life to the fullest.”
“You have grown up way too early.”
“Sometimes you need to chill out.”
“Dude, life isn’t about progress all the time.”
“Man, make some time for yourself, and chill out. You must be mentally stressed.”
“So much of philosophy isn’t good at this age man.”
 “You don’t need to have an opinion about everything.”
“Relationships are not that serious, take them easy mate.”

 The daily advices I get from the cool dudes around me. Some of you are reading this as well. Common misconceptions, I must say.

 The other day, the auditor, as he advising my mom on a few accounting issues, suddenly says that her two sons are may be pressurised with so much of burden and pain that life has put us in. My mom, shocked and terrified, asked him why does he feel so? And what makes him think that we are burdened?

 He went on to say that both, Sanjay bhaiya and me, are doing brilliant as far as academics is concerned, growing rapidly as business brains, maturing as family members and understanding and taking over our responsibilities, and both of us don’t really spend time out with friends. So he assumes that teens get pressurised in such a a state.

 My mom laughed. She said, they’re not my two sons, they’re my pillars, they’re my worries. And they raise their own standards everyday because they’re passionate about life and just not living it. 

  What affects the kids of the world doesn’t affect my kids. They were born to be their mom’s backbone. Trust me, nothing can make you feel better than your mom having trust in your capabilities and being proud of you. Life goals for me.
 
And similar did the teachers and friends feel like the auditors. But wait, let me for once answer these misconceptions. I am not under any pressure. As far as academics is concerned, my mom is fine with me scoring the 70’s and 80’s but I want to score the 90’s simply because my dad was always proud about them, and also that I never feel pressurised to study. And having no friends has been a constant policy as I always want to keep myself focused to the big goals and responsibilities I had and wanted to perform with all my efficiency.

 As far as relations would stand, I don’t consider them to be temporary like an ice candy’s structure, that it would melt with time, I believe that words could be temporary but not feelings, thus, when I say something, I stand by it. A lot of times my friends have called me a lot of things, but honestly, doesn’t make a difference. Like I have always believed, right will always be right and wrong will always be wrong.

 Thus, I live a life with an anticipation that tomorrow will be more beautiful and it is more important to enjoy tomorrow than today. So next time, do not sympathise me, because I am living every bit of life to its fullest.

The Paradox Of Life.

They preached what they saw,
They preached what they experienced.
But did they practice what they preached?

We know what is right and what is not,
But still assume the false will never be caught.

We are growing with better facilities, food and cloths,
But undermining the value and honesty of our souls.

An advice is considered as a restriction,
And contridicting opinions are considered transgression.

Much efforts are made to look good on the exteriors,
While overlooked to clean the interiors.

The urge to earn money started just as a need,
Today, it would not really be wrong to say that it is the face of greed.

Natural aesthetics are undermined in front of artificial ones,
Temporary goals and responsibilities are chosen over the primary ones.

Retaliation is the new breathing,
Debating is the new communicating,
Critics are the new leaders,
And absolutely no gratitude towards the creator.

The main ideology of every religion is to be the remedy for all discomforts and ills,
And we the humans, for our selfish perceptions and motives have used it as the distracting pills.

We wore the goggles to change our view,
We never accepted the required changes in our perceptions with moving time,
Blamed the ones who did and called it crime.

We learn and gives tests during our school days,
But in real life we give our exams and then learn our lessons, no one realised.

Appreciation is rare,
Aggression is common,
We know this not right, 
But this is the Paradox Of Life.

-M. Manav Gadia.

Story Behind The Screen.

 Every night I close my eyes, with is smallest ray of hope that he would wake me up when the sun rises. I sit where he used to, with the hope that he would ask me to get up and he would take his position. Every morning I have a glass of tea like he would, get ready, work fast at home and leave for shop, the way he expected me to. Everyday I study in hope that he would be proud of me.

 I comb my hair the way he used to, I wear my formals like he use to, I play the games he use to, I ride the scooter he did. My imaginations have gone beyond boundaries, a story everyday I imagine that he would come to me, to meet his awaiting younger son.

 In this search I made all his dreams my goals. Right from day 1. Became a captain, did my MUNs with complete passion, aced my academics. But one thing I didn’t do, was to help my mom manage the shop. Probably I was just a little kid to understand my responsibilities and my mom’s struggle, but with the mature decisions and perception that I have always had towards life, there still remains a lot guilt in me that I did not contribute while my mom was fighting a battle all alone with the cruel world in order to give me a happy life.

 When I lost my dad, on the 2nd day, my uncles came upto my mom, my brother and me, and told us, they wouldn’t bare even a scratch on either of us. They would protect us and would consider my mom to be their younger sister. That instigated a lot of confidence in me. But it didn’t take a lot of time to realise that words out of sympathy don’t last long. Supporting was far, but situations went worse. My mom didn’t complain, my brother retaliated many a times, and I would stand by him firmer as days went as I started realising what was happeneing, but she would calm us down and tell us to look at future and be independent.

 My friends and teachers also came to me and told me a lot of things when I was in depression, but everyone has their own role to play, no one will play your role I learnt soon. On the new years eve I went up to my mom and threw up cursing my selfish attitude and motives. I promised I wouldn’t remain the same. And all that had inspired me was her selfless, hardworking, versatile and amazing courage that she had lived and progressed with, inspite of the ruthless situations life has put her into time and again. 

 Ever since I have realised that life is all about survival of not only the fittest but the smartest and the one with courage, I have never believed in spending but earning. A lot of people have suggested me to relax by partying or going casual with things. My mom says I should probably decrease pressure I put on my MUN career and my studies. But I am willing to pay the price for what I want. May be not the happiest of today’s I am living as far as artificial and temporary things are concerned, but I am sure that my tomorrow, not matter what happens, I am ready to face it. And the only aim I right have is to get ready in every hemisphere in the upcoming 7 months before I am legally the one third of my dad’s successor. From relational maturity to a businessman. One has to be smart not only at one thing but at all in order to progress and succeed in life, I have learnt.

 Like my mom says and does, let’s save the fun and happiness for tomorrow, and slog today to progress. We will enjoy everything saved with interest.

I Am Me of Today.

 I have done a lot of things. A lot of things in the past that are not right, may be are stupid and surely embarrassing as well. I have peed my pants, cried to go school, cried to wake up on Sunday mornings to attend my karate classes, made excuses of having fever so that I could escape my abacus and school homeworks,  and yes not to forget, I used to cry when someone would not get my parents attention (that would be hardly for minutes though) and yes, would never ever accept getting out while playing cricket. Never.

 As I grew up a little more, I made mistakes but they were a little different from the earlier ones. My aggression and impatient attitude. The attitude to dominate everyone in order to achieve success. People still call me an arrogant human and much more. I would never like anyone being better than me. Probably one reason as to how I changed myself completely in such a short span of time. And it was not only that, the ambitious nature and the manipulative brain, is the deadliest combination to live with. For a year, I respected temporary feelings, achievements and everything over the permanent ones.

  But wait, am I the only one who has made these mistakes? Am I the only one who has had changes in attitudes and perceptions? Am I the only one who is not perfect?

  No. Of course, not. I am a human being (my name means the same, luckily) and I have all the rights to commit errors and learn from them. No human ever grew up without committing any errors. Impossible. No human ever grew up without a change in perception or attitude. Making mistakes and learning from them is a part and a very vital one for an individual to grow.

  Many a times, we see parents, teachers and elders, and ironically our own age groups judging us on what we were yesterday. But are we living are yesterday today? Of course we are not. The finest of critics are not the ones who only know to criticise, but accept and acknowledge reality regardless of the past.

  I am not ashamed to do this. So I will. And, I, Manav Gadia, apologise to every human out there, whom I have ever hurt knowingly or unknowingly, judged or criticised or their past, I am sorry.

  Let’s start a change. Let’s spread a smile but acknowledging what is right and what is wrong without any hindrance in our perceptions. Let’s not be afraid to apologise.  After all, acceptance is the 1st step towards growth.

Lost In The Crowd.

This is the most competitive era they said. Spot on. Are dreams and ambitions are our identity. Day in and day out we struggle, some for the mere number rating system called marks, some for the monetary count in the form of profit or salary. Life has indeed become a race that is never stopping.

 On one hand, we are proud to be a part of this generation (1990-2000 babies) as we have seen the the literal evolution of world from floppy disks to SD cards/memory cards and bell bottoms to pencil fit pants. We have seen the days of complete discipline and days of complete freedom. In simpler words, we are the luckiest generation as we have grown seeing almost both aspects of everything. And this is what makes us more selective in nature. Every particular person has a perspective or an opinion on every topic. That proves we are independent.

 But all this aside, is every individual being the way it is? The so called social trend, may be universal or from the surrounding peer, has taken over ones perception, attitude, mind set, career goals and everything. When there is difference in every human right from the physical body till the grasping capacity of the brain, when there cannot be a universal way of communicating the same message to different people, how can we not accept that some suit to the trend and some cannot. On this note, both, the person who bullies one for not being updated with the trend, and the one who feels inferior of not being updated, are wrong. Being different isn’t a sin. Just because one does not party or does not smoke or pull hookah or consume alcohol, one is not wrong. And just because one does, it is not completely wrong either. Remember, perceptions can never be right or wrong but just different. Again, this is very debateable issue, thus, I would also say, there are a few universal realities that would remain right or wrong no matter who does them. Like for instance, rape can never be justified. It will always remain to be wrong.

 Things also haven’t been right from the ones who should guide us. Parents and teachers, most of them, luckily I wasn’t one, have also not accepted the reality of the world. Just because one does not want to adopt a career which is not being an engineer or a doctor or a chartered accountant and the other mainstream career options, one is not ‘useless’ or ‘fit for nothing’. This is the harsh reality of our lives. People have lavish cars with great speeds, but small minds which do not move along with time. People have new branded cloths everyday but on the same wrong concepts. No, those concepts are not old because if they were then we we wouldn’t have had legendaries like Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar, or Sonu Nigam. Even they are Indians and they are successful inspite of not choosing a mainstream career. Their reason to reach the pinnacles of success is that they saw a dream and they are passionate to turn it into reality, and so did they do. They often say, the same cup of tea is not ideal for every one, but the solemn realise and hardly practise.

 While teens and youngsters need to realise what they are, and just not move with the trend like the blind cattle, the elders of our generation should also guide us and teach us to live life on basic ideals and just control us by asking us to do what the rest of the world’s Sharmaji’s sons are doing. Passion and ideas can take us to places, from example our generations own Varun Agarwal.

 I was always allowed to do what I wanted, but the only thing my parents told me was to live right and do everything I did with passion. Not to ever give up if I had to see failure, and I did, and being the most blessed kid, they always supported me. Probably this is the reason why, today I the world is satisfied with my performance at everything I do, and more importantly, myself.

 A message to all the teens who are depressed or go through that inferiority complex of being away from the trend, you are special, you are different, not all the stars in the sky are blue, some are red and other shades of the spectrum, do not live inside your own shell like the tortoise, come out and be the free butterfly and live the moment. And parents and teachers, please, do not keep these butterflies inside the showcase. They’re only beautiful and pleasing to the heart when they’re free. Leave them and support them mentally and emotionally, every teen is going to be a legendary soon.

My Dad. My Identity.

He would wake up to bow down before the sun and thank god for every new day. Head towards the kitchen to make tea, as he would, side by side do the petty jobs like cutting his nails, brushing his teeth and watching the news. After tea was ready, he would wake my mother up cute and greet her with that lovely cute smile. Right, a perfect lover. On weekdays, he would wake my brother and me, by lifting us from our beds and taking us to the bathrooms and after we had our showers, he would comb our hair, and get us ready to leave for school, while on weekends, he would wake us up with his little mischievous acts like sleeping on us and what not.
 
Once it was 9:00 on the clock, he would have left for pooja at the temple and be back in about 30 minutes, get ready, in his formals, which he made sure were perfect from colour to their laundry. He would finish his breakfast and would leave home before it was 10:15 on the clock. I have never ever seen him miss his handkerchief with some talcum powder in it, his lavish watch, and one pen from his stunning Mont Blanc collection. Absolutely polished you say, exactly.

He had the ability to use the calculator without seeing it, recall transactions without referring to the records. A greeting with a smile and a lovely little conversation at least, was sure to be a part of every encounter with anyone, no matter how irritating they were, if at all they were. Right from our milkman to his rich and lavish customers.

He started his business from a negative number, and within no time he had laid a very firm base for his two sons to take it to a different level. An amazing artist, a black belt and most importantly a student throughout. Never ever did he hesitate to bow down and accept his mistake. This was probably the reason why he kept progressing in his life and never stopped.

He is my dad. Not ‘was’. Not only did I inherit the royal surname and initial of my name from him, I inherited each and every talent of mine from my parents as well. Today, when I look back, I realised how he compensated, when I complained that he never took me out for a trip or on a vacation.  My trophies and achievements speak for it. Today when I am grown up enough to differentiate between right and and wrong, not completely but partially, I realise what ‘success’, yes the same word we often use in the captions of our pictures, meant to him and is in real life.

He told me not to read the book, “Who will cry when you die?”, but instead asked me to work with complete passion and told me that everyone would smile and celebrate my good deeds after I left.

Other parents also teach lessons, my dad, put himself into the shoes every time to teach me lessons of life.

So the next time, you ever want to appreciate me for my talent, remember that this is a trained product of the real hero. I am not the one who deserves it completely and alone and that is why I prefer calling myself Manav Mahendar Gadiya, because without him, I have no identity.

The Blame Game.

 This world is the stage, our life is the drama, and we play the roles. The most amazing part about this drama is that every character has multiple roles to play at the same time, unlike the common ones. And a great actor is one who knows IT’S role and plays it to perfection, even if another character of the play doesn’t.  And if every actor does so, ultimately the play is a successful one.

  Now let’s compare our lives to this drama and know about our multiple roles. Lets consider some roles here to understand the concept. And the roles are, a son, a student, a businessman, a sibling, a friend and changes with situations. Considering them as they’re the are the common ones. Now, if one would not stick to its role as a son, eventually one would spoil its relationship with its parents, if one does not play the role of a student to its requirements, one would not be successful as far as its academically performances are concerned and would not have a good relationship with their teachers. If one does not play the role of a businessman, as polished as the consumers expect, one’s competitors would take away it’s profits along with its consumers. And if one does not play the role as a sibling with the same emotions and care as their siblings would expect, then having that shatterproof relationship and bonding with between siblings would not be possible. And a role has a friend varies from circle to circle,  but if commitments are not kept up to, one would end having none around it.

 And with time progressing and every character growing ambitious to attain perfection, we are forgetting the basic rules of the play. That is, if I need to attain perfection  in my role, I need to look into myself, realise my mistakes, rectify them and move on. Making mistakes is a part of growth, like I say, failure is the dawn to success. But we consider apologising as a blow to our ego and that is the ultimate reason why we haven’t progressed in the last decade as much as we did earlier. In the same way, we have adopted new attitudes and replaced them with the basic ones. For instance, we are worried about defeating someone else more than we are worried to win it on our own merits. We are so high on our own substance of ego that we are running far away from the reality.

 We have not yet realised that as we are running behind to correct someone else, we are not playing our own roles. In the run to keep our ego, we have killed our progress and ultimate aims. Robin Sharma rightly said, “No critic ever changed the world.”

 Students are blaming teachers for their failure while they’re not willing to looking to their own efforts and mistakes, businessmen are more worried about the success of their competitors than their own mistakes, we as teenagers are blaming our parents for not understanding us, instead of realising our own mistakes and irresponsible attitudes, siblings are placing their vision and ego over emotions, and friends are placing selfish perceptions and ego instead of having a selfless attitude towards the relationship. We need to realise that the blame game has no end, but ends progress for the one who plays it.

If we all start looking into our own mistakes, and place perfection over joy, take the right path, it’s a little too brutally honest but is more progressive at the end of the day. If we all start like with the basic principle that it is more important to be right than happy, we would be living in the world of perfect people that we proclaim our selves to be. So let’s all kill our negative part of the ego, and start climbing the peak of success on our own foots.