I wish I could write

It’s been a long time since I have written anything. Words don’t seem to suffice how I feel these days. How does one explain silence in words? How do you force yourself to create the chaos of verses when you wish to write about quiet? How do you make the still flow and how do you measure the depth of an ocean of emotions steadily rushing past every moment? Words will never suffice. But I wish I could write. There are so many characters living in my head, my heart, my veins. They flow and burst and try to make themselves show on paper. I try to sketch them but I fail miserably. Only caricatures of my thoughts come alive. These characters breathe. I can’t always provide them with the oxygen they need. They put up a long struggle in my hands and then they die. I don’t cry when they do. I have other things I have to take care of. I move on and other characters fill the places of the ones that died. Will they die too? I don’t know. But I know this much, that if they don’t I will give them a soul, a body and love. Sometimes I wish to give them my blood. But alas! The words aren't red enough. Bold enough. Meaningful enough. They never will be. They never can be.

Don’t be a toothpick, be a comb

So I had a meeting with my boss today. I work in a start-up and like most organizations I have worked for, there are no written memos given to us about our role. A boon and a bane. Boon on days you can think and work, bane on those days when traffic is bad, sun is strong and the day pretty long. Needless to say it was the latter one I was fixed in.
So, here I am sitting with my boss, who is trying to make intrapreneurs (a word he has coined for employees who create their own roles in a company, rather than waiting for that above mentioned memo) out of us. He was explaining the need to constantly learn new skills when something he said, struck me. He said don’t be a toothpick, be a comb. “You use a toothpick and throw it out the same moment, a comb you keep,” he explained.
What he was trying to explain was one of the biggest flaws of our educational system. Something, I have been a victim of, a fact I realized too late in my professional life. I hold a degree in journalism. Reporting, writing, assimilating facts, and putting them in a readable format is what I was taught in college. At that time because I wasn't any wiser, I thought it was more than enough.
It was once I stepped into this cyclone called ‘corporate world’, I realized I was not even handed an oar, let alone a boat by my extremely expensive, urbane sounding course. I knew how to be a journalist, but if I was to deviate from that role, I was only a writer. Someone with no business acumen, no additional skill set, no idea about the world of marketing, coding, Photoshop, sales, anything.
I can argue and say but I didn't need to learn them. And isn't there where the problem lies really? So early in life we are made to choose by our educational system with no options at all. An engineer will know only about science and nothing about arts or commerce (and no I don’t think that reading HT café and financial times is the answer). An arts student is woefully unaware of the world of biology and chemistry.
And it doesn't end here. Our educational system is adept at making robots. I know, I am one of them. I am so used to having a course book, a schedule and a teacher telling me, guiding me, that when all these things are taken out of the equation, I am clueless. Independent thinking and the mental readiness to follow it through becomes an issue.
Maybe that’s why Aanand Gandhi (the maker of Ship of Thesus) didn't bother with formal education after 12th and took matter in his own hands. He wanted to learn. He picked up books on his favorite subjects, studied them, traveled the world, met people, understood them and through them himself. Then he decided he wanted to make movies. He created art on celluloid. 
As simple as that. It’s amazing that at 27, after going through offices where I simply wrote what was told to me, paid not to think and drank bad coffee, I am getting a chance to up my game and learn. Truly learn. I am constantly learning how to become autonomous by acquiring new skills. Trust me, it give you confidence like nothing else. And isn't it true that in today’s world where one-stop-shop is becoming an operative word, we be the jack of all and master of one? Well, I am on my way on that path. What about you? Are you still drinking that stale coffee or are you on your way to become an intrapreneur?

What is the Significance of Durga and Shakti in Mythology?

Shakti is our inner strength. Durga is the strength that we get from outside. Praise for example empowers us because we get Durga from outside. Insults disempowers us, we feel stripped of Durga by our critic. Thus, Durga is a currency of exchange, just like wealth or Lakshmi.

Durga comes from 'Durg' which means fort in Hindi. It is the external approval that we seek. Shakti on the other hand is the inner strength that we posses. It is our approval of our selves.

Karna, the sut putra who was forever asking for legitimacy from Pandavs or Kauravs was looking at only durga and not shakti. While Krishna, who like him was called a 'gwala' the one who looks after the cows knew shakti. He didn't seek approval. He was an authority in himself. (Although he was very similar to Karan. A child who was disowned by his parents, lived with the low class). However, he did not shy away from being a 'Sarthi' or a 'Gwala'. Because he was the 'Bhagwan' where ever he was and he knew it. Karna was always looking for ways to feel approved.

Concept of Bhagwan:
Bhag (a part) we all have. We only live and see that one small miniscule 'bhag' of life. Bhagwan is someone who sees not only his but everybody's 'bhag'. He is the man with a bigger vision and can understand actions and foresee consequences.

(Excerpts from Ashwin Sanghi's talk)