Hazaaron Khwaahishein Aisi..

"Hazaaron khwahishen aisi ki har khwahish pe dum nikle...

bahut nikle mere armaan lekin fir bhi kam nikle"....

"A thousand desires/ambitions I have and each could consume my entire life,

A single lifetime would not suffice for the desires I have in my heart"...

I hope Mirza Ghalib is not turning in his grave after reading my translation/interpretation of his most famous couplet. I'm merely trying to help those who don't know his language very well !

No. I am not re-assessing or re-setting the goals of my life. That phase of life hasn't come yet. I think its still a few months away :p

But every time I read/hear these lines I think of all the things I want to do/be in life.

It's not that I've been all over hell's half acre and haven't figured out what I want to do. It's just that I want to do a myriad of things. I want to continue doing what I'm doing but I want do a lot more. Time or rather the lack of it would be the only dampener on my plans.

I am not one to brag but I am pretty well read now. I have completed two degrees but I think there is place to hang one more on my wall. An MBA from a reputed b-school might fit the bill.

I also want to go for the Indian Civil Services. I want to be a part of the solution and not the problem. I want to be the change that I want to see. I want to cut the red long tape of bureaucracy. "I want to be the idealistic civil servant" is what I'm getting at.

But here's the tricky part. If I do any of the above would I be able to put to good use my polemical skills which I can do if I go for a Juris Doctor. Not sure.

Anyways. Enough about professions I want to be a crackerjack at :D

There are other non-professional things on my wish list too.

First is to start a kick-ass 'Fight Club' with Tyler. Another is to get captured as a POW, escape to Tibet and meet the Dalai Lama.

Get my hands on a time machine and hurtle away to the Wild West at 88 miles/hr. Rechristen myself as 'Mr. Eastwood' once there and settle the unfinished business I have with 'Mad Dog' Tannen :O

I'd also want to meet Kate Winslet on a ship somewhere along the way. Oh yeah..and I wish to run the length and breadth of the US ala Mr. Gump as and when time permits.

Too much too ask for ?! I sure think so..

But we've got only one life. This is the only chance. Got to do it ALL in this one itself !!

War And Peace

“Only the dead have seen the end of war”.

As the world debates Obama’s decision on the Afghanistan War and anticipates the result of the troop surge there, I cannot help but acknowledge the veracity of these words.

The Iraq War has ended. The war in Afghanistan is very much on. One in Iran looms.

People dying virtually every day in Pakistan. Radical religious monomaniacs wrapping themselves in dynamite and blowing up innocent people. Maoist violence in India. Thousands vanquishing as a result. LTTE insurgency in SL that lasted decades, killing thousands. Genocides in Tibet. Israel-Palestine conflict. Iran-Iraq War. World War I, World War II. The list is endless. The casualties uncountable. The destruction unfathomable.

US may come back blaring the victory trumpet from Afghanistan but they’d forever remain leery of the Islamic nations. Who knows where the next threat could come up from? Iran for one surely hates the American guts. On the other hand Taliban could win the war but what can they possibly do that would make their people's lives better in the face of sanctions and isolation from the rest of the world. They'd then look for a new target to vent out their anger/frustration. Either way the war won't end.

If the Maoists’ secessionist tactics work and they get autonomy would they be able to prosper severed from mainland India? What would Pakistan gain by accquiring control of Kashmir when they can't do anything for the well-being of its people. No one is going to budge and only a few more million are going to die.

Obama posited in his Nobel Prize acceptance speech, "For make no mistake, Evil does exist in the world. A non-violent movement could not have halted Hitler's armies. Negotiations cannot convince al Qaeda's leaders to lay down their arms. To say that force may sometimes be necessary is not a call to cynicism -- it is a recognition of history; the imperfections of man and the limits of reason."

This is perhaps a Commander-In-Chief justifying his war with glib speech or perhaps this is an erudite man making a very profound statement. Take your pick. I think it is the latter.

What a conundrum we are in. War is necessary for the upkeep of Peace.

New generations living in fear. Children struggling in refugee camps when they should be in schools building their future. Fathers burying their young sons. Ailing kids. Mothers with nothing to feed them. Houses razed to the ground in the calm of the night. Nothing but mere rubble on the streets. Nothing but mere pain in the heart. We better get used to this.

Oh and btw, a Happy New Year to All !!