Plumetted Paradigms

Some Blogs are my book markers in time, they are footprints in the moving sand of thoughts and convictions. Choosing a Title today was far more difficult than choosing the pointers. So what are the paradigms which have plummeted? A battery of new conclusions today and as always, a new song.....

Paradigm #1 - Heros: In Aug 2003, I joined Accenture, and just around that time, Accenture had signed up with Tiger Woods as their brand Ambassador. They Key theme for all new Management team was "Go On Be a Tiger", The theme was overwhelming, Tiger Woods was a phenomenon in his game of Golf, he rose from ashes and had a distinct style. Every email, every presentation at Accenture had a footnote "Go On Be a tiger"  Huge Billboards were put at major airports around the world featuring the same theme. Fast Forward this to 2017, Tiger Wood was arrested recently for Drunk Driving and yesterday was sent back to rehab. He has lost everything he once stood for. Accenture moved on and I am sure, it has new heroes in mind. Success is a "Moment" but the image of the Heros, that once was, stays much longer. The key question however is, Did he really deserve to be a Hero. The answer is Maybe Yes,  but who made him the Icon, The people. In the 80s, there was a famous Pakistani TV Series called Dhoop Kinarey. In the last episode of Dhoop Kinarey, the female Protagonist Dr. Zoya Khan says " Jin logo ko hum Mohabbat se aasmaano pe Bitha dete hain, Jab woh girte hain to takleef hamein hee hoti hai ". What makes Heros, primarily our affection which is blinded by emotions. They are just normal people, we just selectively pick their accentuated features and make them demi-gods and place them on the High pedestal and I am sure this high pedestal causes them vertigo and they fall. This happens to our loved ones, our social heroes and mythological characters as well. Make no mistake, all heroes will fall and in the best interest of our emotional hygiene, we must have a look at everyone we have placed on a high pedestal, Ponder over this quick thought, what if they are not who we think they are. 

मैं खुद ही अपनी तलाश में हूँ, मेरा कोई रहनुमा नहीं है.....
वो क्या दिखाएंगे राह मुझ को, जिन्हें खुद अपना पता नहीं है.....

यह इनके मंदिर, यह इनके मस्जिद , यह जरपरस्तों की सज्दागाहें
अगर यह इनके खुदा के घर हैं , तो इनमें मेरा खुदा नहीं है .....

Rehnuma is leader or Hero,   Zarparasat are people in pursuit of money.

Paradigm # 2 - Convictions: I  often think that mankind's biggest slavery is its Cliches. We have a deep prejudice embedded inside us and this prejudice develops over years, Education, social circles, Media and religious beliefs all contribute to this prejudice but we rarely break those cliches . One of the Cliches is Old clothes and I recently told someone that people are willing to love someone's old life but not someone's old clothes because clothes are tangible and lives are not ? As you evolve in time, life presents many opportunities to break the self-conviction paradigm and build a new one. Last month on a transcontinental flight, I booked a "Jain meal for myself, thinking since it has low circulation, it will possibly be a little better . Little did i know that I will be served, Cheese, more cheese , Paneer, More Paneer and Condensed Milk pretending to be rabree . I had just one thought, what wrong have Onion, Ginger, and Garlic done to mankind. Let me give some context here, I was born into a family of Strict "Vaishno " vegetarians and my rebellion soul pushed me to become a compulsive meat eater, This was true till 1994, until my accident. After I was discharged, I turned a vegetarian and now reading about how dairy industry pumps litres of hormones into cows and how these excessive hormones cause excruciating pain in the cows, makes me sick.  They are fed with the recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH), a genetically engineered hormone, which forces cows  to produce more milk, they become more susceptible to udder infections called mastitis. Mastitis is a condition which can increase the amount of cow’s pus which ends up in the milk. So we consume milk force produced by Hormones which has pus and antibiotics in it. So much for our prejudice against Ginger,, Garlic, and Onion., I said to myself.  The conviction I have now is to turn vegan for life. I wanna keep telling myself I was wrong and a course correction is needed.

This said, my basic method of evaluating any person;'s depth is noticing how many cliches they have been able to demolish and how self-critical they are. Convictions are shifting paradigms and they will plumeet as well . 

Paradigm # 3- Essence:  I often wonder if we have carefully made note of what exactly triggers a feeling of happiness and bliss in us, they are often an undefined set of emotions. activities and sense of accomplishment. Most times these are not big things, they are subtle yet deep. Years ago, when I lived in Melbourne, I used to host lots of other singles, some Pakistanis and some other folks from India for a dinner, cook a lot and have a hefty laugh with beer. I never realized that feeding someone actually can trigger happiness , In Sep 2015 , I went to Amritsar and saw the Langar, what can be bigger feeling than feeding someone with such love and affection. These days, I make Karah Prasad and take it to temple for offering, seems like what everyone does.  Once every month, I try to go to Chamundi Hills Temple in Mysore . 2 weeks back, as usual, I got up early at 4 am , made karah and I think it turned out well. In the temple, when i was serving the Karah prasad, I realized that there is a natural smile on people's faces once they tasted, everything was gone in a few minutes. I kept thinking, maybe that's my true trigger. Jigar Moradabadi wrote ...

तेरी खुशी से अगर गम में भी खुशी न हुई, वो ज़िंदगी तो मुहब्बत की ज़िंदगी न हुई.....

ख़्याल-ए-यार,  सलामत तुझे खुदा रखे, तेरे बगैर कभी घर में रोशनी न हुई.....

True love is offering happiness before we seek happiness, it's important to quantify how much we offer happiness. There is an emotional G-spot in our hearts too, irrespective of gender. somethings trigger it . some people trigger it, some people don't. Keep noticing what it triggers bliss. It may not be money or Size Zero chase, it could be just piping feeding someone with your own hands or walking in rain ...It may be just giving a reason to smile, unadulterated and unrestricted affection ....

Today, a song whch is possibly the best discovery of 2017, Sajjad Ali ....Yaad to aati hogi, Dil Dhukaati hogi ...