Madhushala...

After posting my first blog, the next task was to make sure I keep this blogging thing going on… unlike the other things, where I start with some initial enthusiasm and then it finally fizzles down to nothing….. so here goes this one...

The other day I overheard a complete anti thesis to my philosophy of life, which is ‘living in the present’ . Two gentlemen were talking about how people nowadays seem to enjoy their present.. without giving much thought for the future. They want to just live the moment and don’t plan or think about what will happen to their tomorrow .

I have met loads of people in life who keep worrying about the future unknown and don’t seem to notice all the good things happening around them. They always think ‘What if” I had taken the other path which was laid down before me.. maybe i would have shaped up better… maybe i made a wrong choice….. Ah, now we come to THE dreadful word, choice… CHOICE is a powerful word. Neo (in Matrix) makes a choice and so does Harry Potter (Griffindor or Slytherin). Mahatma Gandhi made a choice. So did our Kalpana Chawla… Did all of them get the desired results???

At each and every step of our life, this word haunts us. Since we can’t predict the ultimate result of our decision, we get scared.

In such times , a question can help ease our worries… That is....

“ What would you do, if you were not afraid ? “ (from Who moved my cheese?) .

I will not claim that this is easy to incorporate into our " thought process".. But in some of those scary moments, where we do not know which side of the wall we need to jump, the question “ What would you do, if you were not afraid ? “ helps to make a sensible choice. It makes us more confident and logical in our ideas. Though I strongly feel that the important part, is not the choice we make….. but rather, more important is the Attitude with which we handle the pitfalls of our choices. THIS is what makes or breaks us.Everything happens for a reason. Failure is a means to personal expansion.

If we come across any successful person’s life experience, we will find that it was not always hunky dory.. The fact that they are in an enviable position today, is because….. even when they learnt that their CHOICE was not working out, exactly the way they wanted, they didn’t give up... They kept making changes as and when required , holding to their core values intact…. And their positive ATTITUDE to continue performing their best ,whatever is the consequence, helped them through….

The dilemma on whether it is better to live in the moment or to plan for the future is always debatable. Whatever is the choice and however it is turning out to be, if we have our principles clear, just going ahead with the right attitude can help...

A few lines from Madhushala (The Tavern) by Harivansh Rai Bachchan sums it up..

Seeking wine, the drinker leaves home for the tavern.
Perplexed, he asks, "Which path will take me there?"
People show him different ways, but this is what I have to say,
"Pick a path and keep walking. You will find the tavern."

I designed this rhyme to explain in due time...

The first question which came to my mind when I created this blog was, what should I name my blog……. And I think that’s funny for the person I am …I always have been quoting Shakespeare’s

What's in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet;

More so because I have, as they call, an unconventional Indian name… Gino…. Why have I been named so… well… I shall explain in due time…. And jus remember this line from the song ‘In the End’ (Linkin Park)

Keep that in mind / I designed this rhyme
To explain in due time

But the fact is that, for any acquaintance that meets me for the first time, I have had to spell my name….. so that they do not misinterpret it as Jeno or Ginu which they later address me as... Now this being my FIRST blog… and me singing a song abt my name… should make me sound like a self obsessed person… But my idea of creating A BLOG is to seize the thoughts which run in my mind and throw it here….. so that the little brain of mine has a thought lesser to churn around….

Like in Harry Potter series…. when explaining the Pensieve's primary function, (Pensieves are used to store the excess thoughts extracted from the memory of a witch or wizard) Dumbledore said "I sometimes find…that I simply have too many thoughts and memories crammed into my mind…At these times…I use the Pensieve. One simply siphons the excess thoughts from one's mind, pours them into the basin, and examines them at one's leisure. It becomes easier to spot patterns and links…when they are in this form…..

That’s why I am putting my thoughts here.. using the blog as a pensieve and find if it somehow develops into a GREAT pattern ;) … I am also writing here… to seize the day and live life's each moment to the fullest… (That’s Carpe Diem!!!)

Coming back to my name… Wikipedia has an interesting explanation for Gino (Yup, my name is there, check out if anyone wants…..) – Gino in Canadian or Australian Slang (Pronounced Gee-noh) is the masculine form of someone, who dresses in tight clothing, excessive amounts of hair gel, wears gold chains, diamond stud earrings, and has a macho attitude… After reading this, I tried relating my name to myself.. but something’s are better left untried and unsaid as well……

Now to explain the caption and the line from ‘In the end’… My elder sister’s name is Lino…. And my Dad was a fan of WWF (not the World Wildlife Fund , but the World Wrestling Federation as it was previously known) . He happened to come across a name which rhymed with my sister’s and so…. So I was conveniently named Gino….after the Gino Brito, a popular Montreal wrestler……