Exercise - 2

'I shall begin exercise once I am a little free', My friend was telling me. I have seen so many people and heard many such responses. 'I will start working out next month, next week, after my exams, after I come back from this trip, after this, after that and the list of excuses goes on. In fact one need not even wait for the next day to start exercising. When I say that, I admit that I too, have made such statements and I have hated myself for that. I still do. But at the same time, I believe that

'There is no SEASON to begin exercising; and there is no REASON to stop it.' 

- A J Oka.

(अ)व्यवस्थितपणा

शर्ट, पॅंट किंवा काहीही, हातात घ्यायचं, गोल गोल असं ४ वेळा फिरवायचं, की जो गोळा तयार होतो तो एका हातात धरायचा, दुस-या हाताने खण उघडायचा, आणि तो गोळा मोकळ्या जागेत नेम धरून भिरकवायचा. अशीच असते ना कपडे ठेवायची पद्धत ! कपडे काय, किंवा इतर कुठलीही गोष्ट काय, साधारण अशाच पद्धतीने ठेवायची, किंवा काढायची असते. म्हणजे, जगात एक मोठ्ठा वर्ग आहे जो ही पद्धत योग्य मानतो.

दुसरा जो वर्ग आहे तो एक ‘व्यवस्थितपणा’ नावाची थियरी आहे, त्यावर विश्वास ठेवतो. त्यानुसार कपड्यांची घडी करणं, गोष्टींचे रकाने राखीव ठेवणं, वह्या, पुस्तके, कागद वगैरे गोष्टींचं वर्गीकरण करणं वगैरे क्रीया करायच्या असतात. त्यांच्या मते:-
१) असं केल्याने गोष्टी हव्या तेंव्हा पटकन मिळतात. (पण असंच पहिल्या वर्गालाही वाटतं.)
२) असं केल्याने खण/खोली नीटनेटके दिसतात. (पहिल्या वर्गाच्या मते हे मानण्यावर आहे.)

तर अशी मतांतरं आहेत. दोन्ही वर्ग आपापल्या पद्धतींवर ठाम आहेत. त्यांना आपापल्या पद्धतीच फायदेशीर वाटतात. आणि त्यामागील कारणंही तितकीच सबळ वाटतात. पण यामुळे घरोघरी जिथे हे दोन वर्ग एकत्र नांदतात, तिकडे त्यांत खटके उडत असतात. मी पहिल्या वर्गात मोडतो. :D
तर; ‘बॉटम लाईन’ अशी आहे की,

‘अव्यवस्थितपणातला जो कम्फर्ट आहे ना कम्फर्ट, तो व्यवस्थित लोकांना कधीच कळणार नाही’
- अ. ज. ओक.

Old is Cold

Cold has been like an old friend to me. Always there with me, all the way, all the time. Too bad of a topic to post on my blog. But just when things cross the 'Zone of Normality', that is when they become 'mentionable'.

My nose has become like a platform on Dadar Railway Station. Just when you get a feeling that it is getting cleared up a bit, it gets packed again. You don't understand from where does it come, you don't understand how.
 - A J Oka

Audiophile

Any car that takes you from one place to another, is a good car. Any camera that can capture the scene, is a good camera. Any food that can satisfy one's hunger, is good food. Any television that shows you various channels of the world is a good television. And So on. But when a person begins to really 'try and understand' something, is when he/she becomes picky and selective. Then suddenly the 'good' things seem so 'boring'; so 'toy-like'.


Now to talk about this in relation to 'sound'. Any good speaker, any good music system, will give a person fair amount of hearing pleasure. But an audiophile may see, and test 20 brands of those equipment, to find one that 'suits' his requirements. And then he may still not be happy, and he will try to 'adjust' or 'customize' that equipment so that it 'meets' his expectations. Only until the time he starts expecting 'even more'.


Being crazy in my own way about music, sound and every related thing, I think about it a lot. So, while thinking, I ask myself, when do you know that a person is a true audiophile?...my answer;

'When you start experimenting with your Custom Equalizer and don't love the Preset Equalizers anymore, you are a true audiophile.'
- A J Oka.
(au·di·o·phile n. A person having an ardent interest in stereo or high-fidelity sound reproduction.)

Push-Pull

How many people will there be, who are doing what they love to do? Very few! Certainly. You may try asking 10 people if they do what they love; and I am sure that 7 out of 10 will answer in negative. Then people justify their situation, blaming 'Destiny'. Destiny is like that lamp post on a lonely road; everyone merely follows the light hoping that it will lead them to a brighter place, even when they know that it's not the place where they really want to be at.


The remaining 3 out of 10 do not do that. They wander around, more often in the dark, initially; to finally reach the place they dreamed about. Both the places are 'Destinations'. Leading to both are what they call as 'Paths'. But the real difference is in the forces.

Destiny PUSHES you to a destination. Dreams PULL you towards one.
- A J Oka

Badminton Racket

'Just happened to read in the newspaper today while I was looking to read news about the Olympics, that some badminton players have been banned on account of match-fixing allegations. So now, the shuttlers too, have a racket.'

- A J Oka

Between Two Ends

Imagine a river. It flows between two distinct pieces of land. Two ends; Two boundaries, Two limitations; between which there is this constant flow of water. Pretty much like life as I see.

For any given thing, present or past, living or non-living, you will hear good as well as bad. You will find people who'd say that a thing is good and also who'd say that the same thing is bad. Two sides to everything, and this is universal. Everything in life is like the water in a river, and everything ABOUT everything is at either of the river's sides.

Photograph by: Apurva Oka

Good and bad, True and False, Right and Wrong, Moral and Immoral, Just and Unjust... there are always, these two thoughts about everything. Life is what lies between them.

- A J Oka

मार्क

भारतात ‘मार्क’ या गोष्टीला सुशिक्षित माणसाच्या आयुष्यात तितकं महत्व आहे, जितकं एखाद्या खाद्यपरार्थात मिठाला आहे. नापास व्यक्ती म्हणजे अळणी पदार्थासारखी आहे. आणि मार्क कमी मिळालेल्या व्यक्तीची अवस्था म्हणजे बाकी सगळे जिन्नस प्रमाणात असूनही ‘मीठ कमी आहे जरा’ अशा शे-यामुळे अपात्र ठरलेल्या पदार्थासारखी असते. 

कुठेतरी वाचलेलं आठवतंय, ‘मार्क हा बुद्धीचा आरसा आहे’ म्हणे. मला नाही पटत. म्हणजे मला मार्क कधी कमी-जास्त मिळाले म्हणून मला कधीच फरक पडला नाही, पडत नाही. याच ब्लॉगवरच्या दुस-या एका पोस्ट मधेही मी याबद्द्ल लिहिलंय, की ‘Marks/Scores are nothing but on-paper intelligence.’

तर या ‘आरशा’बद्द्ल विचार केला, तेंव्हा वाटलं की,

‘मार्क हा ज्ञानाचा एक ‘कवडसा’ आहे; ‘आरसा’ नव्हे’. - अ. ज. ओक

Success

A lot has been written about 'Success'; what it is, what is its value, what makes you want it, what you should do to have it and so on. It is definitely a thing which almost everyone, knowingly, or unknowingly, wants to have, and likes to have. 

So I ask the same question to myself; How does one get success? How does it come? 

and I find a somewhat simple answer.

'Success:- Commit; and it comes'

- A J Oka.

Conscience and Instincts

1) A person waits till the traffic signal goes green. The person accompanying him tries to induce him to go when the signal is still red. 2) A person religiously wears a helmet every time he rides his bike. The person sitting at the back tries to convince him that it does not matter even if he does not wear it and that no one is gonna catch him. 3) A person waits for his turn at a bus stop. All the other people rush past him, catch the bus and laugh at his foolishness. 4) It is illegal to litter/spit at public places. But 8 out of 10 people think 'nothings gonna happen' and still do it.

All these and many other are incidents that happen every minute in India. Hold on; I am not going to say that together we can make a difference and that if everyone follows rules and acts wisely, things can improve blah blah blah. Hell no. I am just looking at these situations and trying to identify a quality that all of us have, but some of us control. Temptation. Temptation is an instinctive characteristic of human nature. Everyone gets tempted to do, to get, to see, to say, to hear, to feel a lot of things. And that is natural. Some, however are able to control the temptation when it is for wrong things.

I see two kinds of people here. One whose instincts are stronger than their conscience, and the other whose conscience is stronger than their instincts. A mixture of both however, is ideal.

'Conscience has to control when instincts and conscience collide. Instincts have to control when conscience cannot decide. - A J Oka.

हापूस

आंबा. फळांचा राजा. कोकणात याचं मूळ असलं तरी अख्या जगात याचं खूळ आहे. दुबई च्या राजा ला वगैरे सुद्धा आवडतो म्हणे आंबा. हापूस हा या फळांच्या राजाचा मुकुटच म्हणेन मी. पण Alphanso हे त्याचं नाव मला मुळीच आवडत नाही. Alphanso म्हटलं की तोच हापूस परका वाटायला लागतो मला.


हे सांगायलाच नको की मला आंबा प्रचंड आवडतो. पण काहीशी कक्षाबद्ध आवड आहे माझी. साधारण सगळ्यांना माहितच असेल की आंब्याच्या हापूस व्यतिरिक्त इतर अनेक जाती आहेत. पायरी ही त्यातल्यात्यात वरच्या पायरीवर असलेली जात. मग दशहरा, लंगडा, तोतापुरी, केसर, फज़ली, नीलम वगैरे वगैरे. काही चाखल्यात मी यातल्या पण रुचली एकही नाही. खरं बघायला गेलं तर आंबा = हापूस. इथेच विषय संपतो. माझ्यापुरता तरी. हापूस सारखा दुसरा कुठलाच आंबा नाही; दुसरं कुठलंच फळ नाही. त्यामुळे मला,

‘हापूस सोडून आंब्याच्या इतर जाती म्हणजे केवळ हापूस ची सर गाठण्याचे निष्फळ ठरलेले प्रयत्न वाटतात.’
- अ. ज. ओक

काय दिलं?

आयुष्यातली प्रत्येक गोष्ट आपल्याला काहीतरी देते. छोट्यात छोट्या गोष्टीपासून ते मोठ्यात मोठ्या गोष्टीपर्यंत प्रत्येक गोष्ट आपल्याला काहीतरी शिकवते, सांगते, देते.

तुम्हीच तुम्हाला प्रश्न करून बघा, उत्तरं मिळत जातील. जसा मी विचार करतो की; शाळेने काय दिलं?... चांगले शिक्षक दिले, ज्ञान दिलं, चांगले मित्र दिले, संस्कार दिले, नेहमी साथ देतील अशा आठवणी दिल्या. कॉलेज ने काय दिलं?... करियर कडे बघण्याचा दृष्टिकोन दिला, ’बीकॉम’ अशी पदवीरूपी ओळख दिली. CPA ने काय दिलं?... अभ्यासाचा practical approach दिला, अमेरिकेशी ओळख करून दिली, International (तरीही भारतातल्या अनेक बिंडोकांना संबंधित क्षेत्रात काम करत असूनही माहीत नसलेलं) Qualification दिलं. अशा अनेक अनेक गोष्टी.

अशीच एक फार मोठी गोष्ट. CA. अनेक वर्ष हातात हात, नव्हे गळ्यात गळा घालून जी गोष्ट माझ्याबरोबर होती, म्हणजे माझ्या मानगुटीवर बसली होती, तिने खरं तर बरंच काही दिलं असलं पाहिजे; आणि आहेच. पण तरीही एकच देणं नमूद करायचं झालं तर;

CA ने काय दिलं?... कोडगेपणा दिला.
- अ. ज. ओक

You Can't See Me

World Wrestling Entertainment, is one of the very popular sports entertainment shows in the world and I am one of its millions of fans. The Rock, Triple H, Batista, John Cena being my top favorites. They all have very interesting characterizations and very interesting tag-lines or punch-lines which they say. e.g. The one of John Cena, is 'You Can't See Me'. 

Brilliant. I like it. However, as I think about this statement a little more, I arrive at a slightly different construction of words. Keeping in consideration my strong belief and respect for the idea of individuality, I think that if I was in a place as John Cena, and if I had to decide on some punch-line of mine, that line would rather be,

'You Can't BE Me'
- A J Oka.

हुद्याचा मुद्दा

परवा माझ्या एका मित्राशी बोलत असताना त्याने मला त्याच्या ऑफिसमधली एक गोष्ट सांगितली. त्याच्या बॉसच्या जागी आता त्याच्याच संचातील एका व्यक्तीची बढती झालीय. तो सांगत होता, या आधी तीच व्यक्ती माझ्याशी नीट बोलायची; छान ताळमेळ होता आमचा; आणि बढती होताच त्या व्यक्तीच्या बोलण्याचा सूर बदललाय; विद्यर्थ जाऊन आज्ञार्थ आलाय...
मी म्हटलं अरे हे होतंच बरेच वेळा.

‘हुद्दा नसेपर्यंत सगळेच ‘मुद्याचं’ बोलतात; आणि एकदा हुद्दा आला की ‘हुद्याचं’’
- अ. ज. ओक

Insanity

Insanity; the word seems to pull me close to it quite often. And quite often, do I seem to find it to be the most relevant and relatable word. But insane people are as rare to be found as frequent are insane thoughts knocking the door of my mind.

There is something that limits people. There is a barrier, more often than not, invited and accepted by the people themselves, to the thoughts, to the actions. But I feel, and I believe, that insanity out powers everything. Insane people are the ones about whom the pages of history talk the most. One should not be afraid, to be insane; to entertain insane thoughts; to pamper them; and definitely to make them a reality. Because there is every possibility of those thoughts becoming the most 'sane' thoughts and theories established in time.

'Insanity is paranormal; and so is Innovation, so is Revolution, so is Greatness.'

If I may have the liberty of using the word 'sane' as a verb; I'd say,

'Insanes Outsane.'
- A J Oka

Refuse to be 'Weak'

At sometime or the other, everyone falls ill, suffers from some sort of sickness. As illness enters your body, there is a definite and noticeable loss of power. For almost everyone, loss of physical strength during illness; is inevitable. Loss of mental strength however; is not. But largely, people lose their mental strength and then the illness dominates them. 


I hate that loss of power. I hate that 'weak' feeling; and so I rebel. I would deliberately do a set of push-ups when I have fever; and feel good. I would definitely not call anyone to push the bed aside or lift any heavy object; do it myself; and feel strong. 


Ulhas, a good friend of mine, was telling a similar story about his father, and how he used to approach illness. He had a remarkably positive way of looking at it. Many may call that, and what I described above, as crazy; but it works. It surely does make a difference in one's recovery. I thought that I should Quote what Ulhas's father used to say. 'Always; refuse to be a patient. And always; refuse to be old.' A great thought, really. 


The pills will do their job but it is You who provide them the platform. Like they say,'It's all in the mind.'

"Illness is unstoppable. But your mind, is unbeatable."
- A J Oka.

Previous - Precious

There will be some people whose eyes do not shine when they turn pages of their memory book. Every person from the rest has a special place in his heart for his past. He values things that he did, places that he saw, and people that he met.

With time everything changes. So does the way we look at things, and the way we value them. Things without which we could not imagine our lives, occupy a visible corner of the house and are called as 'antique'. People feel proud to show these things off; the things that used to be so precious at a point in time. Their 'price' increases; and their 'value' goes down. 

'With time, the things that were previously precious, become preciously previous.'

- A J Oka.

फेसबुकर्सची प्रतिज्ञा

फेसबुक. सकाळच्या न्याहारीच्याही आधी उगवणारी ही गोष्ट; मावळत तर कधी नाहीच ती. ‘तू फेसबुक वर नाहीयेस???’ हा प्रश्न विचारताना माणसाच्या चेह-यावर ‘तुमच्याकडे फ्रीज नाहीये???’ हे विचारतानाचं आश्चर्य असतं. लहान-मोठे, गरीब-श्रीमंत, या सगळ्या निकषांच्या पलिकडे हे ‘फेसबुक’ जाऊन पोचलंय. माझाही ‘अकाउंट’ आहे बरं का तिथे ! :P   

तर सहज माझ्या मनात असा विचार आला, की भारताची प्रतिज्ञा जशी आहे, तशी समस्त फेसबुकर्सची प्रतिज्ञा जर असेल; तर ती काहिशी अशी....

वळणावळणाच्या वाटा

कोकणात राहिलेल्या, जाऊन आलेल्या माणसाला कोकणातले रस्ते म्हणजे काय प्रकार असतो तो वेगळा समजावण्याची गरज नाही. आता डांबरी रस्ते आले पण अजूनही काही भागात मातीचा लाल रंग तुमची पाठ सोडत नाही. घराचा पत्ता सांगताना ‘पहिल्या वाकणानंतर’, ‘दुस-या वाकणावर’ असे शब्दप्रयोग सर्रास ऐकायला मिळतात कारण रस्ता वळणावळणांचाच असतो. खूप सरळ सरळ अशी वाट बघायलाच मिळत नाही मुळी. नुकतीच कोकणात एक फेरी टाकून आलो आणि विचार केला; ही कोकणातली वाट आणि आयुष्यातली वाट सारखीच असते. म्हणजे की,

वाट वळायची कधी टळत नाही;
आणि ती वळत नाही तोवर कळत नाही

- अ. ज. ओक

Dedication - Obsession

Everyone has desires. Of course, there are exceptions. But ignoring them, everyone has desires; and everyone makes a constant effort to fulfill them. Some let it happen at its own pace. Some are more sincere and work hard to reach their goals. Some just go overboard and do whatever it takes. 
Right or wrong isn't a question here since all are right in fulfilling their desires. But what categorizes them is the manner and degree of efforts.  

Dedication is when You are stronger than your Desire; Obsession is when your Desire overpowers You.

- A J Oka