The Green Parrot

In 1916, Poet Robert Frost published in his collection Mountain Interval, a poem named "The Road Not Taken". It ends with the following note

"...Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference."

Currently, I am spending a good amount of time commuting between two cities. Like most of us, I rely on my iPod to keep the journey less boring. As most of you would have realized, shuffle feature is a good feature to surprise you with the next unexpected song from your playlist. But, it’s still your playlist that is being shuffled. I tried refreshing my playlist multiple times to make it sound new. But that option also turned sour after a while. I tried listening to sports radio that kept it interesting for a while then it also gave way. Tried listening to Hindi and Tamil online Radio, but the mobile network interruptions made it worse than listening to the same beat up songs from my playlist.

Of late, my mind has been making these short road trips escaping these same old songs in my car audio. My mind has been visiting those places in the past where I had to make a choice. Sometimes choose one over many options that were presented. More often than not, the road trip ended with sour feeling that I could have chosen another option and probably I might have done many things better in the days and years that followed. This aftertaste did not make these road trips a pleasant one.

One fine morning in my commute, my mind tricked me into believing that it is going on a different trip. But the places and scenes were similar to what I saw before. I was jogging through the memory looking at faces that brought a smile, places that brought a hearty laugh, situations that weighed heavy, conflicts that never got resolved, actions epitomized  stupidity, a prank ticked off a friend et al. But that’s when my mind took me to this point in my past where it shone the lights on the one thing that set in motion the rest of the things in my life. To present that one thing in a better fashion, I need to set the stage first. So a little backdrop here:

Till my 3rd Grade, I was in schools that did not have English as the medium of teaching. For Grade 4, I moved to a different school in a different city, primarily because of my dad's job related relocation. This new school had a system of co-educating boys and girls only till Grade 5. Beyond Grade 5 it was an "all girls" school. So I had to move out of this school and find a new one for Grade 6.

All these changes were not made or opted by me. They were forced on me due to factors that were beyond my control. 

So a decision was made to move me to a new school that was affiliated to my dad's employer. I went along with it as I had no choice. In this new school, I was subject to an entrance test. This whole entrance test concept was new to me and I have not faced anything like that before. The test was meant to evaluate my academic aptitude and command over the medium of instruction in this new school, English. I was asked to write a one page essay in English on a topic of my choice. It is needless to say that I had to do well in this test to get selected in this school.

I wrote an essay titled "The Green Parrot". I wrote about a Parrot I saw in a zoo during that summer holidays. I wrote about how green it was and what color the beak was and all the naive things one can write about a Parrot. But that essay did make the cut and got me the admission in that school. 

That place is where I found those individuals with whom I share a special bond with, to this date. That’s the place where I found teachers who helped me identify where my interest was. That's the place where I had the room to grow to the person I turned out to be. All the important individual in my life are so because of the decision I made to write "The Green Parrot". I don't know what would have happened had I written say "The Black Panther”. 

Whether it was by design or by default, I did make those choices. My parents did influence some of those decisions (due to the cultural aspect). But it was mostly up to me as to what I made out of those choices. My parents might have picked the school for me, but they did not pick who I sit next to. They did not pick who I lunch with. They did not pick whom I team up with in sports. I happened to do all that because of a certain Green Parrot I decided to write in a certain entrance test.

Green Parrot exercise is in a way contrary to the Road Not Taken. Idea is to not brood over what could have happened. But to appreciate what did happen and what was that one thing that made it happen so. 

I urge you to go find your Green Parrot... it will be an interesting journey as you would stumble upon some of the interesting things from your past, which you did not really cherish or reflect thus far.

Have a wonderful trip!

Last Generation

When I was a kid, I always wanted to play video games. My parents did get me a gaming console late in my childhood (towards the end of my schooling). I was so excited to get it, I was at it on every given opportunity. Within a week it got burnt. Yes, literally it was up in smokes. (My mom put it, I killed the golden goose.)


What that meant was I continued to spend time outdoors. I have played every childhood games that were known to exist then. I climbed trees to pluck fruits, I chased butterflies, and I  played in mud while plowing friend’s paddy fields. I played cricket and soccer on hot summer afternoons. I did get hurt many times and fall sick many times. My parents never deterred me from going outdoors. Nor did I hesitate to get right back to the fun. I remember once I played foot-volleyball with sprained ankle. Sometimes what I attempted was close to being stupid. But at that age, it was all fun and play.


When I see the kids now, I do not see the desire in them to have fun outdoors. They are happy to be playing with the new age gadgets and gizmos, indoors. Earlier, the indoor games used to be ones that exercise the brains or provide a family fun time but that has been replaced with games that promote mindless shooting and scrambling. I did not find it odd. Probably my long lost love for gaming consoles blinded me.


One day, when my kid started walking, I held his hand and helped him walk towards a coffee shop from the car. On the way, he got fascinated by a dry leaf on the pavement, flying around in the fall breeze. He promptly wanted to chase it.

When I was a kid, I did not have the wide choice in programming in TV like we have with Cable TV today. It was restricted only to the programming of the Government run television channel. Lack of choices was a minus, but the time it provided for non-TV things in life was a big plus, which prompted us all to be a better social animal than what we are now.

I do not have the right be preachy here. I have gleefully adopted these changes as a way of life. But when I look at the next generation, it makes me question whether I am doing the right thing or not. By locking myself in this technology driven “i”-life, I think I am setting a wrong precedence for the next generation. 

We are the generation that had/has the best seat in the house to see the launch of all iThings. I don't want us or my future generation to end up like the human passengers in Axiom Space ship shown in movie WALL-E. (If you have not seen this movie yet, plan to see it now)

As a little effort to keep the fun spirit alive in my kid, I have decided to shut TV off at least one day every weekend and spend that time outdoors. Not at a shopping mall gazing incessantly through windows. But spend time at a park playing with my kid, making him feel connected with this beautiful thing called The Earth. 

Choice is ours! We either become the Last Generation that knew what it meant to live life connected to this planet or become the Lost Generation.

Revolution 2.0

Since beginning of 2011, countries in Middle East have been facing public uprising. It started in Tunisia and spread across the countries in North African continent. The impact is felt across the South Eastern Europe too. I have been hearing mostly about the events happening in Egypt. It could be because of US media’s obsession with Egypt or because the uprising has been active (sans resolution) for over 4 weeks now.

Every revolt in the history has had a face to it, which in a way has defined the course of the revolt. The recent events in my opinion, are more a result of people coming together to express their opinions to their Government/Authority. This lack of a face to the revolt made it difficult for some opinionators to understand and explain it. There were a few who thought Mr. Mark Zuckerberg, the man behind Facebook, was the leader of this revolution.

Though people used social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter to organize, Twitter did not have a popular face behind it. Hence did not make the cut. Facebook has been in news for enough reasons and the recent movie about the website and the man behind it, did no harm to Mr. Mark Zuckerberg’s news value.

In an interview to CNN, Google executive in Egypt, Mr. Wael Ghonim labeled the revolution happening in Egypt as Revolution 2.0. The reason being the role technology has played in this revolution.

I am not here to argue who is right and who is wrong. Nor do I know whether uprising is just or not. I do not live there so I do not know what is good for the people in those countries. People who live there know what is best for them.

I do not know what will be the outcome of these revolts and I do not want to speculate. Neither do I know if Facebook was the idea of Mr. Mark Zuckerberg or was it stolen by him from Winkelvoss twins. I know for sure that these social networking sites are becoming an integral part of our everyday life.

I see these social networking sites as tools that shrink the geographical distance between people. This function can be used for whatever purpose the user deems fit. These networking sites have definitely had a positive impact in my life. I have got in touch with long lost friends, shared moments with friends who live miles away from me.

These social networking websites - neither are they the reason why this world is a better place nor are they the reasons why this world has deteriorated to chaos. Whatever happens in our life and in our world is a direct result of our actions.

Let’s make this a better place!

"Swades" in action

Few years back there was a Hindi movie Swades directed by Ashutosh Gowarikar. It was about a scientist, played aptly by Sharukh Khan, living in US. He leaves India for brighter career prospects in US. He later gets sucked in to the physical comfort of the life in US. Only when he visits India again he realizes what he has been missing. Subsequently, he decides to do something for his country and goes back to India to put his knowledge for his country's benefit. 


For all those who were not in India, this movie felt like a personal note from the motherland. Every time I used hear the soundtrack "Yeh Jo Desh hai Tera"  composed by A.R.Rahman, I used to think that it was written for me. It used to raise questions on whether I am doing the right thing by coming out of my country. In time of such doubts, I sought solace by looking at the abundance of talent my country is producing incessantly. For every few who leave India, there are a few who either stay back in India or decide to go back to India.


Today I read an opinion piece in NY Times written by David Bornstein about an entrepreneur in Bihar, India who has started a power company named Husk Power Systems. He left India, like many of us, for better career prospects in US. Years later, he heard the call and decided that it was time to go back and contribute towards the betterment of his roots. (You can go to the following link to read the complete article: http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/10/a-light-in-india/) 


I know I will hear my call someday. Till then, will take pride in the actions of my fellow countrymen, like these guys behind Husk Power Systems.


Good luck Husk Power Systems!

Few clicks from the past