Blessed ... (Naisaiku 1)

A whiff of smoke in the air.

Sublime sweetness engulfed in its prime

I am BLESSED to miss you.

Engulfed in its prime Sublime sweetness.

In the air A whiff of smoke.

Memories ...

Memories.

Memories haunt.

Memories relived onwards.

Memories marching on.

Memories gnash.

Memories burn.

Memories daunt.

Memories hate.

Memories spark.

Memories live.

Memories forget death.

A day when memories awaken.

Everytime this day comes in a year.

And everytime.

Memories haunt.

Memories stare.

Memories slice through.

Memories mingle with fantasy.

Memories fight with reality.

Memories gain sight of victory.

Memories lose yet again.

A day when memories awaken.

<:><:><:>

Paths crossed.

Left them drenched.

With tears trickling down.

The earth soaked it all.

Drool did the flowers at the wet beauty

Sprinkled with salt, they found the call of duty.

Arose a drop of solitary bind.

It contained a mountain of my mind.

The sun stared at it.

It dried up.

My eyes searched for me.

And realized they were searching for a molten cup.

Ahead

The timeline we all know is based on the number line. And the number line begins with a negative infinity and terminates(if at all it does :P) at positive infinity. However there is a slight bit of difference, we don’t have( or rather don’t have the knowledge of ) negative time. This present self-imposed temporary sabbatical from blogosphere and mere laziness combined got me thinking on the timeline of our own lives. And unwittingly and unobtrusively a sneek peek into my life.

I would be guilty if I did not mention J. Recently while chatting up and discussing career options (sounds like am so serious about my career, LOL !), J mentioned that I had mentioned I would be going into the IT industry. And all that when I was supposedly in 5^th standard or so. That’s hell of a time back, I mean more than 10 years back, when IT BOOM had not occurred yet. And the herd of my class didn’t even have an inkling of what It is all about, forget Information Technology. And there I was talking about IT. I don’t even remember this incident and I find it hard to believe now. And what got us into a mini-argument of sorts was the fact I’m pretty much hell bent on being repellant to the IT job sector now. :P .

I’ve been reading heavily. I’ve acquired a recent fetish for mid-life mentality of humans. And am pretty worried about the results. This thought process of getting tired of something too easily is something I correspond to very well now. Lack of Motivation has been a recent problem of mine. There has been this knack of not succeeding and getting used to it, flowing along with the tide, ebb and high tide alike. A feeling(s) you’ll commonly find in people much elder to me.

And last night I had this dream too. There was this me. And this me was dreaming in the sleep. Dream in a dream! Whoa! Now, coming back. This me dreamt that I was to be a big soccer player, who sacrificed his footballing career for a love. And then this love left me, with me lurking in darkness. And I don’t know why, I had this sense of déjà vu then, in my dream. There was this innate feeling of having had this dream earlier. And honestly speaking, have felt that way too. Much earlier, something like when I was very small, maybe 7-8 years old. Hard to believe, after all who remembers dreams. Now dreams will take up another post. It’s a favourite topic of mine to crib about :P .

But the point is: what about these random ramblings about some sprayed incidents of a lifetime? I wondered. Or I’d like to put it this way. I was led to wonder if time really flows forward as we all find it to be, or is it the ultimate illusion? And am I ahead of my times? However ‘ahead’ is a relatively relative term here, especially when I dare to speak of time flowing backwards. So that could essentially mean I am beyond times. Confused? Contradicted? Want to read this paragraph again? Go ahead. And if your answer to any of those one-worded questions is negative then you haven’t read this post at all.

And this compilation of small yet large impact incidents can merge seamlessly when you realize you are High. As I was when I wrote this. Somehow it makes sense. And if it appears nonsense to you, let me remind you even ‘nonsense’ has 62.5% ‘sense’ in it…:P

Leadership - Born With Or Taught ?

Leadership is an inborn trait and can't be taught.

Traits are inherited much like genes. And it would be wrong to assume that some of those do not make leaders out of men. Not everybody can be a Gandhi or a Lenin or a Lincoln. Yet, it would still be wrong to state that India can’t produce another Gandhi.

Leadership as a quality can’t strictly be classified as a born trait purely because of the poor conversion factor of those qualities into quality output. Right from childhood, we all have noticed that some of us seem to lead the pack, not necessarily in academics. It’s more of a showing the way ahead, when many of us would see dark alleys ahead and others would just not dare to see at all. Some of those young leaders later fade out, some go ahead and assert themselves. And this is where the ‘born’ thing fades into oblivion.

With more steps on ahead in life, you tend to forget and forego some qualities, specifically leadership qualities. You see others taking decisions, and you following them, with minimal risk involved. The buck doesn’t stay with you. And you tend to accept things as it is. The braver ones take decisions, get them wrong, learn from them, build on them, and importantly carry on taking the initiative. The situation teaches them, moulds them.

There is nothing like a born-leader. There are certain traits which you might inherit, which influence the way you lead. But all the same they need to be inculcated within you. Leadership is more of a ‘nurture’ than a ‘nature’. Many of you have those qualities in you. They are lying dormant. And some of those around you, about whom you say, “This guy’s got leadership qualities” has nurtured them and built on inherited virtues. They weren’t taught. They learnt to be a leader by cultivating habits worth of being a leader.

However leadership schools which are so much in the limelight now, focus on creating leaders out of everybody. Brutally speaking, that can’t be true. You can’t go to an institution and learn some postulates and practice them on some corporates and become a leader. You have to feel it within you, trust your guts, and focus on improving the camaraderie with those around you. Indeed, it helps.

Leadership is a combination of right temperament, skills and personality. With discipline, practice, hit-and-trial, and right role-models, you can be a Leader. And most importantly, opportunity, luck and situation and confidence plays a huge role. Being in the right place at the right time always helps. It might be a cliché, but it works alright.

Leaders are not born. Leaders have some qualities, traits and virtues inborn within. Leaders nurture them with immense faith, conviction and confidence. Such practices can’t be taught, but learnt from the world around you. In most cases it’s a “Chips are down” kind of situation which bring out the qualities of a leader which would, otherwise, have remained suppressed.

Quoting Elaine B. Agather : “The leadership instinct you are born with is the backbone. You develop the funny bone and the wishbone that go with it.”

P.S.:- This article was written on the foresaid topic for a certain publication.