Category: Thoughts

I have been visiting the fort of Panhala for more than a decade now. I fell in love with that place in my first visit itself. I was a small kid back then, but the connection I felt with that place was overwhelming. That time I removed it off my mind thinking that it’s just a mare liking towards the new place. But as my age grew, the connection got stronger.

Let me tell you something more about myself at the very beginning. I am a young adult whose life, breath and heart, everything resides in Mumbai. I am a proud and hardcore Mumbaikar who cannot tolerate even a separation of 4 days from my city of dreams.

Yet when I visit the fort of Panhala I forget everything. It’s just like some magic happening around me that I get dragged to that place. I ignore my love and loyalty towards Mumbai. I don’t even feel that typical pull which removes me out from where ever I am and takes me back to Mumbai. No, nothing. I feel nothing when I am on the fort. And trust me, it’s quite surprising.

I feel content and satisfied when I breathe the fresh air lingering around those old rocky watch-towers. I feel at peace when I sit on one of them and look down into the valley. I feel some spiritual powers coming up and grabbing me to carry me into the heaven while I behold the play of colours of sky and sun far away on the horizon. I forget the world in that game. Absorbed into my own solace I drown into a different zone, meditating for hours with my eyes wide open and heart pumping new blood full of life and colours.

This is the magic of Panhala, this is its aura which gives me the bliss of life and makes me feel at the definitive amity with life, such that I drown into its colours forgetting my own identity.

All this sounds good and soothing but when I put my analytical mind on its top gear to decipher the reason behind this, I get some real goose bumps. I am a guy with undying love for the city of Mumbai. I am born here and have lived here forever. My forefathers are from a different town which is vastly separated from the fort of Panhala by hundreds of hills, mountains and rivers. Yet why do I feel a special bond towards it rather than the place of my own origin?

Why do I share this exceptional bond with such a place which my previous generations have never even visited? Why do I feel love for it just the way I would feel for a person? Why do I care for it? And why do I feel like I am going home when I am making a visit there?

The lanes seem to call out to me, the hill seems to know me and the watchtowers; it feels as if I have walked them before as well. Not a decade back but many more years back. Even when I venture out on a new side of the fort, I get a feel that I know that place very well. My random walks of night into the woods of the hill don’t make me nervous and no matter where ever I am, if I am on the fort, I get no fear of losing my way.

This is the feeling when you are in a place which you own. This is the way your mind feels when you are in a place which is very close to you. This is the manner in which you behave when you are home.

But why is it? What connects me to that historical fort? The fort which was ruled by the great Maratha King, Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj appeals to me as if I possessed the property even before I laid my love for Mumbai.

Thousands have died on that fort and many more have died making their frail attempts to capture its mighty walls. Only the lord of this world may have an answer to my questions but I know one thing for sure. No matter what, I do believe in past life and past deeds. My love for this fort and my unique relation with it is the proof of it.

So dear all, even if you feel any such weird yet strong relation towards any place, thing or human, do think over it and try to know what would be the reason behind it. It may be a signal or it may be a sign from the maker of everything. It may mean something in the future or may have significance in the current time. You never know what may happen tomorrow but always remember that everything around us and everything happening with us is for a reason.

This is the magic of Panhala fort. As I mentioned I have been visiting this place since a decade now. Yet I can’t get enough of it. It’s a very old fort with a huge historical background to it. And I swear to God I feel an exceptional bond towards this fort unlike I feel for any place ever.

I feel as if I am coming home. I feel as if this place belongs to me. I feel as if I am leaving something behind when I leave from this place and I feel as if I have some of my root stuck in here.

When I take a stroll I don’t feel I am alone. I seek peace in going around this fort all by myself. I seek completeness when I lay my sight over those broken watch towers of this old fort. I sense some connection towards those huge gates of the fort. Many brave soldiers have died on this fort trying to protect the brave Maratha King Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.

So am I one of those soldiers? Or am I their leader Baji Prabhu Deshpande who bravely fought 100 of enemy soldiers just to ensure a safe passage of Shivaji Maharaj from here to other fort? Who am I? And why do I have such a strong connection with this place? Especially those watch towers. I sense some belongingness towards those powerful pillars of the watch towers.

When I climb up on them I feel that I have been here before. Not a decade back but many many years ago. My family has no origin from this place. I own no property here. I land up here once in two three years but that visit is always enough to make me feel that I have something with this fort. Maybe some sort of past life connection. May be some future indication. Only God knows what he has in his heart for me. But I do feel that I am connected to this place in some of the other way.

Because I am very confident when I roam around this place all alone. I don’t even fear at nights to go out on the streets of this fort even when there lays dead silence and dark all around me. I don’t feel a necessity to take directions from anyone as I have my gut telling me where to head and trust me I land up taking the right rout. All this is only possible when you know the place completely.

Though, I haven’t seen every corner of this fort till now I still feel a confidence that I know this place in and out. And there is only one case where in you know a place that good. This is only when that place is your home.

 

 

Humanity is the need of the hour and correct interpretation of religion is the key to it. Religion is the pathway to God they say, as if it was God who himself brought about the division amongst those who he created. Religion is not wrong, nor is it the core reason behind all the menace that the world is getting strangled on. It is the human mind which is, like always is the key cause behind its own destruction.

You must be thinking how could I say this with so much of confidence? Well, enlightenment didn’t dawn on me nor was I bestowed with intellectual thoughts by a legendary person. Do the math, it’s a simple logic. It is something which you also can think of, if you manage to free yourself from the bonds of a religion.

Religion is a set of rules made by wise minds who existed ages back. It was meant to put a leash on the barbaric deeds of the stone-age man and so was reasonably of the utmost importance in that period. It managed to control those relentless humans to a great extend because it instilled the fear of God as the ultimate retribution if there was a breach in the rules of a religion.

But things went on to become worse when humans started to cling on to their religion to draft an identity for themselves. It turned into a property which was claimed by its followers and then just like all humans do, people back then began to claim their religions supremacy over other religions.

There has never been an end to it and there seems to be no end to this, unless and until we humans understand that it is futile in inflicting any kind of supremacy over each other. Till the time this mindset doesn’t change, this world is never going to witness peace.

Extremism and hatred is always going to linger around, as no one has ever taught us to live together in harmony. Wars are going to continue as no one has ever feed our minds with one single bit of knowledge that we all are humans and we all are the same.

Human mind is complex in nature and that is the root to all the problems revolving around us. Our over-thinking and our over-reactions to any and every minor problem is driving us closer and closer to our own annihilation. We have become our own enemy and have lost trust in ourselves.

We prefer to seek the pleasures of friendship in animals and lay our blinded trust over them rather than humans of other religions. This is us and this is how we are. And till the time we remain the same, we are going to suffer. Pain and anguish is never going to end unless and until we don’t find a way to end it.

But the end doesn’t mean annihilation of any extremist group acting like missionaries. End doesn’t mean stopping politicians from using religion as their vote bank tool. End doesn’t mean writing off religious beliefs and becoming atheists. End means bringing out a change. It means a revolution. It means doing something that no one has ever been able to do.

And this end to all the misery in this world can only be gained if we understand the importance of humanity. This end can only be achieved if we consider humanity as our prime identity and religion as just a mere set of rules guiding us to live our individual lives in the most peaceful way. End can only be attained if there is no more a sense of competition left amongst us and there persists only a desire to live with peace and harmony.

Religion is not the exact driving force behind all the wretchedness that dwells in the world. Human mind is the one that plays a pivotal role in it, because no religious book has ever taught anyone to affront or disgrace other religions. The radical extremist groups who kill and slaughter to massacre the humanity are the ones who impose their wishes onto the humanity in the name of religion.

It is because of these people that the new age thinkers are choosing to drift away from the path of religion. They are unable to find the golden virtues of it because of the barriers that impede them to attain what they are destined to gain. Although their thoughts are incorrect, they cannot be blamed for it as the pseudo religious devotion of the extremists has shaped them to become what they are.

This phenomenon must be corrected. It must be changed or else we will have a whole generation of vengeance struck people holding a torch of atheism, ready to walk over and destroy all the religions and submerge its virtues to the depths of the oceans without knowing the values of it.

This whole deed then shall be result of false and erroneous interpretation of religion. To save the world from such a catastrophic consequence and to make up for all the damage that has been done over the span of ages, there is a need to make the people aware about the true meaning of religion.

It is the time that we spread the correct meaning of religion and abolish wrong beliefs that are inculcated in our minds. The time when we would reach this salvation and rejuvenate our thoughts, that time we would learn the right way of living. That is the time when finally the motto of global peace would be achieved. That is the time when God will smile down upon us to say loud and confident, they are humans and they are my best creations ever.

When was the last time you smiled? No, like smiled, really smiled! That smile which comes right from your heart. Which oozes out positivity so bright that even the sun might want to shy away. So, when was it last time? Or should I ask, since when has your smile has been under the everlasting eclipse?

Bonded by time and committed to deadlines, we all have now turned into the slaves of affluence! We all have collectively dug a huge hole into the heart of this pure Earth and have dumped all our happiness onto it, covering it with the mud of materialism and a tombstone of reality established over it.

Yes, slowly and gradually I am moving towards that one thing no one wants to talk about these days. The very real question, the question of millennial, “With so much work, where are we collectively trying to reach?”

Just imagine, you are healthy, having a beautiful or handsome better-half, staying in a peaceful house where mornings are bright and happy rather than being hasty and noisy; where nights are peaceful and calm rather than full of quarrels and regret. Now go to the second word of this paragraph, “Imagine”

But why? Why can we just imagine and not turn this dream into reality?

“Work is part of life and life is not part of work!”

Today as you look around, the entire humanity seems to be in the never-ending cycle of ambition and aspirations. Well, not that I am saying it’s bad! Am ambitious myself, but there is a line to draw! This life is a gift that you need to enjoy. It’s like a cool juice that you need to sip with an ease and relish every ounce of it!

But, what are we entirely into? We are into selling that very beautiful juice and making the money out of it, but for what? Let’s put this picture in a basic format! You dream to earn lots of money, you slog to achieve your dream, you have that money and then you feel like enjoying your life! But hey, won’t you be a bit extra old while you reach that age? (Not all are Kyle, right?) And buddy, what if you fail? Would you have ample of strength to stand up and fight back? (Not all are Colonel Sanders as well)

So, what’s the plan? Slog slog slog and then wait for either of the extreme to happen? Well, in that case how about planning your life efficiently and aiming to achieving work-life balance rather than stressing over the fact that someone else is more stressed and overloaded with work than you?

Trust me guys, life is short! It can go on a loop or may simply go on an unending buffering. But this is your life and it is the ultimate gift that you have ever received. So, cherish it and make the most of it. Don’t submit your life to anything or anyone, because if you fail, all that will remain with you is regret and if you pass, all that you will have with you is memories.

So, go ahead and make some space for yourself. Catch-up with your life, bring out the inner kid in you and do what you love to do. This time will never come back but it can surely stay in your heart forever as a sweet memory if you plan your life well, only with an intention to live it entirely and get back that lost smile!

“Work is life and life is work only if you do what you love and if you love what you do!”

Are robots gonna take over the world? Are we going to face a Terminator like catastrophe? We don’t know!

A recent article in Mad Over Marketing stated that a Alexa device in an empty US home threw a party to herself while the owners were away, sipping their wine at an international harbor. Then, is it wrong to say that this is definitely a start of what we have been dreading already?

Machines have always been an integral part of our lives but with machine learning and artificial intelligence adding life to these lifeless component of plastic and metal, we humans are creating a new gene pool all together.

But that’s a longer future that we are seeing wherein machines would wage a war against the entire human-hood. But if we are successful in keeping such a doomsday at bay, we still are going to die a slow death at the hands of the machines.

Let’s start this part with an exciting question. As a responsible family member and friend, how many numbers do you remember by heart of your loved ones? And now if you ask your grandpa the same question, he will list down the whole of yellow pages.

But that’s not it. Non remembering phone numbers was a big deal a decade back but there are more things to be addressed now as the Generation Z preps to take over the world. We humans are depending so heavily machines that now a life without them seems meaningless.

A perfect example of it is the change in the pattern of entertainment. We humans used to please ourselves with outdoor games and catching up on old Irani Cafes. But now the whole world is digital. Just walk into the nearest McDonald’s outlet and observe 5 individuals sitting across each other on a single table, which they hurried in their phones.

Our shopping preferences has also now gone online and while I write this article, there would be few SaaS platforms driven by AI waiting me to login and check Facebook, just to view their post as a part of my feed. The world being available for sale online has only resulted in reckless buying and the auto suggesting AI of E-commerce websites is helping them increase their own pocket share in our wallets.

AI and automation in machines is surely not rendering us useless. The technology is surely being utilized for our betterment, but if used in abundance can only be the core cause of the slow death of human civilization, done by our own hands…

A generation of open minds and a league of the all knowing people, we are the ones who know what is good for us, yet we focus on embracing the bad. Lack of discipline or seriousness, God knows what it is, but we surely are the group of people who are digging our own graves.

Trapped in the shackles of this modern technology and gasping to escape the suffocation of pretentiousness, we are a civilization of people who have long forgotten who we exactly are. We live our lives on social media and believe in the illusion it reflects in front of our eyes.

Happiness is no more defined by seeing your baby smile; it is something that is derived out of how many people press the ‘thumbs-up’ button on the social media for your baby’s new picture.

Peace is no more derived by taking a walk with friends but it is something that is absorbed from pouring your heart out on social media by uploading pictures with quotes that precisely depict your current state of mind.

Technology is a blessing, no one can condemn that. But, the contrary to this statement cannot also be argued. Just like every coin has two sides, technology has two sides too. Both are equal and both are deeper than the depths of the Pacific.

The new marvels of the science have brought everything in our hands, but little do we realize that it has snatched many things out of our hands too. It has connected old friends and in a bid to peep into their lives, we are missing out on what’s happening in the life of our friend sitting right besides us. This was just an example.

To be generic in my talking, I would just say that technology has built us up so much that it has impaired us drastically. We are equipped by the best forms of this modern marvel yet we are unhappy inside and that is totally because technology has got us to this point.

But, the inhuman and heartless, cold machines are not the only ones to blame. We humans share the equal blame too. Not because we made the technology. Not because we accepted it. It is only and only because we never limited the usage of it.

We have resorted so much to the technology form entertainment to seeking emotional bonding that we have forgotten to live the real life. Technology has brought everything to our finger tips and that has made us feel self-sufficient but little do we realise that this formidable self-sufficiency is leading us to solitude and loneliness that is causing depression in major of millennials of this time.

You see, it’s a circle. It’s a whole circle which very few can behold at. The moment you enter this whole world of gadgets, technology, the WORLD WIDE WEB, social media and tones and tones of radiations, you get absorbed in it. You feel you have everything but in a bid to have everything on this virtual world, you cut off from your real world.

Which is why, when you eventually look back, you see there is no one following you. The current state is the same with everyone. The person sending you a “Hi” on some random messenger app is standing right besides you. The only problem is you two don’t know that you two are besides each other. Technology has blinded you to that limit.

The only way to save yourself from this is to strike a balance. Because I always say, “Everything in this world is balance and that is why, this world still exists.” That is why; you too need to strike a balance between the technology and your real life.

The moment you attain this balance, you will be able to look at the pleasant world around you, feel the freshness of it and absorb the realness of your abode. That is truly when you will keep the phone aside and tap the shoulder of the person standing right besides you to say “Hi” and this will mark the realness of your life.