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We always want to be more than we are.

No big surprise. It is human nature. It is the quality that leads to growth, evolution, progress and all those wonderful things.

It is what has led to such astonishing heights of human development. To reach the farthest reaches of our galaxy has inspired us to first reach the moon. To understand the nature of the vast universe, we have begun to unravel mysteries at the sub-atomic level. To understand the meaning of life, we have delved into some rather scary depths of the mind.

It is also the reason we have created superheroes, who, in our imagination, are capable of feats far beyond human limitations. It would be rare to find a child who has not wished, at some point, to have some sort of such remarkable abilities: To fly, to move faster than a speeding bullet, to perform incredible acrobatic feats, or maybe just to wear a funky costume.

The point is that people achieve what they do in life by aiming for something beyond their reach. That adage is true: Aim for the moon and you’ll at least hit the tree.

Now, zooming in to a more personalized view, this trend is true even in individual lives. Leaving behind the big pictures of accomplishments of humanity, let’s take a look at the struggle for accomplishments of humans. Every day, people change their own lives by realising that they want to achieve more; do things beyond what they always do; prove to themselves that they are capable of more than what they think they are.

Epiphanies on toilet seats are no myth. That fateful morning when one wakes up and finds that spark of courage, somewhere in the sub-conscious, to strive to push one’s way out of the hum-drum of yesterday into the tingling excitement of a brand-new today, flinging out the window the fears of tomorrow, is a must in everyone’s life. You’ve got to try it!

This is the stuff that turns a civil engineer into a sand sculptor; a thoracic surgeon into a painter of exquisite portraits; a lawyer into the foremost of actors.

Sure, there is always that disappointment of not really getting as far as one would like; to not really make so much of a difference as one had hoped; to not quite be 'super'. There are no superheroes. However, I have found that I would rather be happier having risked it than be complacent having been safe.

How does one explain this to a generation from a generation ago?

Always live with a safety net.
Always won’t before the will.
Caution from an unknown angel.
Known devil’s a better pill.

When 'advice' like this, pretending to be a protective shield, behaves like an entangling net holding one back from moving, one is left with a question: What the hell do I do?

Is it nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take arms against a sea of troubles and, by opposing, end them?

Sigh! It is a tale told by an idiot.

The hash is always greener...

Joint: [n]
The point where two components of a structure join, but are still able to rotate.

(smoking, slang) A marijuana cigarette.


I have lived in the corporate world. I have lived in the non-corporate world.

The paths taken by lives in this world, which is defined as 'corporate', largely centre around the profession, the job, the thing that one does on week-days in return for which bank accounts are filled. To be fair, there are distractions like spouses, children, taxes, the rising prices of fuel, rice and NAV's of the Franklin Templeton mutual funds. Any cricket match that may be on becomes a hot topic of discussion to punctuate lunch-time conversations which, otherwise, revolve around the most immediate customer requirement.

I have sat through the anecdote of a proud colleague who, one day, decided (on an absolutely reckless whim) to fill his car up on 'premium' fuel instead of regular. The absolute hilarity that he later found in an incident where he used the phrase "unzip it and send" in an e-mail to someone of the female species, is something remarkable. (He was, apparently, referring to a file of some kind which had been compressed.)

The zest shown towards an inter-department football match, the pride of owning the coolest phone on the floor, the jealousy towards someone who managed to purchase a Honda Civic, the contempt with which the HR department is held because of changes in the leave policy, the elation at the thought that the party at the end of each month serves beer: these are some of the many many fascinating colours that paint a picture that one can only appreciate if one is a part of it.

On the other hand... there is another world – The only way I know to describe it is 'non-corporate'. However, that name does it no justice, for it shows what its not, and not what it is.

A world where ecstasy can be found in something as epic as a twenty-year dream finally being fulfilled, or as simple as the sight of a flower blooming; where troubles come only in the form of true pain – the kind of pain that can only result from a true investment of mind, body and soul; where frequent heart-aches and orgasms make a person grow each and every day; where joy has to be found in something, anything, in order to say that that day may end.

In this world, lives follow paths laid out by their passions – the courage to pursue which sometimes needing the help of other people with whom close relationships must be forged. Relationships are maintained at the risk of ending up with a shattered heart. Some strange source then provides the strength to pick up the pieces of that broken heart and re-build it into a whole new person.

Here, what matters is not money, or politics, or the falling price of onions… here, what matters is life itself – the tears at the end of an argument; the applause at having created a work of art; the smile that grows while lying in bed, waiting for your pulse rate to slow down again; the glimpsing image, branded in your brain, of the most beautiful person you have ever seen through the window of a train just as it pulled away; a fifteen-year marriage ending.

It feels like someone, sitting and watching our universe on a big-screen, high-definition LCD TV, has hiked up the brightness and contrast to make everything just more intense. So much so as to change the meaning of the word 'joint'.

I often wonder what would happen if the people of the former world were put into situations of the latter.

And then, there's me. I straddle the two worlds, sometimes fitting into both and sometimes neither. Perhaps that's why I, sometimes, feel torn.

Yestereve

It is a quiet, lone evening-
A bottle of scotch for company.
Tomato purée, mixed with spices-
A culinary symphony.
Broken broom and a dry mop-
A cha-cha-cha quite sanitary.
A film about making films-
Hysterical history.
A hot bath with a fresh feel-
To end the day relaxed-ly.
Submit to thoughts of new lives.
Begin tomorrow doggedly.
Boiling water on the fine roasted-
The morning brew is filtering.
Now its time to say goodnight-
These words, with a blanket, covering.

Properties

There are metals, in the realm of human knowledge, which have an ability to take a great deal of load.

Specimens, of some materials, measuring about 10 mm diameter (1 cm) can withstand loads of about 10 tons (10,000 kg.) without breaking. However, if that piece is already under a load of 10 tons and then an additional load of even 100 gm is added, it breaks. So, there are always limits and the ability to shoulder stress also depends on pre-existing loads.

Interestingly, there are those materials (like mild-steel and aluminum) which do not simply break. Consider a pre-existing 10 tons, add 100 gm. The piece deforms. It elongates and that 10 mm diameter reduces, tending to give it that very coveted hour-glass shape; and then, it snaps into two separate pieces.

Now, if that load is relieved just before it snaps, one may still be left with a single piece, but it has been forever changed. The extra length and reduced diameter do not click back into their original forms. This is known as the plastic zone of the material.

So, while it may be able to withstand considerable loads, being stubborn enough not to crack, there is always some deformation from which it cannot recover.

Such are the laws of physics governing the behavior of mettle.