here's an opinion of mine published on the TIME magazine website, in response to their question "Who's most influential in the world?"
Posted by Manisha Gupta in New Delhi, INDIA: /2.5.2008
Who’s Most Influential In The World……..?
The most “influential” in the world is off course TIME (I am NOT talking about the magazine dear!!). Time is what influences the happenings and the non-happenings in the world, influencing minds, mentality, motives and moves. Talking of the most “influential personality” in the world, having the largest “sphere of influence”-both literally and figuratively- it is off course GOD, The Almighty. He is the one who makes the world go round…… literally! He has the influence over every good or bad that happens to each creature on this globe.
But tell me, does “influential” necessarily
mean “visible”, “popular”, “famous”, “well-known”, “most seen” etc ? Then by this criteria, I believe Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan shouldn’t have been left out in the “TIME” list because of their magical, charismatic and “FAN”tastic influence on a global audience. They have the influence to bring tears and cheers in reel and real life to millions and millions and millions far transcending national and cultural boundaries.
On a more philosophical plane, in this era of intangibles being much more worthwhile than tangibles & physical assets, it is thus the ‘invisible influences’ that should be given more weightage than the ‘visible influences’.
So what about the influential ones who may influence the course of many a cause, culture and country, but not be “visible” to the world (read “global media”!) simply because they’re too busy “influencing” lives and making a difference to society and are not bothered about limelight, visibility and following and so will never make it to “The List”.
But, they work and toil for “causes” and not “lists”!! And I believe THEY- individually and collectively-in whichever nation of the world, are the most influential in the world because, after GOD, it is “they” that make the world go round.
Friday, October 15, 2010
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
The Gr..e.a..t Journey!
Just back from a “Broken Path” journey (instead of a path breaking one…!!) ! though ofcourse it was an absolutely BACK-breaking one!
Had gone to home state Uttarakhand (now) and hometown Dehradun.
All the romance and excitement associated with this regular journey of mine evaporated the moment we glided past the CWG Village area, and a little more of Delhi after that. We were in for a rude shock the very second we crossed the Delhi Border into UP. It felt as if suddenly someone had thrown us like a “discus” from the great Commonwealth Games host city of the “Shining India” only to land with a jerk into the maze of potholes called ROAD surrounded by the likes of stinking open garbage, broken railings, broken path, and terrible mess of a “Dhool Bhara Bharat” which we thought no more existed.
The whole- read (pot)hole- journey broke everything….. from hope to heart to thoughts to bones to body!
My neck, my back, in fact my whole body hurts & aches…. OUCH!! But much more than that hurts and aches my little heart!! What a shame. The ‘once upon a time’ good state and city is in such a mess.
The road connectivity to a great tourist destination like Uttarakhand is so un-travellable. When someone like me, who belongs to the state and has spent most my life there, now vows never to go there by road again, what a first time tourist will feel is surely guessable.
The Delhi-Dehradun road (except for the surprisingly smooth and perfect glide through the Muzaffarnagar bypass road) at present presents an extremely sorry and embarrassing “state” of affairs. This broken and potholed road will put even the “Sachin Tichkules” (character played by Akshaya Kumar in “Khatta Meetha”) of India to shame.
And the condition of the once great Dun city is still worse. Garbage lined by the sides of the road (even in the best localities/areas), no traffic sense, terribly broken roads …….and what not. To add to all this, Dehradun seems to be bursting at the seams too. The city infrastructure is quite in an urban mess!
But inspite of all this, I still got to learn a very valuable lesson of “The Greatest Journey”- the journey of life- from this unpleasant journey. Just like the small patch of lovely road of the Muzaffarnagar by-pass right in the middle of this otherwise terrible journey, so also is it in life.
The whole journey of life is but a bumpy road except for a brief smooth patch somewhere in between. And in the entire life, perhaps it is only at this particular stage, where one needs to enjoy and make the best of it! Only hope we can see and recognize that smooth patch in life when it comes!!
Happy travelling!!
Best/MG
Had gone to home state Uttarakhand (now) and hometown Dehradun.
All the romance and excitement associated with this regular journey of mine evaporated the moment we glided past the CWG Village area, and a little more of Delhi after that. We were in for a rude shock the very second we crossed the Delhi Border into UP. It felt as if suddenly someone had thrown us like a “discus” from the great Commonwealth Games host city of the “Shining India” only to land with a jerk into the maze of potholes called ROAD surrounded by the likes of stinking open garbage, broken railings, broken path, and terrible mess of a “Dhool Bhara Bharat” which we thought no more existed.
The whole- read (pot)hole- journey broke everything….. from hope to heart to thoughts to bones to body!
My neck, my back, in fact my whole body hurts & aches…. OUCH!! But much more than that hurts and aches my little heart!! What a shame. The ‘once upon a time’ good state and city is in such a mess.
The road connectivity to a great tourist destination like Uttarakhand is so un-travellable. When someone like me, who belongs to the state and has spent most my life there, now vows never to go there by road again, what a first time tourist will feel is surely guessable.
The Delhi-Dehradun road (except for the surprisingly smooth and perfect glide through the Muzaffarnagar bypass road) at present presents an extremely sorry and embarrassing “state” of affairs. This broken and potholed road will put even the “Sachin Tichkules” (character played by Akshaya Kumar in “Khatta Meetha”) of India to shame.
And the condition of the once great Dun city is still worse. Garbage lined by the sides of the road (even in the best localities/areas), no traffic sense, terribly broken roads …….and what not. To add to all this, Dehradun seems to be bursting at the seams too. The city infrastructure is quite in an urban mess!
But inspite of all this, I still got to learn a very valuable lesson of “The Greatest Journey”- the journey of life- from this unpleasant journey. Just like the small patch of lovely road of the Muzaffarnagar by-pass right in the middle of this otherwise terrible journey, so also is it in life.
The whole journey of life is but a bumpy road except for a brief smooth patch somewhere in between. And in the entire life, perhaps it is only at this particular stage, where one needs to enjoy and make the best of it! Only hope we can see and recognize that smooth patch in life when it comes!!
Happy travelling!!
Best/MG
Friday, October 8, 2010
Bad to be Good??
Hi everyone!
have been watching this promo of "Crook" on TV everyday where Imran Hashmi says very confidently "It is Good to be Bad...".
well, really haven't tried that but surely, experiences and observations have taught me one thing. it is definitely Bad....to be Good in these times!!
//Best//MG
have been watching this promo of "Crook" on TV everyday where Imran Hashmi says very confidently "It is Good to be Bad...".
well, really haven't tried that but surely, experiences and observations have taught me one thing. it is definitely Bad....to be Good in these times!!
//Best//MG
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Bonds Today !
was just thinking about relationships in this day & age and here's my article published in the daily "Central Chronicle" on June 21,2008.
2years old article, but seems quite valid even today!!
Bonds Today !
Manisha Gupta
Relationships are not attractive and artificially scented crisp paper flowers that you can make within seconds and put up in your drawing room. They are soft, tender, inherently perfumed and beautiful real flowers that you nurture in the garden of your life. It takes ages to build them into genuine long lasting ones.
Relationships are neither about just wishing, calling & sending cards on Father’s day, Valentine’s day, grandparents day, this day that day. Nor are friendships just about sending, emailing or sms-ing readymade, cut-paste, “impressive” messages on friendship day or world friendship week etc. Nor are they just about exchanging friendship-bands or about sharing good food, good wine and good times. They’re much much more.
Bonds are not about just calling up your mother from the U.S or the U.K on the second Sunday of every May to wish her happy Mother’s day. Nor are they about landing in India once every few years to either solemnize or legalize as per Indian traditions, your already long live-in relationships, just to get all relatives to accept you and not debar you from their mental and social spaces. Neither is it about using everybody you know for your selfish motives, and never ever to someone else’s advantage or even happiness.
With alarmingly increasing incidents of people killing their own family or relatives, comes forth the fact that relationships & family bonds are now already on a downhill running into the sea of terrible trouble that awaits Indian society. The once strong mountain our traditional norms is probably now weakened with repeated attempts of various negative forces within ourselves, with our cultural values having been washed down in the incessantly pouring rain of aping every other culture.
The west is on its way to learning everything from yoga to spirituality to vegetarianism, becoming more sensitive, while we Indians don’t look back even once to what our ancient glorious past traditions taught us. We don’t value our value systems anymore and so family systems and bonding have undergone a tremendous change in our society. We no more want to spend time & emotions in building long lasting deep relationships. We are living in an era of quick-fixes, fast foods and instant relief & gratifications. We decide to love or marry someone within no time, get married and then within no time file for divorce or quicker still, kill the spouse and marry another person who’d entered into our life. Such quick decision making powers and quicker disposal of lover or friend or relative sure makes us very “competent” to live in this fast paced world.
We are no more forgiving or sacrificing but would do anything for giving our selfish gains a boost and wouldn’t mind sacrificing even the lives of our nearest & dearest ones for attaining any selfish motive. We’ve become very self-centered and forgotten the tenet of keeping oneself last. We begin and end at the “self”.
That’s what relationships and bonds have come to!
2years old article, but seems quite valid even today!!
Bonds Today !
Manisha Gupta
Relationships are not attractive and artificially scented crisp paper flowers that you can make within seconds and put up in your drawing room. They are soft, tender, inherently perfumed and beautiful real flowers that you nurture in the garden of your life. It takes ages to build them into genuine long lasting ones.
Relationships are neither about just wishing, calling & sending cards on Father’s day, Valentine’s day, grandparents day, this day that day. Nor are friendships just about sending, emailing or sms-ing readymade, cut-paste, “impressive” messages on friendship day or world friendship week etc. Nor are they just about exchanging friendship-bands or about sharing good food, good wine and good times. They’re much much more.
Bonds are not about just calling up your mother from the U.S or the U.K on the second Sunday of every May to wish her happy Mother’s day. Nor are they about landing in India once every few years to either solemnize or legalize as per Indian traditions, your already long live-in relationships, just to get all relatives to accept you and not debar you from their mental and social spaces. Neither is it about using everybody you know for your selfish motives, and never ever to someone else’s advantage or even happiness.
With alarmingly increasing incidents of people killing their own family or relatives, comes forth the fact that relationships & family bonds are now already on a downhill running into the sea of terrible trouble that awaits Indian society. The once strong mountain our traditional norms is probably now weakened with repeated attempts of various negative forces within ourselves, with our cultural values having been washed down in the incessantly pouring rain of aping every other culture.
The west is on its way to learning everything from yoga to spirituality to vegetarianism, becoming more sensitive, while we Indians don’t look back even once to what our ancient glorious past traditions taught us. We don’t value our value systems anymore and so family systems and bonding have undergone a tremendous change in our society. We no more want to spend time & emotions in building long lasting deep relationships. We are living in an era of quick-fixes, fast foods and instant relief & gratifications. We decide to love or marry someone within no time, get married and then within no time file for divorce or quicker still, kill the spouse and marry another person who’d entered into our life. Such quick decision making powers and quicker disposal of lover or friend or relative sure makes us very “competent” to live in this fast paced world.
We are no more forgiving or sacrificing but would do anything for giving our selfish gains a boost and wouldn’t mind sacrificing even the lives of our nearest & dearest ones for attaining any selfish motive. We’ve become very self-centered and forgotten the tenet of keeping oneself last. We begin and end at the “self”.
That’s what relationships and bonds have come to!
Sunday, October 3, 2010
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