Is academics is an escape? Escape from the real problems, the true nature of the markets, demand and supply, survival and reality? Praveen told me, “ . . think of what kind of business you want to run – successful or good.” Why is the ‘real world’ enormously different from the expected trajectory of study? I know (if not understand) the working systems of the world today are just as fascinating – quirky, cunning, and ugly all at the same time. Aditya always says “Let the markets decide. The working of the system is both inevitable and logical. Everything happens for a reason.” Somewhere in between, our self-constructed ‘morals’ come and go – leaving us with choices that make us. The trick is to make the choice – to consciously understand its repercussions and projections. Well, that’s just the start!

Technology is the devil.

Happiness is an illusion. To keep shifting goals, to always want what you cannot have – isn’t that the reality of all human life? Isn’t that also the drive? What is the point of a monk’s life? Can ‘bliss’ be really achieved by letting go of all human wants? Then what?? How about letting the present make us smile as we live? I have started enjoying moments – in the real-time that we live and have control of – an effort to stop romanticizing the past and getting anxious about the future. Today is all we’ve got – find your moments. Maybe because I think at the end that is happiness.

Shifting cities and cutting through various sets of friends, I have become cynical – a non believer in the permanence of relationships. I am beginning to think it’s not a negative emotion either – I am not bitter – just at peace with the fact that things will be different, priorities will change, and people will move on. New is good. Are more friends better than good friends? It’s heroic to revolt at the thought, isn’t it? Whether or not we chose this reality, it is fairly accurate. Is friendship becoming synonymous with networking?