Success!!

We know that everyone craves for success! Success often tends to lead us to the benchmark that we set for ourselves. In most cases, it elevates the benchmark to a 'more tedious level'. More than the happiness, it is the satisfaction at the fag end of the fascinating success that entertains us the most. It is not the ultimate conclusion of our story. Taking no sheen away from a 'failure', success tends to show us a path, a path of progress. Success is not ultimate, it is a journey, a journey where everything that we do leads to every other thing.

So what is success all about? Who will succeed? To make things worse, Wikipedia has this definition on Success put up: "the succession of successfully executed tasks and successes". There's a list that is thrown at you to follow (and dump later) as Success Ingredient.

1. Determination: You have set yourself a goal. You don't know whether that'll work out or not! There's a chosen path and we need to go strive and see what's in store for us! If we fail, there's no problem, we are a determined lot! :)

2. Hard work: When we have a goal/agenda set, we need to spend quality time and work on it. The bonanza in store for us is luck! The more we burn the midnight's oil, the better is our luck! :P

3. Strategy: Success owes a lot to strategy. There's an imminent need of a plan, a master plan to make the most and make a mast of the impediments in our way! as Leon Trotsky puts it,"You may not be interested in strategy, but strategy is interested in you". So is success and a good strategy will make Success chase you!

4. Perseverance: The odds may be stacked against us, there may be umpteen voices speaking to their heart's content that we are crumbling, but does it have anything to do with us? Not at all! It's our effort, our perseverance! The only extra ingredient added: We got to prove 'em that they are incredibly wrong!

5. Theory of Positivity (:)) : In a recent IPL match, Deccan had lost one wicket. Robin Uthappa shouted from behind the stumps, "No.2 coming up". The next ball, Adam Gilchrist came down the crease and was spectacularly stumped by who else, Uthappa himself! Now, I agree that this is Ridiculously Positive, but we can still crank ourselves and turn up with some 'Theory of Positivity!'

6. Prioritizing: Proposing priority to tasks is quintessential. Whenever a Maths test, a Quiz competition and Facebook are there, my priority extends first to Facebook (where I buzz about how bad the Math test is), to a Quiz competition while the Maths test is thrown the lowest priority! I don't want others to emulate my priorities (duh, who will? :D), but then, prioritizing, as such, helps! "Don't be a time manager, be a priority manager. Cut your major goals into bite-sized pieces. Each small priority or requirement on the way to ultimate goal become a mini goal in itself" says Denis Waitley (Denis who??). So let's forget about who said it and follow what was said.

Wishing you success and Only Success!

Cheers,

Gopsay.

Bullet from the Blue!

Christmas day, 2009. It remains till now the day I met my friend, Siva, the last time. I met him that day, talked about a lot of stuff, laughed and recklessly spent the day with him.

I didn't hear any news of him from that day. It was around the same time period that '3 idiots' got released. The film was so gripping that every single minute inside the theater reminded me of him and only him. He was nowhere to be seen from then on, a Bullet from the Blue for me!!

I couldn't meet him, but could only think of the vivid memories of him. Friendship blooms in how much people share things in common. But at one point of time, every single idea or thought of mine was reflected in Siva's speech and language. If I was thinking one way, without a surprise, he'll think the same way. We didn't share things in common. He used to say, "I see a Siva in you", and I used to acknowledge him saying, "I see a Gopsay in you!" Having said these, every minute in his absence sounded cruel, it was a mental torture! A Bullet from the Blue for me!!

On his birthday, he chose to remain absent to the school. The next day, I beat him up saying, "How dare you not meet me on your birthday!" My birthday soon followed and he was the first to show that HE WAS DAMN ALIVE by ringing me up at 12 in the night and going on to speak absolute rubbish till 1 am. On my birthday, he was the first to wish me! He was a special friend! For me, missing him was yet again a Bullet from the Blue!!

He could've poisoned me to death; chosen to shoot me with a pistol and leave me dead; he could've pushed me from the top of a cliff with a 'Jokeresque' smile; he could've asked me to hang to death. But he didn't do any of these. Instead, he moved out of my place, silently, without a word, without a trail. At one point of time, it was more than a week since I met him. I felt fishy! I felt awkward. There was a sense of being stranded in the middle of a Subway without a clue as of what to do! He was nowhere to be seen- a Bullet from the Blue!!

There was a big sense of vacuum on his absence that none could fill. His shoes weren't to be filled by anybody. There was this strange sense of loneliness and bitter that started setting in. I would have gladly chosen to amputate myself, give away my wealth, give away every single of my prized possession but I didn't want to miss him! There was not a friend who didn't know about how badly I missed him. I won a competition, 5000 bucks with it but I couldn't feel happy without informing him! I dedicated the win to him, with the hope of talking with him. Things just didn't fall in place! It was yet another Bullet from the Blue!!

Finally, a month after I met him last, I could hear this bloody voice over the phone. He was no more to be seen physically. Yet, his voice, the very feeling that he's ALIVE and KICKING was enough to make me happy! It was in Facebook that we talked again, shared the same ideology once again. The missing limb wasn't missing anymore! There was every reason for me to be happy. THEY CALL IT FRIENDSHIP!

Dedicated to Siva Subramaniam, the one who makes me wear a smile every single day!

Cheers,

Gopsay!