Reduce, reuse, recycle.

No good ever came out of increasing one's materialistic possessions. Yet everybody in today's world appears hell bent on doing just that.
Will buying a new car make me more happy than what I am today ? (Yeah, untill the car gets a scratch !)Will buying that cool pair of Levi's do it ?
Will buying a new home do the trick ? (The Damocles' sword of EMI comes into existence and increases misery)
Will taking up a foreign assignment make one happy ? Or how about going on a foreign holiday ?
The irony of it all is that the solution is very simple and yet so out of reach. So easy to understand yet so complex in comprehension. So easy for me blog yet so difficult for me to give all my jeans to charity. So easy for me to preach yet so difficult to practice.

I'm sure God wanted it this way. I'm sure He's having a hearty laugh at our expense !

All our so called 'progress' is in fact taking us farther and farther away from spirituality (unless we are tracing out the trajectory of a giant circle and are ,for now, going away but ,in fact, are on our way, slowly but steadily, back to the starting point) .
Singapore has the best looking streets, buildings and parks. But are Singaporeans happier than people in , say, Taiwan ? The United States ranks up there in every conceivable index related to 'progress' but are Americans a satisfied lot ? Closer home, are people in Bangalore more happy because there are more IT professionals here than in any other city in India ? Are people in Bombay more happy because the city is home to Bollywood ?

Nope.
And the beauty of it all is that the average Joe knows it too and yet can't do a single thing about it - not a single damn thing.
Reduce, reuse, recycle. That's the secret to happiness.

IPL moving out of India

There were concerns untill a week back that the IPL would not be held this year. The BCCI appears to have used its financial clout to get the venue shifted to either England or South Africa. The media joined hands with the BCCI to make it look as if it has pulled off a major coup. That may be so, but what kind of message are we sending out ?
We are in effect telling the entire world that India is not a safe enough place to hold a sporting extravaganza like the IPL.
We are in effect conceding a victory to the terror mongers.

India should have done one of two things. They should have waited for the general elections to get over before hosting the IPL in India. Or they should have ensured adequate security so that the tournament can happen alongside the elections.
The BCCI may have made the sponsors and the franchisees happy.

But at what cost ?