Am I busy when I am 'doing' nothing?

It’s a long weekend for us. It means that we have 3 days holiday. The extra holiday is Monday, although the term long weekend technically includes Friday as well. For the sake of people who actually plan for these holidays ahead, here in US almost all the holidays are fixed on Mondays. That is, even if Memorial Day comes in between Monday and Friday, it will be moved to either of those days, most likely to Monday, so that the fun loving citizens can have three consecutive days off. This helps a lot if you plan to enjoy this long weekend, by traveling somewhere, say, the other side of the coast. You don’t have to worry about being at your work place physically on Monday, while your mind is still set in that wonderful pub you visited on the previous night, but had to leave in a hurry coz you had to start early the next day. With Monday being a holiday, you can arrive back to your house in the afternoon and you’ll have all a whole half-day at your disposal. You can do any thing you want. You can have a sweet-tired-sleep or you can have a great Chinese dinner or you can spend the entire night wondering, of all the jobs you could have picked, why in god’s green earth did you pick the one you never liked.

This long weekend concept comes handy even if you don’t travel to the far coast. You can use this 72 hrs of do-nothing time to finish off various things that you’ve been putting off for a long time. You can clean your apartment, fix the bug problem in your kitchen, mow the lawn, or repair your cycle or your car if you have one. You can catch up on things you missed. Things like checking your account transactions for identity theft, finishing the learn-something-yourself-in-so-many-days book that you started during the previous long weekend, see if you have received all the rebates you had applied previously.

One of the most engaging activities would be to call up the credit card company and get into in a word-war with the lady on the other line. You can be pretty sure that she would never give in to your demand to reduce your APR to the lowest possible, but its fun to get into someone’s nerves, especially with a perfectly faked Chinese accent. Another refreshing activity could be to collect the money your friend owes you. This activity is a test to your HR skills as it is a test for your friend’s money management policy. The trick is to make your friend ‘want’ to give the money. By inference form historical data, the method the guarantees money but requires time. But, hello, it’s a long weekend right. If you have anything in abundance, it is time. The procedure is as follows. You go to your friend’s place, say hello or whatever the opening line is between you two, and then remind him about the money he owes you. Try not to be pushy about it. Then casually get something from the fridge, settle in a couch and watch TV. Engage with him as usual but do not let him enjoy your company and at the same time do not leave his company. The idea is to tire him out of his indignity. 4 out of 5 times this works. Now, not only have you spent your long weekend in a very satisfactory manner, but you have managed to get yourself some money too.

Of all the things that can be done during the glorious time frame of a long weekend, one thing stands as the key thing to do for a bunch of individuals. The activities include, pretty much in the same order, getting up at 11 am, eating breakfast/lunch, watching a movie, having dinner, watching a movie, going to sleep and getting up at 11 am, the cycle broken only by the occasional need to type a blog. It’s a very refreshing activity, better known as ‘being busy in doing nothing’.

God Bless the inventor of the long friggin weekend.

My Experience with a movie!!

I am watching too many movies. Almost everyday the night ends with a movie. Even scarier, sometimes they are repeats. Since I started to semi-self-sustain, the number of movies that I watch has increased drastically and I don’t see the end any time sooner. I tend to enjoy good movies and therefore its ok, I guess. The important thing is I stumbled on this inspiring movie, which I would probably never forget. Although I’ve seen this movie before, I don’t remember seeing it in the way that I am seeing it now. I am talking about the changed mindset, of course. I watched a Richard Attenborough (the white bearded owner of the island full of dinosaurs in Jurassic park) movie made in 1982. It was a spectacular movie and there were no special effects at all. It’s a great movie, considering the fact that the main character is a simple, vegetarian and non-alcoholic (for the most part), supporter of non-violence. Half-dressed in dhoti, he inspired a few simple humans to become Mandela, Suu Kyi, Biko and the likes. Best known for freeing a south east nation which went on to become the largest democracy in the world and to an extent, talk of the economic world today, he is, referred as the Mahatma, meaning 'the great soul', by his followers, pointed in our school textbooks as father of the nation, named Mohandas by birth, loved and respected (by most) throughout the world, simply known as Gandhiji.
For those Indians who have no idea what I am talking about, think pay day. That’s right. I am talking about the one who is in all our currency bills.
The movie is simply awesome, and as Mr. Attenborough’s wish, it was surprisingly entertaining. Some times, movies like this end up as documentaries. But this portrayal of the mahatma was wonderfully screen played and at the same time provoked thought in most of the minds that watched it. The movie won 8 Oscars including best picture, during the 1982 ceremony. I don’t think many would disagree with the way the picture was taken.
But what surprised me the most was the judgment passed by some of educated Indian brothers of my generation. When one of my roommates said, that Gandhi is being given too much credit, I thought he was being funny. It got a little bit serious when he proclaimed that Gandhi simply got lucky that the British gave up India not because of the civil resistance, but due to their financial problems after WWII. Just when I thought this nightmare would soon end, he hit me like a mad truck, by ruling out Gandhian philosophy as impractical and flawed. I felt like being stung by a Tranquilizer dart.
I always felt that we get a sense of superiority in us, when we degrade some one of great accomplishment. Its getting into pop culture, I think. I saw few social website groups against Gandhi and probably most of the leaders. There are a lot of articles that wouldn’t accept him simply because of “what if”s and “you know what he did”s. In pop culture people express “if Hitler had won...” and it’s a happy tone, and they are even happier when a hero is insulted. We don’t exactly favor the villains, but we are thrilled to know the hero is not that good himself, after all. One single scar and we trumpet, ‘you’re not that great. If I was there, I would’ve done it, even better’. I wonder why there are fewer leaders compared to the hhuuuuuggggeeee (supposed to be an exageration) followers and significant whiners.
Being a fan of most of our national leaders I won’t accept it and therefore on my defense I would simply deny all of it on a simple basis that no one is perfect, but not even one came close to being as perfect as Gandhi. The world has seen so many rulers, leaders and revolutionaries, but nonesoever proved more clearly that the strength of human heart can shatter even the hardest of metals, than Baapu. Men and women, who have risen to greatness, have repeated time and again that their inspiration came from all the methods and sufferings he took for his struggle towards freeing his nation.
Yes, he refused penicillin to his wife, he slept (just slept,literally) with naked women to prove his mastery over brahmacharya, but these were his own philosophies. He never forced anyone to do things his way. It was a request all the time. For one he never supported the Indo-Pak partition and he joyfully declared himself to be a Hindu, Muslim, Jew, Christian and what not.
I don’t think he will be surprised by our ignorance to see the real truth. The real truth, is not that non-violence was the key to end the strongest of suppression, not that through simple life one can strengthen his/her heart and inspire respect and devotion, not that doing what is right is simply doing to others what you want others (or yourself) to do to you, but the real truth, I believe, is simply staying true to your heart and believe in the natural goodness in fellow humans. Yes, I don’t think he will be surprised.
We should try to learn what is good from others and try to instill ours in them. That way, we can make a greater number of heroes and eventually lesser and lesser villains.
Of what has become of the nation he loved, or even the world where doing right is to go after oil and kill in the name of religion, today, he will probably be saddened. Just pick up a new paper and look at the world that we are living right now. Seems like Gandhism could be worth a try.
Unless we see ourselves in the perspective of the universe, we are never free of our prejudices. Therefore, this is my prejudiced view. Let’s take someone of better credit.
Nine out of ten times Einstein is right. Of all things he found, he found that

Mahatma Gandhi’s life achievement stands unique in political history. He has invented a completely new and humane means for the liberation war of an oppressed country, and practiced it with greatest energy and devotion. The moral influence he had on the consciously thinking human being of the entire civilized world will probably be much more lasting than it seems in our time with its overestimation of brutal violent forces....We may all be happy and grateful that destiny gifted us with such an enlightened contemporary, a role model for the generations to come.
Generation to come will scarce believe that such a one as this walked the earth in flesh and blood.

And I could'nt agree more.