Jayashree Lakshminarayanan
'Cooking Session' by Ashhar & Envision

CREATIVITY is to mind what wings are to the sky.
Nothing demands the fledging of wings as the sky.
Nothing demands the fledging of mind as creativity.
CREATIVITY is to mind what wings are to the sky -
The Only SURRENDER.
~

"Difficult things are easier", that's where it all started. The 400 words writing was more sating than most of what I had ever done. It was an astounding self-revelation, the emotion beyond comprehension or expression. Then it was "Colour of Death", and then "Off the Body, Off the Soul" and then, and then.

Words and pictures in collaboration is one of the most cogent forms of expression, I observed. Thereupon, wording pictures and picturing words became a ritual - "Paradox", "Shhh...", "Salvation", "Insatiable", "Death Service", "The ONLY Colour", "The Stint", and the many more to come.

The instinctive quotes, the insightful poems, the intangible emotions, the intelligible thoughts, all had just one thing in common ­ MY exorbitant pride. "Creativity", I ordered, "CONQUER mind". The soar was magical, mystical, profound, immense, complete - "SURRENDER" I was answered, "is your only choice". WWW.JAYASH.COM is an Ode to the moments of my surrender to mind.

I, Jayashree am academically, an Electronics and Communication Engineer and I plan to pursue Mass Communication for my career. My work experience with Corporate Sector has fixated my interests in Corporate Communication.

My articles have been published in www.poetry.com, http://www.vainquer.net, The Cheers, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/journalismonline, http://www.angelfire.com/nd/nirmaldasan.

A few of these are interspersed between my "Word Pictures", and the one flash-animation, below.

Demo(n)cra(z)y

The D-day is here. For the first time ever in history of any world, the stage is set. Precisely 1000 professionals from 'The' 5 universities across the country are positioned in their seats. Too confident to be tensed, they all know it is do-or-die. There will be no losers, but only 5 winners. The talented 5, the lucky 5, the qualified 5, the blessed 5, the prepared 5. The next 10 hours will decide their future, and more crucially the fate of a Nation. As the bell rang, the 5 hour exam commenced and the nation watched ­ Live.

The 5 hour written aggregates history, geography, technology, literature, sociology, science, art, political science, sports, mathematics, entertainment Then there will be the medical examination, the general interview, the technical interview, the personal interview, the stress interview, the group discussion, the.. Five will then be short listed. The five will be put to democratic judgment. The representation, the betting, the campaigning, the stage shows, the posters, the speeches, the advertisements, the sponsors ­ all final countdown. Election will follow and then the result. 'THE ONE' will be of the people, for the people, by the people - the PRIME MINISTER, the other four his advisory board. Everything starts with this 5 hours exam.

Trrrrriiiiiiinnnnnnn. The alarm sounded waking me up. It was a dream. Was it a nightmare or a revelation I pondered, if all the politically involved were to take up a test, a simple aptitude and attitude test, how many will clear it? It is definitely impractical to choose the prime minister of a nation based on an exam. But, how ludicrous is it to conduct qualifying exams to enter politics?

'A university degree does not impart any special ability to lead masses. Anyone eligible to vote is eligible to contest for an elective post'. And so is anyone eligible to live, is eligible for the best of education. Then why aren't everyone admitted in IIMs? The demarcation indicates as winners, not those groomed to rule, but designed to lead. It might be inappropriate to compare the management science with the political science, but in what sense? Responsibility, critical decision taking, handling die-hard situations, logical reasoning, strategic planning, presentation skills, people, material and money management, competition assessment, futuristic insight or what else!!!

There may be a million reasons - political, jurisdictional, constitutional and personal, as to why there should not or need not be a competitive exam to qualify for politics, but there is just one reason as to why there should be one ­ 'To Design a Better Tomorrow'. A doctor without 5 years of medical schooling is no doctor, an engineer without 4 years of engineering schooling is no engineer, a lawyer without 3 years of law schooling is no lawyer ­ nature commands that every rule should have an exception. May be that's why we have one ­ POLITICIAN!!!

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Big Men Make Small Compromises

There are moments in life when we look at somebody and say, "He is what I wanted to be". Be it Sachin or Elvis or your class topper. It is very natural and healthy to feel so especially when our career grounds are to be laid. Everybody assays but not many make it to the top.

Success is more of a journey than a destination, demanding time, tide and talent. The secret of success is practically unveiled in all motivation books and seminars. While the formulae are different, the results converge at perspiration and perseverance. What go unsaid are the simplest, yet the most efficient tips of all.

That 1-degree of separation, between the men who land on stars and those on the moon, is the small-unseen compromises that they readily make. Going to the top does not mean sleepless nights, but conquering the 5 minutes of sleep after the alarm. Success is not the harvest of doing nothing else but working, it takes doing everything else with work as the backdrop. Ideas and solutions need not necessarily be devoted as table work, but should be allowed to flash anytime, while we eat or walk or bathe. It is even said that greatest of ideas spark in lavatory! Living the dream realizes it.

Achievers were not trouble free; personal, pecuniary and social, they had it all, just that they shed it before envisioning their purpose. Problems are a handicap only to people who do not know the meaning of hurdle. And most essentially, as Vivekananda stated, "Concentrate on the game, not on the trophy". The trophy may be tempting, but it is the game that requires a strategy.

Success is an attitude of mind. When the mind is the aggressor, it certainly commands caliber. While the big secrets get focused, the small ones often go unnoticed. Mastering these basics is one definite prodigious step. It is true, big men make small, yet, judicious compromises.

~

Difficult Things Are Easier

Life is a paradox. The saddest truth is most of us either do not realize it or we are afraid to accept it and so only a few live their purpose. Longing to beat the odds to conquer life has carried humanity through its long history, though the methods have changed nowadays.

Taking a closer look, it is disturbing to note that even the basic truths are at stake. Everything ever made has a purpose of its own. While technology played its share, the fact that the difficult things are being made easily available, at the cost of the purpose, can not be overlooked.

Every eagle has its own sky to conquer, to spread its wings, and soar high, beyond the horizon, far to the acme of success. The power, the glamour, the esteem and the magnificence ­ all go with it, as long as the eagle has the courage to lose sight of the ground. Their mere survival is a challenging trek. And then, there are the chicks, confined to a farm, away from harm, quacking is all that it takes to get fed on time. No fighting, no flying and no fearing. Working against nature's ways is probably the most difficult route to success, but the one most of us find at ease. While the techno-farm can feed us fat on time, it certainly curbs natural genius. Why the eagles are becoming obsessed with quacking, when their world is there for the taking, still remains an enigma.

We are environed with questions. We tend to barge into all possible doors to resolve the maze of life. It is not just a philosophical assertion that WE are the answers. We forget to knock the door of our spirit, where all keys are secured. We somehow make time to search the entire cosmos except our souls. It is of course a lifelong adventure, mysterious and misleading at times, yet the easiest way to conquer the world is by conquering self. Cryptically, most of us stick to the difficult path.

Nature made rules; man made them rigid. Nature preached survival, man made it a struggle. When the truth of nature got manipulated, somehow the difficult ways got projected as the easier ones. Since then, most of us clung to that, without the slightest idea of how easy and rewarding it is to pursue ­ OUR PURPOSE, the so called ruffian. Indeed, life is a paradox.

~

THE Unconscious Sin

Imagine watching horror movies continuously for about a week - Mornings, possibly in afternoons and in the evenings. All varieties ­ Evil Dead, Exorcist, Nightmare on the Elm Street, The haunted, The Psycho and many, many more. Any language, any cast, any story, any production, any direction, but only one restriction ­ it should all be gory.

With all done, it is very human if we find the branches calling our name, the bed jerking, face impressions on the wall, and every time the stomach hurts, we say 'It is all in my mind, only I can control it..'

But then if we continue watching it for say about a lifetime, we would be so accustomed to the trees calling our name that we would not die of shock even if they do call us sometime, for real. Sounds fantastic!!!

Thanks to the various media programme which are mentally tuning us to this frequency. Looking beyond what we see, it is definitely not a conscious crime, but could it be an unconscious sin?

Violence is in fashion, immorality in vogue, technology in the making, freaking out is status, patience is outdated, money is nothing, spending means everything, dying to live; living to exist - today's world is not a heaven to exhibit. But projecting the damnation how far does that help?

With hundreds of serials, mega-serials, around the corner, it will not be fair if I discuss one or two, but irrespective of language the rule seem to hold good. I often wonder, is it me or is it that these stories are meant for tears and illwill? The coincidence is too obvious to be obscure - most of these stories are negative implications with women as protagonists. (Hey feminists, I hold no relevance between the gory and these characters.)

Just as horror relates to phantoms, these stories relate to tears and illwill. If watching horror for a time would inflict phantoms, it is plausible that watching these shows for a time would inflict illwill. Logic!!! Assuming the truth that these stories are personification of real life, watching them over and over again will make us mentally obsolete of the intensity, just as watching of horror movies would impact. Logic!!! Getting accustomed to a nightmare and drain the fear is wow!!! But habituating these illwill and draining real emotions does not make a human.

Well at this pace it is quite possible in some time, say a century or so, when our neighbourhood is bombed, we might just call out "Won't you keep your volume down"

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