V for Victory

I have long admired them and wanted to write about them. I had even made a promise to myself. Its high time I fulfill it. You can also call it as ‘A Tale of two V’s’. Here it goes.

Robert (or was it John)Kennedy was born in a small village in southern tamilnadu. His career for quite a long long time had always been devoid of that lady luck. Even the best of efforts from him will wither away because the team effort wouldn’t be just there to support him. It was a decade long fight to achieve that elusive success. He even tried mouthing out different languages though as a dummy or a mere assistant and he was making a living only through it since he saw some success in it. Finally after all the miseries, one fine day in December 1999, after umpteen number of tries, success finally smiled on him and there was no looking back from that point. His failures have taught him to be humble and down-to-earth and honed his skills to such an extent that, he is well on the lines to become the greatest of his trade. He never wanted to be the numero uno, he just wanted to be called a good professional and a good human by his peers as well as the people. Had it not been for his self-belief, zest and hardwork and most of all a mild hope that he will make it one day, he would never have been in the position he is now. A big salute to you Vikram, you deserve what you are today. Thandhuvitten ennai, Meera, Housefull, Ullaasam etc are mere blotches in your glorious career now and from the bottom of my heart am wishing you to deliver much more character oriented roles like Sethu (oh!!! what a wait man, you are really very patient) and Pithamagan with aplomb and bring many more laurels to the tamil tinsel world.

His story is quite similar. Though he started his career almost in the same period as A.R. Rehman (they both attended the same music classes too), recognition in industry came much much later. He had given those memorable melodies like ‘malarae mounama, udayaadha vennila, oru sedhi paarthaal, nee kaatru’ etc. Yet most of his films in the 90’s bombed and it seemed his career was on the slump. Yet he kept himself busy like Vikram by concentrating on the Malayalam film industry and taking home few state awards. In Tamil it was always a roller coaster ride, with his films always had good musical composition in it. Irrespective of all these facts, his perseverance and consistent good work paid off. It was a mere coincidence that it happened to be a Vikram film along with the comeback director Dharani and Dhil proved to be a turning point. Though he was versatile in his composition from beat numbers to rock and folk, I like him for his melodies. Though am a great fan of ARR, I believed this guy deserved an almost similar appraisal. His Run number ‘Poi Solla koodadhu kaadhali’ is a master piece and ‘kaadhal vandhaal solli anuppu’ is an awesome rendition. The latter’s music was composed after the lyrics had been written by vairamuthu. He still composes music for some of his songs the same way. It shows the talent in him. For him life is like music and he breathes it in his every aspect of life. May he treat us long by composing many more hummable songs.

Its ironical that inherent talent alone never pays off in a field one want to excel. Nothing succeeds like success. Diligence, Perseverance and most of all Patience is a requisite for success. These men were written off by many during those early days. Yet they had their hopes firm. Though fame came very late, they never lost it. Their hopes thrived, it made them stronger, smarter and brighter and most of all made them what they are today with humility and affability. Whenever I felt like lost and that I haven’t got my dues, I look at them. They are living role models and a source of inspiration. May they inspire the lives of fellow country men and give something back to the nation.

No more the elixir

Lord Krishna had mud in his childhood and when he was caught red handed and asked to open the mouth, he showed the entire world through his mouth. That’s what the myth says. Reality bites. Consume a drop of metro water and try staring (at your own risk) your mouth. You may be surprised to see all the filthiest things in earth residing in some portion of it. So now when you are asked ‘What you had for drink or how was the drink like?’ and if you respond ‘It was an absolute shit’, you can mean it. Atleast that’s what this says.

Crime and Punishment

Scene 1: A bus commuter throwing a banana peel juz like that through the door right in middle of the CMBT main road. It fell right in front of a bike waala who just gave an angry stare and sped off for his work.

Scene 2: A plain looking middle class guy taking a leak in what is supposed to be a dais for the ‘nadaraajas’.

A natural instinct or a typical response to a nature’s call. Will they keep quiet if some one does the same in their house or in front of it? They would have strangled those persons and mouthed out some profanities.

How do we stop this? A country (superbly pointed out by Vivek in ‘Thiruttu Payale’) where ‘Kissing in Public’ is an act of shame but not ‘Pissing’.

Because of a few miscreants the whole nation’s name is defamed. How do we stop this? Normally on the walls u see ‘Asutham Seyyaadheer. Meerinaal Thandikka Paduveergal’, i.e. ‘Please don’t defile this place. You will be punished otherwise’. But the folks are pretty sure that punishments will never happen. They continue as if they are not accountable. Instead the warning should be something like this ‘Meerinaal thundikkapaduveergal’, ‘If you violate it, yours’ will be cut off’. It might create fear in the hearts and may atleast stop to an extent.

If the problem of pissing and throwing dust in the open persists, my humble request is to employ a certain force (by picking among the unemployed youth and provide them a salaried payment) for enacting these punishments. They can start by imposing huge fines (Rs 500 for a start) and leave with a warning. If they don’t pay heed to it, have a go at the first suggestion.

Unless punishments get severe, nothing’s gonna stop.

Happy Anniversary

Dear Spouse,
I can still remember that fine Saturday Evening, 7th June 2003, when the Broker said, “Some one has found interest in you, you are now affiliated to this relationship” and gave me a token of acceptance. I preserved it safely, though it took an awfully long time for the relationship to bear fruit and elevate to a marriage(bonded) agreement. Thus on this day two years back, we started our lives together. It was quite enthralling when I signed the relationship concord. I thought this will be an epoch in my career where my aspirations of becoming someone, who has inculcated the necessary to give something back to the world, from which he has taken a lot, will translate to reality. True to my dreams, the honey moon period of two months was indeed exhilarating and exploratory. It showered joy and learning all over my soul and laid emphatically a gorgeous path that any human would love to tread along.

As the saying of Alchemist goes, ‘When you enter into a game, you will have the beginner’s luck that may decoy you and entice you to play more. Later it slowly fades and life throws you into a real strife and struggle for existence’. A Time of joy was followed by a period of nostalgism and a thought lingering month, before you put me in a place where I have been clinging on since. It may not be the best place to put your brain and body to effective use, to mingle and sing jingles, to learn and then earn respect, gratitude, but still I learned to live with it. I can moan and groan about the loopholes and indemnities. You might not have treated me well and it was certainly the worst of places, but, “Ooperwaala” wont always put you in a favorable position. He asks you to learn from what you have got and the people you meet. So here I am, two years after imbibing very little technical and practically nil domain expertise, yet, with a propensity to learn from people and use them to impel myself forward.

I don’t know whether I love you now. But I cant hate you either. You were the one who gave my life some meaning(to be frank some bucks) and may be time has come for me to move forward. I don’t know when I will detach myself from this cord. But on this joyous occasion, its time for me to while away those feelings and just crave for those mad two months, when we had the best part for our relationship. Hope when we separate and meet again in future, we remember those glorious moments. The best way to celebrate our anniversary was by being with you which I have done all day along and might even spend the entire night. Lets join hands and raise a toast for ourselves and to those who made us carry forward this long and making our relationship work for the betterment of both.
Happy Anniversary Dear
Though I don’t know when I gonna say tata to TATA
Your loving associate/friend/hubby

Twenty 20

A Sample survey and how a jaded software employee would have answered it

Tell about yourself
A drop in the ocean

Whats up?
Network is up and running, coz of which am down

Howz work?
Same shit, different days

Howz life?
MOVE “SUCKS” TO OFFICIAL LIFE
SET SOCIAL LIFE TO ZERO

Den?
Cell (Cubilce i mean) no. 53, Just Another Comp, North Ward, Hell

Time spent for physical activities and Games
NULL, sorry NIL

Domain Expertise?
Health Care

Favorite place?
Loo, no one disturbs me there

Hobbies?
Right now, sleep and relaxation

What do you do on weekends?
Go back to the previous answer

Recent movies?
Okkadu in Gemini and Kannathil Muthamittal in Sun

Favorite Drink?
Coffee, it keeps me agile.

Do you have any GF?
Sorry boss, no time, long since I was out for a date

Did you see our PM’s speech on Aug 15th?
Hey, what day is it? Sorry, I thought Independence day comes next Tuesday

Whos gonna triumph in the triangular cricket series?
Who are all in the series?

Strength?
Endurance

Weakness?
Too weak to answer this

Favorite Personality?
Not my PM/GL

Ambition in Life?
Never screw and get screwed

What do you think about this survey?
A fiasco, I donno why I am taking it

Are we guiding our intellects in the right direction?

There are quite a few interpretations of this.

‘The earth, the planets, and the galaxies are moving at a very great velocity, the sound produced is Om, That God, who manifests Himself in the form of light of suns is worthy of bowing/respect. We all, therefore, should meditate upon the light of that deity and also do chanting of Om. May He guide in right direction our intellect’.

"O God, Thou art the giver of life, the remover of pain and sorrow, the bestower of happiness; O Creator of the Universe, may we receive Thy supreme, sin destroying light; may Thou guide our intellect in the right direction."

I was taught this when I was 11 without knowing the true interpretation. I chanted this regularly till the age of 13. Otherwise this happened to be a yearly ritual and continues to make its presence felt even in this modern age though I doubt how many truly understand what it underpins. I got the interpretation from rather an unusual resource(a quiz), and was really wondering whether it adds any value when you don’t know what it is.

Well some might have guessed it out what really am talking about. For the mortals, these signify the all powerful Gayatri Mantra though the meaning looks simple outright. Now since ‘Aavani Avittam/Upakarma’ has passed by mid-week, with the Gayathri Japam following the day later, I felt its time for me to learn what Upakarma implies? Why we have to do it?

First Question that comes to mind is “Why Aavani avittam falls in the month of Aadi?”. As far as the limited knowledge I have it is the day when pournami (full moon day ) and Avittam (Star) comes together on the same day. It should have fallen usually in the month of Aavani, People would have coined the phrase then and in course of time, it would have stayed such (Interpretations welcome). To know more about the other things and why we should perform all these poojas and tharpanams, I googled a bit and found some useful links.

Check Kandamangalam and Ahobilam sites for getting a good overview.

Though am yet to get an exclusive picture :-(

Surprise, Wiki doesn’t have an article on Upakarma. Planning to upload it once I find some meaningful stuff.

Worst Case Scenarios

You all know what can happen on Monday mornings, feeling the blues to go to office. But what if you start feeling it a day before when you are at home sleeping without knowing the consequences of the forthcomings the day has to offer. Presenting some of the worst case scenarios that can happen on Sundays.

1. You are robbed of that extra tinge sleep by a lingering door bell, banging noises of windows, neighbors’ babies howl etc
2. Musing over it, u take the newspaper in your hand, finding out the list of hot TV shows for the day with a cup of coffee and hardly u would have turned on the TV, u hear that awesome ‘Paartha Mudhal Naaley’ song waving slowly into your ears from your mobile.
3. Disgustingly the call is from your PM or Lead asking whether you are free for the day and requesting(?) you to stop over the office for an urgent deliverable to be done on the Mondays. Donno whether they have a heart, for u would have worked the entire Saturday and turned back late
4. Quickly out for a bath, only to find that the watch man had failed to switch on the motor. Throwing some tantrums, u switch on the motor yourself and after munching some junkies, u go for a shower.
5. Commutation problem starts. The bike key is missing somewhere. After rummaging your way through the entire house and putting it in shambles, u annoyingly lock the house trying to catch an auto only to find that the key is resting safely in the bike.
6. The bike fail to start and u find strangers (almost every one on the road) peering at your cumbersome position. The reason though may be simple. The key hasn’t been turned to ‘ON’ position or the petrol tank is still closed.
7. The dilemma doesn’t end there. The bike meanders to a stop as if some one has ordained it to do so. Petrol tank is empty buddy, it says. You forget the fact that you had failed to refuel it, thinking that u can do it aaraam se on Sundays. With no petrol bunks near by, u place the bike in a neighboring apartment and catch yourself an auto to the workstation.
8. Server is down. Nothing seems to work. Mail box says nothing critical to be delivered. Lead is still missing in office. Pondering over it, u make a call only to receive a retort like ‘Sorry, it seems they have understood the problem. Deadline can be extended’. U feel like hitting him with whatever you get on hand first.
9. To add flavor to otherwise a forgettable Sunday, u call up some of your best pals and get together at a theater mall. Again misery smiles at your face, u get tickets only for some crap.
10. After living thro’ 2 and a half hours of an utterly fallacious screenplay and death thro the happenings on the screen, u comeback home and try to find solace by talking to your loved ones. You call your GF/BF. They pile on the agony by not picking your calls.
11. You analyse the entire day’s happenings and how you have wasted it and say ‘Why me? Why is this happening on Sundays?’ and find that the cost cutting measures of government come into play by switching off the power. You go to terrace with a bedsheet and pillow and find too stressed out that you sleep before your head hits pillow’s soft head.

You go to office on Monday morning with a heavy heart of having wasted your sunday and you need some inspirational mails to carry on your day. Instead you see some blog/forward like this saying “Worst case scenarios and a bunch of utterly useless info” with a crook compiling the list of worsts that can happen on Sundays and asking you to read that shit and comment on it.

The Missing Key

A common problem with people is forgetting where you have placed some important things. The foremost of them (atleast among guys) is the missing key. An absent minded guy can keep things in places which they see first or which they feel they can remember ( but most often they forget). But while searching for the missing link, life also throws some chances by helping him find out an item which had been missing for quite some time.

Two days back, I was confronted with a similar situation. I couldn’t find the bike key (my project mate had granted me the bike because of his homeward trip). It was an unfettered single key. I thought I had left it in the back of my jean pocket. But to my surprise I found that it was not there. So I got a bit tense and almost put my entire room in shambles rummaging all the items. I was cursing myself because I had cleaned up the entire room and things were in order before I found out that I had missed the key. Suddenly everything was going out of my mind and I got obsessed only with the missing key. I was getting a bit crazy and furious over that. I thought why its happening on a Monday morning and that too when you are in the rush of things. I had two choices now 1. Either forget the key and get to office, but I was damn sure, till the key is found I cant put my best effort in anything else (or) 2. Take your own time in finding the key and then have a start. I had the volition of taking number two. I thought I would relax a bit and then calmly chronicle the events from the time I had stripped off my jeans. I went to have a shower (for the 2nd time that day in a span of an hour). The moment water touched my scalp all my tempers went off and I started basking in the comfort of water trickling down every where. It had taken some pain off me and now I felt I can sort things out. Something previously amiss was set right last night and as a mark of identity I had placed some cover in it. I hadn’t touched it since this morning and I thought of having a go. Boy!!!!!!!! There she lies beautifully settled in the back side of the cover. Now I remember, I had kept in that cover coz it was easily noticeable. I pumped my fist in air that I had done it.

The episode had taught me an important lesson. When things go hay wire, just relax and try to find out the root cause to solve the problem amicably. Being furious just aggravates the situation and the effort put henceforth will always be a failure.

Run Buddhia Run

Last week, Plagiarism was the toast, now the focus has shifted to physical endurance and the extremes that human body can plunge into. A four and a half year old boy doing a Forrest Gump like act of running his way into history by becoming the youngest marathon runner in the world on Tuesday. Running 65 Kms from Puri to Bhubaneshwar in 7 hours is no mean feat, that too at an age when one would be busy playing with toys, is a paramount achievement. Hats off Buddhia Singh, may you bring many more laurels to our nation.

After the feat, during an interview he sat quiet naively in the laps of his coach Biranchi Das quite oblivious of his achievement and was staring at the camera rather curiously as if sprinting is quite inherent. His talent was spotted inadvertently by Mr.Das who had punished him (for straying into a sports ground and abusing some person) to run laps. After 5 hours, he found the boy still running.

Looks very much analogous to Gump who ran for "three years, two months, fourteen days, and sixteen hours", crossing coast to coast several times, inspiring many people on the way, but for no reason. Fiction apart, hope he inspires many people to take to something in which their heart is. But he shouldn’t set a wrong precedent and parents should be careful in not dwelling their kids in gruelling Summer Camps to emulate this kid coz not many are born with a strong heart and a body with an exceptional stamina to run for 7 hours continuously. Ramifications and the tolling that body takes, runs deep when an inappropriate person tries to do it. Rather they should take pride in the fact that when a kid coming from the down trodden society (a slum dweller to be precise) can corner glory by exhibiting his reportoire, they should nurture their kids and spot their dormant talent and groom it.

The second breathtaking stunt came from a quite accustomed American illusionist David Blaine. He has started a new “Drowned Alive” challenge by entering an 8ft (2.5m) water-filled spherical tank in New York and he intends to remain submerged for a week. He will have an air line for breathing, liquid food will be provided through a tube and he will sleep for short periods. Fans will be encouraged to touch the sphere and offer words of support. At the end of the seven days, Blaine, 33, will remove his air supply and attempt to hold his breath longer than the world record of 8min 58sec. Some times I feel this guy is one crazy son of a bitch. He has done some heart wrenching acts on TV shows and a famous suspension in a glass box next to the Thames for 44 days three years ago (and had a lot of eggs thrown at him for his trouble).

Lots of emotions and mental influences are involved in all these Dhamaka acts. They require a lot of habituation and hours of physical and mental training. These acts should be taken in a proper notion. Blind adherence just for getting into the limelight can sometimes prove fatal.
To quote Gump again “Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you are going to get”. We all have a destiny, we should know it and course our path, otherwise we have to just float around like a leaf on a breeze accidental like and take things the way they come.

Singing in the Rain

Landed in Singara Chennai after an arduous and exhaustive journey of 16 hours from Kanyakumari. I was expecting the three H’s (Heat, Humidity and Hostility) to hit me right from the word go and force me to sit in the comfort of my apartment rather than take a trip to office. But it was not to be.

Heat had some what subsided and Sun was generous enough not to allow me hire an auto to carry my frame to my den (otherwise who wanna bask n take a saunter in the glory of Chennai heat). Got a hunch that ‘its gonna rain today’, so was hurrying up not to miss a single moment of it. But I got hit in my face, the moment I set out my foot. Sun was back to its dazzling best. Was asking the Almighty ‘At this point of the year, with the sun scorching us, wouldn’t You be providing us some relief?’. Found myself getting squeezed like a cheese in a sandwich inside a share auto and ended up in office at around lunch time.

It was routine work with mails and lots of snippets(from colleagues)sneaking in. Thought its gonna be just another day huh……..

Boy!!!! I got answers for my prayers. I could hear the sweet or rather rattling sound of thunder and slowly drizzle started pounding gently on the glass window panes. Looked at my watch. Tea time. Called few of my colleagues to gulp in a few hot cups in a corner shop outside the office while savoring the sweet moment of water drops hitting the ground and relish the fragrance of earth evading out due to rain.

Every one seemed ecstatic at the ambience that the nature was providing and it showed in their behaviour. Some ogling at the commuters, some finding shelter in the nearby shops and even the shopwaalaahs were happy to woo the attention of the people though in an unusual way. Most of them were pleased. Though waterlogging popped out again and the real nature of adhoc roads (put for garnering votes) started to surface, it was a pleasing moment for the rain drought city. Memoirs of Oc 27th (Come on!!! It was once in a blue moon) were put under the stack. More over its mid April and what more a soothing sight can u get.

Sipping the tea, we felt how we could drench ourselves in the shower of nature rather than getting back to work? Was remembering the lines of Vairamuthu,

‘Andha megam surandha paalil yaen nanaya marukkiraai
Nee vaazha vandha vaazhvil oru pagudhi izhakkirai
Nee kangal moodi karayum podhu mannil sorgam yaedhuvaai’

(Don’t Curb ur instincts if u wanna soak urself in the rain coz u r missing a part of life and by the time u realize and repent ur decision you might have reached heaven)

We had a long chat discussing from Sreeshanth’s exploits to Amma’s ventures that v got back to work an hour later ( Whos gonna care as long as the work is getting done by EOD). Some one was telling about a Sidney Sheldon novel in which a guy conjured up a device that could manipulate weather. I was pondering if that can become a reality then the miseries of this world can be just blown off since we are accustomed to the vagaries of it and the crisis that it throws off.

We were having pure fun though the drizzle somewhat abated and by the time we got back to our seats, I could hear the oozing sound of car and auto horns buzzing around my ear signaling that the rain had stopped completely.

O God!!! Please make this low pressure zone stay here and alleviate us with some occasional showers and please don’t allow this to drift to northern parts.

‘Rain, Rain Please don’t go away, We Chennai Johnnies want you to stay’

Appeasement and Identity

The other day, our office librarian was telling me ‘My mom feels my voice is a bit authoritative and clamorous. She wants it to be a bit yielding and soft coz it may imperil myself getting betrothed and my fiancée may not like it’ I told her ‘This is pretty absurd. I feel your USP is your voice. It has a subtle distinction of bringing the listeners under your control and is quite captivating. Why do you have to tone it down to appease your mom? Every one is unique in their own respect, be yourself and whats inherent in you is gonna stand out even if you try to curb it. You may live without it but it is not where your heart goes.’

I was awe struck coz I said the word ‘appeasement’. Was it me? Do I deserve to say that? When I did introspect, I found that most of us try to appease some one. Considering myself, I was (am) a sports buff. I was pretty decent in chess and badminton. I asked my dad in my school days whether I could become a Vishy or a Prakash one day in future. Dad gave a wry smile, ‘Something is easier said than done. Considering the Indian scenario where only cricket is a religion (those days in India sports meant only cricket except for a few glitches somewhere in other sports), do you think as a middle class family leader, I can afford you to have a very good coach or rope in a sponsor to foster your career.’ He was telling about the intricacies of what I could face and the cons when I don’t succeed. I couldn’t help but accede to his thoughts and atleast appease him by studying well, coz, afterall he is the one who has brought me up and who showers unrequited love on me. Like so many of us I became a needle in the stack, studied well and joined a good college to pursue my engineering studies. But, whenever I grasped a shuttle racket during that period, my heart pounded ‘Have I missed something?’

In my college days, I turned my attention to cricket and football apart from studies. Though I didn’t play these much since I was inept, I had a pretty sound knowledge of these and started watching matches more for fun. I admired the presentators and the host coz they were like me, who never excelled in sport but who still became one of the most talked abouts. They became my heroes and on came my next aspiration, ‘I wanna be a Harsha Bhogle or John Dykes.’ This time I was pretty confident that I could become one coz I had the knowledge and the skill to back. But the aspirations were again put to rest by mom, ‘Now you have reached this level. Papa gonna retire very soon. So you better get placed in a good company and stand on your feet before nurturing your dreams.’ True indeed, my father was in the fag end of his career, more over I had a brother who was still in school. Again for the sake of appeasement, my forte remained dormant and became one of those millions in the software industry. Another chance to be one among the elite got ripped of its buds and I became a drop in the ocean.

My future might glow well here and I would have done justice to my parents dreams of me earning well and getting settled in life. But what I have done is just curbing my instincts to appease them. Now I am earning and have started a living of my own. I still can become the person I want, but what about the persons who don’t get a chance now. They would have yearned for a career in music, films, sports, literature and arts, but would have been doing something just for bucks. So is appeasement right (is it the right word) or is it obligation? It is a pretty tough question to answer. It may be right in one sense since we are obliged to the persons who have lived for us and it is quite natural for anyone to enliven them. It would be a fruitful attempt too when you are trying to woo a person of the other sex and courting their favor requires much more than appeasement alone. Moreover money is always a deciding factor and you have to churn it out in larger numbers to make the ends meet.

On the other hand, dreams of joining the likes of Sachin, Rahul, Sania, Harsha Bhogle, Arundhati Roy, Kiran Bedi, T.N.Seshan etc as cult icons are submerged under this and most of us end up in doing mundane activities. In the end one may ask, ‘Am I selfish, I have taken so much from this world. What I have done to give back my fellow country men or the world rather? How have I stood apart and Why I haven’t been able to translate the lives of many people?’

The ramifications of this question is pretty much deep, so many things to change, education system, policing, bureaucracy, government giving requisite incentives and proper motivations to people dwelling in fields other than academics…….. But the irony is that even in academics pretty scanty is the investment in research and because of the meager amount you are paid not many people set their foot in and we are lagging way behind in invention and innovation.

In a broader perspective, take the case of India-US Nuke deal a raging controversy still discussed in nook and corner of the country. Are we really trying to appease the Big Brother? Are we playing a second fiddle in extending their clout in this world or is it just an entente? Again the answer can be both affirmative and derogatory. Considering Pakistan (one of US’ major nuclear allies), Iran’s position in the Middle East and how its getting nuclear can put India in jeopardy, our dependence on the millions of revenues earned from ITES, competition from China etc…….. we may be right since we have to thrive. Again with our economy booming, we slowly becoming a market hub with spurting advances in retail and telecom and with so many FIIs and FDIs zeroing in here, do we need a person to hold our hand to carry us forward?

The question still looms large and one may ask, ‘Can this (as the famous movie tagline goes) ‘Change the system before it changes you.’ happen? Are we losing our real self and becoming a shadow of numerous others and driven by the persons whom we are bounded to? When does appeasement end and when are we gonna do out of the box thinking?