Why I ride a Bicycle to Office!!

Sounds funny to most of my friends and peers that I ride a bicycle to office. Infact I have been jeered at for doing so but I fail to understand why it is considered as lowering one's status. It does pain when I know that I have been laughed at for riding a bicycle, when riding means a lot to me.

It is hard to imagine why my friends who have also done thier MBAs can't do some simple calculations. If one looks at the system called organisation - it revolves around the concept of raising liability to create assets, (fixed or in this age of knowledge even human beings) which provide you value - or to point precisely they are called profits. Isn't that business or for that matter even our personal finance is all about? Let us see..

What does one get when one raises debt from the bank (debt is a liability!!) and buys a car (thats a fixed asset) and commutes daily in it. I forgot to add that current liability goes into buying fuel (assuming that one uses the credit card for buying the gas) and drivers pay if one engages a driver. What have you got on your current assets side - a portion of your salary. Car's EMI does shrink one's working capital right?? What do you finally get? - comfort (of intangible value) and status!!

How I wonder - times have changed a full circle - there was a day when owning assets was status. Now how much of liability you have and how much is your credit limit on the card is a symbol of status! Put simply owning a liability becomes status, while one's personal finance is bleeding!

Take my cycle now
1. Costed me Rs 2700/-. The asset was sweated in roughly 3 months time. I spend around Rs 800 p.m. on my conveyance to work.
2. More importantly I sweat myself - Lost a few kgs - and have a flat tummy (may not be as flat as that of Susmita or Aishwarya)
3. Reached office in 25 to 30 minutes on an average covering 11 kms. Sounds strange but my cycle moves at 25 kmph - no comfort lost owing to its sleek design and light weight.

As opposed to

Traveling by bus which means 45 minutes because it takes a longer route. Car or bike would mean a hit on my current assets. Not to mention the lack of physical exercise !
So what was so wrong in riding the bicycle? What status have I lost? I am definitely not interested in owning a car, which I really don't own because its bloody mortgaged to a goddamn bank which breaths down my neck every month for EMI !

A bicycle gives me a feeling of freedom, I don't feel claustrophobic when I sit on it coz I am connected with the world, there is no metal around me. It gives me pleasure, it gives me fun and I love riding it - well the brighter side, my dear bicycle gave others too a chance to laugh for a while even if it was to jeer at me!!

Organisations are like...

Organisations are like buses or may be trains or even flights. They are going from one place to another. But you may not be going all along from the start to the end. You get in somewhere, you get out somewhere and catch another bus or train or may be a flight. Changing buses is like changing organisations. Your destination is elsewhere, it might not even be the destination of any of these buses, but they let you travel with them and let you get down at important junctures where you can find another connecting mode of transport. Changing seats in the same bus may be a change of assignment, transfer or a promotion or sometimes even a demotion. Changing compartments is like a cross functional shift. Mind you, if you don't pay for the ticket i.e. if you don't perform, they'll throw you out and you might end up at a place where finding another bus would get really tougher!!

My friend Sabya says

Life is like a cup of tea that you sip to find too bitter… but don’t bother enough to fetch you a few cubes of sugar. You continue to sip and finally find un-dissolved sugar at the bottom of the cup. All you then do is lament or may be just sport a wry smile at nothing…

Random Thoughts Again

The world is like a tiny puddle of rainwater. As you pass by, you just manage to notice may be the dirt in it. If you care to stay and take a closer look, you will find insects in it swimming around creating tiny lovely ripples. If you take a deeper look you will find your reflection and feel like a happy child... and as you continue to gaze through, you see the sun and the sky surrounding it, all the beauty of nature packaged for you in one tiny puddle. But wait....do you see just the dirt or do you bother to see yourself and the beauty surrounding you? Its all there to be seen but would you strain your eyes a little more?

Through Ups & Downs...

Today nothing seems to have given up its existence,
and nothing seems to change, come whatever happens,
Here I smell your sweet fragrance...
& there I am surrounded by thick darkness...
Now I listen to your voice for endless moments..
& then I hear tunes of utter silence..
Today it seems to be your warm presence...
& tomorrow it may be sad thoughts of your blatant absence..
Sometimes I am alone, without you...
Sometimes I am alone, even when I am with you...