The Good, the Bad and Ugly of 2008

As the year comes to an end, I have decided to look back at the year 2008 and see how good, bad and ugly it was :)

When the year started, I thought this was a year that would change my life (I read too much of horoscopes to think about that). It sure changed my life. In the first month itself I was getting a lot of flak when I was not at fault. It was a sign of what was coming on my way.

The first few months had been hell. I did everything that would ensure my survival. I sure did survive. The one thing that I am still yearning for is appreciation. I don't know what it will take for others to appreciate. I don't know when that will happen. When it does, it would have surely lost its importance in my life or may be I will cherish it a lot.

Then the day came, when I realized it's not worth it. Day when I thought, I had enough and its time that I should do what was on my mind all the time. I should have done this earlier. The signs were there for me to see, it was just that I was still clinging on the small ray of light at the end of the tunnel.

I moved on. This year also made me realize how good I am. I always underestimated myself, but not any more. I got to see things, that I did not see before me, but were in front of me all the time. It was like living life all again. I enjoyed that period. Also came to know of ways how I can resurrect my life for the better.

Change is one thing that I am not good at dealing with. Something that is good to talk about, but hard to follow. Still I knew that its better to face it than run away from it. That is what I am doing now.

My flair for writing is the one thing that came out this year. You might have noticed it in the blog. I also tried my hand at poems, thought only people who are sensitive could do that. Guess what, I am sensitive too.

I also made amends with GOD. I had stopped praying because I was angry at him. Over the years it seemed that I started believing in him again especially Sai Baba which restored my faith in him Still I did not visited temples unless my family drags me to one. Then there were times when I would make plans to travel temples outside the city. I realized that I was no longer angry and that I should stop fooling myself. That's what I did. When I was small, I told GOD something which I believe he turned into a reality. I don't know of all the other prayers I said to him, why he choose that. He surely reminds me of that day everyday.

I have my fair share of happiness, sadness, despair and other emotions. I also realized that when you look at the bad phases of your life, don't forget to look at the good phases too, it evens out. Life is not that bad at all. Life is not standing in your way, you are. Like they say,

BE THE CHANGE

Hope the year 2009 turns out better. I have a feeling it would (had peeked into 2009 horoscopes).

WISH YOU ALL A HAPPY NEW YEAR

AND

GOD BLESS YOU ALL

My Christmas Memories

"Christmas is not a time or season, but a state of mind.
To cherish peace and goodwill, to be plenteous in mercy,
is to have the real spirit of Christmas"

The festive season is around, and if you are working in one of those outsourcing companies, you are sure to find the christmas spirit around you :) I sure did. Christmas has always been an occasion which brought joy to me, especially when it meant less work during this part of the year.

Over the years, there have been many christmas celebrations, but the one that I cherish was of which I was a part of. This was back in the year 2005, when I had just completed a year in the company. As a new recruit, I was full with energy and enthusiasm always coming up with ideas, be it work or having fun (That has not changed a bit, but yes cutting down on the work though). We had this fellow in our team, who loved to be in the limelight and wont be shy of his comments on anything. One day I just thought how wonderful it would be to make him a Santa Claus and bring gifts for the team in his gunny bag. I shared this idea with my Team Leader who was very happy and jumping with joy. Before we could carry it out, we had to take permission from our Manager. I emailed her about our plans and seeking her approval of the same.

She got the better of me. Instead of making him Santa Claus for just our process, she decided to do it with the whole dept. She was right in doing that. Our Santa Claus in the making was beaming with smile when the news was broken to him. What a day that was, people were getting crazy when he started throwing gifts around. On one point, I acted like a bouncer trying to protect him when people were all over him (Actually, I was worried about the clothes which I had brought on hire). What fun we had that day. He was there for all the shifts to distribute the gifts.

A funny thing had happen when my friend decided to get into the Santa Claus dress in the Men's loo. He was changing out in the open where people were coming and going. He told me that he would get into one of the toilet's to change. What followed next was simply hilarious. As he unlocked one of the doors, he blurted "Abe Akash tu kya kar raha hai:" Then the next voice came "Bandh kar saale". Akash forgot to lock the door while going in. Our Santa Claus commented loudly "Kya abe Western Commode main Indian Style behta hai, yeh pe bahtke mujhe use karna ageya hai". Even today when I think of this, I find myself laughing.

Another thing that made this Christmas memorable for me was doing something that I have never done before an audience. Yes, the first and the only time when I did a mimicry in front of others ( I prefer to do it in front of my family most of the times). It was part of the activities carried out for Christmas. It was the evening shift, when the shift lead decided to have a bit of fun around. It started with Antakashari, shayari and few mimicked each other and others guessed. I thought even I could it, but did not had the guts to move forward. I just told myself, let's just do it. and went ahead. I mimicked some of senior colleagues and managers. I was surprised to find a manager being a witness to my act. It was fun.

The next day, I had one of the managers (the count of managers in the dept. was endless) talk something about the act. I did not get what she said, but wondered how she came to know of that. The funny thing happened when I arrived at my office with Santa Claus in the making with his clothes, when one of the manager got caught hold of me in the reception area. He came to know that I mimicked him and wanted me to do it again. I was taken aback from a moment. I told him I cannot do it here right now, so he took me to the interview room nearby with another manager. There was no escape for me here, so I did it. not knowing what would followed next (He was not known for being friendly with others). Luckily, nothing happened. Before the manager got hold of me, he was busy taking interview of candidates. As I got in my dept. and settled in, there were more murmurs behind me, soon enough the other set of managers, shift lead also wanted to see the act again. Never before I have seen myself in so much demand. I was hesitant a bit, as I am not known for performing, but then there were other people who joined in, you can say the dept. I did it again not sure how well it came off. At the end of the act, it felt like a huge burden coming off. Later I came to know that the shift lead who had organized the activity had sent out a mail to every managers and leads about who did what. Had I any clue of that, I don't think I would have done the act.

I really enjoyed those days a lot. Though the christmas celebrations after that day has never been the same, but it does reminds me of the wonderful time that I had back then.

WISH YOU ALL A HAPPY CHRISTMAS

KEEP SPREADING THE JOY AROUND :))

What a Weekend!!

What a weekend this had turned out to be. Read on to know further.

On Friday evening, I had a wedding of my brother-in-law's brother to attend. My family was already out there, as I had been out for work, I decided to join them at the reception. I had no clue on what was coming my way.

I had two choices to reach the place either take an auto or travel by train. I thought of travelling by auto as I did not wanted to take the risk of getting my clothes rubbed against fellow passengers while riding in a train. As I was already running late, I had not made up mind till the last moment.

It was the call from my sister who asked me where I was and told me to reach the place before everything gets wrapped up. I then decided to take the train route as it was much quicker than the road transportation. As some says if its ain't your day, you can do nothing about it.

I stood outside my building to catch an auto to reach the railway station, which is like a 10 min.walk from my place. As luck would have it, there was no single vacant auto moving and soon enough there was a traffic jam, thanks to the flyover build nearby. I decided to take a walk and finally managed to board a train. This did not end here. The train that I boarded was running late too, twice it stopped in between. It was then it sink in that I may not be able to make it on time. Later, I came to know a person at one of the stations came in between the train and the tracks while trying to reach the other side of the platform. I landed at the nearest station to the venue and thought my ordeal was finally over. I was wrong. I faced the same situation as I stood outside my building. sometime back. Only this time, the auto drivers were being choosy on where they wanted to go. There was long wait of commuters like me who were out on the road to catch an auto. I even went to the end of the road to catch an empty auto before someone else does. Even that did not work. Others also did the same. My patience was running out, so I called my sister to know how far was the place from the station, it turned out to be a 10-15 min distance. I decided to take my chances and walk all the way to the venue. As I made up my mind, and started walking, I found an auto camouflaged by the parking vehicles around which just dropped a passenger. I quickly made my move and asked him to take me to the venue.

There was another twist in the tale here. The driver told that he would take me if I knew the place as he was not from here. I told him, even I did not knew the place and that we can ask people to reach the destination. Soon he started his auto's engine and we were off. After asking a few people, I finally reached the wedding venue. I thanked the driver without whom my journey would have been incomplete.

The chairs were already half-empty when I reached there. I thought I am in for a lot of sound bytes. Thankfully, none of that happen. After that everything went smooth. There was more trouble coming for me which I had no idea of.

That night, I was constantly changing my positions and was unable to sleep. I did not know what was happening. It was only when I woke up on a Saturday morning with a cold, headache and fever that I realized what happened. The next two days, I slept and was on the couch wrapped with sheets watching TV and doing nothing. For now, I am avoiding cold water, though the fever and cold has gone, I am stuck with the headache and dry cough. Guess this is winter's way of telling its here and making its presence felt.

Lucky to Be Alive!!!

I thought this would be my last trip. If you have traveled in one of those "Super Express" buses plying in the state of Karnataka/Kerala, you would know what I am talking about.

This is not the first time that I was riding on these buses. The experience this time was definetly terrifying though. It looked as if the driver had made his mind up to live up to the name of "Super Express". For once I felt that the BEST buses in Mumbai was a smaller evil in front of this monster, but then you don't have so many open roads in Mumbai where you can really make your vehicles go faster.

Down here in Kerala, private buses form the crux of the road transportation. As there are many players involved, competition is tough. A case of who gets the passengers first at each stop and they would do anything to out do each other even if it means speeding, making dangerous manevours and overtakes.

The bus in which I was traveling had almost knock down a biker who made a wrong pass. The bus driver even went ahead and tried to make a U-turn without slowing down so as to reach the bus stop in the first position. His efforts did not pay off, but he did made me realize how one would feel if the bus is on a two set of tyres. There was a moment when I started chanting GOD's name when standing in a position made it possible for me to look outside the same glass the driver was looking through. The way he was driving, you too would have started praying. I am pretty sure that some of these 'maverick' drivers might have ended up in accidents. I wished not to be a part of it.

I am not sure if the people of Kerala find this amusing, but something should be done about this. For me, the bus ride was one hell of a journey and I feel Lucky to Be Alive!!

She Kept Pushing Me Away.............

I don't know why she does it every time I want to be with her. She keeps running away from me when I want to be closer. When I don't look at her she complains that I don't give her attention. She comes to me when no one is watching. Every time we meet she acts like she is angry on me, even though I have not done anything to make her feel offended.

I have never really chased girls in my life, but this one is really making me run after her. If you are wondering why I still try to woo her, well she happens to be my niece. She does not like to be near boys. I have a weakness for kids, I like to play with them whenever they are around. My niece turned out to be quite a "naatku". Always saying to me "kati", showing me the little finger whenever she pays a visit to her uncle's house.

Initially I thought she did it, coz she had not spend much time with me and it would go away with time. My niece certainly did not think so. Every time I tried to play with her, she would keep running away, telling me that she would complain about me to everyone. I was okay with this in the beginning, but then it started getting on my nerves. I know being a "grow-up" maturity is expected out of me, but then again with kids, you become one of them.

I started avoiding her, even acted like I don't want to talk to her. Even I did kati to her. She would then complain to her Mom (my sister) that I won't talk to her or say look at her. When she wants to play, she wants me around otherwise its kati all the way.

Even yesterday, the same story unfolded, raising the little finger towards me as she was inside the home. This time round, I tried to woo her and she kept running away some times hiding behind her Mom or Dadi's legs. Again complaining that she would tell everyone back home. Still I would try to play with her. Running behind her made me realize how we guys are kept on their toes by their girlfriends, she just reminded me of that.

Today, I finally find success when my efforts paid off, she kept calling up my name to play with her. It was a good feeling to feel needed. I just hope that this is just not for the time being. I hope the next time when she comes again, she won't raise that little finger again.

I am Back :)

I am back, and it feels good. Though I did missed sharing my thoughts and experiences here. I am getting back to do what I do the best.


May be sometime later, I will let you know about my absence, for now it feels good to be back.


Keep your eyes open to read more posts out here. :)))))))))

Blogging Off

I will be out of blogging for some time. I don't know if this means no. of days, weeks or even months.

Be assured that I will be back. In the mean time do go through my old post if you visit this blog :)

My Caller Tune Singing a Different Tune

The song "Hey Shona" was blaring from the speakerphone of my manager's who was trying to get in touch with one of the new recruits. That was the caller tune of the recruit that comes to my mind when talk about caller tunes.

Nowadays caller tunes have become so common that every now and then you might hear a cellphone singing a new tune. Though I resisted it for quite a while, coz it did not made sense to me to have my caller listen to a tune that I liked, but I cannot listen to it. The truth of the matter is there was no tune I felt would be suited as my caller tune. So when I did found one, I knew what I wanted to do. The one thing that I did not know was how I had a tough time setting my caller tune. Read on to know further.........

The last time I came across setting a caller tune was when my friends told me why did I set a caller tune of Hutch (now Vodafone) which left me amazed given my approach to the caller tunes. So I ended up making futile attempts to make the lady at the Hutch customer care center understand that I did not activated the caller tune. I was told that nothing can be done about this as this could be proved. So I ended up paying for the activation for the same.

This time round, I wanted to make sure everything goes fine. My caller tune was from the movie "Rock On". I got the song code from the site which was promoting the movie. I followed the instruction that told to send an SMS to 56789. After that I got the message which said to subscribe type ACT CT which I promptly did. After that I called up at my own cell to listen to the tune that I was dying to hear. To my surprise it was the Vodafone tune that was set as my caller tune. I then happen to cancel the caller tune which then effectively happened to and again tried to send the song code to set it as my caller tune. I got a message saying that my request was pending.

Later I got a message saying it was deactivated. I stop trying for it again. Never did I thought that setting a caller tune can be so tiresome exercise. I did not give it up so easily. So I called up the customer care to find out if I did something wrong on my end. I told them what I did, I was then told that to set caller tune I had to type CT and then the song code. I did that and then I got a message saying it has been activated and funnily again the same Vodafone tune singing "You and I in this beautiful world...................." . I again called up the customer care, explained what I had gone through and then I was told that I search for the song and send an SMS to a different number. I said okay, lets try this one too. This time it worked. Finally my efforts paid out. What a relief!!!

The one thing that I don't understand is how can such a simple task be made so complex? Either it is a good ploy to make money as each of these SMS to activate the caller tune comes at a premium. Giving clear instructions would definetly help here.

I am waiting to see my bill now to know how much I ended up spending to have my caller tune sing the right tune.

Instant Messaging (IM)

You must be wondering what this is all about. One must have chatted so many times with their friends that their typing speed must have improved by now. At least mine have :) I am talking about chatting with people you don't know, probably of the opposite sex. We all have done it sometime or the other. I am writing down my experiences as I see that IM (instant messenger) chatting has made its way to the graveyard. I found my chats to be amusing, funny and did left me wondering too!!!

It was during my college days that I was into it whenever I need to 'pass my time'. I would go into the chat rooms and hoping to find some girl to talk to. The conversation always started with a Hi and if you are lucky enough they will reply back. One needs to be make sure that their chat is interesting or else you might end up chatting with yourself.

I used do get stuck up wondering what to say next when I do get a reply from the other side. You might talk about interests, work/studies and may be other stuff. May be I need to learn how to break the ice. In my messenger I find a long contact list which is never online whenever I am or they have learned the trick of being invisible. I remember one 'friend' of mine with whom I had chatted and then added to my contact list. After a few months down the line, when I told 'Hi' to her when she was online she did not remembered me although I was in her contact list. How funny can things get?

The one thing I found was that I ended up doing all the talking and all they would do is answer. I guess they are used to that kind of attention where they can choose whom they want to talk to. Not different from the real world. After all when one sees an id with a girl name it gets bombarded with so many chat requests. My friends used to chat pretending to be girls. What a fun they had doing it.

Though there were times when the chat would end before it began, then there were times when the 'friend' whom I had added in my contact list would never appear online. They were also those with whom you really had a good time chatting too. You would exchange e-mail ids but after that there would be no reply. I even had instances where I had to introduce n number of times to a friend of mine who is adept at shayari. Sometime chatting does has the same effects of a face to face conversation, the only difference is that the face is missing here. Then I had this chat with this girl, we instantly hit it off and talked for hrs. After that I never saw her online again. Did left me wondering what happened here?

I find online chatting to be interesting as you tend to judge the person by the text they entered rather than how they look. Something we don't follow in the outside world. One tends to create an image about the person with whom they are talking which of course creates an excitement within us. I mad a lot of friends throughout the globe and even meet some of them.

Nowadays when I do turned my IM, one can only see the long list of contacts who appear offline. Even if you do go in chat rooms hoping to chat with someone. The only ones you would find are bots which would try to entice you to click on their link and see them live on the cam. With the number of social networking sites coming up, it can be said that chatting online has made a transformation in the form of scraps. One can know whom they want to be friends with and may even check out their pics, profile something not possible with IM.

As for me I don't go in search of making new friends now, don't even have the time to do that. Hope online chatting has been fun for you as it has been for me. I use my IM to check for mails. Works better for me, rather than going into the site and log into it. For now

Instant Messaging R.I.P.

Sport Loans Something to think about................

Today, when I read the papers there was an article on how most of the medals that India won in the individual category at the Olympics was mostly due to the individuals ability for funding for their own training rather depending on the government for providing the facilities. Though there have been exceptions but mostly its been their own making.

This kind of hit me when I was thinking how a sports person can get the funds one requires for their training. Why not banks give loans to sports persons? This would really change the whole scenario of sports in India, the one which is seen today. We have lot of talent here, but the problem is not every one has the moolah to make it to the top. By giving loans to sports person at concessional rates, they will be able to avail the amenities that they were being denied.

Having said this, I know this is not a very easy task, but if we can work on it then definetly things can work out for better. One of things about getting loans is you need to prove to the banks you have enough money and you don't need the money in the first place!!

The banks can give loans at lower rates for a longer duration and on the other hand they stand to gain, if the sport person they have given loan to is winning events. This would give them a brand ambassador and would mean more business. It can also happen that they did not win any events, at least they were able to give them the facilities which was required for their improvement. This can also be dubbed as a corporate effort to develop sports in India and making their contribution towards the same.

I do hope they are reading this and make a note of it.

Insomania

You have trouble sleeping in the night. If you don't then stop reading this and if you are, you just found yourself a friend in me. Yup that's me. I too have the problem of hitting the bed.

This has been going for some years now and somehow I have not been able to be on top of it. Its been more than a week that I hardly feel asleep now. So I end up getting late which makes life miserable for me.

My family feels that there is a ghost moving around the house which incidentally happens to be 'me' as I tend to move around my house when I don't feel asleep.

I tried counting sheep and it never ends, in fact coz of it I can say numbers in a descending order without stopping for once. Some one said reading a book helps in sleep, you know what I happen to finish that book in the early morning.

I envy people who falls asleep at the fall of a pin. There are people who can sleep throughout the day. Man, wish I could do that.

Hope that I am able to get a good sleep tonight!!

India's Quest to Olympics

"The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not winning but taking part;
the essential thing in life is not conquering but fighting well"

— Pierre de Coubertin (founder of modern Olympic Games)

It was heartening to see the Indian flag rising at the top of the podium when Abhinav Bindra clinched the only individual gold medal in the 10m shooting competition in the recent Beijing Olympics 2008. This was a proud day for India and the Indians to cheer about.

Abhinav really needs to be complimented for the way he held his nerve to hit the bulls eye in the last round which made all the difference.

This happens to be the first individual gold medal to be won by India and that too after 28 long years. India's populations stands at about one billion approximately. This very much says a lot about the sorry state of affairs about sports excluding cricket which has the players raking in lots of moolah.

Though we have sport organizations formed to take care of the development of sports in India, we hardly get to see the results. It is very sad to see that we are not doing much for the development of sports, though we have athletes who overcame all these obstacles to win medals for India.

We need to learn a lot from our neighbor China which starts working on its athletes from a young age. No wonder they have bagged so many gold medals at the Olympics. I surely hope this we take a leaf out of China to change the face of the dismal state of sports in India.

Though Abhinav had the money to fund his training, others are not so lucky. Hope the sports authority takes a note of this and starts working on it soon as the 2010 Common Wealth Games is to be held in Delhi.

I hope to see us winning more medals at the Olympics and the coming Commonwealth Games in 2010.

Making A Difference!!!

"There are two types of people who will tell you that you cannot make a difference in this world;
Those who are afraid to try themselves, and those who are afraid that you will succeed."

— Ray Goforth

This got me thinking when I saw one of them in the local trains going about their work few years back. Today when I saw one of them again, I decided to share this thought with you.

You must be wondering what I am talking about, who I saw and all the fuss about. Relax, you see them everyday if you happen to travel in the Mumbai local trains and yet they remain invisible to us as we try to make our journey and for some a nuisance. I am talking about the individuals who are trying to make a living by selling accessories or singing in trains. For most of you they may appear as ordinary people who rob you of your peace when in transit. They do that as they are trying to make a living.

They are the real heroes who try to make a decent living even when the grim realities of their lives make it easier for them to get into illegal activities.

I often hear people saying they hate their lives. Even I do that. When I think of them, all my problems gets vanishes in thin air. If I am down, then I say to myself if they can do it so can I.

Life gives us lot of opportunities and options for solving the problems of our life, but they don't have that many options to make their problems go away. The only way they can do it is by making a decent living and hoping that they can give their children the kind of life they dreamed of.

It was the singing of a young girl accompanied by her father perhaps which are still fresh in my mind. The girl sang so beautifully the song and was moving towards people asking for money. My friend took out a 5 rupee coin and handed over to her. While I was indecisive about whether I should give it or not. Though I enjoyed her singing, I was in a dilemma as I have a strict policy of not giving money to kids who most of the time happen to be beggars as I wanted them to stop doing it. I thought if everyone did this, may be there won't be any kid begging in and around the streets. I did not offer the girl the money though I kind of regretted not doing it and kind of made it a point that instead of turning them away, we should encourage them of making as they are trying to make a decent living by singing or through selling items. Living life at their level is not that easy.

I would like to make a humble request, in case you come across them, do make a point to buy from them. There are times when we waste our money on useless things, only this time you would be making a difference!!

We all wish that we make a difference. How many of you have been able to do that? or have made an attempt to do it?

The most common answer would be that it is something that you only thought about but did nothing. While some even made an attempt to do so, some succeed some don't. Some even made the difference and feel great about it.

Where do you stand among them??

Prayer to God

I would like to pay tribute to the victims who died in the recent bomb blasts that ripped across the nation and would like to pray to God to fill some sense in the minds of the people who did this act of cowardliness by attacking innocent people.

Time and again, India has proved that it will not bow down to such acts of terrorism. It will not take this down either. The sad part is that some of our own people have become enemy of the nations ripping the country apart by following wrong ideologies.

God, I pray that these people realize what they are doing and ask for forgiveness.

Amen

Whining!!! Does it Helps?

"Man spends his life in reasoning on the past,
in complaining of the present, in fearing future."

— Antoine Rivarol

Everyone somewhere or the other keeps whining about situations, people, places, etc. The reasons could vary from anything to everything like things not happening to their tastes, tiff with people because of various reasons and so on.

Why do people complain, is it because they are in a bad situation or things not going as per their will or they are not willing to accept the changes? One often hears people complaining about life that it was because of destiny they ended up this way. Do you agree that its fate which makes life harder for people or is it the other way round?

People tend to resign to their fates as they set their limitations. Often people just prefer to whine about the living standards, crime rate, workplace, people, etc and choose to do nothing about it. I have come across people who want to change the state of their lives but do very little in that direction. This reminds me of the famous line from the movie Rang De Basanti where Aamir Khan says "Zindagi jeene ke do tareeke hote hai, ya toh jo ho raha hai usse hone do, ya fir usse badalne ki zimmedaari uthao" (meaning there are two ways to live life, one to accept life as is or take responsibility to change it). How many of us do really make an attempt to change our lives or just let it fly by.

STOP WHINING and take control of your life. Here are some pointers on how one should go about it:

Accepting Changes: Often people resist alterations in their lives which often ends up hindering their progress. This could be due to fear of uncertainty, not knowing how to deal with the situations. One of the ways is to see changes in a positive light. Accept change as a part of life. If you are being transferred from your dept. of 2yrs to a new department, take it as opportunity to learn something new and who knows you might end up in a dept. that suits your skills better. Be the change you want to see. Try not to react to the situation but handle it tactfully.

Take Control: People often say that the government is doing nothing for them. You always feel disgusted to walk besides the garbage dump which has come up near your house. You choose to express your dismay but don't file a complaint with the local authorities to remove it. How do you expect things to happen if you don't do anything about it? As the famous lines from the US president J.F. Kennedy says "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for the country." If you are unhappy with a particular situation, then put in your efforts to change it. One cannot fight the system from outside, to get rid of corruption and tainted politicians one has to be a part of the system. Make changes in your life to live the life you always dreamed of. Join that dance classes that you always wanted to join but never did.

Resolving Issues: Sometimes even the most trivial issues can be resolved through discussions. It always helps to discuss the issues with individuals with whom you have a conflict. Like talking to your friend who had been saying bad things about you. Confronting them will only make the situation worse and you could end up losing your friend. There could be various reasons why they did it, try to find to out and see if you can forgive them and be friends again.

Things not in your favour: Many a times it happens that even after you make efforts the situation remains static. Don't get saddened by it, instead try to find out if you could have improved on your efforts or did you missed on something. If that is not the case then you can do very little to move it in your favour. You did your best. Accept the fact and move on with your life. If you did not get the promotion that you were pinning for, try to have a talk with your manager and find out the reasons. If they are acceptable to you, then you try to do well. If not then start looking for a new job.

Then there are people who prefer to whine about everything so to lessen their work or keep them in a spot light. These kinds of people tend to avoid their work and responsibilities. If you belong to this group then please stop whining and try to get a life. By whining you are only making a fool of yourself as people tend to judge them as cry babies. They don't tend to go ahead in their lives coz of whining.

You have the power of changing your life, place, state, nation and the world. And this will not happen unless you stop whining and be the change.

Ek Achi Adat

"The hardest job kids face today is learning

good manners without seeing any"

— Fred Astaire

Have you recently seen the new promo of the new Ramayan being broadcasted on NDTV imagine. Here is an excerpt below of one of the ads that was aired:

A child is shown singing and dancing to the "A Ganpat" song in front of the guest and his parents. It shows its parents embrassed by the song he chose to dance on. Then the line comes of teaching good manners to your kids. One can do that by watching Ramayan — Ek Achi Adat.

or

Imagine when a girl parent comes to inquire about her kid at her friends house and she blabbers "Bhag gayi hogi kisi ladke ke saath, kya kare jawani ka garam khoon hai na, koi baat nahi subah tak aa jaegi"

I really liked the way the creators of this ad made their point and kind of made me think about what the todays kids were seeing on the television. In a way they are right that today the television industry has become a victim of running after TRPs than to provide some quality entertainment. Everyone will admit that this is the dark age of television which is devoid of the meaningful serials (except for a meagre few). The reality shows that are shown are a turn-off with each channel have more than one reality show running. On top of that you will seeing them indulging in cat-fights to promote the shows. One of the reasons the saas-bahu serials are so popular because almost all the viewers are housewives. I happened to ask some people who used to watch such shows, one of the common replies that I came across that there was nothing else to watch!!!

Gone are the days when there were serials which we could watch as a family. There was something new to learn from it. This reminds me of my growing days when there serials like Nukkad, Fauji, Circus, Rajani, Yeh Jo hai Zindagi, Bangei Apni Baat, Just Mohabbat and others to name a few. Yes who can forget the Ramayan & Mahabharat. They were the best (I don't believe in remaking of movies/serials/songs which were a hit, but the Ramayan that is aired now is not that bad). They were the serials based on "real" people who had to handle difficult situations, fighting for your rights and the trauma of growing up :).

Nowadays, whenever I see any serial, the only thing that comes across that somewhere someone is plotting against each other. Have people stoop so low or the creative minds are out of ideas to churn out such trash. No wonder the Ramayan ad hits the wall pointing that there is hardly any serials today which a family can sit and watch together and with the kids learning from them.

Hope someone read this and make an attempt to change the current scenario of the serials that are being aired.

Gandhigiri

“War seems to be part of the history of humanity. As we look at the situation of our planet in the past, countries, regions and even villages were economically independent of one another. Under those circumstances, the destruction of our enemy might have been a victory for us. There was a a relevance to violence and war. However, today we are so interdependent that the concept of war has become out dated. When we face problems or disagreements today, we have to arrive at solutions through dialogue. Dialogue is the only appropriate method. One-sided victory is no longer relevant. We must work to resolve conflicts in a spirit of reconciliation and always keep in mind the interests of others. We cannot destroy our neighbors! We cannot ignore their interests! Doing so would ultimately cause us to suffer. I therefore think that the concept of violence is now unsuitable. Nonviolence is the appropriate method.”

— Dalai Lama

Recently “Lage Raho Munnabhai” won the National Award for Best Popular Movie for the year. If you think about it, the movie belonged to a different genre all together. The movie brought back something from the past that we had forgotten about. It repackaged it and named it “Gandhigiri”.

The movie theme was based on Gandhigiri. The way they highlighted the use of Gandhi’s ideals was commendable. A lot of credit for this goes to the writers Raju Hirani, Vidhu Vinod Chopra & Dr. Abhijat Joshi who happened to come up with such a good movie with a social message.

We all seem to have forgotten the “Mahatma” the Father of our Nation who seem non-existent in our today’s life. Except that we see his face on the hundred rupee note, his statues in parks and portraits in government’ offices under which officials take bribes.

His teachings of non-violence seems to have lost in history, as we stood ground to more than 50 years of independence of a country he fought for and died. The country now is in turmoil of corruption and violence. The movie happened to have brought back the Gandhi to life as people started to read more about his teachings and resorting to Gandhigiri.

The movie has its moments where a pensioner has to strip himself to get the government official to approve the grant of his pension fund as he does not have enough money to give bribe to him. Then there was this scene where a boy happened to lost all his father’s money and was contemplating suicide. Telling the truth to his father takes a lot of courage.

After the movie was released, there was news of people taking up Gandhigiri all around the country. There was news that flowers were being sent to the HRD minister Arjun Singh who seemed to be hell-bend on increasing the reservation quotas in IIT, IIMs where merit should be given a priority. Around 2000 debt-stricken farmers in India’s cotton growing Vidarbha region resorted to protest with flowers pursuing a bank to disperse loans.

Gandhigiri seems to be a hit with the youngsters who seemed intrigued with his teachings and simple living. You will find that there over 840 communities created on the Orkut site for Gandhigiri. If that is not enough, one can also do a search on google to find websites formed to spread the Gandhigiri and the teachings of the Bapu.

It is really fascinating to see how a movie can have its effect on the people. Let’s hope that this helps in eradicating the corruption and violence which has become rampant in the Mahatma’s nation. For now,

“GANDHIGIRI ROCKS”

Feeling Trapped

"I have always liked it, it is still my favorite book.
I do not like my writing,

but I like this book...

I wish I like my own writing more, but like all of us,
I am trapped inside my own skin"

— William Goldman

There are times when you have a lot to say but you cannot express it. You want to do things in a certain way, but you end up doing things differently something you don't enjoy. The way you think from inside is different from the way you act outside. You do everything and still no one takes notice of it except when you make mistakes. You have lot of anger vent up inside and don't know how to deal with it. Things don't work your way even when you end up doing the right things.

You are made to wonder what you did wrong when everything you did was right. You make things happen for others to have good memories for the rest of their lives, but no one does the same for you. You have been good to people, but when its their turn to help you out, they are quick to turn their back on you. No body wants to recognize you, making you feel like a loner. Though they want your help when in a catch-22 situation.

Still you take everything in your stride. You want to enjoy the gifts of life. You feel, you are surrounded by wrong people and want to change them. Even if you try, you can not do much about it. as they end up being the only source of a "company" to go out with (if you don't want to go alone).

Life takes it's toll and you begin to think where all this is leading up to. Will I be able to live my life the way I want to? Fulfill my dreams and goals?

There are no answers here, its for each one of us to find it out.

The Art of Writing

It is hard to imagine that I am doing good in my art of writing (even if I don't, I would like to think so). Never in my imagination did I thought I could write stuff. The adventure has been a good one and a learning experience too.

I started writing short stories in my school time just to pass time. Don't really know what prompt me to. They were horror stories where I made use of my imaginary world. Being a hyperactive kid, sitting and doing nothing would get me worked up. So I was always on to something. I never really shared the stories with anyone with the fear of being ridiculed.

Then there was a time when I had stopped writing. I resumed writing again in my T.Y. in the form of journal writing. My cousin had this habit of journal writing. We (I and my other cousins) enjoyed reading them and came to know a lot of secret stuff during our play days. One can find my journal lying around the house. No is able to read it as I have a real bad handwriting, so no one is able to make out whats written. Who said having bad handwriting does not have it benefits. In the beginning I used to get tried writing every day all the events that took place, what I did and thought and other stuff. I found my energy level getting drained by the act, don't know why. So I would end up discontinuing and restarting it again. It was again during my work stint that I started writing again and have maintain a good track record till now. It is a good way of putting your thoughts into words, I really enjoy it now. In fact I even ended up writing a half-completed story something that I thought could be canned into a T.V. Soap. The one thing that I have not told was about my interest in getting in the field of media. Some how things did not worked out and I ended up in other field but the interest is still there. There is more to this. I even ended up writing poems. It started with writing a birthday message for my sis which I got framed for her. The kind of feedback that I got was great. Made me feel good. There are people who write better poems than me. There is this colleague of mine who can write wonderful poems. She has the talent. I just wish that I could let her know that by publishing her poems.

Recently I have started writing maintaining a blog which I hope you might have read. I was not that active on this when I started as time acted as a big constraint. Nowadays I take my time out to write it. The journey of writing has been enjoyable and a pleasurable one. Its a good way of running away from the reality and being in your own imaginative world where you make things happen. Hope the adventure of writing has been great fun to you as it has been to me.

Procrastination or Simply Being Lazy

"Procrastination is the bad habit of putting of
until the day after tomorrow

what should have been done the day before yesterday"

— Napoleon Hill

The above quote says it all. How procrastinating things is a bad habit. I believe some of us have this bad habit and never thought of how we became a victim (though I guess we knew how we were slowly becoming victims of this viscous habit).

I have to admit that I have let the act of procrastinating grow over the years. Strangely it is more in my personal life than in my work life. Its odd as many times it is the other way round. Guess its because of me being a workaholic.

What I am trying to find out is whether I have the habit of procrastinating or I am being simply lazy. I remember that during my childhood days I used to avoid doing work. Somehow I don't remember when this act of being lazy grow into a procrastinating. My family can still vouch for this and can even go blah blah blah (Thankfully they don't read in what I write out here). The one thing that I never told them that I was quick on tasks which I find good otherwise I kept on delaying it. Also there were some benefits of my procrastinating things. For e.g., Changing the name in the electricity bill turned out to be a quite a tedious task with the officer saying that I would have to shell out around 2800 bucks to get it done. As there were some discrepancies in the electricity bill for the past month, I decided to apply for the same few months late. I got a lot of crap from my family for this. Somehow they also had the expression of amusement when I got the work done without giving in a single penny. Howzzat!!

There have been other instances as well. Somehow procrastinating things had been a blessing in disguise. Overall it did some damage though. One thing that I don't understand is why I procrastinate things related to family and not with my friends or at work. I guess this has to do something with maintaining a good social image. I also realized the fact that I was lazy in the start, somehow it got transformed into procrastination. Though I have not really made an attempt to overcome it. I am thinking of do it now. After all who won't like to keep their family happy :D

The Perfect Life!!!

 

"Life is what happens to you while
you're busy making other plans"

— John Lennon

The perfect life — a life which one dreams to live. I guess everyone has a picture in their mind on their lives should be. Why is that very few people are able to live their lives the way they want to be and others keep struggling to get it right?

Recently I was put into this thought as I thought that certain ingredients missing in my life would have given the right flavor to my recipe of perfect life. Somehow they continue to dodge me. I hope to get hold of them some day J. I wondered if others are getting to taste their recipe or in search of the missing ingredients like me.

We all have seen people who do a few things and the next thing you know they are all over the papers for the right/wrong reasons. Then they are people who have slogged all their life and still that key ingredient is missing from their life which would have made the big difference. I happened to have narrowed down a few key ingredients which would help anyone to make their perfect life recipe or at least live a good life. They are:

Friends & Contacts: Having friends who have the right attitude and zeal towards life makes a very big difference to anyone’s life. Friends teach you a lot of things and real friends are there to help you out when they need you. Very few people understand this, how having great friends can be a real treasure. Knowing the right kind of people also makes a big difference. They appear like angles when you are caught in a no man’s land situation.

Getting Things Right: If you can do this consistently then you can have things happening for you. This is one of the ways to get appreciated and recognized your work. You can imagine yourself going places if you can do this.

Luck Factor: This is one of the key ingredient without which the recipe will taste sour. I never used to believe that this factor could have made such a difference but slowly I have realized it does. No one can really predict how one can have good luck in their lives, but it certainly makes a difference to one’s perfect life. One can say its life’s way of rewarding people for their karma.

Few people realize this on what goes on making a perfect life recipe. There is also the small stuff that makes a difference in the ingredients of the recipe. It all comes down to on how we look at life and live it out.

PETA & Nudity

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is an animal rights organization which keeps demonstrating its protest against the treatment meted out to animals. It is good that someone has decided to stand for the animals who have to suffer at the hands of us (humans).

Though they are doing good work at making people realize that animals also need to being taken care of and look after. They way they make their protest sometime amuses me. There were so many instance when I had seen pictures in newspapers of PETA activists going nude while they protest against the unethical treatment to animals. I can understand their protest, but fail to understand them going nude in more than one instance.

Why does anyone has to go nude when they are protesting? Do they think people wont take notice of such protest unless they show some skin. I appreciate the work that they are doing, but the nudity that comes along turns me off. Come on, you guys are dealing with such a delicate issue, how can one let things go this way as if they are part of promoting a product through commercial gimmicks.

There are ways where one can really make people take notice of the highlighted issues. I believe the best example would be Mahatma Gandhi who happened to toppled the British rule with non-violence and his stayagraha movement. I guess the PETA should learn from this man on how to make people aware of the issues. Showing skin would only attract people who are merely interested in seeing it. This would do no good to the cause. Its time that they get their act together or else people who are really interested in the cause would get disillusioned with it.

Being the Nice Guy

“Nice Guys Finish Last”

I always used to wonder what this quote meant. Never really understood why a nice guy should finish last. After all being nice is not that too bad. Now that I am trying to find my way in the real world, I can understand why it is said so.

Nice guys are people who come across as mannered and helpful individuals. They are ready to help you out if you are in trouble. There mannerism, etiquettes and moral values could leave one amazed. It is really hard to find someone of this rare species to exist in this world.

The problem is everyone loves having them around as they know they are loyal and trustworthy individuals. When it comes passing the buck (like you want that a task that needs to be done, but you are in no mood to do it), these Nice guys appear as angels to help you out. It is a kind of irony that we as individuals tend to "use" them for their helping nature. No wonder that our ego gets boosted when we successfully delegate our work done from others. We tend to use them at the beck of our call. What makes me wonder is why do these nice guys take all this into their stride? Why don't they hit back and get the record straight.

Over the years, I have realized that these guys are "sensitive". They also happen to be of shy and reserved nature. Their biggest problem is not been able to say no to others when they want to say no. Also they are reluctant to express themselves fully as they might fear being ridiculed by others. One could see the innocence in them which seemed lost as we grow up from a child to a man. They also find it hard to deal with the real world which gets hard on them. They also have a hard time in getting girls as most of them go after guys who are macho and bad.

In today's world one cannot really afford to be a nice guy. There are people waiting to move up the ladder by stamping on such people who do all the work. The nice guy need to make sure that he learns to say no (time is a good teacher, which makes us do things sometimes we don't on our own). The existence of the nice guy ceases to exist in the real world as it gets competitive and mean.

The sooner they learn about this, things will get better for them.

Dedicated to Mothers around the world

Ever wondered that there is someone who takes care of you, makes sure you have everything what you need when you leave the house and makes you eat your breakfast even when you are getting late.

Yes, you are right I am talking about your Mother. One who does all the work while her work always goes unnoticed. We are so busy in living our lives that we tend to forget the force behind us that makes our life easier.

I often wondered what makes them to work so selflessly and drives them to do it all their life. Donning the role of a wife, mother and a working women. She takes care of everything, but at the end of the day what makes her sleep so peacefully and get up the next morning and go about doing her work. We as children never thought of what she did and that she did it for us. The cheesy line that we often use is she is supposed to do that. Never do we thank her for the love and support she gives us when we need her.

It all comes to one thing. The emotional attachment that she develops for us when we take shape in her womb. Her eyes are filled with tears of joy when she first holds us when we come out in the world to be loved, nurtured and raise by her. She always forgives us when we accept our mistakes, is there to support us when we need it the most in our trying times. Never makes us feel alone when she is around. She has always been a giver and never expects anything in return.

If there is anything that we need to do is thank her for loving us so much, giving us a good life, teaching us the values of life. Give her a big hug to let her know that we love her and we are there for here. God gifted us with mothers to take care of us. Sometime this mothers too are in the need for love and care.

This blog is dedicated to all the mothers in the world who represents the spirit of undying love for their children.

Chilling Blow in Mumbai

The newspaper read that the temperature in Bombay has hit 8.5 degree celsius. Never before the weather got so chilly. In fact, the last time the temperature hit so low was in 1962 when it was 7.5 degree celsius.

The weather cycle that Bombay goes through is Summer, Rainy and Winter season. Though one can vouch for the summer and rainy season. The winter season was never felt here. It was more like summer with less heat. With global warming taking place, climates have been changing all over the world. Bombay too got sucked into this.

People are seen walking down the road wearing wollen clothes, jackets and shawls. Something never seen before. The climate has gone so cold that there is no need to put on the fans or the air conditioner. Just leave the windows of your house open, and the cool breeze would take care of your needs. Couples can be seen cozying into one shawl, making good use of the change in climate.

The floor has gone so cold that, one does not wish to walk on it. The change in climate has lead to people not going for bath for days as the water is so cold that one shivers when they pour it on their body. Such has been the effect of the winter that the city has been facing a shortage of wollen clothes.

I have been enjoying this change in weather a lot. The only season that I enjoy is rainy season (Guess, I will have to add this in my list too). With the rain drops falling from the sky and the wind accompanying it, the smell of the ground would fill a breath of fresh air. Though I have to add that to enjoy the rainy season in a city like Bombay, one has to overlook the overflowing drains and the potholes which makes it feel like a torture. The best part of the change in weather is that you do not sweat. The wind blowing across the face is refreshing. One does not need to visit a beach to experience it. I choose to walk all the way when I have the time, so that I can enjoy every bit of this weather. I wish that the winter season remain as it is now. As of now, I am waiting for the weekends to come so that I can shop for my winter clothing. Till then CHILL OUT :)))))

Travelling in BEST buses

The one thing that people identify with Bombay (I prefer to call it that way), who come from outside is the red buses that they see in and around the city. The red buses known as BEST has become an integral part of Bombay that we, Bombayites identify with.

A service started by the British, one can also see the red buses plying on the roads of London. Most of my travelling needs are taken care by BEST. I preferred to travel by bus as school, college and my working place happen to be nearby. I sometimes prefer to travel through BEST than by car/auto. Its fun travelling on BEST. One can often see the funny side of life, sometime even embarrassing ones. in it.

It all starts with the queue of the bus. Sometimes the queue gets so large that it starts pouring on to the road. Even if the bus get fully occupied, there are people who still try to cram themselves in. In Bombay, time is money. A lot of time is spend on travelling especially with people who travel from far away place to reach their work places on time.

There are three types of people who board the bus. The first one is the Obedient who always stand in queue to board the bus. The second one are the Pushers who tries to get in between of the queue or try to board the bus before the Obedient one when it comes to the bus stop. The third one are the Runners and my favorites. For these people, time is everything. They cannot bare to see their bus going away in front of them. For them the race has just began which ends with boarding on the bus. Who says we need Marathon to keep our citizens fit and healthy. The BEST buses have been doing it for a long time.

The BEST is a good way of travelling in and around the city. Sitting besides the window seat with the wind blowing in takes that tiredness all away. Once you get on the bus, your guide throughout the journey will be the bus conductor also known as master. He can be friendly, helpful and even gets angry if you don't have the exact change for the bus ticket. If you don't have it, then be prepared to get an earful. In a crowded bus, be prepared to make some space for yourself, as every space is occupied. All kinds of incidents takes place in the bus. For a women travelling in a bus can be a nightmare. Its hard to understand what kind of pleasure do the perverts get who try to touch the opposite sex. No wonder the buses have a few seats reserved for them. There are times that these seats are also occupied by men unless they are reminded that they are ladies seat. As of me, I never sit on ladies seat even if no one is sitting over there. I prefer to stand all the way. Though the women have to be reminded that these seats are privilege given to them and are not their birthrights. I once had a funny incident over this. I always make sure that I don't sit on the ladies seat, and happen to sit on the senior citizens seat (which is one seat ahead of it). This girl who happened to be talking on the cellphone turns towards me from no where and said Ladies Seat (Like I happen to take something that belongs to her!!!). I enjoyed the reaction that she gave, when I told her its not a ladies seat. She was checking out for the written sign on the back of the seat.

One can also see the human side of the people when they offer their seats to older citizens. If you think that getting in the bus was tough, then getting down is also not easy. You will be lucky if the bus is not crowded, you can get down easily. The real challenge lies when you get through the crowd and make you way to the exit door. Moving through the crowd is akin to the hurdle race where you have to bypass each hurdle to reach the podium. You will meet all kinds of people. Some people talk so loudly on their cellphones, it makes one wonder if they are thinking that they are travelling in their personal car and not a public transport. The couples will seat themselves at the back of the bus to have their personal moments. The AC buses that has been started is a hit with the couples. Sometime you even end up making friends by travelling on the same route or see love blooming in the air. Though in the recent time BEST reputation has been tarnished with accidents, bad behavior from the conductor. This has not deterred the common man from travelling through BEST.

The BEST has in its own way made its mark. What needs to be seen is, can it live through its day.