Solution

“We are always aware of the solutions to our problems

The sooner you act on it, the problem cease to exist
The more you delay, the bigger the problem gets”

Call Me Yogi Baba please

Now onwards, I am going to add Baba against my name and also hold pravachans to guide the misguided souls (Doesn't matter how lost I myself will be).

I got this idea from one of my friends as he said "bas kar re baba" as I went on to give my divine advice. My sister always keeps on saying that when she tells me something I should just listen and not to tell what to do. It has become a habit of mine, to tell others what they should and don't if I think they are doing something that could jeopardize them.

Don't ask me how I got into the habit, but then with a mind like mine it is hard to ignore :P

On the other hand I think I would do better than other "babas" in giving gyaan straight from the real life than from the mythological epics. I think it would be good a way to earn an alternative income in these times of recession.

May be in the next 5 years or may be soon, I could too buy myself a bungalow in either Juhu or Bandra. So, please the readers of this blog and my future followers :D if you think you need any advice/decisions to be made, don't hesitate to get in touch with me.

Don't forget to make a small donation so that this struggling baba could make his mark and hold his pravachans. I am in need of sponsors to finance them, in return I will act as counselor for their employees and promote their products among my followers.

Tho Bhakt Jano take a deep breath and let it out slowly, do it 2 to 3 times and you will feel the difference.

See, I can be the new Cyber age Yogi Baba reaching my bhakts through their computers.

Pictures To Remember...

I finally got my college friends pictures added to my collection. The fact that we never had any pictures of us always amused me (except when we were attending weddings and the one trip that we took together and never saw the pics).

On Saturday, as we got together almost after a year. I thought it would be great to capture the moments on camera, which we did. Though a group photo is still missing.

The other pictures that I am missing in my collection are the NCC camp pics and the Esselworld trip that the three of us took when others failed to turned up.

The Sir who had accompanied us to the camp had informed us that if anyone wants the copy they can have it for a certain price. I never bought it and did not even have a look at the pictures. The camp turned out a big change for me as my skin color got changed and that in the 10 day camping we bathed just only once or twice a week. I still remembered as I was walking up the stairs on the floor where the school noticeboard was and the girls of my class were giggling seeing me. I was wondering why they were laughing. Later I came to know that some of NCC pics were put up on the school noticeboard.

When I saw the pictures I came to know why they were laughing. I stood among the group of boys who gladly posed for the camera in their undies as we were taking a bath. Ah, still cannot believe that it was the only pic that got notice of everyone. Though it did little to add to my popularity. If I had any knowledge of it, I would have lifted some weights that would have made my biceps bulge :D

The Esselworld trip on the other hand was fun. You don't need to have a big group to have fun. I was the only one to sit on the Thunder ride. What a fun it was as it took a 180 degree round, there were shoes, even coins falling down on the ground.

For me pictures are a way to relive those moments again...

Assumption and Expectation

“Assumption and Expectation are sides of the same coin.
Assumption leads to unrealistic thinking while
Expectation leads to heart breaks”

Do you still wish to flip the coin?

The Wrapper Collection

 


WOW!! That is the word that comes to my mind when I decided to spread out my collection of chocolate wrappers.

I am not a chocolate lover but yes I do collect chocolate wrappers. I got into this habit when the dairy milk bar used to have vintage cars on their covers as a child. I had a good collection of different cars which was thrown away.

I don't remember when I started collecting different wrappers but it is something that I have continued to till this day. Some of the wrappers are out of production. I even have the smallest dairy milk wrapper which I got through one of my friends.

I have never spend on chocolates at least never brought them for myself though I do buy mint like polo. Still never thought I would have such a large collection. Guess I should thank my sisters, friends and my office for all the chocolates that I got.

I hope that someday, I might get a good price for them and I could make a good fortune

See day dreaming helps you to be happy :D

Cleaning Up The Mess

I finally got the time in my hand to clean up my cabinet which looked more like a junkyard than a cabinet to keep my things.

As I got into organizing it better, it came to my notice that I hardly use any of the items, books that I have still with me.

I still have those Taxation handouts that I got from the classes during my final year in college. Hoping that it might help in understanding paying taxes, which I pay now.

Got one of the corners filled up with computer programming books which I hardly touched. I have no expertise in programming but if MS office is giving you a trouble, then do let me know especially advanced MS Word, I can teach a thing or two. The capabilities of these applications are amazing.

I also happen to have a collection of dairies that my Dad used to get which I keep with the books that I have. One of them being "Oliver Twist" that I got from the school library. I have tried reading it so many times, but the language just kills the joy for reading for me. Apparently the writing was in ancient Queen English (Shakespeare, my guess).

I have a bundle of newspapers articles regarding finance and interiors which would be helpful when dealing with finances. They have good articles in it. I hardly ever take them out.

This happens to be my natural coconut shaped piggy bank. I have a thing of collecting unusual items which catches my fancy and this happens to be one of them. One day while breaking a coconut Amma found this inside. I decided to keep it and make a better use of it. A piggy bank that I have hardly ever used.

This happens to be a first page of a newspaper published at the time of independence and reprinted when India completed 50 years of independence. I found it good enough to keep it with me.

I don't throw anything even if it becomes useless, I keep them with me hoping to make something out of them. I have everything from wood to the card boards even the plastics that you find when you buy new clothes. The only problem is that I don't find the time to make something out of this.

The funny thing is when I was done with cleaning up my cabinet, it looked the same as it was earlier.

Kya Baat Hai!!!

"Oye. Jab itana lamba hokar
tujhe koi dikhai nahi denta
tho mera kya honga
Kher pasand tho kai aate hai
par main kisi ko pasand aaou
tho baat bane :("

I was a little surprised when I got this reply from one of my buddies whom I had forwarded one of the philosphoy message that I got from other and this buddy of mine asked me whether I was in love?

I don't know where he got this idea (coz the message I sent had nothing remotely connected to love), so I replied him back that I am yet to find one and when asked about his status, this was the reply :)

Took me a while to digest when I read the message, the first thought that came to mind was, did I sent the message to my friend or someone else?, but then the word "lamba" cleared my doubts and it was indeed him.

I have known him for a long time and never heard him ever talking about gals. Though both of us and an other friend had taken a new year resolution few years back that we would have a girlfriend but both of us never tired to get one.

This message was quite different than he is normally. Guess time changes everything :)

Thinking of Getting a Pet

These days I am thinking of getting a pet. Though I am being opposed by everyone in the family, still I think we should have one.

For a pet I would like to raise a Tiger, a white tiger, I like tigers a lot and would love to have them as pets. The problem is I live in the urban jungle where we don't have enough space for the man himself forget about catering the needs of the animal and also provide protection to myself and others.

I cannot have dog as a pet as Amma does not approves of it. She think it will make the whole place dirty. I am not sure how the two of them would live when I leave the house for work.

I thought of keeping birds, but again she disapproves of it and says that she will open the cage and let them free. She is of the opinion that birds should not be caged and I agree with that. I could have easily had a squirrel as my pet who barged into our home in search for food but yet again I had to let it go.

After a lot of thinking I have narrowed it down to a cat which should be easy to look after and should not cause much trouble. I have also learned that cats unlike dogs needs less attention and can be toilet-trained easily. I am still looking into the prospects of the pros and cons of having a pet and how to take care of it and yes finding a place from where I can bring it home.

The Last Time I Played Holi

Got up too early in the day than the usual and was staring out of the window and listening to the silence which was broken later.

Scribbled a few thoughts in papers as I wanted to start the day with a clean slate. Waited for the day to pass away as I felt restless sitting in the house. Though it was a day well spend with family.

There were hardly anyone playing Holi from my building, except for the building adjacent to mine. I was trying to remember the last time I played Holi, I realized that it was about 10 years ago that I poured water and colors on others.

The last time being when my cousins came to my house and put colors on me and my sister as we were studying for our exams which were on the way. In terms of a proper playing, it happened to be the year when my father passed away. As I enjoyed the moment, the watchman of the building (the earlier place where I used to live) took on a societal obligation to tell me that I was not supposed to play. Though I did not understood what he really meant back then, but think of it who had given him the right to tell what one should do or not, especially when kids are not aware of such things.

I feel like I am living with dead people in the same building. I would have loved to go out and play but there are hardly anyone to play with. There are no one of my age group and the kids did not ventured out to play. Going to the old place would have being no different as my friends have got so busy in their lives they forgot what fun we used to have as kids.

Hope the next year would be a different story, I will make sure that I am somewhere playing Holi :) and that I am not working that day otherwise all my plans would go kappish.

Hope you had a great time playing Holi.

Listening to Myself

These days I am having fun listening to my voice with the help of my cellphone. It has a voice record feature which I have never used in 3 years.

The first time I used it to record my singing. I am more than a bathroom singer, singing whenever in the mood. It is another matter that I don't happen to know more than 2 lines of any songs.

When I heard myself, I could not believe what I was hearing. It shattered all my dreams of becoming a singer :P

I was like how can this happen when I thought I had a good voice. I do have a deep voice. My manager once told me that she liked my voice which was different from others. Many have told me about that but it never got to me. Few even went ahead and mimicked me, I went a step further mimicked others mimicking me :D

I have a very bad habit of saying "aaaaaa" especially when someone questions me and I have to think and answer. Still I am better than Venkatesh Prasad the Indian bowling coaching who say few words in between a lot of aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaas.

I think it is a good way of working on your voice, finding out how others hear you out and improving on it. I am working on my aaaas lets hope I reduced the numbers when I speak.

P.S. I was thinking of posting my singing audio file so that you could judge how I sound but changed my mind as I did not wanted to do atyachar on you and stop paying a visit to me :)

Insensitivity of the Society

As we were walking down the road and talking, I said something and turned around to find that she was not next to me. I looked behind and saw her running and beating a man with gray hair with her umbrella. The man did not even complain and went ahead.

I asked her what was that all about. She said he deliberately made a physical contact. Almost every women could relate to this kind of "touching" everyday as they make their way to schools, colleges, work or even to a place nearby.

When the recent Mangalore attacks happened, she was in fury. I could seeing her blood boiling up and am sure she would have loved to kick their @!#$%. I often told her that she should join a "Nari Mukti Morcha Andalon" but most of the times I tell her to let it go. Something she won't!!

I know it is not easy but then it is a kind of Fight or Flight situation, you have to decide how you are going to handle it when it happens. The best way is to confront them, most of them don't actually expect a reaction and that is what boost these sinners. Better attract the attention of the crowd and give them a nice thrashing.

I remember the first time when I came across such incident. Walking with Amma as teenager towards my home. A girl probably of my age with her Mom were coming from the opposite direction. I then saw a guy coming from behind them and moving his hand over the girl. I was taken aback as I had never seen such thing happening before. The Mom and the girl hardly reacted as he passed.

If it is not the touching then it is the staring. People do check out each other but what is not welcome when it remains eyed for a long time. Even school going kids do that. I was surprised when I saw a school going boy standing near the seat reserved for women in the bus and staring at them intently. If you do find someone doing that ask them what their problem is. It is a wrong mentality in our society that we let people stare and don't confront them.

This reminds me of one the MTV Bakra's episode years back, where they showed a girl being harassed by a roadside romeo at a bus stop. What was disheartening to see that no one (read male) intervened even when she asked for help from the people standing beside her. Only one women stood up and tried to stop that romeo. She was telling her brother (who had a good built) to stop the man but her brother choose to stood there and do nothing.

I don't know if you remember this, but way back in 2002 when a minor mentally challenged girl got raped in the Mumbai local train in the presence of five men, out of which one was a reporter whose account as an eyewitness was on the front page. They did nothing and watched as a drunken got into his act and then got off the train. The question that came to my mind was why they did not stopped him.

When I first read the story the one thing that came to my mind was the man carrying a weapon? or he was of a good built that prevented them from stopping him? I was angry at them for not standing up when I saw the picture of the accused who was nothing but a thin frame man who could have been stopped. It was really a shame for men specially. I am not sure how they were and are able to sleep in the night.

This is our society built on insenstitivity, though we prefer to add the term "fear" to to display our inability to act. We forget that the women who is being eve-teased is a mother, wife, sister and daughter of someone.

What would you do if someone did this to a women in your family?

Hope the next time, if you see a women being harassed by roadside romeos, you know what would be the right thing to do...

Liked the Quote

Our worst fear is not that we are inadequate, our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?’ Actually, who are you not to be?

You are a child of God; your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God within us. It is not just in some of us, it is in everyone, and as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

— From the Principles of A Course in Miracles

Love is Blind!!!

This is very true if you are judging a couple on their physical exterior and wonder what made them fall in love in the first place.

I have seen a few love stories and it did made wonder what were they thinking, so Love is indeed blind for you if you are judging someone you don't know.

Here is a gist of a few love stories that made me wonder:

The Patel Dude

This guy was handling a team in which three girls were working. There is a square in this love story. He had proposed to a girl in his team who turned him down. Disappointed by the fact that he got rejected he happened to have proposed to another girl in the same team just a few days after. Later the news came that the girl said yes and they were both getting married.

Many tried to speak to him, stop him from making a mistake. They called him mad too. The reason, the girl happened to have a darker complexion and cannot be said good looking in terms of looks. This Patel guy on the other hand was good looking, fair and could have easily got any gal in his own community which have a lot of pretty faces.

Regarding the square in the love story, the third girl had feelings for him, when she got to know about all this, she choose to go for an internal transfer.

He did not listen and got married to her. Everybody thought they would be going separate ways but they are still going strong and have become parents too. I don't know their secret but they truly break the shackles of the society which discourages such union.

Does Size Matters?

This guy joined the organization as an associate and eventually landed up with a plump role in the company. He was smart, had a way with words and the ability to convince you and a visionary.

He was often seen with a girl from his associate days. After a few years both got married. What surprises many is that the fellow could have got a good looking girl who has charmed many with his personality.

The twist in the tale is that he was a little obese and fair. The girl too belonged to the same weight category and had a dark complexion. There are many stories doing the round on what might be the reason behind this, but nobody knows the secret of their successful marriage.

It is hard to believe such stories unless you see them happen. They break your perceptions of the "perfect couple".

Emotional Atyachar

Yesterday as I showed one of the shirts to my friend, he mentioned this kind of clothes is worn by one of the colleagues who used to work with us. That reminded me that I was trying his number a couple of days ago and then on his birthday and no one would pick up the phone.

Later as I mentioned this to my friend, he told me that his number got changed and he made a call to him. It definetly feels good to talk someone from the past. What made me more happy that he was doing good.

On the same day, I happened to call one of my colleagues who send the same SMS twice, with the only change in the second being that he has become an agent of one of the insurance companies.

Let me tell you the stories of three individuals:

The Low-Esteem Guy

A few years back, I remember telling my friend that I don't think that my first colleague (lets call him Ashu) would ever get a job else where. he was senior to me by a couple of months when I joined in. Though he was good to be around with. He was always picked on, even by the juniors so that they could have some fun. He suffered from low self esteem. I often find myself wondering what made him turn out like this.

Nothing would dampen his spirit though. As I moved in a different department, I heard stories that people were treating him badly. It did made me feel bad, but this is life, you have to learn to stand up to the world. Later he surprised everyone by quitting his job and joined another firm. No body including me expected that to happen.

Couple of months down the line, we talked and I came to know that he is having a good time. In fact he even went abroad. It is good to know that everything work out well for him.

The Silent Spectator

This guy (lets call him Ayaz) had a name from the training days itself. His score were low during the training, when he got a warning from the trainers that he would be removed from the batch unless his score meet the requirements. From then on there was a complete change in his scores, he scored much better than his earlier one.

Once on the floor, his silence stumped many. This guy thought a lot before answering to a simple question too. Giving him work required constant supervision as he had a tendency to goof up big time. The funniest part when at one time in the middle of the work, he was asked by the supervisor what he was doing and he did not remembered what he did.

He stood apart and others would pick on him from time to time. I stood for him when the comments got really harsh. He did had a very good logical thinking but what got on the nerves was the lack of carrying a task on his own.

Going by the way he was, I thought he might be soon be on the way out as nothing worked. Even after been given a refresher course he was showing very little signs of improvement. I kept asking him what were his plans for the future as I knew that he might be headed towards trouble in the future.

It is really by god grace that he is still holding the job. After having a chat, I came to know that he is planning on a back up in case anything goes wrong and that now he is giving it back to people who make fun of him. He is now on his way to become a father.

The God's Child

She is really special. I wonder if she is even aware of her abilities. Lets call her Rose. She is good at her job. Again making friends is something she is not good at. The only thing that goes against her that she is a complete introvert and always keeps on complaining :))

I remember having a talk with her, when she asked me how come people who are deserving don't get what they should? I had no answers for her back then and even now. She had just got appraised and came to know that she lagged behind a guy who got better appraised than her not because he was a good performer (he was way bad compared to her) but was closer to the people in position. She was very angry.

She wrote the most beautiful poems I ever read. Here is a girl whom you never see talking and coming up with such brilliant work. I loved her poems, so thoughtful and deep, reflected what lies beneath the skin. The last time I spoke to her, she was still complaining about additional responsibilities given to her. Though writing poems has stopped as she hardly gets the time. I am still waiting for her to email the poems.

The reason I mentioned them here is because these are individuals who are considered "not worth enough" to be friends. Their faults is that they expose their vulnerabilities which makes them the easy pickings for any one who wants to have fun.

I do hate it when that happens. As you grow up, you have to learn stand up on your feet. I am not sure if they are aware that they can overcome their shortcomings. I do hope that they do.

Is God Communicating with Me?

That is the thought that comes to my mind when I find coming across something that I was thinking about.

Often it has happened that a thought pops up in my head and the next moment I see ads/banners/read text or hear something that would be related to it. Funnily, it does makes a point. I am not sure how it happens but it does.

Today, the same thing happened. I had this thought in my mind all day long and in the evening as I went through the papers again, I found this article which used the same words that were in my mind.

I am reminded of the incident when I was watching the movie "Yes Boss" with my family where Shahrukh's mom makes an appearance in the climax scene. At that very moment I blurted out "How did his Mom knew where they were?" and the very next moment Ashok Saraf appears on the screen and tells "I brought here her, I knew this question would be asked".

We often question about God existence and its presence. We never see him because we are so lost in our world that even if help arrives at the door, we don't open it as the door bell ringing is shunted by our trouble thoughts.

I guess God communicates in our way when we question or ponder over something. The only thing you have to do is notice it.

Similar Faces, Similiar Features?

Have you ever come across a face you thought looked similar to someone but they were not the one you thought them to be. Ever wondered how two totally different people can have the same facial features and yet they are not related.

It is said that there are seven different people who look similar to you. Somehow I did found similar faces to people that I know that made me wonder if what is said truly exists.

Every celebrity has a look-a-like who shares some feature with them. I do wonder if this is just restricted to just facial features or is there something more to it.

We happen to have certain points across our face which determines our facial appearance. The twins probably comes close to this phenomenon as they share the same genes, but what about people who are not connected by genes and end up looking like a carbon copy of someone.

The thought came to me when I started seeing look-a-like of people I know. I am not sure if science has got this figured out, but it did made me curious how two people who are living in different parts of the world and still end up looking similar. Does God have limited set of faces that he can give to his children (humans), that at the end some of us looking similar?

I have a tendency to observe people, sometimes they are so uncannily similar that they also tend behave in a similar manner. I am totally amazed how that could be possible. I have a colleague of mine who talks very politely and seems to have a high EQ. It was in one of those first official society meeting that I attended (which was quite a bore as I found myself lost in a group full of older men). There sitting on the rear end, I saw this uncle in the front row, who lives in our building having a similar face to my friend. What amazed me further was the mannerism he displayed. For a moment I really wondered if he is related to him. This was not the only case I came across, there was one another too.

I keep reading about studies being conducted on silly things. I think its time that someone did a study on this one and find whether there is more than meets to the eye……

Hope the next time when you come across some one similar you know, watch them carefully and do let me know if you agree with me or not.

Mysteries of the World

Do you ever wonder if there is more to the world than we can see? Often I end up reading up some stories on the web on historical monuments, mysteries unexplained and sometimes see them on Discovery or National Geographic Channel.

It does make me wonder and take notice of it. I am simply amazed by the Pyramids of Giza. Imagine building something like that at a time when there was no technology to support them with astrological precision. Think about the Nazca lines or for that matter the Black knight satellite or the Easter Island statues.

I wish I could have been a explorer and go and find out more about this places. Our modern day depicts that we are heavily dependent on technology and run after the money for our bread & butter. Who knows someday if I do have enough moolah with me, I might make a TV series on such anomalies. Pray that I do :)

P.S: You can click on the names of the places to know more about the same. Also check out the below links, you won't be disappointed.

Unsolved Mysteries of the World
Mysteries of the Ancient World
World Mysteries

I Love ........

I love it. It is the image above that I am talking about. I should have been a copywriter. Don't know what I am doing here. That is the feeling that sometimes I get.

The image could soon be the face of a company news letter name if approved. My friend told me yesterday that there was a competition in his organization to suggest a title for the newsletter and asked me to come up with something that he could send in.

At first, I was not sure if I wanted to do it, but then I said what the heck lets give it a shot (as I dreamed of being in the ad world, I thought this could be a good time to judge, if I can come up with something in a short time). The deadline was of today.

Asked my friend to forward me the newsletter and then voila I came up this after mixing up the font face of the text and with the help of a google search got the right image. The only thing that you are not seeing is the company name which appears in the place of the text on the glass. I came up with four different look for the same title and this was the last and the best of the lot.

I am keeping my fingers crossed hoping it makes it to the top (and lay my hands on my share of the prize).

Wondering whether this would be a good time to change my profession.....

Follow Your Instincts

“Learn to let your intuition (gut instinct), tell you

when the food, the relationship, the job isn't good for you
(and conversely when, what you are doing is just right).”

— Oprah Winfrey

I screamed a loud "Amma" and felt my body moving forward from my sleeping position and saw her laying down near the window of our bedroom. She saw me and had a smile on her face. I got up to see what happened. The others too woke up hearing my scream. I asked her what happened and why was she sitting there. She said nothing happened. It was only moments later that we realized blood was oozing out through her head. We called up the doctor and did the needful.

Amma is the one who gets up early than any of us. She has the habit of opening up the windows, the first thing in the morning. Apparently she was doing that and she felt unconscious and may have hit the window during her fall in the process. This incident took place around a few years back. Even today when I think of it, I cannot explain the way I got up from my sleep and screamed. I felt a jerk on my body. I wonder what would have happened, if it would have been otherwise.

Some things are beyond explanations. No matter how much you make an effort, there is no way of finding it out the answers. There is more to life than just living it out.

I am not sure if I have the gift of sixth sense, but certain instances does makes me wonder about it. My family calls me a "Devil" as I always land up whenever they are asking where I am. This has happened so often that I should be able to live a couple hundred years (I would prefer to assume that I am still youthful). A few days back, one of my friends called me up after a long time. Before that I was thinking about calling him up. This has happened many a times that where I found myself thinking about my friends and then rings the phone bell that day or after a few days or we end up meeting each other. All of these thoughts have been out of the blue and this is just not related to people but other issues which has nothing do with my present but would corp up after my thought.

I am a little lethargic and slow in my actions and most of the time my family have scraped me with their sound bytes. When I do make a honest attempt to do finish the work at hand, there would be no requirement of it or the problem vanishes into thin air. My sister often reminds me that.

One of the observations that I have made over the years is that these thoughts come and go and won't come on a regular basis, but when it does you know its right which has no rational explanation. Most of the time, I make my decisions from a rational perspective but when I find myself in a lurch, I go with my instincts which has proved right most of the times.

Following one's instincts does save a lot of trouble :))

P.S.: The thought of writing this post came from Riya's post on sixth sense.

A Giver, Not A Receiver

Ever wondered what you are, A Giver or a Receiver. A Giver who makes it possible for others to realize their dreams, make them feel special, help them when they really need it. The Receiver who is someone at the receiving end of the gifts by the Giver..

I know it is said that when you do something for others, don't expect that they should also do the same for you. Coz that changes the whole definition of the Giver and the relationship changes to that of give and take.

What should the Giver do when they are not reciprocated by others (including & excluding the Receiver). Should they cease to be the Giver and give up when they don't receive the help when they needed when they had problems or some one did not make them feel special the way they want to be. What should they do?

My advise to them is to be what they are, coz the Givers are special people for whom making others feel better about themselves is important especially if they are close. There is word of caution though, don't forget yourself in the process and do take good care of yourself. Don't take the bad experiences to the heart, it only makes you wiser, so go back to your old self and spread the joy around.

BTW, who are you, a Giver or Receiver??

Be Careful, of What You Write

For a moment, I just stared at the monitor trying to make sense of what was written by my friend. Just a few days ago, he was making a joke out of it and now when I read what he had wrote, it was a total turn around.

I wrote back to him saying he was taking the joke too seriously and I deleted the scraps that I had written thinking it offended him. The next thing, I know after a few hours he called me up and said that he was only worried that other people might come to know of it. He realized that what he had written sounded very harsh when read. I thought it was good that we talked and sort things out, he is one of my good pals. He was then telling me to scrap the same text and would like others to see it. I thought it would be better to let it go.

In case, you are wondering what cause the sudden rift, all this happened over a girl (nothing bad or offensive). From my experiences I have learned that what you intend to say is different when you put it in writing. It might sound okay to you, but it might end up offending someone who is well-versed with the language. It just takes a "single word" to change the whole meaning of what you meant.

The next time, if you are writing to someone just make sure to read your message twice or thrice, so that it means what you want to convey.

The Road Less Travelled

I am not sure what GOD wants me to do, he sure wants me to walk on the hardest path. I am not afraid of walking down the less travelled path. It is the end which for me most of the times has not been exactly good news. What should one do even after giving your best, you end up nowhere.

I don't have any answers here. It is said that GOD has a plan for everyone and everything that happens is part of the plan. I would like to believe this and hope he also has a plan for me.

Hope he is listening........

Why are Girls so.....

I remember my friend asking me if I have found my Jaya Bhaduri yet, I replied in negative almost giving off a sheepish smile. The conversation took place a few years back and now when I think of it, I might have to settle down for Jaya Bhaduri instead of Aishwariya Rai.

I am not sure if any of you have observed it, but I found that most of the girls are of short stature. There will be only a handful who are above the 5.5' height. I first noticed this when I was in college, where the girls outnumbered the boys in my class. Apart from that all of them could have easily pass of as school students given their short heights.

The average height of an Indian female comes at 5.4' while for the male it stands at 5.7'. I wonder what makes the Indian girl so short. Though I do find that the old generation women were of a good height, it is the today's generation (in their 20's) who are so short in height!!

The trend has definitely not changed. There are very few girls above the average height say 5.7'. The other day, I was standing in a queue to buy forms for a entrance exams where I saw this pretty girl standing way ahead of me, who seem to have just completed her graduation. The girl hardly made it to five feet tall. I found that none of the girls in the queue were even above the average height.

I am wondering if the taller girls have become a rare species these days. I have given up the thought of whom I end up with i.e., Jaya or Aishwariya. What matters is a good heart and not some height to measure them with. The one for whom you will fall for, will always be truly exceptional.

P.S.: In case you are wondering what my height is, I stand at 6.2'

I Hate

I hate when people complain without even trying. What gets more on the nerve is even when you show them the way, they give it up easily or prefer to sit on it.

I have decided to let them do what they want to, just be there when they need someone and let them be the pilot of their lives.

Like it is said one can only show the path, but you will have to walk on it.

My Home: An Animals Sanctuary

The crow was sitting on the grill of our kitchen window and waiting for Amma to put some food for him to eat. He raised his voice too, wanting us to take notice of him. When I asked Amma why you don't give it something to eat. She said that it does not eat anything except non-veg, which are made only on Sundays. It stayed on for a while and then realizing that today is not the day flew away.

This is not the first time when a bird paid a visit to us. There have been several instances in the past too where Amma's flower pots has been used by the pigeons as a maternity ward to deliver their eggs. Though she tried her best to prevent them from laying eggs but she could not stop them. The only problem was the eggs never used to get hatched except one as they were eaten away by crows. The mother bird tried to protect her unborn child but she failed. We too shooed away the crows whenever we found it harassing the mother bird, but it was good in its job of snatching eggs. The one that did hatched was also taken away by them though it did got to live for a few days.

Birds were not the only ones who were paying us a visit, there were other animals too. One fine day very early in the morning, I heard my sister screaming and running away. When I got up from my bed, I heard the sound "meow" and was surprised to find a cat at the end of my bed. We later realized that the cat made an entry through an open bedroom window. Can you imagine a cat intruding in your second floor home from no where. I believe that the cat had come to wake us up when our alarm did not work :)

The animals always preferred to give us a surprise visit. My guess is that the word has spread among the animals that we have been very generous to them. Some believe it and Some don't. It is the skeptics who decides to verify the facts themselves, no wonder every now and then we have a new face to see.

Recently we had a squirrel who managed to enter our house but could not exit it. This one made me ran a lot behind it. This was one of the two squirrels that was often spotted on the tree in front of our home. Never thought it will come so closer to us. It took me hours to capture it with a shoe box. Many times it ran over my leg or try to frighten me by jumping towards me. Finally when I did got hold of it, I thought what a great pet it would make. Amma was watching me and I could see in her eyes what her answer was. I let it go with a heavy heart.

Yesterday too, I saw a pigeon couple checking out our bedroom window to probably build a nest to lay their eggs. It flew away when I got the wind of what was on their mind.

I used to think that to see animals you need to go closer to the nature. Here in my home there is a different story going on, hope the animals are not paying us a visit to see how we live.

What do you think?

Ideate

"An Idea that is developed and put into action
is more important than
an idea that exists only as an idea"

— Buddha

One can think of many creative things in their mind but talk about bringing them into existence and you fall flat. I believe that if you can imagine it, you can bring it to life too. The hard part is to bring them into existence. My problem is that I am unable to bring my "ideas" into existence. The ones I want to see the light of the day.

I can say that I am good at coming up with ideas, my managers and others would vouch for that. I have been successful in implementing my ideas in the work environment, it is the personal ones where I need to show more initiatives to bring them to life.

My collection of ideas are screaming, begging to me and doing everything so that I get into a mode of bringing them to life in the real world rather than stay a figment of my imagination.

Most of them are related to writing novels, plays, story plots, some requires me to become an entrepreneur and some wants me to work for the benefit of the society. I tried my hand of doing justice to them, but most of the time I found myself lost in my own world and hardly took notice of it, though I knew about it.

What a writer I am. I write as long as the plot keeps me interested when it fall short, I forget about it. I hope to change that. Though I did managed to write a story plot and also a short story. After that I just keep telling myself that I have to write another but never do it.

To become an entrepreneur you need more than just a business proposal. One requires finances and the right kind of people backing up for your venture. I have not found anyone with whom I could collaborate and make it happen. I am working towards making a website (not aimed at making money) which requires minimal funding. Let see if I am able to get it through. My social initiatives will requires me to a gather a lot of information about what I want to do and travel, something that I can not do right now. Hopefully I should be in a couple of months down the line.

The three ideas that I hope to work on this year are:

Writing a novel: I hope to devote at least one hour a day for a start. My problem is that I tend spend most of my time on other non productive stuff then doing something useful. Hoping to change things for better. If you happen know about any publisher of books, do let me know.

Building a website: Building a website which is aimed at strengthening the human spirit and give hope. I tried to create this through the “create free websites”. I need to try something different to work it out.

Gaming Cafe: This is something closest to my heart. I am not a big time gamer but the idea of having people playing games through LAN thrills me a lot. There are some other things too which will surely make this gaming cafe rock when it hits the roads. I do hope I can make this happen. Rest I leave it to GOD.

I hope to do a lot of things different this year. This is my way of making a start :)

Mumbai Marathon

If only I could have laid my hands on the entry forms I would have been there participating in the Mumbai Marathon and not regretting that I could not take part in it.

Yes, this is true. The entry forms submission ended in the month of August itself, months ahead before the actual event took place. The thought of running in the marathon occurred to me in the month of October. I thought it would be a good way to do something different in the coming new year. Alas, my plans were cut short. I had planned to be there as a spectator and cheer others but that too did not work out.

I hope that next year, I am able to participate. Who knows, I might come first from behind and break some records. Do you think they keep a track of those timings too?? :))

Exploring the World Around You

"No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel
until he comes home and
rests his head on his old, familiar pillow"

— Lin Yutang

Am I different or my friends don't have the zeal to explore the world? I came across this thought when I told one of my friends that we should take a trip to a hill station located near to his native place which happens to be in Uttranchal. The way he answered said it all. An affirmative just to appease and did not meant it.

This was not first time when I asked him about the trip. My friends can vouch that I keep pestering them to go out and explore the places around. Every time I say that, the only word that I hear is "No". I don't know if they have other plans but at times there are just not interested.

I know that I could go out with my family, but things are different with them. The fun you have with your friends is not the same with family around. Don't you want to get out of your routine and see places never seen before and come back refreshed? I don't know why my friends don't think alike.

I have a simple philosophy. You live only once so why not take a moment to explore the scenic beauty, ancient places and the world around you. Guess my friends have a different take on life.

I do have to admit though, that some times being persistent helps. I found a friend who also likes to travel. The two of us went to explore the beaches of Goa and had great fun. Initially, we were a group of three planning to see the Taj Mahal, but plans changed and we landed up in Goa with the two of us.

We came up with the thought that we would travel to a new destination once a year. Last year I would have visited Kashmir, but I had to cancel my trip on the last minute due to unavoidable circumstances. My friends had a great time over there.

This year, I am planning to do something different. Planning to go on a trip alone. Also promised my family that I will take them to Taj Mahal this year. That does not mean that I will stop bugging my friends.

After all its the company you are in that makes your journey worthwhile to remember. Then they are times when you have to be on your own so that you could enjoy what you admire.