Day II Monday The Hangover Days

Mondays have always been my hangover days. No it does not mean that I am drunk on weekends. It simply means that I could not get my hangover of the weekends as I find it hard to get up in the morning and go to office.

Hardly get any sleep these days due to cold problem. Don't even have the time to visit the doctor. I am actually allergic to going to doctors but these days there has been a turnaround.

Isnt' it funny no matter how much we talk of gender equality, but it always play a role when one needs to get things done. And to be honest guys are at the receiving end coz they are ones who create it.

No matter how much I get my work done, my boss prefers to give even more. I think I am being mistaken for a machine. No wonder the machines will revolt one day. Guess I will be one to start with. 

At the end of the day, the only thing that I have is tiredness and sleepiness resting on my eyes for company which chooses to desert me when I need them the most in the night. :(

That bring to the point where I almost forget to mention the retirement of Rahul Dravid. Saw his press conference where he announced his retirement and then his speech and what makes me wonder, is that is he for real? Coz people like that are not made any more. 

To be at such a stature and still be humble and gracious to enough to remember everyone's contribution. Even though he never got his share of the limelight but people in the middle know that he was the backbone of the Indian cricket that they can rely on when no one could stay around in the field.

Hats off to him. Such people are rare and to witness them in action is indeed nothing short of a miracle.

Can anyone please explain why would one have a caller tune that other people can listen into but you cannot when they call you up. Still companies are making a moolah selling it. Don't know who is winning the company or the people.

When a man and women become good friends, is it because they have things in common or is it the beginning to get closer.

If you are wondering the question don't mind them, I keep asking them a lot even got myself compared to Paresh Rawal's character in Judaai.

Guess what, my neice also does the same :)

Day I: Sunday the Holiday

If you are wondering about me not posting, it because I was and am busy more than I want. The thought of posting something always came in the back of the mind but it never felt good enough to write.

Apparently my work has been keeping me busy almost every day almost making me feel that I run the company instead the other way around.

I have decided to break this non communication with my blog and for the next 30 days you will have to bear with me. Yes, I am going to write every day on my blog which also keeps me in the hook as I am not sure what I would write about. Do not take this as an April fool joke :)

Anyways to begin with, like I said people amuse me a lot. The way they act and react in certain situations, I guess at the end of the day it only shows our nature as a human being and being selfish at that.

I find it damn great when I find myself in the company of people who share my passion/hobby of watching movies. I again watched three movies in a day certainly not back to back. There are still more to go and I don’t have the time to watch :( Did watch one today though.

A perfect Sunday means getting up late in the morning. I could not do that as I tend to get my nose blocked in the night due to cold which keeps me awake in the night. Wonder if we could have more of these days. Envy the job of teachers who still get a vacation while people like me working in corporate need to apply for leave to do the same. Where are those days of vacation of all play and no work.

Vacation reminds me of an odd incident in Shirdi where three matured healthy women from a family were jumping lines by crossing over the barriers of the queue to be the early birds to see the god idol in person. It was really pathetic to see that the men accompanying the ladies were not saying anything. All this could happen only in India where truth does not need to be stranger than fiction.

Would really like to experiment living without a television, but guess that will keep me hooked to my PC. Isn't it true that we tend to spend more time watching it then with people around each other?

That will be all for today, will look forward towards Monday, my hangover day of the week………

Self Help Books

I am pretty sure that everyone must have read at least one book on self help whose purpose is to guide you to become what you desire to be and most of the times it is to be successful.

I have gone through my share of self help books which believe me more than helping out has only ended up confusing me more about how can one make themselves to be successful.

They all speak of the ways of life that needs to be followed. The path that other people had taken and the choices people made when they came across difficult situations and how they triumphant over it.

To be honest, to read such books and implementing them in one’s life can only be detrimental if one is not clear about what one is looking for.

After going through many self help books, I can only conclude that they make a good read but not for implementation purpose if one is looking for changes in their life one way or another.

I think that when one decides to bring change or work towards bringing changes to themselves or towards others/situation, they need to be honest about it. Truth be told, we should not forget that we are born as humans and not machines where we are trying to perfect our skills so that it could lead to accomplishment of certain goals.

We are born as humans, to live life, experience life and to lose that in our pursuit of our desires to succeed or to be just to see one live a good life is not worth it because every action/thought has a consequence and we should stay aware of the choices that we make.

My own experiences with these books have not been good. I am one who always looks to trying new things but to keep the focus going is hard to maintain. No matter how many books I read to keep myself going, it won’t happens unless I am determined to do so. So in the end it only tells you what one knew in the first place.

The way to get out of that habit is something that cannot be taught and has to be learned as everyone is different and unique in their own ways and have to find a way where they can adapt, learn and apply the changes one wants to see.

Self help books can guide one that yes it’s possible to overcome the challenges that one face in one’s life. It’s up to one how they take it and bring those changes in their life. Only a determined soul will be able to overcome the barriers.

If you are planning to buy a self help book for such a reason, don’t waste your money. You already know what is bogging you down, you just need to find a way to beat it and you certainly can….

The Year 2011

The year 2011 is coming to an end with only a week to go. What a year this has turned out for me.

The month Jan brought some good news to me something that I have been running away from a long time and it was only after pushing myself that I went ahead and did what I was supposed to.

Somehow things were still in a fog as I choose to lay low instead of doing what I know the best. The year has been a mixed bag. Still there are certain things that I yearn to being fruitful but that just got carried away for the next year. Let see how that goes.

It’s interesting to know how I realize that the more you are desperate about certain things/situation; the more you will find yourself in a greater mess. Things take time to come on its own and I think patience is the only thing and to keep trying is something that keeps one going.

I would say this year has been all about spiritual/philosophical growth for me as I understand that life is always going to be a mess no matter what you do or how you want things to be.

Chaos in life is something that one cannot run away from. It’s going to stay there in one form or another. What needs to change is the way we respond to it.

Everyone wants good things in life but the truth is life is unfair and no matter how hard one thinks they deserve better, one has to somehow face the reality of the truth someday.

So my mantra of life has changed these days, it’s like chaos in life is going to be there but one needs to learn how to handle it and let it go when things are not in control. It’s like a freeway where one is traveling at a high speed with other cars zipping by. Be sure to know where one needs to take the turn and halt, to take the journey of been on the road again.

I used to consider myself as a optimist for a very long time but sooner that I realized that I am actually turning out to be a pessimist and to be honest it actually helped me more than trying to hope that being positive helps and face the reality of life in a better way.

I know when I write this down it seems like I am facing a battle with life or something very bad is going on. That’s certainly not the case. Life intrigues me. It’s just that sometimes words have the power to make you think in a certain way even though the intention is not the same. So if you are reading this don’t get sad or disappointed, the writer of this post is doing good and yes you can certainly send across your messages and gifts to keep him happy J

Real friends are hard to make in latter life. It’s all about give and take. I have lost of the count of crushes that I had this year. I guess there were certain chances that I could have built on, but I did not. When it comes to the matter of love, I find myself in this position:

“When I meet a girl I try to make her think I'm Joey, at d end of conversation I feel I'm like Chandler & she thinks he is boring like Ross”.

I always thought it was the British who ingrained this thought of caste and religion in our minds so that we would fight among ourselves instead of fighting for the freedom for the country. I guess I was wrong when I saw discrimination of a new kind which was not even based on religion or caste. One should really see the people taking advantage of the same. It’s bad.

Hope the year has been good to others too as it was to me (even though there are a few things that still has to be ticked off). Let us live in the present and enjoy the moment right now instead of trying to live a future which as always remains uncertain…

Wish everyone a Merry Christmas and loads of luck and love in the coming year of 2012.

Tall Guy Signing Off………..

Finally Free

Free is what he felt as he looked at the ceiling and smiled.

His whole life flashed before him as he saw the traces of his failures to get back up on the ground and live a normal life and find an acceptance within the society.

As his vision became blurred, he could only reminisce the good times he had and the regret that he let his family down.

The only thing he felt was the release of his soul from his mortal body as his eyes saw the world for the last time, even as drops of blood dripped on the ground from his wrist.

Lying beside him was his goodbye note stating that he tried hard to feel that he felt belonged but did not and so bid adieu to the world……..

Atithi Devo Bhavah

Standing in the long queue for an autorickshaw a blonde, white skin guy stood among them. A little boy passes through the line and seeing him standing in the queue, turns back and says "Hello, How are you? smiles and walks away.

Just as the line was moving ahead, two auto drivers approached the guy and tells him that the other auto driver will leave him at his destination, as they talked about the price the guy felt staying in the line made much more sense.

"Don't go with them, stay in the line" a female voice said to him as she stood ahead from him in the queue.  "Where do you want to go?" she asked. He blurted out the place name. Hearing that she looked straight in the queue and as the line kept moving ahead at a snail pace.

Out of nowhere the girl makes an appearance in front of the guy and says "This is the wrong queue and you should be catching the auto from the other side. I was trying to get an auto for you" The few bystander standing in the line respond that he will get an auto from here. Dissuaded the girl moves back to her place and as her turn comes to get in the auto, she turns back and wishes the guy "Bye, Happy Journey" even as the guy looked on and smiled away.

P.S.: This is something that I saw today and must say the fascination for foreigners surely goes on the top. I am not sure what the girl was trying to do, hope she did not get inspired by the ads of Atithi Devo Bhavah.....

Love Happens, Errr Make It Happen

Ravi knew he had the hots for her when he saw her the first time but never did he brought his feelings for her out in the open. His eyes would look at her now and then.

Somehow instead of making a move, he shied away from accepting his feelings even though she would be the one sitting right in front on him and he was not good at hiding them.

His eyes would move, every time she makes a move, and there were times when they both found looking at each other. He wondered if she knew about it as he thought women were intuitive on such things.

Then there was the day when she was walking behind his back and turned around and looked towards him,  their eyes met and she smiled. He wondered if this was a sign or was the idea of falling in love was taking over his mind.

Still he did not made a move as he thought they were poles apart and instead left it in the hands of fate, if it was meant to be it will. Every day from there on he watched her from a distance then be with her in her arms....

P.S. They say Love Happens, but I think there are times when one needs to make it happen instead of waiting it to happen. What do you think?

Anger

His nostrils flared out the heavy air outside as his eyes shot up with fury. Inside there was the volcano of emotions waiting to erupt but on the outside it was kept on hold, no matter what he felt inside he could not let it out as the fire would have engulfed him too.

His face apparently said it all what he was trying hard to hide. In the end it was indecisiveness that let to the anger to subside wondering what would have happen had if the fire was let loose on the outside.

P.S: This is very different from what I normally write in fiction, so your feedback will be appreciated :))

Taking a Step Back

Hardly any time for myself these days. Not that I enjoy it but yes it does leaves me wondering what I am doing?

I guess everyone remembers my rants of being a workaholic and guess what it still give me a high then again it’s something that I have cut back on.

One of the things you might find surprising is that I actually waited for around six years to do something that I wanted to do so badly.  The reason for not doing was that I was too busy with my own life to reach my goals which apparently is still on the works.

I am going to be honest that I am a man of ambition or more like passionate about the things that I do. I guess I am starting to realize that a 9 to 5 job is not for me. Just because one is suppose to earn for a living. Need to be at a place which gives you that satisfaction and also pursue other things in life. I know it’s a hard one to find.

Other than that, I realize that I have a tendency to hold myself back. Its silly that sometimes even when one their facts, they still end up doing the same thing in such situations. I am not quite sure what need to be done here.

Uncertainty in life is one thing that I have hated the most. I realize that one cannot do anything about it, that sometimes even when you do the right things, its not necessary that everything could work out. I guess its better to go with the flow of life then keep asking question of why’s and what’s which never gets answered….

I know that the post might be a little gibberish but that’s how I feel right now. Sometimes been all by yourself is not such a bad thing at all.

P.S. Surprised that my post on Childhood is one of the highest viewed post on this blog, glad you all liked it so much.

Calling Her

Varun looked at the number in his cell phone and wondered if he should call her up. It was almost 3 years that they knew each another and had recently exchanged numbers in the hope of talking to each other.

He knew her for such a long time as an online friend that he forgot how they had become friends. He remembered everything what she liked, disliked and secretly wished to fall in love with her.

Staring at her number, he wondered what it would be like to connect with her in real life rather than living in the fantasy world where she was the princess of his dreams and he her knight in armor.

The thought of making the contact had him in jitters. He knew he would love to meet her in person and relive his dream but was afraid of his dream being broken into pieces. What if they were not as good as they wanted to be, what if they did not liked each other as they thought they would have?

He looked at the number and asked himself should he take that chance or live the dream that he has been living on happily?

He looked at the number and pressed the dial button not knowing what it was going to be as the phone started ringing and the voice on the other side “Hello”…

The Virus Incident

You are going to read about “The Virus Incident” so make sure that you study the above image with care to get a better understanding.

Here are some pointers:

Area 1: The site where the incident occurred
Area 2: The site that could have been exposed to the virus
Area 3: Confidential. You will come to know of this later.

For Your Eyes Only

This happened when I was new to my job and was still getting familiar to the working environment. It happened to be the night shift and apparently there was no work. So after having fun, everyone decided that it was time to get some sleep which happened to be “Site II”. The lights were dimed creating a sleepy atmosphere. Still I was awake, never had the tendency to fall asleep at work even when I did not had a proper sleep.

I decided to surf the net which happen to be the “Site I” place. I was very high on forming an alumni association of my college back then so I found myself landed on such a site and even connected with some of my school friends then. This was the age when there was no Orkut or Facebook around.

I decided to write an email to one of my school buddy who had replied me back on that site. Along with me was a friend who was standing on the chair and observing what I was upto.

As I was writing back to him, I heard a hoarse voice saying to me “You are not supposed to do that”.

I turned around to find a tall, healthy older guy wearing glasses standing behind me telling me that you are not allowed to access emails. Given my ignorance I told him that I was not accessing any email accounts and that the desktop that I was using was specific for internet uses only.

Still I was told to close it which I did as I thought that the guy was from the IT dept. By then my colleague had gotten up from her chair. As the murmurs grew louder, one of the guys from the “Site II” was awaken. I must mention here that there were some people who had developed an expertise in sleeping on two chairs that too moving ones. A mystery that still puzzles me.

The next thing I know is that I heard a singing voice oblivious to the situation that was going on. I turned around to find it coming from “Site III” where a colleague who seemed to be in his own world singing a song loudly. Both I and the other fellow were watching him, wondering what the hell he was up to.

If that was a sight, then it just got better as I saw the person who was awaken from his deep slumber crawling towards the red chair in full sight of the other guy. He reached toward the red chair and tried to awaken the girl who happened to be our shift supervisor.

All this while there was a pin drop silence as he made his attempts to awaken her and succeeded. She got up and then spoke to the fellow and then we came to know there was a virus issue in one of the departments. He wanted us to check if the anti virus program was up to date in all the workstations. Once that was started he left.

Next thing I know, I was being hailed as a hero. The girl who was there with me told the other people that it was because of me that he did not came to the “Site II” or else everyone would have been in big trouble.

Guess who the guy turned out to be. He was not an IT guy but the vice president of the company. Apparently he could access any department, ours was a biometric access. We never came to know when he came in given that I was seated next to the entrance. The thought in my mind was what the hell he was doing in office in the middle of the night.

Then again, nothing feels better than been hailed as a HERO.

Astrology, Puja & Tantriks

I am a strong believer of Karma. As you sow so shall you reap. Still there have been times when I have not seen the same happen. It may take time to for one to pay for their bad deeds, but it will happen. Makes me wonder why I still believe in Karma?

In an Indian family, like a family doctor there will be a family astrologer whose advice is always seek before doing anything. Sometimes people approach them with silly questions like “whether my son will pass with distinction or not?”

I don’t follow astrology much but my family does. Recently it so happened that I was the one who also took part in the ritual of seeking advice of the astrologer regarding some issues. I have never done that before but just to seek clarity, I went ahead. At the end of the conversation with the astrologer, I was asked if I was satisfied. I was not but you cannot say that on the face right?

I still take a very bleak view of what they say unless they start making bang on predictions. Some people follow it very blindly and even take the advice given too seriously. If life could be so easily predicted why the hell people would have still problems in their life?

Then there are pujas that are needed to perform to appease the gods or get rid of some doshas that can be seen in your horoscope. This again makes me wonder; can by doing a puja; things will change for the better? I remember pujas being conducted to appease the rain gods so that there will be good amount of rain downpour which did not happen.

It more looks like the case of satisfying one’s mental thoughts that by doing such rituals, things will improve. Even when they don’t work out people still don’t lose out on their beliefs. Should that be considered as smart or just being plain dumb?

Also heard about people visiting tantriks so that things could work their way or trying to influence people. These are very much part of reality and is quite scary too. If god is supposed to be the ultimate power, who gave these people the right to mess with it and what is god doing about it, for people who have been affected by the same? If you ever head down south in India, these are very much part of people’s lives.

I was even told to wear certain gemstones as a kid and have never done that. It makes me wonder if by wearing a gemstone, can I stop the effect of something bad that is going to happen. There are many people out there who can be seen wearing them. Don’t really know if it makes the difference or not.

Do you think they give us the clarity that we need or is it just better to take life as it comes no matter what?

Marriage Blues

A couple of weeks back; I got mobbed by my relatives who were hell bent on seeing me getting married.

I am not sure what is wrong with people as soon as you reach a certain age; the only thing in people’s mind is to see you get married.  Does not matter what you want to do in life or not, you should get married first.

I guess its tough for girls more than the guys especially women who are career oriented.  I somehow manage to dodge the bullet that day.

To come to think of it, I don’t think I am ready to get married even though I like the idea of settling down.  Don’t know what makes others to settle down except the need of a companion or it could be just plain sex.

I think I am not ready to take the responsibility of someone who will be moving away from her home and making my place her home.  I know that my thoughts might sound cliché but those are my thoughts on marriage.  Man taking care of his wife.

Also one of the other reasons being the fact that there are so many things one needs to accomplish in life. Don’t know if marriage fits into the bill?

I wonder if these are jitters of being in a stage where you at the point being getting married at some point.  Then again it’s only after marriage one will know where they stand.

So did/do you had/have any marriage blues?

Emptiness

Do you ever feel the void that reflects the emptiness within you when you are lost in your world?

I have felt that emptiness within me more than once. I wondered if it was saying something to me or was it just mocking me that we are alone no matter what we have or where we are.  Always wondered if others felt it too and how they dealt with it?

I have done stupid things to get over the emptiness and yet it stays within me.  There are times when it keeps me sane, be myself.  Yet there are times when I simply want to get rid of it.

The emptiness also reminds me of a poem that I read during school days where God gives everything to man that he wishes but the one thing that he does not give is “peace”.

No matter what we do, we achieve its only temporary.  At the back of our mind, we always feel that we could have done better, deserve more and hence not always content with what we receive…

Busy :(((

That’s how my life has been for the last few weeks.  Not that I have been complaining, except for the sleep perhaps.

One of the funny things that I noticed in the recent weeks is how easy it is to create a bad image of someone even though the person never did any such thing.  Gossip is said to be past time of girls but I think some of the guys can beat them on that.  I can vouch.

My name tally went up to the count of five.  People do silly things when they take decisions emotionally.  I was one of them and now I see someone else.  Taking a decision is not the hard part, but standing by it is the hardest.  I guess they are lucky that I am around which I was not. Let’s hope they could see light at the end of the tunnel and not do anything stupid.

I think I found my Jaya Badhuri and she, her Amitabh Bachanan. Then again it would only result in pain for both of our necks.  Par dooriyan aanewale hain, aur waqt bahut kam hain. (The time left is few and there is going to be distance).  So I don’t think anything is going to happen :(

That’s it for now, will post later…

Fate/Destiny

If someone would have asked me a few years back, if you believe in destiny/fate I would have said no and that it’s in everyone’s hands to shape their future.

Today things do stand different and if I was asked again the same question, I would say yes there is something called destiny/fate. It can make or break your life, can make your dreams come true or shattered at the end of the day.

I have seen a few people fate change. People who have rode high on their luck and some who could go any further as luck was not with them. Don’t really know how fate works but most of the time it comes across as unfair.

Look at the case of Priyanka Chopra who became Miss World in 2000 in spite of giving a wrong answer. Her question was “Who do you think is the most successful woman living today and why?” Her answer was Mother Teresa who had passed away in 1997. Now don’t you think it was unfair for others that they lost out for answering correctly and the one who won had got it wrong? The winning of the crown acted as a stepping stone in the Hindi Film Industry and she did well to capitalize on her opportunities.

The worst that fate had in store of was for Charles Goodyear who lived in the peril of poverty till his death. His invention (vulcanization of rubbers) made the rubbers more durable and it gave him nothing except tragedy. Saw a documentary on him that made me wonder, whether it was all worth it? And yet in the end, success did not come the way it should have…

One wonders what constitutes fate and makes it work the way it does. Sometime no matter how hard you try you still don’t get what you want. Then you see someone who does not even put an ounce of effort and yet they get what they want without really doing anything. Makes one wonder what is good karma and bad karma?

Sometimes, I do wonder if they are ways of testing the people. Then again why the people who work hard to get what they want are put to test and left disillusioned, while the people who put the least effort have it easy and get to eat their cake too. Isn’t that unfair?

No one can understand what happens the way they do. I guess the only thing one can do is to keep trying for what they want.

Are You Living It?

Have you ever stopped doing what you do and wondered about the life you live?  Are you doing what you wanted to do and did ever look back and thought “I miss doing that” or look at where you stand now?

I believe everyone of us must have done this at some point of their life where they wonder about the path life takes them through.  Somehow as we grow older, it’s our experiences good/bad that makes us wiser and at times change our attitude too.

What we become is part of the experiences that we go through and how we face it shows our attitude.  Have you ever given a thought that after you graduate, start earning what meaning does life holds?  Is the next big thing to happen in life is to earn more money, get promotion, marriage, house and have children to have a complete picture of life.  

Is this what living life is all about?

What about pursuing dreams that no one understands but matters us the most?  What about breaking barriers that always stops us from going to the next level?  How about disappointing others and fulfilling our own needs?  Things one thinks a lot about but never do it.  Things that we desire but don’t’ pursue is like cheating yourself of the life that one should live.  It’s better to look back and say “I tried” than wish “I could have done that”.  In life it’s never too late unless you think it is.

So are you living the life that you always wanted?

A Question

I don’t know if you guys remember about my rants about how I hate being in situations where I have to be dependent on others and they don’t even care how it ends up.  Apparently I have fallen in these situations many times and most of the times it has happened out of choice.

It made me think, if there was a reason why I ended up in these situations? Am I suppose to don the superhero’s cape and come out of the situation winning?  In any given situation one needs to know what needs to be done but if one has to depend on a third person (who don’t really make attempts/care of the outcome) to get it done then it’s really tough to come out winning in such situations.

Its’ like you know what you want to do but you cannot exactly do it because you are dependant on other people to take care of that.  I am at my wits end on how one should come out winning in such situations.

Any thoughts to share?

Let's Talk

Imran was having his coffee in a café when two girls walked through the door.  The one in the grey t-shirt dragged the girl in a blue salwar by holding her hand.  As Imran looked up, his eyes met her eyes and sparks flew.  He could sense his heart beat getting faster as they passed by him.  It took a moment for him to realize what happened.

He turned around to have another look of the girl in salwar and again their eyes met.  The girl in grey picked up her cell phone that she had left there.  As both of them were leaving, Imran kept looking at her hoping their eyes could do the talking but she walk past him and left him speechless, wondering what a conversation it would have been had they talked.....

Untitled

I am sitting in front of my PC and wondering what to write.  It’s not like I have a shortage of posts to write but what to write on is becoming the difficulty with the hands not making the effort it should.

Somehow today feels to be the day when I break this drought.  The year has been a mixed bag for me.  The first six months were spend thinking about “what” “why” and “what now” and the next six months were about “Oh Shit”, “I did not see this coming”, “I need to get out of this” and yes a lot of praying something that I have not done for ages I believe :)

At the same time, I had experiences that amaze me.  People can be so unpredictable.  It’s like the reality of the life I had never experienced.  Strange how life can make you see a whole new world out there.

I am standing at a crossroad wondering which path to take.  I don’t think in life it matters where you are unless one stops trying on what they want with their life.  Choices can be really tough at times and I seem to making a habit of landing in such situations, may be in a way preparing myself to become a crisis manager.

I am on my way to become an Uncle to two more kids, one coming this year and another in next year.  The last time I did a count of my nieces/nephews they were more than 10 and more seem to be on the way.  Phew!!

This blog would be completing 3 years on 16th Dec.  Never thought I would have such a long stint but enjoyed every bit of it.  Still remember my first post, it was fun.

Keep watching this space for more to come…

Childhood

Dressed in ragged pants and torn shirt, Sheru found himself a place in the shade along the fences of the park. He took out a cloth from his bag and hidden it was zunka bhakar.

As he had the bite of his lunch, he watched the children playing cricket, football and running around in the park. Seeing them reminded him of his childhood days when his heart yearned to play with them but all he could do was see them play as he served tea and washed the cups from the tea stall across the road of the park.

He stared into the park searching for his own image when he felt a tap on his shoulder of another man across the fences who said “Are you going to sit here all day or going to do some work too?”

He got up and put the remaining food covered under the cloth back into his bag and started walking off the park. As he looked back, he knew that the only thing he would never have was a childhood to call his own.

Fate

“I don’t have the change” was Vasu’s reply when the taxi driver asked him for an exact two rupee change.

The driver searched through his pocket and then counted his pennies but he did not had the exact change.  “I don’t have the exact change but here is a lottery ticket of the same price, if you want you can keep it and try your luck said the driver as an unfazed Vasu looked on.

Already late to catch his train back home, he took the lottery in hand, had a look at it and then kept it folded in his wallet.  He walked towards the railway station carrying his suitcase with him.  The lottery ticket had the winning amount of Rs one crore and the result was to be declared three days later.

It was in the middle of the night when Vasu reached his place, traveling through an auto rickshaw.  “How much?” Vasu asked the driver for the fare as he got down.  “It would be forty two rupees” he said.  He took out his wallet and handed him four notes of 10 rupees.  He started searching his wallet for the pennies and then his pockets but could not find any.  “I don’t have the two rupee” he told the driver hoping that he would let that go.  The driver stared at him and said “Sahab, check properly, even a two rupee makes a difference in our life” the driver remarked.  “I don’t’ have any.  I could have brought the change if the shops were open, but its not.  Where should I bring an exact change in the middle of the night?” Vasu flared up.  The driver still did not change his stand.

Standing outside his building, he remembered about the lottery ticket and took it out from his wallet.  “Here is a lottery ticket of the same amount, you can take it and then sell it to someone else or you can try your luck with it” said Vasu handing over the ticket and waiting for the driver to take it.  The driver took the ticket in his hand, looked over it and then said “Kya sahab aap bhi….” made a face and then started his engine and took off.

A couple of days later in the morning when Vasu woke up and took the paper to read.  The headline read “Beggar becomes a Millionaire”.  It made him think about the lottery ticket that he gave to the auto driver and wondered if it was the same lottery ticket.

The news report said that the beggar found the lottery ticket in his begging bowl and decided to keep it to “try out his luck”.  He could not stop thanking the unknown stranger who changed his life by putting the lottery ticket in his bowl.

The Parody of Funeral

A few years back, I got a call at home from an ex-colleague informing me about another colleague’s father passing away.  Just a few days back, I had spoken to him when he called me up asking about my blood type.  I was not sure what to do and took the cell phone in my hand.  I was thinking of calling him up but then it struck me what was I going to say to him?

I was at loss of words on what I should say to him?  I finally decided against calling him up and planned to pay a visit to his house with the help of common colleagues.  That did not happen and I was not able to offer my condolences to him (given that we were working in different locations) and I was not sure what I was going to say to him even if we did met or spoke.

This holds true even for today, where I don’t know how to react to the news of passing away of people I know.  Most of the times, I have just kept quite; just made my presence felt and offered support when required.  My problem is that I cannot fake sympathy or tell someone that it happens when the pain of the death of someone close passing away always brings sorrow and cannot be smoothened with words.  All I can do is offer support so that they can get back to their lives.

What amuses me though that an event like a funeral can also end up a place full of mockery!!

I remember this one time, when a family had lost their bread winner and they were going with the process of “Antim Sanskar” (The final rituals followed), when a man to whom the deceased owed money started telling others about it.  By evening the deceased’s family came to know about it and the man even approached them the next day.  I can understand the man worried about getting his money back but couldn’t he have waited for a few days before giving another shock to the family.  Dealing with death itself can be hard at times and to hear such things on the same day can be brutal.

The strangest thing happened when my aunt passed away.  The feast for the Theravi (the thirteenth day after the funeral) was served and I ended up sharing a table with a bunch of strangers.  The food was served and everybody began eating when an old villager complained about the salt in the food.  I was amused by his reaction.  I stared at him for a minute or two which he noticed.  Later his neighbor told him about the relation that I shared with the one who passed away.

Had it been any another occasion, I would not have mind them at all but it happened on a time when a funeral had taken place and that they were having a feast because of it.  I guess it did not help him to know that someone belonging to the deceased family heard it.  I do wonder if following such a tradition is worth it.  Where the people invited sometimes have scant regard for the nature of the event.

Around a year back, I attended a funeral of an elderly.  This time round I observed a few interacting and taking updates from each other.  This of course did not happen in front of the deceased family but then there was a laughter which was loud enough that everyone heard it.  Have people forget their manners on how to behave?

I wonder if a Do’s and Don’t list should be issued so that such people know how to behave at funerals.  Have seen people who made their presence felt not to offer their condolences but because they “had to” due to the societal obligations.

"Unless one is a victim,
they never know what the other goes through"

P.S.:  This post had been lying in the cold storage for more than a year.  I wrote it, discarded it and then it came back to haunt me, time and again.  So I decided to exorcize it by posting it.


On a different note, Shas has awarded me with the Blogger Buddy Award.  Thanks buddy :)

Conserve, Recycle & Discover —Environment

When I read about this contest at BlogAdda in partnership with Pringoo; I knew I had to write on this one. There is a very good reason for which one would have to get to the bottom of the post.

Global warming is taking place and the temperatures is soaring all over the world. Yet very little has been done to address this issue as the countries fail to unite in this challenge against global warming. I guess in the future we might come together; till that happens everyone of us has to find a way to do their bit for the environment. Here are my two cents on it:

Conserve

There are two most important things that a man of today cannot live without. One is electricity and the other is water.

There are so many places in India where power cuts and load shedding are the norm due to shortage of power supply. Life almost comes to a standstill when certain activities cannot be carried out thanks to the power cuts. Hence conserving electricity is of utmost importance. One can do that by making sure that lights, fans, etc. are used only in the room required. Make sure that when a computer is idle; switch off the monitor or put it in a standby mode. Switch to CFL bulbs instead of the ordinary incandescent light bulbs.

If you are wondering how saving power is equivalent to saving the environment, it’s because electricity is generated through a variety of raw materials like coal, gas & nuclear and even includes a small percentage of alternative resources of energy which is then send out through the electrical lines depending on the cities, state’s requirement as storing electricity is an expensive proposition.

So when you start saving electricity the demand of usage of the electrical units comes down and the same saved units can be used to send in places which face power cuts/load shedding thereby leading to less production of raw materials used to generate the same amount of electricity.

Water shortage is another grim reality that is staring at our faces. Make sure that one keeps the tap running only when in use. Also replace the leaking/faulty taps as they waste water. “Boond Boond Se Sagar Banta Hain” (Every drop of water makes the ocean swell). If possible introduce rain water harvesting methods in your buildings, societies as they help to store rain water and use it for various purposes.

Also make sure that one does not uses plastic bag when outside as they are not easy to recycle and takes around 300 years to degrade.

Recycle

One of the ways papers can be reused is to collect the pamphlets, papers, printouts which are printed only on the one side and blank on the other side. One can make a notepad out of it to scribble, maintain a to-do list or any another uses. I have done this and have a stack of my journals made out of this.

There are times when we gave away our old stuff which can still be use to scrap dealers. Instead of doing that; one can use the Freecycle network where items in working conditions are passed on to other users for free who needs them thereby resulting in recycling.

If you are one of the creative minds; you can use the items/objects not in use to create something unique or could simply pass it on to children as an activity exercise to build something out of it.

Discover

E-Recycle: We need to setup centers for safe disposal and recycle of electronic waste as they sometimes contain lead, cadmium, beryllium, mercury, and flame retardants. The number of electronic waste keeps going up as newer technology comes in place and the user chooses to dispose off their old electronics gadgets and not recycle them which are harmful to the environment. Setting up such centers would address these issues.

P.S. The reason for writing this post is because of my friend who lived in a load shedding area; asked us people living in the suburbs of Bombay to make sure that we don’t waste and instead save electricity as they have to face the brunt of it. Hope she is happy with what I have wrote :)

BTW, Dreamygal decided to shower this blog with two more awards, please check out the award section for that.

Mourning

Sitting in the waiting room outside the OT of the hospital; Viren was wondering “Why Adi?” he was going to leave for the US in couple of days.  He did not deserve to end up in an accident like this.  He looked up towards the ceiling and kept praying for his well-being while Keval and Sanket took care of formalities.  For Viren Adi meant a lot more than just a friend they were like brothers.  They grew up together and shared a closed bond.

 
After some time the doctor came out of the OT room and announced “Sorry we could not save him, he had lost lot of blood”  Hearing those words came as a shock to Viren even as Keval and Sanket moved into the room to have a glimpse of their friend’s body.  Viren slowly followed them behind.

“I am not going to cry.  I am not going to cry” he kept saying to himself as he tried to get control of himself and clenched his left fist with all the strength he got.  When he came across Adi’s body lying motionless on the stretcher, he went out of breath; tears filled up his eyes and overflowed across his cheeks.  He could not hold it any longer and cried his heart out.

“You cannot do this do to me.  You cannot die” Viren kept saying as he shook Adi’s body.  Keval and Sanket who watched him mourn got hold of him and took him away.

That night he couldn’t sleep; all he could see was Adi’s laying on his lap, looking at him as blood oozed out of his head.  “Somebody help” he yelled.  “Everything is going to be okay” he said trying to comfort him.  Adi seem to say something but he could not hear.  Viren lowered his head and heard him saying “Tell Mom & Dad that I love them”.  For a moment he could not believed it.  “Nothing is going to happen to you.  You listen to me, nothing is going to happen to you” and all Adi could do was smile….

Tagged With Awards #2

Last week was a pleasant surprise when DreamyGal & Choco decided to shower this blog with awards. That only tells that people are not getting bored coming out here and visit this place :)

So here I am conducting an awards ceremony and hope the awardees turn to give their speech and collect their awards. First let me layout the rules first:

1) Thank the person who gave you this award. (Thank you Dreamy Gal & Choco)

2) Share 7 things about yourself/you find beautiful.

3) Pass the award along to 5-10 bloggers (changed the numbers) who you have recently discovered and who you think are fantastic!

4) Contact the bloggers you've picked and let them know about the award

Tagged

I am going to do a mishmash of what I find beautiful and telling something about myself. Here it goes:

I. I am ambidextrous; do the opposite of what Sachin Tendulkar does.

II. I find early mornings and nights beautiful coz one can truly enjoy their surroundings which is quiet and less chaotic compare to the hustle bustle during the day.

III. I am not known for watching romantic movies; still some of my favorites are romantic songs. Strange ha?

IV. Find beauty in the power of words, one can use it to make it sound powerful, heart rendering, raising spirits of the soul and in the end they are just words without emotions.

V. I played a prank on a guy on Valentine's day in office (years back) and he still doesn't know if the card he received was from an admirer or a prank :)

VI. I have a fascination for antiques, old items, history and monuments.

VII. This blog was a result of curiosity and I am happy that I explored it.

 Circle of Friends Award

The award for the Circle of Friends goes to (drums beating):

Rakesh, Sunil, Choco, IHM, Winnie the Poohi, Shwetz, Rashmi, Deepali, Rohini, Blunt Edges, Grayquill, Shas, Uncommon Sense and Dreamy Gal.

he Beautiful Blogger Award

The award for the Beautiful Blogger goes to (drums beating):

Shas, Grayquill, Choco, Shwetz and Sunil (he has changed his blog into a photo blog, do check it out)

he Versatile Blogger Award

The award for the Versatile Blogger goes to (drums beating):

Rakesh, Uncommon Sense, Dreamy Gal and Indian Pundit

The Mind Blowing Blog Award 

The Mind Blowing Award goes to (drums beating):

Winnie the Poohi and Dreamy Gal (these are the only two blogs that comes to my mind when I think of the above award)

PS: Wont be able to follow the last rule. Its good to see people deciding to follow this blog by becoming a Bhakt of this blog. A big thank you followed by a hug :)