" Oho Dipika ji...Lijiye aapka sab saaman taiyaar " . This immortal line from that Nirma Ad when the lady visits neighborhood grocery shop. Government of India has taken decision to allow 51% FDI in Indian retail market . No wonder , big debate has been going on , amidst protests and statements from some important and some not so important people. Everyone has own opinion, some can be easily termed as hypocrites who are opposing their own statements they made other day ; some are stupid at best saying they will burn foreign shops if opened . What about the people who will be actually affected? Some will gain out of this decision. Moving away from technicalities and the raging debate , i would like to look into the world where we interact with the traditional Kirana shop and how things may and may not be same again .
The immediate question comes into mind is , what things will not be same?
1: The natural smile of the attendant at kirana shop will be replaced by the artificial smile of the attendants in super malls.
2: You will not be asking new year calendar when you shop on the new year eve.
3: How you can ask for that extra chili for free at the mall after buying weekly vegetable stock? Asking for some stuffs which are given without measurement i.e. ginger for rupee 1 Or mixture of spices for rupee 5 .
4: Can the statement : " you save rupees xyz , if you buy this. " , replace the original form of bargain?
5: You will not be treated like god for being first customer/last customer.
6: What about returning things you bought which is not defective , but somehow you want to return that? Just try returning goods you bought from the super market store and we know how nasty and crazy things can get.
Having said this , buying all things under one roof can be good and bad idea as well. People can defend saying , " I don't have time to look for different options". Next question comes , we are running after what? The joy of buying vegetables confirming the market price by asking from 2-3 shops seems best market practice. They say FDI will improve the infrastructure and supply chain . Can we not understand nuances of supply chain management by knowing how we distribute news papers daily or how the the milk supply chain works on daily basis? But at the same time can there be no alternative path where we can improve the infrastructure without forcing closure of our neighborhood kirana shop or for that matter roadside vendors?
Before closing , i would like to mention here one recent event. Here it goes..
I decided to buy a sari for my mom and to make matters worse , i had to gift this as a surprise . So , i could not ask for valuable inputs from mom i.e. which color , which design etc . Somehow , i could not outsource this work on time and i had to perform this activity. What to do? which shop ? which design? at what time? Of what price? . I knew , i had to explain to mom , this-is-the-best-buy-after-elaborate-bargaining . I started devising algorithm and used delay-and-wait technique. I zeroed on to the tried and tested formula , be the last customer.This happened by constraint , rather than by choice , weird office timing and lazy me contributing to the resultant scenario . I reached the shop at around 10pm . They were almost drawing the shutters down. Did give the specification in some vague words i.e. color , medium price range , it's for Mom etc etc. The difficult part of action point was still with me , choose the best one and then look for bargain!. I did implement the screening procedure , though i was not sure of the criteria, May be it was first view and randomization . After first round short listing , it came to take final decision and bargain price. Thankfully , the shopkeeper agreed to good bargain ; at least it seemed to me , price was reduced by 200 from marked price. So deal was done and it came to completing formalities i.e. Paying the money ,take receipt , packaging. Wait! the situation had to become more win-win , at least it seemed to me . The shopkeeper offered 50 rupee less price than the agreed price , just because i was last customer. The Being-Last-customer situation had worked without me insisting on the same. Technically , i had completed the shopping part and was about to leave. Suddenly , it occurred to me , Man! something is missing!. After slight stress on my memory cells , i got the reason; Mom usually asks for complementary handkerchief at the end of shopping for sari activity . I placed one gentle query before the shopkeeper asking to put one handkerchief with the sari. He obliged with a natural smile. Mom was more than happy when she found that "extra" handkerchief . She knew , what must have happened.
May be , we love to shop in big place i.e. shopping mall, but memories are created in small places. I wish both foreign retail shops and Local kirana stores thrive together, I will see how things turn up.If foreign retail shops are dreams for many including me , local kirana shops form sweet memories. When dreams and memories shake hands , we are not sure which is better.
p.s : As i type these words , the song , "let it be : from movie desi Boyz " is playing on my pnone. My favourite for the moment.
Friday, December 2, 2011
Friday, November 4, 2011
Above Average : Some lines
I did complete this book : "Above average By Amitabha Bagchi " . Here are some lines which i noted down while reading it. My thoughts on the same have been added after each line.
Here it goes....
1: " Some lied brazenly like Kartik , others went about it more subtly. Some lied just to others, some to themselves as well."
This did remind all moments when i lied to me and tried to fool myself knowing i what i was doing.
2: " The averageness that i was ashamed of showing became my most intimate friend."
The averageness is scary , we try to hide it from outside , but from inside we become friends with averageness.
3: " I pooh-poohed the board exams because everyone in the school did."
This did remind me my class 11th days when everyone was crazy about IIT. Most made into IIT as well. I was fashion to solve
physics questions in maths class and Maths question in physics calss. The path was obviously difficult one , but everyone was walking on it ,together.
4: " We always ate rice for lunch and rotis for dinner . I thought to ask why."
My mom still wonders how i ate just roti in the lunch and just rice in the dinner. Something become so common in homes we notice , but we don't ask the reason.
5: " The evening was reserved for going to people's houses and eating sweets and then waiting at home for people to come to eat your sweets. It was only after this was done that the proceedings turned whole heartedly pyrotechnic. " .
This does remind me the diwali celebration in my family. With all efforts made to appease goddess laxmi.
6: " When abhilasha emerged from the prayer room , platter laden with diyas in hand , wearing a heavy silk sari , it was like a life insurance ad , an Asian paints hoarding come to life. "
I would call this a cute of a line. Its surprisingly happy moment to see b'ful girls in sari.
7: " Shit man, whispered Ghontu. 'Antakshari! These people are such locals!'."
This did remind me all antarakshari sessions , most importantly when we 5-6 friends trying to win the moment against one guy
very good at singing. He used to sing 4-5 lines of the song, we used to revert back with one liners. Not so sophisticated game , but yes, we enjoyed.
8: " Either I was to get into a management school or i was to go abroad to study or I was to take the civil services exam. It was a crossroads where to my mind , the first arrow pointed to money , the second to the pursuit to knowledge and third to power."
I did not understand what problem different career choices can throw until i had to face the same. Its uphill task to choose the correct option without knowing if any choice provided is good enough.
9:" Its a rule one of them said . If you have a partner , the two of you are entitled to play . If you don't , you have no rights . There are carom room rules. "
This brings back to me the sweet memories of carom room and wonderful friends i did made at carom boards. Yes, getting correct partner added to the fun , specially if you did involve in sleding and played scary shots to overpower opponents.
10: " you could stay but you would inevitably become the only one left behind , lonely and dissatisfied."
The side effect of walking on unknown path. One should be prepared to face the loneliness and set backs.
11: " TK's nickname is an abbreviation of tension Kumar,nothing to do with real name . Every batch in every hostel is
supposed to have a tension kumar , it is a designation , rather than a nickname. "
This happens everywhere , tensions-loadus-fratus are in every college , every dept and of course in every college hostel. So many souls depend of them for their academic progress.
12: " why climb a mountain? ...because it is there. " :
challenges do inspire people. I have seen people toiling hard at difficult things with full dedication without thinking about reason for doing the same. Passion they said.
13: " Strongest and the deepest bonds we form in our lives are with people who know how to hurt us in the most devastating ways." :
Ironical line , but very true in most situations.
14: " He was ranked in the bottom ten of the class , a badge he wore with pride. " :
Its not difficult to find guys who did not give a damn to the GPAs.
15: " I had no real passion for anything i studied , although some of it interested me and i was competent at all of it." :
simple confession is hard to make , we do many good things which may not be core area of interest.
16: " For me and my friends , SPICMACAY was an organization you joined if you wanted to meet girls.The common perception was that you went to SPICMACAY concerts for same reason you joined SPICMACAY : for the women. And to make such public display of frustration was not allowed. ".
Days are not far away when i was in this group when talking to girls without any reason was considered derogatory and act of desperation . It was not a secret , everyone wanted nice gals around them , but they refrained from showing it. Once my pen refill has exhausted , to make matters worse , that b'ful asked if i had extra pen . Since that day ,i carried two pens , but that questions never came again i.e " Do you have extra pen ?" .
17: " You don't have to be a doctor or an engineer , just do something you like. I used to worry that i'll never find something that i like . It was scary . "
No other words, its really scary , i don't know what i like.
18:" In the past whenever i wrote something, i would always daydream that i had a girlfriend whom i could read. " :
There can be no other better person to review what you write . For brief period i had this privilege , other times you have to be your editor.
19: " I pass people coming from work. They seem to be serving a sentence. confinement in isolation. "
Its good time pass to see frustrated people head back home from office ?( obviously when you are not one of them )
20: " A half solved crossword torn out of times of India lying on his lap. " :
I had seen this live many times. Many guys had this strange habit of cutting the crossword part from reading room news papers.
21: " There were people to poison you , to push you down . But when were you down there were others who would help you up, who would heal you with touch. " :
It very easy to find good , bad and ugly , and the situation worsens when bad people conceal themselves as good one.
22: " loneliness is a disease whose symptoms grow worse at night."
How many times this happens , its 3 o'clock in the morning and you are unable to sleep.It great to have 3am friends.long live all those 3 am friendships.
23: " I don't even know what i want to do, I just do what everyone else does. "
We are helplessly guided by our surrounding , 'can't help situation' .
24: " We aren't what we do or what we achieve or what we become , we are and we always will be what we want."
Very true , but its so dynamic , we keep on wanting one more thing or the other.
Here it goes....
1: " Some lied brazenly like Kartik , others went about it more subtly. Some lied just to others, some to themselves as well."
This did remind all moments when i lied to me and tried to fool myself knowing i what i was doing.
2: " The averageness that i was ashamed of showing became my most intimate friend."
The averageness is scary , we try to hide it from outside , but from inside we become friends with averageness.
3: " I pooh-poohed the board exams because everyone in the school did."
This did remind me my class 11th days when everyone was crazy about IIT. Most made into IIT as well. I was fashion to solve
physics questions in maths class and Maths question in physics calss. The path was obviously difficult one , but everyone was walking on it ,together.
4: " We always ate rice for lunch and rotis for dinner . I thought to ask why."
My mom still wonders how i ate just roti in the lunch and just rice in the dinner. Something become so common in homes we notice , but we don't ask the reason.
5: " The evening was reserved for going to people's houses and eating sweets and then waiting at home for people to come to eat your sweets. It was only after this was done that the proceedings turned whole heartedly pyrotechnic. " .
This does remind me the diwali celebration in my family. With all efforts made to appease goddess laxmi.
6: " When abhilasha emerged from the prayer room , platter laden with diyas in hand , wearing a heavy silk sari , it was like a life insurance ad , an Asian paints hoarding come to life. "
I would call this a cute of a line. Its surprisingly happy moment to see b'ful girls in sari.
7: " Shit man, whispered Ghontu. 'Antakshari! These people are such locals!'."
This did remind me all antarakshari sessions , most importantly when we 5-6 friends trying to win the moment against one guy
very good at singing. He used to sing 4-5 lines of the song, we used to revert back with one liners. Not so sophisticated game , but yes, we enjoyed.
8: " Either I was to get into a management school or i was to go abroad to study or I was to take the civil services exam. It was a crossroads where to my mind , the first arrow pointed to money , the second to the pursuit to knowledge and third to power."
I did not understand what problem different career choices can throw until i had to face the same. Its uphill task to choose the correct option without knowing if any choice provided is good enough.
9:" Its a rule one of them said . If you have a partner , the two of you are entitled to play . If you don't , you have no rights . There are carom room rules. "
This brings back to me the sweet memories of carom room and wonderful friends i did made at carom boards. Yes, getting correct partner added to the fun , specially if you did involve in sleding and played scary shots to overpower opponents.
10: " you could stay but you would inevitably become the only one left behind , lonely and dissatisfied."
The side effect of walking on unknown path. One should be prepared to face the loneliness and set backs.
11: " TK's nickname is an abbreviation of tension Kumar,nothing to do with real name . Every batch in every hostel is
supposed to have a tension kumar , it is a designation , rather than a nickname. "
This happens everywhere , tensions-loadus-fratus are in every college , every dept and of course in every college hostel. So many souls depend of them for their academic progress.
12: " why climb a mountain? ...because it is there. " :
challenges do inspire people. I have seen people toiling hard at difficult things with full dedication without thinking about reason for doing the same. Passion they said.
13: " Strongest and the deepest bonds we form in our lives are with people who know how to hurt us in the most devastating ways." :
Ironical line , but very true in most situations.
14: " He was ranked in the bottom ten of the class , a badge he wore with pride. " :
Its not difficult to find guys who did not give a damn to the GPAs.
15: " I had no real passion for anything i studied , although some of it interested me and i was competent at all of it." :
simple confession is hard to make , we do many good things which may not be core area of interest.
16: " For me and my friends , SPICMACAY was an organization you joined if you wanted to meet girls.The common perception was that you went to SPICMACAY concerts for same reason you joined SPICMACAY : for the women. And to make such public display of frustration was not allowed. ".
Days are not far away when i was in this group when talking to girls without any reason was considered derogatory and act of desperation . It was not a secret , everyone wanted nice gals around them , but they refrained from showing it. Once my pen refill has exhausted , to make matters worse , that b'ful asked if i had extra pen . Since that day ,i carried two pens , but that questions never came again i.e " Do you have extra pen ?" .
17: " You don't have to be a doctor or an engineer , just do something you like. I used to worry that i'll never find something that i like . It was scary . "
No other words, its really scary , i don't know what i like.
18:" In the past whenever i wrote something, i would always daydream that i had a girlfriend whom i could read. " :
There can be no other better person to review what you write . For brief period i had this privilege , other times you have to be your editor.
19: " I pass people coming from work. They seem to be serving a sentence. confinement in isolation. "
Its good time pass to see frustrated people head back home from office ?( obviously when you are not one of them )
20: " A half solved crossword torn out of times of India lying on his lap. " :
I had seen this live many times. Many guys had this strange habit of cutting the crossword part from reading room news papers.
21: " There were people to poison you , to push you down . But when were you down there were others who would help you up, who would heal you with touch. " :
It very easy to find good , bad and ugly , and the situation worsens when bad people conceal themselves as good one.
22: " loneliness is a disease whose symptoms grow worse at night."
How many times this happens , its 3 o'clock in the morning and you are unable to sleep.It great to have 3am friends.long live all those 3 am friendships.
23: " I don't even know what i want to do, I just do what everyone else does. "
We are helplessly guided by our surrounding , 'can't help situation' .
24: " We aren't what we do or what we achieve or what we become , we are and we always will be what we want."
Very true , but its so dynamic , we keep on wanting one more thing or the other.
Thursday, October 13, 2011
India Unbound : A side view
Recently, i did finish reading the book India Unbound by Gurcharan Das. A blog entry on the same was expected as an after effect. The optimism shown in the book is one of the better points , all of us should show similar pragmatic optimism in daily routine. By the time i realized , i was deeply engrossed reading each chapter with utmost concentration . I wish i can read everything with that level of dedication and concentration. It was heartening to read the facts that how Nehru's idealism failed to get implemented ,how we created difficulty in our own growth story and we failed to eradicate poverty in time. By the time we took measures to remove those obstacles , 40+ years had passed since independence and many countries have moved ahead of us.
Without going into other aspects of the discussions beautifully raised in the book , i would like to come to the topic which i want to elaborate here. Obviously , these are my thoughts and as i fondly say , subject to evolve in future. In the book there were so many references of middle class values. Some values are so apparent and some are hidden , you have to really explore to discover that. The topic is difficult to handle as i can already feel . The source of values are multiple as i try to trace the origin. Some are family values which can qualify to be middle class values.
1: Earn the right to have/haven't : I remember once i had asked dad , " why we can't have that thing called a-car ". Dad's gentle reply was , " only eligible people get that , for that you have to study very hard and get that " . Then i didn't know what people become by studying very hard. He said ," study hard , you will become someone good for sure and you will get 'that-thing' for sure ". This certainly qualifies as middle class value and the motivation is kept alive by always working for the goal and good things do come in between.
2: Austere lifestyle : Extra things should be minimized . Have only those things which you require. When i visit home, i am reminded of austere lifestyle which should be the guiding force. Family members still wonder , how that plate of vegetable served in a normal restaurant can cost 200 rupees per plate. I don't think mom-dad will agree to eat food served which come with such price tag. At the same time , Somehow they think new generation has right to eat that food , the bottom line remains "Earn the right ".
3: Calculate your resources : I failed to explain to dad on the topic , why people use credit cards? His question was, anyway the money has to be paid , so what's usability. I tried to come up with those cash-back and use-now-pay-later argument. But still, that was unconvincing explanation . he said , "may be that is useful ,but i don't understand". Spending after calculating the available resources has been one main family teaching which has been repeated to me time and again . This sub topic will remain incomplete if i don't quote John Abraham . He once said , " I am from the family where 1 rupee is valued as 100 paisa" .This explains the importance of the value. Now i know ,in all middle class families this value is taught everyday.
4: Hard work : Border road Organization's Motto : Shramena Sarvam Sadhyam ( Sanskrit words which means .... with hard work everything is possible ) . I was introduced to this fact in my family , though no one pointed this specifically . I remember my maternal grandma used to extract cream everyday from milk . The process requires a lot of patience and one has to believe the fact that milk contains cream and that can be extracted . That cream was later converted into ghee . With this small reference ,i knew with hard work we can do beautiful things. Other similar instances from my maternal grandma's activities are also mentionable i.e one can scan through 100 kg of rice in one go , looking for presence of small stone pieces or foreign particles not belonging to rice "community" , we can separate two pulses from each other ,last but not the least, one can wake up at "4am" in the morning. Only requirement is belief, supplemented by hard work and sense of urgency. Of course ,later on with experience as we become good at things we do routinely.
5: Learn good things from others : Washing cloths , cleaning utensils , cooking. I did not know these things until i did know i need to perform that activity.I thought ," What is the solution ? isn't it simple?". How mom used to do this task?It's wonderful to know , that you know things from others , in their style. As i wash cloths , i know i'm using mom's algorithm. When i keep a backup plan , i know mom does the same way. When i leave earlier than usual to catch a train , that is dad's way. The arrogance , which i show sometimes ,is from my elder brother. In addition many attributes of mine have come to me from my friends , but that will be other topic of discussion. As middle class we do take help from others and learn from them as well. This can qualify as middle class value.
6: Ignore and adjust :This has been another keyword which i try to work on. I still remember the day when i had to go away from family to carry on with life from boarding school . Mantra given to me was , you need to adjust with different people.
The end result has been , as most of the times i was reserved and was cautious with the fact that how much words i use with whom . I did manage to get good friends in the process.On broader side, we can not be friends with everyone, but this doesn't
mean we should have enemies. Sometimes we have to compromise for mutual good. This is evident in international arena as well ex. India and china are not friends for sure ,with due respect to "Hindi-chini-bhai-bhai" slogan , but our trade volume is
certainly very high.
The quest to understand middle class values is life long . There is always scope to improve on all values identified and one can always discover new ones.
Before closing : India Unbound is certainly one of better books i have read . Reading the book was simply fascinating and great learning experience as well . I can happily say , I am better person after reading this book. The concepts and ideas
described in the book will define me in future and will be guiding force for me.
Without going into other aspects of the discussions beautifully raised in the book , i would like to come to the topic which i want to elaborate here. Obviously , these are my thoughts and as i fondly say , subject to evolve in future. In the book there were so many references of middle class values. Some values are so apparent and some are hidden , you have to really explore to discover that. The topic is difficult to handle as i can already feel . The source of values are multiple as i try to trace the origin. Some are family values which can qualify to be middle class values.
1: Earn the right to have/haven't : I remember once i had asked dad , " why we can't have that thing called a-car ". Dad's gentle reply was , " only eligible people get that , for that you have to study very hard and get that " . Then i didn't know what people become by studying very hard. He said ," study hard , you will become someone good for sure and you will get 'that-thing' for sure ". This certainly qualifies as middle class value and the motivation is kept alive by always working for the goal and good things do come in between.
2: Austere lifestyle : Extra things should be minimized . Have only those things which you require. When i visit home, i am reminded of austere lifestyle which should be the guiding force. Family members still wonder , how that plate of vegetable served in a normal restaurant can cost 200 rupees per plate. I don't think mom-dad will agree to eat food served which come with such price tag. At the same time , Somehow they think new generation has right to eat that food , the bottom line remains "Earn the right ".
3: Calculate your resources : I failed to explain to dad on the topic , why people use credit cards? His question was, anyway the money has to be paid , so what's usability. I tried to come up with those cash-back and use-now-pay-later argument. But still, that was unconvincing explanation . he said , "may be that is useful ,but i don't understand". Spending after calculating the available resources has been one main family teaching which has been repeated to me time and again . This sub topic will remain incomplete if i don't quote John Abraham . He once said , " I am from the family where 1 rupee is valued as 100 paisa" .This explains the importance of the value. Now i know ,in all middle class families this value is taught everyday.
4: Hard work : Border road Organization's Motto : Shramena Sarvam Sadhyam ( Sanskrit words which means .... with hard work everything is possible ) . I was introduced to this fact in my family , though no one pointed this specifically . I remember my maternal grandma used to extract cream everyday from milk . The process requires a lot of patience and one has to believe the fact that milk contains cream and that can be extracted . That cream was later converted into ghee . With this small reference ,i knew with hard work we can do beautiful things. Other similar instances from my maternal grandma's activities are also mentionable i.e one can scan through 100 kg of rice in one go , looking for presence of small stone pieces or foreign particles not belonging to rice "community" , we can separate two pulses from each other ,last but not the least, one can wake up at "4am" in the morning. Only requirement is belief, supplemented by hard work and sense of urgency. Of course ,later on with experience as we become good at things we do routinely.
5: Learn good things from others : Washing cloths , cleaning utensils , cooking. I did not know these things until i did know i need to perform that activity.I thought ," What is the solution ? isn't it simple?". How mom used to do this task?It's wonderful to know , that you know things from others , in their style. As i wash cloths , i know i'm using mom's algorithm. When i keep a backup plan , i know mom does the same way. When i leave earlier than usual to catch a train , that is dad's way. The arrogance , which i show sometimes ,is from my elder brother. In addition many attributes of mine have come to me from my friends , but that will be other topic of discussion. As middle class we do take help from others and learn from them as well. This can qualify as middle class value.
6: Ignore and adjust :This has been another keyword which i try to work on. I still remember the day when i had to go away from family to carry on with life from boarding school . Mantra given to me was , you need to adjust with different people.
The end result has been , as most of the times i was reserved and was cautious with the fact that how much words i use with whom . I did manage to get good friends in the process.On broader side, we can not be friends with everyone, but this doesn't
mean we should have enemies. Sometimes we have to compromise for mutual good. This is evident in international arena as well ex. India and china are not friends for sure ,with due respect to "Hindi-chini-bhai-bhai" slogan , but our trade volume is
certainly very high.
The quest to understand middle class values is life long . There is always scope to improve on all values identified and one can always discover new ones.
Before closing : India Unbound is certainly one of better books i have read . Reading the book was simply fascinating and great learning experience as well . I can happily say , I am better person after reading this book. The concepts and ideas
described in the book will define me in future and will be guiding force for me.
Thursday, September 15, 2011
PMkJH Moments!
" Poochne me kya jata hai " : Loosely translated -> We lose nothing by asking. This has been latest TATA Sky ad campaign and this has immediately caught attention of everyone. This article is dedicated to all Poochne-me-kya-Jata-Hai moments i.e PMKJH Moments. The idea is simple, if we don't ask on time we lose precious chance of getting what we want.
As i look back to trace my first PMKJH moment , it was mom asking me to bring flowers from neighbor's backyard after getting permission for the same. I recollect vaguely, i had suggested, " she won't allow ". Mom had replied , " poochne me kya jata hai , try to karo " . To my surprise ,that lady had allowed me to pluck flowers without making any fuss of that. Another moment , then i could not belive , people can allow strangers to sit in their car , we call that 'took lift' moment. I said to dad that car won't stop , why he'll allow us in his car for no reason? Dad had said with a smile , " Poochne me kya jata hai ?" The car had stopped and that was successful PMKJH moment.
As we grow , PMKJH moments reach curious proportions. Its tricky, when Guys try this with many girls , Some are masters and easily ask for evening coffee and many fail to ask even for class notes from girls. First year of college had many PMKJH moments with so many people. Not to forget regular usage of vocal chords to say "Poochne-me-klya-jata-hai" to negate the disappointment. Looking for PMKJH moment in other spheres of life , one popular place is restaurant , we always ask for extra onion , lemon and that green chilly. Most of the times our query is processed with smile and sometimes the result is void . When its void , we smile and say , " Poochne me kya jata hai ? "
Referring to various job applications we send for dream jobs , and we get no response, we console ourselves and accept PMKJH moment.PMKJH moment may not always be successful, But the joy of asking and the satisfaction of the fact that " I tried", will negate the disappointment of failure. Before closing , anyway you have THE "NO" if you don't ask , So go ahead and ask, because PKMJH moments are precious .
As i look back to trace my first PMKJH moment , it was mom asking me to bring flowers from neighbor's backyard after getting permission for the same. I recollect vaguely, i had suggested, " she won't allow ". Mom had replied , " poochne me kya jata hai , try to karo " . To my surprise ,that lady had allowed me to pluck flowers without making any fuss of that. Another moment , then i could not belive , people can allow strangers to sit in their car , we call that 'took lift' moment. I said to dad that car won't stop , why he'll allow us in his car for no reason? Dad had said with a smile , " Poochne me kya jata hai ?" The car had stopped and that was successful PMKJH moment.
As we grow , PMKJH moments reach curious proportions. Its tricky, when Guys try this with many girls , Some are masters and easily ask for evening coffee and many fail to ask even for class notes from girls. First year of college had many PMKJH moments with so many people. Not to forget regular usage of vocal chords to say "Poochne-me-klya-jata-hai" to negate the disappointment. Looking for PMKJH moment in other spheres of life , one popular place is restaurant , we always ask for extra onion , lemon and that green chilly. Most of the times our query is processed with smile and sometimes the result is void . When its void , we smile and say , " Poochne me kya jata hai ? "
Referring to various job applications we send for dream jobs , and we get no response, we console ourselves and accept PMKJH moment.PMKJH moment may not always be successful, But the joy of asking and the satisfaction of the fact that " I tried", will negate the disappointment of failure. Before closing , anyway you have THE "NO" if you don't ask , So go ahead and ask, because PKMJH moments are precious .
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Our Ladakh trip
We know some days will be memorable ,
We yearn to enjoy that by planning,
Actual form is unknown till the end,
Finally, we did start the journey.
Those jokes and familiar mimicry ,
We decided , Do it this way , don't eat that way,
Man! don't conspire and switch on the light ,
I have to finish that innocuous article.
Why he did not join , will that buddy will come later on?
The journey is long and some days are gone,
We reached Delhi , managed the first halt,
Did board the bus which took us to manali.
Picked up few mineral water bottles,
Did appreciate rivers and apples,
After breakfast, we set off to leh ,
Man wait!, we have to complete the para-gliding in solang valley,
ok, no problem, lets divert to that location ,
Get that camera ready , for which you were charging the battery ,
Click few snaps in the rope way .
We had to cross rohtang Pass to see mountains in the sky,
Don't know why people can't resist hi-tea,
Sun has set , it's time to sleep,
lets arrange the dinner and exchange bed time stories.
Its morning , wake up friends!
I need that liquid soap you have kept,
Lets go to river side and check temperature,
Is that a crow watching the snow?
Saying Hi to passersby , appreciating the hard work they do every day,
Now i know BRO works for better future ,
Mountains got bigger , roads became narrower,
Our driver said , see this 22 cuts,
Road with 22 bends , bottom to top.
We searched, where is the end ?
we read, this is second highest motorable road,
As we moved , waited a Long stretch of flat road,
At this height? its impossible!
Night fell , leh welcomed us ,
We wondered , such location exists in india ,
Surrounded by snow clad mountains ,
Foreigners available in quite a number.
Lets sleep and make tomorrow's plan ,
Someone said river rafting , enjoy next evening ,
Other interjected, shopping is a must ,
Indus is so friendly , water flowed so steadily.
By now ,all knew what exhaustion means ,
bhai log ...lets eat and sleep ,
Pangong Lake is too far away , lets postpone it to next day,
The day was hectic , How can the lake's water be so blue?,
Please Explain the optics , click on the pics.
The Journey reversed , guess what? we are tourists,
People talked of important things ,
What makes us better , what makes us wrong,
At 4 am , all ran for cover, Sleep was too tough to overcome.
Time moved , we did retreat to normalcy ,
Back to work , quest to catch the dreams,
Here faces are strange ,
Everyone is busy with something insane,
Concluding is not easy work,
We eat words and mold situations,
Some you can express , most can only be felt,
In the end memories do stay, the best days become history.
P.S : The first question struck in the midst of our leh trip was...Do we have to go through so much effort to feel the magic?Time to get slightly philosophical, all things, if possible, should be earned with hard work to appreciate the feeling of triumph
We yearn to enjoy that by planning,
Actual form is unknown till the end,
Finally, we did start the journey.
Those jokes and familiar mimicry ,
We decided , Do it this way , don't eat that way,
Man! don't conspire and switch on the light ,
I have to finish that innocuous article.
Why he did not join , will that buddy will come later on?
The journey is long and some days are gone,
We reached Delhi , managed the first halt,
Did board the bus which took us to manali.
Picked up few mineral water bottles,
Did appreciate rivers and apples,
After breakfast, we set off to leh ,
Man wait!, we have to complete the para-gliding in solang valley,
ok, no problem, lets divert to that location ,
Get that camera ready , for which you were charging the battery ,
Click few snaps in the rope way .
We had to cross rohtang Pass to see mountains in the sky,
Don't know why people can't resist hi-tea,
Sun has set , it's time to sleep,
lets arrange the dinner and exchange bed time stories.
Its morning , wake up friends!
I need that liquid soap you have kept,
Lets go to river side and check temperature,
Is that a crow watching the snow?
Saying Hi to passersby , appreciating the hard work they do every day,
Now i know BRO works for better future ,
Mountains got bigger , roads became narrower,
Our driver said , see this 22 cuts,
Road with 22 bends , bottom to top.
We searched, where is the end ?
we read, this is second highest motorable road,
As we moved , waited a Long stretch of flat road,
At this height? its impossible!
Night fell , leh welcomed us ,
We wondered , such location exists in india ,
Surrounded by snow clad mountains ,
Foreigners available in quite a number.
Lets sleep and make tomorrow's plan ,
Someone said river rafting , enjoy next evening ,
Other interjected, shopping is a must ,
Indus is so friendly , water flowed so steadily.
By now ,all knew what exhaustion means ,
bhai log ...lets eat and sleep ,
Pangong Lake is too far away , lets postpone it to next day,
The day was hectic , How can the lake's water be so blue?,
Please Explain the optics , click on the pics.
The Journey reversed , guess what? we are tourists,
People talked of important things ,
What makes us better , what makes us wrong,
At 4 am , all ran for cover, Sleep was too tough to overcome.
Time moved , we did retreat to normalcy ,
Back to work , quest to catch the dreams,
Here faces are strange ,
Everyone is busy with something insane,
Concluding is not easy work,
We eat words and mold situations,
Some you can express , most can only be felt,
In the end memories do stay, the best days become history.
P.S : The first question struck in the midst of our leh trip was...Do we have to go through so much effort to feel the magic?Time to get slightly philosophical, all things, if possible, should be earned with hard work to appreciate the feeling of triumph
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Kittu's fast : 5 agenda
Everything in the House seemed normal till Kittu typed the words on twitter and facebook ," today , i'll be on fast.Henceforth,on every Sunday, i'll be on fast ,indefinitely, till my five point demands are not accepted by the family authorities .There is no scope of any negotiation on this as this has been drafted after a lot of considerations with my friends". A copy of above text was attached to Mohit uncle's ( Kittu's dad) morning news paper and same text was kept on top of tea bottle in kitchen.
The actual text of five point demand are as under.
1: Permission to wake up late on sundays i.e 11am
2: Permission to perform 5-hours-computer-game-session-ritual on saturday night.
3: Increment of Pocket money : not less than 12.5% of current ( keeping in view annual inflation )
4: Green leaf vegetables should be phased out from dinner table . Should not be served more than 1 day in a week.
5: Memorandum of understanding (MOU) on technological upgradation in coming months i.e new electronic gadgets, new bicycle, etc.
All above demands are binding in nature.
To resolve the deadlock , home ministry ( Kittu's Mom i.e aunty juno ) has appointed chinki( Kittu's sister ) as official mediator.Chink approached kittu with morning breakfast . Home ministry also issued letter of threat and may resort to usage of force if the fast is prolonged.Chinki has assured kittu that his demands can be discussed if he presents it in more democratic manner . Fasting should be last resort. Kittu's friends have supported his demands and resorted to demonstration in front of his house. They left the place hurridly on hearing angry words from kittu's mom. When contacted , kittu's mom expressed anger and termed the demands as "unrealistic". One of Kittu's friends, on condition of anonymity, has expressed aunty's such reply as Draconian and medieval. He said , " With time parents should take more liberal stance , Kittu's demand are very realistic and should be accepted without modification" .
Meanwhile ,Mohit has called for all party meet to come to any conclusion. The meeting is scheduled to be held at dinner's table , late in the evening . Sushila aunty , Kittu's neighbor , has expressed apprehension on whole scenario. She said , " I hope acceptable-to-all solution is achieved in the meeting " . Meanwhile , juno aunty has said that sushila aunty's remarks are "unwanted" and said that this is our internal matter and we can handle it as we have done in past.
At the time of writing this news , Kittu's grandfather has decided to support kittu's demand in principle . He said , " Kittu's demands are democratic , I'm with him . Kittu's dad had made me face many such situations. Now he'll know how it feels like ".Now , everyone is waiting for the outcome of the meeting and Parents are worried because this may lead to similar demands in their territories.
The actual text of five point demand are as under.
1: Permission to wake up late on sundays i.e 11am
2: Permission to perform 5-hours-computer-game-session-ritual on saturday night.
3: Increment of Pocket money : not less than 12.5% of current ( keeping in view annual inflation )
4: Green leaf vegetables should be phased out from dinner table . Should not be served more than 1 day in a week.
5: Memorandum of understanding (MOU) on technological upgradation in coming months i.e new electronic gadgets, new bicycle, etc.
All above demands are binding in nature.
To resolve the deadlock , home ministry ( Kittu's Mom i.e aunty juno ) has appointed chinki( Kittu's sister ) as official mediator.Chink approached kittu with morning breakfast . Home ministry also issued letter of threat and may resort to usage of force if the fast is prolonged.Chinki has assured kittu that his demands can be discussed if he presents it in more democratic manner . Fasting should be last resort. Kittu's friends have supported his demands and resorted to demonstration in front of his house. They left the place hurridly on hearing angry words from kittu's mom. When contacted , kittu's mom expressed anger and termed the demands as "unrealistic". One of Kittu's friends, on condition of anonymity, has expressed aunty's such reply as Draconian and medieval. He said , " With time parents should take more liberal stance , Kittu's demand are very realistic and should be accepted without modification" .
Meanwhile ,Mohit has called for all party meet to come to any conclusion. The meeting is scheduled to be held at dinner's table , late in the evening . Sushila aunty , Kittu's neighbor , has expressed apprehension on whole scenario. She said , " I hope acceptable-to-all solution is achieved in the meeting " . Meanwhile , juno aunty has said that sushila aunty's remarks are "unwanted" and said that this is our internal matter and we can handle it as we have done in past.
At the time of writing this news , Kittu's grandfather has decided to support kittu's demand in principle . He said , " Kittu's demands are democratic , I'm with him . Kittu's dad had made me face many such situations. Now he'll know how it feels like ".Now , everyone is waiting for the outcome of the meeting and Parents are worried because this may lead to similar demands in their territories.
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
5 Minutes : Past and Present
How many times we yearn for that 5 mins of sleep in many forms . The form can be extra-supplementary-complementary-out Ofplace-important-necessary-not to forget-customary . Who can not claim to be fan of extra 5 minutes of early morning sleep .
This is signified by spoken/unspoken words , " it's too early , i should sleep more , at least.....for 5 minutes".
Clock turns back by quite sometime ,to class "two" days to be precise.I remember one small chapter, titled "5 minutes" ( paanch mitute in hindi , if i remember correctly ) .The protagonist of the story , Gopi , used to delay all activities by at least 5 minutes. Then, i was able to correlate my reluctance to do things on time with Gopi's act . Then , i knew few nuances of time wasting techniques.Later, as years passed , i did realize these are signs of "laziness";one has to struggle all the time to fight laziness.
Now coming to the actual agenda , can the phenomena of sleep optimization ( increasing by 5 mins ) may come under purview of fight-against-laziness? Unfortunately , answer can not be found in any available text . Most accepted answer can be , it depends from situation to situation . Taking example , if innocuous 5 minute duration gets elevated to 5 hours , it can easily be termed as brazen breach of 5-minutes-acceptance-protocol .Going for a case study , i remember one friend in school days , he used to regularly breach the mentioned acceptance protocol and this observation was known to all friends ( Boarding school it was ) . He tried to fight this embarrassment by authorizing and appointing few trusted friends to perform damage control if he was found extending the agreed time limit of 5 minute sleeping protocol . Various annexes were added to make-him-wake-up activity effective i.e usage of water , stick , football free kick etc etc ( depending on the demand of situation ) . Level three ( Red ) situation was identified if next day we had to write some exam . Level one ( Green ) situation involved usage of water in different quantities at regular interval. Aftermath of water-usage-activity was hilarious situation. Another mention of a friend who used to have big alarm clock , with snooze at each 5 minutes. Everyone used to wake up due to his alarm clock , but not him . Many times we had to face what-to-do situation , when the alarm clock locked(
security reasons) in his suitcase used to start alarming , with him not in vicinity . Everyone had to go away from the happening-location to avoid that irritating alarm clock's persistent noise.
At personal level , i have to earn the right to get that 5 minutes extra( this due to that me V/S myself fight )I did read somewhere , " nothing is worse than getting something without effort" . The right can be earned by performing some activities i.e reading 50 pages of particular book . Its similar to earning carbon credit rating in Kyoto protocol ( oops! out of context comparison ). As i look back and i get surprised with the fact that i used to wake up at was 4:30 am in my class 10th days. Things have changed but one thing has remained common , i adored 5 minute package then, as well as Now.
This piece of text will remain incomplete without mention of souls who successfully utilize their 5 minute package in bus/train/auto/class/office etc etc . One thing is clear 5 minute package has huge fan base and all love it . I am already inclined towards 5 minute package as i near completion of this blog entry.
p.s : 5 min package was coined by me in combination with the college friend of mine...aytas we called him, he has been great fan of 5 min package .
This is signified by spoken/unspoken words , " it's too early , i should sleep more , at least.....for 5 minutes".
Clock turns back by quite sometime ,to class "two" days to be precise.I remember one small chapter, titled "5 minutes" ( paanch mitute in hindi , if i remember correctly ) .The protagonist of the story , Gopi , used to delay all activities by at least 5 minutes. Then, i was able to correlate my reluctance to do things on time with Gopi's act . Then , i knew few nuances of time wasting techniques.Later, as years passed , i did realize these are signs of "laziness";one has to struggle all the time to fight laziness.
Now coming to the actual agenda , can the phenomena of sleep optimization ( increasing by 5 mins ) may come under purview of fight-against-laziness? Unfortunately , answer can not be found in any available text . Most accepted answer can be , it depends from situation to situation . Taking example , if innocuous 5 minute duration gets elevated to 5 hours , it can easily be termed as brazen breach of 5-minutes-acceptance-protocol .Going for a case study , i remember one friend in school days , he used to regularly breach the mentioned acceptance protocol and this observation was known to all friends ( Boarding school it was ) . He tried to fight this embarrassment by authorizing and appointing few trusted friends to perform damage control if he was found extending the agreed time limit of 5 minute sleeping protocol . Various annexes were added to make-him-wake-up activity effective i.e usage of water , stick , football free kick etc etc ( depending on the demand of situation ) . Level three ( Red ) situation was identified if next day we had to write some exam . Level one ( Green ) situation involved usage of water in different quantities at regular interval. Aftermath of water-usage-activity was hilarious situation. Another mention of a friend who used to have big alarm clock , with snooze at each 5 minutes. Everyone used to wake up due to his alarm clock , but not him . Many times we had to face what-to-do situation , when the alarm clock locked(
security reasons) in his suitcase used to start alarming , with him not in vicinity . Everyone had to go away from the happening-location to avoid that irritating alarm clock's persistent noise.
At personal level , i have to earn the right to get that 5 minutes extra( this due to that me V/S myself fight )I did read somewhere , " nothing is worse than getting something without effort" . The right can be earned by performing some activities i.e reading 50 pages of particular book . Its similar to earning carbon credit rating in Kyoto protocol ( oops! out of context comparison ). As i look back and i get surprised with the fact that i used to wake up at was 4:30 am in my class 10th days. Things have changed but one thing has remained common , i adored 5 minute package then, as well as Now.
This piece of text will remain incomplete without mention of souls who successfully utilize their 5 minute package in bus/train/auto/class/office etc etc . One thing is clear 5 minute package has huge fan base and all love it . I am already inclined towards 5 minute package as i near completion of this blog entry.
p.s : 5 min package was coined by me in combination with the college friend of mine...aytas we called him, he has been great fan of 5 min package .
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Perception change....in progress
Recently the results of "A day in india" contest organised by TOI was declared. Many deserving entries got admired and got awards as well . So many not so famous people have special talent in fields like photography ,cartoon sketching, videography is a great thing . Things become interesting when the theme is to see india from different angles , after all, all of us claim to know our country the best . I still wonder how Britishers ruled this country without becoming part of it , an achievement for sure because all invaders who came here got assimilated and became part of india. There are people who claim to have solution to problems as complex as corruption , its easy to enjoy lighter side of corruption with reference to our country.Knowing india is like knowing multiple faces of the entity....i have gone through introductory chapters if i consider India as whole book.
As i look back and try to know how did i know that live in india? The answers are vague , may be those school national anthem sessions .May be those Information displayed on doordarshan , specially that population clock of india and who can forget that "mile sur mera tumhara" song which almost became another national anthem in those days . Modern version of the same song easily failed to give any competition to original version. My days spent in train journeys have helped me a lot in my quest to know india .I can't say as of now that i have discovered all faces of india , but i saw people of all states in india in trains . Most touching part of train journey is how people resent entry of new persons at a station and when they say bye to each other at further stations its complete deviation from earlier situation , some bonds are created . Special mention to nice faces and i cursed each time for not possessing telepathic powers.
As i write about train journey one special activity that defines one special moment is when the train crosses a bridge.If its a long bridge , people get ample time to show their fear/devotion to river goddesses . Talking about the activity , people throw coins into the river , some say its required to appease the river goddess as we are crossing her without taking permission . As a child i used to ask dad for coins and enjoyed this whenever i got chance to perform this activity . In one of those train journeys i remember one not so good comment by a fellow passenger targeted towards a lady who did perform the act of dropping the coin into the river. He said , " its a waste of money " . Friend of mine could not digest that caustic remark and retorted , if this is waste of money , so are all forms of worshipping of god. As i recall this incident i was a believer and worshipped god everyday , at least once in a day to be specific. Things have changed over the years, i don't know when non believer in me did born.But this coin tossing into the river while crossing the river bridge remains one of the sweets activities admired by me.
One recent experience which signified how thought process changes with time ,this is all but weird observation . I was going home this April , by train , one person prepared and got the logistics ready for the coin tossing activity . The weird observation struck me , Man! this money is going out of circulation . The repercussions can be immense to our economy . RBI has to replenish this money by infusing liquidity . This is not healthy for our economy , specially if its developing economy like india and Inflation can create havoc for the poor people at the expense of some innocent person throwing the money out of economy.Clearly this is like blowing things out of proportion .This abrupt observation ends here , i know this is perception change in progress :)
Before closing , even if i can not do things on my own and enjoy special activities like the coin tossing activity into the river ,I can always watch others doing this and enjoy. One of my favourite lines these days ,"irony is not bad in all instances".
As i look back and try to know how did i know that live in india? The answers are vague , may be those school national anthem sessions .May be those Information displayed on doordarshan , specially that population clock of india and who can forget that "mile sur mera tumhara" song which almost became another national anthem in those days . Modern version of the same song easily failed to give any competition to original version. My days spent in train journeys have helped me a lot in my quest to know india .I can't say as of now that i have discovered all faces of india , but i saw people of all states in india in trains . Most touching part of train journey is how people resent entry of new persons at a station and when they say bye to each other at further stations its complete deviation from earlier situation , some bonds are created . Special mention to nice faces and i cursed each time for not possessing telepathic powers.
As i write about train journey one special activity that defines one special moment is when the train crosses a bridge.If its a long bridge , people get ample time to show their fear/devotion to river goddesses . Talking about the activity , people throw coins into the river , some say its required to appease the river goddess as we are crossing her without taking permission . As a child i used to ask dad for coins and enjoyed this whenever i got chance to perform this activity . In one of those train journeys i remember one not so good comment by a fellow passenger targeted towards a lady who did perform the act of dropping the coin into the river. He said , " its a waste of money " . Friend of mine could not digest that caustic remark and retorted , if this is waste of money , so are all forms of worshipping of god. As i recall this incident i was a believer and worshipped god everyday , at least once in a day to be specific. Things have changed over the years, i don't know when non believer in me did born.But this coin tossing into the river while crossing the river bridge remains one of the sweets activities admired by me.
One recent experience which signified how thought process changes with time ,this is all but weird observation . I was going home this April , by train , one person prepared and got the logistics ready for the coin tossing activity . The weird observation struck me , Man! this money is going out of circulation . The repercussions can be immense to our economy . RBI has to replenish this money by infusing liquidity . This is not healthy for our economy , specially if its developing economy like india and Inflation can create havoc for the poor people at the expense of some innocent person throwing the money out of economy.Clearly this is like blowing things out of proportion .This abrupt observation ends here , i know this is perception change in progress :)
Before closing , even if i can not do things on my own and enjoy special activities like the coin tossing activity into the river ,I can always watch others doing this and enjoy. One of my favourite lines these days ,"irony is not bad in all instances".
Monday, June 20, 2011
Stay connected : delayed call
Other day i got "reason" to call one friend . It was his birthday .I looked back and wondered , last time i had talked to aytas( his nickname ) was last year on same day . How i missed other "reasons" to call him? The answer is unknown ......days just fly past us and we are mere spectators . Many times, 'reasons' also go unnoticed i.e holi, diwali , new year to name a few. Another questions comes to the fore . Why we need reasons to do as innocuous thing as asking how-you-are-doing? Other day another friend of mine called me .....this time without reasons.Its so nice feeling when you know people not around you,physically,actually do care for you and they are just a call away . They are ready with their suggestions ,information , help in any form . You may be helping one friend sitting far away with resizing his passport size photograph for submitting his job form. At other time you may say your friend in other city,"I'm coming to your place to stay for one night as i have exam next day. Other friends call and say , " Hey man! , plan a visit to this part of the world". India , if not world, has become our playground , a la that vodafone jingle. I remember days when i was not allowed to go away from mom's sight for evening game session . All my friends used to visit space in front of my house for games session in evenings . Whenever they tried to persuade my dear mom to allow me to go to main ground, that was denied with professional precision , which is possessed by all moms i think.
Coming back to what goes on during those delayed calls.The typical long lost talks start with , what else? What are you doing these days? Did you hear about so and so ? he got into IIM ...that guy went to US ....that guy got so and so package in that job. The talks moves to more elaborate area , the days when "particular" type of movie was watched for the first time and that too in group. The not-so-serious talks get intermingled with serious ones when future concerns are discussed. Some personal problems are shared . The talk turns lighter, kya ree! koi nayi ladki mili? no man! tumko lagta hai aisa ho sakta hai and we thank indian society for having concept of arranged marriage otherwise guys like us might never find a life partner. This talks is elaborated with , what happened to the gal you used to talk in hours officially recognised by owls , watchmen , lovers etc? And the typical reply ..aisa kuch nahi tha? The topic changes inadvertently when talk about genius guys,who are too good to act simple even in simplest scenario. Questions like , " which lap-top should be bought? ...is answered as MACPro le lo " and the desire to buy new laptop dies automatically . Why all good things are so costly?
There are friends who have more faith in your talent than on their own? They will keep on motivating you when it may seem things are not so nice. This scenario becomes tricky , a failure will mean letting that person down. Not long ago we were growing together ....now everyone it seems has chosen own path . People around me these days have different dreams , days are gone when everyone around me had same dream , same passion . We understood each others words just because the words were not heard , but evolved, as we fondly said in those days. Before closing few lines from jug suraiya : TOI-18th June
" when will at last i'll finish college? get a job , find someone i might want to spend the rest of my life with....will it ever happen? ..... With future already becoming past as we look at it ...for us who are no longer young time seems to accelerate at scary speed."
Coming back to what goes on during those delayed calls.The typical long lost talks start with , what else? What are you doing these days? Did you hear about so and so ? he got into IIM ...that guy went to US ....that guy got so and so package in that job. The talks moves to more elaborate area , the days when "particular" type of movie was watched for the first time and that too in group. The not-so-serious talks get intermingled with serious ones when future concerns are discussed. Some personal problems are shared . The talk turns lighter, kya ree! koi nayi ladki mili? no man! tumko lagta hai aisa ho sakta hai and we thank indian society for having concept of arranged marriage otherwise guys like us might never find a life partner. This talks is elaborated with , what happened to the gal you used to talk in hours officially recognised by owls , watchmen , lovers etc? And the typical reply ..aisa kuch nahi tha? The topic changes inadvertently when talk about genius guys,who are too good to act simple even in simplest scenario. Questions like , " which lap-top should be bought? ...is answered as MACPro le lo " and the desire to buy new laptop dies automatically . Why all good things are so costly?
There are friends who have more faith in your talent than on their own? They will keep on motivating you when it may seem things are not so nice. This scenario becomes tricky , a failure will mean letting that person down. Not long ago we were growing together ....now everyone it seems has chosen own path . People around me these days have different dreams , days are gone when everyone around me had same dream , same passion . We understood each others words just because the words were not heard , but evolved, as we fondly said in those days. Before closing few lines from jug suraiya : TOI-18th June
" when will at last i'll finish college? get a job , find someone i might want to spend the rest of my life with....will it ever happen? ..... With future already becoming past as we look at it ...for us who are no longer young time seems to accelerate at scary speed."
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Moments these are
Moments are delicate and sweet,
You fail to mention how much you love, people around you,
You want to continue speaking after saying bye,
You turn back to see one last glimpse.
Moments are special and memorable,
When old friend call you other night,
You wear same shirt again and again ,
Just because someone did appreciate that long time ago.
Moments are apprehensive and confusing
Which line to get in at ticket counter?
Which word to say as communication starter?
What to do when you have to wake up early?
Moments are long and still ,
You hold words in your heart ,
You laugh, holding pain in heart,
You waited for some one's glimpse.
Moments are rude and bad,
You get angry for no reason ,
You fail to apologize in time,
You let go happiness knocking your door,
You are busy with some lame work.
Moments are pure and joyful ,
You participate in that famous gossip,
You mimic and play pranks with friends,
You know persons who care for you.
Moments of failure , moments of success,
Moments of happiness , moments when you are sad,
Some make us better , other make us bad,
Some moments when you are alone,
Other moments with everyone around you.
The Moments define our life,
Some are easy and some are hard to find,
Some can't be mentioned in words,
As they say....it can only be felt.
You fail to mention how much you love, people around you,
You want to continue speaking after saying bye,
You turn back to see one last glimpse.
Moments are special and memorable,
When old friend call you other night,
You wear same shirt again and again ,
Just because someone did appreciate that long time ago.
Moments are apprehensive and confusing
Which line to get in at ticket counter?
Which word to say as communication starter?
What to do when you have to wake up early?
Moments are long and still ,
You hold words in your heart ,
You laugh, holding pain in heart,
You waited for some one's glimpse.
Moments are rude and bad,
You get angry for no reason ,
You fail to apologize in time,
You let go happiness knocking your door,
You are busy with some lame work.
Moments are pure and joyful ,
You participate in that famous gossip,
You mimic and play pranks with friends,
You know persons who care for you.
Moments of failure , moments of success,
Moments of happiness , moments when you are sad,
Some make us better , other make us bad,
Some moments when you are alone,
Other moments with everyone around you.
The Moments define our life,
Some are easy and some are hard to find,
Some can't be mentioned in words,
As they say....it can only be felt.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
I was at home...for some days
It happened again this time ,
Some moments predictable , some with new dimensions
When i tried to bundle all moments together ,
After all, i wait eagerly those moments,
In short , I was at home ,for some days
When people ask to wake up early ,
All works, small big , requires notification ,
Laziness reaches new heights,
Mom asked , how you manage outside with such lifestyle?
When you learn family basics again ,
mom asked , don't you bargain?
When sister asked for computer tips ,
She is still scared of computer viruses.
When receiving phone means unnecessary spending,
They call this is due to roaming,
Eating home food , enjoying power cut ,
Some light talks , some serious ones,
Assuring dad , all will be fine.
When seeing dad following same routine,
Receiving tips from him, which have always been same,
When i know what will be spoken ,
I love this and can't complain this unchanging thing.
Suddenly the calender indicated , time to move
implementing myself in front of unknowns,
Making some decisions on my own,
Chase for perfection continues.
Dad escorted me till station ,
In no time , time came to separate,
I knew,he'll return again in two minutes ,
Oops! , this time he returned twice to say bye again ,
To give same tips again .
Train moved , i recalled all new special moments,
counted what passed , in some days ,
Don't know when i will return again?
Will things be like this again?
Some questions will not be answered,
In short, I was at home......for few days!
Some moments predictable , some with new dimensions
When i tried to bundle all moments together ,
After all, i wait eagerly those moments,
In short , I was at home ,for some days
When people ask to wake up early ,
All works, small big , requires notification ,
Laziness reaches new heights,
Mom asked , how you manage outside with such lifestyle?
When you learn family basics again ,
mom asked , don't you bargain?
When sister asked for computer tips ,
She is still scared of computer viruses.
When receiving phone means unnecessary spending,
They call this is due to roaming,
Eating home food , enjoying power cut ,
Some light talks , some serious ones,
Assuring dad , all will be fine.
When seeing dad following same routine,
Receiving tips from him, which have always been same,
When i know what will be spoken ,
I love this and can't complain this unchanging thing.
Suddenly the calender indicated , time to move
implementing myself in front of unknowns,
Making some decisions on my own,
Chase for perfection continues.
Dad escorted me till station ,
In no time , time came to separate,
I knew,he'll return again in two minutes ,
Oops! , this time he returned twice to say bye again ,
To give same tips again .
Train moved , i recalled all new special moments,
counted what passed , in some days ,
Don't know when i will return again?
Will things be like this again?
Some questions will not be answered,
In short, I was at home......for few days!
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
On your special Day : Reloaded
Not long ago i did write my blog entry to wish one of my fav persons, on her b'day. Then i had little idea that my next blog entry will be written for same person , this time on occasion of her getting engaged.However one tries not to speak up things , so many indications are apparent showing something nice is cooking. I wanted to ask my friend on this. But i did refrain from this considering its Indian culture not to speak anything when something pious is happening/about to happen.I waited for the news to come and i'm easily happily surprised.
This engagement thing is still out of this world thing me. As i try to know what the feeling can be to get engaged ,clueless i get.But one thing is clear one finally finds someone with whom one will get old ( at least in Indian context). Some points that are coming into my mind , which can be associated to this day are
1: You can bug someone all the time with your stupid talks even without knowing what you are talking hardly makes any sense.
2: You stop taking care of yourself because someone else is these for that work and you have to take care of that person all the time.
3: You ask for suggestion/help from the person without even thinking if that person can really help you . You have someone who will help you when anything goes wrong.
4: You know someone better then yourself.
5: You get answer as "yes" to all the quintessential question you had over the years i.e will you read me when i won't write ? Will you listen me when i won't speak? Will you be on my side when whole world is against me? Will you hold my hand on all unknown paths i walk?
Above points i shall read in future to to get reference to update my blog when i shall know how it really feels to get engaged.Coming back to wishing ritual which i have already done using vocal chords, this time in written for the memorabilia.
"Sweet Girl in you will turn into responsible lady , but am sure you will always be as cute as you are today.I won't forget your what-to-do-next moment after eating sweets at my desk....cuteness personified. Didn't i tell you GOST...god-of-small-things."
Before closing ......One of my fav words....with a lot of power comes a lot of responsibility ......Now you have got the "power"...responsibility will follow effortlessly. Wishing you great future ahead and keep smiling :)
This engagement thing is still out of this world thing me. As i try to know what the feeling can be to get engaged ,clueless i get.But one thing is clear one finally finds someone with whom one will get old ( at least in Indian context). Some points that are coming into my mind , which can be associated to this day are
1: You can bug someone all the time with your stupid talks even without knowing what you are talking hardly makes any sense.
2: You stop taking care of yourself because someone else is these for that work and you have to take care of that person all the time.
3: You ask for suggestion/help from the person without even thinking if that person can really help you . You have someone who will help you when anything goes wrong.
4: You know someone better then yourself.
5: You get answer as "yes" to all the quintessential question you had over the years i.e will you read me when i won't write ? Will you listen me when i won't speak? Will you be on my side when whole world is against me? Will you hold my hand on all unknown paths i walk?
Above points i shall read in future to to get reference to update my blog when i shall know how it really feels to get engaged.Coming back to wishing ritual which i have already done using vocal chords, this time in written for the memorabilia.
"Sweet Girl in you will turn into responsible lady , but am sure you will always be as cute as you are today.I won't forget your what-to-do-next moment after eating sweets at my desk....cuteness personified. Didn't i tell you GOST...god-of-small-things."
Before closing ......One of my fav words....with a lot of power comes a lot of responsibility ......Now you have got the "power"...responsibility will follow effortlessly. Wishing you great future ahead and keep smiling :)
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
On your special day : few words
And i thought , best moments are in past only
Life surprises , and pure souls enter into the act,
At times it can be sweet and small ;
Force you to imagine things what it can be ,
the act keeps moving , with small and beautiful moments.
Coming to the point , gowd! that godly smile
That innocent act , those stories from memory lanes
Some talks keep us at toes ,those what-happened-next moments
i-went-there-did-that ,i-said-this-and-read-that
Some talks are special in any form
Such souls really exist.....and i know one?
Its scary to imagine,if you face problems
Anyone can pray for such soul
I Wish for you a problem free world
A world Where there is no end of happiness
Sometimes we search for pearls and gems,
At times we find them in small things
I take this opportunity to appreciate this pearl
Oops! i have stopped selecting nicknames for dear one's
I end up calling you god-of-small-things
Happy b'day to dear god-of-small-things :)
p.s : However we try to bind thoughts with words , Sometime or the other we fail. I'm almost sure the soul for whom this has been written won't come to this place to read this.So i'm taking printout of this. Time to press ctrl+p
Life surprises , and pure souls enter into the act,
At times it can be sweet and small ;
Force you to imagine things what it can be ,
the act keeps moving , with small and beautiful moments.
Coming to the point , gowd! that godly smile
That innocent act , those stories from memory lanes
Some talks keep us at toes ,those what-happened-next moments
i-went-there-did-that ,i-said-this-and-read-that
Some talks are special in any form
Such souls really exist.....and i know one?
Its scary to imagine,if you face problems
Anyone can pray for such soul
I Wish for you a problem free world
A world Where there is no end of happiness
Sometimes we search for pearls and gems,
At times we find them in small things
I take this opportunity to appreciate this pearl
Oops! i have stopped selecting nicknames for dear one's
I end up calling you god-of-small-things
Happy b'day to dear god-of-small-things :)
p.s : However we try to bind thoughts with words , Sometime or the other we fail. I'm almost sure the soul for whom this has been written won't come to this place to read this.So i'm taking printout of this. Time to press ctrl+p
Friday, March 18, 2011
Appreciate and Celebrate : The Holi
1: Mohit chauhan : " I sing so many beautiful romantic songs,but i don't get time to do romance."
2: Some words written on a oil tanker : " I burn , that's why you move "
This is irony is so prevalent in our surroundings ( Objects/subjects taken together). To begin with i would like mention my dad( works in bihar police) .When everyone prepares for festival day , dad is never sure if will get chance to be with family.why? The answer is obvious , special security arrangement has to be there on festival days so that others can be safe and enjoy without fear.Next example that comes to my mind is workers who build beautiful buildings in which they are never supposed to live.I would like to make special mention of of the contractor who always got contract to build new buildings in our school ( there a new building was always under construction ) . He used to proudly mention " i have made all buildings of your school" ,and we used to get into discussion about other old stories of his, related to our school.Mom always likes others to eat cooking deligts what she is capable of cooking. This holi,i'll miss that "dahi-wada" , "maalpua","dum-aalo" . Moving on to public domain, people do amazing things for others, at times without knowing who are the beneficiaries will be. This should not be misunderstood with charities or people helping each other.
Before closing while celebrating events and occasions we should give some moment to the thought that others are sacrificing so that we can get "THE" moment.Life is better if we acknowledge each others work and appreciate the same with words, if possible. Holi is the festival when we should forgive others who did something wrong to us , and say sorry to others , with whom we were not so nice. I offer unconditional sorry to persons with whom i was not nice knowingly/unknowingly. Life is already cruel, festivals give us time to sit together and enjoy and get motivation to carry on with positives accepting the imperfection we carry all the time. Happy holi.....its time to get colored
2: Some words written on a oil tanker : " I burn , that's why you move "
This is irony is so prevalent in our surroundings ( Objects/subjects taken together). To begin with i would like mention my dad( works in bihar police) .When everyone prepares for festival day , dad is never sure if will get chance to be with family.why? The answer is obvious , special security arrangement has to be there on festival days so that others can be safe and enjoy without fear.Next example that comes to my mind is workers who build beautiful buildings in which they are never supposed to live.I would like to make special mention of of the contractor who always got contract to build new buildings in our school ( there a new building was always under construction ) . He used to proudly mention " i have made all buildings of your school" ,and we used to get into discussion about other old stories of his, related to our school.Mom always likes others to eat cooking deligts what she is capable of cooking. This holi,i'll miss that "dahi-wada" , "maalpua","dum-aalo" . Moving on to public domain, people do amazing things for others, at times without knowing who are the beneficiaries will be. This should not be misunderstood with charities or people helping each other.
Before closing while celebrating events and occasions we should give some moment to the thought that others are sacrificing so that we can get "THE" moment.Life is better if we acknowledge each others work and appreciate the same with words, if possible. Holi is the festival when we should forgive others who did something wrong to us , and say sorry to others , with whom we were not so nice. I offer unconditional sorry to persons with whom i was not nice knowingly/unknowingly. Life is already cruel, festivals give us time to sit together and enjoy and get motivation to carry on with positives accepting the imperfection we carry all the time. Happy holi.....its time to get colored
Friday, March 11, 2011
Cup that counts
Cricket world cup is on full swing and a blog entry by me had to come on this. Here it goes..
As World cup games are being played and many records are being made in each match.Somehow the excitement is somehow missing in this world cup.May be too much cricket over the years is responsible for this ( thanks to 20-20 ). If i try to find reason at personal level , there are no McGraw, Donald , Warne , Lara , Waugh , Waqar, Akram ,Jayasurya , Ganguly , Bond , Yusuf ,Inzamam , Kumble , Flintoff, Klusener , De Silva , Anwar ,sohail....list is so long for the stars. Even the lesses known stars are being missed i.e Flower Brothers , Tikolos , Olongas and obuyas .Hey! don't we have sachin , murali , Ponting ,Kallis , Shewag , Steyn , sangakara , Gayle , Peterson .....list is small in comparison to earlier list and the impact is missing too. Why Pakistan has to look up to Afridi only signifies the degradation of pakistan cricket. I would had been better if Akhtar was not there in their line up ...his reputation of is being eroded when he is being hit like anything. Brett lee looks shadow of himself , fear of fearsome lee is hardly visible . Australian bowling is still best but they are not far ahead of others . Talking about fielding , Africans are not the fielder they used to be .Everyone is dropping Catches as if they are happy to give more chances to batsman but they won't give 2nd chance to umpires ..read referral system URDs. jonty acts are a wishful thinking these days. Before the game, people are not talking about memorable rivalries .Somehow English team is showing they only care for Ashes and to make things worse better players are getting injured. Sachin continues to be everyone favourite as he was 20 years back ,but rivals have subsided i.e warne/Mcgraw/Akram etc.When the team india playing minnows should had been one sided affairs , sadly things are hard fought wins.Has standard of cricket dropped in few years? The question remains open.Talking about venue of matches played ...and mistreatment to viewers who had to face wrath of stick in quest to get match ticket is hardly acceptable. Eden gardens denied of any important game is another bad thing .Players right of Playing in front of 1 lac people has been denied in the process. Cricket politics winning here and ego clashes of cricket Administrators of this country are more important than the game itself.
Enough of cynics talks , Only way can be forward way. The cup has come to the sub continent and this is best chance for team India to catch the cup at home.Cricket fever slowly is gripping the whole country.Everyone interested in the cricket talks is good thing. Cricket mad country deserves the cup. With time we will know the champions and the stars of tomorrow who will be missed in future world cups...aptly said...the cup that counts.
As World cup games are being played and many records are being made in each match.Somehow the excitement is somehow missing in this world cup.May be too much cricket over the years is responsible for this ( thanks to 20-20 ). If i try to find reason at personal level , there are no McGraw, Donald , Warne , Lara , Waugh , Waqar, Akram ,Jayasurya , Ganguly , Bond , Yusuf ,Inzamam , Kumble , Flintoff, Klusener , De Silva , Anwar ,sohail....list is so long for the stars. Even the lesses known stars are being missed i.e Flower Brothers , Tikolos , Olongas and obuyas .Hey! don't we have sachin , murali , Ponting ,Kallis , Shewag , Steyn , sangakara , Gayle , Peterson .....list is small in comparison to earlier list and the impact is missing too. Why Pakistan has to look up to Afridi only signifies the degradation of pakistan cricket. I would had been better if Akhtar was not there in their line up ...his reputation of is being eroded when he is being hit like anything. Brett lee looks shadow of himself , fear of fearsome lee is hardly visible . Australian bowling is still best but they are not far ahead of others . Talking about fielding , Africans are not the fielder they used to be .Everyone is dropping Catches as if they are happy to give more chances to batsman but they won't give 2nd chance to umpires ..read referral system URDs. jonty acts are a wishful thinking these days. Before the game, people are not talking about memorable rivalries .Somehow English team is showing they only care for Ashes and to make things worse better players are getting injured. Sachin continues to be everyone favourite as he was 20 years back ,but rivals have subsided i.e warne/Mcgraw/Akram etc.When the team india playing minnows should had been one sided affairs , sadly things are hard fought wins.Has standard of cricket dropped in few years? The question remains open.Talking about venue of matches played ...and mistreatment to viewers who had to face wrath of stick in quest to get match ticket is hardly acceptable. Eden gardens denied of any important game is another bad thing .Players right of Playing in front of 1 lac people has been denied in the process. Cricket politics winning here and ego clashes of cricket Administrators of this country are more important than the game itself.
Enough of cynics talks , Only way can be forward way. The cup has come to the sub continent and this is best chance for team India to catch the cup at home.Cricket fever slowly is gripping the whole country.Everyone interested in the cricket talks is good thing. Cricket mad country deserves the cup. With time we will know the champions and the stars of tomorrow who will be missed in future world cups...aptly said...the cup that counts.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Lunch times : Now and then
Its some moments past 1pm and i got some innocuous message on office communicator displaying "lunch" .The reply to this has got monotonous over the months i.e 5min/2min/lets go and sometimes rare modifications. Sometimes i perform the ritual of asking others to gather for lunch with similar responses mentioned query i.e lunch?. In other words this is reminder i.e this is lunch hour and fear factor associated is join the group otherwise one has to eat alone .At time people move to otherwise deserted place in office i.e cafeteria.Lunch hour is the the time for social interaction with some typical smiles flowing around and typical social interaction stuffed with rudimentary questions "how are you ? " " all is well? " etc etc .This is
the time when one listens to particular tribe who are otherwise so busy and they carry their work all the time on their head/shoulders/brain ( if its there ) .Not to forget gossip mongers who don't fail to comment on their managers and olleagues .One should not forget souls want to share from miniature "dabbas" that they carry religiously from home to office. I wonder how one can cook that small quantity and to carry that and at the end offer that to 10 people(assumption).I don't khow if they are best at resource phenomena. Not to forget souls who survive on juice and they sip juice as if that has arrived from out of this world on their service .In between this sometimes chit-chat subject becomes "Cafeteria food is bad" and not so good caterer.Caterer in my behave as if they are here on charity mission feeding hungry people/Who don't have access to home made food...charitable catering. Another tribe is who eat "fasting" food , its a misnomer..how can one eat in fasting?...but in India we do many weird things on the name of god...khuda ke liye. Its not difficult to find people who are on dieting and on special diet . They say," i eat highly customized food ", calorie count is in fashion.Clearly ,we care more for our health if the fashion trend supports that.
Enough of office talk...to refresh the mood i'll trace back to lunch timing in college days. Lunch time there was like another typical session to discuss " how bad the food is?". Different pros and cons of this topic were discussed at length.Eating roti "just_out_of_tawa" was a must do event. Anything cold was strict no no.As i look back hostel food was not that bad , at least multiple times better then the diet i eat these days. some dishes were "so special" or trademark of our hostel mess to be precise.Those french fries can easily beat much revered french fries of McDonald's and other places i have visited.
Coming to important question, what was my answer to "with whom i'll have lunch ? " The answer is it was highly dynamic...with anyone present there in hostel mess. All tables were equally likely .....side effect of having so many friends . It can be said there were several layers of friends between close friends and distant friends. Interestingly as i remember close friends were not my lunch time friends.I would like to add dinner time to previously mentioned phenomena. As i talk about dinner/lunch time friends i can't forget to mention other tribe of friends. Sports complex friends,pizza friends, Table tennis friends, watching TV friends,pizza friends,watching movies friends, cricket friends,bakwas talk friends,frustration session friends , study friends ,jhaduu friends( somehow my room was jhadu/broom room.....people cared periodically to clean their room i.e monthly/bi-monthly) ...gosh!! so many divisions ...but why i'm counting that? Wasn't it effortless?
How things change so quickly . Being formal has become the rule. I see everyday one of my fav lines personified in many souls working in office environment ...the line being , "we are prisoners of own identity , living in prison of our own creation ".
The fear is can i save myself from being typical prisoner....i'll have to look for answer in future. 5 years down the line ,what i'll be doing? Will i ping colleagues for one typical lunch session and have typical lunch time talks.Its scary ...it would be interesting to see what happens...which path to choose...so much of confusion and that is magnifying the fear.Before closing , getting company while having lunch/dinner is privilege , if no is around , silently ,i arrange for the sweet debate , me v/s myself moments i call it .
the time when one listens to particular tribe who are otherwise so busy and they carry their work all the time on their head/shoulders/brain ( if its there ) .Not to forget gossip mongers who don't fail to comment on their managers and olleagues .One should not forget souls want to share from miniature "dabbas" that they carry religiously from home to office. I wonder how one can cook that small quantity and to carry that and at the end offer that to 10 people(assumption).I don't khow if they are best at resource phenomena. Not to forget souls who survive on juice and they sip juice as if that has arrived from out of this world on their service .In between this sometimes chit-chat subject becomes "Cafeteria food is bad" and not so good caterer.Caterer in my behave as if they are here on charity mission feeding hungry people/Who don't have access to home made food...charitable catering. Another tribe is who eat "fasting" food , its a misnomer..how can one eat in fasting?...but in India we do many weird things on the name of god...khuda ke liye. Its not difficult to find people who are on dieting and on special diet . They say," i eat highly customized food ", calorie count is in fashion.Clearly ,we care more for our health if the fashion trend supports that.
Enough of office talk...to refresh the mood i'll trace back to lunch timing in college days. Lunch time there was like another typical session to discuss " how bad the food is?". Different pros and cons of this topic were discussed at length.Eating roti "just_out_of_tawa" was a must do event. Anything cold was strict no no.As i look back hostel food was not that bad , at least multiple times better then the diet i eat these days. some dishes were "so special" or trademark of our hostel mess to be precise.Those french fries can easily beat much revered french fries of McDonald's and other places i have visited.
Coming to important question, what was my answer to "with whom i'll have lunch ? " The answer is it was highly dynamic...with anyone present there in hostel mess. All tables were equally likely .....side effect of having so many friends . It can be said there were several layers of friends between close friends and distant friends. Interestingly as i remember close friends were not my lunch time friends.I would like to add dinner time to previously mentioned phenomena. As i talk about dinner/lunch time friends i can't forget to mention other tribe of friends. Sports complex friends,pizza friends, Table tennis friends, watching TV friends,pizza friends,watching movies friends, cricket friends,bakwas talk friends,frustration session friends , study friends ,jhaduu friends( somehow my room was jhadu/broom room.....people cared periodically to clean their room i.e monthly/bi-monthly) ...gosh!! so many divisions ...but why i'm counting that? Wasn't it effortless?
How things change so quickly . Being formal has become the rule. I see everyday one of my fav lines personified in many souls working in office environment ...the line being , "we are prisoners of own identity , living in prison of our own creation ".
The fear is can i save myself from being typical prisoner....i'll have to look for answer in future. 5 years down the line ,what i'll be doing? Will i ping colleagues for one typical lunch session and have typical lunch time talks.Its scary ...it would be interesting to see what happens...which path to choose...so much of confusion and that is magnifying the fear.Before closing , getting company while having lunch/dinner is privilege , if no is around , silently ,i arrange for the sweet debate , me v/s myself moments i call it .
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Scary selfishness
Mike Tyson : 14th July 2010 : " The first stage of my life was just a whole bunch of selfishness. Just a whole bunch of gifts to myself and people who didn't necessarily deserve it. Now I'm 44, and I realize that my whole life is just a f--king waste. 'Greatest man on the planet'? I wasn't half the man I thought I was. So if there's a big plan now, it's just to give-it's selflessness, caring for the people who deserve it. Because I think I'm a pig. I have this uncanny ability to look at myself in the mirror and say, 'This is a pig. You are a f--king piece of sh-t."
Selfishness can make one feel really bad. At least we can help others when they ask for your help. No wonder that this line is one of my favourite , " At the end of the day it doesn't matter how much you get from others , but , how much you are able to give" .As i write his i remember some unknown faces whom i helped. That illiterate man at ATM machine who didn't know how to use that ATM machine , that old lady who held my hand while crossing the road , the man who asked me how to fill form to deposit money at bank , the guy whose ticket was not confirmed and i made him sleep on my berth , that junior in school who walked up to me to me to ask how to write speech . Through the list is not uncountable , but still they make me smile each time i remember those moments.
Help offered to friends is obviously not mentioned in the list . At times whole day and more was devoted to solve the problems which created problem for them. Even if the problem was not of any significant magnitude i.e some mathematics problem.I'm getting guilty feeling( i should not mention about help offered/given ). A generous "thank-you" was not acceptable . Somehow,i never got comfortable with this word if i added that person in my friend list.With time i have started accepting this "thank-you" formality with a awkward "welcome".Coming to the recent event when i told one friend to write on chat window " calling you " rather then " can i call you?" . Its highly not-good-feeling to give permission to anyone calling me. Reason is simple , helping is at very high priority for me. The feeling that comes on seeing smiling face is the reward which is unique in its kind.sometimes,one can only imagine that smile because that person is not in front of you.But this hardly reduces feel-good -feeling.The sense of "i am of some use to other " is really special one.
Before closing,i'm happy to help unconditionally and someday i don't want to call myself "a pig".The work is on :)
Selfishness can make one feel really bad. At least we can help others when they ask for your help. No wonder that this line is one of my favourite , " At the end of the day it doesn't matter how much you get from others , but , how much you are able to give" .As i write his i remember some unknown faces whom i helped. That illiterate man at ATM machine who didn't know how to use that ATM machine , that old lady who held my hand while crossing the road , the man who asked me how to fill form to deposit money at bank , the guy whose ticket was not confirmed and i made him sleep on my berth , that junior in school who walked up to me to me to ask how to write speech . Through the list is not uncountable , but still they make me smile each time i remember those moments.
Help offered to friends is obviously not mentioned in the list . At times whole day and more was devoted to solve the problems which created problem for them. Even if the problem was not of any significant magnitude i.e some mathematics problem.I'm getting guilty feeling( i should not mention about help offered/given ). A generous "thank-you" was not acceptable . Somehow,i never got comfortable with this word if i added that person in my friend list.With time i have started accepting this "thank-you" formality with a awkward "welcome".Coming to the recent event when i told one friend to write on chat window " calling you " rather then " can i call you?" . Its highly not-good-feeling to give permission to anyone calling me. Reason is simple , helping is at very high priority for me. The feeling that comes on seeing smiling face is the reward which is unique in its kind.sometimes,one can only imagine that smile because that person is not in front of you.But this hardly reduces feel-good -feeling.The sense of "i am of some use to other " is really special one.
Before closing,i'm happy to help unconditionally and someday i don't want to call myself "a pig".The work is on :)
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Choti and frogy moments
Note : C=choti , f=frogy
Taken from one typical choti-frogy talk
In the middle of the talk.....
f: you like me?
c: you mean, i should call you sweet and cute?
f: There you go.Now you know me better.....i'm happy.
c: That's fine , but i like surprises, Saying you what you want me to say is hardly cool.
f: yes, that i know ...but...
c: May be you should call me cute then.
f: I should ..but you are too cute to be called cute and your sweetness can hardly be confined in one word "Sweet".
c: Don't try to be....leave it. Now, i want you to surprise me because i like surprises. Enough reasons...isn't it?
f: ok , i shall try to surprise you .
c: aha! , what do you mean?? From where these words "try to " , "shall" are coming. Just say you will surprise me now and now only.
f: ok....i'll surprise you now and now only.
c: now, i like you.
f: i know
c: oh no!!! , why your face is looking like sady sady?
f: nothing
c: no something is wrong. I shouldn't had talked to you like that. I'm so rude.
f: now see that expression on your face. Didn't i say , you are too cute to be called cute.
c: yes Mr. Frogy , you know things better than me. And i can say any number of times you are so nice.
f: crazy at best you are...aren't you?
c: as you say.....
Still in the middle of the talk.....
Some talks are really endless. Some fights are typical but still refreshing each time. Talking about Protagonists of the story. First Frogy . He was too much confused , kind at heart ( don't know how he was non-vegetarian ),late in realizing mistakes,bad at emotions(good at hiding them) ,always a sigh creature. About choti , less said is best said as her name says.So aggressive ( frogy had to face it every moment ) , strong willed , strong at heart , good at handling weak souls ( after all frogy was to be handled emotionally). At the core of that strong soul did lie so innocent face of choti. As Mr. frogy claimed every time, this innocent face did make him fall for choti.
Coming back to the story, how it started? When-where-why? Was it really a story? Answer is unknown. Mr. frogy didn't believe in luck/fate/destiny. Choti did count these things.What held them together in those circumstances is bigger mystery. It was 2312 AD to be precise. Humans had developed "too much". To add to these confusion , technology had developed so much that it was possible to make other species from existing i.e frogs to humans. Many countries had mastered this technology. But this was still not easily available technology to all countries. Mr. frogy was chosen frog in country kumken to be first frog-made-human. Choti , a human belonging to the 'lilliput' tribe was working as intern in the lab where this secret mission was being incorporated. The moment when they saw each other was not love at first sight. Then they hardly knew what lay ahead for them.......series of special moments , each contained full life in itself. Sometimes longevity can't be measured in terms of time elapsed...sometimes precious value of each moment dictates the measurement criteria....the unending saga that was....Frogy and choti moments i did call.
p.s : The person for whom this was written, disdainfully rejected to read this. But sometimes some lines are written even if no one is going to read them . "Will you read me when i won't write? " , answer i got , "NO".
Taken from one typical choti-frogy talk
In the middle of the talk.....
f: you like me?
c: you mean, i should call you sweet and cute?
f: There you go.Now you know me better.....i'm happy.
c: That's fine , but i like surprises, Saying you what you want me to say is hardly cool.
f: yes, that i know ...but...
c: May be you should call me cute then.
f: I should ..but you are too cute to be called cute and your sweetness can hardly be confined in one word "Sweet".
c: Don't try to be....leave it. Now, i want you to surprise me because i like surprises. Enough reasons...isn't it?
f: ok , i shall try to surprise you .
c: aha! , what do you mean?? From where these words "try to " , "shall" are coming. Just say you will surprise me now and now only.
f: ok....i'll surprise you now and now only.
c: now, i like you.
f: i know
c: oh no!!! , why your face is looking like sady sady?
f: nothing
c: no something is wrong. I shouldn't had talked to you like that. I'm so rude.
f: now see that expression on your face. Didn't i say , you are too cute to be called cute.
c: yes Mr. Frogy , you know things better than me. And i can say any number of times you are so nice.
f: crazy at best you are...aren't you?
c: as you say.....
Still in the middle of the talk.....
Some talks are really endless. Some fights are typical but still refreshing each time. Talking about Protagonists of the story. First Frogy . He was too much confused , kind at heart ( don't know how he was non-vegetarian ),late in realizing mistakes,bad at emotions(good at hiding them) ,always a sigh creature. About choti , less said is best said as her name says.So aggressive ( frogy had to face it every moment ) , strong willed , strong at heart , good at handling weak souls ( after all frogy was to be handled emotionally). At the core of that strong soul did lie so innocent face of choti. As Mr. frogy claimed every time, this innocent face did make him fall for choti.
Coming back to the story, how it started? When-where-why? Was it really a story? Answer is unknown. Mr. frogy didn't believe in luck/fate/destiny. Choti did count these things.What held them together in those circumstances is bigger mystery. It was 2312 AD to be precise. Humans had developed "too much". To add to these confusion , technology had developed so much that it was possible to make other species from existing i.e frogs to humans. Many countries had mastered this technology. But this was still not easily available technology to all countries. Mr. frogy was chosen frog in country kumken to be first frog-made-human. Choti , a human belonging to the 'lilliput' tribe was working as intern in the lab where this secret mission was being incorporated. The moment when they saw each other was not love at first sight. Then they hardly knew what lay ahead for them.......series of special moments , each contained full life in itself. Sometimes longevity can't be measured in terms of time elapsed...sometimes precious value of each moment dictates the measurement criteria....the unending saga that was....Frogy and choti moments i did call.
p.s : The person for whom this was written, disdainfully rejected to read this. But sometimes some lines are written even if no one is going to read them . "Will you read me when i won't write? " , answer i got , "NO".
Friday, January 28, 2011
Change : The observation
How diffcult it gets to share emotions. Its not easy to climb those walls time and again. How often we think twice before calling someone? The questions are obvious,what will i talk? do i have reason to call? Do i have reason to send SMS? How things take twists and turns? Once unseen barriers become rift and that keeps on widening? Is looking towards different path can solve the problem? It's easy to make speculation? why-someone-did-this-to-me scenario? How often talking to self only increases the pain? How helpless one can get when there is no fight between me and myself , not long ago this fight inside me was sweet and cute( for quite sometime they are sadly in unison ).
In past scenarios this situation was the case when i used to open some random page from my notebook and used to write randomly, bringing my thoughts on paper. I still remember that embarrassing situation when my friend had opened one of those pages and started reading that( class 11 days to be precise ) . I had to literally snatch the notebook vehemently to save my thoughts from being read. That reaction of mine was rude and uncharacteristic of me for sure. I didn't know then many more such pages are to be written . As i write this blog entry i surprisingly know i don't possess any of those pages at this moment. Pages which contained my emotions in black and white. most of the times they were new resolutions , i-shall-do-this-do-that type to motivate self. Others meant to criticize self for wrong actions. When even 1 hour was scrutinized and analyzed. Number of sleeping hours were counted and curtailed. Alarm clock was effectively used time and again . Waking up early in morning was regular phenomena .Spending even 1 rupee had to be justified .Eating outside was part of rarest of rare occasion . Dream was about unknown future. Sometimes doing everything to capacity can't keep away some difficult moments away.Mountain of expectations were ahead of me. i knew , "good is not good when excellent is expected" .
As i'm writing these otherwise meaningless words and throat is too chocked to speak any words; I find only one change in me over the years. Then,i didn't want anyone to listen my sad words. Words which haunt me and defeat me in war inside me everytime. Now, somehow its getting frustratingly difficult to hold words inside me. I just wish this phenomena is temporary one. But agonies are so difficult to handle, only because we don't know about length of that. The quest goes on, in search of the soul who will listen to "i-me-and-myself" at the same time . Waiting for the days when the fight, "me v/s myself" ,is resumed.I just hope that sweet fight is resumed ASAP : as soon as possible....the wait is on
In past scenarios this situation was the case when i used to open some random page from my notebook and used to write randomly, bringing my thoughts on paper. I still remember that embarrassing situation when my friend had opened one of those pages and started reading that( class 11 days to be precise ) . I had to literally snatch the notebook vehemently to save my thoughts from being read. That reaction of mine was rude and uncharacteristic of me for sure. I didn't know then many more such pages are to be written . As i write this blog entry i surprisingly know i don't possess any of those pages at this moment. Pages which contained my emotions in black and white. most of the times they were new resolutions , i-shall-do-this-do-that type to motivate self. Others meant to criticize self for wrong actions. When even 1 hour was scrutinized and analyzed. Number of sleeping hours were counted and curtailed. Alarm clock was effectively used time and again . Waking up early in morning was regular phenomena .Spending even 1 rupee had to be justified .Eating outside was part of rarest of rare occasion . Dream was about unknown future. Sometimes doing everything to capacity can't keep away some difficult moments away.Mountain of expectations were ahead of me. i knew , "good is not good when excellent is expected" .
As i'm writing these otherwise meaningless words and throat is too chocked to speak any words; I find only one change in me over the years. Then,i didn't want anyone to listen my sad words. Words which haunt me and defeat me in war inside me everytime. Now, somehow its getting frustratingly difficult to hold words inside me. I just wish this phenomena is temporary one. But agonies are so difficult to handle, only because we don't know about length of that. The quest goes on, in search of the soul who will listen to "i-me-and-myself" at the same time . Waiting for the days when the fight, "me v/s myself" ,is resumed.I just hope that sweet fight is resumed ASAP : as soon as possible....the wait is on
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Happy B'day to worker-Dear
Few words can't make the whole story ,
But the quest goes on and on .
What if the person says i couldn't got your single word?
Answer again same...quest goes on.
The quest is to spread smile ,
To appreciate what i observe ,
To say words unsaid ,
To learn from some good points ,
And make evolving changes in mine.
They say, we don't know people by chance
There is big conspiracy
For me those are opportunities to gain from others.
Oops! my non-poetic self is laughing ,
Words are not rhyming ,
Thought process going haywire,
Damn!! i made it confusing again.
It's time to revert back to simplicity
Simply said is best said
Some words i tried to write on your b'day ,
To wish and send happiness in this way .
It's time to add to this days wish list for you,
May that smile be always there from where it belongs ,
May your all wishes come true ,
Happiness is always replicated around you.
p.s : Happy B'day to worker-dear. Its no wonder that i did end up calling someone worker-dear; after all , "slave" and "mazdoor" was favourite word made favourite by me in our friend circle. Some sweet additions keep happening to already sweet things . That is what the quest is all about.
p.p.s : Coffee at "my_desk_away_from_my_desk" has got into some sweet memories i shall carry forward.
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
winter saga: travelled
With mercury reaching new lows in different parts of the country oops!! different parts of the world ( Europe-russia-US will agree ) everyone has at least one question to ask to everyone " kitni thand hai yaar!!" ( cold-cold-cold ). This question works at local as wel as global level...err again...australians will disagree this time. One getting cough and cold only adds to already hot topic of discussion . How memory lanes will spare me in this thought process. Here it goes...
I can't forget going to play at 5am when morning light was still sometime away and fog used to delay the start of play by quite sometime.What made things interesting was all of us knew the delay will be there. But with game in mind it was difficult to sleep a la Swami and friends by R.K narayan. Waking up lazy souls was interesting and lecturing them on importance of the sunday game was fun at best.
If sunday wee hours were beautiful ,all dusks were magnificent.Daylignt used to fade up at astronomical rate and one had to hurry from school to home to get going with the game. Sun god seemed in great hurry to wrap up days activities. Above mentioned phenomena led to fight against time. No one could resist the urge to play new match with reduced overs and reduced boundries. No wonder fading light left us with innumerable games which didn't get complete. Every evening Mom's gentle reminder used to turn into warning for not wearing sweater while playing , this used to conclude with routine "scolding" session .With mornings and evenings getting the mention its time not to forget days when sun god used to get leave i.e chilly nights were after effects of chilly days. I can't forget to mention here Sattu-parantha-baigan-bharta on demand dinner. This was regular demand from me to mom and was generously completed without fail.
With change in location ( i'm in pune now ) change in sun gods routine is not so obvious. Now Waking up at 5 seems like crime .Enjoying warm winter sun-light seems rare activity .Now saturday mornings are reserved for till-10am-sleeping. Change in taste of winter vegetables are not noticeable any more. Before closing....i have words flowing in my mind......even if we can't live some moments again we can always smile thinking about them. This gives motivation to live new moments which in due course of time will get into sweet moments list.
p.s : happy new year if anyone is reading this blog entry :)
I can't forget going to play at 5am when morning light was still sometime away and fog used to delay the start of play by quite sometime.What made things interesting was all of us knew the delay will be there. But with game in mind it was difficult to sleep a la Swami and friends by R.K narayan. Waking up lazy souls was interesting and lecturing them on importance of the sunday game was fun at best.
If sunday wee hours were beautiful ,all dusks were magnificent.Daylignt used to fade up at astronomical rate and one had to hurry from school to home to get going with the game. Sun god seemed in great hurry to wrap up days activities. Above mentioned phenomena led to fight against time. No one could resist the urge to play new match with reduced overs and reduced boundries. No wonder fading light left us with innumerable games which didn't get complete. Every evening Mom's gentle reminder used to turn into warning for not wearing sweater while playing , this used to conclude with routine "scolding" session .With mornings and evenings getting the mention its time not to forget days when sun god used to get leave i.e chilly nights were after effects of chilly days. I can't forget to mention here Sattu-parantha-baigan-bharta on demand dinner. This was regular demand from me to mom and was generously completed without fail.
With change in location ( i'm in pune now ) change in sun gods routine is not so obvious. Now Waking up at 5 seems like crime .Enjoying warm winter sun-light seems rare activity .Now saturday mornings are reserved for till-10am-sleeping. Change in taste of winter vegetables are not noticeable any more. Before closing....i have words flowing in my mind......even if we can't live some moments again we can always smile thinking about them. This gives motivation to live new moments which in due course of time will get into sweet moments list.
p.s : happy new year if anyone is reading this blog entry :)
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