A Day that was - A roller coaster ride…

What a day it has been…:(
Had to work from home for reasons not in my control…
More work came in as e-mails, first thing in the morning…
More crashes reported…
Enough time spent pondering…
Slept for sometime in the afternoon…
Felt really really down in the evening…
Depths I had never explored before…
I see what I have to do staring on my desk…
For the first time ever, there is no motivation to go near it…
Went for my usual 4 km jog…
Other than the calories burnt nothing much was achieved…
Came back, My desk and everything around it was mocking at me…
Even after all this time the task was unfinished…
It was something that I always WANTED to do…
But……..hmmm…Why is the But then???
Silently started conquering…
Surprisingly sleep eluded me…
Watched the last half an hr of ManU vs Barcelona at 2.30 AM…
Win dodges either of them…
Wrote this post at 3.30 AM, still not satisfied…
Long way to go…
AND GO I WILL…

Revived passion!!!

I was in my fourth year of engineering when my cousin decided to bestow his bike to me for “safekeeping”… He was traveling for a year and wanted someone to ‘take care’ of his bike…It was a Bullet and how could I have refused? :)

What a bike!!! If you want the real experience of riding a bike, then this ONE you should never miss!!!

It was an experience that I would never forget. I still remember how many of my friends used to come to the college parking-lot to watch me ride this 350cc behemoth. You just have to ride this once and you will see why people go gaga over it. People spend a fortune to have one of these machines and it’s worth every penny.

Thanks to my friends who arranged for a bike ride to Nandi hills, I got an opportunity to ride this bike again. I didn’t want to miss this opportunity even though, it’s been more than 3 years since I had driven a two wheeler. My cousin readily agreed to give the bike again.

I have no words to describe the experience that you would go through…Especially when you are riding long distances, there can be no better bike…It was one hell of a great ride all the way, reigniting the lost love…The company of my friends made it even more memorable…

What’s Cooking??

Tell me what do you want to do in life?? I meant professionally…:) Are you happy with what you are doing? If you are not then it’s never too late to change…Is it a case of simply getting bored with what you are currently doing or is there really something that you want to do in life?? If it’s the former then you will pretty soon get bored with the next one too…So know what you want from life and work towards it…

Being in a product company in India and that too in the networking field its very difficult for someone to get to see the combination of development of a product and actually selling it to a customer from the same location in your lifetime of the project..:)

If being part of the development of a new product gives you a kick, just imagine how it might be actually selling these products…I am lucky to be part of a company which does a lot of sales and marketing…When I interact with a group of sales and marketing folks I see a different kind of energy level…It’s a great feeling just to be amidst these guys with all the tensions, temptations and killing competition from within and from the competitors. The stakes involved are very high, everyone trying to exceed their targets, please their managers and inturn keep the shareholders happy every quarter with outstanding performances quarter on quarter beating your own previous record…Wooowaahh!!! Imagine the adrenaline flow…

Every time I walk past my floor, I see these guys always running around the floor talking through their handsfree. Half the people don’t use their seats and the other half will be preparing some kind of presentation…I have hardly seen anyone without an handsfree and believe me they use it to the maximum. I mean they don’t even spare the loo…Its an absolute contrast when I compare this team with the rest of the folks on the floor.

Do you think you have it in you to be part of such a team? Do you dream of being part ofsomething that is unique, dynamic and constantly on the move? Do you have it in you to be innovative almost as a norm rather than as an exception? Do you want to be “There”???
Imagine the expectations, the returns, the achievements, the tension… If your answer is Wooowaahh!!!
Then you know your next move…..

My Love

There I was in the middle of the night,
Holding her hand, lost in her alluring sight.
The stars above, rain below, the amazing spectacle fades,
When her beauty strikes like spades.

The purity of her voice gives her the fame,
Her agility and grace puts any model to shame.
I had dreamed of her, fantasized her,
The time I set sight on her, loved her.

She stands tall amidst most,
Going on long drives titillate me utmost.
One day I will say she is mine,
And the world will witness how we get along, very fine…




PS: Dedicated to my would-be Red “Ferrari” car..;)

A special message

A special message....Very aptly sent on the given day...
Thanks to you...

Misc...

1) Do you always have a plan B?? If you do then don’t you think you will never give your 100% to plan A??
2) Have you wondered ever, “What’s next??”
3) Where do you see yourself five years from now??
Oops, now where did that come from!!!
4) When you close your eyes and try to sleep, what do you think??
(we all know what happens after we sleep…Absolute bliss!!..:))
5) When was the last time you played your favorite sport - badminton, TT…hmmm…what’s that? :)
6) When was the last time you had a vacation or traveled with your friends??
Is reciprocation the necessary and sufficient bond in a relationship??
7) Soooo…Did you become the “cat” that you wanted to be in the “rat race”?
8) Now that I am writing this post at this hour…when was the last time you slept early??
9) Hmmm…how can this be possible?? Am I already running out of questions..:)


PS: This was just a way to get back to prose..Though I had to prove a point to myself regarding my poetry(My previous take on prose & poetry!!) ..;-)

Chase Your Dreams

Sometimes our dreams brew our world
Othertimes the world spawn our dreams
Its the former that we always crave for
Making both match is what one strives for

Conviction and Courage, Passion and perseverance
You are born with some, others you hone,
The will to win is all that it takes,
Separating us from the rest of the souls

Lets take action, Lets take measures
Every small step leading us to our treasures
Lets chase our dreams, living life to its fullest
Coz its this lifetime and this one alone is all we will get…

Testing times...

There I was eagerly waiting,
My hands tied, not allowed to do anything
There I was eagerly waiting,
Only to receive spam calls and messages

Thoughts about this and thoughts about that
Not allowing me to do anything but sweat
Counting the days and counting the seconds
Becoming more difficult with every passing second

Anticipation with every message and every call,
Each one more disappointing than the previous one…
Hundred & one things to do, each one more important than the other
But nothing seems to get done, thoughts always lingering back...

Apprehension with every passing second
Confidence rekindling hopes
Have always been proud of my patience
But this is one test I don’t want to endure again…

It’s a binary world!!!

People say “participation is the most important thing” but YOU know what? Winning is the only thing that matters and at the end of the day, participation really doesn’t count…Its either a WIN or its NOTHING…

Today I saw an episode of Indian Idol on Sony, and it made me cry…It was an episode where one of the five contestants had to be “eliminated” from the competition and it was the turn of a guy called Chang…He couldn’t control his tears…I could feel the disappointment in his face…If I felt so much for him I, then I could imagine what he was going through…
There were words of consolation from all around…People saying that he “was the best”…That according to them he “is” the “Indian Idol”…That someone had to be sent out and its sad that it was him…

But how do all these words matter? The fact is that he has lost and there is no second chance…

Its not just about a competition, its about everything that you aspire for in life…Because if you want something real bad then you always go for it at full blast…There is no point in waiting for things to happen...Its your responsibilty to take charge and make it happen...

The only way you can compete well, or work to the best of your potential is by aiming for that elusive first place…Its elusive because there can only be “one first place” and there will be thousands of people competing for it…If you are not aiming for it then you have lost it even before trying…If you are, then how can you be happy with the second place????

Firstly you should realize that without this kind of motivation it’s impossible to achieve whatever you want to achieve, because unless you are aiming to be the best, you will neither have the stamina nor the determination to attain it. You wont care enough to plug all the holes…It will just be one mechanical attempt towards achieving it and only you will know that you haven’t given it your best shot…
Never settle for the second best…if you are "OK" with it, then don’t even bother trying…its just a waste of time…

Remember that its better to fail while trying rather than failing to try…and when you try, make sure its going to be your best shot…but be honest with yourself because as someone said “there is no point in cheating the man in the glass”!!!

It’s a binary world out there. The “ones” are all that matter and for every “zero” you should be in a position to proudly say that there was absolutely nothing more that you could have done to convert it into a “one”…I know that the pain of a failure will be unbearable, but it will be definitely better than carrying the feeling of not giving it a good try for the rest of your life…

Contemplating…

It was dark and it was noisy, but it was not that kind of noise that I am usually accustomed to…Instead of the usual honks I could hear hundreds of different animal sounds…It was half past midnight and all my friends were asleep…I too hit the bed but sleep seems to elude me…

There was no electricity and the only source of light was a lantern placed outside the “tented cottage”!! It was more like an indicator to animals rather than anything else…I decided to go for a stroll…It took me just a few steps to realize how risky this might get…I could hardly see my own outstretched hands and I decided to head back.

Maybe the cushioned chair placed outside the cottage was meant for nocturnal animals like me…It was definitely not sumptuous but had to compete with a couple of centipedes to sit on it…It was cold, pitch dark with the lantern trying its best to provide me the required heat & light…

I close my eyes and try to sleep. Instead of staring at complete darkness, I see a chain of mountains. I turn around wondering where I am and I see peaks everywhere. But the difference was that I could recognize all the peaks behind me but not those ahead of me. These were the ones that I had already trekked and conquered. Each had a different story behind it and each one of them was a source of delectation.

Most of them were not the final destination but only a path to one, but the experience made it more eventful than maybe reaching the final destination. The path showed that it was obviously not well planned nor straight forward but somehow each of them ended with a very good story behind them…Most of them were intentionally conquered while others were purely co-incidental & those were the ones which was most fruitful because you least expected them…

I could see a number of paths which were sketched but not taken. Some of them taken but given up midway. I could see that at every valley I have made decisions sometimes rational while others irrational (as I now see it!!!) but all of them leading to my destination. I could see that as time progressed, the problems and the corresponding solutions were tougher but I was making better decisions based on the extra information available and my past experiences. I have made my choices and I have landed where I am today. I have no way of knowing what might have happened if I had taken other paths, but one thing I am sure of is that it has turned out to be an excellent experience and there are no regrets. To add to it, sometimes I wonder whether the things I was pursuing did actually matter that much? Maybe it mattered then when I was busy sketching the paths to scale those peaks, but now when I think about them I just want to laugh…I have realized that some of those things were actually not what I wanted…

I redo my sketching and choose new paths which I know will make me deviate from where I was heading. But I am happy about it…The change in the roadmap may undo a lot of things that I had done but now it no longer matters because I have a new path, a new mountain to climb and a new destination…

There is excitement and I am looking forward to the new challenge. I am sure I have the ability to shine and conquer this peak which I think will lead me where I rightfully have to be…Maybe this is the final big peak, maybe this is not the final peak but just a prelude to the actual peak, maybe the peak is not what I had thought it might be, but I am sure it will be something that I would love and will lead me to such a place that would be much more than I had imagined or perceived, which makes me think of how close I was in not coming to this place. It was an experience to relish and to relish it, you have to experience it… Like most things, it happened and it happened for good...

When I see the mountain range ahead of me, I have chosen a path which I think will lead me the place that I rightfully belong. The past successes and the debacles have given me the doughty attitude that is needed to take the right step forward and actually look forward in conquering them…

Some of the paths that I had traveled no longer seem relevant and some of them were just a waste of time. But by tackling those paths I have gained immense knowledge which will definitely hold me in good stead…I have immense confidence in my destiny which has until now never let me down. The fact that I have no major regrets surprises me and what surprises me even more is that, this was not only because of the well planned decisions that I had taken but also because of the course that was forced upon me by a number of factors…

I would have continued to contemplate, but for my mobile which beeped twice to indicate that someone was messaging me. Trust Airtel to provide you coverage even in these remote areas!!! It was well past 1.00 AM and the message made me grin because it was a message from a friend who was doing exactly what I was doing, contemplating into the night!!!

Paralanguage...

Couple of days back, my friend was shifting his house and I went there to help him out…At least for moral support if not anything else…;)
As I stood there I could descry a girl in the neighborhood, almost the same age as mine. Somehow I felt I had seen her somewhere…The face cut was not too clear and I did not give it a second thought and carried on with my work…

Later in the afternoon, the girl and her mother came over with some juice for us. Apparently my friend knew them. As soon as I saw her I realized why she looked familiar…She had been a friend during my school days…She was staying very close to my place and we used to play together…I had been to their house couple of times…The last time I had talked to her was nearly eight years back…We started chatting, catching up on all those years…It was kind of weird talking to her, she made it a point never to see my face directly. While I was talking to her looking at her face, she was talking to my foot..:) She successfully, completely avoided eye contact. Talking to her mother was easier…

I don’t understand what gets to people. Why can’t they make eye contact? They sometimes do everything but stop short of looking at your eyes…
Maybe they are afraid that the eye may convey their true feelings, maybe because the eye could reveal much more than what they desire. Maybe its some kind of guilt feeling…Maybe the past experiences has led them to be uncomfortable with the other person…Whatever the reason, it’s really awkward to have a conversation with someone who doesn’t look into your eyes…

It’s not just the eye contact, but also the body language that tells whether the other person is comfortable having a conversation with you. Sometimes it might so happen that he/she might not want to come near you at all. In a group the person might avoid you by making sure that he/she is never beside you or always occupying the seat which is never next to you or always making sure that there is someone in between.
You should take it as a sign when the person walks ahead or behind, but never with you.

Recently I had read an article which suggested that only
7% of info you transmit is in the language you use.
38% How you speak - quality of voice, accent, voice projection, emphasis, expression, pace, volume, pitch etc. and
55% Body language - posture, position, eye contact, facial expression, head and body movements, gestures, touch etc.

That clearly shows where your priority should lie while speaking to someone, because your body can impart eight times as much information…A picture can speak a thousand words, but your eyes can convey everything without even attempting to speak.

Right body language can help you achieve a lot. I use it at office too…It really helps if you walk upright, talk confidently, be jaunty and gregarious while in the company of others and converse as if you know what you are doing. Your image adds a lot of value to what you say. People always respect those who carry themselves as if they know what they are doing because they like to be with confident people even though they might envy them for it. It always helps if you have an affable smile, look confident and seem approachable. The relationships will be better if we show some interest in the other person. Always have genuine interest while listening to the other person, if you are not interested then don’t even talk. If interest shown is genuine, then half the problems get solved.

So next time make sure that your body language is right and always talk what you believe, otherwise your body or your eyes will be giving totally different vibes/views and people know which to believe…

Pursuit of HappYness

It was a blatant, screeching unrelenting noise and I had to stop it immediately. It was ruining the incessant peace…
Then I realized it was just my mobile alarm reminding me that it’s 4.55 AM and its time to get up. I curse my mobile, press the snooze button hard and go back to sleep. The extra 5 min is something that I relish a lot…
In those 5 min, I wonder who in their sane mind would get up this early in the morning for a jog when the alternative is to sleep on your cozy bed with the fan running at full blast…its always the same thoughts, being one of those loony types I normally pick the former choice…

But my mobile never gives up and exactly after 5 min, it starts screaming again…I know I can switch it off and go back to sleep, but that action even though seems the most logical thing to do at that point of time would make me regret, for the rest of the day. So I get up from my bed against all my wishes and say a tearful goodbye to my ever inviting bed…
I wear my running shorts and shoes and head towards the regular park where all the insane people get up this early in the morning to come for a “walk in the park”..:)

But somehow things were different today…It was dark and there were no streetlights…Normally there will be a few vehicles moving around but today there were none…I enter the park and to my surprise there was not a single soul around…I check my watch to reconfirm whether it was really morning…it was inscrutable.

Though nonplussed, I start jogging as if nothing is amiss…After a couple of rounds, things get scarier…There is pin drop silence and my watch is showing 5.30 AM…Usually by now there would have been so much of a crowd that it would have been like driving on congested Bangalore roads…

It was bizarre and things were getting crazier every minute and I was contemplating on returning home…But then at the corner of my eye I could descry a human profile walking a few meters behind me…it was very relieving to see some human at last. From the looks of it I could see that it was a female, whom I was seeing for the first time…I continued jogging, with a sign of relief that I wasn’t alone…Even though she was walking and I was jogging, she was gaining ground and in a matter of few seconds she was right beside me…She looked jaunty, had an extremely beautiful face and her smile was electrifying…She looked right through my eyes and cold shivers ran through my body…The radiant smile forced me to smile back…She looked extremely fit and there was some kind of calmness around her…

I was taken by surprise when she said “HI, good morning”…it is not everyday that strangers wish you…She introduced herself as a goddess…I couldn’t control my laughter, here is a beautiful lady who has gone fully nuts and totally insane…I just wished her back…If she can claim to be a goddess then I am “Jesus”!!! I start running, to escape from her but she leisurely took few steps to come right behind me…Somehow it wasn’t my day and things were getting weirder…

I knew it would be a futile effort to run away…So I asked her what she wanted…She smiled back saying “its not a question of what she needed but what I wanted”…She said she would grant me any wish and that I just had to ask for it…Even though it was really hard to believe what I heard, she had that sweet genuine smile on her face that made it difficult for me to ignore her…Again how does it matter I can just ask and by merely asking I am not going to loose anything…

The next 10 min was spent in explaining all the things that I wanted from life…I went to such an extent that, the order in which they should happen was also specified…she seemed surprised after listening to my monologue…“Is that all?” was all she asked and then I said “No…there is one more thing. I want to be always HAPPY”…She smiled and said…“Now, That’s a tall order. I would have fulfilled all the other wishes in a zippy, but what you asked in the end supersedes everything else. It is a herculean task even for me to make anyone happy…a person can have everything but still may not be happy and so being happy is solely upon you and I can’t do anything about it…”

Now that made sense, roseate that I was I knew I can be happy either way…But I would prefer being happy with all my wishes fulfilled rather than being happy without them…:) I didn’t have to tell anything, she realized what was running in my mind…That smile said it all…

She started saying something, when I heard a huge screeching sound behind me ruining the crucial moment…I just didn’t want this moment to go away, but I knew what was happening and I just signed…“Oh, No…Not again”!!!

On a high!!!

I am in a state of bliss, wonder why?
I am mirthful, wonder why?
I really love my work, wonder why?
I have stopped grumbling, wonder why?
I enjoy every moment, wonder why?
I always have a smile, wonder why?
I have become disciplined, wonder why?
I have this feeling that nothing can go wrong, wonder why?
I feel blessed, wonder why?
I am on a high and I wonder why!!!

I write this and I wonder why? :)

Prose Or Poetry???

Given a choice what do you want to write, prose or poetry?
I have always wanted to write poetry but never have I exceeded more than two lines…Whenever I try to make the lines rhythmic, the essence seems to get lost and if I concentrate on the message/content then it will start to sound more prose than poetry. But I have realized that poetry is not the right way to go for someone who wants to express his/her thoughts without hiding them. (Or is it a case of grapes being sour? ;))

As the saying goes “Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder”, the extent to which a poem can be appreciated depends on the people who can read, understand and relate to them. The impact, significance or its meaning are all dependent on the reader rather than the poet. Even though the poet has his/her own reasons for writing a poem, the interpretation is totally left to the reader. Thus if the same poem is read by 10 people then we will have 11 different interpretations!!! :)

A poem is never straight forward and there is no single meaning to it. Obviously the poet would have written it with particular thoughts in mind, but for a reader it may or may not be the same as the reason for which it’s written. This is the beauty of poems. The poet can hide away his/her thoughts within the lines.
But prose can never be written like that. The thoughts are written in sentences arranged in paragraphs and there is no two meaning to it. The information presented is more pragmatic when compared to poetry. Sentences in paragraphs of prose follow each other, one after the other. The language of prose is straight forward, with less figurative language than poetry.

I have a couple of my friends who write poetry and whenever I read those poems I invariably try to figure out, what made them write such a poem. So, the interpretation is totally influenced by the character of the person. My understanding may never be inline with the poet but still I would be very convinced about my line of thoughts given that the background of the poet and their current state of mind is known beforehand.
When you read a poem written by someone whom you have never met before, then you try to relate to it based on your experience rather then what the poet would have meant!!!

There is a chasm separating prose and poetry.
Poetry is both sensual and cerebral. Poetry can be a great art; prose can express art but is itself merely craft. Thus, in terms of what is being expressed, and in terms of art, poetry can have more value than prose.

He who draws noble delights from sentiments of poetry is a true poet, though he has never written a line in all his life. ~George Sand, 1851
;-)

KP Conquered on debut!!!

Certain things can’t be appreciated until its experienced. I found this to be very true this weekend when I trekked to KumaraParvatha (Western Ghats) more famously known as KP…Standing at 1714m (abt 5700 feet) it’s not only the second tallest peak (the first being Mullyangiri) in Karnataka, but also supposed to be one of the toughest to trek!!! What a debut!!!

For a first timer you couldn’t have asked for more…Not only you are trekking one of the toughest peaks but you really don’t know what to expect!!! But being in the age of “web 2.0” there is nothing you can’t know beforehand…I read a few blogs trying to understand what to expect from a trek like this…But everything that I read came short of the actual experience…It just cannot be put in words even though I am trying to do the same impossible thing here!! ;)
For a guy who usually said no to such things it was a real revelation!!! Thanks to my friend Sunil who arranged everything and providing us with a list of things we would need, we didn’t face any major problem other than of-course climbing the peak..:)
We were 8 of us…An amazing group to hang out with…There was always laughter with jokes/PJs being cracked with amazing frequency…Sometimes it would be so hilarious that u will cry laughing (oxymoron!!!?).

We left on Friday night to Somvarpet on a Rajahamsa and reached there by 6.00 in the morning…After having a hot cup of coffee, we left to our staring point which is about 45 min bus drive from Somvarpet. The forest check post is about couple of km from this point. We had to pass “Hegde mane” and “Mallikarjuna Devasthana” before reaching the check post…We tried getting breakfast at both the places but to no avail…So we decided to have two and a half chapattis per head…We had to ration everything from food to water because there would be no food available anywhere and the pizza delivery guys wouldn’t come!!! Since the luggage was unevenly distributed we had to redistribute everything. Further as there were two tents we took turns carrying them every half an hour…

At around 10.30 we reached the forest check post. The forest officials there were not ready to give us permission as there was some herd of elephants which were apparently going on a rampage in the area and they didn’t want to take any risks. Half an hour of reasoning and convincing them that we were “grown-ups” and “responsible”, we got the required receipts. We had to pay 75 bucks per head and had to declare that we were responsible for our safety!!!

The trek from Somvarpet side to KP is as arduous as it can get…The distance is about 8-10 km but its very steep. The only advantage being there was forest cover throughout. Actually the entire trail is trough forests. The experience was just amazing and we met a couple of streams in between which helped us to replenish our bottles. The first stream had a lot of water and we had to remove our shoes to cross it. The water was freezing cold and it took a lot of time for the numbness to go…There is only one trail, so there is no question of getting lost unless you want to..;) and there are some helpful signboards too…We had to cross a few steep rocky hills to reach the top. We had the same chapattis for lunch but this time we had three of them…The chapattis were too good and we ate it with pickle which tasted like heaven. After a gruelling uphill climb like that, maybe everything would taste good…

We reached the peak at 4.30 P.M and the view from there was worth all the effort…There is a Shiva temple made of rocks at the top of KP which marks the distinction between KP and other peaks around…A lot of people find it very difficult in recognizing the peak and this is the only landmark available to distinguish between the numerous peaks around…

We were one of the first groups to reach the top. After some photo session, we pitched the tent. The experience of pitching the tent and living in it was just amazing…Three of us went down again, along the Subramanya route to get some water while the rest of them collected firewood for the campfire. We were all ready by 5.30 and had a cup of tea!!! One of my friends had bought mobile stove with camphor which could be used to heat the container…Neat, compact and the tea tasted awesome…

The sunset was really beautiful, but the night was even better. We had a very good time with the campfire which was used to cook our dinner too. We had MTR ready to eat and chapattis again…The night was really cold and the wind had started to pick up speed. We spent an hour gazing at the zillion stars above, the milky way and wishing for shooting stars, so that we can wish after watching one!! We could see them at amazing frequency almost one every 15 min…I am sure all of us would have run out of our wishes…

By 11.00 P.M we were too tired to even gaze at the stars and we bundled ourselves inside the sleeping bags and slept in the tent. It was getting very windy and the tent was making a lot of noise. It gave me the feeling as if it was trying to break free…Even though we had firmly tied the tents, the wind speed was too much…I don’t remember whose brain wave was it to tie both the tents together because it was the only saving grace when the first tent blew away at 2.00 A.M in the night…After this I couldn’t sleep for another hour worried that our tent would also get blown away and that we might have to pay Rs14,000 for it!!! As luck would have it I could suddenly see the stars above and I immediately knew that the tent had broken free…It was too cold outside to search alone and hence had to wake up my friend in the other tent to search for it (People in my tent were in deep sleep and the lazy guys wouldn’t get up in spite of my efforts in waking them!!) …Thankfully since the other tent was firmly tied the last time, our tent which was attached to it was lying nearby…We maid it a point to tie extra stones to the tent for safety!!! God only knows what would have happened if both the tents had blown away simultaneously!!!

The sunrise again was amazing!! I got up at 5.30 and started waking others…The view was breathtaking!!! As the sun rose amidst the mountain peaks the mist started to dissipate… It was as if the mountain peaks were being reborn…An awesome view which made the entire trek worth the effort…We packed our bags and tent by 8.00 A.M and started downhill…We had breakfast at the stream where we collected water the previous night…Had cup noodles and it tasted like heaven!! After this we continued towards Kukke Subhramanya!!! The trek down is about 14 Km in this direction and doesn’t have much of forest cover but has amazing viewing points…There is this one place where the wind gets redirected towards you because of a mountain blocking its path…The wind speed here is so much that you feel like you are getting blown away!! It’s very difficult to maintain balance and get rooted to the ground!!!

By 12.30 P.M we reached “Bhattara Mane”…It’s the only house that you will see throughout the entire trek…Its exactly midway between KP and Subramanya…We had lunch there and he has a unique system of charging people. He charges 30 bucks per head and that excludes the packet of rice that we give him…Apparently its very difficult for him to get rice so people who want to have lunch at his place needs to carry sufficient rice with them…We had carried 2 Kgs of rice for this purpose…The food was awesome and all of us ate like gluttons…We were all so tired and hungry that anything would have tasted good then…:)

After some well deserved rest we continued towards Subramanya at around 2.00 P.M…On our way back we took frequent breaks to reach our “Final Destination” at 5.00 P.M. On reaching kukke we hogged ice creams and milkshakes. The thought of having ice creams on reaching Kukke was what was motivating us to carry on…

We took a room in a nearby hotel, had a cold water bath and visited the Subhramanya temple there…After having a heavy dinner we left in our very own KSRTC Rajahamsa bus to reach for Bangalore @ 6.00 A.M the next day…

The entire trip was well planned and executed with absolutely no problems faced. Had a great time and looking forward to more…But, right now trying the enjoy the pain prevailing all over the body…:)

Thoughts in a real train :)

Despite the sempiternal traffic jams, I was at the railway station much before the scheduled departure. Even though there was excessive demand for tickets, there were not many people in the train and there were none in my coupe…I had to use a lot of influence to get this ticket. One of my uncles had secured it as part of some emergency quota… Everything can be put as emergency…He not only confirmed my ticket but also made sure I get free dinner, pillows and bedsheets!!! I was treated like a king… That’s the advantage of knowing someone in railways!!!

As I sat alone in my coupe, one thing that I could recollect was the introductory chapter in Chetan Bhagat’s latest fiction, One Night @ call centre…I was wondering whether something like that might happen tonight…:) And maybe I could write a story on it someday…But alas nothing of that sort happened…
It was an extra coach and the list of names was not yet published and there was no way I could have known my companions. Traveling alone in a train for 12 hours was not something I was looking forward to considering the fact that I had brought nothing to read…

My curiosity was killing me until a group of army men came along with their arms and ammunition!! I am not kidding, they actually had rifles and machine guns with them…I was wondering what they were upto…After some initial introductions I managed to start a conversation with them…Since they spoke only hindi I was finding it extremely difficult to talk but I felt they were finding it even more difficult to comprehend..:)
They were apparently going for some training camp and as a result they had to carry all the accessories with them…While I was thoroughly excited holding the machine guns and examining them, they were even more excited about holding my laptop…They were very keen to know what I did with a laptop & to my surprise I found it very difficult to explain why I needed one..:) Anyway after some initial exploration they wanted to know what a software engineer actually does? They were interested about my company, work, salary etc… It was fun explaining them why we get paid so much for the kind of work that we do…

Since we were already 8 of us in the coupe I wasn’t expecting any more people. But to my horror 5 more guys boarded in the last minute. All of them were college students going to Delhi for vacation. Most of them I believe had completed their 7^th sem exams and had been placed through campus. After these people arrived I settled in my upper berth because I no longer could converse with them at their pace. Just imagine about 12 people talking continuously in hindi and you sitting on top trying to make some sense of the conversation below…That’s exactly what I was going through!!!

The first group was busy cribbing about the generals treating them like “kutthes” (dogs) for peanuts, while the second group cribbing about the HODs, lecturers and how they were bent upon sucking their blood…Since I could relate to the latter I focused my attention to their puerile episodes. Each one of them had their own set of stories to narrate and all of them were just hilarious. From how they got bashed by the HOD to how they managed to finish the exams…
There were these usual stories of copying, getting caught, hostel masala which I think has to be censored from here..:) Some of them were so farfetched it was really difficult to believe something like that could have happened...There was this guy who actually boasted about bribing his lecturer for passing him in practicals…He was apparently thrown out of the room…All these reminded me as to how much “seeda sada” I was…If you ask me to talk about my college life, I wouldn’t have much to narrate except for how regularly I used to attend college…:) (6^th sem being an exception!!!)

The noisy banter continued through the night, but I had dozed off without me realizing it…The next morning I was surprised to see 2 people sleeping in each berth with even the passage way not being spared!!! The remarkably capacious coupe had become totally cramped. I bet these things happen only in the Indian Railways!!!

The child within us…

As we surge through our hectic days, many of us are so busy being "adults" by addressing our responsibilities and obligations that we forget there is still a part of us that is essential to our well-being and happiness....the child within us.

The other day my parents had been to one of our relative’s house and the kid there was celebrating her third birthday. Since they hadn’t taken any presents, my dad gave her two 100 rupee notes to buy something for herself… To their surprise she returned one of the notes saying she was happy with only one…After she was cajoled to take both of them, she gave one each to her dad and mom…It was a simple innocent gesture from her, but tells a lot about how the mind of a child works…
I kept wondering when was the last time I had done something like that. When I couldn’t recollect any such incident I realized that I had truly grown up!!! (And for the first time I wasn’t really happy being a grown-up and the responsible guy, as the society sees it :))

As we grow older the child within us diminishes…The innocence and spontaneity is lost. Our perceptions change. The way we judge people change…We start using different scales for classifying people…Its something that happens over a period of time…Every experience will teach us to be much harder so that we can survive in this society full of “adults”!!! I remember an incident during my childhood, I was profusely crying for something and when no consolation from my parents worked they told me that I was crying like a girl…That single statement made such an impact that it made me determined not to cry unless I cant handle it any further…I try as hard as I can to avoid crying in the company of others…It is manifested even while watching movies…Unless I am alone I don’t cry irrespective of how emotional the movie is…

As “adults”, every time we do something we think hundred times whether it’s an appropriate thing to do both in our opinion and most importantly in the opinion of others…
The perception and the way of thinking are so much different. From having no expectations, to having minimal, we graduate with having expectations from everything. From self expectations to expectations from parents, relatives and friends. Even God is not spared!!! The degree of expectation is something which gets constantly revised based on how much or how far the other person meets it…

Why do we have expectation in the first place which we know ultimately lead to more harm than good? Wouldn’t it be simpler if we carry on with our chores and continue doing whatever seems best for us without expecting anything in return? Why do we feel betrayed when certain things doesn’t turn out the way we want / when someone doesn’t live upto “our” expectations?
Why cant we just maintain some kind of minimum watermark, anything beyond which is a bonus…As usual it’s a theoretical solution, with practical limitations…:). But what is life without expectations and rewards? All it has done is raise the stakes a little higher…Maybe its better to tackle them head on instead of running away from them…

When you cease to dream, you cease to live. And when you dream there are always expectations. As long as there are expectations there will be shortfalls, which in turn might cause misery. A vicious cycle that cannot be avoided and maybe must not be avoided, but instead use it to our advantage.
Defeat is not when you fall down, but when you refuse to get up!!!

I should add that in all this hangama you forget that there is a “child within us” who could be very happy with the smallest of things or should I say with almost anything…

A tale of two weekends…

Whom do you curse when you see traffic jams on a Bangalore- Mysore highway?
In spite of having a four lane road to cater to the needs, there were traffic jams. It was as if the entire Bangalore was on the move on this highway. I realized it wasn’t so after reading the newspaper reports of traffic jams around MG Road the next day…Wherever Bangaloreans go, traffic jam follows!!!

Two consecutive weekends and 800KM of travel hasn’t stopped me from planning something for the coming weekend!!

The first weekend we drove to Mysore. If you haven’t driven on this road then you are missing something…The four lane road makes you forget that you are in Karnataka…The fun is in the drive where you can reach speeds of 160Kmph without breaking a sweat.

The next weekend was a drive to Coorg. An added incentive is you have to travel on the same road. Just before reaching Mysore we took the diversion to Coorg. The road to Coorg was under expansion. Most part of the road was expanded and was really good but there were small stretches all along to remind us that we were still in Karnataka..;)
We reached Kushalnagar in the evening and checked into a hotel called Kannika International. At around Rs.1000 per day they were expensive for the kind of service they provided. In fact the service was so bad we decided to have our dinner somewhere outside. For guidance we asked the waiter whether there was some good hotel nearby…To our surprise he actually directed us to some hotel…I found it really funny that a waiter of one hotel guiding its customers to find some better hotel. Anyway after having dinner we hit the bed.
The next day we got up early, to visit the Buddha golden temple. The architecture was really amazing. It was the first time I had visited a Buddhist monastery and was really thrilled to see the huge Buddha statue (60foot) and the wall paintings. The atmosphere there would have been similar to that of a church on any other day except that on this day there was a whole bunch of kids who had come on an excursion making hell of a noise, making mockery of all the boards there which were pleading us to maintain silence.

I always felt we had too many relatives than we could handle. It was proved when I met some of them even in Kushalnagar. But somehow I felt sorrier for them after they decided to tag along with us for a couple of places. They were newly wed couples and I had a feeling of being kabab me haddi..:)

After the temple we went to Harangi dam. A dam with a huge capacity, but had only a few buckets of water…Then we went to Cauvery Nisargadhama. After some sightseeing and an elephant ride we again hit the road to Madikeri. One interesting anecdote at Nisargadhama was the sight of a few fishermen frantically searching for something in the water. There was a Hanging Bridge from where all of us were watching, and obviously we were under the impression that they were fishing. But these fishermen were a breed of a different kind. They were actually searching for a mobile phone!!! Apparently they were being paid by someone who had accidentally dropped his mobile phone from the bridge into the waters!!! I am sure the fishes were having a nice conversation there..:)

We reached Madikeri in the afternoon and checked into a hotel called Coorg International. We had requested someone to book a room in advance and were told that the cost would be about Rs.1500 per day. Only after checking in we realized that it was Rs.5000 per day. They were exorbitantly charging because of the peak season. We had to stick to the hotel knowing that the whole of Coorg was booked for the entire week…Anyway at least they did justice to the money we paid and to their name (International) by providing us excellent service and amazing food. It was only later we learnt that it was a three star hotel!!!

We spent the rest of the day in hotel after visiting Raja seat and Abbi falls, trying to do justice to the amount we were paying..:)
After more than a decade I spent sometime playing TT with my dad…Reminded me a lot of my school days when we regularly used to play during weekends. The only difference was that I won all the games easily and hence didn’t have to loose my temper and throw my bat around which regularly used to happen then…:)

The next day we visited Bhagamandala (where the water felt like it came from a freezer!!) and Talacauvery (the water here would have given complex to the drainages of Bangalore!!!). Even here it took us quite sometime to find a parking slot because of the exodus of people from Bangalore.

After this we headed back to Bangalore enjoying the scenic beauty around and my favorite past time being, counting the number of cars from Bangalore!!!

Dreamzzzz…

It’s quite natural to dream about a lot of things but it’s another thing to dream about dreaming. The other night I had a dream in which I was fast asleep and dreaming about dreaming!!!…How much weirder can things get?

I kept wondering what made me dream about “dreaming” and then I realized I had read an article about dreams the previous night which made me ponder for long, the conversation that I had with my friend some time back about why we dream and its significance.

Somehow I felt I had ceased to dream or so I thought. My dreams were far and between. The more I think of it I feel maybe I never made an effort to remember them. We have come a long way in understanding them. From considering them to be supernatural or messages from God to giving scientific / logical explanation to each one of them.

The main barrier to dream recall and to lucid dreaming (realizing during a dream that one is dreaming) is that waking and dreaming memory aren't connected nearly as well as they could be. I am not kidding but I think it needs greater intention, practice and focus. Making a consistent effort to remember and record your dreams will help your waking mind to ally itself more closely with your dream experience. It's also an excellent way to increase imagination, creative and intuitive capabilities which are all intimately connected with dreams.

All this made me start a new experiment on dreaming!! The experiment involved thinking about a subject for long just before going to sleep and keep telling yourself that you want to remember whatever transpires in your dream. You can pick just about anything from real life situations to absurd fiction, from real people (like your girlfriend / boyfriend :)) to aliens..;)…. I did this judiciously for a few days and most often then not I found that I could remember the characters, the scene and just about everything the next morning.

So all those guys/ gals who want to have fun even while sleeping can follow the above procedure and turn every night filled with “sweet dreams” and maybe strive to make them happen…:)

If this exercise doesn’t help you in remembering your dreams it will definitely help in being soporific.

“Dream is not what you see in sleep…,

Dream is the thing which does not let you sleep.”

-Abdul Kalam.

Ghandhigiri!!! Does it really work?

It was a cold and cloudy Saturday afternoon…Needless to say it took a lot of will power to get out of my bed and having got out I had no intention of falling back to my ever inviting bed…So I decided to go for the next evil…-my couch / sofa. Considering that my mom wasn’t there to drive me out of the sofa, it was a perfect day to watch a long overdue movie. Having missed out on watching “Lage Raho Munnabhai” with my friends, I got the DVD with the usual popcorn and a pack of chips…

The stage was set to watch it and I am happy that it lived up to its expectations…It had a perfect cast and the script / dialogues made sure it was enjoyable. Somehow I felt the film gave more to Sanjay Dutt in recasting his image as a Samaritan than what he was able to give to the movie. Ironically, contrary to this newfound image, Dutt - son of yesteryear film stars Nargis and Sunil Dutt - has only been a black sheep of his family, always stirring up controversies. And his life had the ingredients of a Bollywood thriller - with a mix of action, stunts and crime.

Coming back to the movie was it just another sequel or did it really drive a point?

Considering the fact that this movie inspired a lot of people in fighting against the politicians or administrators(which made news for quite sometime after the movies release), it certainly drove a point. But does Gandhiri really work in today’s world? Taking nothing away from the director (who actually did an excellent job), I feel it’s easier to make a movie on Ghandhiri than to follow its principles.

As the “bapu” himself, in the movie says it guarantees 100% success but one should have extreme patience and perseverance to follow it, something that most of us lack. And it sure can colligate most diverse groups together as shown by him.

Just imagine what the government of India would do if all the terrorists in Kashmir would throw away their arms and fast onto death for their cause. I am sure it’s a situation that will be very difficult to handle. It will be simpler for the govt to handle people with arms than with flowers. But again how many terrorists will have the courage to throw away their arms and go on fast.

The physical or mental travail is too much to handle for most of them and its not something which is very facile.

And that’s why we will have scores of terrorists but only one “bapu”.

Beasts die, men die,
all those who walk the earth must die.
But it’s the memories of true heroes which linger forever…

Blog your way to a plum job!!!

There are scores of people “blogging” everyday for hundreds of reasons!!! For me its an innocuous way of penning my thoughts…Each entry to my blog is for a different reason. It depends on my mood, the current state of mind and obviously the “core idea” which usually gets materialized based on some “experience” or something that moved me quite deeply or something that I just wanted to share with the outside world…As you can see each entry is unique and each one has its own significance. To be honest, the bottom line is that I myself can’t list the reasoning behind writing them!!! If not anything else I think it will be fun reading each one of them 20 years down the line…:)

Last week I read an article, which gave me another extra reason to blog. The article explained the recent trend in MNCs who are recruiting people through their blogs…Companies like Honewell, Microsoft etc have their own blogs through which they advertise their company to recruit new hires…This actually will be most cost effective and it works both ways. It attracts both active and passive job seekers…The blog entries are not written by HR but by the employees (obviously screened by HR :)!!!) which actually gives you a very good picture of the companies current situation, practices and ethics, thus attracting the passive job seekers too…

It not only gives a human touch to the entire process but also promises the lotusland for people to switch even though they might be happy or settled in their current jobs…

These days the companies are looking for new and better ways for recruitment. They don’t mind deviating from the traditional methods. The day is not far behind when HR will soon start scooting for new hires by reading blogs written by others…It tells them how dexterous you are and may add to your profile. For all you know, it might become a pre-requisite for even applying to all those plum jobs around…So more the reason for people to start blogging for those who haven’t started already!!!:)

Customer is the king!!!

It doesn’t matter which part of Bangalore I am in, I always go to a shell petrol bunk!!! For me it’s a paradigm of efficient business management and customer service. It hardly matters that there are only couple of them in Bangalore, and that I may have to travel a few extra miles I still make it a point to fill petrol in a shell petrol bunk…Such customer loyalty!!! :)

It’s mainly because you always know you will be welcomed there with a smile. You just have to sit in the car, they will fill petrol, clean your windscreen, fill air, bring in the exact change etc…You are treated like a king. What more do you except as a customer…It’s an experience that makes you visit them again and again…

In contrast if we go to any other “normal” petrol bunk, you always find customers there totally frustrated…More often then not there will always be a fight going on…The experience there is pathetic with each of the boys there running a business of their own in duping the customer. You just have to turn around for a second and the filling would have started with an offset of Rs.50/100. They believe it’s their birthright to start from this offset instead of zero!!! It will be fatuous to say that these corporations are unaware of the importance of customer service but just that there is no will and determination in implementing the policies.

It makes so much of a difference when you are running a business. There is hardly any business where there is dearth of competition, so more the reason for the corporations to hold on to their existing customers and try acquiring new ones. The only way it can be done is through customer satisfaction. There is no replacement for a happy customer and if you make your customer happy then I am sure there is no need for a brand ambassador…Each of your customer will become a brand ambassador and there will be free propaganda through word of mouth, instead of spending millions of dollars on advertising!!! Just ask Google how effective this can be…They hardly spend a pie on advertising, but still they are the number one search engine in the world. All this was achieved by providing a quality product and making the customer happy…

It is not an arcane issue but just that people undermine its importance…

Are you a manager?

Are you a manager? If yes then this is something you might want to read. If not then you definitely have to read, to assimilate the idea and maybe comprehend on it as soon as you become one…So continue reading!!! :)

The other day I was having a conversation on management and managerial skills, and there were certain aspects, which made me, think about the significance of “geography” in management. The below theory may not be immaculate but certainly gives food for thought!!!

Just imagine you are the CEO of a company, what kind of policies do you want to implement to motivate your employees? What kind of salary structure, insurance, retirement benefits or for that matter even “JOB SECURITY” do you want to provide?

Do you think these policies will change depending on the location of your company? If you feel you have come up with the best policies and it really doesn’t matter where the company is located then think again!!!

Each one of are brought up under a certain environment…after some time the culture gets imbibed in us so much that it’s very difficult for us to change. YES “CULTURE” is a very important word here. If you look deep into it you might realize the prosperity or the demise of your company might actually depend on this!!!

Lets take the example of certain well-known economies before we come to the Indian context. If we consider US of A they always have had the “Hire and Fire” policy. It works well for the company. When the markets are good and its smooth sailing, they hire. As soon as the going gets tough or they hit upon rough weather, they fire. But the bottom line is the people there are brought up in a nuclear family environment and they get used to such insecurities and are tougher to face such situations. Actually the people there are more motivated to perform and show their strength when the environment has been set up like this. They feel more at home and hence it’s a win-win situation for the employer.

In contrast lets consider Japan.
A country where joint family / strong family ties have the highest prominence. These people are brought up in a more secured environment. If we use the “Hire and Fire” policy then it would be a complete disaster. So companies here go for lifetime employment. The employees are by default motivated to improve theirs and in turn the company’s performance. Thus the inherent nature of the Japanese people makes their company (and hence the policy) tick.

Now lets consider our great INDIA.

As far as our culture goes there is not much of a difference between the Japanese and us. But adapting their strategy would definitely result in our downfall. The performance of our public sector (PSUs) or any government owned organizations is enough proof of this fact. We Indians are by default torpid or lazy and that marks the difference between the Japanese and us resulting in the failure of their strategy on us. Neither can we adapt the US strategy because by nature we ascribe for “Job Security” and we are not adept enough to handle such high insecurities leading to performance degradation and eventually the demise of the company. The fact that more than 80% of Indians in US are said to be very insecure and unhappy (stat taken from a survey made by a well known magazine) about their jobs, proves this point.

So what’s the solution if you are heading a company where most of the employees are Indians? The best method for us is to traverse the middle ground i.e we should have a policy where the employment is almost guaranteed (unless you screw up very badly in the company) but the salary structure should be totally performance oriented. It should be such that say only 10% of your total income should be basic and the rest should be dependent on the company’s performance and your contribution to it. In this way the employees will be motivated enough to work, prevents them from being lethargic and provides some kind of protection too.

What I just talked about is a prima facie view of things but somehow I feel this suits our culture the best, with our “health” indirectly connected to the health of the company :).

A Month That Flew Away….

Oh My GOD!!! It’s been more than a month since I wrote anything…I didn’t even realize how fast it went. There was no dearth of activities, they were just disparate. It was one of those satisfying couple of weeks where nothing went wrong (No make it almost nothing went wrong, considering the mishap that I had with my car ;)). I hope these salad days of my life will last forever…:)

A month full of parties, a bon voyage and how can I forget WORK!!!

Having so many friends in the same company makes you a good candidate for all the parties that are thrown. It started with a marriage party (@ Nandhana Grand, Koramangala) and ended with my buddy’s birthday party @ Pizza hut. I hadn’t eaten so much food any time…

We also had a team outing, for which we went to Amoeba (a bowling alley) and then to 3 Quarter Chinese (a restaurant just below the Amoeba). With work stacked for the next couple of weeks and deadlines to constantly push us for more in less time, the outing was something that I was not looking forward to. But it was something that couldn’t be eschewed and to be honest I had the most amazing time. We were four of us in one lane and we could finish 3 rounds in one hour. Never had so much fun with my mates. You can have hours of technical / non-technical discussions with your team but nothing comes anywhere near to such outings when it’s a question of team building. It brings the entire team together and we had the most amazing time trying to compete against each other.(If my manager is reading this, I hope he takes the hint ;)).

Another amazing thing that happened was the reunion with my college buddies. The very fact that we managed to achieve this should be worthy of applause, considering the number of earlier failed attempts. After about 35 mail exchanges we managed to hit upon a date, time and a place convenient for all of us. It would be an understatement if I say I enjoyed it. Even though my fingers were in pain bowling for the second consecutive day, it was something that I really enjoyed in the company of my college gang. All of us enjoyed it so much that we were already making plans for a one-day trip at the end of the day (which actually might take some years to materialize:)).

As I said for a change there were quite a few parties and another worthy of mention was the birthday party of my colleague and a friend. We went to Pizza Hut for lunch and had a very good time there. We had requested the Pizza Hut boys to sing the Birthday song for him and to my horror they made him stand up on a chair in the middle of the room and asked him to introduce himself to everybody. They later sang the good old birthday song with him standing on the chair all along. It was one of those embarrassing things that can happen on your birthday. But he took it so sportingly that all of had a good laugh over it.

It was also a month where I had to bid farewell to one of my best friend. Having known him for almost a decade now, it was a “senti” farewell. Went to the airport for sending him off. With his family also being there, everyone was trying to keep their emotions under control…

The last few weeks have been so hectic with so many things happening that I have lost track of most of them. Its been very hectic as far as work goes, but when you are enjoying what you are doing it can no longer be classified as “work” isn't it? :)…I just hope it lasts and there will be no paucity of such feelings..…

There can be only one final winner…

There is something in the sight of grown men crying that really moves me. It makes me feel really sorry for the crusaders who had given it 110% for their country, being sedulous in their approach but still end up on the loosing side in spite of matching shot for shot.

It was one of those football matches where both the teams were really good and since it was a knockout match there had to be only one winner. Watching it as a neutral was the best way to enjoy such a game!!!

When Germany took on Argentina, it was a must watch spectacle, promising to be a mouth watering context!!! And surely it did not disappoint anyone. It was 90 minutes of highly emotional rollercoaster ride for the home fans, which continued into extra time. The extra time proved to be another show of spectacular football with both the teams tied at one all. The only way to overcome the deadlock was a penalty shootout…

I pity the players, for having played 120 minutes giving all that they have got, but still end up in a lottery which can go either way. It is something, which is loved by the fans but detested by the players with the unlucky team shown the door.

Germany won 4-2 on penalties thanks to the good guessing work done by the German number one. Even though I hoped that the hosts won the context, I pity the Argentines because its one of the cruelest way to exit from the world cup. After loosing such a nail biter the players couldn’t control their emotions. Some of the Argentina players could be seen crying. These are men who are hardened by playing umpteen number of games for their country, but still they were rendered helpless.

Ultimately all that matters is for us to know that we have given it our best shot because there are things in this world for which reasoning cannot be applied.

The thoughts of a Jogger!!!

I recently read a bon mot, which said:
“You sometimes have to run to stay in the same position”.
I have caught on a new ludicrous habit. Waking up at 5.00 AM in the morning for jogging!!!

I call it crazy because until a few days back 5.00 AM was still midnight for me, but jogging at 6.00 AM would be like moving in a fish market with a bevy of people all around.

I hate it when people overtake me (which rarely happens! :)). But the other day there was this guy who sped past me and then maintained a constant distance. I wanted to overtake him without compromising on my speed and getting tired.

That’s when I realized how true the above remark was. In order to keep up with this guy I had to keep running but the relative position between us was the same!!!. Now if I didn’t want to increase my speed then the only other option was to wait. Exactly after about 5 rounds around the park this guy started loosing speed. Then it was a cakewalk.

This made me realize how this analogy can be applied to almost everything in this world. We start every task with full josh but as the days go on we tend to become indolent and slow down and that’s when others overtake us. The best possible virtues we can have are patience and persistence and go full throttle in the end!!!

PS: The sheer number of people, who flock the parks these days, shows that more and more people are getting health conscious. Though some tend to give more exercise to their mouth rather than their body :).

Know when to quit!!!

Have you been in a situation where you know things might not work out in spite of you giving your best shot, but still you don’t want to give up? Where you keep on trying for that elusive thing which you thought you wanted / deserved?
I have been in such situations and its always painful because you really feel so strong about it that you want to try again and again!!! That’s why its important for us to learn when to give up!

“Try and try again, till you succeed” is an adage that we have heard a zillion times but its important for us to learn when to quit too…“Don't beat a dead horse” is an aphorism that supports my argument. This is more like a sequel to my previous post, which emphasized exactly the opposite of what I am trying to tell here…

For everything there is something called a threshold, a limit that one has to cross to give up on things that seem very important to us… So we continue till we cross that limit. This term “limit” is associated to a stage where we stop feeling bad about quitting or to a stage where we no longer care…You reach a point where the pain associated with the repeated failures is so high that it has to be alleviated and there is no other go. When and how we cross this limit depends on the situation and the people involved.
What is the use in going for something that gives you more pain than joy? We all live on hopes but that doesn’t mean we have to have unrealistic goals or goals that no longer are relevant or achievable…During the course of time it will become one of those nugatory issues.

When do we call it quits? We are the best judges for it. One fine day we just have to put an end to the introspection and carry on. Given a situation we are the ones who have to decide that enough is enough!!!

Never ever give up…You don’t know what’s coming your way!!!

If you missed yesterdays stunning performance by Michael Schumacher in Ferrari at Monaco Grand prix, then you have lost the opportunity of seeing one of the most sedulous and inspiring performances from him. It was truly a checkered race for him.

Although he had secured the pole position on Saturday, he was stripped of his position and penalized for stalling other cars on the racing line during the critical last stages of the race during qualifying when others were trying the make the best use of last few minutes available for deciding the racing positions on Sunday.

I am not writing this to discuss whether Schumi did it deliberately or not. Neither am I interested in discussing whether the FIA junta was correct in punishing him by making him to start from the end of the grid even though he is perfectly capable of doing what he was accused of doing. Whatever it is I wanted to drive home the point as to why Ferrari are ready to pay millions of dollars extra in comparison to other drivers in F1 to make sure that he drives a Ferrari. Each of these manufactures spend millions of dollars to improve the speed of the car by 1/100^th of a second year on year and there is this guy who can actually go half a second faster then the rest by his sheer determination and talent…. Don’t you think it’s a better investment?

The talent was in full display on Sunday when he had to start from the pit lane as the 22^nd car on the grid but still managed to attain the fifth place. True that he got a lot of help from the safety car getting deployed when a car broke down on the track, but he was there to take advantage of this. If he hadn’t made 10 places during the course of time from 22^nd to 12^th he wouldn’t even be in a position to take the opportunity. Those who are familiar with the Monaco circuit will know how difficult it is to overtake there.

The race, which was virtually lost even before it actually started, was won on sheer determination and talent under circumstances where even a small error would have costed him dear.

The lesson to be learnt here is to never be torpid. Never to derogate from your aims and what you want from life even if the entire world is against you. The tables might turn anytime and you must be there to cash on it.

Kudos to all the Doctors of India for protesting against the arrant nonsense!!!

I always wondered how these terrorist organizations flourish!!!
Now I UNDERSTAND!!!

I never thought I would go to an extent where I would feel so strongly against any policy or ideals. Initially when I had seen RDB (Rang de Basanthi) I thought the protests and the eventual killing of the minister in the film was just hilarious!!! I never thought at any stage I would even think, that such incidents were remotely possible…I presumed the entire thing was just a farce. But then, you always tend to change the way you perceive things…
Now I UNDERSTAND!!!

I always wondered why people would want to fund organizations that tend to do more harm than good…Why people would want to waste their hard earned money on things that might eventually lead to a big zilch?
But Now I UNDERSTAND!!!

I Think I have just reached that stage!!! I feel so frustrated and disappointed at the way the government is bent upon bringing this quota system in all these premier institutions that I am now ready to even pay for all those protests!!!

Just imagine loosing out on a seat in an IIT / IIM to someone who belongs to the less privileged class/section of the society even though you had toped the rank lists and secured the highest…The pain is so much that it shows in the way the protests are being carried out all over the country…

I have to put in a word of praise here, for all the doctors who took the initiative of protesting against this ridiculous idea of reserving 50% seats in all the premier institutions…The very idea is bigoted and biased…

I understand that a huge percentage of population is underprivileged and will definitely need help. But bringing in more reservations is one of the worst solution. It will actually worsen the castism prevalent in the society, leading to more divisions…Further, increasing the number of seats to compensate for the quotas really doesn’t help if the colleges wont be able to maintain the ideal staff-student ratio. There are better methods of achieving this like providing better educational facilities during primary and secondary education or providing reservations in schools/colleges based on the income level etc…But they choose the easiest of all solutions which is also one of the best methods to gain votes and cover up all the wrongdoings that these politicians have done for the last 50 years!!!

It’s a shame that such chouse tactics are being used to succor the less privileged and raise the downtrodden. And we will be the ones who will feel the burnt of this!!!

Getting Drenched in RAIN…

Have you ever got drenched in rain??? I am sure you would have but very few of us would have actually loved it, the rest normally scoot for cover!!!

There are two ways of looking at rain: as a harbinger of excitement or a damn nuisance. If you are in the latter category then you are missing the romance in life!!! Do shun the loathsome abnegation for once. Go out, chill out and get drenched in rain without being shielded in any armor…

Have you ever enjoyed the bike ride when it’s raining? Try it once without whining about getting wet…It’s an experience that you will never forget. I sometimes sit reminiscing the bike ride I had during the Goa trip in spite of it raining cats and dogs. Its one of those amazing memories that I still cherish…

Either I haven’t grown up yet or I just want to disobey the doctrine that no mature person shall dally with the rain. But its better than staying indoors and sanctimoniously commenting on its utility value…Just go for a walk or go to the terrace when its raining and watch with awe and admiration as droplets of rain come and hit your face.

If you haven’t got drenched in rain then you are missing something. Its one of the most satisfying things…So the next time, RAIN GOD is on DUTY don't curse and scamper for cover. Say `wow' and jump for joy.

An odyssey to the land of 18000 temples…

It was night and I could feel the cool breeze hitting my face. I could see the stars and enjoy the fresh air as we drove into the forest. It was a real pleasure, which left an indelible mark. It was as if this place had been bestowed upon us to experience heaven on earth. It was like riding in a picture-postcard, which made me wonder whether it was all a dream. Only the occasional honking of the vehicles and the constant pestering of my parents to slow down, reminded me that it was all too real.

Generally we leave Bangalore at around 4 AM in the morning so that we can reach Mangalore by 11. This helps us to avoid the morning traffic at Bangalore and its easier to navigate through the Western Ghats during daytime. This part of Western Ghats is popularly known as Shiradi ghats with an average elevation of a couple of thousand feet. It stretches for about 100 KM from Shaklespur to Uppinangadi, which is about 80 KM from Mangalore. Shakleshpur itself is about 200KM from Bangalore. Unlike the roads in Bangalore these are really good. You can travel the entire stretch within 3hrs in spite of stopping a couple of times in between. Once you reach Shaklespur its pure heaven. The drops are pretty steep but the views are nothing short of being spectacular. You can always hear the birds chirping along with the sounds of the small streams flowing right beside the road.

Even though we had driven to Mangalore many times, it’s never been during the nights. But this time because of my father who got delayed due to a meeting we had to leave Bangalore at 4.00 in the afternoon. My dad wanted to drive and I was all too willing as I was not all that keen driving on the chaotic Bangalore roads. He drove for about 80KM, which took us about 2hrs because of the huge traffic jams on the NH. Our city was making sure of living up to its reputation. Once we touched NH48 I took over. With the AC on full blast I was driving at an average speed of 80Kmph with the maximum touching 130Kmph. The road from Bangalore to Hassan is one of the best and roads are as straight as it can get. Once we reached Shakleshpur I thought the best was over. We had dinner and then took to the road again. That’s when I realized the pure bliss of driving through the forests during nights. If you want to see the forest go by day but if you want to hear it then go by night. We rolled down our windows to let the forest air takeover our car. It was an amazing experience driving through the hairpin curves with the forest around us providing the excellent background music. It was midnight by the time we reached Udupi but with a ride like that I was in no mood to sleep.

When was the last time we actually saw stars in Bangalore?

The maximum that we can expect to see is the Orion belt, with a few other stars. I don’t think I even need my toe’s to count their number. The other day we went to a hillock very near to my village. The setting sun was effulgent as ever. It was getting dark and my cousin’s left for home. I stayed back for some more time. I lied down on the rock with my face staring at the sky. The last time I had done this was exactly about a month back when I had come to this place along with my good old friend. We had then spent about an hour and I was surprised to see the sheer number of stars that was above us. I was actually amazed to see a couple of shooting stars, which I thought, existed only in theory. I had a wish for each one of them:). It remains to be seen how many of them actually gets fulfilled :).

This time too it was an unforgettable experience even though there were no shooting stars. The celestial view was just amazing. It made me feel so small and tiny. It was an ideal place for introspection. The only thing I could have asked more was some company to share this celestial spectacle. It was so good, only the fear of sitting alone on a rock in complete darkness compelled me to return back. The entire experience was something that you wont get in Bangalore even if you are ready to pay millions.

FRIENDS- Part-1: An Asset!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Life is partly what we make it, and partly what it is made by the friends we choose.- Tennessee Williams

Coming from a family that was constantly on the move (somehow that sounds really funny…Just to clarify my dad had a transferable job!!!) making friends had become a habit… I have actually lost count on the number of schools I had changed during my schooling days. I adore my friends. Right from the day I can remember I have had a bevy of them.

There has never been dearth of friends and I think I should thank God for that!!! Some of my best moments have been with them and also some of the lessons that I have learnt have been in association with them. You can tell them things that otherwise would have been buried in your heart.

I have a friend with whom I can converse / argue for hours together on any bizarre topic under the sun and we do it with so much vim. I really enjoy it (I hope its vice versa too:)). This friend of mine is someone who thinks I am a good egg even though he knows I am slightly cracked :)…That’s what I think is a characteristic of a great friend.

The only way to have friends is to be one and then you will realize that they are a creed of people who are laudable because they are always there to provide you with that lambent light during adversity.

Enjoy with your Buddies!!!

Why do I keep doing this???

I actually wanted to write something else but an incident that occurred yesterday preempted my thoughts.

There are things in this world that you may not achieve irrespective of how hard you try…like talking more carefully or reaching out to only those people who actually respond / care enough to talk to you.

Yesterday’s incident was a result of failure to achieve one such habit. I try to think before I talk, so that I don’t offend others but this is something that has eluded me for quite sometime. Inadvertently I say that extra word or a sentence, which will annihilate the relationship. Nowadays I do not even spare e-mails.

A few days back I had received an e-mail and as usual I replied back with a few jokes and smileys to add humor to the content. This I thought would bring a few smiles on their (readers) faces and brighten up their day, but maybe I sometimes overdo it.

Yesterday I had a perfect Wednesday until late in the night I received a call from the recipient of the e-mail accusing me of writing something that I couldn’t even comprehend. The only thing I realized was that they were greatly offended by my “joke”. I was appalled and addled by their reaction. Even after the entire conversation I still did not get what was the cause for all the commotion. As far as I was concerned it was just yet another simple joke.

Now Who Is To Blame?

Definitely not them because they are perfectly entitled to their interpretation!!! So does that mean I am the culprit? Somehow I can’t agree to that too, as I was perfectly innocent and did not intend any harm…These things happen even during normal conversations. If you tell people what you really think they get hurt and stop conversing with you instead of feeling happy about having a friend who actually speaks his heart out.

So What’s The Solution?

The best method maybe is to just keep quiet and not get into any such mess. Each time I try implementing this I miserably fail. Further I honestly feel it’s a retrograde step, which actually removes the spice out of life.

So the apposite solution would be to make an effort to “think everything you say” but that’s easier said than done especially for me…and hence the spice, excitement, the pain and the frustration will continue as long as I continue my asinine remarks….

My New Year Resolutions

“No Habit can be removed but only be replaced”
“Anything done continuously for 22 days will become a habit or a routine”- Robin Sharma in “ The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari”.

I think everybody knows what “New Year Resolution” means but I am sure half of them wont know how far it dates back!!! I was actually one of them till I started writing this… So for those of my friends who have absolutely no background on them here is a small write-up, before I go into my New Year Resolutions!!!

The tradition of the New Year's Resolutions goes all the way back to 153 B.C. Janus, a mythical king of early Rome was placed at the head of the calendar.
With two faces, Janus could look back on past events and forward to the future. Janus became the ancient symbol for resolutions and many Romans looked for forgiveness from their enemies and also exchanged gifts before the beginning of each year.
The New Year has not always begun on January 1, and it doesn't begin on that date everywhere today. It begins on that date only for cultures that use a 365-day solar calendar. January 1 became the beginning of the New Year in 46 B.C., when Julius Caesar developed a calendar that would more accurately reflect the seasons than previous calendars had.

That’s enough of History…Let me jump straight into my resolutions..Year after year I have been making New Year resolutions…the list usually used to be endless…But this year I wanted it to be different. So I took almost 20 days to come up with the 3 most important things that had to be done immediately and the goal was to complete them as soon as possible. All the 3 were the most difficult things that I had postponed for quite sometime. I have tried writing about each one of them, sorry for being very cryptic but I still have not reached a stage where I can pour all my feelings on the blog!!

I am sure all of us would have experienced situations where you exactly know what needs to be done but you don’t do it for fear of failure…This was exactly the case with me…It was one of the most important decision that I took as part of my first resolution. It was something that was eating my head so much that it resulted in a lot of disappointments and sleepless nights. Even though it was a huge risk that I was taking it had to be done, irrespective of whether it goes well or not. It was done within the next 10 days (6th of Feb to be exact) of making the decision but don’t ask me the result or what was it. Maybe sometime in future I will be writing a full story about it…

Anyway I was at least happy to have completed the first one. The next one was something that would take at least 10 months to complete. The important thing was I kick started it immediately. Felt really good, but somehow lately I have become lazier and motivation has started to fade. But its still on and am happy to say that my second resolution is still on…

Third…Hmmm…This is a resolution that lasts for a lifetime. It’s a struggle / battle everyday. As usual with full josh I started it, a lot of things in-between has resulted in its derailment. But to be honest the reasons for its derailment was not in my hands. Anyway after almost a month break I have started it again.

The only thing that matters at the end of the day is our happiness & that’s what I want to achieve with these resolutions. I am sure by next year I will be able to write about each one of them in detail as they would have been obsolete by then (except for maybe the first one)….
But the bottomline is for the first time i have actually completed all my resolutions within the first cople of months & thats what i call an ACHIEVEMENT...Hip Hip Hurray