Living life to its fullest..!

Have you ever wondered how it would be traveling across Europe backpacking?
Have you ever wondered how it would feel meeting strangers daily, living with them, talking to them, trekking with them, exchanging information, emails etc..?
Do you ever ponder how you would react if you were alone traveling to a new country, to a new city every couple of days?
Do you wonder how it would be to stay at a hostel in a dorm with new people day after day, getting to know them, understanding their thought process and their way of life?
How it would feel to land in a new city, understand their culture, their language and even their public transport system?
How it would feel to trek at Black forests, jump from a 1000feet cliff, Paraglide, Parasail, ski and sledge in snow, trek at the top of Europe?
Travel on boat buses? Travel through thousands of years of history, culture, wars and turmoil?
How would it feel to drive through wallpaper or a picture postcard, where nature plays with colors and you sit back and enjoy?
Each day, each minute, experience new adventures?

My entire trip encompassed answers to all these and much more…I had set out with a lot of assumptions and expectations, apprehensions and uncertainty. But the entire experience has surpassed each and every expectation, thoroughly enjoyed the uncertainty and found the apprehensions to be unfounded.
Even before I boarded the flight I had imagined my trip, my stay at hostels and the way I would spend my time. But at the end of the day I realized how limited ones imagination could be. My imagination was limited by my experiences, my thought process and what I had seen or read…Only when you actually go through the process of planning a backpacking trip and then executing it will you realize how much the entire experience broadens your horizon. Things you thought were not possible will now seem quite natural…It adds new perspectives…

Daily I used to maintain a diary of what I did, what I went through, people I met, and what I learnt. The diary is full, but when it comes to summarizing, I am finding the diary to be exhaustive and I am struggling to put all those feelings in a single post. I have spent almost a week wondering how to put the gist of my experience in words, but I am finding it humanely impossible to compress all those thoughts. I could just upload my diary, but I really don’t want to bore you guys with all the details.…

Some of the things I really liked were the way people handled themselves, the discipline and the courtesies they follow. They give so much of importance to extra curricular activities that you would be amazed. They are so meticulous about everything that it makes you wonder why we don’t follow them…I can talk for hours about people there and their behavior. The numerous interactions I have had with them have really brought out new perspectives in me. I am truly amazed and impressed with their care free attitude, their priorities and management of time, the way they care about people (even those who are total strangers to them) etc…I have had from very good memories (at places like France, Germany and Netherlands) to not so good ones (like Italy)…But the towns were the best. For instance my visit to Friburg (Germany) was the most unplanned thing and I had absolutely no idea where my hostel was. Generally the first time I land at a new city or town I make sure I reach the place during normal day time so that it is easier to get a map and search around. But at Friburg I landed at around 5.30 AM and I didn’t want to wait, so I just carried on to find my hostel. I met a couple of friendly people (who didn’t even know English), who tried to help me find my way, but I was hopelessly lost. Then I met this girl (who was on her way to the only university in that town) and she went out of her way in helping me. She actually came all the way to my hostel in a tram and dropped me at my hostel. Not many people actually do such things but I was trying to just give an example of the kind of people I met there.
The Americans that I trekked with and the other Europeans from my hostels that I mingled with were no different. It was such a pleasure to meet them. After a point of time I was helping others with their itineraries, explaining the functioning of public transport system etc. Some of them were so impressed that they included me in their plans as if I was part of their family. Some of the activities like the Gondala ride at Venice were possible only because I was part of such larger group…It felt really good.

I loved cycling, especially at Berlin and Amsterdam. With the dedicated lanes, gear and attire required for such a activity its simply lovely…Loved the Café culture, the sheer choices when it comes to sports activities (which encompasses all sections of the economic strata – from swimming, cycling, rowing to paragliding, parasailing, skiing etc)…

Each city, street and building has so much history behind it that you will be amazed and overwhelmed with information. Even if you are not a history enthusiast you will feel yourself getting immersed in the history prevalent everywhere, you will go out of the way in visiting the numerous museums and even spend extra to get an audio guide. Its never ending but worth every penny, as any number of history books wouldn’t give you such live coverage and complete information.

I could go on and on…I really wholeheartedly feel everyone should do a backpacking trip atleast once in their lifetime. It’s something everyone will enjoy in their own unique way…And its never too late (I actually met a 70 year old scientist from Belgium who was on a backpacking trip of his own)…


Until then if you are interested you can have a look at couple of my videos and snaps. The links are given below…
For a lot better video clarity use any other browser other than IE.. :)

1) Discover why birds sing - Paragliding by Dilip.
I simply loved this experience…:)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EIjrS06iZY

2) Snow slide at Mt. Titlis (Swiz)…
You will see mostly snow and my shoes..;)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTUb7pLj7hs

3) Snow Sledge at Jungfraujoch!
Top of Europe: A small snow sledge ride..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8H_FkrpEy8

4) Swiss National Day: Aug 1st 09

Video 1:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSIJSvDPjeI

Video 2:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqd4zsGvH1c

5) Jungfraujoch - Monchsjoch Hut
The video taken after my trek to the hut from the Jungfraujoch (Top of Europe)...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IxK8a1e2y0


Check out some snaps @:

http://picasaweb.google.com/dilipadiga82/EuroTrip09#

Living the experience..

Having a time of my life now...Am not able to fund or find time for blogging..:(
So will come back home and blog about my experiences..The keyboard here has such a different setting. I am struggling big time!!
Anyway i had been to London and Scotland with my sis and Brother in law..It was great and the drive was wonderful...An amazing experience thanks to them..

Then i was off to Paris, Amsterdam and now i am at Berlin..Each city is so different, yet so similar...Discovering each city and understanding the way it goes about its business was a huge learning...Made a lot of friends at the hostels, which is something i will definitely cherish..More later..:)

Am off to Friburg, Southern Germany, to have a trek at Black Forests (does black forest cake ring a bell?) and then am off to Interlaken (Switzerland)...
Catch you people soon..

A Dream – Backpacking across Europe!

Here I am. This is me. Embarking on a journey of a lifetime...
I am off to Western Europe backpacking, on what I believe would be one of the most memorable and exciting experience. The planning that went to this trip in itself has already made it an enthralling experience. The every minute that I spent planning has made me so much wiser and knowledgeable. I can talk about backpacking, the advantages, the experience etc. for hours together, and I have not even started the journey yet!!

Traveling will and should be a change from everything familiar. Talking to the people you meet, many of whom may not be English-speaking but still eager to answer questions, is what it’s all about. Irrespective of how many times you backpack, you want it to stretch you and remove you from a comfort zone. You want to listen and learn from your fellow hostilities, learn and understand the various cultures, and grasp every minute detail. Its going make you think along perspectives that you thought never existed. Someday it’s all going to help and you might thank yourself for having embarked on such a journey…

It is the experience of a lifetime! Everyday you will have different stories, different experiences to share and be heard, so whether you start from England, Spain, France or Germany, you will create an experience that will never be forgotten!

When my journal is full and I am sick of wearing the same set of t-shirts, I will have stories, names, and places to speak of for years to come. The feeling of great achievement the learning and the experience may not be understood by everyone. One will discover that many will really not understand just how cool it was, because many just can’t. The backpacking experiences are yours alone. It’s only when you return to all things familiar that you’ll notice how much they’ve changed you.

I am sure at the end of it, I will have some of my greatest memories etched while backpacking across Europe. There may be good moments and bad, but in the end nothing would compare to the experiences I will have.

Calling GODS!

Recently in IPL I saw the “Appam” (read Sreesanth from the fakeiplplayer fame), praying profusely every ball he had to bowl at the opposition! Most balls were hit out of the park, but still the praying continued…Out of all the games he played the most comical was when Hayden was smashing him all around the park, but Appam very meticulously returned back to his bowling line and prayed continuously…What was he thinking??

Did he not understand that the prayers were not being answered? Unless of course he was praying to get hit! Out of all the games he played, in only one game he actually bowled well, which resulted in his praying increasing ten fold…

Unfortunately, recently I had to visit a hospital and I saw that there was a mini-temple right in the middle of the string of operation theaters…Neither the temple bells nor the God had even a second of free time…Almost the entire time I was waiting there, right through the night, I used to see people praying for the recovery of their loved ones…I am sure none would have asked why they were there in that hospital in the first place…!

Instances such as these show that being GOD is the most highly unaccounted Job. Its always a win-win situation for Him, with most people being steady followers of some God irrespective of what is really happening in their lives…Having said that God never applied for this job in the first place and neither did he ask us to do what we are doing…So cant blame him..:)

Last few weeks has been hectic to the core…There was not even an iota of time for anything…Hardly used to sleep…In this melee, a lot of positive things have happened, both professionally and personally. Professionally it was very hectic but turned out to be really good considering that the reward was something that was totally unexpected, and personally I have crossed a barrier that had been haunting me for a long time now…The pain and sorrow was extinguished in an instant. The thirst has increased, but I am all geared up to quench it!! Life has started looking more rosy and there is spring in my stride..:) When all these things have been happening the one thing that never stopped was my prayers…I always wonder why is that we continue to pray whether things go right or they go completely berserk…Whether there is an actual God or not, one thing is for certain – praying definitely helps to keep your target in sight without loosing hope, because you feel there is “that someone” out there listening to you, who will help you make your dreams come true..!!!

Precipice of Tolerance…

Most things in life you can tolerate to a certain extent or maybe to a large extent…But after a point, you realize the line was crossed…!

Its just not one thing, but a series of events that makes you to suddenly plunge to a conclusion that should have logically been arrived eons back…Inspite of everything that had been done, was done and willing to do, you just say “Damm it”, and push it down the bottomless grave…

Only after the necessary spades were struck, the required number of spears hurled, you take action, strong action that leads to results and makes you wonder what had stopped you all this time…But the fact of the matter is, the wait, the agony and the lessons made you take that strong action, which otherwise wouldn’t have led to the same results…And more importantly wouldn’t have led you to sweet results, had there been even an iota of doubt, a doubt which would have lingered had it not been for the true crossing of the line!!!

My Blog…

Sometimes I ask myself why do I blog? Why do I take the pain of putting my thoughts into writing? What pleasure do I get? What kind of a blogger am I? 

Have you thought about it? Have you ever wondered why you blog or why you read on what others have to say?

Blogging has been one of the most significant revolutions in the last decade or so. I think it has given that extra zing to literature (if you feel literature is too big a word, lets say to literary skills like reading/writing..:)). It really doesn’t matter how good or bad one is, one can always write something and publish them at no cost at all…And in the process if one can catch the imagination of the masses one can really get opportunities to do this full time, make money and live happily ever after (lol), which maybe wouldn’t have been possible without the exposure given by blogosphere..

There are various kinds of bloggers. Personal, pictures, videos, humor - you name it and there are blogs which talk about it…There are those who make quite a hefty money out of it too..Sometimes it so happens that the ads occupy more space than the content of the blog..:)

People say there’s a book inside everybody. The blogs just prove it and it has just let the book out! People always have had opinions, but the difference now is that they have a medium where they can express them freely…So we have been seeing an explosion of opinion. Now we can hear all sorts of voices on any subject. It’s true democracy at work. It’s been such a success that major news organizations have started quoting blogs in their articles to give credibility to what they are saying…

When I initially started out I just wanted some space where I can pour out my thoughts as an anonymous blogger. But with an url as stupid as mine how can one be anonymous? ;) So there I was writing articles on what I thought was interesting and what I thought I should be writing…I wrote articles on day-to-day happenings, philosophy, experiences, people, poems etc…If the article was not factual, it mostly would be my opinions. Sometimes I would just use it to vent my frustrations.

The blog helped me to write several articles on various subjects and the most importantly I found that I could write poems too…I was always under the impression that poems are the toughest nut to crack and most difficult to write, but thanks to blogging I was able to attempt it and am quite happy with the way I pen them now…Initially when I started blogging, everything I wrote was more explicit but as the days went by I could pen my thoughts without actually revealing too much…The poems helped me a lot in doing this..:)

There were days when I wrote what I thought was one of the best articles ever written, but there would be none who would comment on it…But there were other days when I would have written something more casual, which I thought wouldn’t touch people’s imagination, but eventually it would turn out that I was totally wrong…Each comment is special and  it encourages you to write more...But having said that if one depends solely on comments for continuing to write, then you would stop blogging sooner rather than later…People might read your blog, come and visit it regularly but may not enter comments at all (that’s what I do to many of the blogs that I follow..:)). So the number of comments are never an indication for the popularity of a blog..

It does help to have people dropping in comments but if one writes articles for the sake of it then very soon one would stop writing because its an expectation that gets fulfilled very rarely…Again another thing is if you want to increase the number of hits on your blog or make money out of it then there are ways by which one can do so (like regularly publishing several posts a day… I have seen people do so and successfully too)

But such things wouldn’t be possible if your blog is more personal. The continued existence of personal blogs are a different reason altogether…And its tougher to continuously write or maintain personal blogs. Also people who follow such blogs are fewer in numbers. Eventually topics get restricted, and people just get plain lazy after a point of time.

Like practically everything else on the Web, blogs are easy to start and hard to maintain.

For me none of the above are really motivating factors (except of-course the valuable comments that you guys leave here..:)). Generally I write what comes to my mind on various topics, the experiences that I have had, the emotions etc that comes along this rollercoaster ride called ‘life’…Most often than not it has been a place where I can pour my heart out (and sometimes the pouring is done in such a way that others don’t get head or tail of what’s been written). But if I look at the blog I can relate to each and every post and each and every line of that post. It’s like Tendulkar saying he remembers every run he scores or the manner in which every time he gets out. The posts talk to me and I can feel the moment at which a particular line was written. Its really an amazing feeling to just walk through some of the posts that one has written over a long period of time…Sometimes I just laugh when I read some of the posts that I had written and it would seem silly now, but the important factor is to realize why and when it was written…I was a different person then and maybe/hopefully a different (or should I say more matured person) now…But still it gives me that happiness that I have continued over such a long period of time, not giving up in the process and carrying on..

I have strangely observed people having varying opinions about my writing…There are few who are pretty vocal about how or what I write, who encourage me to continue, who have few nice words to say at the end of each post, or who comment on the blog or otherwise comment whenever we get a chance to talk and its really heartening. But for every such kind there will be several others who take it upon themselves to ridicule the way I write, who comment on how naïve one could be to write articles such as these and how could I write such things on a blog. There are others who say its beautiful the way you write, but would make fun of it behind your back (I have had this experience too)..There are scores of others - silent spectators, who are on either sides of the fence…But again why do we blog? Every person is entitled for an opinion and its very easy to have one especially on stuffs that we write on…So it would really boil down to whom you want to listen at the end of the day (i.e assuming that you want to listen to someone..:))?

More often, somehow blogging has given me that extra happiness, a source to express my feeling, emotions, frustrations and someday I would like to visit the entire archive of my own blog and see how I have come along over a period of time..I have gained knowledge, confidence and extra talents while blogging…I have made many friends whom I have never really met, made some friends whom I had the pleasure of meeting only because I started blogging and the network just builds (now I have some friends from Pakistan!! Would that have been possible any other way?)…I had started blogging for a number of reasons and most of them still remain the reasons why I keep continuing…Only when you start venturing into something new or different and continue to pursue on it for sometime would you realize the benefits/advantages that come along with it. It makes one wonder what one would have missed if one hadn’t ventured into it…

As an individual, I would highly recommend that you have some sort of publishing strategy, whether it be a blog, newsletter, writing articles for magazines, website or whatever. It really helps in a lot of sense. This is an age where you need to build your reputation word by word. Start off by finding something people care about and most importantly something that you care about.

Friends!!

As the days go by,

I met a lot of friends on the fly,

Some of them were forgotten in a wink of an eye,

But some are cherished for life.

You may be here one day, gone another day,

But the memories are here to stay,

I have a lot of good things to say,

But I will reserve it for some other day.

Some days like today reminds me, how special you are,

Touching the lives of one and all,

As you traverse on a journey called life,

I pray it be a happy and a joyful drive.

Tit-bits of Recession!

           You are generally treated like God in a five star hotel. It’s even more evident when you travel during times of recession, especially when they know that your stay would be for more than a week!! I am currently in ITC Park Sheraton, Chennai and I am thoroughly enjoying the “hotel”…Worth every penny of the 10K per day rent...

I have interacted and worked with folks from couple of service companies. But working from one of these companies throughout the day for several days has been an enriching experience (someday i will write a post comparing the two - my perspectve on the advantages and disadvantages of both service and product companies)… Here are some of the lighter moments…

~ The cafeteria looks like a Kalyana Mantap (Indian Marriage hall for those who don’t know what it meant..:)) with thousands of people eating and chit-chatting together.

~ All of them neatly dressed in formals and I as usual was in a T-shirt (that too a bright colored one!). It was such a contrast and people kept staring at me…I am sure the HR of that company would have used this pretext to fire me during these recession times had it not been for a “client-tag” around my neck. So they just joined the staring phenomenon.

~ If one goes for a coffee at 4 in the evening, one would have to wait in a queue for a cup of coffee for atleast 15 minutes.

~ The coffee is one of the best I have ever had and my caffeine intake for the past 1 week has been more than what I have had during the last one year!!

~ Couple of days back people here got new compensation packages with “the recession” taking its effect on their pocket. The last few days there is nothing but this talk among their employees (of course *all in a hush tone*)…

~ One of my colleagues was caught by a policeman on one of the roads in Chennai and he was asked to pay a fine of Rs1500 for couple of “supposedly committed crimes”. My friend hesitated and pleaded ignorance to the rule as he was new to the city. The police apparently asked him from where he had come and which company he worked for. Once the policeman heard that he was a “software Engineer” working in IT, the police took pity on him and immediately left him for a partly sum of Rs100. The reason given – “IT is full down!!!”

~ I saw a lot of Satyam buildings on the way to the office I daily visit. One of the people whom I work with narrated a funny incident. She comes daily in a AC bus here. The fares are very high compared to normal buses (If its Rs2 for a normal bus, the AC would cost Rs 18). When one of the commuters got down from the bus near a Satyam building, the conductor of the bus, looking at the building she was entering, shouted and asked her why she was wasting her money coming in a AC bus…He even advised her to get used to the normal bus and make it a point to commute on it everyday, given the current situation her company is in.

~The “Besanth Nagar” beach @ Chennai brought quite a few memories from my last visit here (seems like eons ago)…It was awesome to be on a beach in the night…

Its only during recession that we get to know what kinds of fraud people commit…Last few months has been a revelation...Right from big stalwarts to well-established companies, we have seen them tumble. Examples galore…

~ Stanford (and his lady CIO – Google on how she became the CIO of such a huge enterprise – apparently her major asset was “she never asked questions” and that “her job was to match the left column with the right column”!!!)

~ Prominent investment manager Bernard Madoff (and his hedge fund – People were given very high interest rates and he used to fund the huge interest payable to previously invested people with new funds. He was one of those highly acclaimed investment manager. The loop continued until suddenly a lot of people demanded that their money be returned (obviously due to their fear of recession). He was caught when he could no longer gather any “new money” to return the old ones – It’s a very interesting read, should be a financial case study).

~ Banks (haa..Should I even start this list? Each one is more interesting than the other)

~ Credit card business (I hope we have seen the last of the impact from this business. But I live on false hopes).

~ Greenland going bankrupt! (A super story on how things can go wrong en masse!!)

~ Should I continue?

Eyes

I see those sparkling eyes...!

Are they sparkling because of the burning desire that runs deep down the oceans of eternity, depths that the world has never seen…Or are they sparkling because they are moist and the oceans are salty with it…Moisture that doesn’t run on the surface but deep within..

But the more I look at it the more I get convinced that they were merely mocking at me. It was that friendly mocking laughter, gayety personified. All one has to do is look down the precipice to realize the enormity of the thoughts and the background behind those wonderful eyes. The secrets and the unrevealed thoughts all displayed in front of you without one’s knowledge…Eyes the master revealer for those who want to look deep inside!!!

An Ambigram!

Thanks to one of my friend I found out something new about my name after all these years…My name is apparently an Ambigram!! For those of you who doesn’t know what an Ambigram is, then please have a look at the image below and see what you can come up with…

Basically an Ambigram is a graphical figure that spells out one or more words not only in its form as presented, but also in another direction or orientation.

So in my case my name and its inverted image looks the same!! When my friend first pointed it out to me I just laughed saying there is no such thing…Then after she sent me the image I was thoroughly perplexed…:) Then I googled about it..(you can read more about it here). It was nice to see such symmetry in my name too..;-) haha..

Calling TIME!!

With eyes filled with ambition,

And heart bulging with passion,

Elusive ‘time’, I search for you,

There is so much to do,

Without much ado,

So many things to tick on the excel sheet,

But not an ounce of time to keep.

During the time of recession and depression,

When everything is on sale and reduction,

What was earlier ‘free’,

Has changed its status to busy,

Oh Time! What’s happening?

Why are you running?

Its past 2 in the night, with few hours to go,

For the early morning chores,

The next day beckons,

At a rate, I have lost count, I reckon,

Am I the one who said,

Prioritize and Rationalize,

As one has to always find time for One’s interests in life…

PS:

It has been a very hectic couple of weeks and I don’t see it changing for the next few months atleast…:(

In retrospect, maybe I should be happy that I don’t have the time to waste and kill..

As one of my good friend said, its always better to search for time rather than search for tasks to do in the free time..:)

The Curious case of ‘Tumbling Spider’

Today was one of those days when I had to reach office by 6.30 AM. So inevitably I had to get up really early to complete my usual early morning chores at an unusual hour…!

It was also an hour when you get to see the spiders and roaches at their active best…I don’t have the habit of killing them whenever I see one of those running around…Most often than not, I just displace them from their current location and throw them where I might not go until the near future(don’t ask me why, but I hate both the sight of them and the thought of killing them!!) Anyway I digress…

So today I saw this solitary spider trying to climb the bathroom door…The door was wet and it was struggling to get a grip on it and hence for every few steps it took to climb up, it would invariably tumble and lose more height than it had gained…My clothes were hanging above in the hanger and I didn’t want it to reach anywhere near my clothes…So I decided that if it comes anywhere near it I will pour water on it, flush it down the urinal and give it a watery grave…

But the whole time I was there it never reached beyond the first half of the door…I just carried on with my daily duties and just before I left for office I wanted to check where this hard working creature was and to my surprise I found it right at the top of the door. It made me wonder what would have happened if it had actually succeeded the first time. Even though it would have managed to reach near the top of the door it would have ultimately ended up in a watery grave…

The very fact that it failed so many times in the matter of 15 min that I was there, or in other words ‘because’ it failed to make it past the half way mark inspite of its best efforts, it remained alive and now happily sat in its web!! What contrast in the end result..!!

Can you see, how our lives could be paralleled to this? Have you ever wondered what would have happened if everything had worked out the first time you tried..!!

Even though I prefer everything to work out the first time, life’s best lessons are learnt when you fail and overcome it eventually…

It just reminded me of the quote “What we do does not define who we are. What defines us is how we rise after falling…”

Words…

With,

The smile as beautiful as a blossoming of a rose,

The eyes as striking as an edge of a razor, piercing the innermost core,

The lips that makes the petals of a rose red with envy,

The talk that makes even the most chatterer listen and be hearty.

 

The look on your face on my laptop screen,

Never fails to bring me a smile, making me serene,

I am sure there will be no dearth of love and care,

But still here I am wishing you all the happiness, more than your share…

 

 

PS: Belated Happy Valentine’s day to all of you..:)

The title was inspired from the song (In keeping with the season..:)) Words that all I have…:)

Net worth..!

What is your net worth? Have you ever wondered?

How does one compute the net worth of an individual? Does it includes only materialistic things or is there more to it than just that?

On what basis do you make a decision on a particular person? What are the key points you look at, for you to say…”Ha, There is the guy who will make something out of his life!!”… What are the criteria?

What about your own self-assessment? How much would you say you are worth? (Nope.. Don’t put yourself in Ramalinga Raju’s shoes) Does only the current money count or does the ‘potential’ within you, taken into account? What price would you put on yourself?

Lately there has been so much talk about net worth of a company; it made me wonder, what’s the net worth of an individual? How does one calculate such a thing? If tomorrow I want to bet on someone, on what criteria would I place my confidence in him/her?

I mean he/she might have enough money to last a lifetime but would that suffice? Would I be looking at more than that? It doesn’t take much time to lose money! What about some one who is bankrupt but has the potential to do a lot of things…Would I bet on such a person?

Lets look at a generally accepted formula to calculate the net worth of an individual or a company, in the corporate world..

Net Worth = Total assets - Total liabilities.

But,

It is important to note that formula for net worth measures only the book, or accounting value of a business. This amount is not usually the same as the market value of a business, which is the amount an informed buyer would pay to acquire the business in an arm's length transaction.

It is important to know that just as a credit score changes every day, your net worth also changes every day. Every time you make a decision, every time you venture into something new or ‘most often’ every time you don’t venture into something, your net worth keeps changing... If these things are constantly happening, is it possible to get a truly accurate depiction of one's net worth?

Definitely! If one is astute enough, one can always gauge anyone’s net-worth with enough knowledge in one’s hand…All it requires is some open-mindedness and the courage to accept what you see…

A Crime!!

I woke up with stars in my vision,

The world had changed or was it my perception,

What was cold and gloomy,

Suddenly transformed to being bright and sunny,

A world of realization to take,

With a grin on my face,

Today feels brilliant,

Tomorrow looks magnificent,

The thoughts, the feelings, ardor and fervor,

The path to greatness, grandeur and splendor,

Makes me so jocund and mirthful,

Feels like a crime to be so blithe and joyful.

An Experience!!!

The night was cold and the wind chilly. But the atmosphere was electrifying. There were hordes of people each having their own reason to be there. Usually when people turn up in such large numbers there is added confusion and suffocation but not that night. It was quite orderly and pleasant. People were indeed in high spirits (Nope!! not due to Alcohol..:)). 

I was at the TOImidnight marathon this weekend and what an enriching experience it was!! Finished the half marathon (21.1Kms), achieving the feat in 2 hours 20 min...The feeling was really awesome…What was even better was the circumstance under which I was able to achieve it!! Running in midnight is a different experience altogether...Developed knee cap problems mid way but still managed a decent time…It took a lot of determination and a lot of support from my friends (friends I made while running), co-runners and also an aunty (more on her later in the post)!!

I went alone as none of my friends wanted to run a half marathon. It was an hours drive to Whitefield (the venue of the event)…The place was already swarming with people, most running the “city run”…Was very surprised to see so many people away from their cozy beds…People from all walks of life and from all age groups had come…All wanting to be part of this midnight event…

I could see the road ahead. It was fully lit and I could see lights as far as my eyesight could reach. It was inviting everyone to just start and I just couldn’t wait. 

The clock struck 12 midnight and there I was living one of my dreams…

I wanted to avoid the elbowing and pushing that usually happens at the beginning and hence I ran right at the start of the marathon. Not a very good idea!! But who cares? I ran like a maniac and there were hardly anyone in front of me…Then I started slowing down…Though many overtook me later, the plan worked…:)

The target was to do a sub 2 hour marathon but as it turned out I took 20 extra minutes…

I had hardly prepared for this event except for couple of previous runs…I knew I could make it, but the lack of training showed. It turned out to be more challenging than I had imagined…Though in terms of experience it exceeded my expectations hands down…

The run was supposed to be two laps (11 km each) and almost at the end of the first lap I felt severe pain in my knee cap. This was something that I had faced for almost a month and I suspected it to trouble me during the run. The pain was severe and thoughts of giving up started to germinate…I started to walk back towards the start/finish line where we were supposed to take a U turn for our second lap. Just when I was about to reach the start/finish line I heard a huge roar from the spectators and I turned around to see who they were cheering for, but I saw no one…I thought they were cheering some winner (Relay, half and full marathons were happening almost at the same time)…To my pleasant surprise I realized the LOUD cheer was for ME..I couldn’t believe it..It was as if I had won a medal at the Olympics. All thoughts of giving up vaporized. I completed the U turn and continued…I had taken 58 min to complete the first lap…

The second half was too much to bear…The pain was excruciating…But everytime I stopped I would get a tap/pat on my back by fellow runners nudging me to carry on… The best support came from my first lap co-runners..They saw that I was struggling with my knees and they would encourage me as if their run also depended on me finishing. I made quite a few friends that night and we were really supporting each other as if we knew one another for years!! The feeling was something out of this world..

The second lap went pretty slow...Had a lot of water in between (There were stalls with volunteers every 200 mts with water and glucose. They not only give you water but also encouraging words)…I made up mind to finish this no matter what. Every second I imagined myself completing the marathon and feeling great about it…It made sure I carried on in spite of the pain…It was during the second lap that I really observed this stout lady sitting on the compound of her house with a  shawl and shouting at the top of her voice..She was there all through the night shouting encouraging words for every single runner that passed her home…I was literally crawling when I reached her place, as if about to pass out. Seeing this, she got down from her compound braving the cold and the security, reached me and told me “Son, there is only 3 kms left. You can do it!!”. All I could do was stare at her and smile..I was totally taken back by her reaction and I started jogging again…The second lap took me 1 hr 20 min…

I finally completed the run in over 2 hr 20 min and was received at the finish line with a loud cheer. The timing stewards noted the time and I sat for the first time relishing the moment…

I sat with a bottle in my hand and watched others finish the run…The atmosphere was so contagious that I too joined the cheering sessions…I couldn’t stand and the Manipal hospital authorities applied some pain reliever spray to assuage the pain…It was really cold and I could see mist coming out of my mouth every time I breathed out… I was pretty much shivering…I never realized Bangalore could get so cold…I finally got up at 3.00 AM and bought a hot cup of tea for 3 bucks and a biscuit packet for 5 bucks.. Entrepreneurs in India!! That guy realized there was a demand and suddenly a make shift shop had cropped up with coffee, tea and biscuits!! Anyway I was quite relieved to have something to eat…People were still running but I slowly started my walk back to the parking lot..Took me about 40 min to reach the car…The car was fully drenched with moisture…The drive was pretty smooth and was back home by 5.00 AM…

Now when I think of it, it makes me wonder…What a marathon it was!!! It was a run to remember!!! It showed me what sportsmanship was all about, made me realize with great determination you could achieve anything against all odds, the importance of making and having friends, the thrust to experience new things without which you will always see the world the way you have always been seeing…Something else that I was surprised to see was the number of middle aged people running half marathons…That showed that you don't need to be fit and thin to run. As long as the intent is there and you have the passion for what you are doing then, you will be what you want to be and achieve what you want to achieve!!!

Happy New Year! May all your wishes come true!!!

A new year beckons,

Welcoming with new resolutions,

Zestfully chasing our ambitions,

Hope and vigor, aiding to meet the aspirations.

I see ‘one’ on the other side,

So beautiful that ‘it’ makes me pine,

A river separating us, vast and furious,

Crossing it always arduous.

‘It’ gives me an inviting smile,

Making the world around shine,

Drawing me to build a trestle,

Making me resolve, to complete it in a hustle.

Hope this year may be ‘the’ year,

Accomplishing our goals without any fear,

Njoying life with our near and dear,

Making it a year worth to remember.

Wishing you all a very happy and prosperous new year…May 2009 be a stupendous year bringing in happiness and success…Njoy!!!

A year that was!!

He looked at the mirror and saw a different person. A year had passed.

People say “The more the things changed, the more they remain the same”. He looked and acted the same but he knew a lot had changed. It was a year that was very different compared to its predecessors. For one he now had experienced something which led him to feel great compunction, which was the first in all the years that he had known. But he knew this was by far a very special year, memories of which won’t easily fade away…It made him wiser and more confident…A year where there was never dearth of activities, a year that was filled with highs and lows, a year where he had no time to look back and contemplate, a year that made him more nocturnal than ever before…A year had passed, and it passed which such a pace!!! A year that was and what a year it was!!!

Kiki

In Japanese there is a small word, Kiki, which means Crisis. The first Ki actually stands for “risk, danger; fear; uneasy”, but the second Ki stands for “opportunity”.

Right from pre-historic days, people recognized what crisis had to offer. No wonder the Japanese came up with that word. This reminds us that a crisis has not only a component of danger but also of opportunity. This word reminds us that crisis situations present us with both obstacles and also with an opportunity to accomplish something new.

The current financial crisis is once in a life time opportunity. It offers a wide range of avenues to a generation that had missed the previous revolution. As you can see every change results not only risks but also opportunities. It’s up to us how we want to look at a situation. Whether we want to be at the sidelines and watch the movie running or to be part of the movie and take the bull by its horns…Ancient oriental wisdom is applicable even more in today’s dynamic and constantly changing world. And we should not miss the boat again.

Emulate US???

After the recent terrorist attacks, people have finally woken up and are demanding action? But what is action?? What is the right path that one has to take during these trying times? Is there something called a right path?

It’s a topic where everyone has an opinion on. Most would want to emulate US of A in the way they handled the situation after 9/11. People say, “Look how well they have protected their citizens. Not one incident of terrorism in more than half a decade after 9/11…”!!!

Though what they say is true, do we really want to emulate the US? Do we really want to follow their footsteps as far a strategy against terrorism is concerned? Even though they did a credible job in protecting their shores against perpetrators of crime, in protecting their citizens against terrorists, not all that they did was right!!!

Around 3,000 people lost their lives in the dreadful attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York on 9 /11. America’s typical response was to go to war. It launched two wars. The first one was against a country that was already on its path to devastation. The Americans bombarded Afganistan day after day, month after month and as we now know year after year!! The only people who gained from the whole exercise (of course, other than America) is the Taliban. It got easier for them to recruit more people and raise millions in funds. This not only in places like Afganistan, Pakistan but also in places like United Kingdom!!!  Nearly 1,000 American solders lost their lives in Afghanistan. Countless Afghans die each month, as one of the world’s poorest states sinks deeper into devastation.

We all know how America gained from the other war, but was it worth it? It stimulates their economy but does it really help in the long run?

America fought the second war with a country that had not a single link to the events of 9/11. Close to a million human beings have lost their lives in that response. That includes 4,000 U.S. troops in Iraq. That is apart from several hundred thousand Iraqis losing their lives. Millions have suffered dislocation and deprivation in the region. It was more than a $ 3 trillion-war. Just imagine that kind of money? I mean how well we could have used that money. Every month more than $ 10 billion is being spent in Iraq. Imagine what we could have done with that money. When the auto industry asks for a $ 30 billion package the senators take weeks to decide. (And when they do, they decide to provide $15 billion package. Anyway I Digress.. It’s a nice discussion to have whether the auto corporations deserved it in the first place. Will take up this bail-out story some other time!!). But the point is no one took enough time to see whether the war would be worth it…It’s pathetic!!!

In a little over three years after that “response” began, over 650,000 Iraqis were estimated to have lost their lives. Now the US has suddenly started focusing on Pakistan. Almost every week now, the U.S. bombs some part of Pakistan — its firm ally of decades. Being an Indian I can only admire their courage for doing something that we would never do unless Pakistan “officially” attacks us (But again Kargil happens only once a decade!!). So we will never respond the way US can…Does that mean I am ‘for’ a war against Pakistan? Definitely NOT!!! That’s one mistake that we should never commit unless the situation asks for it. War only feeds terror and there is no way we can completely wipe terror out with a war (that’s what the US is finding out the hard way!). There are other lessons in the U.S. debacle. Civilians are routinely killed by this, and if Mr. Obama’s campaign promises are to be kept, this will go up. So will the appeal of fundamentalism amongst the affected. It will become a vicious cycle which can only harm the mankind.

Also, the resultant undermining of Pakistan, can only be bad news for India. More fundamentalisms, more militancy, and worse, both sides of the border.

Having said all this, there are some things which are worth noting, which are worth learning from US…

US has done quite well in terms of preventing attacks within their shores…The intense security arrangements everywhere, the strengthening of their borders and investing heavily on internal security through federal agencies is something that we MUST DO…Nothing should be taken lightly even if it means regular harassment to people, it must be done! For example not one complained about the heightened security at the airports immediately after the Mumbai attacks…It requires the will of the people, the will of the politicians.

We should do whatever it takes to strengthen our security forces, our police, our intelligence network, set up federal agency meant to tackle only terror!! We should make people accountable for their responsibilities and appoint people who deliver.

Applying diplomatic pressures is one thing, taking actual actions on the ground is another thing altogether. Diplomacy doesn’t do much. Pakistan will “house arrest” some terrorists and the terrorists will continue their dirty work under different ‘e-toeba’s’. If it is Laksher this time, next time it will be something else. They will never run out of names. So all we will be doing is asking Pakistan to ban another organization…It’s such a farce!!!

We should take strong measures from within, only then we can try defeating terrorism. Its good to be on a high alert always. You are dealing with people who have nothing to lose. They don’t mind dying. If a person looses the fear of death, what will you threaten him with? Its time we guard our shores. Its time we invest on security!!!

Update: One of the co-blogger wrote - "Pakistan puts Jaish-e-Mohammad chief, Masood Azar, under house arrest. Guess he'll be working from home now..." ;)

The Midnight Marathon!!!

 

 

      "We are different, in essence, from other men.

      If you want to win something, run 100 meter.

      If you want to experience something, run a marathon."

      -Emil Zatopek, 1952 Olympic Marathon gold medalist

 

This famous quote aptly describes the spirit of a marathon run. Most runners aspire to complete a full marathon someday; many end up doing it several times over the years. Some do it to prove it to themselves and others run for a cause. While the marathon is a grueling and competitive race, it has over the years become a popular sport among urban communities to promote a cause, spread awareness and raise funds for a variety of charitable activities. A marathon today is not so much about winning or losing but more about a socially conscious city and its concerned citizens coming together for a common cause.

Read the entire thing.. here…

 

This is scheduled to be held on 10^th of Jan…The half-marathon is going to start at 12.00 midnight and is 21.95Kms.

RUN and Experience something!!!

 

 

I did it..!!!

I believe many of us maintain this ‘wish’ list or ‘To-Do’ list. A list that will have items from the entire spectra of our lives…Whether we do anything about it or not, we keep this list updated…Anyway atleast I do have one and one of the items in it was to run a marathon and here I am at the brink of ticking one major item from that list..:)

Yes, today I was able to achieve what I missed the last time…I ran/jogged/walked/crawled more than 21 kms.

I followed the same route as last time but instead of turning back at Yeshwanthpur I continued towards IISC and then to Mekhri Circle. That’s about 11 kms from my place (Couple of days back my friend had come down from US and I had taken this route to go to the airport. So this time I was sure about the distance!!) The return journey was the same. So I covered more than 21 kms in 2 Hours and 25 minutes flat. I was a tad disappointed for the extra minutes taken since I wanted to achieve this feat within 2 hours.

I could easily cut down the time by 10 minutes because today I had to wade through a lot of traffic and also there was this problem of a flyover under construction between Yeshwanthpur and IISC. Having said that cutting down on the entire 25 minutes to make it under 2 hours is a different matter altogether…Anyway I am still extremely happy with my timing, considering that I am not a regular marathon runner..:) Further having done this, I have realized that this was quite a ask as the ‘task’ involved enduring both physical and mental pain/pressures…Sustaining the ambition of completing this for the entire 21kms was definitely the most difficult part!!!

Especially the last 40 minutes was extremely hard. My legs started to disobey my mind and it was as if I was carrying a huge boulder on each of my leg. There was several occasions when I wanted to sit and take rest, but I knew better…There was no way I would have got up again if I had taken rest…So the last couple of kilometers took almost half an hour!!!

But the fact of the matter is I made it through and the feeling was equivalent to crossing the finish line…It gave immense pleasure that I could do this. Now I want to take part in the Times Of India Midnight Marathon and successfully end this crazy idea of running marathons..:) This event was scheduled to be held on 13^th Dec at Bangalore, but due to security reasons it got postponed by a few days. I want to take part in the half-marathon which is 21.1 kms and it’s at midnight!!! Can you imagine the atmosphere there and that too at the middle of the night!!! I am sure I will thoroughly enjoy the experience…Though, equally important is the fact that I will have this item ticked off from my “list”..:)

SoulMates!!!

What is it about soulmates that make writers go gaga over it..?? Why is that people always want to talk about soulmates, be it fiction or non-fiction, the story generally revolves around a “couple” that the author somehow wants to bring out - with a made-for-each-other tag or a soulmates tag…

SoulMate? What is it? Is it true love or just a buzz word being tossed around by New agers and publishers in order to increase sales? There is plethora of books on this subject – books written by Richard Bach, Edgar Cayce, Paul Coelho and the list goes on and on…

Anyway this subject cropped up after I read one of the books gifted by my friends on my b’day - “Brida” (Deals with the story of Brida, her pursuit of wisdom, and her quest for knowledge - written by Paul Coelho). I not trying to write a book review here nor the intention was to write my take on the subject…It’s just that it stirred a hornet’s nest… So here I am trying to do what I said I wouldn’t be doing..:)

Well, a belief in reincarnation is not necessary for a belief in soul mates although a great deal of literature on soulmates does presume this. Perhaps I'm just a reincarnation skeptic, but I just cannot believe something like that.

Anyway the real question is do you think you have/had met your soul mate? Have you given this a thought? I am sure all of us would have given this a thought sometime or the other…So how do you make a decision whether he/she is your soulmate? On what parameters does one take this call?

There have been times when we've been convinced that, "This is the one. This is my One True Love, my Soulmate." However, often in many cases, for one reason or another, the relationship hasn't worked out. Were we mistaken? Was that person not our soulmate? Or, was the person our soulmate, and, for one reason or another, we just weren't able to make things work?

By the way another interesting thought is how many times have you met your soulmates in your lifetime? I mean how many times have you thought about a person, that “He/She is the one!!”? A lot of literature on this subject actually makes you happy by saying that one can meet innumerable number of soulmates during one’s lifetime…Maybe if they hadn’t said that, the books wouldn’t sell…:)

Ok, so what is this concept of a soulmate? A soulmate is the ‘one’ whom you can be with by being yourself...A simple definition from yours truly…:) You don’t have to pretend, don’t have to lie and more importantly you don’t have to be someone you are not!!!

Anyway having given some free gyann from my side, if you want to explore more on such topics just read the books written by authors that I quoted above. Not everything will be about this, but mostly will revolve around it… But beware, there will be repetition about mysticism and other aspects of the ’unknown’ in all the books…Having read some, the concepts - though are not new - do make me stop and think. 

For those who haven’t read such books but are still interested, as Paulo Coelho says “Whenever you have to find about something, Plunge right in! The moment we stop doubting is the moment we stop moving forward..” When you eventually read them, read them with an open mind coz “Nothing in the world is ever completely wrong, even a stopped clock is right twice a day..”

Warning: If you are not keen on the subject or it brings pain rather than joy, just skip reading the post…;-) ;-) ;-)

Disclaimer: The post is just my flow of thoughts…Doesn’t imply anything. So don’t read in between lines. Here goes my disclaimer.....;-)

Here I am, Ready!!!

Today I committed two crimes, crimes never to be committed by a “techie”!!. The first, I got up at 5.30AM on a Sunday, and the other, I went for a marathon run early in the morning.

I had always dreamed of running full marathons, but was never sure I could do it…I used to jog for a few kilometers every morning, but that stopped more than a year back. Now I mostly jog on a treadmill at the gym. Everyday I constantly try to increase the distance covered, for the same time spent. Now I run more than 4 kilometers in less than 23 minutes (that’s almost 11Kmph!!).

But still running a marathon is completely different or should I say more difficult than running on a treadmill, or so I thought!!! Because when I actually ran this mini-marathon of mine I realized that it’s much simpler and more interesting, as compared to running on your treadmill (which I promise, is the most boring thing that one can do)…

The thoughts of running got germinated yesterday. It was Saturday night and I went out to have my dinner. The weather was beautiful and I suddenly felt this urge for jogging. I had just finished my dinner and it was close to 10.30PM, but I wanted to run. I went for a long walk and reached home late. But the drive to run hadn’t subsided. I slept pretty late at around 2.00AM but kept an alarm at 6.00, so that I could go for a long run the next morning…

I guess I was pretty excited at the thought of running, coz the next day I was up by 5.30. I changed to my track suit. Made sure to carry my mobile and wallet (coz, I was not too sure I could come back walking. In the worst case I thought I should carry enough money for the auto fare!!). I wore my shoe and there I was ready to go. My mobile displayed the time as 5.45…

I started from my home. There was no specific plan with respect to the route or the distance to be covered. The plan was to cover as much distance as possible in the least time…

My onward route was something like this..

My home à Basaweshwanagar Circle à Shankar Matt à Navarang à (Was running towards Malleshwaram. Suddenly thought of going towards Iskon, so took a U turn and came back to Chord road) à Iskon Temple à Yeshwanthpur Circle…

A distance of approximately 9 Kilometers and I had covered this in 46 minutes!!!!

The return Journey was..

Yeshwanthpur Circle à Iskon Temple à Chord road till NPS à Basaweshwanagar Circle à Home sweet home..

A distance of approximately 8 Kilometers and I had covered this in 40 minutes!!!!

I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw the time!!! When I stepped into my home the time read 7.11…I had covered a total distance of 17 kilometers in 1 Hr 26 minutes flat!!!!!

It was not a walk in the park. It was not simple and was not easy…More than a few occasions I had stopped and almost gone back. But this was something that I really wanted to do, wanted to prove myself. There were numerous voices in my head telling me to quit and return. Telling me I was not up to the mark...Telling me that I was not fit enough...But there were few which edged me on…Making me imagine my destination and making me imagine how happy I would feel at the end of it and so I listened to it…

Its more than 16 hours since I returned home and I do not feel any pain nor do I have any cramps. I feel I could have gone on and on...It feels really good and I am proud of it..

Here I am, Ready!!!

Ready for the next Bangalore Marathon and my target would be to complete the half marathon (generally 21 Kilometers) within 2 hours…And I know I can do it…

:( (Updated)

I am feeling soooo helpless and restless..:(

And for the first time i am at a loss for words..:(

http://indiauncut.com/iublog/article/a-night-out-in-mumbai/

Update:

Some more articles which i thought were worth reading..

http://content-ind.cricinfo.com/magazine/content/current/story/379988.html

How the media helped the terrorists..

http://www.prempanicker.com/index.php?/site/end_game/

The humor behind all of it..

http://www.rameshsrivats.net/2008/11/it-would-be-funny-if-it-werent-scary.html

To continue…?

I knew the road as soon as I saw it,

It was a perfect fit to what I was,

To what I could be,

It looked so familiar, as if it was built for me,

It had lots of twists and turns,

With pitfalls and exit points all over,

But I wanted to continue…

 

I still remember the first few steps,

Familiar faces filled the road,

As days became years, people disappeared,

Some found what they wanted

While most settled for what they didn’t get

Some others continued,

The road ahead became longer and tougher,

But I wanted to continue…

 

One fine day as I looked around,

Everyone had been replaced,

The familiar faces were gone,

But I was still there representing the old,

Trying to hold onto the lost legacy,

Never had I imagined the road to be this long,

Gained a few things but lost more,

But I wanted to continue…

 

Sometimes I wonder,

Whether the universe was trying to conspire against me,

Or it had better plans than what I could imagine,

Whether this is madness personified,

Or a show of perseverance and relentlessness,

Whether I am losing out,

Or gaining in the long run,

Thoughts that never came before,

Is this what ‘time’ does to you?

Do I want to continue…?

 

OhMama!!!

Did you listen to the speech that President-Elect Barack Obama gave yesterday??

 http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=Jll5baCAaQU

WoW…Now that’s called oratory skills…!!! I was totally hooked to the TV until the commercials started boring me…I don’t remember when was the last time I had listened to a complete speech from a politician..To be honest I don’t think I have ever done it before…

But this guy is different…He has changed the way the world perceives democracy…His skills are so good that even Non-Americans around the world have rooted for him!!!

Like he said, he has a long road ahead and the climb would be steep…But even if can deliver half his promised “changes”, then the world would be a better place to live…

Let’s just hope "he can"!!! Amen!!!

Thank You!!! Thank You!!!

Thanks for all your wishes and congratulations...

It was because of me that Aravind "Adiga" won the booker!!!

The Big Bang…

Very rarely do I leave office late in the night…But sometimes you just have to give in…It was one of those days and had to stay back pretty late! I left office at 1.30 AM and was actually looking forward to a long drive home, in spite of knowing that I would have to come back in another 5 hours. Driving at night is absolute mirth, the lack of traffic, the loud music and the cold wind hitting your face makes it all memorable.

Within 10 min I was on Mysore Road flyover driving at 90kmph. It’s an understatement to say that driving at that speed on Bangalore roads was reckless to say the least. But today I didn’t care…All I wished was to have a roofless sports car driving like I know best…Maybe if I continue to drive like this I might end up with a roofless car..:) lol

The flyover provided the perfect gateway for all this. With the speakers blaring at full volume, I floored the accelerator. Within few seconds I was driving at 100kmph then 120kmph and the speedometer kept pushing. It was as if the speedometer was running a race of its own, trying to check its own resilience. When I try speeding in my car, there is always moments when I feel I could soon lose control of it. At this precise moment I have always slowed down to gain back control. Never have I liked to lose control. Maybe that’s one of the reasons I don’t get drunk…:) But obviously today was different and I didn’t want to stop myself. I wanted to indulge myself. So instead of letting go I continued to floor the accelerator.

There I was traveling at more than 140Kmph, not caring about what might happen. I was taking the entire stretch of the double lane road to take turns and at one of those turns I suddenly saw a truck laden with sharp iron railings moving with such a speed that I could have overtaken it while sleepwalking!!! There was no way I could have stopped and I knew the next 2 seconds would be my last…Now when you are alive you never think of such moments and you never ever imagine that these things will even happen to you.

I mean how many of you have wondered how you would die? And if you had few moments before you die how would you spend it? What would be your last thoughts seconds before you die?

In retrospect I see that I didn’t have the time to even ask myself all these unnecessary questions!!…There was absolutely no time to do all that…So I realized that when one is alive its better to live a life to its fullest rather than ask oneself such questions and waste ones time…

Anyway before I diverge and go off in another tangent, let me tell you what thoughts I had those few seconds before the impact. At that precise movement when I knew I was going to die, all I wanted was a roofless Ferrari and dark goggles so that I could really die with a bang!!

I mean if given a choice I would have asked for a lot more. Who wouldn’t? But again like I said you don’t think about all that when you are about to die…Its not as if a genie has given you three wishes and you have all the time in the world to come up with fool proof wishes which will keep you happy ever after..

Anyway if I had hoped for some divine intervention I saw no signs of it…I was about to hit the truck in front and there was no stopping that…The speedometer was now reading 160Kmph and I made no attempt at neither reducing nor increasing my speed. But surprisingly the distance between the truck and the car remained. The speedometer touched its maximum limit and I could feel the speed. Everything around me was also moving at great speed and no wonder I was not dead yet.

I could hardly explain what was happening…Even in my wildest dreams I hadn’t imagined anything like this…I wondered whether this was a perpetual state of death, whether I was being made to experience the greatest drive of my life. But still was unable to explain what was happening around me…Everything was moving at great speeds towards a focal point…Everything was converging and I knew I if I don’t hit the railing soon I would anyway be compressed by other things around me…It was complete dark now…It was more than darkness and I felt along with the lights, life was getting sucked out…It was a unique experience and no words would explain it..I thought maybe this was the pathway to heaven or hell..

Suddenly as fast as the entire thing started, it all slowed down…In an instant I could see all the lights back, I could see things around me coming back to normal..The truck in front of me slowing down and me in turn slowing down…The speedometer had come back to 90Kmph and I barely missed hitting the truck…I wondered whether the entire thing really happened…

I go home in another 10 minutes or so I thought!!! Because as soon as I landed at my house and switched on the TV, I realized I had lost more than a month with no accountability!!!

Now how could that have happened? How could only I have gone through this experience? How could only I have lost a months time in 2 seconds? I opened my blog and I see it has not been updated for more than a month and I realize that I did really lose out on a month with no way to account for it…All the news channels tells me that the CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research) experiment “successfully” took off at the same time as I went through this experience…There was always rumors that it might result in the creation of the black hole destroying everything around it…Maybe I was at the epicenter of the blackhole and fortunately for me the experiment faced glitches and was stopped immediately…Now its been decided that there will be no more experiments until it gets repaired…This accident though made me lose about a month of my life in 2 second…

I don’t know how many of you believe this, but I truly do…The last month (oops rather the last few seconds) has been truly an enriching experience and I continue to live to tell you the tale…I went through a plethora of emotions and experiences that many wont even go through their entire lifetime…Maybe life is trying to tell me something and all along I wasn’t listening…Now it has truly made me listen…

The Big Bang saved my life and maybe an experience like that happens once in a lifetime…Maybe that was indeed the divine intervention that I was looking for…

The fall and The Rise…

I jumped, intending to fly,
But God had different ideas, which were sly,
Plunging to the bottom in full speed,
Using my strength to remain afloat was the need.

The fall helped me gain a tremendous force,
That became my strength in due course,
In a mighty swing, moved from the abyss to the skies above,
Making it all worth it, the view below.

A Gold at last!

After more than 100 years we have won our first Olympic Gold in an individual event. Abhinav Bindra has indeed made us proud!!!

“It has been a tale of sweat, extremely hard work and keeping himself going in pressure conditions that has made Abhinav a real champion today” was what his father said…

All I can say is for someone who missed out on two previous Olympics and each time had to wait for 4 years to get another shot at glory is something that very few people can go through without losing heart…Going to the finals of previous edition of Olympics and finishing seventh must have been truly heartbreaking. Imagine the kind of determination, grit, hard work and sacrifices that he had to make to achieve this feat. A truly laudable effort!!!

Live!!!

There is no point in asking how it feels,
One does what one wants, as the world reels,
Fun, friends, food, misplaced fears & tears,
All part of the world, our own dear.

Days seem dark, brightness only in corners,
Until one realizes that one is wearing goggles,
Whether one is happy or sad, on goes life,
But remember, others around you get influenced by how one lives.

Fire!

All hell broke loose. There was fire everywhere. He knew how to dowse them but he wasn’t even trying. It was engulfing him through and through…There was smoke coming from every miniscule opening that one could find. The fire raged on, ubiquitously bringing in peace…