SMART farewell

Today we went to Olive Garden, a well known Italian restaurant in US. It's not that I've not been to an Olive Garden before, it's just that today was a special occasion. My farewell after four years of service at Nashville office. Even though I have another month to spend here but the farewell was planned today as my manager ST will be out office in the first half of January. And a lot of the people would be travelling during the Christmas and New years holidays.

The travel from office to this restaurant was about 20 miles (yes I checked the trip meter). We were total 8 people. We split ourselves in two cars. ST took a fast route on interstate to reach there early. DD, who had an accident couple of months back refrained herself from driving on interstate. I quickly opted for riding with DD to be able to see the scenic country side roads, which I have not seen in all my 4 years in the city. At the end I did not regret my decision, the ride was fantastic. For a change it was good to be riding rather than driving :)

It was first time for some people at this restaurant, because of it's prices. As we entered in, ST & group were already there and had asked for a table of 8. UK had got her camera to capture the moments. So as we were waiting to get a table for us, we started clicking some pictures. Oops! Juster after few pictures the battery went down. UK was shocked, "I charged the batteries last night". We started teasing UK for her negligence on batteries. She was still determined to capture moments. She took GJ with her to nearby Office Depot store to buy a pair of batteries, though it was drizzling outside.

30 minutes went by but we were still waiting for a table. "What a crap!", that's what you could see on everybody's faces. Finally the waitress came to the group and explained that the problem is there is no table ready for 8 people. They will have to join 2 tables but they are not getting any two adjacent tables free at the same time. She suggested we can sit on two different tables, adjacent to each other but they cannot be moved as they are fixed to the wall. Huh! ST went into to check the position and location, and we got ok.

As we started sitting around the table, UK and GJ were also back with the batteries. We were on two different tables but not far but not very comfortable, as the idea was to have lunch together. Which means more than just eating food together. Luckily one other table which was adjacent to the other side and movable, got empty in the time our waitress got our drinks. We decided to join that table and move one half on the group. This felt better, everybody enjoying the lunch together.

All our orders were taken and we were waiting for the food now. All the gossip and chit chatting continued. Suddenly ST said, "Are you ready with your speech". "What speech", shockingly I answered. "I don't know any speech, I ain't giving any speech here". Everybody started to force me in a teasing manner but I kept on neglecting there request.

The food was good. I didn't experiment on my dish, I just ordered what I have eaten in past here. There are not many dishes to experiment for in US for vegetarian people. I was the only veggie in the group, but everybody liked the food. ST's speech request resurged once in a while, "We will hear your speech with dessert". And I spoke to myself, there is nothing for me to give a speech. I'm not a celebrity here, we have just come to enjoy a lunch together.

By the time it was time for dessert everybody was full up to throat. Nobody had any room for a single bite of dessert. "No dessert, no speech. Since there is no room for dessert so I don't have to give any speech now". Everybody started answering together, "No, no! if that's that case then we will order one dish and eat it later". "Then I'll give the speech when you eat it", I replied. I knew there was no escape. I used to be the one who would pull everybody's leg in such kind of situations and this time I'm at the receiving end. What you sow is what you reap :).

"It has been a great pleasure to be working with you people. I know a lot of people I worked with in past are not here to hear me but everything would not have been so great without colleagues like you all. I had spent 4 years in college to get a bachelors degree, and I can relate my 4 years in Nashville to same. So I feel like I'm a double graduate now. I don't know at this point what future holds for me. I've lot of plans but not everything will go as per my plan but I'll keep you all posted. All the best to all of you for future". That was my short and sweet speech. It was an emotional moment. It's hard to walk out of niche that unknowingly builds around you, but you realize it only when you leave it.

ST said, "Well, it has been a pleasure to have you here. You have been an asset to the team. Continue your good work. We will miss you here". Everybody wished me good luck. And the lunch ended with a different scenic ride back to office. I'll miss my SMART team.

(p.s. - No offence to any other team. SMART is a noun here and not an adjective)

Continuing with 12 days of Christmas....

Monday, Dec 15 2008:
So today it was my day to get some snack to the office. I choose to get the great Indian delicacy called Rasmalai (my mouth starts watering even if I'm just writing about it). Not only I decide to get it to office but I also gave it flavor of my hands.

This is not the first time I'm making Rasmalai but definitely this is the first time when I'm making it in such a volume. My roommate AT and I counted number of people in the office. It came out to be 22. We had 3 boxes of the rasmalai patties, which made it total of 30 pieces. AT thought this would be less, even I thought that too but I told him it would be difficult to prepare more than that. I said we would restrict everyone for a piece each and at the end whoever gets the second would be lucky.

We got the ingredients a week before itself. We go the Indian market here fortnightly, so we didn't want to make a extra trip just for rasmalai. Initially I had thought we will prepare the sweet on Saturday itself so that we can keep it in the fridge for a full day which will help condense the dish to enrich the flavor more. Somehow we did not get time on Saturday (had to take a friend leaving for India for shopping).

On Sunday as usual in afternoon, AT and I were watching American football match on TV. AT said when are we going to prepare rasmalai. I gasped, "Oh man, I totally forgot about it". I couldn't believe myself, how in the world I could forget it? The most important activity of the weekend and I just forgot it, what a fool of me. So after finishing lunch I did the 3 hours preparation hoping others would like it.

Monday morning I woke up and went to kitchen. Unlike every morning today I went to see the rasmalai first before I drank some water. It's intact and still looking good. I moved the dish to other container for carrying it to the office. The container was filled upto the brim, or may be 1 cm below the edge. I suspected that the dish would spill while carrying so I covered the edges of the lid with aluminium foil, so that the lid would fix tightly to the container.

All set and ready to leave home I picked up the dish and was waiting for my other roomate KN to lock the door. As he was locking the door I looked down at my dress to make sure nothing has been spoiled. Well the thing has already spoiled my jacket, trouser and shoes. Oh my God! I asked KN to pick up some paper napkins from inside. I decided I would clean myself later, first I need to get the container to the car. AT was already waiting in front of the stairs in the car, so that we can avoid walking in the rain as much as possible. Carefully I walked down the wet slippery wodden stairs, but AT didn't see me coming down. I stood in front of the car door but both of my hands were occupied and I could not open the door. AT could not hear me inside the car as all the windows were closed and he was looking for something inside. I had to knock the door with my leg to get the door open.

As I sat inside in slow motion I realised I could not place the container on the seat as the seat is tilted. The car leather seats, which are easy to clean plus I had put a pile of newspaper at the base to avoid any spill getting on the seat. I just wiped my clothes and shoes with the paper napkins as I didn't have time and patience to change my dress. All of these precautions but still at turns and brakes I had to struggle a lot to avoid spilling. Not wise enough, was what I learned from this experience. I should have taken a bigger container.

Finally it reached office. I didn't open it until the lunch time. In fact people we expecting it so they came looking for it and started opening it even before I planned to open it. Some of them had meeting so they suspected they would miss it, hence the rush. I had to literally pull away everybody. I quickly finished my lunch, put on some last minute garnishes and then let everybody attack it. Also I did make sure I mention tha everybody is suppose to take one piece only as the quantity is limited. Intially people followed but later they ignored.

It was nice to see anxiety and enthusiasm around but I did want it to be unfair for the people who were not in office that time. I think at the end of the day everybody got atleast one piece of it, which was good. Not to forget, everybody did praise it :)

Merry Christmas!! (Sorry had to edit the picture for some posters in the background).

Getting ready for Christmas

Friday, Dec 5th 2008:

It's Christmas month. Lights everywhere. Cold weather. Christmas tress. Santa Claus. And last but not the least, 12 days of Christmas.

Most of you must be wondering what is this 12 days of Christmas? Well at first even I didn't know about it. So I tried to gather some information about it from various sources. The 12 days of Christmas is also referred as Christmastide. The Christmastide starts from the evening of 25th Dec and ends on 12th evening i.e. 5th Jan, because 6th Jan is the day when Magi visited infant Jesus (as per Bible). So people keep on the festivities from Christmas for another 12 days. In some places, by superstition it has become bad luck to leave the decorations up after twelfth night.

Now in modern days, the 12 days and nights are celebrated in widely varying ways around the world. For example, some give gifts only on Christmas night, some only on Twelfth Night, and some each of the 12 nights (I would love last option as long as I don't have to give any :)). To my surprise in US the 12 days of Christmas are celebrated before Christmas and not after Christmas as the ancient documentation suggested. There is this famous song about 12 days of Christmas,
On the first day of Christmas, my true love sent to me
A partridge in a pear tree.

On the second day of Christmas, my true love sent to me
Two turtle doves, And a partridge in a pear tree.

On the third day of Christmas, my true love sent to me
Three French hens, Two turtle doves, And a partridge in a pear tree.

On the fourth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me
Four calling birds, Three French hens, Two turtle doves, And a partridge in a pear tree.

On the fifth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me
Five golden rings, Four calling birds, Three French hens, Two turtle doves, And a partridge in a pear tree.

On the sixth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me
Six geese a-laying, Five golden rings, Four calling birds, Three French hens, Two turtle doves, And a partridge in a pear tree.

On the seventh day of Christmas, my true love sent to me
Seven swans a-swimming, Six geese a-laying, Five golden rings, Four calling birds, Three French hens, Two turtle doves, And a partridge in a pear tree.

On the eighth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me
Eight maids a-milking, Seven swans a-swimming, Six geese a-laying, Five golden rings, Four calling birds, Three French hens, Two turtle doves, And a partridge in a pear tree.

On the ninth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me
Nine ladies dancing, Eight maids a-milking, Seven swans a-swimming, Six geese a-laying, Five golden rings, Four calling birds, Three French hens, Two turtle doves, And a partridge in a pear tree.

On the tenth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me
Ten lords a-leaping, Nine ladies dancing, Eight maids a-milking, Seven swans a-swimming, Six geese a-laying, Five golden rings, Four calling birds, Three French hens, Two turtle doves, And a partridge in a pear tree.

On the eleventh day of Christmas, my true love sent to me
Eleven pipers piping, Ten lords a-leaping, Nine ladies dancing, Eight maids a-milking, Seven swans a-swimming, Six geese a-laying, Five golden rings, Four calling birds, Three French hens, Two turtle doves, And a partridge in a pear tree.

On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me
Twelve drummers drumming, Eleven pipers piping, Ten lords a-leaping, Nine ladies dancing, Eight maids a-milking, Seven swans a-swimming, Six geese a-laying, Five golden rings, Four calling birds, Three French hens, Two turtle doves, And a partridge in a pear tree!

Coming on to how it is celebrated in our office is another variety and I'm sure lot of offices must be doing it. We put down an empty list on the notice board. The list contains the date with blank space in front. There are two entries for each day. Now each person in the office has to write there name on the sheet at least once, which denotes he or she has to get some snack or dessert to office on that day for everybody to share.

It's fun and lot of weight gaining (for the ones on diet).

Monday, Dec 8th 2008:
So today is the first day as part of celebrating Christmastide. My roommate AT was one of the two volunteers for getting today's feast. We went to Krispy Kreme and bought variety of doughnuts for everybody. Everyone enjoyed it, as not a single piece was left till end of the day. I have volunteered for next Monday. Lets see what I come up with...

Nashville Deepavali!!!

This was my 4th Diwali in Nashville. This time the celebrations went beyond Diwali day. Since Diwali was on Tuesday, the fire crackers were organized on next Saturday so as everybody could participate.

The Sri Ganesha Temple of Nashville is a well known destination of many Indians in central America. The Temple is only 5 minutes walk from my place but still we don't visit the temple that often. In fact we visit the temple on special occasions only (birthdays and festivals). This time it was Diwali, 28 Oct 2008. We went to the temple but it looked quite silent that day. We looked at the notice board inside the temple and there were no notice about Diwali celebration. We did our prayers and came home. Turned on the lights in the patio. Cooked and ate dinner. That's it, that was all we did for Diwali.

Next day, our neighbour (Mr. S) knocked on the door. He got some Diwali sweets which his wife had made at home. Mr. S mentioned that they looked at the lights in the living room from outside yesterday and they were off. So he assumed there was no one at home and hence did not come in to wish happy Diwali. I told him we were at home must be sitting in the living room watching some video on the laptop. There was not much to do for Diwali so we just stayed inside home. Well we missed a lot for Diwali but we were lucky we still got home made sweets. The sweets were really good.

Then on Thursday one of the colleagues mentioned that the Diwali celebration will be done in the temple on Saturday, 1 Nov 2008. There will be Laxmi pooja and fire crackers as part of celebration. As soon as I heard that an excitement ran trough my body. Hurrayyyyy, we will be celebrating Diwali in a traditional way. Better late than never. The celebration extended when another colleague Mr. K invited everybody for a lunch to celebrate his wife and 6 month old daughters home coming from India. So no work, no cooking, only celebration on the 1st Nov.

I woke up at 11:00 AM on Sat. The lunch time was 1:00 PM. As it was weekend we roommates would be slow to get out from bed, chit chat, watch videos, some movie or some TV show. So the time we got ready it was 2:00PM. I had to pickup some friends from other location. I did that in the time my roommates were getting ready. So finally we reached Mr. K's house at 2:30 PM. As I entered the house, I could feel the nice smell of food entering my nose passing all the veins and giving indication to my growling stomach that the food is coming in soon.

It was all Jain food but the food was really really good. My fascination for food kept me go on eating for about 2 hours. I was so full I was hardly able to breathe and I knew this is not good for health. Mrs K's cooking is so fantastic that I could not resist myself from eating such nice Indian food after a long time and I knew there is no surety when will be the next time I will get such nice food, so I kept going. Mrs. K is such a sweet lady, she was so happy I'm eating so much :).

When everybody finished eating of course except me, we had to find something to pass some time before we go to the temple for Diwali celebration. The unanimous decision was all time favorite "dumb charades". We had lots of fun and laughter playing the game. Foolish, imaginary, hilarious actions and reactions from everybody.

Then in the evening around 7:00 PM we headed out for temple. Everybody did there prayers and came out in the parking area for fire cracker bursting (of course there was no parking allowed in the parking area that day :)). I was very excited to burst some crackers. Well I'm an anti-crackers kind of guy. Its been a long time when I bursted any cracker in India. This time I was in US and in the back of my mind I was thinking that whatever pollution will happen will be in US and not in India so I cared less. I did know that this would will still add to global warming but that thought did not stop me from doing some pollution in US.

Once we finished all the crackers we bought, everybody started feeling hungry (not me :)). It was about 9:00 PM. The temple was serving dinner for $5.00. Everybody was delighted to have dinner in the temple. It was 2 in 1, prasad as well as a delicious dinner. Everybody finished there dinner and we walked back to house all smiles. It was definitely an eventful and exciting Diwali but I still missed being at home.

Global perception about India

Last night, I was watching the reality show "Amazing Race" on TV. This time the race went to Delhi, India. As soon as the contestants came to know that they have to go to Delhi, the first thing they had to say were: "It's going to be hot", "It's going to be crowded", "I had not been to India, I hope it's going to be fun".

When they reached India there reaction were: "How do I get out of Airport, I'm stuck here", "Taxi-Taxi, Do you know where is Moonlight motors in GK (The guy just said yes, but he was lost later on)", "Man! the traffic is so bad", "The roads are so crowded", "Everybody is in a car and blowing horns".

The Moonlight motors was a very small shop in a very small street of Greater Kailash. Many of the contestants went around and around before they reached there first destination. During there journey what was shown on the show was blocked roads due to construction, cattle hovering on the roads and not to forget people staring at the contestants (especially girls, and everybody knows why) as they were seeking help. One of the girl even mentioned that I'm not going to change what I'm wearing, because I'm comfortable in what I'm wearing.

Last but not the least (and this is the funny one), in one of the rounds contestants had to go to a wedding, create a garland of Indian currency and give it to the groom. The money on the Garland should be exactly Rs. 780 and should include notes of all denominations. The team of 2 had to squeeze through the dancing baraat into the banquet hall. Once they reached inside they realized they have to get notes of different denominations. So they were scared to come out through the baraat, but they had no choice. Finally when garland finished, they went inside the banquet hall to hunt for the groom. I was rolling on the floor when I saw they were asking every men on the floor "Are you the groom?", "Are you the groom?". Of course they found the real groom at the end.

"Cambodia was 4 times better than India". This is what one of the other contestant had to say while he was travelling towards Moonlight motors. Frankly speaking I did not enjoy the perception I saw and I just hope this perception will change in coming future. It's not somebody who can do it, it's everybody who have to do it.

Book vs Movie

Recently I watched the movie Hello!. I had lot of excitement to watch the movie. I had heard so much about Chetan Bhagat's book "One night at the call centre" that I could wait to see it on the big screen. I personally had not read the book (as I'm not into reading books at all) but .

When I finished watching the movie I was wondering how come people like the book. The book does not seem to be worth the praise it gets. Then I discussed the same with my roommate (Mr. R) who has read the book, and no surprise he also liked the book. He had not watched the movie, so I started describing my points what was shown in the movie.

Surprisingly, Mr. R said everything in the movie is same as book. The characterization, the plot the sequence everything is the same. Then after thinking more about it I realized that the whole difference lies in how everything is shown.

The movie moves around 6 colleagues working in a call centre. If I was reading the book I would have imagined a room full of people with computers lined up in rows and everybody continuously murmuring in there headsets. In the movie it was shown that in the entire room there were only these 6 people with everybody having there own private desk.

Similarly, there are several other things which you will imagine based on your experience when you read a book but the way it is shown in movie is more hypothetical than being realistic. This is what makes reading a book a much much better choice than watching the same on big screen.

PS: Is "lord of rings" better in movie or in book?

Why should I return?

I have been in US for almost last 4 years. Now when I look back it seems to be a long and tiring journey. Why tiring? because I had given more than 100% at everytime. I took on challenges which I thought were hard for me to handle. I crawled and dragged on everything that came in my way. Today when I open my eyes to see where I'm, I feel like I have raced on the path of my journey of life.

6 years ago when I passed out of college I never thought 6 years later I'll be able to go so far. That time there was always a fear will I be able to survive myself, will I ever be able to live a comfortable life? Will I be able to live up to the high expectations of my family and friends? All these thoughts were always in back of my mind and always bothering me, even though you would never see them reflected in my actions and expressions. Today with God's grace I have answer to all those questions and thankfully all are positive. Now I feel more relaxed person than I was a few years ago.

All this has not come easy. Not that I'm complaining about but it's just how I feel about it. All this has come with lot of sacrifice, more than me the sacrifice from my parents. They always wanted me and my bro to be around them and make a good family together (I'm sure every parents want that way). It has so happened that for last almost 10 years my parents have lived without me and my brother, but they never ever complained about it.

Living in US has been completely different than my days in Amravati (college) and Mumbai (job). Personally I have never felt very good about my stay in US. Most people think US is much better then India, facilities are so good, water and air so clean and traffic and roads are so organized. My answer to all that is that, while you get all that you have to live in a very different culture, eat different type of food and be among people who sometimes think that you are spoiling there jobs. Its not that it has always been bad experiences, I have had lot of memorable moments too. In fact the good experiences have been more than the bad ones and also I have made many American friends and have been praised by Americans quite a few times for the good work I have done. But above all I still don't live my life as freely as I would have if I was in India. I miss being with the family and friends back in India. My country, My people, My culture, My freedom.

In the last 4 years I must have been to the airport at least 25 times. Not just for my traveling but because of dropping and receiving others too. Being an emotional person, everytime in the back of my mind I used to think when will the day come when I will return back to my land. It's not that I have not been to India, I have been there 3 times in last 4 years. Going for vacation is not that of fun, living there is much more fun.

Now that I have made the decision to pack my bags full and final, I'm just counting days backwards. But sometimes I get confused did I make right decision? Yes you read it right...confused! And the reason for that is the activities that are happening in My country. Bomb blasts, politics and other anti social activities. All these make me think why should I return back to my country? If I'm not safe in my country why should I go back? I have option to settle down in US and I call my parents here to stay with me. So was it a right choice? We do all the efforts and earn money for what, to live a good happy life. So what's the point in living in a place where you can stay happy.

I don't have answers to all these questions but the only thing I know is come what may I will still prefer to live in My country. My countries problem are my problem and I do not see any reason to run away from them. Instead we should look forward to finding solutions to the problems. I just hope and wish I'll get a chance to do something for my country. I'll definitely keep on trying to get such opportunity.


Mil gayi mujh ko meri disha....badli hai yun hawa...I'm coming home again.....(Hattrick-2007)

Kaanch ki barni aur do cup chai

This is one of the most motivational story I have read. Its not only about the message it gives but also the timing it has come to me. It perfectly suits the situation I'm in and not only me but many others who stay away from family for work.

I believe staying away from family for education and setting up the career is fine, but later there comes a time where we have to think about family and parents. We should live life in stages childhood, school, college, work, parents and family. Now when I talk about parents and family it does not mean we have to give up the career but we should chose a career we can spend time with family along with the job. Anyways njoi the story...

काँच की बरनी और दो कप चाय - एक बोध कथा

जीवन में जब सब कुछ एक साथ और जल्दी-जल्दी करने की इच्छा होती है, सब कुछ तेजी से पा लेने की इच्छा होती है, और हमें लगने लगता है कि दिन के चौबीस घंटे भी कम पड़ते हैं, उस समय ये बोध कथा, "काँच की बरनी और दो कप चाय" हमें याद आती है ।दर्शनशास्त्र के एक प्रोफ़ेसर कक्षा में आये और उन्होंने छात्रों से कहा कि वे आज जीवन का एक महत्वपूर्ण पाठ पढाने वाले हैं...उन्होंने अपने साथ लाई एक काँच की बडी़ बरनी (जार) टेबल पर रखा और उसमें टेबल टेनिस की गेंदें डालने लगे और तब तक डालते रहे जब तक कि उसमें एक भी गेंद समाने की जगह नहीं बची... उन्होंने छात्रों से पूछा - क्या बरनी पूरी भर गई ? हाँ... आवाज आई...फ़िर प्रोफ़ेसर साहब ने छोटे-छोटे कंकर उसमें भरने शुरु किये, धीरे-धीरे बरनी को हिलाया तो काफ़ी सारे कंकर उसमें जहाँ जगह खाली थी, समा गये, फ़िर से प्रोफ़ेसर साहब ने पूछा, क्या अब बरनी भर गई है, छात्रों ने एक बार फ़िर हाँ.. कहा अब प्रोफ़ेसर साहब ने रेत की थैली से हौले-हौले उस बरनी में रेत डालना शुरु किया, वह रेत भी उस जार में जहाँ संभव था बैठ गई, अब छात्र अपनी नादानी पर हँसे... फ़िर प्रोफ़ेसर साहब ने पूछा, क्यों अब तो यह बरनी पूरी भर गई ना ? हाँ.. अब तो पूरी भर गई है.. सभी ने एक स्वर में कहा..सर ने टेबल के नीचे से चाय के दो कप निकालकर उसमें की चाय जार में डाली, चाय भी रेत के बीच में स्थित थोडी़ सी जगह में सोख ली गई...प्रोफ़ेसर साहब ने गंभीर आवाज में समझाना शुरु किया - इस काँच की बरनी को तुम लोग अपना जीवन समझो... टेबल टेनिस की गेंदें सबसे महत्वपूर्ण भाग अर्थात भगवान, परिवार, बच्चे, मित्र, स्वास्थ्य और शौक हैं, छोटे कंकर मतलब तुम्हारी नौकरी, कार, बडा़ मकान आदि हैं, और रेत का मतलब और भी छोटी-छोटी बेकार सी बातें, मनमुटाव, झगडे़ है..अब यदि तुमने काँच की बरनी में सबसे पहले रेत भरी होती तो टेबल टेनिस की गेंदों और कंकरों के लिये जगह ही नहीं बचती, या कंकर भर दिये होते तो गेंदें नहीं भर पाते, रेत जरूर आ सकती थी...ठीक यही बात जीवन पर लागू होती है...यदि तुम छोटी-छोटी बातों के पीछे पडे़ रहोगे और अपनी ऊर्जा उसमें नष्ट करोगे तो तुम्हारे पास मुख्य बातों के लिये अधिक समय नहीं रहेगा... मन के सुख के लिये क्या जरूरी है ये तुम्हें तय करना है । अपने बच्चों के साथ खेलो, बगीचे में पानी डालो, सुबह पत्नी के साथ घूमने निकल जाओ, घर के बेकार सामान को बाहर निकाल फ़ेंको, मेडिकल चेक-अप करवाओ..टेबल टेनिस गेंदों की फ़िक्र पहले करो, वही महत्वपूर्ण है... पहले तय करो कि क्या जरूरी है... बाकी सब तो रेत है..छात्र बडे़ ध्यान से सुन रहे थे.. अचानक एक ने पूछा, सर लेकिन आपने यह नहीं बताया कि "चाय के दो कप" क्या हैं ?प्रोफ़ेसर मुस्कुराये, बोले.. मैं सोच ही रहा था कि अभी तक ये सवाल किसी ने क्यों नहीं किया... इसका उत्तर यह है कि, जीवन हमें कितना ही परिपूर्ण और संतुष्ट लगे, लेकिन अपने खास मित्र के साथ दो कप चाय पीने की जगह हमेशा होनी चाहिये ।

Personal vs Professional relationship

Recently I have been thinking about this subject quite often. I have been watching my colleagues to observe how people behave in different situations. The subject becomes more important when you are with same people at work and also at home.

The most common phrase which most of us would have heard is "Do not get you personal relations into professional work environment." But the big question is, is it easy doing when you spend 24 hours with same people around?

Think about a situation when you are getting ready in the morning knowing that you have an important meting to attend in the morning. Since you are staying with other colleagues you are bound to travel with them. You do all your efforts to be on time for the meeting but your roommate is lousy and not understanding the importance of getting to the meeting on time. Won't you be upset on the person for this attitude? Won't this make an impression in your mind about the person? And, won't you carry the same impression along when you are dealing work with this person?

These are some of the common questions I usually get confused with. How can a person change his personality based on the situation? If that's true then the person has 'dual personality' syndrome which is much more dangerous than anything else.

The only thing I can think of getting around with this is to learn ignoring people behaviours based on locations. Meaning, at work I would expect the person to be more focused on what he/she is doing, whereas at home I can be little lenient. So this would mean I have to be dual natured, which I don't how how dangerous could it be :)

Good luck signs

I have ben thinking of writing this for last 2 days. Finally I got some time. So on wednesday Aug 20, I woke on my usual time. Since I woke up there was only this thought of the meeting with the client that day. The meting was really important and required lot of things to be thought about to design this change.

I wore my favourite shirt and pant for the day and was very excited to take on the day. Everything was per routine....combed hair, sprayed perfume, took my cards wallet, grabbed a pair of socks to living room etc. I have this habbit of taking a cup of milk everyday in breakfast.

That day I was all set before my second room mate, so had time to relax myself on the couch for some time. As I was chilling on the couch I started thinking about something [very personal can't tell :)]. Sweet thoughts about future which brought smirk on my face.

In the midst of all these pleasant thoughts hovering on top of my head....suddenly....I spilled the sweet milk on my trouser. All the thoughts suddenly disappeared, with no trace at all. I had very little time to change, so I decide just to change my trouser and had to go in with not very matching dress up.

Then when I was driven to office by my room mate this another thought came to my mind. Is this some kind of good luck sign? Will all the thoughts I had in my mind at that time come true? I had never heard before that spilling milk on your favorite dress is a good luck sign but then I don't know about all the good luck signs that people talk about.

I don't believe in any good/bad luck signs or any supertitions. I think these things work only if you believe they work. And actually my belief is that nothing diferent happens because of these signs/supertitions, we just tend to relate our incidents to them and come to a conclusion.

The meeting went well. This time don't know for what reason I thought may be the spilling of milk will do some magic and turn my thoughts in to reality. Only time will tell.....

Way to celebrate

As my friends celebrated my birthday last week, I had to go through tremendous torture. There was cake and candles, but there was something else which made other all smiles.

So all my friends were at my house in the evening. The sun was behind clouds but we all didn't miss an opportunity to play couple of games of volleyball before it went to dark. We play in a sand court in our housing community. After the two sweating games everybody reached house.

This is the time, cake was centered on the center table and number 2 and number 8 and a "?" candles were lit. I grabbed the big knife for myself to cut the cake. The flash lights have already started popping out of the camera. I was testing everybody's patience by not blowing off the candles. I would enact as if I'm going to blow them of but naaahhhhhhhhh.....and in the anticipation my friends sang the happy b'day song (I had a good laugh).

Finally when the wax from candles had started settling down on the cake I was forced to blow the candles off and the Happy B'day song was sung again. I used my big knife to slowly slice this cream cake with strawberry topping......yuuummmmmmmyyyyyyyyyyy. I shared the first slice of the cake with my roommates.

Suddenly I see thing which had my pulse go down. I could feel the misery coming my way but there was no choice with me to avoid it. It was another cake not full but half. Creamish-yellowish in colour. And no it was not for eating but to be rubbed on my face as a custom. I thought in my mind if I get defensive then i don't have any chance of escaping it. Then I decided I should get aggressive rather than being defensive.

I quickly rushed to the half cake and filled both my hands with it. So anybody who would dare to come near me would have take this cake on there face too. It was like a war with one soldier surrounded by about 10-12 enemies. I quickly moved towards the wall so that I get on one side and I'll have everybody in front of me. Then it was like a kabbadi game and I felt like being sent in the opponents court struggling to avoid anybody's grab. Somebody said something and I looked at that person on one side and suddenly a hand came on my face putting some cream on my face. I reacted and counter attacked with the cake I had in my two hands. My reaction was useless as I could not open my eyes because of the cream around it. I had also realised that it was not a fresh cake but may be week old stinking cake....yuuukkkkkkksssssssss.

I still managed to get myself in a position and somehow grab hand full of cake again in my stinking hands. I tried my best but they were too many for me to handle. The picture below says it all....

HAPPY B'DAY to me!!!

The modern life

This is a picture I received in a forwarded mail. It did make me think that certainly the so called mordern life has slowly creeped in and change our life style.

The above lifestyle is certainly a common practice for people in IT field. I thought of few friends and tried to compare them with this picture. one of my friend when he comes back home after work makes sure that he reads "eenadu" online (daily telugu newspaper) everyday.

Second one would spend his time browsing videos in youtube. Third one would not miss an opportunity to post scraps to his friends on orkut. Some of them would always have deasl2buy open 24X7 open, to ensure they are the first ones to catch the best shopping deals.

Internet has become so addictive these days. It's good to have it bcoz it's good source of any information you want. But the big point is it's not at all a good substitute for the physical activities.

I like to spend my time playing tennins, volleyball (if enough players are available) or sometimes swimming. My roommates and I have now agreed upon not getting an internet connection at home. Simple reasons, we have access in office to do basic stuff and secondly, avoid getting addicted to this not so important thing. However sometimes I do spend some time playing freecell. solitaire, minesweeper and hearts on my PC, but i'm trying to stay from them too :)

Now think about how you spend your time after you get back from work? Do something constructive for you, your family or your country :)

On reality shows...

This is what I read:

On reality shows...


This is what my initial comments were on the above blog:

I'm not a TV fan at all. I do even think I would not keep a TV in my house when I have kids(don't know how much feasible that would be).

But to your point i think the reality shows are ok for adults as they are responsible for what they do, unlike kids. Kids do what parents want them to do without even fully understanding what they are doing.

All this gave a thought to my mind. Are these reality shows for kids any less than child labor? Comparing the stress, mental agony and embarrassment they have to go thru.


And this is what inspired me to put it in my blog:

I was in Scarborough, Canada this weekend visting a good friend of mine. We have worked together for almost 5 years but now he has moved into another project and that is why he is in Canada. My friend has two kids, a 7 year old boy V and 3 year old cute little doll S.

I spent 2 days with the family and now I have very mixed feelings about the subject. V likes to watch TV especially kids movies. While we were driving to the African Lion Safari V was able to relate things with his movies and remember them.

I was more surprised when we were driving through Safari. V could recognize almost all the animals. This made me wonder if used properly TV could be good medium for education.

S is a very bright gal. She is only 3 but she could immitate anything/everything she sees. She would also sit with her bro and watch movies. Both are very o-operative to each other and I guess that makes learning much more fun for S.

So at the end of it i don't know what I'll do with my kids. May be I would just go with the flow or let my wife drive it :)

Happy teaching!!!!

The New York Trip

Video for new york trip

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8826059369789902150

If you can't access the page, in google videos search for bhupi new york and you will get it. Enjoy!!!

Don't push it hard!!!

Today when I woke up in the morning the morning was beatiful. A cold morning with a bright sunshine, what else could you ask for. I got up asked my roomie Mr. A to pickup Mr. B on the way to work.

Usually every morning I pick up Mr. B for office but since I had to drop Ms. C to airportI asked Mr. A to pick him up (Well don't get confused I'm just trying to avoid putting names). I was about to start shaving and suddenly the phone rang (it scared me as if this thing never rings). It was Mr. B still waiting to be picked. Well I told him its about the time, you should have been already picked. I asked him to call Mr. A's cell phone and check with him.

I quickly finished my shaving and the phone rang again. "Mr. A, has already reached office", Mr. B said dissappointedly. I was so upset. "But why", I asked him politely.

"He said they were already 5 so couldn't pick him up"
"Well then he should have informed atleat one of us"
"That's ok, can you pick me up on the way"
"Sure I can but but but we will have to first drop Ms. C to the airport"
"That's fine I'm in no hurry to be at work"
"Done! I'll see u soon"

As I finished the phone I was still wondering why Mr. A didn't inform either of us that he won't be able to pick up Mr. B (I had called Mr. B last night asking hm to be ready at 8 so that Mr. A can pick him up). Alright lets move on, we will talk about it later and figure it out, I said to myself.

So I pulled Ms C's luggage in the car and picked MR. B and was driving towrds the airport. Suddenly I saw a cop standing with the gun (speed gun :)). I realised I was overspeeding, so I tried to slow down myself. The cop dropped his gun down and pointed towards mr to pull out. Oh God!!! That's not good. And I realised I should not have pushed the gas too much. I pulled over for the cop. He came in and asked for the license. He told me he cought me on the radar at 75 on the limit of 55. I realised he caught me on the gun before i slowed down...phew!!!! My first ticket in 1.5 yrs of driving history in US. I was still thinking that I can make some excuse. I can tell him we were rushing to catch the flight. But when he returned back after all checks he got everything written for me for the ticket(challan), I had to just sign it. So didn't get a chance to make any excuse as I tought.

So we continued our journey to airport. As we reached the airport I relised I had to attend a conference call with the client. Luckily I had our support cell phone with me. I dialled in and instead of allocated 15 mins the call extended for 30 mins. Ms. C was getting impatient bcoz I was making her wait to say good bye. Finally said good byes and safely and comfortably reached the office.

By the time I reached office it was 10:30. I booted up the PC and found I had another meeting at 11:00. Checked few mail very quickly and went for the 1 hour meeting. The meeting was not good either. Everybody was digging in why the project was getting delayed. And as we are a vendor for them they always try to find some problem in us. Well fought with them for 2 hours to realise that I hadn't had my lunch yet.

Me and my senior grabbed something to eat, we chit chatted and relaxed ourselves for a while before we went back to work. It was 1:30 when we came back to our keyboards. And guess what there was another urgent meeting setup for 3:00 and the location is half an hour from our office.

What the hell!!!! can I just not sit for a minute. Why is everybody so pushy today......huh!! Well sometimes thngs are out of your control. I just did a quick go thru on my to do list and did some priority works. It just so happens sometmies the clock runs too fast than the normal :)

Once again finished the 1 hour meeting in 2 hours. Finally tired of all, I drove back home with a headache. Just thinking through the day I relised at times things get pushy, its better to just go on with the moments. Let not situations hamper you mental balance.

visiting after a long time

I'm here after a long time...hope i'll continue to write for some time :)

BLACK's Filmfare

Today morning when I opened the newspaper, the first thing I read was Filmfare awards. I was glad to see that something good got recognized. I remember the time when I saw the movie BLACK. I'm not able to recollect the entire plot of the movie but the most important thing that I remember is "How difficult it is to visualize/interpret of things which we don't know of?". I did two experiments to myself.



1. I have many south Indian friends. I had even picked a little words in few south languages. I closed my eyes and tried to dream/think of something but use only south Indian language. I did no good.
Why I did this experiment? If I don't know a language how is it possible to understand things. The poor girl in movie black was blind and deaf since childhood. She never learned any language. In fact nobody could teach her anything. I was just trying to understand how difficult a person's life could be if a person is blind and deaf since childhood.

2. Sometimes I chat to ppl on internet. Some of them are absolutely stranger. It happened so that one of my chat friend and I became good friends and that is the time I had seen this movie. Knowing the interests of my friend and the family and her friends. I made a sketch of her in my mind. After few weeks she sent me her photograph and I was amazed. None of the features matched in two pictures.

It's us who have eyes to see, mouth to speak and ears to listen that we feel life is easy. But if we try to realize, even a single feature gone can make life miserable.

I liked the movie and it deserved it!!! Good job Sanjay Leela Bhansali.

A casual walk

After almost 1.5 yrs I went for a walk into the market and the streets around my house in Delhi. As I cautiously walked through the busy road I could smell, feel and see the dust around. A sweeper was sweeping the road, more than cleaning he was raising the dust. The roads had not changed at all...all dig up, with waste lying besides...As usual.

I could hardly recognize anybody now. I remember when I was regular I used to recognize ppl on bus stops, kids waiting for school bus, the sweeper, the std booth etc etc. Though I never talked or knew anybody's name but I used to recognize them. Today every one has changed not a single person is same.

I reached our old known milk shop(we have been buying milk from the same shop for almost 10 yrs now). As I stood in the queue I could recognize one face. "Good Morning uncle, how are you?" I asked the shop owner. He smiled, "Good morning, son. How r ur studies going on?". He still thought m still studying some where in some other city. I told him I've been working now and was in US for last 1 yr and have come for a months vacation. As I told him this, his expressions changed. "Every intelligent person goes to US, do something for your country". I went silent for a minute, wondering what to say. Then came another one "So u r going to settle there". "No uncle", I said confidently. "I know son, everybody says like that but no one comes back. My brother is a doctor, he went there and never came back". But still I insisted "Don't worry I'll come back". See you again have a good day.

As I walked through the other shops, I could recognize them but none of them recognized me as I was not very frequent to any other shop around. With this small walk I understood how things change with time. Today when I walk through the streets around my appt in Nashville ppl recognize me but when I walk through my childhood streets I feel left alone.

Welcome to India

Sat. 18 Feb 2006 8:30 a.m.

Most eagerly waited day for me and my family. Woke up before the alarm could ring. Peeked out of the window to check the weather. Everything is glowing white. As forecasted it had been snowing heavily. There had been snow forecast like this before but it never snowed like this, just few flakes and it will go but today I was seeing the snow I wanted to see but not quite the day I wanted to see it. Had planned to leave at 11:00 to catch the 1:35 flight. Seeing the wonderful weather changed the plans the leave at 10:30. With lots of good wishes from lot of ppl, bravely fighting the snow, we reached the airport.

11:30a.m.

The queue outside the northwest counter was unexpectedly long. Many flights were cancelled/delayed due to snow. Ppl have been waiting since morning to fly out but no luck. As we could see out from the glass walls the snow had stopped but still the tracks and planes were not clear so can't start flying soon. I was very upset inside, if I get late here I’ll miss all my connecting flights and then the connecting journey to Jaipur for a dear friends wedding. Every thing for the coming week was already planned, bookings done, what to do, where to go, who all to meet everything.

12:30a.m.

After standing for an hour in the unmoved queue, an announcement was made. "All passengers traveling via 1:35p.m. to Detroit can check in separately". Quickly a separate queue was formed for my flight. It was a big relief as they also mentioned that this is an on schedule flight. All my negative thoughts went away bcoz I knew if I could move out of Nashville on time there will be no problem ahead.

1:15p.m.

Checked in the luggage, passed the security check and reached the terminal. The situation was even worse from what it was outside. No place to sit except few patches left on the floor. It was a total chaos. Ppl sleeping on chairs, lying on ground, kids playing, moms controlling babies, dads checking flights on laptops. I didn't bother to find a place to sit. Checked the notice board to make sure I’m at right terminal. It says Detroit but it also says 6:20 a.m. and flashed delayed due to snow. I was not sure what was happening bcoz outside at the check in counter they said the 1:35p.m. is on time. Wondering what's going to happen I found a patch on floor for myself. Gradually after listening to the various announcements made there I realized there were 3 more planes before mine for Detroit and none of them flew. I was still wondering if such is the case then how come they will manage 1:35 to fly on time. Around 1:30 they started seating ppl into the plane in the order of the time the planes were scheduled since morning. Mine was the fourth of the day and I was least expecting to get on on this one. But some how I got lucky as there was space left and they allowed ppl from the 1:35pm flight to board this plane on first come first serve basis. I rushed as soon as I could as I didn't want to miss the opportunity.

2:15p.m.

The plane was full and in fact drove away from the terminal but was standing at a remote place. Had no clue at that point why its waiting there, in fact didn't bother as I was enjoying the fact that I was sitting in plane on time. Later the captain announced the plane is waiting to be deiced and will take 15-20 mins to fly. DEICED!!! I was thinking inside is the plane just going to take a sun bath??? I glanced thru the thick window glass and I could see some ice on the wings. It will take hours to melt this, I said to myself. Why don't they blow some hot water and finish it off quickly. I fell asleep as I was talking to myself. Suddenly a loud noise like something wrecked woke me up. I saw around everyone rubbing their eyes, I checked the watch 30 mins when the announcement was made. Looked out of the window and the plane is still standing at the same place. What the hell!! Why isn't it moving? Suddenly I saw some water flowing over the window. When I looked out a man was blowing water over the plane, looks like they heard me. Lady behind me said it's like sitting inside the car in an automatic car wash. Well for an experience now I know what DEICING of a plane means and how a car wash will feel :). It took another 15 mins to get the entire plane deiced. And by the way the wrecking sound was nothing but the jet of water thrown over the plane. Passengers cheered as the plane started moving.

4:45pm (Detroit, EST)

Reached Detroit. Most of the time in flight I spent sleeping. My next flight for Amsterdam was at 5:20 pm EST. I was happy that I reached just in time and will be able to catch the next flight. I walked fast to catch the next flight. When I reached there and showed my ticket they informed me that I have been rescheduled for 7:00pm flight. I said how is that possible. I'm here how can you reschedule me before time. They said ur flight from Nashville was delayed so the team in Nashville delayed it and didn't inform us that ppl are coming with earlier flight. The lady at the counter strongly said I cannot fix it in this flight now. It’s impossible. I was also kinna rigid, I have to go by this plane I have other connecting flight I cannot miss that. An old man standing beside me fighting for the same said "you are the same company then why cannot you do it". They heard him and gave both of us a seat in the same plane. Thank you very much old man. As I went inside, the air hostess said pretty flowers (I was carrying artificial jasmines for my mom) and showed me my aisle seat. An old lady was already sitting there. She silently stood up and showed me the way for the second seat to aisle. I didn't mind taking it. The air hostess came back and said "Yours is the aisle seat". The old lady little worried waved her hand to say no no. I told them, it's ok. I should not say this but the lady was really huge and was even covering 10% of my seat. I was feeling little suffocated, but my excitement of going home covered it all. I was happy to see everything running on time this time.

As I woke up after a couple of hours I had lost the track of time, no idea which time zone I was in. I opened the laptop I was carrying for my friend and watched a movie. 1:30 hrs more gone. Then came dinner. Thank God they had vegetarian, and that too very decent (rice, dal, salad, bun). Then I started browsing the flights entertainment panel. As was browsing through, the lady beside me was saying something. I could not understand and she became silent. After five minutes she again said something and then I realized she is not speaking english. I continued to talk in english and sometimes hindi too bcoz I knew she is not understanding either. She pointed to my screen and then she pointed to her screen. I was thinking what’s wrong? I realized her screen is just showing the flight trace and she does not know how to change it. I showed her the remote to tell that you have to use this. She sat silently again for some time. In the mean time I started talking to the guy on my right. He is a merchant navy, travels a lot, deals with shipments of chemicals. He told he is going to India for six months. Phew!!! what a luck. But as we talked through his and my life I realized the other six months are a lot struggling than mine. Mean while the sweet old lady was still struggling with the video. I took her remote and fixed her for what she wanted. Slowly we started communicating in the sign language. Later towards the end of the flight when everybody was watching the panel, anxiously waiting for the plane to land, she pointed on Rome in the map. I realized she is going to Rome from Amsterdam. Then she asked me where am I from. I pointed to India and she smiled. We both were descending the time on our fingers. 2, 1.5, 1, .5 and Good bye.

7:15am (Amsterdam time)

As I walked thru the Amsterdam airport I was feeling little tired. And more tired by the fact that I had to wait another four hours to board the next and the final flight. I opened the laptop to see if I can get some wireless network, got nothing but disappointment. Started watching another movie on the laptop. It got really tiring and I decided to catch some sleep instead. At this point I was feeling little feverish too. Some how I managed to pass the 3 hours. The crew members and the security personnel started coming in. People became active as everyone was eager to board the plane. After a round of security check I was in the plane. A semi-old Indian on left and an old foreigner lady on right. I could not resist sleeping and I said to myself "I'll talk to them later". Ignored the announcements, ignored the initial round of drinks and woke up directly for lunch. I was so happy, half the time of flight already gone. And to my surprise it was a sardar on my right now. BALLE BALLE !!!! echoed into my years. Had good Indian veg lunch. Talked to sardar. He is coming from Norway and going to some place in Punjab. He told me he knows Norwegian (language of Norway) better than Punjabi. Why? Bcoz he was born and brought up in Norway. Has a wife and a son too. He is coming to India after 17 years. The lady on left, has six gas stations in Houston, Texas (works along with her husband). Has three kids, eldest daughter in college and other two in school. She is coming back to India after five years and she is also going further to Punjab (Ludhiana). As the flight was coming towards an end, the air hostess distributed the immigration forms for Indian and foreign nationals. Both besides me took foreign nationals form. I was surprised how world has changed. Seeing there passport I confirmed both of them had foreign passports.

As I stepped out of the plane, I could smell my soil. It was a gr8 feeling. I quickly walked to get the immigration cleared. Went to baggage claim and as expected found no luggage. Due to snowfall in Nashville I had expected that the luggage would have been left behind. Filled my baggage claim papers and started walking out. I was hurrying everything as I knew my parents were waiting outside. As I walked through the waiting crowd, I watched each and every person to find out where my parents are. There I see a hand waiving, there they are. I rushed off to catch them and all emotions flowing through. Two of my cousins had also come to receive me. We took some pictures and walked towards our taxi. It took 1 hr to reach home, and as we discussed various things in the taxi I never realized how the 1 hr passed away. I and my dad discussed about my next day activities too. And it was on how I’m gonna travel to Jaipur to attend my dear friends wedding. We all reached home drank some tea, exchanged some more pictures and it was 4:00 am when we all finally went to sleep.

Monday 20th Feb 7:00am (IST)

I was the first one to wake up. May be bcoz I was the one who was excited about me future endeavours. Freshened up myself, went for a bath and while in bath I realized something strange on my body. I could see a couple of blisters. I suspected it to be Chicken pox, as one of my roomie in US was carrying it. I took lot of precautions but looked like not enough. I came to my mother and told her I might have to cancel all my plans. I showed her the spots and she hurried me to a doctor. The doctor in one glance said "100% chicken pox". I came back home and informed my friend that I won't be able to make it. I stood in front of mirror and said to myself "WELCOME TO INDIA".

Tuesday 21st Feb. 12:00pm

My left behind luggage showed up. In the evening when dad came back from office, in all excitement we started opening things. I described the things and labeled them too. As we reached the end of the entire baggage I realized there is something missing. Something which was most precious. A camera which I had specifically bought for my parents is no where to find. I strongly remember I had kept it in my bag, but it’s no longer here. I was totally shattered, not for the monetary loss but the thing had lot of emotional values. I was so pissed of how somebody could do this. What do ppl get by stealing somebody’s emotions? I cursed whosoever a lot and silently went into my bed to take rest. Dad realized my disappointment and gave me a few inspiring lectures.

Don't know what else to say. I had planned a lot for this trip and it turned out to be absolutely the other way. I was thinking for the first week I will have absolutely no time to sit and relax. And see here I'm doing nothing but just sitting, relaxing and writing this useless story bcoz I can't do anything else.

Came expecting lot of rock n roll and life here is absolutely stand still.

In Mumbai, child abuse begins at home

In Mumbai, child abuse begins at home. And I think its not just Mumbai but many other cities where such incidents happen. Apart from this these are just a few which we know of and rest are lost in the busy and MEAN world.

The debate my mind is having over this is "Should the parents be allowed to do all this as they are doing it for a kids good future" or "Its just unacceptable to punish kids so heartlessly".

I remember the day when i was punished for whole day bcoz i had not done homework for last six months and I was successfully able to hide it from parents and teacher(i was not the naughty one but I just hated history). My teacher kept a pencil between my fingers and pressed my fingers hard. Ouch!!!! it was very painful. This was done a few times, can't remember the count and then was asked to stand outside the class for whole day. I was quite ashamed for week everybody in the class, in the school bus and all teachers were dicussing about me. Since that day I never missed my homework come what may. And beleive me I'm thankful to my history teacher for what she did.

But, but, but does that mean punishment should not have any limits. I strongly resist. Punishment should be such which should make u feel bad about what u have done and not give pain forever. Thinking of all this I was thinking should the American Child laws be applied in India. Will our Indian society ever accept such laws for safety of a child???

Kya hoga is desh ka

Read this article on mid-day(a mumbai daily). I was amazed to read the kind of things that happen in our country. Police is supposed to protect but here they harres. If you ask anybody why? You'll get a reply bcoz they don't get enough salary to feed them and there family. Then what is the solution? To harras ppl and get money. Problem is no one knows the solution. I muself try to think of something but cannot. I wish someday I'll be able to thimk something bcoz i don't want my country to grow like that.

Christmas weekend

Here's the link for the pictures we took during chritmas. We went to a big hotel called opry land. Next day we went to Atlanta...phew tiring trip. Also has the apartment complex and the Ganesha temple nearby.


Shruthi I got the answer the poem is written by Harivansh Rai Bacchan.

Patience - an advantage or weakness

"A handful of patience is worth more than a bushel of brains."

Sounds interesting but what happens when this patience is taken for granted. Most common example is the ladies shopping in a shopping mall. Patience is directly proportional to money spent. Recently I lost something bcoz I was very patient and then i realize that at times its good to be aggressive otherwise there are ppl around you to snatch away things.

There should be a device patiencometer to measure the level of patience. Then we can define the max, min, avg and ideal patience at different times.

Changing with time

Seasons change with time...Trees change with time....Air, water, rocks, soil anything you can think of changes with timeInfact your skin, hones, hair etc. all changes with time.I cannot think of a single thing which does not change with timeThen What is the problem if mt attitude changes with time?
Recently I have felt this happening more often, people comment that my behaviour has changed. Changed, in what way? And the response comes you have become rude, strict and blunt. Ok even if I accet it here is my point. I'm no longer a kid. I have responsiblities, commitments and several other things to think about. Let me ask this, what is the wrong if I have to change myself to adjust in the atmosphere around me.

I would say I have become more straight forward to speek upfornt about something, if you call this rudeness then yes I'm rude. My argument is my surrondings demand it so I have to give it else things won't work out the way they should be.

Surrondings...lets talk a little about it. I live in a shared appartment. When you talk about shared apparments there are a lot of things that you have to think about. Compromise at times and adjust to things. The problem is not just being in shared apartment but ppl come in for sometime and go. I have stayed with many ppl now and I know there are very few who want to do some adjustments/compromises to work out things smoothly.

There are instances where ppl don't know somethings or does not understand something or have to follow some instructions. Am I not the one whoz is responsible to make the guys coming over and staying with me to be aware of such things. They cannot expect the comfort and carelessness that hey used to have back at home. If u call this as strict, yes I'm strict and I can't help not being it. Should not they understand that the things that I'm telling are for there good or infact for our good. I'm not a dictator but if there are things which are useful for us then why not apply them. I've also had instances where ppl want changes to the instructions and I'm perfectly ok with that but some of them just don't come up with good ideas but want things according to there flexiblity. And I guess here is when I become blunt. Trying making them understand that the things have to be acceptable to everybody. Think with a broad mind and come up with ideas where everybody has equal to give and take. "Negative things are more clearly visible than the positive things".

Everything changes with time but only physically. God has given us a mind which not only changes with time but with the surrondings and conditons one lives in. This is where change in a Human being is different from change in other things.

My question is what is wrong if a person changes himself/herslef with time and situation?

Don't just see the dark side. Well whatever may be the answer I'm gonna stick to my changes for the time i'm in shared appartments and will take the future as it comes.....

himmat karne walon ki haar nahi hoti....

Here comes my tommorow (after 3 days :)) ) with an inspiring poem.....I know many won't understand it but....
let me know if need assistance at some point.


lehron se dar kar nauka paar nahi hoti
himmat karne walon ki haar nahi hoti....

nanhi chinti jab dana lekar chalti hai
chadti deewaron par sau baar fisalti hai
mann ka vishwas ragon mein sahas banta hai
chad kar girna, gir kar chadna na akharta hai
akhir uski mehnat bekar nahi hoti
koshish karne waalon ki haar nahi hoti....

dubkiyan sindu mein gota khor lagata hai
ja ja kar khali haath laut aata hai
milte na sehej hi moti pani mein
behta duna utsah issi heiraani mein
mutthi uski khali har baar nahi hoti
himmat karne walon ki haar nahi hoti....

asaflta ek chunati hai sweekar karo
kya kami reh gayi dekho aur sudhaar karo
jab tak na safal ho neend chain ki tyago tum
sangharshon ka maidaan chhod mat bhago tum
kuch kiye bina hi jai jai kaar nahi hoti
himmat karne walon ki haar nahi hoti....