Smiling Planet

Burden of Optimism

2012-01-27T23:34:00.000+05:30

I returned from office thinking about the happenings of the day. My mind was very tired and very hungry; of course I had a bad day. I entered in my room, and there were no lights, it was darkness all around.

I sometimes think that what do I expect from my life, just happiness or is there more to it????? Long back I pondered this and gave it a thought in the form of my post Work and Happiness. But right now I feel so much confused that how do I explain to people the true meaning of happiness, either they are fools or I am crazy. When someone in an attempt to save his job, life just plays with you or anybody; will he trying to be happy in his life, or will he be living with a fear of losing his job. I don’t know how many of you can understand this statement. When you make the latter described attempt, with my thinking you are searching more than for what happiness requires, and this turns out to be lust, greed and illusions of this mundane world. Can somebody just do anything when he lives in this illusive world??and Can somebody be optimistic when he lives with the people living in the illusive world. Is it not going to be a burden to him to be optimistic while living amongst those people?

It is very difficult to be intentionally optimistic, may be easy for you, but not for me in some cases. When you know that the person is going to use you for his purpose what will you do, will you be keep getting used for the sake of following optimism, or will you also enter into the great world of politics and diplomacy and then move on to the ruts left behind by that same person and will just make them deeper for someone else like you to follow. I have chosen the first one, and I am feeling the burden of it. I enjoy being optimistic, but the easiness of being negative just attracts me so much that I can’t help it. At that instant, I feel optimism as a burden, it goes in my mind like this- “ why to think like this, if we can very easily think like that” , here ‘very easily think like that’ means to be negative, and ‘why to think like this’ is being positive and requires such a strong inner determination that you can’t even express your pain and you have to express your happiness to express pain. I have done it many a times.

There is no threshold limit for being positive or being negative, but is this just my feeling that being positive is a burden sometimes, or it can be as easy as being negative. But if it would have been so easy, why the people around chose to be negative, or are they oblivious to the magic of being optimistic, which in the true sense I also have not yet experienced. When a child comes into this world, he only comes with a smile, not even with a power to comprehend. But slowly, when the brain develops and when he has to make his own expressions the smile changes in to fear; fear of coming second in the race, fear of failing in the exams, fear of not getting a good job, fear of not getting a good girl, fear of losing a job, fear for his children, fear that he would be unhappy, fear of his death.

Do you know, that every thought is infectious in nature, if you will be happy, you will spread happiness and if you will be unhappy you will spread unhappiness. But, the problem comes when there are so many fearful people around and you are trying to be happy. See, by writing this I started fearing that negativity will take roots into my mind because of so many fearful people?? This is the burden of optimism.

Whenever you start feeling the burden of optimism, I would strongly suggest remembering or talking or looking on to the pictures of your girl friend, or wife or sisters or the greatest –mother. You will feel the relief from that burden of optimism, and you will again start enjoying the magic of optimism. I am thankful that I am back into that magic world, and I hope you are right there only.

Image Courtesy:http://top-10-list.org/2009/11/27/ten-ways-to-be-happy/

http://www.tht.co.in

Only Time Will Tell

2012-01-22T22:11:00.001+05:30

Book Review: Only Time Will Tell

Author: Jeffery Archer

Only Time will Tell is a story of Harry Clifton. It tells us about his life from his child hood to the time where he makes an important decision to either join in the forces to support his country in war or continue his literary pursuits. This book is the first part of the ‘Chronicles of Harry Clifton’, and there are two more books that continue the story of Harry Clifton.

The book started with Maisie, Harry’s mother, that how she got married and gave birth to Harry. Clifton’s belonged to a family who worked in dock areas for their livelihood, and Arthur Clifton, Harry’s father was no exception. But somehow, fate had written something else for them, and Arthur Clifton went away from their lives. Nobody came to know the real reason of Arthur’s death, and this became the central theme of the story.

Harry started his life in a scantily-living family, without his father. He attended lowly school but it was his sheer luck that he got supportive people in his life that made possible for him to study in good universities. He also fell in love with a girl, Emma but his love story had a connection with his father’s death which brought an end to this part, leaving Harry at a point to join forces, and ended in a fashion of marking a beginning to Part two.

Author had written it well, but there were some parts in the book that were over exaggerated and were not at all related to the story. The book was a bit slow, and with a simple language. The good thing was the book was written considering the international readers, and author had not gone too far in describing Church practices and other related events of one country. This one’s the first that I had read of Jeffery Archer, but unfortunately I missed his other impressive works and read this one.

On the whole, I’d say this one is only for diehard fans of Jeffery Archer.

Slideshow

2012-01-08T09:36:00.000+05:30

Sky is blue,
i can see from the window,
air is silent,
i can feel from this place.

Slideshow is on,
voice is around,
but my mind is wandering
on other people’s face.

Sometimes there is pain (in head)
sometimes attention (to the slideshow)
so many graphs, so many texts
bouncing on my brain.

Speaker is kind,
gives us the delighters
to keep us alive,
as he must have gone through the same.

Wrote these lines when I was feeling sleepy while attending one training program in my office, last month....

Image Courtesy:http://www.computerbasedtrainings.net/

First Love..

2012-01-01T23:11:00.000+05:30

After a busy day in the office, Amay was returning home from a local transport. He always felt proud and joyous of himself when he comes out of office having spent a day loaded with work, and that too completing it successfully. He had felt tired at the end, when there is less work; he had been like that only from the beginning and had always kept his mind engaged in something or the other. Today was as usual happy day for him, and he was listening to latest bollywood hits. It was when he boarded the bus, then he saw her.

She was very fair, had big eyes and was simply dressed in a light-colored salwaar-kameez, elegantly adorning herself with flowered dupatta. He liked her instantly.

‘ Ticket??’bus conductor interrupted his thoughts.

‘Yeah, to karve nagar chowk’ said Amay.

He noticed her getting down at ‘Dhanukar Colony’ stop, just one stop before his place at karve nagar chowk. It was not the first time that he liked some girl instantly. In fact there were many instances in his life in school days, in college and outside that he liked them, and there had been one common thing in all those instances that he never even made friends with them. He always made friends just by interacting with them, free of personal motives and selfish desires. Effective use of time had always been the top priority in his life, and he found it useless to run before a girl to only impress her. It had to happen naturally, or otherwise he had let the things take their route the way they wanted. He had up till now prioritized work over everything and had lived his life like that only.

But things were now changing for Amay, he was 23 graduate from a good engineering college, landed up in a good job with fine salary and was still single with no body to spend on. He had sometimes felt lonely on weekends when most of his friends were busy in their lives; according to him after all you cannot just talk to your family members or friends for 24 hours. He now badly wanted to have a girlfriend, but like his many friends he just couldn’t spend his day and night to talk to a girl. He actually also realized that a change of attitude is required in him, otherwise he could remain single always. He had all these thoughts in back of his mind these days, and saw an opportunity when he saw that girl today to open up and make her a friend at least. With these thoughts in mind, he slept to enter in the next happier day.

The next day passed in the same way, and he for the complete day didn’t even remember that he liked some girl yesterday and vowed to talk to her somehow; it was only when he was boarding a bus that he realized she was not there today. But this time he was determined to do something different, and he got down at her stop to just see the people around, and may be if luck permitted then he could see her also. However nothing happened and he returned to his place walking alone, contemplating on something or the other.

After two days, their timings again matched but this time she was near to the front gate in the bus and he was at the back, with lots of people in between who had nothing to do with his wish. Amay bravely struggled with those people and reached to a position where he could talk to her- “but how??”, the question kept lingering in his mind, and her stop came, but this time he also went down with her. He was quite sure that she was oblivious of him chasing her as he kept a distance. He thanked God when she went to a road side provisional store, and obediently followed her.

“ May I have 2 Maggie packets”, she asked to a shopkeeper.

What a sweet voice he thought, and praised himself for choosing a right girl. “haan bhaiya, kya chahiye” He was in his thoughts looking at her, and realized that shopkeeper was gazing at him, and kept on asking again and again, that what is it he wants, and finally he realized the condition and instantly said biscuits.

“kaun sa” He asked in such a brutal tone that Amay thought he would tell her to be aware of hooligans following her.

“NIIICE” Amay said with such a smiling and a sweet tone that she smiled to herself and said, “Looks like you like them so much”,

“Actually, yeah I really love NICE biscuits” Amay replied instantly and thanked “Britannia” for giving their product this name, not even giving a thought to what he is saying.

“Oh really, interesting…..NICEEE to see you then”, she smiled, paid money for Maggie and moved out of the store.

Amay was delighted to have this unexpected and impromptu conversation with her, but also considered himself a fool for not even asking her name.

In the days that followed, he tried hard to match his timings with her, and started exchanging smiles, and later after a brief chat in bus came to know her name as Urvashi and that she was from Satara and was working in some software company here. After some days, their timings started matching on a frequent basis, and in a conversation he asked her if she would be interested in accompanying him to a book fair. She agreed to it and that took their friendship to next level and they started exchanging messages and frequent calling.

He was happy that finally he made her a good friend, and over a period also realized that Urvashi is a nice, beautiful, very simple and unpretentious girl in nature. He loved these qualities and most important to him is she is very positive in her life. He finally decided that he will move one step ahead to make her his girlfriend.

The only obstacle to it was his work, as he was getting more of it day by day, and neither could match the bus timings nor talk to her for days. Work was important for him, but now he had come to this epiphany that there were many other important things and relationships in life, and most important of them is a girl. He remembered the lightness of the time that they spent together and the delight in his voice when he talked to her. He missed all of that these days.

However, somehow he learnt to find time to talk to her, and just to know her reaction also sometimes indirectly indicated her of his feelings. He became happy and motivated to see a positive reaction from her, and then without even proposing after sometime actually started treating her like his girlfriend. The unique thing in their relationship was they never talked for hours like a typical case of a new-born relationship. They only talked for each other’s day and wel- being, and both valued that brief chat and were happy in their relationship.

This did not continue for a longer time, and Amay faced an aversion to their relationship from Urvashi. He could not understand the actual reason, however hard he tired to know, but she was so firm in not telling him that his interest over a period also reduced. But Amay always tried to be in touch with her.

Again, the clouds loomed over, and he got so much occupied in his work that they didn’t talk for a while. But this time to his surprise she called first. He realized with her tone that she wanted a relationship but there was something holding her.

The next morning looking at the bright sun, he decided that whatever happens, he has to propose before going to Bangalore on an official trip. This was the first time after meeting her that he was going out of Pune. They agreed to meet up a day before his visit in Café Coffee Day on J.M Road. He was all ready to propose, and to show his love and feelings to her.

“Hi” He waved his hand on seeing her standing outside CCD.

“Why didn’t you take a seat inside” He asked.

“I thought to wait outside for you.” Came the instant reply.

He didn’t ask more, and said, “OK, let’s move in then.”

They took a seat at the corner, there was not much crowd but both wanted some privacy in this talk.

“So, how is work going” He asked to start the conversation.

“Yeah good, just going as usual and yours”

“yeah fine, I am going Bangalore for some days tomorrow”

“Oh! Good, so fun on an official trip”

“ Ah! You can say like that, but work is work wherever it may be”

“Yeah, you are right”

“How is life other than that…”

“Yeah..just going.. my father is in hospital”

“In hospital…why???”, Amay asked taking a sip of coffee, considering it as some normal routine checkup.

“ His body is half paralysed” She replied without hesitation in a very direct tone.

Amay was shocked on hearing this, and didn’t say anything for a moment and then gathering himself asked, “When did this happen?”

“Some fifteen days back”

“You didn’t even tell me”

“What to inform, he is ill and bed ridden since a long time, but this time it was a huge toll, making him completely paralysed”

He gathered his thoughts and finally understood that why he saw an aversion from her to their relationship. He finally dared to ask, “ Are you now the only working person in your family?”

“Yes” came the instant reply.

He thought ‘what a strong girl she is’, and considered himself a fool for not even trying to know what was happening in her family.

He knew that she has one younger brother and sister and who are studying, and could just only imagine the burden that she might be having these months.

“I have so many family responsibilities to fulfill, and so I didn’t get time for any other thing” she said. She somehow guessed that Amay was to propose to her, so she told him indirectly before hand and indicated that do not propose to me otherwise I would not be able to say “NO”.

Amay understood that very well and kept his feelings to him only, and after some more chat dropped her to bus stand.

He saw so much love in her eyes, but could not say anything, as he had to support her and to made her feel strong. He knows that if he had offered her help, he would have hurt her feelings and would have made her feel like weak women, which she was clearly not. So he just vowed to be her good friend ready to support to her in any condition she would like, and waved to her as she boarded the bus. He said in his heart, “I LOVE YOU”

This post is inspired from a true story of someone....

Image Courtesy:http://chetankejriwal.wordpress.com

Desi Boys, Cricket and The Secret

2011-12-04T13:26:00.001+05:30

Desi Boyz banged theatres last week, and we as usual like every week-end were excited to watch any god damn new release. The excitement was doubled with the time clashing of the nail-biting end of the India-Windies final test and our booked show. But actually the truth was something else, we were more thrilled by our upcoming race with time to reach theatre, and to even catch the pre-movie trailer; it is like if you didn’t watch a pre-movie trailer, your money got wasted.

Ashwin’s not-so-convincing performance at the last over, got mine and my friend’s usual dialect and slang beating, and then we left off for our race. It was our other friend’s jumbo AVENGER that gave us the confidence and the self belief of us making there on time. My friend intended to drive, and the race started to reach the 20 km away theatre in 45 min, with the hustling and bustling Sat-evening traffic of Pune. My friend with his smart tactics of bypassing others from the road corners and from the places where even a cycle man would think to cross increased our belief to a level of complacent excitement.

But, did we reach there on time….or did we ever watch that show …….

After 15 min of driving, I experienced some slight bumps but thought of it because of great speed and ignored it, and there came the real Desi-Beat on us; after 500 metre, a sudden wobbling from the back, great reflex from my friend gave our bike a road corner halt. We were there 10 km or 20 min away from theatre with punctured rear tire of Avenger. We still had twenty min, and luckily we got the nearby mechanic shop, and his quick reaction to it increased our excitement. Tire got dismantled, tube deflated, and checked, one puncture, two puncture, three, four, five…..we were stunned, and finally there were ten punctures. Our hopes shattered then and there, and icing on the cake was even the tire at 3 places got holes.

are #($*#(@#, wat had happened yaar, 440 bucks drained plus this extra 800 bucks…wat next………nothing let’s go somewhere, eat, give comfort to your eyes, and buy tickets for the night show….and we did watch the night show of Desi boys ……

After movie, I gave a thought for all that happened. I came to the conclusion, what we wanted was to watch the movie and we watched it no matter how, and we wanted a frenzy and we got it. My friend and me actually earlier also had a similar kind of experience with a match about to end and a movie to start. That time it was a nearby theatre and there were only five minutes to go. We had booked online tickets, and at the ticket counter we were informed that there were no tickets with our transaction number, we cross checked it nothing happened and just before the time when we were about to blast that person he got the actual situation that ours was the different theatre ticket, and by mistake we came here. It gave us such laughter on our stupidity, and I cursed my friend badly for all this non sense as he booked the tickets. We did watch the show that time also at the right theatre but with offbeat lunacy and insanity. Actually with Desi Boys we both had this earlier time on mind, and we expected something similar to happen with us, and it just happened.

As I realized it, I became happy and smiled to myself as it again cemented the belief that what we think in our heart and mind is what happens with us. This is an inspiration from the book ‘The Secret’, and which changed my life 4 years back when I read it for the first time. But the ball had always been bouncing between surity and uncertainty whether this can really happen, and I kept on testing this belief on myself from time to time. I did get positive results, and also negative sometimes. But this was the first time that I realized its existence after what had happened and that it was the same what I and my friend thought about. Although it would look maniacal, that why would somebody like to have his bike punctured and that too ten, but see if it would have been single it would be a normal condition, and that was what we didn’t expect. We wanted an excitement and we experienced it.

This incident again gelled up a belief in me, that whatever I think will only happen with me. This is the universal truth that I believe, and which keeps on giving me good and strong epiphanies from time to time.

Test it in your life, and you will enjoy it..

Keep smiling……..

Breath,Eyes and Memory

2011-11-27T12:37:00.001+05:30

Book Review: Breath,Eyes and Memory
Author: Edwidge Danticat

This Oprah Club’s book is about lives of Haitian women, their pains and suffering, and their brave contemplative struggle to make themselves free of it, to set their breath, eyes and memory free of that agony and pain, and finally to live a better life.

The book is basically concentrated on the life of a protagonist Sophie, and the people associated with her. Her aunt Attie with whom she spent her childhood, her mother , who lives in the States for some reason, and her grandmother who wanted her children’s well being, and utilizes her ability to see past vision to bring peace in their lives. The story starts with Sophie as a 12 year old girl and Aunt Attie living alone in Haiti, oblivious to the outside world, and for Sophie even to her mother and grandmother. She was brought up and reared up by her Aunt in that Haitian village. It was when she went to her mother, and her life transformed from a child to the puberty period, did she start facing the pain and agony that the women of this family were destined to face. She came to the realization of her mother’s suffering and to the reason of her being brought up by her Aunt and not by her mother. She saw her family every moment getting burnt in that

The book moved on with the description of Sophie’s life from her child hood, to her adolescence, to getting married, and then her after life. Author has very simply descried the events, and has been very direct in describing the pain of the people’s life. The pace of how the situations turn up in the book is a bit slow, but nevertheless one will continue to read the book, because of the simple and the honest portrayal of the characters.

Author at the end has tried to explain the readers in a good preachy way that how can one be free of any past memory or incident. Even while reading it, one incident glowed up in my eyes (from my life), that happened some six years back. It keeps coming to me, and may be while writing this I am trying to be free of it, but don’t know I may also have to do things in other ways to rub it off completely from my breath, eyes and memory.

The book is a good read for people who love to observe things and people around, and obviously if you are new to reading then read it after some time.

As simple as it can be #1

2011-11-19T14:22:00.001+05:30

In ‘As simple as it can be’, I will define this nature, this world, their mundane and philosophical interpretations and much more in the simplest way as they can be.

With first post of its kind, I will start with the most beautiful existing thing, i.e love. It's an irony that I have had many posts trying to define love, but this one is a single liner.

LOVE: Feeling good about anything……

And then we have-

Engineer: is a person who has the ability to come out from a deeper than the deepest ditch.

Advertisement: makes you feel that you are connected with and a part of this world.

Physics: Relative motion study of almost anything.

Wife: Emotional carrier of a man..

Here begins my search to define anything and everything in the simplest way. I welcome the suggestions from you all to make this series really entertaining, and you are free to comment on and correct my simplest interpretations.

Keep smiling!!!!!

Life is beautiful...

2011-11-11T20:03:00.001+05:30

I am sitting at a restaurant on this colorful and a very light day. Everywhere there are people around me, eating, chatting, smiling, living….everyone is happy in their private companies. I am happy by myself, observing them; observing life…Life is so beautiful.

I ate good food, came out and walked towards my place. There are people around me doing their work, there are plants, animals, birds, around me all living their lives independently. I see their one and only expressions, their urge to live a happy life, their graciousness, their fear, their greed, their satisfaction, their thoughts, and their connection to each other. There is light, there is air, land, water and matter....They all are source of their expressions, reactions and reciprocations. These –ions are bringing the inevitable change at every instant in their lives, in my life.

I can see a man on his bike, brawling with a person walking nearby. It seems as if they are arguing on a trivial matter. A car just passed me, with all its windows open and a little boy, a girl and their pet playing in the car by themselves, where as their parents (a guess) sitting at the front talking to each other. There is a beggar asking for money on the name of God, and a very kind and a courteous woman gave him a ten rupee note. That beggar could not feign his happiness, and prayed to God for that woman’s well being and better life. I sometimes feel myself connected with the creator when I am with a woman, in fact with any female. I had always found them kind, courteous, full of love and care for others. I can see and feel that love and care in my grandmother, mother, sister and every one of them. It is inherent in them to give love and care to others to make them happy. When I realized this fact, I have always been in contact with women.

As I live away from home, from my family, there was a time when I had a lot of work and various pressures and I was kind of disconnected with friends and society; it was also a good time as I enjoy doing work but when I started sharing time and talking frequently to them I found my life a bit light and free of pressure. I have always realized peace and fun with them.

As I walked ahead, a young road side dog started barking, and once or twice showed his tiger-like teeth and snake-like tongue, I just smiled to him briefly and went ahead. It is a nice weather today with a charming light and a comforting breeze. Life has always been a little light or a little heavy. In fact it surprises me that how our lives could be compared with the numbers. We always play with numbers in between 0 and ∞(infinity), and same is our life we always live in between the happiest moment and the most sad moment, and we always with our so-called –ions try to reach on either of them.

I reached home and found my land lady playing with her grandchild, I smiled at them, and they smiled back. LIFE IS SO BEAUTIFUL.

Dedicated to an event organised by http://11elevenproject.com/

An epiphany on the Diwali day........

2011-10-30T02:11:00.000+05:30

Diwali, as usual, this year also enlightened every body’s life with love and fun, bliss and peace, better time and prosperity. We all celebrated it with our near and dear ones.

The Diwali day for me, started with early morning special traditional practices. The day on which I myself have to get up early, as mom is always busy in encircling the complete home with red and grey liquid…(sorry I don’t remember its traditional name). I also, as a surprise to myself, supported dad and brother to prepare for the evening puja. From the morning itself, the ambience was of divine nature with aromas of roli, mango leaves, fresh flowers, sweets and what not.

The day before Diwali never seemed so great, but the morning we wake up on Diwali, it always felt like todaaaay is something special.

In the evening, we did puja, and the end of it was the happiest moment of the day when everybody was together, smiling giving blessings to each other, talking and chatting, loving and having fun. We then had a blast, fired some flower pots, fire balls, rockets, sky launch etc. and finally ate yummiest food. I yearn for this time the complete year.

My Diwali has always been like this. Ah..there is one thing that I didn’t share is on each Diwali me and my brothers use to fire crackers till 3 am in the morning, with our group of friends, accompanied with funny pranks and light banter. It had always been fun.

However, this Diwali we didn’t fire so much as the craze is getting down with the time, but I got a realization of the true meaning of Diwali. There is a tradition in my home, that on the night of Diwali before the sun rises, complete home needs to be dusted and the scrap to be burnt. This use to happen every year, but I never gave it a thought or never tried to understand its significance. But, this time when I myself did the dusting work to just let my mother sleep, I saw the chain of thoughts in my mind. I came to the conclusion that Diwali marks the beginning of a new life free of all the bad things, and that is what I did that night. I removed all the old scrap from the house and burnt it to begin a new life free of evils.

I, then the other day asked my grandmother about that grey and red liquid, that why do we encircle or decorate our homes with that; and the reply amazed me, that liquid is actually capable of making land free of all types of insects. In fact this is not all, each and every tradition on this eventful day is related with the cleansing effect of our lives (not homes).

I think that for people like me, who were oblivious to this fact up till now, should understand the significance of old traditions, and follow them. Diwali is there to filter your life from good and evil, and to give you an opportunity to live a better life.

Realize it.

Enjoy it.

Image Courtesy:http://jasmineandtheelephants.wordpress.com/
http://mashedmusings.wordpress.com/page/11/?em_x=22

Happiness in the Festive Season

2011-10-22T23:07:00.000+05:30

Festive season is here again. It brings so much relief and happiness in life, for students it’s a time to get energised for their exam preparations, for service class, it is a much-needed break from their hectic schedules , for business class it is a once in a year opportunity to earn good money in a short span of time.

I feel that it is much more than that, and even greater than worshipping Goddess for goodness and well-being. It is about being together, sharing happiness, and expressing love with family, friends, near and dear ones. It is about a moment that brings glow to your face and makes you smile, when you see the people you love.

With the global development, people are free to move to any place in the world to earn money, get a good job and lead a happy life. With this, the so-called joint family tradition prevalent in ancient India is now slowly getting converted to nuclear family. People with a wish to earn money, in a way they want, move to places so far, and get so engaged in their lives that for years even they do not come back. Sometimes it is time, and sometimes a mundane illusion, keeps them away from meeting the people who love them so dearly.

People well settled in their lives away from their first home, always try to look out an excuse to go back, and we are so lucky to have this periodic excuse in the name of a festival. We say that we go to celebrate festival and be a part of the family tradition, but in our hearts we all know that it is a get together with the family that everybody cherishes.

So, just speak out express your love, make them happy give them gifts, eat sweets, enjoy and have fun with your loved ones. Enjoy every moment of it.

P.S: I would like to make a sweet request to all happy and smiling people, to pledge from this festive season, to not waste food and only take that much in a dish that you can eat.

Strong Medicine

2011-10-15T23:23:00.002+05:30

Book Review:- Strong Medicine

Authored By: - Arthur Hailey

Strong Medicine is a book of many nuances of a pharmaceutical industry and the people involved in it. It describes in its story a life of a girl Celia Jordan starting her career from a sales woman to the reach of presidency of the company. It unveils good and not so good facets of a pharmaceutical industry, and its impact on the society as a whole. It gives you a chance to live a life in the pharmaceutical industry with Andrew Jordan, a wise doctor, Sam Hawthorne, a mundane corporate man, Vincent Lord, a greedy technical specialist and Martin Peter Smith, a brainy scientist.

The story starts with Celia and her feministic struggle to enter into a male dominated pharmaceutical industry of 1950’s. It speeds up with her bold, gutsy and honest attitude in her professional life that ladders her to the new heights of success with her each move. Andrew Jordan, a very wise doctor and her loving husband supports and protects her from getting illusive by the outside world. He indirectly helps her in taking right decisions at the right time. The story entails with the risky moves of Vincent Lord to compete in this greedy world, with Sam Hawthorne who as a dedicated corporate man tries to do everything right for the so- called pharmaceutical company, Felding- Roth in the book and with Martin Smith, and his genetic research work to make people being able to hold their smartness of brain till a relatively older age. All this in combination makes a complete description of good, bad, happy, sad lives and times of people of the pharmaceutical industry.

The book is written in a way that at the end you will feel like, you just lived a life in the pharmaceutical industry. It is like a description of a small time of that industry, and it ends like a day in your normal non fictional life. The prose’s so methodically written and the arguments so intelligently crafted that you will just love it; and the description and the debate in 160-180 page is the best in the complete book. The thoughts of the characters described in the book are so wise and clear that you will be amazed at some times, wondering that can somebody write it like this…..and Andrew Jordan is a treat to all the women, he is such a lovely husband, I would like to have some part of my attitude to be like him.

At the end I will say that Arthur Hailey always creates magic for me, and I sometimes find myself thinking that not enough books of his are left in my- to-read list. You will only find this book good, if you live with the characters without your presumptions. If you do so, you will find yourself loving all works of Arthur Hailey.

The book is worth grabbing, read it or gift it.

LOVE

2011-10-05T20:29:00.000+05:30

When her face comes in front of you at dawn,

When you wake up early only to text her Good Morning,

When at the lunch, you assume her making lunch for you

When you think of her as you listen a romantic song

When you see her in every beautiful girl

You are in love!!!

When you want to share your problems only with her

When you think of her while grooming yourself

When you imagine her watching you all the time,

When you want to like her likes on face book,

When you keep looking at her picture for a longer time

You are in love!!!

When you call your mother, if you miss her

When you secretly see her working

When you think of crazy ideas and create situations to talk to her

When you jump with joy on seeing her message

When you think of her, if you write something about love

You are in Love!!! My dear

Dedicated to an acquaintance....

imagecourtesy:http://www.tech2ride.com

A Change

2011-09-26T23:36:00.001+05:30

Amay: Do you remember, that Kachori’s taste ....and tea……

Me: Yeah…………

We coincidently stopped at a shop in front of our college for cell recharge. There was a road, separating us from our alma mater, and we both for a second were lost in those college days, where we use to have so much fun, we use to bunk classes to eat Kachori, and never having that patience to wait till the lunch time. It was so good a feeling, that taste of Kachori, instantly came to my mouth. I saw myself sitting now with my buddies, at a bench which Bhai Jaan use to have for his customers, eating, having fun, laughing on useless things. It was like I just lived that life fully again in that instant.

It is two years now that we have passed out from college, and that lovely picture of us always comes to my mind, whenever I drive from that road. But I sometimes contemplate that, whether I want to return to that time again, or everything is ok as is. It sometimes becomes difficult to come to any conclusion, but if I close my eyes and think deeply, then I always get the answer that I have to move on, and change is important in life.

A change indicates movement, indicates life like a growing flower. If we see around apart from this mundane world, we find, earth, air, water, trees, birds, and even the clouds moving. We all have learnt History lessons in our school days, we have sculptures, arts, from the past, that were built hundreds and thousands years back; they all are examples of a change that has already happened. All these sculptors, arts, buildings, and I should say that purpose of writing History is there to cognizate us to this beautiful law of nature that change is evitable, and we should welcome it with open arms.

We may have in our lives a time, that if we could we would have stopped it. But, have we ever tried to stop a time that might have given us an experience, we may not like to recall. NO..na...... The point here is change has to happen, but it is up to you whether that change will be good or bad. Let us look at this below conversation of a husband and wife to have a deeper look..

Asha: Have you brought salt today??

Avinash: Oh! Yes, it’s there in my bag,

She checked it, and found a 1 Kg packet of local brand ‘Anmol’ shudh namak. She took the packet, and contemplatively went to kitchen for last preparations before dinner. Avinash noticed her thoughtful expression, and then said, “ Tata Salt was double the cost of this one”

Asha remembering his same answer every time, murmured “ God knows, when will my kids eat good and tasty food”, and submissively prepared the dinner.

Avinash: “ I sometimes feel so sorry, that I am unable to give you and kids the necessary comforts of life, if not luxury”

Asha remained silent, and set the dishes for dinner. They ate it silently with the briefest conversation attempt from Avinash and then slept for the next gloomy day.

Asha, by maintaining silence also confirmed to him that Avinash is right, and that they will never have a good time sharing with their kids. I just wanted to tell you that Asha and Avinash both in reality and unknowingly don’t want a good time to come in their life and the proof is their repetitive daily statements. But, the change has to happen, and that will bring more bad times in their life, may be in future they may not have single penny to buy salt, leave for TATA salt.

May be after some time, Asha would think that time with 'Anmol' shudh namak were better, and then the time with no salt but food was better, and then the life will go on like this...

It tells me that if ever you have a time in life that you think should come back that means you are not in your right direction of opinions about life. It is you and your positive attitude that will bring you better and better times in your life, and may be then you may like to bring the change as early as possible.

So, believe and trust yourself and be ready with smiles to welcome the change of a better time in your life……… I am ready, are you????

Greening the World

2011-09-21T11:35:00.000+05:30

At first, I’d like to thank Ek Titli and Ginger Chai, for giving this topic to contemplate and write; if not for Ek Titli, I’d have written some other post.

There are innumerable ways of greening the planet, and by this I ‘d like to throw light on ways beyond planting of trees. In fact, one can direct his each move towards greening the planet. An attitude that supports the nature’s cycle of millions of species directly or indirectly contributes in greening the environment. For example, a small behavioral change in lacs of people for throwing litters only in dustbin can create a green revolution after a considerable period of time. However, as suggested by Ek Titli I would like to highlight 10 ways in which how an opinion or a strategy change can contribute significantly towards greening the planet. Here, I have also tried to focus on the driving factor for change for the below mentioned categories.

1) Scientists: There should be an announcement for scientists that whosoever finds out a new natural element in a Periodic Table which can be used to make a recyclable utility similar to polythenes, will be awarded with INR 5 crore, to spend on a research of his choice.

2) Schools: As schools have a PT(Physical Training) schedule in every week (I hope so , it is not daily), likewise there should be an EE (Environmental Exercise) schedule and that may include tree plantation, gardening, bowing of seeds, study of crops and knowledge of vegetables that can be easily grown in home gardens. It may benefit in many ways, the next gen will know how to plant and cure a tree, which this gen or at least I personally do not know.

Assuming that 10 lac students pass each year from school which has EE activity, and if even 1% of them in their later life choose to plant trees, it will number to thousand. Now just imagine how many trees those thousand students will plant in their entire life.

3) Government: Government can do many things in this regard, but the most influencing that I feel is the tax exemption for common people. It goes like, if you own a land and you dedicate 2.5% of that land for growing plants, then you will have a 10% of tax exemption, and more the plantation more the exemption. This has dual benefits, one is the tree plantation and the other is eradicating corruption.

Look at this way to be more clear, everybody I feel forge bills to submit in Income Tax department, as there is no other way to save tax (by this I mean without investing money in any mutual fund or equities). If this is implemented, the latter technique may lose its importance, and people will follow an easy one to save tax, i.e more and more tree plantation.

To be frank, I do not have a tree in my home, and if there is some policy like this, I may be the first one to do the plantation.

4) Business Man: These people rule the world; if you are not a business man then you are driven by them.

We all watch TV, isn’t it? I assume daily there are 4-5 new schemes introduction for getting something free on purchase of that company’s product. I remember one ad, if you purchase a toilet cleaning spray you will get a toilet cleaning brush FREE FREE FREE…….Man this is sick.

If these greedy minds start giving small plants as a free item, then how will that be? Of course, a business man reading this one may think up of his benefit first, and that is genuine.

Where there is a business, there is a government. If any business man gives 10000 plants under a free scheme to customers then that business group can use 1000 lts free petrol for their goods transportation. Now, this can have many better implications effecting inflation to tree plantation.

5) Bollywood: If we dedicate some land to Bollywood in each city……let me complete……. where actors can come in only in that area to promote their films by artistically planting trees say by each name of a movie, or may be trees can be designed as per movies’s theme, and then sold out and exhibitioned in malls. It will again do two things, will stop traffic rush at that time in the area wherever actor goes, and the other is, they (actors) themselves will be happy.

6) Colleges/ Universities: They control youth, and youth of today makes the nation of future. Youth should be engaged to read more books, to watch more movies, documentaries that supports the cause, and should always be kept motivated and inspired to plant trees. It is the most important time, and is the time where one can set the thinking process of a particular person for the entire life. They should come out from a university, with the perspective that always inspires them to support ‘make green’ cause.

7) Doctors: It is a well known fact among many people that sometimes doctors just prescribe medicines to make patient feel comfortable; but actually attitude problem is also the cause of many diseases, and which cannot be cured by any medicines but yourself. Doctors can prescribe patients to be in the vicinity of a particular plant to cure attitude problems, may be the examples of it may form my other post….but as a small one if somebody is feeling dull; prescribe him to be in the vicinity of sunflower.

8) Corporate Houses: They should engage their employees in tree plantation activities, and in fact I have seen some companies doing it and that is appreciable. One thing I would like to suggest is there should be a special tax exemption to corporate houses under the name of Green Tax Free, and money should be given to employees on the basis of their tree plantation activities on Sundays.

9) Media: Media has the biggest responsibility in greening the world and the first thing I would like to tell is to make them realize that they are the only ones who can green the world rapidly, and then see how they create trees out of sand. They have the privilege to educate people of any age, and that is enough to green the world.

10) Common Man: What to say about this creature……he who daily goes to office, and comes evening to his happy family…he who every Sunday takes his kids to malls …..He who loves his wife so much and can eat a tiffin lunch devoid of salt and still praises that to his friends….the above 9 factors will only succeed if he will be with them.

I am ready to support every cause towards greening the world, are YOU????????????

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EkTitli.Org is a unique voluntary initiative where we showcase all the Positive and Constructive work happening in the ‘Green and Clean Space’.
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The girl with the dragon tattoo

2011-09-13T22:55:00.000+05:30

Book Review: The girl with the dragon tattoo.

Authored by:- Steig Larrson

This is one of those books that I will remember for a long time, and believe me, not for its story but for the characters. They are so intelligently created and aesthetically described that you will just love them. ‘Lisbeth Salander’ and ‘Michael Blomkvist’, the two protagonist of the book have now been added in my favorite character list, and that already includes Robert Langdon of Dan Brown, Forrest Gump of Winston Groom, Kader Bhai and Lin Ford of Gregory David Roberts, The great Veto Corleone of Mario Puzo, and the idealist Howard Roark of Ayn Rand.

The story is about Michael Blomkvist, a dedicated journalist of his own magazine Millenium, co founded with his colleague and part time lover Erica Berger(you will enjoy reading author’s thoughts of a part time lover). In his journey of journalism, he comes across a story about ‘Eric Wennerstrom’,a henchman, who runs his business so smartly that nobody can ever challenge his wrong ways of earning money. Blomkvist in the same attempt fails, and consequently also becomes the reason for his magazine’s downfall. There enter Henrik Vanger in the story, the legend in himself, and the biggest corporate man of his time. He promises Blomkvist to help him in surfacing Wennerstrom, if latter helps him in solving the murder mystery of his niece, happened some three decades ago.

But can Blomkvist solve that mystery, or will he need Lisbeth salander, an investigator who has her own secret skills in doing the investigation on any person? Will Vanger really help him in surfacing Blomkvist, or is it really a trick to allude such a dedicated and brainy journalist to give a last try to search killers of his niece????????

The book sets the pace form the very first page, and on reading it I knew that this is going to be interesting, and so it has. The characters are so vividly and aptly described, that you will just stick to it like an adhesive. The most unlikely thing about this thriller is the ending of the book, which could have been a bit different, and surprisingly I sometimes ponder about all thriller’s authors mind, that the answer to mystery in any of these novel lies only in one thing. I should not tell you more, or may be the avid readers can point out this. However, the book keeps its pace, and is one of the best thrillers I have ever read.

The author I think also studies human behavior, as the title suggests. The title has nothing to do much in the story, but is just created in a way to attract reader in his sticky web of writing. This is usually not seen in other books, or may be the ones who have tried had not done it in a better way. But this title as obvious attracted me to have a look at it, and I couldn’t stop myself grabbing this one from the book store.

The most amazing thing about this book is that it's originally written in Swedish and later translated, and even then uncommonly, this is as captivating and chilling as any of the chart busters.There are sequels to this book also, with the title ‘The girl who kicked the hornet’s nest’ and ‘The girl who played with fire ‘. I will take these ones also for the pacy and the artistic style of the author. It reminds me of Arthur Hailley, who writes a bit differently, but like him expert in weaving the characters in his books.

This can also become a wonderful gift for someone who loves reading.

A day in the life of a road side tree

2011-09-04T22:16:00.001+05:30

“Give me two kachoris, brother”

It amazed me, that how can I give him 2 Kachoris, and from where had he come in my family gathering asking for a Kachori, doesn’t he know that I do not eat kachori and that he should ask Catchy Uncle for that.

“Today is something special in your Kachori, Catchy, it has never tasted like this”

Where is my family, where are mango and guava….man this is ridiculous how can they leave me like this, and .. “Nothing special, it is my wife Gluey, she has magic in her hands”

……..And this is Catchy uncle speaking to that person asking kachori, but why am I not seeing him….

Splash………………What is that, Oh God! I was in a dream, and I will not leave this person, he splashed left over curry on my trunk, and that too made by Gluey Aunty, let me just add a spicy tamarind in his next Kachori.

I as usual woke up late today as the sun has already reached my face, and Catchy uncle is so sweet he never disturbs me, always comes as if a swift breeze and setting up his kiosk for the day. It is a pleasant day, with warm sunlight making it good for uncle. I remember that fateful day, when hurricane hit this place, most of my friends Ashok, coconut, Mango fell down, and worsened the conditions even more for the people here. I could not do anything to save people that day, but to control myself from falling down, and that time I saw one old man with a hunched back and his wife came running to my shed. At first I thought I had to now control myself at any cost from falling down, and having seen it as the only chance I had to support life, I shrank my trunk to save them from air blows. After some time, when the air became swift, I saw them sleeping underneath, and became contended that at least I did something to support nature. The next morning I saw that man and his wife thanking me, and silently left away.

There was honesty in that man’s voice which I still remembers with my each breath. After some days to my surprise and happiness that same man with hunched back returned with his wife, prayed to me and introduced themselves as Catchy and Gluey, and started selling Kachori’s with a kiosk at my shed. I was so happy that an honest man like Catchy Uncle, I always calls him Catchy uncle I just like it that way only, would be there with me daily selling Kachori.

“Uncle, please give me two Kachori” a cute boy with curly hair and hazel eyes asked Catchy Uncle and handed him 10 rupees. Catchy Uncle always becomes so happy whenever he sees that the customers like his Kachoris, and he is always so kind to small children. Sometimes, impatient and mundane people say harsh words to Catchy Uncle and throw down Kachoris at me. These same people when returns back to the pavilion, as the Kachoris are so tempting that they cannot just ignore it always, I give them a sour tamarind in it.

I feel so good that rich, poor, young, old, kids, mates, all come in my shed just because of Catchy Uncle, and sometimes even dogs, cow and cats also come here. If I had let him die that day, I would have also died with him living alone in the after days. In a way, I saved my life that day, and not Catchy uncle’s; after all I am a part of this nature and I also have to contribute like all others.

Its midday and my working time, strong shed is required for uncle to rest till Gluey aunty brings another set of Kachoris. In the noon time, people do decrease but Catchy uncle always smiles and somehow he manages it so well that not a single Kachori did he take back to home. I don’t know how he counts, but at the end all get their share dogs, cows and all other species. However, I do not like one thing, people come here eat Kachoris and throw papers at me and sometimes even Catchy uncle at the end of the day do the same. I know Catchy uncle has become old, and I can handle Catchy uncle, but other people I am unsure.

Uncle cleans it also, but he is weak now, and cannot do much work. This prevents my food, and sometimes I have to be hungry for the whole day as the waste makes me unable to drink water. With Catchy uncle I am also becoming week because of increasing waste, people do come here to eat kachoris, but also throw waste papers. Sometimes, I shout at them to just clean if they want to continue eating Kachori’s.

“Catchy, give me one hot and tasty Kachori”

“I am afraid, brother it’s all over now” said uncle to his last customer. Then, quickly uncle and gluey aunty packed up the things cleaned my shed and left for the day.

“Next day”

To my surprise I wake up even before uncle came, may be because of the waste piling at my shed. Today, is something unique in uncle’s things, he brought one box and kept at the corner for some unknown reason. The very first customer today, after eating ever delicious Kachoris, throw the paper at that box, and I got it…..man….”uncle I love you, you saved my life I know you can understand me better than any other here”. I will now pray to every people here to throw the waste paper in the box only and not at me. They should also realize that, I do have the sourest of tamarinds that can make their digestive systems as crazy as hell.

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Excruciating water and merciless rain

2011-08-28T17:31:00.000+05:30

I have read it many a times in newspapers and in psychological books that whatever you like to have in your life, just stick it in front of your eyes and you will get it. Yes, I believe this, but I didn’t follow it in what I am now going to share with you. Even this was also not in my mind when I bought Kent 10 liters water purifier, that bore on its box Hema Mailini’s photo from that ad where she and her two daughters Esha and AAhana also featured, some two weeks back. I started using it as it is supposed to be, and in my room I kept that filter on its box itself. I obliviously kept it in such a way, that Hema Malini was in front, and whenever I see that side, I also saw her (don’t take me wrong, I am talking about dream girl Hema Malini).

Well, this is a joke, but it made me think that way on that dreadful night of 23 August, when I was in my dreams with somebody I don’t remember, that filter fell down, and when I wake up at my usual timing of 5 45 am (surprised naa..i have to leave for office at 6 50 am, as it is some 40 km away from where I stay), I found my room filled with water, and filter upside down on the floor, and not a single drop inside it. Keeping my patience, (the trick that I have learned recently), I quickly took my land lord’s wiper, and started draining the water out from a small outlet, and thank god it was not choked. But, it was a mere one inch dia outlet, how much could it contain, so all the water keep coming up again in the room, I then took a mug from bathroom, doing as quickly as I can, as I have very limited time, and started collecting the water and filling it up in the filter. This was somehow useful, and 90% of the water was wither drained out or was in the filter. I left 10% for the maid to clean up in the noon.

As expected she did clean up, and room to my relief was dried out till I came back in the evening. There was some soggy odor in the room, it was like as you enter you could sense that sogginess inside the room, I then looked up on the ceiling as there was nothing above it, meaning it is directly exposed to merciless rain, and even the merciless shades were visible with a small wet area at the corner of the wall. But, I was sure that could not be the actual reason, and then I saw some foam pieces kept at the heighted space in the room (one you usually see in the old style of rooms, I think of 1990’s), and I assured myself, that yes this was the only reason of the smell, and I thought to just throw it out, but didn’t do it. Instead, next day informed my landlord about the smelling issue, and told him to remove that scrap.

Even after removing it, that smell was prevalent in the room, and then on 27th August, I took out a bag kept below my iron bed, and was flabbergasted to find it in a wet condition, and that was not all, there was one suitcase and a bigger size bag, and all of them were completely wet, all my new clothes, designer shirts, jeans, novels, even my check book everything, it was like I was also drenched with them, I again with my new trick, keeping up my patience, emptied all the things, and slowly hanged all the clothes outside in my landlord shed, thanks to them that there is a small area which is not open, and one can keep clothes hanging, even if it rains. But rain, OMG, that merciless rain, it’s 28th August, 4 53 PM, and still not a single thing is completely dried, although I am quite successful in removing that soggy odor, but my mind is now full with these soggy thoughts, even two of my good shirts got color from other clothes, and am not sure what best dry-cleaning can do on them.

I actually spent this week with water, starting with this incident, then almost daily getting drenched while going to office bus stop, and at the end of the week, I don’t know how, it seemed to me that my mobile was gone, as my voice was not audible to the other person, but somehow after shouting loud, it cleared it; and it was not all, my bike’s lock got jammed, water filled inside it.

At the end, I will say that this is good, as I strongly believe that whatever happens with you is because of your thinking, and I also believe that I have very good thoughts, so may be the good is yet to come.

It's raining!!!!

2011-08-22T14:17:00.000+05:30

NOTE: This post is written by me some days back, when I was travelling in my office bus from Phaltan to Pune . My office that time was in Phaltan. I for some unknown reason didn’t post this, earlier.

Read enjoy and smile

Phaltan is a taluka in Maharashtra state under Satara district, it has a low population of around 50000, people, of which 99.9% are Marathis, and therefore a person oblivious to Marathi like me will find it a challenge to communicate with the people around.

It’s raining heavily here, and am stuck in midway from Phaltan to Pune; actually, outskirts of Phaltan, as we are some 10-12 km from it only. I think, it’s raining with 4-5 m/sec, and I know it’s pretty absurd and unnatural to estimate the speed, but I am nothing left to do, except typing whatever comes to my mind, and listening to songs. Let’s see, where my wishful thinking will take this post.

The auto just passed my window; it was a six seater auto that runs only in some cities. There is one small stable, in front of me, which I think has 6 cows, oh sorry, I cannot make out from this much distance whether it is a cow or an ox, but I am sure there is no buffalo. I sometimes don’t understand, why this creature always seen as chewing the cud. Finally, bus started after some 20 min, and moved a bit, and there I find one more stable of similar size with almost same number of those creatures, but here sitting silently and watching us creatures passing by, after moving a bit ahead I find a land, filled with water due to a bit slope in it, and that makes me unable to predict its fertility.

And, bus finally started with its original pace only to stop after some 200 metres. One Tamarind (Imli) tree, yes am sure it’s tamarind, has fallen down, and may be that is the reason for this jam. I can not see clearly outside, as there is a mist formation on the bus window, but I can make out one man with shabby ‘dhoti’ wrapped around him ferreting something in land, may be that is his farm land, where he grows sugarcane. This region is actually famous for sugarcane farming, as it tastes all rainy, winter and summer season, and it just suits farming of tropical plant like sugarcane that requires spice of all seasons, and therefore Phaltan has first private sugar factory of Maharashtra known as Sakharwadi . In fact the farming is so widespread , when I sometimes stay in Phaltan due to long working hours, and in that by sheer coincidence if I land up in a hotel in the vicinity of any farm land, then on that pleasant night in dreams, I gift perfumes to my girlfriend, having a sugarcaneous odor. Ah..It is very difficult for the outside people to spend their first night in this way, as it sometimes becomes so nauseating, that you will think to just runway. There is nothing much of farming here in Phaltan except sugarcane. People have small shops of their own; there are no malls or multiplex, just an optimal bazaar, meaning to say that you will find all the necessary things to live your life. But of course that is not all what it takes for a person like me to spend an evening after work, and I therefore prefer daily to travel to Pune.

The bus has now moved way ahead, and the traffic has become smooth, but it’s still raining; the good thing is now the roads are good, and there is no pool of water in the adjoining areas. As we moved ahead in the connecting village Lonand, people just standing outside their houses and watching the rains, may be thinking about the possible eventualities of the rain. Houses are of ancient style, they have uncemented walls, and even from a bus window you can make out the regular rectangular lines as deep as ruts in the roads. Children here play with ‘ balls and tops’ . This always reminds me of Khirkiya, a village, my mother’s home town in Madhya Pradesh some 2 hour journey from Itarsi. My nanaji has a big grain mill; there we use to play these games with my summer friends. I remember them as summer friends, as I have only been there in summers. It was fun there, and I sometimes really miss that.

We entered Bangalore-Pune highway, at around 7 15 PM, 20 min late from the daily timing, and the driver got energetic after landing on a 4 lane broad highway, and started driving wildly surpassing each and every vehicle. He even doesn’t seem to notice any bumps, and is making us nostalgic about our kindergarten days, as we all jump on seats as if we are on a see-saw, on every bump. Nobody is stopping him, as the priority is to reach home after hectic office hours, no matter if your intestines get mixed up inside and all the arteries started playing ‘who pull’s first game’.

This is daily journey, but it is not so pleasant always, as daily travelling sometimes create problems like body ache due to improper posture, or even can result into dull mood due to the monotonic atmosphere of it, but rains like this with cool breeze is always welcome for the people like us, which makes us fresh in our minds by invigorating winds post showers, and the smell of mud, that is pleasant enough and cannot be described in words. I sometimes wonder how would I have liked the same rain, if would be travelling on a bike, however the likeness of anything depends entirely on condition, and looking in this way, I just simply love this breeze and rain.

The Secret Adversary

2011-07-29T22:35:00.000+05:30

Book Review: The Secret Adversary

Authored By: Agatha Christie

This book by Agatha Christie is a thriller of 60’s, and describes young people solving an investigation case, and tracking down the unbeatable henchman of the story.

It starts with the fresh excitement of Tommy and Tuppuence in life to do anything and everything, and consequently an attempt to make some money in life. Fortunately, they ended up meeting with a government official, who gave them a task so alluring that they find it difficult to deny. There starts a journey so daunting, that they almost come on the verge of losing their life. It actually is all about searching a mysterious girl Jane Finn, who is supposed to have secret documents that can change the complete political scenario of the nation. In the task, they make so called Mr. Brown their enemy, the most wanted and the dreadful criminal of that time. Mr Brown, on the other hand is also in search of those documents and kills everyone who come in his way. Read the book to find out how the two young people track Mr Brown, jane Finn and those secret documents

This is the first Christie’s book that I have read, and I find it a good thriller, it’s like when you just want a break from those elephant type books, and from the ones, for which you need to keep your sense open. Actually I was not having any good book to read, and was not in a mood to take thick ones, and then somehow I got hand of this one, and liked it from the first page. Its happy go lucky nature in each page actually attracted me to complete this book.

I even heard friends commenting, that Christie is for kids, but I don’t seem to understand that how??May be the simplicity with which Christie writes make people feel a lack of sophistication in the story, but I feel only a simple story and not the sophisticated can make you relax and feel good. I may again take some of other Christie’s book, when I will need to refresh my mind for reading.

If you can at anytime love simplicity and energy in any book, then can pull this one.

My Dream Home

2011-05-07T16:47:00.000+05:30

This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 20; the twentieth edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

I believe that everybody here search for a perfect home for themselves and their loved ones; a home full of love, care, belief and happiness. We try to make this home with our hard work and by making money in this mundane world. We just work hard aimlessly towards our goal, by trying to be at the correct path to reach there. We study, play, work, cheat, smile, cry, in our own way to be happy with our loved ones, and a perfect home is an example, in fact I believe we follow this path to attain each and every desirable thing in our lives. We do achieve certain things in most of the cases, and sometimes end up ourselves searching for a missing iota in that happiness, but couldn’t find one. We make ourselves believe that, this might be the only thing, we have wanted, and the missing iota is just the illusion of thoughts developed through outside world. We try to make ourselves happy in that thing only.

I believe there is an iota of mist between our goal and us, a mist that can make you realize that self belief is your true virtue; what you believe happens with you. If you can clear that mist and see past it then you will find your each and every goal. You will see a dream home of yours waiting to be delighted with your presence, and you will be able to find out that missing iota in your happiness.

Keep smiling!!!!!!

The fellow Blog-a-Tonics who took part in this Blog-a-Ton and links to their respective posts can be checked here. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

Credits

Image - Window Rain Drops by Eric Alder
Courtesy - www.deviantart.com via www.blogaton.in

The Great Indian Love Story

2011-05-01T16:21:00.000+05:30

Book:The Great Indian Love Story
Authored By: Ira Trivedi

I started this book thinking that it might turn up as a baggage of emotions, love and care. It had always been my belief that anything Indian would have sacrifice, forgiveness and blind belief in its essence. But the book turned out to be a bit different, and the reason might be changing essence of Indian ness; everything was bound to change with time and so the Indian spirit and love. I made these statements with a fact that author Ira Trivedi was an Indian; in the other case it all would become baseless.

The book started with Serena, Riya and their raunchy and wild life styles. The story forwarded with Serena and also the life of people in her life, especially her mother Parmeet. , and finally ending up with giving some tough lesson to Riya to move on in her own life.

Riya had to return to her parents in India as she landed up not having any job in the US University; along with the tragic end of her love story in US. Here, she met with Serena when she was alone in the social circle of her parent’s life, and they bonded up and started partying together with coke and drugs in the sex driven life style of Delhi. Riya found a friend with whom she can chat and pass her free time, while for Serena, Riya was a girl she could share her goods and bad of life. The story moved on talking about Parmeet’s infidelity to her husband and its effect on Serena’s life as a whole. Serena at the end was described as a girl not happy with her life, living on the edge with drugs, sex and cocaine.

The best thing about this book was that every character was described as a first person, and it was rarely seen in the other books. The writing style of the author was also good with simple and direct sentences catching hold of me, when I lost track from three books midway, before reading this one. The base of the story was not so strong, and was wobbling between Serena and Riya. However, this slim and trim 200 page book could be read while travelling or if you would like a change from your hectic office schedule. I would recommend this book only in such special cases.

A trip to Mumbai

2011-04-19T17:23:00.000+05:30

I woke up that sunny morning at 6:00AM to leave early for Mumbai, and the company cab was to come on 6:45 AM. I usually took that much time to comfortably get ready only to avoid last minute rush, and also because the first thing of the day should be with comfort, as it then relaxes you for the whole day. Cab came on 6:40 AM , and we started on time to this once again not-so-much-wanted-by-me trip to Mumbai. I was involved in a project for which I usually need to go to Mumbai, and thank god company provides a cab that comes to pick you up from home, otherwise it would have become a nightmare, in this city of Pune to get up at 6’0 clock, and go to a 15 km away railway station; icing on the cake had to be unavailability of autos.

I took the back seat of the car, just because to be comfortable with my bag, laptop and some office files. I usually don’t talk to drivers much, as it’s in my nature to only talk when required, and sometimes drivers understood it as arrogance, and sometimes they are also of same nature. There is one more class of drivers (like the one I have today) who are extrovert. These people in most of the cases don’t let you bore and fall asleep as they keep throwing tantrums and useless talks in the whole journey. The silence in the cab was finally broken by Sheena, morning RJ on Radio Mirchi, and subsequently with the item number ‘Sheila ki Jawani’. The hotness of Sheila, was drenched by cool and sexy mountains, this is one thing that I like about Pune is it doesn’t have that many sloppy roads and even it is covered with mountains from I suppose all around.

I was amazed at a question posed to me, whether ‘ Sheila ki Jawani’ was better or the ‘ Badnaam Munni’. This all time favorite debate on the news channel was put forward to me by no other than a person who is of my father’s age. I would have answered ‘Sheila ki jawani’, for my own reasons, but I just chose to give the diplomatic answer and end the debate shortly. This case was like a tiger who becomes a man eater, once it drinks human blood for the first time, and so at least I was refrained of him talking nonsense any more. He talked about different other people who had been to Mumbai in his cab, and how the journey had been with them. He talked about their courtesies to him in giving him money to eat; talked about the places he had been with them. I was just nodding and my eyes were glued to the high and courageous mountains with wonderful greenery on the Expess Highway. Some of the mountains were cut to make roads, visible with the profile of the mountains, and the less space between roads and those cut-impression mountains. After travelling some kilometers, green fields and the land marks of the nearby eating places reminded me of my hunger that I have not eaten or drunk anything, hardly than a glass of water. I got the car stopped at the café known as ‘Dutta snacks centre’, I wonder whether it is owned by Sanjay Dutt or his family.

Remembering that he expects money from his customers to eat, I called him and instead of giving money, bought him a dish of his liking and a cup of tea. This instantly changed his attitude to one of servile behavior, and he himself brought a cup of tea (took coupon from me, of course) for me. I then forced him to sit with me on the same table and have his dish of Poha. I also had the same thing, and after finishing one, my appetite was not fulfilled, so I took one more, and also forced him to have one more( I thought let him eat whatever and he wants). I could see, he was on clouds by having second dish free of cost. He then sincerely, like a good driver finished fast and left the place early to be at this place before his lord arrives.

His attitude got changed, and started talking honestly to me; free of pretension, and allusion, that could help him get some profits through me. I was amazed at how just a simple favor can change someone’s thinking and in fact nature.

We reached Mumbai on time, at around 10; 30 AM, an ideal time of a day to talk business, when everyone is fresh of their minds, and thinking of the day’s work. This actually is very important to hit the target at right time, as mental and psychological impact can get you anything you want.

---------------

It was 5:30 PM and I was still in Mumbai, tired after machine inspection and some serious business talks. We started at around 5:45 PM, and I could not sleep as car was not running smooth due to heavy rush on the road. It was only after an hour, that I could relax as we reached outskirts of Mumbai.

I only woke up by him, when we stopped somewhere in between to have some snacks, I had a Paratha, and him most-sold out-famous-maharashtrian dish, Vada Pav. I got refreshed after this and started listening songs on my mobile with ear plugs on and thinking about life of this driver. I asked him do you like songs, and the reply made me remove my ear plugs and play the old song collection that I have, and there starts the debate of who had the best old songs collection. I was only talking to him to just know, how good could he be with the customer, and whether that goodness in him is only because of that small favor in the morning.

We ended up exchanging some songs through Bluetooth, and I gave him some 2-3 songs of his liking. He took me through the shortest route so that I could reach home early. He didn’t care that some 15-20 extra minutes can make him bag more money to his family. I liked it, and I was also wrong, that this change in him was not due to the monetary favor that I had on him but because I made him sit at one table, and offered him second dish.

I realized that love and care is the only thing that is keeping us alive. I would cherish this trip to Mumbai forever in my life, as it cemented my belief that only love and care can lead you to live a smiling life.

Blogging and my thoughts......

2011-04-10T16:33:00.000+05:30

I would like to tell you something about me and my blogging habits, and the factor which drives me to blog. I am writing this post after a month or so, and am also unable to understand this thought process of mine, sometimes it happens that I have no urge to write anything about, and then suddenly at some instants felt like I should write complete book in one day. There may be various reasons, may I would be busy with some work, may I had not had some good and interesting topics to write about, and even this had happened in many instances, and have become the reasons of my so called break from blogging. But this time, I have had my time to write and think about interesting topics, in fact topics are piled up in my future posts list. This post is also an instant urge to write anything, at the time when my laptop is bouncing up and down in my lap ( I am in a bus returning from office, a journey of 100 kms), and see irrespective of this I started writing with my ears bubbling up with bollywood hit songs. Sometimes, I also felt it as good, as at this time I am fresh with my thoughts and the result is not a compelled attempt.

This is quite similar in my reading habits, like sometimes I finish a book which can kill a rat if dropped in a week, and sometimes the same will take me 2 months to finish. It much depends on the genre of the book, and my liking to it, but yes there are some cases of the books which I have liked, but finished It in a long time. Even right now, I am reading ‘Midnight Children’ by Salman Rushdie but the pace is very slow,, and the fact unbelievable for me I have not finished a single book since past 2 month; although I started ‘A beautiful mind’ and ‘Catcher in the rye’, and after finishing one almost half, and the other 100 pages, that I am not liking it. I always start a book with a hope that I will like, and push myself to the end of my patience for the book, and then I leave it.

There is always an inspiration required to do anything, but sometimes I don’t understand that inspiration to lead a happy one in this never ending journey of smiling life. I just start doing the things, feeling the inspiration but not realizing it, and that is how I feel it happens with most people. You come to know that inspiration sometimes, and its connections that make your journey good, and there are times when you simply couldn’t make out the things which are inspiring you, you just obliviously neglect them.

Is that only an inspiration or a free mind and a will to do also require for doing anything and everything?

This question was out of my thoughts when I started this post, because it’s almost a week that I am continuing this, and the week has been dramatic for me. I was equipped with some other things that keep bouncing up in my mind whenever I do something else, and this is also one of the most important factors that drives one’s life (can be called as an epiphany). If a man can control his mind’s thinking, he can do anything, that is what I feel now, and after that you always have an inspiration to do anything and everything in your life.

I always had an inspiration to write, but I sometimes I am unable to cool off my mind and, that mark my break from blogging, it could be short, and very long. I feel I am right in this, and that is why this post is a bit upside down, as I only feel and a confirmed signal is yet to be received in my mind.

Floods are controllable...

2011-02-27T23:24:00.001+05:30

TECH-MANIA

This is a place to brain storm on the problems that we have in our society, and to think about the approach to solve them, can be with an engineering control. It could also be an approach to improve the existing pattern of doing the things. By a mere observation of things around , their apparent nature, and our actual need, then I feel our churning minds can give us chances of improving each and everything around us. Some solutions might not be feasible with present available techniques, but then what mind is for if we can’t think, and if I am not wrong, that is how you got electricity, telephone, computer and internet. It is from a seedling of some one’s mind that you are eating fruits of those not so feasible thoughts at one time.

Floods are controllable…

Sometime back, I was watching news about a flood in some country and one helicopter dropping food packets from above to the victims of that natural tragedy. I believe we don’t have any means to save people from floods (I am oblivious to any ongoing research on this), and we sometimes become so helpless that even the planned cities got drenched in it... I instantly got a very vague idea, that if we could somehow collect water from helicopter (I was not sure how can this be done), then we can at least do something in this regard.

IMPLEMENTATION

The major points I believe for doing this are:

1) To control the CG of the storing the water at a high altitude

2) To transfer the water to the storage tank at an altitude.

3) Type of pipe to be used for transferring the water.

4) Design of the aircraft.

The height needs to be worked out at which the flying device will be there, and that will determine the capacity of the pump, and the length of the flexible pipe.

The flexible pipe may also need to be very special, there have to be strong adjustable supports, not a permanent one, and that needs to be installed in each 2 or 3 meter, on pipe while moving them downwards. These supports will keep that flexible pipe straight and will not allow it to bend. There are many alloying compositions available that can be used to make one high fluid pressure resistant pipe.

Next point is the capacity of the pump, and the type of the pump. I am not very sure about this, but of course this can be easily taken care of.

There is one more important point is the measuring factor, which would determine the use of this technique, and that could also be dependent on the capacity of the specially made water storage equipment. The level of water for which the technique to be used is to be determined, say for x level of water above the sea level.

I think this could be done, what say experts……

The last and the most important one is the design of the aircraft; I can’t say much on this but this could be designed, again expert comments are required here…

Please share your thoughts with me; I think if we get our minds burning and churning together, we can invent something useful here for this nature.

If there is any vague idea in anybody’s mind, then you are welcome to share here in TECH-MANIA, this could be interesting as anything.

Image courtesy: www.funonthe net.in

Management and Humanity

2011-02-19T18:54:00.000+05:30

Is there is any connection between management and humanity???What say...

I am not sure how the contemporary management gurus will answer this, but views expressed here are mine and inspired from the place where I work.

Management is the ability of a person or a group of people (group of people here is used in a general sense, for family, organization or whatever) to do a task in an organized and a disciplined way. In getting this task done sometimes one needs to directly manage the time and the things related, and sometimes one needs to manage the people to get the work done.

Contemporarily, management of people is more important and is the ability that is looked into many people, when adjudged for management capabilities. Now the point is whether management of people(human), and the humanity go hand in hand, or one has to control the other.

One does management to be in resonance with the things around, which consist of various systems that drive the organization (here being specific to companies). There is one thing that usually people don’t care about is that it is only people who drive those systems, and one can only manage people with humanity, kindness and courtesy. Imagine a work that one has to do say, to get one of his home appliances fixed, first reaction would be to go to some repairing shop and ask for the availability of the person. This is a basic example of a supplier and a customer. Every condition around has minimum one supplier and a customer. Now, imagine a condition of an organization where a person has to get the work done from some third party, and his boss is being brutal to him, and works with only one philosophy of getting the work done by an means. This being brutal of one to his subordinates, directly results a show of not being human to that third party. Here, boss is a customer to that man, and that third party is a parent supplier. Management done in this manner doesn’t actually help anybody, it is good for some time, but in the long run its effect can be gruesome to the one under its shed.

There are certain ways by being friendly, soft spoken and graceful that one can get the things done at the earliest anywhere whether in the day to day life or in any organization. But, this philosophy of getting the work done by any means is now taking its shape like anything and its mould is getting bigger and bigger.

It is not that one has always to be courteous, or always to be managerial, but one has to be the best blend of these attributes.

I have experienced three type of person in an organization i.e one who is very humane and gentle, and in being kind he gets lost in the management front, the other one who only wants to get the work done, because he thinks that he is only paid for that, and not for being kind and humble to others. Being inhuman earns him a reputation of good manager but not a good human being. The third kind is one who manages the things by being kind, generous, humble, and grateful to others. He is one person who is appreciated at all level of organizations.

It is only the last one that leads a happy life, and after all one has to fulfill his wish of living a happy and smiling life.

I am unable to stop writing because what I am writing now I feel is important to be shared…

Managers or entrepreneurs are paid for getting the work done, and it has to be like that, now each organization has certain systems which makes it ethical, and bound people in certain limits. But, one thing that I feel personally, and which is important for the leaders of the organization, is that to learn the way of implementing the pressure to their subordinates. There are organization which trains their employees to become leaders, but one thing that should be jelled in their leadership attitude is kindness and courtesy in doing the things.

A more broader look at it would encompass all the families with patriarch rule, and a general statement is that everyone here is a leader in some phase of his life and only with a blend of kindness, time management, courtesy, would they be able to live a happy and a smiling life.

Unique Toe

2011-02-02T22:52:00.000+05:30

I don't know what to say, but I was quiet surprised when I went to one foot ware shop to buy a sandal for myself. My leg size is 9 inches, and was wearing the sandle of that same size; when I tried the new one of the same size, it just didn't fit in my leg. I couldn't digest that, as the size was constant since a long time (I don't even remember since when). I tried sandals of different sizes as all have different fittings, but none fit in and than I noticed that my ankle (or should I say toe) got broader over a period of time and one can just roughly make out that a size 10 may fit in. I tried it, but then the unique feature is the length of my toe didn't increase.

So, a size10 doesn't fit in for length, and 9 doesn't fit in for width. In that condition I reluctantly bought a size 9, which was close to comfort level for my toe.

A 'close to' is always a ' close to', and never becomes a perfect one, and that is what my condition is. I don't know how to solve this problem, or I feel now that I may need to get the customized chappals for my toe.

I am now thinking what all other unique features may come up in future.....I believe I am surely not alone here with unique features......

MADNESS

2011-01-14T00:01:00.000+05:30

Its 00:10 A.M, and I am sitting at my company's facory (fyi, i am a mechanical engineer), waiting for some machine supplier. Its not my habit or hobby or some unique, crazy off the track desire, but my company has the inauguration of this new plant on 14 th of this month. This inauguration is going to have the presence of Maharashtra CM, Sharad Pawar and may be their followers.

This inauguration has taken a toll on us like anything, I have never imagined in my lifetime, that I would be sitting like this waiting for some supplier at midnight, just to get some glasses installed on my machine. This dosen't end here, we even had to clean machines because there was shortage of workers, and since it has to look like a word class facility, so there was no option left other than cleaning ourselves.

I feel this is simply madness to just prepare ourselves to present the work to that bunch of people who do not understand a bit of it. But, there is one thing that I would like to share, is delivering the impossible in a very short span of time will give you so much learning about people, your profession, and about life; and the most significant would be to understand the different people's psychology in such circumstances.

I will end up here, as my supplier I suppose has arrived.

People, Government and Nature

2011-01-05T00:12:00.000+05:30

Few days back, I observed something that can make a common man angry on government or their officials.

The cars in the above pic were parked right in front of the entrance to the railway station, where in the regular time, even common people’s car is not allowed to stop for more than thirty seconds, and ironically these cars were standing there for more than two hours, and surprisingly with full police protection ( I don’t know for what)

I instantly thought to blog about it, and captured this scene to share with you all, but actually when I sat to pen down certain thoughts, I actually felt that it is not a fault of government officials, and they should not be blamed. My reaction that time towards those government officials for sure was to blast them up with abuses and blah blah, but I also have other thoughts about this issue

I have other pool of thoughts to share, from the peace of my mind…

When human being first took birth on earth, he was oblivious to the nature where he had to flourish himself, and his generations; but soon realizes that he has to mould himself as per nature to lead a meaningful life, he has to be in harmony with the nature, and this realization of that First Man(FM) way back brought you and me here discussing this topic.

Thus, slowly FM lived life as per nature, and also taught his generations to live. There is this law of nature ' everything changes', which is also true for each and every existing thing around, and so very well applied to this man’s learning of being in harmony with the nature.

This transformation happened slowly and quasistatically, and moved hand in hand with the civilization. With the development in the form of industrialization, and invention of new technologies to make his life much better, man also started forgetting the basic law of being in harmony with the nature, with which the FM started life on earth.

Survival of every specie on earth is dependent on each other, and can easily be understood in a very broader sense through Food Chain (that I am sure we all remember and had studied in our primary school), and this is the simple law of nature, which everyone has to follow. Every specie bears equal place in this world. Men while using their cool brains to utilize all the resources around only, attempted to be in harmony in the nature. Consequently, the learning of being in harmony with the nature was lost in between, as the original word loses its identity amongst a group of gossipers.

It all started with (I feel this), with the beginning of tyrannical thought of a man, of being superior to others around. The seed of it was the each and every development that took place here, because the man responsible for it became superior to the others using that technology.
This gave birth to greed, jealousy frauds blah blah

Today, this has moved many steps ahead so much that this has become the thought process of each and every human being here, but it’s ok this will also change only when we can again divert our thinking towards being in harmony in nature, and that every individual bears an equal position here. This will take time, but it will happen for sure.

I am of course angry with those government officials, misusing the place for their personal use, and I request all those @#$$$!@$% to try to be in harmony with the nature.

The Lost Symbol

2010-12-26T21:10:00.000+05:30

Book Review: The Lost Symbol
Authored By: Dan Brown

Dan Brown produces yet another engrossing and mind boggling plot in ‘The Lost Symbol’. His combination of facts from Christianity, the secret societies, symbology (he is crazy about them..his books say it…) along with the spices of scientific facts (or fictional scientific facts), crazy drills, and the study of mankind has given the readers a truly entertaining piece. But, one must be careful as this does not stand against his master pieces and my favorites ‘The Da Vinci Code’ and ‘The Deception Point’.

The story starts with our famous symbologist Robert Langdon, being called in the US Capitol House to give a lecture in symbology; but, soon realizes that he was duped by our villain of the story, who has kidnapped the great Peter Solomon, the echelon of the secret society of the Masons, or the brotherhood. This brotherhood believes that there is a mystical pyramid, which through inscriptions on it, opens the door to the human wisdom.

Now, this villain, known as Malakh wants our famous Robert Langdon to help him solve this mystery of secret pyramid, for the sake of Peter Solomon’s life. Here start Brown’s typical twists and turns of the story involving puzzles and symbols. Katherine Solomon, is a help to him for her dear brother’s life.

The villain was also smart enough (..or Brown), to threaten Iano Sato, the CIA director to help him for the sake of national security. All these things make this an entertaining and a cognitive book.

The interesting facts about science and mankind, makes this a different one from the other suspense thriller. However, this goes without saying for all the Brown’s books, but his other books were more satisfying than this one.

I AM BACK!!!!!!!!!!

2010-12-20T23:29:00.000+05:30

I am feeling good to be back amongst all of you. I was enjoying my life these days, in my own way.

Actually, the truth is I was busy like hell with my office work, and irrespective of my ‘Office’ enabled cell phone, couldn’t find time for blogging and read books. I actually kept my mind busy with growling tension of work, and in that lost control over my mind to write or blog.

I am really feeling good, in penning down my thoughts, as this short time had given me epiphanies about myself, my present professional life, my future, and my aspirations with it. I came to the realization, that I should always know what am I doing, and not move blindfolded in my life.

In fact even right now I have more work than that before, but now I had come to the realization about my life and priorities in it.

I actually like doing my office work, as it relates to learning new things with each day, but then every other thing in life is a new learning, and it is only up to me to decide my actions.

These days helped me in understanding small things about life, and what I want from my life. I will be sharing my thoughts with you all, but at this time instead of boring you with my little philosophies, I should continue blogging.

One thing, I would like to share with you all, is started observing things that can be changed for its better use. It can be any general purpose thing. You can observe that while working, travelling, eating, reading, playing and living. My future posts, very soon be sharing my thoughts on it, and let me tell you they are gonna be technical, related to simple logics and engineering. This, I feel is the best habit that I have gained in these days. Please do share your thoughts with me, and I can assure you they will churn up your mind.

By the way, in these days, I have also finished 'The Lost Symbol' by Dan Brown. I cannot control my addiction for books, no matter however lost my mind is. So, catch its review in my next post.

The Evening News

2010-08-15T19:30:00.000+05:30

Book Review:The Evening News

Authored By: Arthur Hailey

The Evening News is a book about the people driving the media world. It describes their professional as well as personal lives with a very descriptive and a moderate tone.

The story starts with the happenings of the most popular news channel CBA News, and the people working there, Crawford Sloane, their anchorman, Leslie Chippingham , CBA news President, Rita Abrams editor, Harry Partridge, their best in class reporter, and several other people, responsible for the daily activities of the news channel. It takes a grip when Crawford Sloane’s wife and son got kidnapped, and then CBA starts searching them, for their best in class colleague, and of course to broadcast latest and the most happening event, ahead of others.

The story moves on with the progress in search in a periodical manner, and in between the eclectic and the best in class guessing makes the pace for locating the victims. Hailey as usual, had been very descriptive in all the aspects of the story, and had beautifully and intelligently described the lives of the people in the E-Media. This book, though with its good story line fails to match with author’s other books-Wheels, Airport and Hotel. However, he had successfully described the lives of the people, which is the USP of his all the books.

Soch lo!

2010-08-06T14:49:00.000+05:30

How would you handle it if your partner’s EX wants him or her back? Soch Lo!

Oh dearest, I love you so much, I promise you we will have a wonderful life together, you and me will always be entwined in the beads of love.

But, darling I need to tell you something..

Yes, tell me, I don't know whether I would be able to listen or not, let me just watch you, and only watch you, for the rest of my life,

I am actually afraid, how would you react after that….

I am already lost in you, now nothing matters to me as far as you are with me.

Oh, please be serious, listen to me, it is about us, our future, and my past….

I know everything, but do you know what is there between you and me?????

Let me tell you

It is love that binds us

Love, a soul of our relation ship

Soul which has existence only with our togetherness

Why don’t you listen to me, I am very much confused with my life,

Lov..

No, let me complete, I need to speak, if I don’t speak now, then it would be too late for both of us …

I had an affair with another guy in my past. We loved each other a lot, but time and circumstances divided us, and we had a break up…

After some time I met you, and we started loving each other. I started feeling love with you, in a way that I had never felt before, but you know this world is very complex, and so life can also not be simple.

A few days back, when you were out for some work, I met him, my old lover, and it uncovered all the good times, that we have had together, but there was nothing same between us, after all it had been a long time. He again expressed his feelings for me, that time divided us , and that he wanted to be with me again after, all that had happened with our lives after that break up.

I started feeling guilty from that day, because I didn’t let you know about my past.

A hustle of air, and the lightening clouds stole that moment of silence between them…

I thought about it a lot, and only remembered the lovable time that we spent together, he has no meaning in my life. When I met him again, only after that I realized how much we love each other.

I don’t know, what to do, I am stuck up in my life, I don’t know what to do.

I want to have a new beginning with you; I would love to spend my entire life with you, a life with only a spice of love, trust and belief. I want to have a new beginning with you once again.

This time, even the clouds and wind couldn’t broke the silence between them,

He went close to her, lifted and kissed on her forehead.

Do you know what is there between you and me??

Let me tell you

It is love that binds us

Love, a soul of our relation ship

Soul which has existence only with our togetherness

Togetherness, it has meaning only in this time

Time, it keeps travelling,

Travelling is a way of life,

And Life, it only has meaning with you, and me

And our love………..

Bachelors.....Oh my God!!!

2010-08-01T13:16:00.000+05:30

Bachelors...Oh my god!

They live their on that 2nd floor, they must have done that. I saw them once there, i am sure they are the only ones…. If they would have not done it, then who else....

Bachelors’ living away from their homes must have heard such comments in their lives. These are actually common reactions of the married people about bachelors, and sometimes they act like they were born married. I don’t understand whether they are jealous of bachelor’s care free attitude, their independent life, which they can’t dream of living, their passion for doing anything and everything in life, which they can’t develop in themselves, because it gets pulverized with age and marriage; and if none of the above holds true, then they must be having some genetic disease which doesn’t allow them to behave well with the bachelors.

It is not once or twice that happened with me, but it had been a frequent occurrence that I was ill treated from this breed of people. Once it happened that me and my friend (of course both bachelors) nearly missed an accident with a married man, and we heard from him "God help their parents who send their kids to study"

It was ridiculous, and it was not ours but that married bastard’s fault.

This is not all, the society in which I live in has put a notice in the common area against bachelors, which looks like this-

This is completely insane, and whenever I see this my mind goes off the track.

People think that bachelors didn't understand anything, didn't care for anything but they should also know that they have developed some sense of identifying right or wrong in the things around them, which sometimes is better than older people. This sensibility of identifying right or wrong, in bachelors is developed as per the environment and the society in which they were brought up, now the same people who curse these bachelors for their care free attitude are the responsible ones, because their children might also be getting cursed or would have been cursed or would get cursed at some point of time, and for which they ‘the parents’ only hold the responsibility, because they brought them up in the society which taught them the rules and morales for which they get cursed.

These people should not forget that they are not impotent, and that they also have children who have the ability to grow and come into the category of bachelors.

They should think that the societal life which each married man dreamt of is only possible if it has people of all ages, and if this is the case then they should also understand that they need to live creating a comfortable relation with the people of all ages, and only then will they be able to lead a happy married and societal life.

OATH:

I, in front of each blogger, promise to treat the bachelors with due respect, when I get married, and will make sure that they will be well treated with the married people around me.

THANK YOU FOR TAKING THIS OATH.

WORK AND HAPPINESS

2010-07-25T14:16:00.000+05:30

In India and the world, major population is now entering into the service class, where people work for somebody else, get their task done, and in return get money; I would just like to analyze about the people who work to get money, and about those who get their work done , in order to achieve their goal.

I was contemplating on this thing since a long time, and now finally decided to write something on it. I use to put a question to myself that why do i work(I am also a one who work for others), and in a broader sense why does anybody work(for the others motive); and I only came to the conclusion that everybody works for money, with which they can have happiness in their lives, but is it really true that the means that people adopt to have or what say buy happiness is right.

This then signifies that money can only buy happiness, and if that is not so then one can only achieve happiness by working for others. Actually, I can only derive this conclusion from the condition in which we work, that is we go to office to earn money, and we earn money to buy happiness.In directly, we go to office to buy happiness. Now, comes a point that happiness can never be bought, which in itself is a paradox.

We know from our inner selves that it is not the money which is giving us happiness, because in this major chunk of service population, not all are satisfied with their job, but they are continuing this thing because of the pre-conceived thought that they are in the selling store of happiness, that money is the only ingredient of happiness, and still they have breakdown because of professional tension.

Happiness is something which makes you feel good about anything, whether you eat a vada pav at some lorry, or eat a sizzler in some good restaurant.

Sometimes it happens with me that, I get bored of going to restaurants, and that day I go to some small shop and eat something, which I would have not eaten for years; the delight in eating that thing, and that instantaneous feeling according to me is happiness; of feeling good in ourselves without any illusion, pretension of anything.

Lets take one more example, of two people graduated from same college, with almost equal marks, but got different jobs in different companies; one got a very high paying job in a very big organization, while the other got a job in a small company, and almost at half the salary of what the other one was getting; the difference comes when we look into their job profile, man with a high paying salary has a clerical job from 8am to 5 pm, he goes home happily in the evening, and wastes his whole day in cursing the same company about its bad management and system; while the other one work 12 hours a day without any boundation from the company, and most importantly enjoys the work, and even sometimes work on holidays.

Now, who is more happier, one who is earning high, or one who is loving his work; I am of course not implicating that money is not needed in one’s life, obviously it is needed but it should not be the driving factor of life, in fact it should be the important customer of life’s market, but not the only customer.

It should also not be taken as that one who doesn’t love his work, should leave the job, actually one should learn to love the work and in the process, he would find himself doing only that work, which actually would have wanted to do happily.

If you start loving your work, no matter with a considerable amount of salary, then your life will get gelled with happiness and smiles.

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WISH

2010-07-10T16:27:00.000+05:30

This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 12; the twelfth edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

I remember, last time when I went to Khirkiya, my grand father’s place, a small village in Madhya Pradesh near to Itarsi, I was very much influenced by the life of the people there.

They use to wake up early in the morning, and start their daily activities even before the sun rises. Women would go to that river near by to fetch water, would get the fresh milk from the cattle, and their aroma in the early morning create positive vibes in the homes.

Kids would wake up early, and would give a helping hand to their mother and father in the early morning activities, before going to school. Men would only open their shop after doing morning prayers.

People there use to be so naive and led very simple life. Their life was confided in that village only, but they use to live like it was a complete world to them. They had all the things needed for a happy life, which was a 'good and positive attitude'.

They use to live like a family, and shared good and bad times amongst themselves, where at the time of marriage in somebody’s place, whole village would celebrate, and not a single home would lit a lamp at the time of death.

I remember, once there I had an opportunity to have a ride in a bullock cart to a farm situated in the adjoining area of the village.

Riding in a bullock cart was in itself an awesome experience, and especially because it was a first timer. The continuous tinkling of the bells moving with the bullocks, the irregular slapping of hunter, the aroma of the market, temples, farm, cattle, fields, and the people passing by along with the tip top tow sound of bullocks made the journey unforgettable.

As we reached the village, I found many men and women working, with baskets on their back or a cutting knife and a dagger in their hand working in the field. There was a well there, which they used for irrigation purposes.One farmer came to me and having confirmed that I was no harm, showed me what all he was growing, then we discussed about his routine, and how his work changes with the seasons. He described all the things very excitingly, but slowly his reactions changed, because he had a shortage of water and electricity, and only due to which he was expecting a major loss this time.

But he also informed me about one thing, that there was a society called ‘Happy Farming’, which was going to give them a generator on loan, with manageable terms, and an additional facility of water for their farms; that time I could see a ray of hope in his eyes, a hope for his motherland, for his village, for his family.

After two days, some agents visited the village to meet the farmers there, and gave them the assurance of getting the generators and the extra facility of pipeline installed.

It was the first open interaction of the village people with the outside world, with the people who came in never seen before cars, wearing some strange outfits.

I didn’t get the opportunity to see that happiness when the generators installed there, I suppose it was the beginning of the modernization of that village.

Ten years have passed since I last visited here, and this time with the eagerness to see the village I closed my eyes and was lost in the scent of the fields coming from the window seat of the train. I was lost in the running sound of the train and the flowing scent of the fields.

I found the railway station clean and big with digital displays of train’s information, and was happy to see that village had really developed in those ten years. There were various shops in the area adjoining to station selling different types of items that a traveler could require, and then to my utter amazement there was also a three storey hotel outside just outside the station. There were internet cafes, small restaurants, shopping complex and almost everything that one could expect to buy from money. That night I had a sound sleep in my grand father’s place, with a thought to wake up early to go to that same farm, where I visited last time.

There was some thing changed in the mornings there, not much people were around except some old ladies cleaning the courtyard of their homes. At first I didn’t notice a change, and proceeded to catch a bullock cart, but I forgot that the time had changed, and now there was an auto only. Bullock carts were there but only for transferring bigger things to farms or near by areas.

I reached that farm in not more than 5 min. I found no body there except a barren piece of land and was a bit confused and shocked on seeing that, I wondered here and there, and then saw at some distance an old man sitting facing his land. I went to him, and found that he was the same man whom I met ten years earlier, but I soon realized that he didn’t seem to remember me. I asked him about this land, and he told me that there was no body to look after it, and that his sons work as a waiter in the hotel near to railway station. He explained, “My grand children spend their time watching T.V and playing, so there is no body left to look over the land. My children want to leave the village, to earn more and more money, and so they are working in that hotel for the search of an opportunity. I have everything here, electricity, water but nobody to look after it; I don’t know what to do”

I after sympathizing with him, told auto driver to leave, and started walking back to village. I then realized the whole condition of what had happened in those ten years. People came here and modernized the village, gave village various mundane things, but didn’t tell them how to use them. The people here got lost in that illusion and nobody realized what had happened with them, and now there was no turning back.

I then understood why all the markets were closed in that early time in the morning, and why there were only old ladies busy in there morning activities. If this continued, then a day is not far enough when this village would be covered with greed, allusion, fame and pretension every where. There would be malls coming in these barren lands in the coming future, and if that happened with every village then at first the city which the people here were following would be vanished first, and then the village itself. People need to realize that modernization is just a change which would come with time, and which is good of course but people also need to understand the effects of the modernization in their changing life style.

I got up when the train suddenly stopped at the Khirkiya railway station, and on seeing people here and there realized the end of my dream. I was moving slowly and observing the things around, and then wished ‘Please God, don’t make my dream come true”

The fellow Blog-a-Tonics who took part in this Blog-a-Ton and links to their respective posts can be checked here. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

EVERYONE IS A CHILD.........

2010-06-18T18:40:00.000+05:30

Each and every human being in this world is a child. One who doesn't believe this, unintentionally and unknowingly becomes a child.

What a child does when he first comes into this world is crying, and he gets milk. This is the most basic nature of human being and true fact of life, that one would only get something when he would cry for it; with 'cry for it' I don't mean to shedding of tears; it can be taken as the attribute of communicating and speaking about the things which one would like to have; aaand the act of communicating or what say, speaking in different manners.

In the very early years of life, it may be considered as crying for food, milk, love, care and every other thing; in the teenage life it is the nagging and irritating behavior and disobedience to parents in decision for their lives; in the adolescence it is the better communication and the smartness in turning the thing around; a bit later it is doing the things with a very controlled mind; in the old age it is doing the things in a childish manner for seeking the attention.

It can also be seen in the light that if the child would not cry, then how a mother would come to know the need of a child; similarly until and unless a young one would not speak, then how would the ideas in his think tank would be revealed.

Each one of us should understand and realize that without showing the attributes of crying as per the time and conditions one can not hope to achieve their goal of life.

When a human being is born, nature sends him\her with the ability to cry, but when those human beings comes and start living his life, then it is only up to them to realize and continue the use of this crying attribute.

This is a bit surprising, for each one of us to realize, and to relate it to the crying attribute of the human nature; in fact I came to this conclusion at the end of one discussion going on in my office that work would only be done only when he speaks about it or in a broader sense cry about it. I just give a deeper thought to it, and came to the conclusion that it is all about crying, and one should know how to cry as per the conditions.

From that day, I have been crying at my maximum possible extent.

So, Keep crying and keep smiling....ha

Cigarette and Cricket....

2010-05-29T13:22:00.000+05:30

DISCLAIMER: This post is only published with the intention of seeing the other side of coin for cigarette, and it's similarity with Cricket Can you guess anything common in between cigarette and cricket ??? Let me tell you some of them…Cigarette and Cricket, both are mostly loved by men. Cigarette gives pleasure, and cricket entertainment. Age can never be the barrier to use them, and the most important one; they both have the capability to bring a good change in your mood. But apart from the above benefits, there is one more, which any body uses them, enjoys unintentionally. Cigarette and cricket are actually wonderful networking assets. Imagine a pan shop, at the corner of a road, with a television at the time of cricket match. You would find a lot of people pushing each other just to catch a glimpse of the score. Some of them would be regular visitors; some would just stop there to peek into the latest score, while some would be the occasional visitors, like this day. Now, a sixer from Yuvraj, some hi-fi’s exchanged, and the enthusiasm combined can just add some more people in your friend’s list. Take another example of a middle aged man, who had come to a café, and was just tossing his time with smoke, whereas you a geek enjoying your time with friends in the same café, but without a match box, and you just went to him to ask for one stick, and you had this brief conversation with him and came to know that he was an MD of some big company; now one could imagine all the possibilities. Cigarette and cricket have always been the part of lighter moments of one’s life, or one can say that they are the reason of those moments, sometimes. A cricket match, or a puff of cig shared together can ease out tension between two pals, can remove the hesitation or the burden of age between the two age groups……… I personally do not smoke, but have friends who are regular smokers. Some days before, we (me and one of my smoker friend Amol), came out of a restaurant, were just talking outside, while Amol was searching for matchbox at every possible place in his clothes, but couldn’t find a single stick. Frustrated, he was on the verge of losing his control, but then he noticed a man of our age, sitting and smoking silently on the railing of the hotel. He saw a ray of hope, and so we went close to that man, and silently sat beside him; of course a few distance away. At first, Amol hesitated because of the visible reserved nature of that man, for he didn’t even notice our arrival, but was some where deep drowned in his own thoughts. But, how long Amol could had resisted the desire to smoke and finally asked in a very light tone, “Boss, do you have a match box”. He turned his face towards us portraying just a-killing-time look; he looked at our faces, mine an innocent face without cig, and while Amol with a cig in his hand, waiting patiently for him to give a match stick. He put his palm forward, I at first didn’t understand, but amazingly Amol got that and handed his cigarette to him. He lighted Amol’s cig, with the one he had, and gave back that to him, and laughed in himself; and there started a new relationship. We talked with him for some time, until the cig was burning, and then we left. We noticed that person one or two times at the nearby shops, exchanged smiles and went away. Similar incident is with cricket, but it has a bigger group of people, came from different places, with different works, but was coincidentally gathered at one place to watch cricket. We clapped, we enjoyed, we danced, we ate, and we celebrated. This is the power of cricket which everybody enjoys unknowingly. Cigarette and cricket are one of the best networking assets that I have observed in my life up till now, and this life will go on, and who knows how many of such things are here which each of us enjoy unintentionally.

THE FOUNTAIN HEAD

2010-04-17T14:55:00.000+05:30

BOOK REVIEW: The Fountain Head Authored By : Ayn Rand

The Fountain Head is a story of one man and the rest of the world. It is a philosophical fiction that entails the story through love, lust, trust, jealousy, care, passion, and enthusiasm of the people and the world.

The story starts with the two architecture students, Howard Roark and Peter Keating; one being expelled from the college for his designing methods that were considered inappropriate by the professors, and the latter being the topper of the same college. The story moves on marking the methods and principles, they adopted in their architectural career, and how it became the reason for their success and downfalls. It also presents a very powerful picture of print media, that how it can control the people, the world and their opinions.

There are certain parts in the book which can be read, reread and reread a number of times. While reading it, there were instances, when I lost track of the book, and drove on to the path of my own life, thinking deeply about it. This book is so powerful in its essence, that it can change a person’s view for nature, world, society, and an individual. This is one of the most intelligently written books that I have come across; one lady suffering for her lover, two men wanting to own the world, other people dancing to the tunes of money and fame, and one man living his life as he desired, all this together make this a very energetic and dynamic book.

Being Sexy...

2010-04-10T16:14:00.000+05:30

Sexy is the word that amazes me a lot, I have always found myself using it for almost everything and anything; and I have also noticed people gazing at me when I say Pav Bhaji as sexy, or Sachin’s shot as sexy.

When I googled this word I found that it is first used in the early 20th century, in 1905, and refers to some thing which arouses sexual desire. But this is the refined definition of early 21st century, but when the word was originated it was generally used for referring to women. I think that this was the biased image of a male dominant society, and is carried on since then, that only a woman be considered as sexy. There were times when women were treated as an object of physical pleasure, and the word sexy is used for them in the times of love making. But this image has been transformed since then, thanks to the educational system that developed rationality in people’s ideas and thinking. This did one thing, that everything was started getting seen in the broader sense, and this also implies for the word sexy, and the time came when it was not only the women, who were considered as sexy, and hence came the refined definition.

But then sexy has never been that type of word, which can so easily be adopted in the common language, or we can say that adopted in the talking etiquettes of the cultured society, as it has always been considered as the word that portrays vulgarity and lasciviousness.

But with time, the meaning and scope of being sexy has changed a lot, and I feel that it is not only man or woman that can be considered as sexy, but in fact everything around us that is attractive, tempting, eye catching, and that has a feel good factor (obviously not only in the sense of sexual desire) can be considered as sexy.

It can be anything be it some delicious, spicy, tempting dish, a unique, intelligent painting, a pretty girl, or a handsome boy, it can be anything, even a blog.

The meaning of sexy has changed, but that thousand years old image can not be so easily removed from some decade old transformation in the life style.

I am looking out for that time, when a waiter would come to me and suggest the sexiest dish in their kitchen.

Please don’t mind, if I comment sexy for a really good post.

FOOL

2010-04-03T16:36:00.000+05:30

This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 9; the ninth edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

Amay- Honey, do you know what is fool?

Teesha- What fool??

-Fool! That’s it.

-Yeah, I know one thing, that you are the biggest fool

-Ah….that I know, tell me more about fool.

-Oh come on , don’t befool me, and let me make some food.

-If you were told to write some words on fool or describe fool, then how’d you do it??

-What type of foolish topic is this??

-Just don’t think about the foolishness of the topic, and tell me whatever comes in your foolish mind, when you think of a fool??

-I think..this might have sprung out from that foolish group, fool-a-ton, that you foolishly follow

-yup

-Ok…Let me think

-Honey, do you know about Harit and Anuja

-Yeah..they live this next street, and are foolishly in love with each other.

-Oh.. that’s the half story, there is something more to it..

-More to it..what happened??

-Last week end, in the absence of Anuja, Harit called his girl friend in their home, and coincidentally Anuja also came at the same time…

Such a fool he had been….Harit…he should have met her somewhere outside, somewhere..I think..

-What do you mean,Amay? You think that he should have met her outside….MY GOD, this implies that you are not such a fool like Harit and…..Oh my God

-Oh, now don’t add salt in your foolish implications.

-Yeah, now I am the only fool here

and she started crying, her head down resting on her knees and eyes closed.

Amay came close to her, held her up, and said THANK YOU, I am going…

-Teesha said hastily, “Whaaat you are leaving me??”

-Amay started beating his head, “ God help me, you fool, I thanked you as you gave me ideas to write about fool”

-“……….how did I help you” asked Teesha with a slow and confused tone.

-Fool.. you just told me that you are the only fool here, so I thought to write some words on you in that foolish fool-a-ton’’, and he started laughing.

-You fool, and she started beating him, and finally hugged him and said, “ You don’t know, how foolishly I love you, and don’t you ever do this to me”

Everybody has this foolish element within themselves, or in their lives, which makes their life pretty interesting and lovely. So, don’t you ever let that foolish element die away from your lives..It will give you all the happy moments that you wish in your life.

Be foolish in your own ways

Keep smiling!!!

The fellow Blog-a-Tonics who took part in this Blog-a-Ton and links to their respective posts can be checked here. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

Cristhina

2010-03-20T18:30:00.000+05:30

This story is my entry for FINISH THE STORY contest conducted by Cafe GingerChai where we sip thoughts!To get updated on future contests,register at Cafe GingerChai.

It was a warm night, neither humid nor too hot – in fact just right for a stroll. But it was 11.30 pm , not late by metro standards. But in the suburbs where the company township was situated, it was way too late. The highway was about ½ km away and occasionally the hum of heavy vehicles passing by, could be heard but other than that , it was quiet with only the chirping of the cicadas in the background.

Ranjan hurried along the small lanes of the VIP quarters , isolated and further away, in the moonless night, frequently giving furtive glances around him. He seemed tense but strode ahead with purposeful steps, until he reached a particular bungalow. He stopped in front of it and stared at it for a few minutes. The senior level executives were issued spacious bungalows with lawns while the junior and the mid level executives were assigned one bedroom and two bedroom apartments, a fact that did not go well with them , after all the divide was quite unreasonable they thought. But this was not the issue at the moment. He was here for his own personal reasons…

It was quiet and dark on the other side of the wall. One notable thing was that the street lights were few and far between and most of them were not working. The spot, where he was standing was shrouded in darkness, which suited him just fine.. There was no sign of any activity inside the rooms of the freshly whitewashed bungalow of Mr. Gupta. Only a dim red light flickered through the curtains of a room, most probably the master bedroom. He scratched his head and tried to remember if Mr. Gupta had a dog and, No ! No dogs, no watchman., so nothing to be afraid of. Yes! Everything was going according to plan. Mr. Gupta was out with the executive board members in the Company Club house entertaining the overseas client trying to secure the coveted deal, which meant that he will not be back before 2 am. That left him with enough time to accomplish whatever he had come for.

He gave another glance towards his left and right and also the two bungalows flanking it , but all was silent. It would be a fool who would be out at that hour leaving the comfort of a bed and wife to roam about here and there…. He smiled at the private joke. He touched the gate gingerly. It was an iron gate. He tried to move it but it gave a low audible creak and he stopped.

“Damn!Asha , my sweet little fool. Why does she have to wish for near impossible things.” He could not afford to make any noise. He was dressed in track pants and a rubber soled shoes . He also shockingly realized that he did not have his cell phone nor any identity proof with him in case of an emergency.

He decided that the best and fastest approach inside would be to climb over the low brick wall.

“ Asha! How you bewitch me!” He sighed, “All for love!” The brick wall was not high but it still disrupted the normal functioning of his 37 year old body for a few seconds, after he climbed over and jumped onto the other side clumsily. But thankfully the grass was thick which carpeted both his fall and the noise. He panted. His heart was racing at 100 beats/min ( more out of anxiety) and coupled with that he experienced an alien sensations gurgling deep inside his stomach. After all this was the first time he trespassed someone else’s property.

He nearly gave up and retreated , but then he calmed himself , took some deep breaths and sat on the soft grass for a few moments.

“ No snakes, I hope” he thought peering in the darkness. He had to do it today. He was not going to get a better opportunity to come here.

His hate quotient multiplied, knowing his nemesis Gupta, deserved every bit of it. Mr.Gupta fitted the description of a monster boss to a Tee. Ranjan first came across him eight months back when Mr.Gupta was transferred from their Bareilly unit. The dislike was mutual and the Monster made his life miserable. Finally after requesting the administration and literally prostrating himself in front of them, he was transferred to another unit ,but the scars remained till date . It took all his patience not to physically assault his boss. He used to often wonder how could anyone tolerate Mr.Gupta. How did his wife and children cope with him? He knew that Gupta had two sons aged 9 and 6 years. What did they think of him? Was this monster a normal person? He did not seem to have any friends or associates either. The only admirable thing about him though was that he had not seen anyone else with a greener thumb than his. He kept an impeccable garden and was the subject of envy among the others.

He looked at his watch . He had sat there lost in thoughts for almost 15 minutes. He stood up, smiling , he turned towards the verandah!…

“Asha,! Its your birthday and I want you to be happy”.he chanted in his thoughts. He felt the air cooler comparatively, on his way back home. Was it so late? He again looked at his watch and then his eyes went to the ‘ package ‘ he was holding. Tenderly , he shifted the banana leaf holding ‘it’ slightly. He smiled , pleased with himself his face glowing with satisfaction. He did not feel the least bit exhausted after his nightly caper. His step was light and springy.

He smiled again when he reached his apartment block, but his smile disappeared when he saw the watchman napping in a chair near the lift. If he was seen , it would give him away instantly and there would be a big scandal. As it is, it was a small town and things get to spread fast over here – be it news, rumors, fire or illness.

“What do I do now?” he thought shifting restlessly. There was no other way out.

He had to take the stairs, but for that he had to walk through the well lit lobby and down the corridor. He looked up at the window of his apartment on the third floor.

“ All for love”! He sighed and he tip-toed towards the staircase… He gave a last timid glance at the watchman before disappearing up the stairs. “Thank God! He is asleep” and stifled a chuckle at the irony. He started climbing the stairs slowly . sprinting was not an option, lest he woke up the entire household!. Panting, he reached the door of his flat. He took out his key and silently opened the door. When his eyes adjusted in the darkness, he walked past the drawing room to the bedroom. He stared at his wife from the door. She was still sleeping . She looked so innocent and angelic in the dim light. He walked in , sat beside her and touched her cheeks tenderly. She stirred in her sleep . He was still holding the ‘package’ and he moved towards the bathroom, when, she woke up.

She was fully awake within seconds.

“Ranjan? Where had you been so long?”

He froze and then turned around slowly- smiling broadly.

HOW I FINISHED IT-

Oh! Asha, you are still awake, don’t you have to go to office early in the morning”. Asha, baffled by his sudden caring attitude in all these days of tension..; but she doesn’t want to disturb this flow of water, and saw it as a chance to ease out the things between them. She replied, ignoring his question, “I was waitingfor you, you haven’t yet taken your dinner”.

“I’ll take it, don’t worry”. Ranjan know that she is angry with him, but he also know that she loves him very much, and that everything will be fine, tomorrow morning.

Ranjan loved her very much, but his professional life tensions had created worries in his personal life, and he got to understand it very late, that unknowingly he was slowly stepping towards the end of their marriage life.

Bright and warming sunlight falling on her eyes, through the window above their bed, woke her up only to be amazed to find that Ranjan was not beside her. She looked here and there hastily, and was about to get up from the bed, when her eyes glowed with sudden happiness and delight. Cristhina, the flower she loved most, was spread all over the room, and were falling on her.

Cristhina, her favourite flower, which she had only seen in pictures, is a rarely found in India, and she had never had the opportunity to touch that flower, to feel the fragrance of that flower, which Ranjan knew that Gupta had it in his private garden. He stole those flowers from the garden for Asha, for it to act as a balming agent in their relationship, on the occasion of her birthday.

A soft and melodious voice of Ranjan, wishing her birthday, brought tears in her eyes; he went close to her, took those prized drops, kissed her forehead and said, “You are looking so cute, and your presence made this flower look more beautiful”

Her glowing eyes filled with pearls, said everything to him.

They kissed each other….

NOTE: Cristhina is only a flower in my imaginations.

An Observation

2010-03-17T08:54:00.000+05:30

Seminars, lectures, classes, and now a days meeting have been the part of my life. It is like not a single day of my life went by, without any one of these things. But nothing of them seemed to interest me, and I have found myself brooding over one thing or the other.

It always happens that if I am in an auditorium attending a seminar; my mind would stare at the near by window, at the innocent clean sky, and my eyes would think about a bird crossing by the window…… This happens with me always in a unique and different light. In such type of moments of my life, there happened one incident, not an incident as such, but an observation, which changed forever my way of looking at people’s face.

During those soporific lectures ( I guess everybody must have experienced them), I use to notice other people’s postures, gestures, their reactions when an impromptu question is asked, and I also noticed my reactions at the similar conditions (for consciously, one is not aware of those instantaneous actions). I compared those reactions of students, and came to a vague conclusion, that there is something common in the body response to certain conditions. After five or six days, I was able to conclude one thing about human nature, irrespective of sex, and age, as I also tested it on people outside the class. Now let me come to the point, and not harp on this more; I noticed that whenever a person is afraid of something, his hand would subconsciously jump to cover his mouth or chin, or would just rub the mouth and come down.

If a question is asked to a student, his hand would automatically jump to his mouth before answering that question, and would remain there depending on that student’s confidence level, but if he is confident, then he would directly answer the question without any unusual body movement.

My conclusions got much clearer, only when I observed it on myself, because only one knows what actually is fishing up in the mind. I compared again and again reactions of different people, and finally came to this conclusion that this all depends upon one’s optimistic, fearless and confident thinking. More the person be confident, lesser will be the time for which his hand would cover the mouth.

I started observing it in my day to day life, and found that how I, in fact everybody is feared of small small things in life.

One can also understand it better, by observing oneself in similar conditions like- when a guest arrived at home, then the body gesture at the initial start of conversation, when one is sitting with friends and suddenly a new topic popped up for discussion, then all the hands would jump to faces, and will remain until they reach certain confidence level. It not only implies in the face to face meeting, but even telephonic conversation can cause such type of unusual body movements, for it entirely depends upon one’s confidence level.

Now coming on to other part of how it can help us in our daily lives. Lately, I was discussing something with my boss, or more correctly sharing my views with him. I noticed that after a few moments, his hand moved up to cover his mouth and remained there till I was talking, then and there I took a chance of discussing something which I was not sure about, but I also know one thing that he was also not sure either. It worked, and he liked my ideas. This increased my confidence level, and now I am in a much better position to explain the things to anybody.

These simple observations can also be helpful for those who attend business meetings, dealings, negotiations, as they can easily come to know where they can beat the people on the other side of the table.

Now, reading people’s mind and studying their body language has become my hobby, and probably I would write something more about it, for certain things in my mind are under their preliminary stage. I would also like to request all to share their views on this topic, and to suggest a real good book on such things. Keep Smiling!!!

TIME TRAVEL.......

2010-03-06T12:43:00.000+05:30

This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 8; the eighth edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

Mountains are moving, some high, some low, sometimes fast, sometimes slow. Greenery is there, small huts are there like a patch on mountains; moving with great speed. This speed is then transcended to sloppy regions, to plain barren lands with no trace of life, but still moving with great speed. Some jerks are there; some vibes are there, and is rocketing fast and ready to blow. But hope is there that can always flow; and now the people and the houses are moving with same pride as the mountains before. The green fields, the people, the animals are moving with such a pace that eyes cannot trace. The vision got blurred and blurred, and finally everything became invisible in that glowing white light and Amay became mindful of himself sitting in a train. He found that same old lady sitting in front of him chanting some prayers, and a mother besides, who is busy playing with her child. A bony face man, with long hairs is haggling with fruit seller, and then he concluded that it might be there loud voice that brought him back to senses. He again started looking out the window; the train is crossing a bridge over a river, but now fully aware of the activities around him. That old lady dropped a coin in the river as a token of worship to goddess, and this river sight brought a glow to the face of a small kid playing with his mother. Two dudes passed their compartment, probably just peeking out for a pretty girl. He remembered his college days, when he, with his friends also use to play some pranks. He remembered college days as the only funny part of his life, and that brought a sweet smile on his face. He had great friends in the college, and some of them are still there, but some have long gone out of his reach, or there could be an opposite case also. He remembered one of his good friends Amol, with whom he had a fight on some trivial matter. Amay being short tempered, and a bit egoist made the statement to not to talk to him ever in his life again. It was obviously Amol’s mistake, and he realized it too, and tried to say sorry to him, and to start the same old friendship, but Amay didn’t give him a single chance. He saw two kids playing Gilli Danda in a field, and sort of enjoying themselves. He again turned his face towards that small boy now sleeping in her mother’s lap. His thoughts again went back to those two guys playing that local sport, and he realized that they may be fighting with each other, or they may be playing. This came as an epiphany to him, and he thought that even some time before only train was moving, but his mind and heart allowed him to travel with proudy mountains, barren lands and green fields. ‘ chai, masale wali chai’…. He took a chai (tea), and also offered the old lady and the mother but they both politely declined his offer. So he continued alone to move further with his thoughts. He know that, it was not only Amol’s mistake, but he was also responsible for that had happened between them. Mountains again came back to his view, but this time train is moving and not the mountains. He understood the importance of way of looking at things. He came to the conclusion that both these events are somehow related to each other, for he didn’t realize his mistake at the time of his fight with Amol, and only after some time might be some days he realized his mistake. He also realized that, it is only time in one’s life that can create miracles in one’s life, for it has the ability to change the view of one’s thinking, and to look the thinks with entirely different angle. He looked at the small child slapping her mother, and gave it some thought and decided that he is playing with her cheeks. He realized that, with time, a person, his thinking also travels, which can change his personality, and can turn the things upside down. ‘Time only travels but remains same; it is the man that changes”

The fellow Blog-a-Tonics who took part in this Blog-a-Ton and links to their respective posts can be checked here. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

SEA OF POPPIES

2010-02-07T16:43:00.001+05:30

BOOK REVIEW:Sea of Poppies Authored By:Amitav Ghosh

Sea of Poppies tells us the story, set in the 19th century, in the India ruled by the British people; and revolves around the people living in Bengal, whose lives are dependent on opium, in some way or the other. It starts with parallel stories of Deeti, who had a drug addicted husband; a zemindar, Raja Neel Rattan, whose zemindary is dependent on the opium trade to China; Paulette, who lives with her uncle, who in turn is involved in opium trading, Zachary who is to work with Paulette’s uncle for opium trading and then Jodu, Kalua and Babu whose lives are dependent on the above people. The story starts with no positivity, and all of the above people’s lives are affected by opium in unlikely ways. The story curves in a way, that it is destined for all of them to meet in a ship, sailing to Mareech, for transporting coolies to the said island. The author has been very descriptive in his writing, and it came as a surprise to me from an Indian author; but truly I feel that, in the process of producing a highly descriptive and literary piece, the track of story was lost in between, and it ended like a realistic pendulum with no mean position. In fact, author has taken help of omens and epiphanies to move on the story, which I felt sometimes illogical, and absurd at the other. The author has no doubt written very beautifully (that is why I finished it off),, but then there has to be a captivating and an interesting factor in the story ( that is why I think that, I took so much time). For the first time, this is my second book in a row, that I didn’t like. At the end, I would say that only the fans of Amitav Ghosh should pick this up.

WHAT IF..

2010-02-06T22:16:00.000+05:30

This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 7; the seventh edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

What if I get to live a day in the world, where people’s life would be driven by love and happiness.. a.k.a 'Smiling Planet'

Welcome to the Smiling Planet

I got up early in the morning, when the sun was also yawning on his bed, and was so angry to God that he turned red completely; but when he felt the freshness in the air, when he saw that the flowers were smiling, the yellow petals are sprouting, that the birds once again were determined to reach new heights, that all the mothers were looking with love at him, he also smiled, and thanked God for a new day.

Smiling rays of sun entered the homes of people as a signal that the new day has begun, that the birds are chirping sweetly, and that the blue sky is waiting to get himself painted with the love and happiness of the people.

I got up from my bed, went outside and closed my eyes to feel the freshness in the air, to listen to the silent sounds of nature, the hissing of leaves and the distant sounds of birds, to touch the warm rays of sun, to thank God for the beautiful day.

When I opened my eyes I saw that all the trees, birds, flowers are waiting for my smile; I smiled at them, and they return back the smile, and the day kicked in.

People started going to work to earn money for themselves and the family, keeping in mind their duty towards nature; and that the money is only the medium, and somewhere deep in their heart they know that, one has to smile with nature, have to be in harmony with the people around to live a happy and peaceful life.

I reached office on time, and found that my boss is giving a never-seen-before smile; that smile was enough for me to start the day’s work with new energy.

After the day at office, I again saw that the sun was completely red, and was once again angry to God that the day has come to an end, but then he glanced at the ever shining moon, and became satisfied that moon is there to take care of the people, who love him so much ,and take care of him.

I reached home, after the day’s work, and smiles of my dear once, gave me comfort from the tiresome work. I smiled back at them, and thanked GOD for the day at SMILING PLANET.

‘What If I get to live my complete life on Smiling Planet, far from the people, to whom life is a race, to earn money, and to come first.

The fellow Blog-a-Tonics who took part in this Blog-a-Ton and links to their respective posts can be checked here. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

FRIENDS FOREVER!!!

2010-01-31T17:22:00.000+05:30

3 YEARS BEFORE “Hey dude , what’s up? Why are you looking you tensed?” Rohan asked “Nothing special” Amay said, eating Poha, “ Prof. Pareekh freaks me out. He suspended me for 2 weeks, and ordered me to submit double assignment of Thermodynamics, once I came back after my suspension period”. Rohan taking spoon from his hand, took two fast rounds, glanced 360 deg. and after finishing it, finally settled down at the canteen table, and asked, as if it’s of daily occurrence with Amay, “ Why so?” “because he caught me here in canteen, with Teesha” “So..” Rohan said, guessing it not to be the only reason of his punishment. “Actually, I took his permission for going to library, but how do I know that s@# @3 a @#$%^ will come to canteen in his leisure time.” Amay replied with frustration. Rohan started laughing uncontrollably, with his fists banging on the table, “You are gone, son you are gone”, and again started laughing … “%o$#@r $u$%^r , let this happen with you, only then will you come to know” Amay said as if surrendering to Prof. Pareekh. “Oh, common yaar, it’s your insanity, and I di…..” “What yaar, have you ever seen his wife, how sexy and beautiful she is…” Amay cut in between, “that ass has lived his life, and who knows how many flings he might be having in his days, or even now” This was enough to make Rohan stop laughing, he continued, “It’s our days, why not we have flings, what the #$%^ he has, if I flirt with any girl, for that matter” “Wait, what is his problem, you sitting with Teesha or you bunked his class”, Rohan asked curiously. “ I am not sure, it may be both, or it may be like ‘why he bunked my class to involve in these mundane things’ “ Rohan after contemplating about Prof. Pareekh, and the punishment, finally said, “ Only a donkey eats a sweet”, and they both laughed uncontrollably, seeking attention of other guys in the canteen. NOW “ Hi Rohan, what’s up, how’s life going??” Amay asked “Nothing special yaar, just going. Tu kaisa hai?” he replied with his mind thinking something else. “ Ummm good, how’s your office going? Is your boss still troubling you?” Amay asked, with the intention of making fun of him. “Hehe, guess what..I kicked his big butt, and got my department changed” Rohan replied proudly. “That’s great, congo man.. what else is going on?” “ yaar, It’s good you called me up, These days naa, I feel like..” “ I’ll talk to you later, my boss just called me up” He cut the phone, and went to his boss’s cabin.

“I am sorry sir, I was very hungry that time, and was also not feeling well”, Amay said as if he is still hungry, and can fall down any time. “Look Amay, I have warned you all earlier to be serious in my class, I can’t help, you are suspended for 2weeks, and have to submit double assignment ” Prof. Pareekh took his time, and then adjusting his rimmed glasses, finally said “ Don’t waste my time, go and do your work” Amay kept standing there, with his eyes gazing at the floor, and abusing Prof. Pareekh, but he finally opened up his mouth, “ I’ll not come to class, ok, but sir, double assignments, please sir, I’ll do it once”, and gave him some time to think, but until Prof, Pareekh would have reached to any conclusion, he again spoke with innocent and sweet face, “I am sorry sir, this will not happen again, from next time I will come with my prospered belly” “ What”, Prof. Pareekh asked somewhat confused’ “ Oh..whatever, I can do one thing, that you can come to class after a week’s time, but mind you, I want double assignment” Prof. then started doing his work, and indirectly thrown him out of his cabin. Amay drowned in tension, sitting on a reclining chair, feeling the criss cross lines of ceiling in his life, but then finally decided, picked up his cell, and dialed his number. “Yaar Rohan, I am in a deep trouble, I don’t know what to do?” Rohan guessing the seriousness in his voice, said “What happened, tell me, and why are you sounding so tensed” “I need some urgent cash” Amay said with an uncommon hurry. “So, what’s the big deal, we can arrange it from anywhere, how much do you need??” “ 2 lac” Amay said, expecting the amount as a surprise to Rohan. It was not a surprise but a shock to Rohan, and asked apprehensively expecting some bad situation that his friend is entangled into, “Why do you need so much money, and that too in a hurry”, taking a pause, “ 2 lac is a very big amount, what are you fishing in your life that requires 2 lac” “I’ll tell you everything, but can this be arranged” Rohan said furiously, “now, will you not tell me” “I took a loan from somewhere, and I need to pay it back, now please don’t ask any questions, I’ll tell you later”. “ I have an idea”, said Rohan with excitement. “And what is that”, expecting some insane and impractical thing from him. “You’ll not have to do the assignment, a single time, plus you are getting a vacation of 1 week as a bonus” “But how would that be possible”, Amay said ….. “ that Prof. Pareekh doesn’t read assignments, I know very well, and all of them got stacked up in his cabin, to be sold as a waste.” “So, how does that going to benefit us” Amay guessing something in it, which he is not getting at.. “ We’ll steal two old assignments, put up a date your name, and submit it, once you come after your suspension time,oh.. I mean vacations” “oh.. yes that’s great, but it has a big risk, if he caught me, he’ll suspend me for the full semester”, Amay said apprehensively. “Oh. Common, you are not oblivious to the habits of that lazy b@#$%^* , and you just don’t worry, you enjoy your days,and I’ll steal them in the meantime” Amay would have kissed him for this “That’s great yaar, you are such a sweetie” “Whaaaaaaaaaat!” "Amay, your 2 lac can be arranged” Rohan said, but didn’t ask the reason, giving some time to Amay. “ But, how can, I mean how could you do this in such a short interval” Amay actually had not expected this, and was searching for some options, like selling some of his prized possessions. “It’s none of your business” Rohan replied in the same way, as Amay did earlier. Amay almost laughed, “ Sorry, yaar, actually I took a loan to invest in a business, which I was planning to start, but somehow, my company found about all this, and I have been given a last warning” “ But, why does your company would have problem with this” Rohan asked “ My company has a policy, that no employee can work with any other company, or can run a personal business” Amay explained him everything “ But, if you know all this, then why did you plan it” Rohan was surprised at Amay’s insanity. “ I came to know, when I have already taken loan, and then I thought there was no going back, because I had started investing, and I have never ever thought that company would come to know about all that” “ but now they have come to know, I can't continue with that, so I have to return that money back, but tell me, how did you arrange all this” Rohan said, “I took a loan from my father’s acquaintance, for starting a new business” Amay would have kissed him for this, and he said, “ you are such a sweetie, I love you yaar” “Whattt, I have a girl friend , don’t you ever tell her your intentions” Rohan continued, “ Tell me, when are you coming to Mumbai, it’s been a long time, that we’ve been together” “ I’ll come for sure, but next month” “And bring Teesha also with you” Rohan said, “ Remember last time, when you called me sweetie” This story is dedicated to all my friends, with whom I have had the magical time of my life. You all are sweetie, I love you all!" “ My sincere apologies to the Teacher community, but that is the way of life”

TRAFFIC STORY:PART II

2010-01-17T16:17:00.000+05:30

“ Fuck!!! I am again late. I’ll miss my bus”. Amay got up hurriedly, freshen up himself, washed his face, ironed an already 2-day old shirt with his hands, and ran out of his place to catch the bus, about to leave the stop.

He took relieving breaths, as he got hold of the bus handle, and finally managed to land into the bus. Taking his time, he connected his headphones, and started listening songs, but soon he realized that already five or six people were standing in the alley, and that there was no place for him sit. But, then he noticed that at the last seat of the bus, where two rows are connected, only 5 people are sitting on 5 seats, and so he peremptorily requested them to adjust him with them.

He finally reached office, and with the hustling, bustling of gates, and hi’s and bye’s with colleagues, started his day’s work.

“Where were you? Why didn’t u pick up my phone? R u so bizy?” A chat box prompted on his screen, when he was trying to find out a mistake in the drawing of a defected component.

@#$%%&* $#@%&, and mumbled something in himself, but finally replied, “I m bizy lov, ll catch u later”, and there on signed out. He really wanted to talk to her, but then the urgency of this work compelled him to ignore her.

At the end of the day full of meetings and appointments and blah blah.. he was crossing road, walking in his own tune, when suddenly an Innova came rocketing towards him at the speed more than 100 km/hr, and he just jumped back to save himself. A second late in his reflex action, he ‘d have gone. He kept standing at the corner of the road like a small piece of dirt, which can be pulverized by any vehicle passing by. He moved his head left and right, and kept looking at the people and vehicle around him.

All were moving in a hurry, and vehicles were honking like all got an appointment with God. He just tracked one bike moving with around 60 km/hr, and the rider just managed to stop it at the traffic light, and no sooner he stopped a truck passed very close to that ,and his breaks would have not worked properly, then there could be a different story; on seeing that Amay laughed at himself, and at the people and world around him.

He was actually going to catch an auto, but then he decided to walk. He kept walking, thinking and watching people....

He came to the conclusion that this life is entangled in the traffic; in the traffic of people, money, new technologies, machines, one’s own mind. He again wondered, that Innova would really have killed him.

With all this contemplation, he also came to one more conclusion; he himself is responsible, who has made this traffic survive in his life. His greed resulted in increasing traffic of money, people, mobile, love, in fact everything in his life.

This greed is actually the root cause of all the problems, but then he was also convinced that greed is the wonderful gift in disguise; for it is this greed in human nature that made us see and enjoy all the advancements in the civilization, and it is because of all these advancements that we see trafficking around us. He thought that this traffic which is actually given birth by us, the people, is transforming our lives, and is taking control of us. He came to the point that he has to learn to manage this traffic in his life, and that would only be possible if he could manage and direct his greed in right direction.

Once again the time will come, when those with manageable greed will again transform this traffic, and will give it a new dimension, and only those with manageable greed can be able to survive that transformation.

He understood this fact very well, when he walked 2 kms in the moonlight, amongst sparkling stars, and finally decided, to let himself control his life.

Catch Traffic Story :Part 1

TRAFFIC STORY: PART 1

2010-01-10T17:23:00.000+05:30

When civilization took its first step, people started living in the region fulfilling their basic needs of livelihood. They started habituating near lakes, water resources, and started farming. At the initial years, people use to stay at the same place, but then as human desire is never satisfied whether in the twenty first century, or the first century; they started exploring new areas and travelling to different places. They either use to travel through ship, or cover large distances on animals.

Slowly they came to the realization, that world does not only consist of their place of living, but is a far bigger pool of different places, which are to be explored, travelled and enjoyed.

At that time, there were no automobiles, and so there were no roads, one has to travel to uneven mountains and wild forests, always with the fear of getting attacked by wild animals. So at that time, not everybody travelled, but only few, and brought back some newly discovered things from newly explored areas. They use to take all the basic amenities with them, and return after many days, if at all successful in their purpose. That was their way of life, surviving on the things that were at hand, while waiting for the other things to be brought to them.

Again, his mind is enticed to the ditch of desire, and so came the invention of bullock cart, and people started travelling more frequently than ever before.

This had brought a dramatic change in their lives, for they now started living a bit far from rivers, water resources, or their place of work; and now they were free to go at other places without their tiresome walking, but only of animals……This changed their living style, increased their living standard, and also spiced up their life, and added varieties to their food, for now they could have had food grown at different lands, equipped with different nutrients and minerals.

Very soon trade system started taking shape in their lives, for they have realized and truly started believing that all things cannot be made available at one single place. Trade system increased their demands of different things, and forced them to improve their way of travelling.

Then came the invention of steam engine, and it again changed everything, every thought, every view, and their lives changed for the good…..

Automobiles, vehicles came into existence, and people started travelling more than ever before, and now they not only travelled for trade, or for things of necessity, but also for excursion and globetrotting. Then came the invention of petrol and diesel engines, and that made world smaller and flat, and reaching to different places was no big task, for now they had trains, aero planes, and what more.

Trade had now transformed into business, education system had been introduced, new technologies are getting developed each day, and this all together gave birth to traffic, which we see today.

People travel to other places to lead their lives, to solve their purpose, and within this traffic of inventions, automobiles, and people, I and you were born to lead our lives and to solve our purpose.

I sometimes wonder where this traffic would take us, whether we add up a new dimension to this traffic, or this traffic would transform us.......

PRACTICABILITY Vs DETERMINATION

2009-12-27T23:53:00.000+05:30

Have you ever felt two voices fighting within you? Have you ever been in a dilemma inside you? Have you ever been in a condition when your heart and mind fail to answer you?

I have been in such conditions lately, and so much puzzled, that I kept thinking about those things for day and night. My practicability is challenging my determination. To be very true, I don't know what I am writing, but to throw some more light on what I am trying to say is one has to be practical to live a happy and feasible life; and also determination is the most important ingredient to achieve success in life. But what happens, when these two crosses one others way, and you are forced to select one of them. Which one do you select, and why? What is more important of the two, practicability without which one would not be able to survive in this fast moving world, or determination without which even an easiest task can not be completed. I think that I am looking confused, but thats what I am, confused, puzzled, nonplussed. I believe that these situations might have come earlier in my life, and I have chosen one of the two and moved on, but then should I continue doing this, isn't their a way out????? One would say to it, that it could be decided on conditions, but whether that would be called a right decision or an adjustment with life. I have been thinking about this from quite a long time, but I didn't reach any conclusion, and so I don't have much to write on this one. I hope that I have not puzzled you, or have not wasted your time, but if you can get me, your suggestions are welcome.

Angela's Ashes

2009-12-20T19:07:00.000+05:30

Book Review: Angela's Ashes Authored by- Frank McCourt

Angela's Ashes, a Pulitzer prize winner, is a book about Frank McCourt's childhood in Limerick. It is about the hardships that he himself, his mother and his siblings had faced there, and how there American accent had affected their lives in Ireland. He started the story of his life, with his father and mother getting married in America,and then how they were forced to move to Limerick, where he, Frank had spent his childhood. He had aptly described the problems that his mother Angela and he had faced because of his father, a drunk, and how they had led their lives in those trouble times. The book is good, but the most surprising thing to me in it was the mention of India, or rather using India as a benchmark for comparing any lowly thing. Let us look at the following lines, where a character is talking about fleas - "I have to be careful standing here for if one of them gets on my clothes I might as well invite his (fleas) whole family home. They multiply faster than Hindus" But, I may only say that author must have also considered the multiplication rate of his family, for he himself has 6 brothers; and this in fact is not the only case but , there were five or six similar instances where comparison is made to India or Indian people I am a bit choosy about reading books, and to be very frank I chose this book only because of the following comment- "Ever once in a while, a lucky reader comes across a book, that makes an indelible impression, a book you immediately want to share with everyone, around you.....Frank McCourt's life, and his searing telling of it, reveals all we need to know about being human" But, frankly speaking, I didn't feel anything like that, the reason for that may be his style of writing, the language is weird, not actually weird but one must also say great, as author has tried to do justice with the Irish accent of English. Moreover, a little part of the book was all about church, communion..., and that had really bored me. On the whole I would say that, if you have patience you can read this book, or else don't pick this up.

MY BOARD-6.5 Grands My Board is a rating, out of 10 Grands,given solely by me- 1to 3 Grand- don't even think of touching the book. 4 to 5 Grand- Boring, and unnecessarily stretched book 6 to 7 Grand- If you have patience, you can read the book 7 to 8 Grand- You will like the book 8 to 9 Grand- You will love it. 9 to 10 Grand- You will love reading it's every single line, para, page.

Diversity

2009-12-13T15:50:00.001+05:30

Well, diversity amongst many of is boringly known as different caste, different religion, different cultures, different people, different language, different food, and the list goes on...and that too especially in India, the most diversified nation in the world; but the point is we do not think more than this about diversity. In my opinion, diversity has much greater meaning and importance in our lives, and it is also evident in all our cultural textbooks, that keep shouting and prouding about India being the most diversified nation. Diversity brings naturality, or heterogenity in the place, and that is very important, as this environment, this nature is in itself a much bigger heterogenous system; and that existence of diversity in our lives help us to be in resonance with the nature. I feel that the following two 'Potato Stories', would help you understand the importance of diversity in a new light- Ist story- Some hundred years back in Peru, farmers started habituating near a lake; and for their livlihood they started growing potatoes; potatoes in very large numbers, but they grew potatoes only of the same kind. At the initial years, they were very happy with large production of potatoes, but then as time passes by, the soil slowly started becoming devoid of minerals and nutrients needed for the proper growth of potato. Moreover, they also grew the same potato round the year, irrespective of the favoarable climatic conditions for potato. With time, that soil became completely infertile, and so much so that it resulted the greatest famine of the nearby area. The other story goes like this- In USA, in a region like that in Peru, people started growing potatoes, but the difference was, they grown hundereds of varieties of potatoes, and that every time maintained the fertility of soil for one kind of potato or the other, so soil never become depleted of the minerals, and there never came a famine, and the land was able to grow much nutritional food for the proper nourishment of the people. What happened, is that the most unfavorable climatic condition for one type of potato is actually the most favorable climatic conditions for other type of potato, so in this way that land had always produced potato of different varieties and of the best quality. The above two stories are in itself capable of indicating the importance of diversity, not only for one community or region, but for everything that exists on this planet and universe; as this planet is in itself a part of a much much bigger diversified universe. In similar manner, diversity should be there in each and every part of our life,whether it be in our friend circle, in our organization, in our cuisines, in our passions, hobbies, in our living style, in our language, in our accoutrements, in our family, in our blog, for it may knowingly and unknowingly help in achieving the happiness and goals of our life.

All in a Day's Work..

2009-12-05T19:23:00.000+05:30

This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 5; the fifth edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

I wake up early in the morning with glistening, comforting and brightening sun, and also a new hope wakes up with me. Morning rays bring kudukku hen,chirping birds, fresh newspaper and in altogether a new energy and enthusiasm in me to do work, to live another life.

I get up from my bed yawning, and mind racing to make plans for the day, to reach office on time. The sun moves up slowly in the sky, the intensity of rays keeps on increasing with increasing challenges of the day. The targets to be achieved within time limits are set,and not only to be achieved but also with efficiency and optimum results, and even sometimes I get myself loaded with extra work.

There are the most toughest times of the day, like the sun at noon, when my brain burns like anything, and sometimes I even falter in my task, but then slowly and steadily as the sun moves towards west, I took control of the things.

That instantaneous moment of happiness of completing the onhand job, brings some light moments and jokes of the day.

At the end of the day, when the sun sets, having achieved the targets and goals of the day, is just like the comforting, unique and beautiful rays of setting sun.

I return to my home, with inner satisfaction under the sparkling and shining stars, and I finallly rest my body to live another life, another day.

Actually, I feel that each day is a new life, in a way that we all have certain goals in life, and to achieve them we work hard, for happiness, for inner satisfaction, similarly each day has its own challenges and goals, and I does all, I live my each life in a day.

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