The Way Lost

At the lunch table, as the conversation floated from chicken wings, casino, weather, education and in the end to India, I was amazed by a particular comment made by my american colleague. "Not long ago, we americans used to live in extended family just like you have in India. I miss that now!!!" Something has given away to independency. Older parents staying put. Grown ups moving out to stay alone. People living independently without or with a very limited reference. We see it in movies. Now I see it in real. 

Idiosyncratic, Me..

A famous saying that goes, “Regret is always at the end.” When I think about it a tad bit more, it is quite profound.  Especially if you are trying to get something and you feel a lot anxious to go on; you forget to use your brain and think from your heart then you end up delusional. With this idiosyncratic belief, the chances of making mistakes goes up a notch higher. In the end; after you had made the mistake, you think I should not have done so!!! 

SORRY :(

The mood was somber. The TV screen flickered and then came alive. I scanned the channels. Aha!!! There is one of my favorite movie playing, a laugh riot "Dumb & Dumber". I kept the movie running. But then I could not enjoy it for more than five minutes. My mind kept wondering to the morning office episode. I turned off the TV. I took out my mobile. The vibrant color of the four inch mobile screen flashed as my eyes scanned the top left corner of the screen for an incoming message symbol. Alas, there still was no reply of my sms. I had apologized but my apology is yet not accepted. The mobile went back into my trouser pockets. I went to the book shelve and picked up the novel I was reading yesterday. I flipped back to the bookmarked page and continued reading. Couple of minutes into reading, I felt the reading's too not helping.  Though I was rushing into the pages, the factious story of the novel was still stuck at the bookmarked point. No point reading, I closed the book. I closed my eyes. Flashback…

? & Answer !!!

Do every question have an answer?

How often it has happened to you that you been asked a question; you come up with an answer but in your heart you know thats no answer. Remember the school, collage days!!!! I sure do remember my engineering days, when professors used to ask questions. Though somehow the question has an english flavor to it but most often it seems alien. The responses are half cooked answers, humdrum humming of aaaaaaa, hmmmmm, ummmm or the worst of it, silence with a bowed head.

So the question remains… Do every question have an answer or Do every question seeks an answer? Whats the difference!!!! The question of one plus one has an answer two. The answer; outright, proven and definite. How can you smile all the time? Does the question has a clear-cut definite answer like "2". I guess not. If the question does not have an answer then what does it does… it seeks one.

The Road Trip

It was far from hustle bustle of the city. The serpant shaped tar road led to the destination amid green cover and hills. "Simple" thats how you describe the beauty. The breeze carried the fragnace of the fields. The dark overcast sky provided the cover & coolness. The cheerping of birds only broke the silence of the place. Add to the noise; the noise of five bikes cruising.

It's no Dhoom gang but a gang of friends who enjoy ride on bike backs. The long ride on weekend keeps the fun intact and provides a change of scene. Cruising on the highway with your friends in tandem, the breeze blowing past is something you can only experience but cannot pen down. So this is us, experiencing the fun and frolic of the travel.

Fun 2.0

It was a much needed break for the project team. A mismanaged project with unrealistic client expectations has taken its toll on every member of the team. If not work then rework has dictated terms for over a year & still counting. Milestones have come and gone but something which has remained constant is... stretched timelines, meeting unexpected deadlines, night-outs, weekend official hours. As gladiators, people in the team are fighting. Many have abandoned. Many like me have been replaced but the fight for completion still rages on. The rubber been stretched to maximum! The fatigue is now well visible!! A break was much needed...

The "Comic" of a Dream!!!

The story telling was unique. The colorful graphics was unparallel. It gave wings to imagination. The villain getting thrashed by the hero... Dhisum, Tadaak, Boom, Bang!!! Color, Graphics, Story, Fights... Is there anything better to catch a child's imagination? No, I am not talking of times of today. Today the avenues of fun for children are unlimited.. Social Networking, Internet, Cable TV, XBox, Videogames, Movies, Story Books, Sports and many more.  But back then, in my growing up days; when facebook and orkut were names unheard of, when internet was a child in the womb and when only Doordarshan ruled prime-time... the fun was limited to socks ball cricket in the by-lanes, watching sunday cartoons on DD national, listening to granny's stories and nevertheless the Comics.

"HEARTache" - I wonder why?

Tears!!!! I have seldom found them on my eyes. Not even when mom & dad left me at the boarding school or when I got beaten by hockey sticks as punishment or when I failed to clear IIT after a year's relentless effort . It's not even when my sweet & lovely granny passed away. I may have been sad but the tears never found their way to the corners of my eyes. But that day I could not hold back the tears anymore. It was so very unnatural but it came naturally. I was so chocked with emotions that I could only manage to say "Bye" to her before I left.

One Night @ CG

"It's going to be a long night". That's what I wrote on my office communicator to a colleague after going through the email in my inbox. The email was marked important and was signed off by my project manager. The body has the bold marking in blue: "We need to finish of all our pending work before we close off for the day". In short, brace yourself for... A NIGHT-OUT. My first one in my four years of professional career. Though my work clock had somedays stretched to a max of 2AM in the night but a night-out was sort of folklore for me. But now as I sit in-front of the computer and try to punch in my laptop keys; and try to re-live the moments, I sum the moments with one word... FUN!!!.

Next Time

"Better luck Next Time..."

We keep postponing things that are important in life be it fun, family, work to some “Next Time”. Ever wondered WHY? Check out your palm. What you see… A long life line. Damn!!!

The answer to the why is because we believe we will be living to have wrinkles on our face to do all those pending jobs. Who the hell is going to die tomorrow!!!! So was the thought of the  unlucky ones who died in yesterday’s earthquake.  Some of them would have also postponed things to “Next Time” like you. Their time was too small for the Next Time… 

A million dollar $ Question $

 Po, the panda; the dragon warrior asks his goose father "Who am I?" To which there was no answer. He asks the same question to the furious five of Tigress, Monkey, Viper, Crane and Mantis. The question remained unanswered. After being defeated and lying wounded, Po asks the same question to Soothsayer,the fortune teller; and the answer flows... "Your story may not have such a happy beginning, But that doesn't make you who you are !!! It is the rest of the story, who you choose to be. So who are you Panda??" To this Po recollects his childhood, his goose father, his struggle to learn kung fu, his friends the furious five, learning from Master Sifu, his earlier fights and love of his people and answers with vengeance..."I am Po."

Ohh, this post is not a review of the latest animated movie Kung Fu Panda 2, but a build up to what lies ahead. If you have not seen the movie, no worries!! if you have got what's written above, I would say you have done a good job. A high five to that. (But do catch the flick when you get time. It's good :)) 

Angel Heart

The sun was setting down behind a row of high rise buildings. The evening was coming to its usual cool terms after a hot day. It being a weekend, people have flocked to the city center in hordes. There were people shopping, snacking, gossiping, roaming, children running, hawkers shouting, horns blowing.... as if a MAD RUSH has set in and I was part of the mad rush too...

"Cool Joint"; the restaurant, round the corner appeared to be the most happening place. From children to young to old, everyone seems to be having a gala time enjoying snacks. I reached over the counter and ordered my favorite butterscotch ice cream. Finding no place inside due to the heavy rush, I came out to the sidewalk and started savoring the cold scoops. From the sidewalk, I was watching over the traffic signal checking out nothing as such but the lights changing from green to orange to red.

A day dedicated to HER...

8th March 2011 (The Times of India)

The newspaper looked colorful and carried various articles celebrating the achievements of Women past & present. The occasion- 'International Women's Day'. Another give away from the west to east, like the much celebrated and ShivSena despised Valentines Day. In office, my project team too celebrated the day by cutting a huge cake. Of course the cake-cutting honor went to lady colleagues. While returning from office, I was reading 'Wise & Otherwise' by Sudha Murthy (Philanthropist & wife of Mr. N. R. Narayan Murthy, founder of Infosys). The book is a collection of Mrs. Murthy's 50 personal experiences showcasing the myriad shades of human nature. I turned the page. The Truth about Women: was the topic next. Coincidence!!!! The day somehow revolved round women :)

The Flight from Abyss..

"The lower you fall, the higher you'll fly."

"Thudddddd..." Whats that??? That's the sound of the fall. Everyone of us have fallen at some point of time at some point in life. Flip a few pages of your life back and there the list of falling goes on.. The first bicycle ride, the swing in the park, the neighbor's mango tree, the sack race in school athletics, the collage football match, the punch from the school bully... the list can be endless. Oh!!!, if you are too smart not to have fallen physically; then there is no denying you have never FALLEN in Love. :)  The point is falling is impertinent to you or me, rich or poor, successful or loser, big shot or a commoner. We all fall; sometime just to stand up and other times to rise up. This is my story of falling followed by standing and then rising up.

The Act Or Kindness

Did I get it wrong on the title. 'The Act Of Kindness' would be more grammatically correct. Isn't it? But then who decides whats correct. "Of / Or" what suits best. I leave the decision to you.  But then decide when you reach the end...

I checked my watch. The watch showed 08:20 AM. It takes 8 minutes of casual walking to reach the bus stop from home. The winter morning radiated chill. The street was draped by a white transparent blanket of light fog. The cool breeze and the warm morning sun were exact contrast. But I felt good walking; hands tucked into my jacket pockets, lost in my own thoughts. 

Little ahead on road, I saw a boy of around 10-12 year old standing beside his bicycle. He was searching something frantically. He was checking his trouser pockets, then shirt pocket and the next moment he was trying to find something on the ground. He traced back few steps on road and repeated the same action. With a dejected look on his face, he ran back to his cycle and there he went again.. same pre-programmed procedure of searching. Little curious, I crossed the little chap on my walk trying to find a reasonable answer to his behavior.

In Nature's Embrace...

31-Dec-2010. The last day of the year. Pub, Picnic, Party, Disco, Family, Friends... options are unlimited. Everyone has a plan to enjoy. We are no different from rest !!! Me and 3 of my friends: Bikash, Hemant & Jeet packed our bags and off we went for a trip to Gokarna. Gokarna is a small town in 'Uttara Kannada' district of Karnataka state, India; famous for its beautiful beaches & landscapes. We saw the first sun of the new year in Gokarna after a long 11 hour 480 km journey from Bangalore. But the beauty of the place mesmerized us like never before. 2 days zoomed past like 2 hours. Now sitting in-front of my laptop I can only smile thinking of the fun I had. The cool breeze, the warm sun, the winter chill, the chirping of the birds, the foam on the sea water, the white sand can never be captured in a camera frame. You need to be there to experience it, live it and above all feel it. But then don't we all have the urge to treasure our beautiful moments; so someday we again can re-live it by seeing it on our album pages. These are my album pages...

Finding me!!

"Hi Everybody..." I blabbered out on microphone. My voice echoed more in my head than in the large auditorium. A long pause!! A pin drop silence!! The focus of 700 pair of eyes and then... everything went dark before my eyes!!! I have become a statue with the only exception of my legs which were shaking in the richter scale of 7.5. I was sweating like a pig in the cool winter morning(I don't know if pigs sweat, but thats what everybody say..) I got back to my senses when back stage; my friend, Rajeev gave a tight slap. I have goofed up badly and have become a laughing-stock for rest of my school days. Welcome to the Glossophobia world of mine. Google says: "Glossophobia or speech anxiety is the fear of public speaking."

Talent: Is that ALL ??

The other day, as I was browsing the net; came across a splendid video of Indian cricket commentator Harsha Bhogle. I found it very interesting & inspiring. I have penned it down for all my dear friends.

The point being what is required to get you to the top 10%. Is it Talent? Talent has put you in top 10%... but then to reach the top 1% i.e. pinnacle of success what is the most vital requirement. Not Talent!!!  Talent has done its part. Now everyone in that top 10% have the same talent. So what drives us towards excellence. Excellence is not about talent alone. Beyond a certain level, Ability & Talent are the most USELESS virtues to posses. Talent breeds an ego and talent never solves any problem beyond a point. In Australian army, when building an elite core team, the track record of soldiers are checked. If the soldier has never failed then he is not picked. WHY?? Can the soldier, who has marched to success with his ability alone; take correct decisions when faced with adversary and failures. The elite team is formed out of people who have failed and have bounced back...thats where attitude matters. Attitude is far more important than talent. Tendulkar, the legendary cricketer, has played 55 games without a break @ the age of 14. At a stretch!! Continuous!! 55 days!!!!! He practices for 2 hours, play a game n then practices again for 2 more hours. He falls asleep on dining table. He does it for straight 55 days. Its not Talent but its Attitude. So Attitude and Passion counts far more than ability. Ability opens the first door, it might open the second..but its never gonna open the last door for YOU.

The Stranger

The interview sucked. Everything went bad from the word go... I had forgotten the interview call letter. I ran around for a hour in search of a internet cafe. The internet was damn slow and the printer broke while taking the printout. I waited for 2 hours for the interview to happen and when it finally happened, I hardly answered any questions. I was annoyed by the events and at my own performance. I was hurriedly walking towards the bus stop. The sky was dark and silver linings were appearing as and then. After a minute or so, the rain came down cats & dogs. The bus at the stop started moving. I ran and boarded the bus. I was half drenched. I looked out for a vacant seat. There was only one at the end of the bus. I took that seat and started wiping water from my face. I looked into the rain through the window glass and in doing so, checked the old man sitting beside me. The old man must be of around 65 years of age. He was thin, bald and was wearing a big round spectacle. The big spectacle made him look funny. His dress was simple and a cotton bag hung on his left shoulder which was now lying on his lap. He looked at me and gave me a warm smile. I was in NO mood to smile back.

In pursuit of happyness...

Why am I angry? Is it because she did not act the way I wanted her to act, may be... BUT its actually correct. I am angry because of her actions alone. In collage, Sushant used to come up with new pranks to see me get mad. But he has always lost the bet. So what has changed in these 3 years!!!!

Flashback, three months before ------ She used to act the same weired way as she is acting now. Sometime few of my friends also act in the same weired way. But I have never taken these things neither to my heart nor to my head. So WHY these problems now. I wanted the answer... and I wanted the answer badly.