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.